Preparing for A to Z

I have been pretty blog quiet. I've been tied up with company, various events and wedding preparations ... including the lovely shower for my soon to be daughter-in-law. It has been a busy month.

But the Blog event called A to Z will be firing up on April 1st and I will be participating. Hope you will be hanging around for the event.

I am trying to catch up on all your back blog postings - all 450+ postings (not the biggest back log I have ever had, but close.)

Back on April 1st!

Milo

Milo - trying to recover from his weekend at Grandma's.

The picture sort of says it all!!

Sleepless Sleep Overs

My daughter and I joke about our "sleepless sleep-overs" with the three grand-dogs. Last night was a sleep-over night.

A typical "sleepless sleep over" looks something like this ...

9:00 pm - take the three dogs out for their last walk of the night (Ha!!) Humans pull up the water bowl.

11:00 pm - take the three dogs out for a short pee walk just before the humans climb into bed.

12:30 am - Meaty gets up, wanders around the first floor, snorting a bit, checking for water, stops at the top of the steps to the front door, stands and stares for awhile, goes down the 4 steps to continue the "stare" in earnest aimed the closed door. Usually we hear the sound of bully dog feet landing heavily on each step and canine nails on the ceramic tile foyer. Humans figure it is better to get up and give him one last pee so we can sleep the rest of the night. While putting his collar on, the other two decide to join him. *sigh*

3:00 am - Meaty gets up, ditto, ditto, ditto, to the "12:30 am preamble journey" to the front door in the exact same order with the exact same sound effects. The other 2 dogs drag themselves out of bed ... because why not, you never know when you will get to pee again.

4:30 am - Meaty gets up, (you know the by drill now - the look and sound never changes), except that by 4:30 the other 2 dogs have caught onto the fact that Meaty either has prostate problems or is demented! Either is possible. But the grumbly humans keep up the same routine, because they are clearly demented.

6:30 am - (The normal get-up time for Meaty when he is with papa!) Meaty gets up! Everyone gets up! The dogs are chipper, happy to see the sun, eager for their regular morning walk around the block and a yummy breakfast, ready to greet the new day with joy and enthusiasm.

The humans ... not so much.

Last night ??

Meaty was off his game! Went to bed at 9:00 pm - got up at 6:30 am!!

I wonder if he is ill ...

The Dress

Clasp at the neck of the jacket

Last weekend was supposed to be the great wailing and gnashing of teeth - tears and frustration - as I struggled to find a fancy something to wear to my son's wedding.

Shoulder of the jacket

I can't remember the last time I had to really dress up. And if a business attire was required, a suit was adequate.

So getting this dress caused me some distress. No experience at picking out this kind of clothing. No experience at wearing this kind of clothing. No experience usually equals mistakes. And I couldn't afford a mistake at my son's wedding.

Anxiety!

The sleeve of the jacket

So we went to Nordstomes and Lord and Taylor - both places had pretty good selections - things I could actually see myself wearing. I was less anxious.

At Lord and Taylor we found the perfect mother-of-the-groom solution.

Neck at the back.

Separates - and not a dress at all.

• A shell top. Good for May if it is warm.
• A matching long sleeve jacket with an attractive neck for someone who will be 65 years old (if you know what I mean.) Good for May if it is cool.
• A skirt that isn't a skirt at all. Good for a woman who is more comfortable in pants.

The shell and the jacket are black knit with embroidered silver thread trim throughout, very sparkly - a lot of sparkle for me personally, but my daughter assured me it was great. And standing beside my husband in his Tux, I won't be an embarrassment. The pictures don't capture the silver reflection as much as it is in reality.

The "skirt" is loose flowing sheer black pants that look like a skirt if you stand still. Over the pants are 4 sheer flowing panels that give a further impression of a skirt when moving. The hem is tea length - more mid calf. I am sure this style has a name, but it is just not part of my "causal clothing" vocabulary.

Hem of the jacket.

Guess you figured out by now that I won't be providing a full picture. Snippets is all you are going to see until the Wedding Day. Unless I am fully done up (hair, make up, shoes ... etc.) a picture wouldn't do justice anyway.

Still need to buy shoes (no heels for me - maybe some patten leather flats) and figure out what to do with my short hair. But the big "dress" mountain is now behind me.

Final note: It is an evening wedding, the color theme is purple and green for the decorations and the attendants dresses are black. When I told my mom I was wearing black she had an expression of disbelief! I had to explain that black was one of the new in-colors for a wedding - especially an evening wedding! I don't think she understood. And every time since then, when she asks about my outfit, I have to explain all over again. I will show the outfit to her in advance. I think she will understand better when she sees my outfit. If definitely is not something you would wear to a funeral! :-)

Blog Hiatus?? Is that what I did?

My blog life has slowed considerably of late. It is sort of like I took an unannounced blog hiatus ... and discovered it only after it existed. Don't know what that is about. What once blogging took up several hours each day, and now barely finds time in the week.

Is it a sign that my life has changed dramatically in some very quiet way? The blog, which once held my link to the world beyond my four walls, that blog now competes for time and space with other activities.

It is like the vacuum of time left by my mom's move has been filled with a new set of commitments, some of which look the same but are just ordered differently than before.

I often said that I could filled my days with activities that took me from the house, but because mom was here, I had to hold back. Now she is not here, and the subtle creep of those activities sneaking in are filling up my days.

I think the next big challenge is to put constraints around my life, put limits on how I use time and keep things more simple. For so long mom was my constraint. It kept me in check. It kept things simple, direct, focused.

But now I remember ... It is a great failing of mine to over commit, to fill up all the spaces of my life with activity and not leave enough time to "just be." And I also remember ... that behavior adds stress to my life.

So was this a hiatus, or just a wake up call that I need to be better at using my time.

Anyway, I have missed being here.

Next blog post? I got my dress for the wedding!

Bubbles Update

Miraculously ...

my laptop booted up this morning.

So my husband and I spent some quality time together

backing everything up to an external drive ...

since we might not be out of the woods yet.

I have heard of Apple equipment

that got totally wet,

dried out

and worked fine for a few months

until at a later date

it died the expected death!

But for now, my computer files are

cleaned up

and

backed up.

I am a happy camper!

As for how the bubbles got on the computer?

These bubbles were Cat Nip Bubbles used to entertain our felines.

They fell out of a kitchen cabinet

on to the lap top,

popped open,

and

created a big wet mess!

(In more ways than one.)