Wonderful Wednesday!

{can you feel the excitement?}

I was telling Jill yesterday that, even when I feel like I'm coping pretty well with motherhood and life in general, Wonderful Wednesday is always so very welcome. I was doing well on Monday, but then on Tuesday I felt like I was on a countdown for WW. Kind of similar, I guess, to the way Creative Friday always feels like it arrives not a moment too soon...

Eva was very excited as well, running around collecting toys to take to Jill's house. After Jill picked her up, I headed to the library to get an audiobook. I was listening to One Thousand White Women and had to return it; fortunately it was still there so I checked it out again. I also ran to Einstein's Bagels, as that was Lucas's only sick request.

It was such a glorious Spring day (finally!) and I lingered in the library's courtyard for awhile before returning home.

Then it was time to attack the mess my studio had become! I put in my audiobook, grabbed the large Sonic drink and homemade cookies that Jill brought (yes!), and got to work.

After about 3 hours of cleaning, organizing, and putting away, I surfaced. Max got home from school and was sick as well. So, 2 boys with fevers laying in the family room, miserable and shivering... I took a break and watched 2 episodes of Chuck with them. They watched the season finale of Season 1 and I went back downstairs.

Success! Of course, there are always more boxes and drawers that I need to sort through, and I didn't get to any purging yet, but the floor is clear and walkable and my desk is ready for creating! That always feels so good, I wonder how I so easily let it get out of control?

At this point, it was nearly 6:00 p.m. and I was expecting Jill and Eva at any second. I decided to sit down and get going on the invitations for Eva's party next week:

dumb photo, but I almost finished it by the time they pulled up! (Jill's cough announced their arrival, she's still got it.)

I put Eva to bed not too long after she came home, then we all watched the American Idol results show. Marc and I watched a movie and I knitted. It was another wonderful Wednesday!

Wonderful Wednesday!

I've been so excited for Wonderful Wednesday! When Jill arrived, I was in the midst of cleaning off the kitchen counter (I've been letting my filing pile up and was sorting it all into piles).

9:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

(note the new mixer's provisional home!)

I took some paperwork downstairs and then put the finishing touches on the recipe box for my dear neighbor Heidi (her birthday was in December, good grief!). Look familiar, Jane?

11:30 a.m.
After searching long and hard, I found some brush sets and fonts that seemed promising.

12:30 p.m.
Making good progress on my new tags!

1:30 p.m. Break to make lunch for Max, who is still sick, and for me.


2:30 Well on my way with another set of tags!

3:30 p.m.
put in a load of laundry
and picked up Lucas and some neighbors from school.

4:30 p.m.
had fun creating some ledger "papers", but I'm questioning whether they might be too ink intensive to really use much.

5:30 p.m.
Pulled soft pretzels out of the oven to share with Jill when she brought Eva home. (Recipe from Jordan's food blog.)

6:00 p.m.
Called Jill to see why they weren't back yet! She was killing time, trying to bring Eva back later. Can you believe? And then. Then she told me that Eva bit Ashley today! Bit her, on purpose, and didn't seem remorseful about it. I'm a little scarred by that. I had to leave at 6:15 to go to Enrichment, and I've been trying not to think about that little incident too much.

With the exception of the biting, it was truly a wonderful day.

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today was our second Wonderful Wednesday, and it was indeed wonderful.

I was feeling a bit paralyzed by the possibilities, but I just went with it, and I think I crammed a lot of good stuff in.


First I went to Barnes & Noble to browse at my leisure and use the gift card that Michelle gave me for Christmas. I took a large selection of potential books from my Goodreads to-read list, but that was pretty much a bust (can you believe they didn't have any of them?). I looked at a lot of knitting and sewing books, but didn't find anything that I had to have. Finally I decided to get some classics that I've been wanting to read. I got one of their scrumptious sugar cookies before I left:


Next, I went to Blockbuster to use a coupon I had for a free rental. Jessie has been trying to get me to watch Chuck, so I got the first disc of season 1.

