we're just getting summer down pat...

And as much as I even hate to write these words, IT IS WINDING DOWN....wah. This morning, I got up at an unGodly hour, which I won't mention, took Miss Rosie outside, poured some coffee that Paul had brewed before going for a little visit with his parents, sat in my comfy chair and read the newspaper.....then: Margaret Cheryl was making pancakes, and: I was served two steaming hot pancakes....in my comfy chair. I told Marg that it was better than my birthday. The kids are all around me, six of them are playing dollhouse....I mentioned going to the beach, and they all agreed they would rather stay home and play dollhouse. When I say it is spread ALL over the living room, I am not kidding. They sometimes need an official with a striped shirt and a whistle, but I try to let them work things out themselves.

I love toys, especially the dollhouse stuff, so it is deeply satisfying to see them play with it like this.

It has been overcast and chilly-ish this morning, so sitting here hasn't seemed so sinful. Although now I am getting those niggling thoughts about what I should be doing....we did get a lot done yesterday, we were down to only one laundry basket of clothes to put away from our vacation...then Miss Emily stopped by on her way to work, in her nursing uniform, which the kids get a kick out of, with another basket of clean clothes from their little trip to the Adirondacks...she took the clothes to her apartment and washed them for me! She does not have a dryer, so she hung them all up. I thought that was so nice of her. She said she knew I had enough laundry to do, but also I heard they got REALLY dirty on their little trip, so she probably didn't want me to flip. She told me the story about Evelyn's brand new sneakers, which I did not know she wore, they are for school.....she barfed on them on the way up in the car, they got wiped off, then she got them mud-sogged....so Em washed them in her washer and they look brand new again.

Well, the niggles are screaming at me, I can only take so much downtime....after all these years of being busy busy busy, it is hard to adjust to having these stretches of time where I am not NEEDED so much....but my goodness, what I wouldn't give to have a baby to cuddle and rock and change and nurse......