Sunday, March 29, 2009

Spring-y!


Even though there was snow on the ground this morning, it is all gone now and a blue sky is overhead. Here's hoping that this means that Spring will be out in full force soon. I have seen the first robins already; so it is close.

This post is to inform you that my Mom has been discharged from the hospital and is home! She was discharged two months from the day that she was admitted. What a long haul it was. She is now resting comfortably at home and building her strength back up. We were lucky that all of our family, friends, and nursing staff at the hospital took such good care of us. Thank you for all of your kind thoughts and deeds. I am hoping that I will be able to get back into the swing of normal life; which means updating my blog with more frequency. So, to that end, I will see you later this week!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sign up to Win! - Edited to announce the winner!

Please sign up to win this magazine. It is full of inspiration; especially the Christmas ornaments by Chris at Red Lead!!!! I will draw a winner on Sunday night and mail the magazine out on Monday. This is a "quick draw McGraw!" (Edited to add the winner: Well, 4 people signed up. I can't understand that random number picking site so I told Mike to pick a number between 1 and 4. Miked picked NUMBER 3 and that is Patti! I will mail this to you tomorrow Patti! Thanks for all who signed up. As you know I wish I had one to send to everyone.)

I am hoping that this is the last weekend I will have to visit my Mom in the hospital. She had her surgery this week and it went very well. She has been recovering from that kind of slowly; but everyday brings some improvement. Yesterday she had two cups of apple juice; her first oral intake in seven weeks! I can't wait for the day when we can just have a normal day of running around to antique shops or spend a day crafting. I will be sure to have my camera ready on that day!

I am almost finished with Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult. Excellent read! I am totally involved in this story. Speaking of books, I joined Paperbackswap.com. Here is how it works; you list books on the site that you are willing to send to other people. You get credits for books you send out. Then you can "spend" those credits to receive books from a huge list of books that are available. It is fun! The only cost is postage. I urge you to sign up! The more people that sign up the more varied book selection they will have. I have seen tons of books on there that I have read and loved.

Best wishes to all for a wonderful weekend!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

My Return to Polite Society

Today I met up with some gal pals to attend a reading/signing by author Jodi Picoult. We had a fabulous time talking, eating lunch, and then foisting books on each other. My friend Trish brought her niece Jessica. Pictured above is Jessica meeting Jodi Picoult. It was great because Jessica was so excited to meet her as she loves her books. It was really great to meet a teenager who is so into reading and is such a lovely young lady. She also has her own pet sitting business! This girl is going places I tell ya!
I am currently reading Jodi's new book and it is very good.
Another exciting part of the day was meeting and hanging out with fellow blogger Patti! Her blog is Creative Cottage Dreamer. Patti and I have emailed and I think we have tons in common. It was so very nice of her to join us for lunch and the book signing. I loved meeting her and I hope that we see more of each other. We both like to stamp, read and cross-stitch; so it is not like we don't have lots to talk about! (Pictured above me, Jessica and Patti).

My dear friend Sharon joined us too which was so wonderful. Sharon and I met up early so that we could arm bands for everyone to have their book signed. Also, not pictured are my friend Joyce, her daughter Hannah (another young lady who loves to read!), and her sister. There is nothing like being in the company of like-minded people to really inspire you. I just feel so happy to have spent time with all of these wonderful gals.
Here are Trish and Jessica still basking in the Jodi glow! We are all going to try to get together in May for a reading that Elizabeth Berg is doing.

On the health front, my Mom is still in the hospital. It has been 6 weeks. The light at the end of the tunnel can be seen though. Her surgery is scheduled for this coming Tuesday afternoon. My brother and I will both be there with her. This surgery should take care of things and then she should be on the mend and ready to go home soon. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, cards and flowers. It has really helped us to get through this time. I am hoping to get back to a regular blog schedule. I have missed being part of things.