Roberts was my next stop -- I wanted to pick up some cotton yarn.

Lastly, I went through Taco Hell (a guilty pleasure) for some lunch. (Jill brought me a Sonic diet Coke when she picked up Eva, oh happy day!)

I came home and settled in to eat and watch Chuck. I loved the pilot, but the second episode was a bit too slapstick for me. I'll see how I feel after episodes 3 & 4.

I kept myself on a strict Advil schedule (cramps).

After I finished my lunch, I picked up my knitting to practice some more. (Oh! I forgot to mention that Hannah came over on Monday to teach me the fundamentals of knitting! She came at 9:00, before Mya's dentist appointment, and showed me what to do amidst near-constant kid interruptions. She rocks.)

It's about 3-4 times as long now and I'm definitely feeling more comfortable. Lucas cannot figure out why I'm just knitting, not making an actual project... I think he's gunning for some fingerless gloves.

I took a break from knitting to eat this amazing ice cream that Hannah brought me last week! I've been saving it for a time when Eva was gone and I could just enjoy it. It's homemade burnt sugar ice cream, and I think she said it was her grandmother's recipe. Fabulous.

I had to run over to Max's school at one point for a parent-teacher conference. Not my first choice, but whatever.

I made a recipe of my grandma's French bread (got the recipe from her while talking on the phone yesterday). Lucas was thrilled, of course, he's our starchatarian.

I also did a couple of loads of laundry, prepped some recipes for my Laurels, and gathered ingredients for our cooking activity tonight.

Best of all, I was able to sleep through the night last night, so I wasn't tired and fighting the urge to take a nap!

Eva seems to have had a great day playing with Ashley at Jill's house and I had a great day playing by myself! Thanks for everything, Jill.

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today was our first Wonderful Wednesday and it was utterly fabulous!

Jill picked Eva up at 9:30. Lucas and I had been talking it up for days and Eva was prepped and excited and ready to go -- she spent the morning deciding what to put in her backpack for the big day. (stuffed dinosaurs, Hello Kitty lip gloss, a Land Before Time DVD, the tiniest farm animals in the world, an extra pair of underwear, and one Hot Wheels car)

We talked about talking nice and listening to Jill, and I hope it was successful. I am not sure if Jill would tell me if it were otherwise.

She was excited to be getting in Jill's car. As I went back into my house, I saw Jill taking a self-portrait with Eva -- that always gives me a little thrill.

Jill invited her niece Ashley over as well. Eva and Ashley have played before and gotten along, so that was just an added bonus for Eva! I love this photo -- they both have their backpacks and you can just see that they are both into the lip balm.

As for me, I was positively giddy! It's a good thing I had already planned to work on cleaning up my studio or I might have been overwhelmed and paralyzed by the possibilities.

It was in a pretty scary state, complete with post-Christmas chaos. I worked for a couple of hours and talked to Jessie on the phone.

I took a lunch break to eat the chicken and pasta salad that Jill brought me! This truly represents a labor of love, since Jill doesn't like chicken, and she certainly doesn't like cooking it/shredding it. I recognized the sacrifice here, and it was such a tasty lunch, especially since I didn't have to prepare it! Moulin Rouge happened to be on TV while I was eating, so I watched that for a little while.

Max was home sick today, but he made himself scarce by retreating to my bedroom and watching DVDs, so it still felt like I was home alone (the best vacation).

In addition to working in my studio, I also did some laundry, and at one point, when I was feeling sleepy, I dozed for almost an hour on the guest bed downstairs!

Ta-da! I still have a few odds and ends to deal with, but for the most part, order has been completely restored. So satisfying.

And would you believe that Jill didn't bring Eva back until after 6:00 p.m.?? She had fed her dinner and everything, so she hung out with the boys a bit and then we got ready for bed! I love this day.