Thank God!

Happy Monday! I cannot tell you how glad I am to see a new week. Last week was the pits to put it politely. Our income tax refund went into the wrong account so we bounced a large number of items. Amy did not get her college scholarship to Drake so she will not be attending her first choice of colleges. Somehow the $60,000.00+ of debt that she would be graduating with did not appeal to her. Imagine that! The vets office called to say that Missy's ashes were ready to be picked up. No more deluding myself that she was just away on an extended vacation. Adam had his health screening and is most likely diabetic. And to finish off the week, Dan's father had a stroke. It was in the speech center of his brain and they do not expect him to recover much in the way of speech. Otherwise from what we hear he is doing as well as can be expected. They are currently down in Arizona for the month. I think Dan will fly down there when they are ready to come home to help his mom with the driving.

Now that I got all of the bad crap out of the way.....let's move on to brighter topics.

Ummmmm, hang on. I'm thinking. Uhhhhhhh......

Oh!! I got one! Abby got her mid-term grades, 3 A's and a B. Also a 94% on her practicum. I'm so proud of her! She is seeing a new boy, he's from out of town so the logistics are still being worked out. Side note: at the age of 22 are they still considered a boy or should I call him a man. For some reason I have a hard time with that one! So far he has made the 3 hour trip 3 times. Next week she is on spring break and she will be going home with her best friend who just happens to live in the same town as the new boy. His parents want to meet her. Now don't take this the wrong way but what's the hurry? They might decide they don't like each other after seeing each other for a week straight. I wouldn't mind meeting him but I'm not pushing Abby to bring him home either. And lord knows she isn't all that eager to bring him home. Someone has already ratted me out and told him I'm pretty scary. I like it when boys have a healthy fear respect for me. Keeps them on the straight and narrow if you know what I mean.

Dan started working on his," honey Amy is graduating and there will be a ton of people in my house in 2 months and here is all the things that need to be fixed, painted, repaired and cleaned before that date etc. etc. etc... list." He is starting with the trim in the library which never got finished 2 years ago. Unfortunately for him, this has only added to the list as I decided it needs to be repainted. While I love the color of the current paint, I don't love it with the color of the wood in there. It clashes. It will be easier to paint now while all the trim is off than it will be to paint after the trim is up. Am I right??? I need to pick a color so he can get that started. Most likely I will be going with an olive green. I've shown pictures of the library in the past but just to remind you:
I've been busy cleaning (purging) our bedroom. It hasn't been done in a while and desperately needs it. While I was working on our closet, I pulled out both my wedding gown and my prom dress. Both are taking up way too much real estate so I made the decision to send them to Goodwill. But first, since my prom dress was a Gunne Sax I thought I'd check on ebay to see if they were going for a price that would make it worth my while to list it. Surprisingly enough, some do sell for a nice amount but I couldn't find one that looked like my dress. While I was researching, Abby discovered the dress. What's this? she asked as she held it up. My prom dress I responded. It looks awful small she says. OUCH! That hurt. It's a size 11 I say. Are you sure mom? I think it would fit me! Abby, I repeat. It's an 11. You wear a 2. Snorting at me she trotted off to the powder room and to my amazement when she came back she had the dress on and it fit!! How come an 11 fits a size 2 body these days and how come I never realized how skinny I was back then? I always thought of myself as being overweight, even then. Now of course I truly am overweight but I would have swore on a stack of bibles I was fat then too! Never would I have imagined I was as small as Abby. N.E.V.E.R. But here's the proof, me back in 1978 before the TKE formal with Dan:

a week later with my boyfriend before prom:

and Abby, just the other night:

How freaky is that!! Now Abby won't let me send it off to Goodwill. She thinks it's kind of cool and is trying hard to come up with someplace she could wear it. She's such a girl!

In stitching news, I haven't touched the princesses in a month at least and I am very sad to report I am still plugging away at Quaker Diamonds. It just seems like this piece is never ending for me. Like the diamonds are making out and creating more diamonds for me to stitch when my back is turned or something. Progress is being made but it sure doesn't feel like it while I'm stitching on it!!

That's all I have for now and Dan just walked in the door and would probably like something to eat for supper so I best go figure out what that something might be.

Thanks for stopping in, listening to my long list of bad crap and commenting on it if you do! Till next time!

Julie