A Few Spring Things

Lots of people have been asking about my mom, so I'll start with that. She has been doing quite well. The medicines she has been taking have been helpful for the pain. She still tires very easily, but she does have more energy. I saw her on Friday, which was the most beautiful spring day we've had all year--in the 80s--and we walked a few blocks together. That's huge. It looks as though we are going to get that window of time where she is feeling a bit better. As well, she routinely gets annoyed with my dad, who she feels is overprotecting her (at the same time of course being thankful for his wonderful care. But still.) It's comforting to me to know that even after 43 years of marriage and being on your way out of this world, you're still going to fight with your husband.

After I saw her on Friday, that evening I lost my voice. That was the harbinger of this dreadful upper respiratory crud that has been lingering on and on for me. Each day I wake up looking and feeling like twelve miles of bad road. Fortunately, it's been cold and rainy since Saturday so I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

This morning I was in the girls' room, making Elaine's bed and barking out orders to both of them, particularly Lucy, who does all her morning responsilibites like she's moving through epoxy.

"Mom," she asked. "Could you please get a little happiness in your heart?"

Indeed.

My highlight over the weekend was changing from my winter purse to my summer purse.

Here's the winter one. Doesn't it look forlorn?



Here is the majority of its contents, sans wallet and glasses (yes, note the Target receipt on top):



Now, here is the interior of my summer purse. It will never look like this again, so it needs to be recorded for posterity:



And here is my dear Japanese bag; ahh, how I've missed you. Welcome back!



In other news, Elaine has a new tradition each morning. She climbs up on the kitchen stool and eats a carton of yogurt. Then she opens up my utensil drawer and plays music on the instruments for about 30 minutes. She takes requests too.



Then she takes out the mushroom brush and brushes her dolls' hair with it.

And in the midst of being sick and taking care of the girls and working around the house and wrapping next month's issue of the magazine and making lots of trips to the library and reading like a madwoman, I got a new freelance venture that is very exciting and I'll tell more about in the weeks to come.

Basically, my life looks like the interior of my purse (the winter one).