Thu., Oct. 11

Tad (landlord) arrived at 10:30 am, at my request, to help me deal with the foliage on this plot of dirt. I needed instruction about trimming, and one bush that died (no one knows why) needed to be replaced. Instead of coming out to look at the dead plant and then dealing with it four weeks later after who-knows-how-many reminder calls, Tad had been to the nursery already this morning to purchase a replacement plant that took only four minutes for him to put into the ground after pulling out the dead one. Awesome. After he left I trimmed the Palo Verde tree out front for an hour, and got stuck at least 250 times including one in the pad of my right thumb that is giving me fits.

Then I made the menu and grocery list for the next two weeks. I have $150 to work with. (gulp!) Thankfully from the grocery money spent previously this month I have a good supply of meat on-hand, from which to create meals.... Still $150 is cutting it really short. I'm anxious to get this whole Jeep/Valerie financial crisis behind us. It's coming soon - like maybe next month - when we'll be caught up and can get back on a workable budget....

Then the children and I went to pick up a school desk we were given last spring by the Koenigs; they'd set up the deal through Judy Kinnison, who lives close to them ... we'd just not figured out how to get it done -- alllllll summer. lol The desk will need some cleaning and maybe a paint job, but it will be a nice addition to Justus's room; he has no work space or chair in his room.

Then we picked up lunch (9 taquitos w/ cheese for $7) at a little Taco Shop around the corner from the church building [We'd been wanting to try it out for weeks now!] and had a quick lunch with Jeremy at the building before a quick-trip for groceries for tomorrow (company for supper). I'll do the big-list grocery shopping on Saturday.

Elaine cooked supper today! Chicken and homemade noodles. Woah - yum. I am so thankful, too; her timing was excellent since today was so full.

We had a couple hours to re-group in the afternoon before leaving for Northside for their seminar called "A Commitment to Singing" facilitated by -- (trumpet fanfare) Tim Stevens!! aka - lead singer of Favorite Hymns Quartet, a music STAPLE of my formative years. Northside is an anti-group, so it is significant that other congregations were invited to this function! It was enjoyable and edifying. Afterward, when Elaine and Jeremy were meeting Tim, they kept pointing to me, so by the time I got to speak to him he said, "so ... what's the connection here?" I said, "Well, there are two." Seriously, Tim spent about eight minutes talking with me about FHQ, Dane, Boyce, and then he asked some questions about who Jeremy and I are. It was really nice!

I accomplished four loads of laundry today, and after the house quieted down tonight I was able to polish some mirrors, do some church secretary work, and repair the blue couch (my FAVE!) which had been needing to be done for (yeah...) a lllong time now; it had a five spots that had needed some serious stitching in order that the couch will continue to serve us for more years. Do I need to explain how frustrating my timing is, sometimes, that here I am with this nasty thorn-puncture bump on the pad of my right thumb - yet tonight is the night ... of all days ... that I choose to hand-sew our COUCH back together??! ARGH.

Sydni let me know that she has been attempting to travel the path of the sideswept bangs. It freaked me out because ... I have too, these past two weeks!! At my haircut two weeks ago I had the girl cut me some long bangs to train to the side. I'm not particularly happy with them, but ... whatever - they'll grow. Since Chic shared a picture of hers, I shared a picture of mine; we were dressed up this evening anyway, so - finally some GOOD timing. ;) They say evening light is a good time to take pictures. (shrug)