PARTY!!!!! :D

It's Josiah's first birthday party today. He turned one yesterday, but the party was planned for the weekend when more people could come.

I doubt I'll catch up on my friends page until tomorrow, but I hope you all have a great weekend!

I've got to run. We've already got guests...

Getting Ready for Tomorrow's Party...Sort Of

Chelsey and I hung the decorations yesterday afternoon, with a little help from Jeff and the peanut gallery Eric. I'll try to get some pictures in a little while. Don't know when I'll get around to posting them, though...likely sometime after the actual party.

Please pray that the potential drama will be nonexistent. We want everyone who comes to remember it's Josiah's birthday party, not a time to bicker and fight or put each other down!

I've washed a load of laundry. It's the curtains to our bedroom, plus our sheets and a few other things. I'll need to fluff dry them. They've been sitting for a while.

Chelsey and I moved the bookcases into the guest room, then moved the books and everything on them. I rearranged them and brought my decorating books into the bedroom. It still looks a bit cluttered in here, but not quite claustrophobic. I still like my space, even though it's a small space.

I made a half gallon of Boston Iced Tea. It's really yummy! :P

Niki's lying at my feet, napping. She can be really cute and well-behaved sometimes.

Jeff's been under the house, working. His days off aren't really days off. *sigh* Well, tomorrow will have to be a day off for him. It's Josiah's first birthday party. ;) It's 95° right now...and feels like 104°! The bedroom is nice and cool, though. :D I hope Jeff can get out from under the house and come in to take a shower soon!

I don't think I'll get to do any writing today, but if I can make the time, I will. First, I have to finish catching up online and get the laundry out of the dryer.

Have a great afternoon and evening...and weekend!

Lois

Housework and Other Stuff

I'm hoping to do a little writing today. I also need to move my bookcases into the guest room...along with Jeff's tool boxes and some other things.

The weather's been hot and muggy here. It got up to at least 96° yesterday. We had some mild thunderstorms early this morning. And last night, when Jeff and I walked Niki, we had heat lightning. It was cool. The whole sky would light up, but there were hardly any clouds.

I just ordered a few art supplies with some of my birthday money- a book, a painting panel, and a few Prismacolor art markers. I look forward to getting them. :)

I'd better go now. I want to finish rearranging, then get busy writing. I also want to work on the scarf for the toilet tank I've been making.

Lois

I'm Beat!

I'm late, I know. I fixed Jeff's and my breakfasts for the next three days, then I started doing some rearranging. I moved my laptop table and drawing table into our bedroom, the love seat and a black table into the living room, then had to rearrange everything. Some things still need to be moved around, but for now, I'm done.

I won't be doing any writing today. I have other things I need to do. Hopefully, I can do some more writing tomorrow or Friday.

I'm fixing a slow cooker meal, so dinner prep is at a minimum. :) I'm hungry, though, so think I'll go get something to eat, then walk the dog, then take a bath/ shower.

Have a great afternoon!

Lois

I'm So Thankful that Yesterday Is Over With

I barely did anything yesterday. I wasn't feeling too great, so I tried to spend the day relaxing.

Today, I'll be doing some rearranging, and I'm going to try to weed out some stuff. I'm hoping to do a little writing...or at least jot down some notes I have for my new character, Harshad (Shad).

Josiah's birthday party is on Saturday, so we need to get the house ready for that. I just hope we have enough space for everyone to park. We're not even sure how many are coming. We haven't gotten very many R.S.V.P.s.

It's nice and sunny again today, but muggy, too. Our high is supposed to be about 94°, and we have a 20% chance of storms this afternoon. Hopefully, we won't get any rain, but we'll see.

Well, I'd better finish up on here so I can get started on my short To Do List.

Have a good day!

Lois

Harshad

I was busy yesterday. I baked my birthday cake, which came out great! :D I fixed Jeff's and my breakfasts for the next few days. I washed a ton of dishes. I washed four loads of laundry.

