MIA

Where have I been? My goodness... it's been a long time since I've written... mostly thanks to a lovely stomach bug that kept me in bed for an entire day and made me very tired all weekend. But I am mostly back in action and what a whirlwind of activity I was... I got the girls up, dressed, and Michaela on the school bus, talked to my mom and Dan on the phone, paid bills, RSVP'd for a father/daughter dance for M and Dan to go to next month, checked out the new Bed, Bath and Beyond store in town, mailed away a package to a friend (Carrie, be watching your mailbox!!), wrote some emails, made a dentist appointment for Jenna, refilled prescriptions for flouride for the girls, made haircut appointments for the three females in the house for next week, heard all about Valerie Bertinelli's life on Oprah, bought a book of stamps, caught up on my favorite blogs, enjoyed a salad at McDonald's, and videotaped Jenna doing her own rendition of "Bop to the Top" while wearing Michaela's blue dress AND the silver shoes (hoping to post that soon!).

That's why I love Mondays... a fresh start to the week.

We had a nice weekend... Michaela wanted to do a Project on Sunday so we headed down to Walmart and bought various craft supplies and made finger puppets out of an old glove. Each finger represents one of us in our family, complete with yarn hair and ribbon and felt clothing. It was fun to do and got out some of my creative energy.
Dan did a Project on Sunday, too: he put a little WD40 on a creaky hinge on his armoire and now it is silent as night. Heaven. For years that hinge has woke me up every morning as Dan is getting dressed and I am trying to eke out my last 30 minutes of sleep before Jenna, my human alarm clock, wakes up and starts crying.

Sometimes it is the smallest of things that brings such great joy.

Other highlights:
- Saw Michael Clayton and LOVED, loved, loved, loved it. Go rent it. Tonight.
- Saw House of Sand and Fog and liked it but was very haunted by it. What a tragic story.
- Finished reading a Judy-recommended book, Abide with Me, and loved it. It's about a 1950's rural New England minister who is coping with the loss of his wife a year before. A great book about small towns and crises of faith.