mainely stitching

Whew, today turned out to be a bit busier than expected when Arden decided not to nap this morning and Rowen decided to bring her best friend home after school. I wasn’t able to pick up Three Crows till the kids were in bed, but despite the brief stitching time, I did make some progress. Although I’m not yet to the first of the crows, I was able to start using the fourth (of five) colors. The border is stitched to the halfway point, to give you an idea of where I am:

So as you may know, Wednesdays are half days of school here. The original plan was that Rowen would go to her best friend’s house and I’d take the boys over to pay a brief visit on Niek’s parents (who just returned from a month-long holiday in the US) … but life seldom follows plan. Niek’s parents didn’t answer the phone or return my message, so when I picked the kids up at school and the mother of Rowen’s friend said she needed to be out of the house for the afternoon, I wound up with one kid extra instead of one kid less. The girls wanted so badly to play together that of course I immediately volunteered to take the little girl home with us for the day. Although the girls have a lot of fun together, I have to say that S. does not get along well with Max and Nicky. Lots of mediation necessary, and by the time the clock finally said I could drive S. home, we were all ready for it. That said, I quite like her and I think she’s a good friend for Rowen because they’re equally willful and headstrong. I just need to figure out how to keep the boys and girls separate when she’s here – LOL! Here is a picture of Nicky, Rowen and S. playing in the backyard (between outbursts!).

Today’s been full of good stuff. The kids wanted hamburgers for dinner and that has got to be about the easiest thing in the world to make. To balance off all that red meat, we had gazpacho with it, and the kids ate it without complaint. I also won Karen’s giveaway – now that’s just too cool for words!! And all but one of my birds has sold! Thank you all so very much for your support and encouragement with my little venture. I’m enjoying it enormously, and it has the very practical benefit of slowly making our planned trip to Maine next year a reality.

Before I close – it is bedtime in my part of the world – I want to wish a very happy birthday to my stepmother, Gaby, who hopefully will read this and know that I’m thinking of her.