oh dear.

I don't have any spectacular pics, or spectacular news, but life is good. I'm thankful for today. I mean hey, I woke up, which sometimes when I can't sleep at night and have those strange night-time issues where I wonder if I'm maybe dying, I envision myself waking up in the morning and realizing I was just being a drama queen extrodinaire, and it helps...then when I really do wake up in the morning, yay me!

I heard a joke once that if you wake up in the morning, when you're over fifty, with no aches or pains, you are probably dead.

Anyway. I am not dead, therefore, thankful today.

Lydia is here, she spent the night, and Anne is coming in a few minutes, so I'll have a fun-filled day with not much down-time. The kids are wrapping up their school year, but it's still rather interesting to get our school done with small children in the house. Not impossible, but more challenging.

Sonja K. has to have surgery on her knee next week. The doc told us that it isn't just simple surgery, but not horribly difficult, more in the middle, and possibly a hospital overnight. It's MPFL (Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Reconstruction). She had a choice to get a new ligament from her other leg, or from a cadaver. I was horrified! Wow. But hey, the person died, and donated their body, and if it's already there, and it means Sonja doesn't have to have a ligament removed from her other leg, which ouch, well then...plus, Sonja thinks it's crazy cool to have a piece of a dead person in her. Gross, sorry if you're drinking your coffee and reading this!

Next week will be a fun week, poor Miss Sonja K.

It'll be all fun and games for me too, figuring out what to do with the other kids, ect. And then there's going to be frequent follow-ups and physical therapy appointments. Never a dull one.

And, we're having a graduation party in three weeks for Suzanne! I have an extreme love/hate relationship with hosting large gatherings. My head spins with disorganization, and all the things that have needed fixing for eons just stand out, glaringly dumpy things that I could overlook day after day, but now, they need fixing YESTERDAY! Our foyer's progress for example..."progress" being the word in question, as we haven't done a stinkin' thing down there since we started, so hopefully, like a month ago. I tried to get an amen from the fam, a little vow to get agree to get it all done before the party, and they were all like, "Well, maybe...yeah, we can try." I was like, seriously? At least shout, "Of course!!!"

See, I've been low-key nagging Paul to take that chandelier down so I can clean it, spray paint it, and he can put it back up. There is only one light bulb in it, and it looks ghastly. Here are a few pics, I looked them up on my phone, and we started this project in...APRIL!!!! (Don't judge for the dust on that chandelier...never mind, judge away. You're right.)

(Sunny likes to be where the action is, keeping an eye on things)
The foyer now: all coats are relocated, most of them went bye-bye to the thrift store, the rest in the laundry room. The board where the hooks were is now white, as is the railing thing between the stairs. The hooks will be spray-painted black, along with the light fixture. And the walls will be painted a lovely gray-ish blue.

I have this thing where a party sounds like a grand idea, until I actually send the invites, then I'm all like, "What on earth have I done?!!!"

Because, yeah, it's real. People are coming over.

Our "work force" is greatly diminished here. Sonja is having her knee surgery next week, she won't be helping. Suzanne is in her senior year, has lots of exams...I am wanting to get started today, but have two small children here:)

Anyway. The dr. office surgery scheduler called and we have to go in to the hospital for pre-admission testing and bloodwork, the hospital schedules the surgery time and lets us know, and this appointment too...they schedule and let us know. That isn't ideal for me. For one, Friday is Grandparents and Special Friends Day at school, and I am going for Anya. I also have Anne every day, and my minivan is in the shop, still. So I couldn't bring her with me, not unless the van gets back first...see, I can drive Paul to work and use the truck, but one cannot install a car seat in the back seat. Our other van has issues too, ugh.

And this is written a few hours later...

Anyway. This coming weekend, I am going away!!! There are no words for how thrilled and excited I am about it! Here's why: my daughters like to hang out with me. It's like a dream come true. I had all these kids, accepted those babies with open arms, straight from heaven, rocked them and changed them, chased them, fed and read to them, cried when they got on the bus for the first time, and rejoiced when they grew up enough to stand on their own two feet. They went from being so much work, to being my friends, these older kids of mine. And this weekend, Emily and Abigail and Mariel and Margaret and Evelyn are going with our friend Karen, on a weekend away in an Airbnb near Lake Ontario, near Niagara Falls, and visiting some wineries. The whole weekend, YES!!! It's a really nice house, too. We're bring food to cook, and snacks, and this time I'm not going to buy...a-hem...20 bottles of wine, like I did last time.

Paul is going to be here with Suzanne, Sonja K., Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille. They are going to do something fun too. And I hate to miss it, ha. I'm like Arnold Lobel's "Owl at Home", where when he's upstairs, wonders how his downstairs is doing...



They've had their cereal, and then eggs and toast, and have cups of seltzer water. They play together quite nicely most of the time. They LOVE to climb up on my lap and read stories...the older kids have been in here but are now doing school work in their rooms, along with promises they won't just watch anime on their tablets.

It's been a busy morning, my coffee got cold. There's something wonderful about being able to drink a whole cup before that happens.