MY LEISURELY BUSY WEEK...

Friday morning is here again and I have lots I want to do today so this is going to be quick! Yeah, right...lol.  (no really, it is!!)

I have had a leisurely busy (is that even possible? lol) week.  Let me explain what I mean by that. It is kind of a combination of relaxing and YET busy, lol.  It struck me the other day of how grateful I am for this season in my life.  It's like I am retired, and yet I have never really worked much outside of my home so I don't know what I am retired from.  Raising kids maybe?  Keeping the home fires burning?  I don't know.  I guess until hubby retires it won't really seem like I am.  But the bottom line is my days are WIDE open (most of the time!) to do with what I might like.  I can fill them with sewing, reading, Bible studies, lunching with friends, baking (though I try not to do much of that because it is of course it is then followed by eating), chatting on the phone or playing with grandkids.  And I LOVE it.  And I am sooo grateful for it.  Now don't get me wrong.  There are still dishes, cooking, keeping the house picked up, laundry, watering (takes longer than you think here in DRY California!), and running errands.  But honestly I have such a good system for these things, it doesn't take much of my time.  And let's face it, ALL of these things would still be here retired or not.  Soo my point in all of this is there are those times I feel a little guilty because so many it seems have soo much they MUST do.  But if there is one thing I have learned in this life it is how things can change in the blink of an eye.  I spent a couple years of my life recently in the day to day care of my mom and there wasn't time for much of anything else at all.  Looking back now I wish I had cherished those days a little more, complained less, and realized it was to be but a brief "season" in my life.  I had a dream about my mom last night and in it I was soo glad to see her and had soo much I wanted to say.  It was like I realized that she is gone, and yet I didn't...weird. But it hammered home again the truth that NOTHING stays the same.  Soo I guess what I am trying to say here is that while this is my pleasant lot in life right now, I intend to cherish and savor it and enjoy, and not waste any time feeling guilty.  So getting back to this week, I spent my time doing a pretty wide variety of things.  I am knee deep right now in the Beth Moore's study of the book of Daniel (which I know I have mentioned a couple of times) and honestly it soo good.  It has caused me to take a good, long look around me and trust me some changes are coming.  But having the time to DIG DEEP into this study is a blessing I appreciate.  And "some time" it has taken me that is for sure, lol.  The homework has gotten a little more difficult the further and further into the study I have gotten, and I have found myself listening sometimes to the lesson she teaches more than one time...soo much information, but I have just thoroughly enjoyed it.  And then I have begun a little spring cleaning as well.  Used to enjoy this a lot more than I do now, but I think my knees play a part in that, or at least it is the excuse I am giving, lol.  I WANT it done, and it NEEDS it done, so I press on but can't say that is my favorite thing to be "doing" right now.  I also took a day and went and saw my new great nephew.  What a little doll.  Soo sweet and soo tiny and soo perfect.  I held him and rocked and enjoyed conversation and a nice lunch with my niece and my sister.  I am glad I am able to take advantage of this chance to spend time with them, as she will go back to work soon, and it will be harder to do.

HOW SWEET IS HE?

I also spent some time at the sewing machine...I know, SHOCKER, lol.  But I do enjoy it so.  I decided to make some new spring dresses for my grand daughters.  Now if I keep this brief I won't be able to tell you the little story behind one of the dresses...so maybe this won't be quick after-all, lol.  I USED to sew with knit all the time.  Back when I made almost everything Melody wore, and lots and lots of tops, shorts, etc. for me too.  But then it seemed as if you couldn't find pretty printed knit anywhere.  They just didn't have any.  Well, suddenly it has come back!  There is all kinds of really cute, pretty knit fabric for little girls and I have been itching to get my hands on it. And the fact that Capri PREFERS to wear only knit made it seem all the better.  So I found a pattern for "knit" (again, not many of these anymore) little dress and bought one for both her and Donatella.  And then bought some of the darling fabric (that was on sale too!) for both of them.  I could hardly wait to get started.  Well.....it had been a while and I made a couple of "rookie" mistakes with it...sigh.  But I finally got Capri's dress done yesterday, and Donatella's "should" whip together pretty fast this morning now.  I LOVE the way the dress turned out, and I can't wait to see if it fits her well and she likes it.  Here it is....

NICE FULL SKIRT

CLOSER LOOK AT THE DARLING FABRIC

Other than that I guess there is nothing more to report.  I do have a few SUPER cute pictures I just have to share...again, I know SHOCKER, but they really are cute.

SAM ON HIS INSPECTION OF THE COWS ON HIS JOHN DEERE TRIKE.  IS THIS JUST THE CUTEST THING YOU EVER SAW?  OH, THE LIFE OF A LITTLE FARMER BOY

MEL GLANCED OUT THE KITCHEN WINDOW AND SAW NEWLY POTTY TRAINED SAM DOING THIS, LOL, AND ASKED HIM, "SAM, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"AND HE INNOCENTLY AND QUICKLY ANSWERED, "OH, I GO POTTY ON THE GRASS MAMA"  LOL  AGAIN, THE LIFE OF A LITTLE FARMER BOY!

VINNY'S TURN WITH SPAGHETTI, LOL


And then hubby put together a little video of Sam on one of his many walks he took with grandpa while he was here in California.  Sooo cute.  I am missed them all right now



Hope you all have a good week-end.  We are suppose to cool way down into the lower 70's again and I am soo glad.  PLENTY of time before we should be sizzling in the 90's!  Blessings to you all! Debbie