Dear Contractors – Please don’t wait until the very last minute to call me and ask for clarifications. Why?  Because I won’t answer.  I have to be fair to all the bidders, and giving you extra info makes fairness less likely.  The bid opening is Wednesday, which means all of you should have looked at those plans and read the contract provisions by now.  Yes, Really.

Dear Caffeine – Hey!  I’m not missing you!

Dear Eczema – You itch and are driving me nuts.  Please go away.

Dear Christine – Thank you Thank you for the amazing new color!  I like being golden blonde much more than being greying-blonde.

Linking up with the Ladies at Suscipio.

::faithful

Praying for

• my friend Charlie, who is grieving the loss of his mother
• Michelle and Judy Darling, who are both holding on in their battles against breast cancer
• friends who have the flu, that they recover quickly and that it doesn’t spread through their households
• my husband and children

• more rain and cooling temperatures
• the family quickly falling back into the routines of school and work
• children who like love each other and actually say it out loud, every day
• The Architect asking Princess Pea to be his confirmation sponsor – my heart exploded with joy!

::healthy

Refocusing on my own health with simple things, like remembering to take my vitamins, getting enough sleep and scheduling time to exercise.  On the calendar. Yes, SCHEDULING exercise, because if it isn’t planned and written down, I tend to blow it off, and constantly ignoring the fact that a healthy body needs exercise will not help me live to be one hundred years old.

I’m also laying out a series of posts about Being a Good Steward of Ourselves to share over at Suscipio.  This should be exciting!

::creative

I have a pair of mitts on my knitting needles that need finishing, and I’m getting an itch to pull out the sewing machine and stitch something. Or maybe pull out the paper stock and work on our photo albums, which I haven’t done in eons.

::delicious

• Baked Potato Soup with Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
• Chili
• Chicken Cacciatore, Spinach Salad
• Garlic Lime Chicken, Broccoli and Wild Rice
• Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage and Zucchini
• Shepherd’s Pie
• Warm Spinach Salad with Chicken and Bacon, homemade Bread

::fun

The Architect has a race coming up soon, so we’re all doing training rides.  DirtBike is teaching Kasey how to fetch.  I’m more concerned with teaching her to respond to her own name and to NOT tinkle in the house.  Princess Pea is coming BACK home this weekend for the Confirmation Sponsor meeting!  That’s a good thing, because she can pick up all the stuff she forgot to take back, like the belt to her coat and her yoga pants.

::looking ahead

Well, it’s back to school, so we’re focusing on remembering our routines, getting homework done in a timely manner and finishing all the necessary studying before bedtime.  I have a prebid conference for a huge sewer project that I have out for bid, and there’s a day trip to way north Texas for me later this week.  I enjoy the driving time, because it’s quiet and I can listen to books, or I can crank up the music and sing at the top of my lungs!

Linking up at Suscipio – come join us!

Dear Weatherman –  Rain! Rain! Rain!  We had more rain this week than we’ve had in the past six months!  You ROCK!!

Dear Dean of the Math College at that Institution of Higher Learning Down South – You really messed up by dropping Princess Pea from her math and chemistry classes without notification, question or information.  You did redeem yourself by fixing the Chemistry class right away; your response to the math class issue was not as great.  You can NOT arbitrarily play with your students’ academic life, reducing them to part time status on a whim. Students like Princess Pea are working hard to get into other academic programs, and your shenanigans could put their transfer statuses into limbo.  You’re lucky it all worked out with Princess Pea, because you do NOT want me in your office raging like a Mama Tiger.

Dear Student at that Institution of Higher Learning Down South Who Dropped the Calculus Class at the Last Minute – Thank you.

Dear God – Thank you for the amazing Moment of Grace this week.  Thank you for that instant that Princess Pea logged on to buy a biology book, saw the slot in the Calculus class open up, and clicked on ‘register’ in the nanosecond the one seat in the class became available.  Thank you for that little miracle!

Linking up with the Ladies at Suscipio.