on this Monday...

My cousin gets married this weekend! It still seems like yesterday I was waiting to hear the news that she was safely born and her Mom (who is my first cousin and 2 months older than me) was doing well. I'm happy and excited for her, though it does seem strange to watch this generation transition into adulthood.

Sometimes I think one of the downsides to being childless is that time slips away faster. Our lives are marked by the seasons and gardening/animal responsibilities, which simply rotate, and not by the changes of sports categories and divisions and homework levels. I think as you live the growth of the child, the passage of time seems a little more real (or surreal) than just merely observing from the sidelines. Though I'm certain if I called her parents today, they would be wondering where time has gone as well.

This isn't turning out to be the trip I had hoped. I had thought with Bobby retired we would be able to take some extra time and do some sight-seeing in Northern Alabama and maybe visit his sister, but it's not working out that way. And that's actually okay. I'll enjoy the time I do have with family (even if my 10 year old niece is bemoaning my arrival a few days early...she'll have to clean her room!) and we're hoping we might even get to see my nephew play in a basketball game.

So on today's agenda is finishing a cowgirl costume for my niece, wrapping Mom's birthday present (which I'll miss yet again next month) and a wedding present, tackling laundry, and repairing netting on the chicken pen. It's going to be a very full and busy week, but one that I'm looking forward to very, very much.

21 days

I cannot believe this is February! Where has the time gone?
Today begins the countdown. The bar in our kitchen is covered with binders and notebooks from years past CLE (continuing legal education - lawyers have to get 12 credit hours a year to keep their law license, and at least three hours have to deal with substance abuse since 75% of lawyers are alcoholics) conferences. For most of January I would try to visit Bobby's office once a week and leave with an armload of stuff. We've cleaned out the bottom shelf of one bookcase. We've now got 21 days to clean personal stuff off his computer, his desk and counter, and the remaining two shelves. I guess his pictures and a plant that he's had for 20 years will go home with us on his last day at the office.

Does anyone need 1 or 1.5 inch binders that have stuff printed on their covers? I have a feeling we're going to have quite a few of them (which is the understatement of the year).

Meanwhile my brother-in-law is graciously coming over tonight to hang a curtain rod for me. After stripping a screw and cracking a board in two places, I finally gave in and asked for help. Once that is done, I'm hoping I can finish organizing my sewing room, which is going to be my "woman cave" when Bobby retires. A certain someone who I will not name has accused me of being a hoarder. I should have informed him that quilters don't hoard; they build their stash.

Regardless, I have four quilt tops waiting to be quilted, as well as two quilts in the process of being quilted. I would really like to have four of those projects totally finished by May. (We won't talk about the three quilt tops in varying stages of progression - yet). I'm hoping once I have things back in place and with some resemblance of order, my project list (or UFOs, as quilters call them - UnFinished prOjects) will begin to be a bit more reasonable.

So hopefully by Monday you'll be viewing pictures of a nicely organized studio.