Saturday Night

Rochelle and Rebecca have gone to the races (stock car?) at the Fairgrounds with a group. Not including me. Elcie is asleep (or was - she just came back out).

Welcome to her bad mother from Toronto, Ontario. She has a daughter, two Siamese cats, and an extremely interesting blog. I've been running into her comments often and I'm delighted she joined in here.

And to Junie Rose who doesn't seem to have a blog. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Junie. Your Blogger account didn't show one).

And to Autumn , a wife, mother, and grandmother from Virginia.

And finally to Ginny a mom of two and trumpeter in the Idaho National Guard.

Has anyone but me noticed what an amazing group we are? I take a few minutes to check out each new visitor because I like the idea of all of us here knowing a little about the others. It blows me away. The accomplishments, the diversity, the collective intelligence, and most of all I think, the caring. I can't imagine a group of people I'd rather spend time with.

Fixed brunch this morning for the first time in a while. We used to do it every Saturday but with Ray sick and everything going on I'd gotten away from it. We're slowly getting back to normal. Pancakes, sausage and eggs today.

Dinner and the peach cobbler went over very well with lots of leftovers so no cooking tomorrow. We're planning for church and possibly a trip out to the lake later. Maybe the Sunday night movie at the church. I'll have to see what they're showing. Not that I object but if it's one they have or at least have seen, we may skip it.

Today I dropped the three of them at the park on their own for the first time. They had thought about walking (and pushing Elcie) but changed their minds. I sent the cell phone with them, took a deep breath and let them go. Dropped Tim off at work in exchange for a cold drink at the Barnes & Noble cafe, hung out for a little while, and was waiting for the red light a block away from the park when Elcie called. Perfect timing. I picked them up - they'd done just fine. I know they're old enough to do it but it's still a little hard to let them out of my sight. I can always count on Elcie to tattle so as long as she's along I'm sure they won't go anyplace they shouldn't. The playground and picnic area is safe - other areas aren't - and they know which is which. If they can be trusted at the park, summer vacation will be much easier. There just isn't much around here and we're once again having neighbor problems. I finally said enough - they just couldn't play over there any more no matter how sad it makes the girls or the other little girls. I can't deal with it any more.

I give the girls a little more leeway each year and see how they handle it. If they abuse the freedom, they go back to square one and start over. The park is the latest in a series of small steps toward independence.

Backing up to Friday. I splurged on a new vacuum cleaner. Most housekeeping doesn't bother me - not my favorite thing but I do it. Except for floors. I hate floors. Ray and I used to have a division of labor - he always did the floors. Now it's too much for him. I was trying to get by with a broom and dustpan and a small electric broom. I finally said enough. It works very well - nothing fancy but it's okay. A bagless Dirt Devil and the price was within budget - barely.

Mollie - when do you suppose we'll win another game?

Girls just came in shivering. It still gets chilly here at night and it's now after ten. They sound like they had a great time watching the wrecks.

Take care everybody.