Another Week Down

Where does our time go? Every morning we are up with good intentions of getting so much done, and then suddenly it is dinnertime. But we made it through another week, surviving the week of zero balance in our bank account with no major troubles.

Monday it was cloudy, foggy, cold and rainy. A great day to stay inside and read a lot. We finished the first book in The Spiderwick Chronicle series. Mary has become so interested in this series that she insisted we make a trip to the library on Tuesday.

Thankfully, Tuesday was beautiful and warmish so we walked, Mary and Katie rode their scooters. We stopped and looked at the leaves, picking out several prime candidates to add to our leaf collection. At the library we joined several other families in just picking a big stack of picture books and finding a quiet corner to read in. I love our library. It isn't just some place to stop in and pick up books. You can stay and put your feet up, explore, engage and just enjoy. Alas, Emily went off to her own corner for, as she puts it "some privacy please", it was time to grab our load of books and go home before someone started following us around with a can of air freshener.

On the way home we came across some discarded branches from someone's Christmas tree. Deciding that we could make a great display on our mantle with them, we picked them up and brought home. So far, they are still sitting on our front porch. I got the mantle mostly cleared off, but need to dust -- and just have not gotten there yet.

Wednesday was Mary's piano lesson. This week they got two sheets of Christmas music to practice. She has almost nailed Jolly Old St. Nicholas, and is working on We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells - which both require two-hands simultaneously. But, she is practicing without any pushing by me - so it is good!!

After piano my MIL came by and picked up Mary and Katie to take them shopping for new Sunday dresses. I wished her luck, as I have looked and there isn't much out there for girls. She did find something for Katie, but Mary is difficult. Her size is really popular and the dresses are, well, yucky. It required a second trip on Thursday with just Mary to find something that was okay.

The timing was good, though. Mary had been invited to a special Manners Class taught be a friend of ours. It was a holiday party/manners class for her two daughters and we didn't have to pay the full fee, only having to chip in for the room rental and dinner. Last night Mary went downtown to one of the 'nicer' restaurants, which happened to be on the 28th floor of the building (apparently that was a big deal). Where they had a four-course meal and got tips on nice table manners. This was one of those dress-up occasions and Mary had just the right dress.


The best part was when she got home and we snuggled and she shared what they had to eat, talked about the bathroom and how it had all these perfumes and warm finger towels. She explained how one talks with mouth in their mouth and when your elbows can rest on the table.

Today is errand day. Our bank account has been refreshed and we are heading to Aldis to pick up supplies for the month. I received my new book The Last Child in the Woods yesterday so I am going to curl up with that as much as I am allowed. I already know that I will be writing about this book and encouraging anybody to find a copy of it.

Peace,

Amy