We heard from Phil last night that Grandma Wilma’s in the hospital again with fluid in (around?) her lungs. John hasn’t talked to her yet because it was nearly 10 Florida time last night when Phil reached us. This led to calling Ruth, John’s other sister — somehow I talk to family more when there’s a crisis than when there’s something good going on. I think I need to adjust my Sunday Calls to Family to include more than just mom. Having just visited all St Louis family, it’s fresh in my mind. Keeping in touch is trickier than it seems some how. Actually doing more than just thinking of calling takes coordination. I haven’t talked to Phil for at least a month though, and it may have been a year since I talked to Ruth. John talks to them about that often too, although I’ve always figured that has something to do with being male and using the telephone.

I haven’t posted any of my pictures from St Louis yet. I spent the weekend slowly putting things on the computer back the way they were before the computer was upgraded from old to new. Among other things my itunes program got moved. In the process it found more songs than actually fit on my ipod, and lost some that were already on my ipod, so I recreated and rearranged things by hand. Now I just have to convince it do put them where I want them to go. The new computer is much faster and snazzier than the old one was, which is exciting, and the CPU glows green, which takes a little getting used to. Its in a room by itself at night, which is good.

We also rearranged things in the house this weekend. John did house cleaning while Logan and I were gone, making things clear enough to finally move furniture around a bit. The house is now more open, and with luck will be a little warmer in the winter when sitting in direct line with the wood stove can make a difference. We shifted the buffet from one side of the dutch door to another and moved a recliner to where the buffet had been. It doesn’t mean much without pictures, but perhaps I’ll take a picture later on. It looks good now. Logan asked to have our table made small and round again, which fits well, but looks very small. It’s the same table I grew up with with a removable leaf in the center. One that Grandpa Marble and Uncle Curt worked on at some time in the past I believe.

Logan’s first day of school is today. I’ve woken up horridly early, but that should make getting her up on time a little easier. John sewed her a tote bag for the things she has to have at school according to the color theme mentioned in the teacher (red, white, or yellow) only to find when we got there that the teacher had put in a theme because she thought people would ask more than because she was attached to the idea. However I think that the LL Bean Backpack from last year (from some long ago purchase that Logan unearthed for last year) wasn’t what the teacher had in mind. And the white and yellow tote bag is pretty and works well. After having had it requested to be there by a week ago yesterday, and getting it there late because we didn’t go (that was the day we came home from St Louis), it was a little disappointing to get to the Parent Evening on Tuesday and not see other bags already on their hooks. I had been in a panic that they’d all been due and ours wasn’t ready yet. The idea is that everything is there already when the kids start school, and I’ve always gone with that. We get Logan’s stuff there ahead of time as requested. John took off work extra early on Tuesday so he could sew the bag because it got missed on the weekend. I figured the others, or the majority of them would already be there. Ha.

Logan’s wearing her white and pink dress from the last day of school again for the first day. We’ve cut up a small man’s t-shirt to use as a slip under it, because the fabric is transparent, and then she’s also adding a regular t-shirt to protect her arms from the scratchy sequins. She loves the sparkly fabric that Wilma chooses, even though it prickles her skin. Shopping for a girls slip has failed twice now, and I should have just made one over the summer, but some how, I missed that idea during summer. Evidently little girls slips aren’t needed much any more. Neither J C Penney’s nor Macy’s carried them in the store. The mall specialty stores didn’t have them. Some did refer me to the expensive specialty store, but the last I checked it stopped a couple sizes smaller than Logan. Some suggested Target, but I’ve never seen slips there. Logan’s taking a change of clothes for later in the day, which I always endorse with a white dress, so I’ll get pictures early, I hope, and leave it at that. Today is the assembly and then everything ends at 12:30 with pizza time, because it’s Thursday. That means lots of play time before we go eat lunch, but I’ll pack snacks.

If anyone’s tried to phone us, our home phone is out of order, I started to call it in last night and realized we hadn’t actually physically checked each of the land lines to make sure they were hung up properly. So this morning we’ll check the last one and then call it in. Call my cell or John’s work if you need us. It is possible to check the voice mail when the phone is out, we just don’t know to do it, because the phone never rings here.

Filed under: life, hallmarks, school, family