The letter and the spirit of the law - or I should pay better attention!

On Sunday JoAnn and I had this one-way (notice how I say one-say, which should give you a clue as to how it went) conversation about cleaning up her sewing room. It was getting to where you could hardly get in the room and it had been weeks and weeks since she last sewed in the room. Of course she was working on Mike & Allison's quilt and that did require more space, but while she was off doing that the material seemed to breed and multiply on her desk. So I put my foot down and said, I want that room clean. Yes, it hurt when I put my foot down.

I got home after a late class yesterday and walked by her sewing room and it was "beautifully clean." I was so impressed. I went into the living room to tell her so. She was busy at the dining room table cutting out material for her next projects (note that there is more than one project). I really wanted to let her know just how wonderful and clean and organized the room looked. And it did and does. She was gracious in receiving my appreciation, even though I probably should have been skewered for suggesting she do something when she has been so busy. So she met the spirit and letter of the request (not the law as I published in the title.

I'm really impressed. It's clean and ready to go. I hope I don't have to make my desk look this good.

I really didn't pay much attention to the rest of the living room until we got ready to sit down to a bowl of soup and as I looked around me, there were piles of material everywhere (maybe a slight over exaggeration). My first comment was, "So, we moved the material from the sewing room to here?" She quickly responded with a spirited, "Well yes, the room is clean, isn't it?" I was boxed, what could I say. So much for the spirit of cleaning - or at least that was what I thought. I could not have been more wrong. Oh, I was right about the material hanging around the living room couch, but wrong about why.

Later she shared with me all of the piles individually and intimately explaining how each was a project and what it would look like when completed. It took all my patience to get through this. She unfolded item after item and showed it to me. The whole time I'm telling myself, I don't need to see the whole thing, and finally I said that (I know, dumb idea). To which JoAnn responded, "I want to see it again, it's so beautiful." I was trapped, but also aware I had judged too soon. I wasn't looking at random piles of material located on the couch to avoid storing them. No, I was looking a multiple projects, all carefully thought out and organized. I know there is a lesson in there for me and someday I will have to ponder it out. For now I'm just happy I was wrong.

It looks pretty ugly, but I thought I took 2 photos. No just one and I could tell you it looks like this so you wouldn't know what they are - but you know me too well.

Catching up

It seems like just yesterday all the kids were in Idaho, but for me it's been almost 3 weeks and in that time I have not gotten any of the photos I took processed. I have been a little busy with work. That happens this time of the year. Students are thinking about the end of the semester and administrators (that's me) are trying to get everything done we put off the whole semester. Since I'm at the near bottom of the slide a lot seems to end up on my desk. Oh yes, I've had a couple of other projects too.

Most of the photos, and I'm still working on them are on my Flickr account (just click to see them), but I thought I would put a couple here to tease you. I'll get to the wedding photos tomorrow or later this weekend.

Mike and Allison keeping an eye on all the preparations.

We really came to see cute little Charlotte.

All of the getting ready for the wedding just wore me out! But Chas kept me company!

Lots of help writing

I'm sitting at my desk writing. JoAnn is out for the evening and I'm fighting a cold. However, it's a great time to be working on my book. It is due to the publisher at the end of the year. However, we have this cat. You know, the devil cat to everyone else and sometimes us. She has gotten into the habit of jumping up on my desk and if she can find paper laying on it and purring. It just so happens my cut sheets are 11x17, almost the perfect size for the cat.

I was about to quit for the evening and fix myself some chicken noodle soup, compliments of Albertsons - and yes it is pretty good! When who jumps up on my desktop? Whisper of course. First she sits right in front or me. It's difficult to type when her face is just above your left hand and she wants to be petted. Failing to pet her can result in a nip or bite. I can type with one hand, but it is really slow and even slower when one hand is trying to type and the other is occupied petting the cat.

When she had enough of that she moved t0 the left side of my "L" shaped desk and took up the whole 11 x 17 inches and spread across back into my working area. It's always nice to have a little inspiration, but she purrs almost as loud as some people snore (and no, I'm not referring to anyone in our family).

She is gone and I'm ready for dinner, plus I'm flat tired of writing today.

Granddaughters as Sweethearts

I was going to title this blog "princesses" until I read the definition and decided I didn't want to subject my grandchildren to the potential abuse the word princess could bring upon them, even though one of them continually tells us she is a princess. In fact, under the definitions of royalty, I do consider her a princess. To me they are all princesses and sweethearts, but to a 60 plus grandpa we hold different perceptions of terms and meanings than other people do. Hence, my use of princess is always an endearing one, not one of derision.

I am speaking of two of my eight sweethearts today. One young and one a little older. Our 3rd daughter had a little girl last week - Hattie CeCe. I have waited for what felt like an eternity for a photo. I had finally come to the conclusion that she was either two-headed or 12 toed, or had 3 arms and they didn't want me to see her. The real problem was that I left town without leaving the cables to the camera so my beloved could download the photos. Naturally it's grandpa's fault. I have broad shoulders, I can handle the abuse.

Yesterday I received 8 emails, each with about 8 high resolution photos. I have photos of Hattie CeCe now and my favorite is below. And yes, she is a royal princess and a sweetheart.

My second sweetheart is an almost tweener (those who are almost teens, but not quite). In fact she is probably better classified as a precocious tweener - not quite there, but a wanna be. She has her own email account and I love getting emails from her. They are usually in large print and every word is a different color. Well, I was a little slow responding to her last email and while I was not reprimanded I got a "vacation note" or what we typically call and out of the office and not available. But her note was the classiest I have ever received. I share it below.

"Sorry if I didn't e-mail you I am probably grounded or gone, I'll e-mail you as soon as I can, bye"

Grounded or gone? That describes life from the perspective of a child. They have a simple perspective and it is focused on levels of independence. As a pre-tweener it has 2 primary levels. Those things I can do and those thing I can't do. Of course the intermediate level is those things I didn't do I should have and those things I did that I shouldn't have - hence I'm grounded.

Ya gotta love them.