The most time-consuming thing I did all day was get caught up online. After not being on here Friday and Saturday, I had a lot to catch up on. But it's done (although I didn't go back as far as I could have), and I'm happy. :)

After dinner yesterday, I finally did some writing. Jeff went out to work on the lawn mower and do some mowing, so I got the chance to sit down with my prompt and get to work. It was great! I got to know a little bit about one of my newest characters, Harshad (Shad for short).

Shad is another tortured soul, but under normal circumstances, he's witty and charming with a great sense of humor and a loyalty unparalleled in the world. However, the piece I wrote last night was a more serious story that showed his relationship with his older brother, Abhay. Abhay was forced to raise Harshad after their parents died, but he hadn't known how to do the job. Instead of being an encouragement and an example to his younger brother, he beat him repeatedly and told him he was worthless. As a result, Shad left when he turned eighteen. After ten years of hardship and a life that was anything but simple and carefree, Shad returned home...

And I'll leave it at that, but I will say that Shad got what he was looking for...his brother's love, acceptance and understanding. His life isn't the cookie cutter fantasy he would like it to be, but knowing he has his brother to lean on gives him strength to go on.

Anyway, it looks like we'll have some rain today. I think I feel a new rain-inspired piece coming on. ;)

Have a great day! :D

Lois

It's My Birthday! :D

So far, today doesn't feel much like a birthday. Yesterday felt more like it. Jeff and I went out shopping...twice. The first time, we went to Sears to pick up a blade for his lawn mower. Then we went to Lowe's to pick up some parts for the kitchen sink and a wind turbine for the attic. Then we went to one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby, where I bought a decorative box, some charcoal colored wool blend yarn and two steel needles to use with my crochet projects. I bought those with the money Jeff's dad sent me. Then Jeff threw in some money, as well, and I bought a solid wood art supply box. It has a lift out tray with compartments for organizing supplies, as well as a tilt out palette holder. I also got a drawing set with three soft cover sketch pads, a hard bound sketch book, some graphite pencils, some charcoal pencils and sticks, a kneaded rubber eraser, a white plastic eraser and two pencil sharpeners (one is for the charcoal). To wind up that shopping trip, I also bought a super fine tip pen (.005 size) and a book on drawing and painting fairies, and an ink set with twelve different colors of India ink and a dropper (which he used my 40% off coupon for). I look forward to experimenting with them soon! :)

We had to go back out a second time to do our grocery shopping. We ran out of room to put things in the car! :P I also got a birthday check from my dad, and that's going into my checking account. The only thing I have planned for that money is the Prince: It's Showtime DVD, but there's a book on drawing fairies that I really want. If I can find it cheap enough, I may get that, too.

Today, I baked my birthday cake. I haven't done this in at least two years, but I've been wanting to make another Chocolate Chip Kahlua Cake, so I had to get the ingredients to make it. :) I sprinkled the top with powdered sugar, cardamom and Saigon cinnamon. I can't wait to try it! :D

I plan on doing some writing today. I'm using the Air1 Verse of the Day as a prompt to get me started on an idea I've had since I last worked on my Immortal Watchdogs timeline. I just need to figure out which character or characters I want to use.

Otherwise, I plan on relaxing with some crochet. I'm making coasters for Josiah's party. I'm also planning to make a scarf to go on the toilet tank in our bathroom. It will be a charcoal gray to match the towels and rugs we bought for our anniversary. I'll also try to do some reorganizing in our bedroom to make room for my two bookcases.

I'm hoping to paint a table this week. We have this black table with a drawer in it. I want to paint it off-white in a satin finish, then use some Victorian scrap to decoupage it. I don't know if I'll get to do that this week, but I'd really like to, since Josiah's party is next week. I'd like to have at least one nice thing in the living room besides the prints I have on the wall. ;) I don't know if Jeff will be okay with buying the paint and varnish this week or not, since we've done a lot of shopping already, but I have to ask. If not, I know I'll get to do it eventually, so I won't be too disappointed. :)

Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. I haven't been on here because I spent Friday crocheting and yesterday shopping. I'm back now, though, and I'll try to make more of an effort to post here on the weekends to come.

Have an awesome day!

Lois