some more of lately

I was super tired last Wednesday,

after not sleeping much at all for a few (very busy) days.

Before bed, Lily told me she hoped I slept til 8,

and then I'd get breakfast in bed

(Daddy was on a business trip, 

so no need to get up early to fix his breakfast
and see him off to work)

I was quick to tell her that I did not want breakfast in bed at 8 o'clock,

and furthermore, 

nobody was to so much as crack the door open to see if I'm awake.

because, of course,

then

I would be.

This is the note she put on my door:

She said that even though she'd written the warning,

it was so menacing
she was scared to come in.

haha

(nobody came in.

But darn it! I was up before 8)

~

I went grocery shopping yesterday
(the situation was dire, let me tell you!)
and while I was out,
I popped into the sewing machine center / fabric store

to see if they had any low volume fabrics

to add to my pile for my next project.

There were only 2 prints that might work,

so I bought 1/6 yard of each

(at $10 and $12 per yard! no wonder I shop online...)

The look on her face 

when she put the two cut pieces next to each other was priceless.

She was thinking I'm out of my gourd, 

if I thought they could go in the same quilt.

Then, since I was in there,

I looked at the machines briefly.

They had a new HQ Avante longarm that I played with for a second

(I liked the Innova that I tried much better!)

but what I really was interested in 

is a sewing machine

that I don't have to fight with.

I told her what I needed in a machine

(large throat space, speed control (with ability to go fast)

beautiful stitch, and a reputation for keeping excellent tension
and being great with free motion quilting,

 a thread cutter would be nice,

but the lack of one wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker.

Oh, and low cost.)

She took me to a $4,900 machine.

(um. NO.)

It was a lovely machine, I'm sure,

and it did have a generous throat space,

but at almost half what a longarm would cost,

I'm not a bit interested.

Anyways.

I started all of this to say,

in trying to impress me with the machine,

she told me it came with all of the feet I could ever want,

so I'd never have to spend money on a foot.

So I said,

"It even comes with a ruler foot?"

And she said - "What is a ruler foot??"

I just don't understand how somebody 

in the business

wouldn't know this!

(It turns out, she didn't think it came with that foot,

but she was sure I could buy it 😂)

~

Lexi has been pogo-sticking

(jumping with a pogo stick?)

for a few weeks now;

she's up to almost 300 consecutive hops.

~

I walked in the house after church Sunday to find
the entire living room floor full of balloons!

The kids had spent their own money,
and a couple of hours of their breath,
blowing them up.

After lunch, they made a 'balloon bath' for me,
by corralling the balloons with chairs and blankets.

Everything was great until a balloon popped
 and scared the bejeebers out of me
and that was the end of that!

Among other sweet gifts,
I received this flower from Lexi,
it had no tag or label - do you know what it is??

I suspect its a bulb (or bulbs) of some sort,
so I'm hoping we can plant it
(and that I won't kill it....)

~

Our neighbors huge

(HUGE)

tree

fell over in the last storm.

It is so sad to see that big empty space 

where there was a glorious tree.

I know they miss it.

~

The drywall is all installed!!

I'm not feeling quite as excited about it as I thought I would,

and I'm not sure why.

Maybe because there is a massive pile of drywall

(aka - money)

in the center of the living room,

and  mess everywhere.

for perspective - that big piece is about 4 ft square.

I've worked really hard to keep it picked up out there

(with the kids help)

and ugh - it's a disaster right now.

,

It also doesn't look quite as perfect as I think it should,

so I'm a little worried about the end result...

Speaking of drywall

now that it's all in

 I have a bunch of paint cards I need to take out there,

so I can start eliminating colors.

We're painting most of the downstairs the same color,

so I've reeeally got to get it right!

~

Oh!

I almost forgot!!

Brandon had an interview last night,

and he's got his first real job!

Last summer he earned money helping build the house, 

when we wasn't volunteering at church and camp,

and the previous summer, 

he did a volunteer internship  at church.

This summer,

he'll be interning at the church again, 

but in a paid position

mostly working with Ben
(whom we are so very fond of)
 in the children/family department.

He'll also be taking two sessions of summer school,

so his summer is really full.

I have another full day

myself, so I best get at it.