Unexpected Freedom

What a weekend! My parents' anniversary party went off without a hitch, and a good time was had by all. It was a LONG day, we picked up tables and chairs at 9am, took them to my sister's house and set them up, came home to shower and get ready for the party and went back to her house, tore it all down when it was over, took the tables and chairs (8 tables, 64 chairs) back to the church and unloaded and then went to our older kids' softball game. We finally arrived home again around 10pm.

Sunday wasn't much different, we went to church, came home and packed up for a party at my brother-in-law's brother in law's house, we were there until 8 or so and then packed up for the hour or so ride home.

Yesterday was our planning meeting for the week. My husband's family is in town until Sunday. Once we made our list of "want to do" things and the actual schedule of meals and activities most of the group headed to the movies. I stayed here with Rebekah and Ruthie and started heating up food when they were on the way home. We had leftovers from the day before so dinner was easy. After dinner and visiting for a while, everyone left around 9pm.

Our oldest niece and her husband just moved into the area a couple of weeks ago, but they live 2 hours or so from here. Since today's activity is the Field Museum, she opted to stay here for the night. Here are the remnants of her bed. They all left at 8:15 this morning and aren't expected back until 4:00 or so, when we will converge here again for a barbeque. My house is showing signs of company, LOL, mostly in the form of coolers and cases of beverages in my kitchen (and the chairs all being scattered around the dining and sewing tables.) My husband's family is quite good at making sure anyone hosting is not left with a mess, which means at the end of the week my house will likely be even cleaner than it started. I keep telling them to leave the mess, that they are on vacation and I'm glad to clean up what few dishes, etc, we're using, but they say I'm on vacation too. I told them mine starts next week, which got a chuckle from my sister-in-law and mother-in-law.

The only ones who didn't go to the museum are Ruthie and I and our oldest son, who has to work until noon. I have to babysit this afternoon, which is the reason I gave for staying behind (and IS a big part of the reason) but part of the reason is I'm not good at running around every day and neither is Ruthie. She's handled all of this quite well so far, considering she has spent a good part of the last few days with people she hasn't seen in about a year and probably doesn't remember.

So today, I get to sew :) Setting up and taking down my machine is no big deal these days, I store it in the rolling case I bought for it a couple of years ago. When I know I'm going to be using it often, I just leave it up, but with company here for the week it was put away. A whole day to sew was worth pulling it out for and I've been pinning while waiting for things to load. I can quickly take it all down again as the cars start rolling in later this afternoon.

Tomorrow I'll be free until mid-afternoon, when I'll make an early supper and we'll pack up to go to a minor league baseball game. The whole group is going to this and it should be a lot of fun. With fireworks after the game and an hour ride home, it will be a bit on the late side but well worth it.

As an aside, Rebekah took her state boards for her cosmetology license and passed with a 93% score. She calls today to find out about a job she interviewed for last week. They told her to call back when she passes her test and she feels pretty confident they will offer her the job. Her interview included bringing a friend to do a haircut and partial highlights on and they said her highlights and cut were fantastic. I think they will be lucky to get her!

Today, I get to hang out with my sleepy girl and sew. And perhaps bake cookies. The sun is shining after thunderstorms off and on all day and night. For all the craziness going on this week, I hardly have to cook at all which does make it feel like a vacation even if our house is the gathering place. Life is good!

Happy Quilting!

Sue and Ruthie