You may remember my January 17 post "What is all this stuff and how did it get into my house?" Well, the situation has worsened. There is now 3 people's stuff in a house that was already overstuffed with 2 people's stuff. How in the world can this have happened? I was just beginning to clear out the clutter when my life turned an unexpected corner. Then my son moved into the house to help me out; help both of us out, really. Have you seen any of those television shows about people who hoard newspapers and such, how their homes are like labyrinths? My house looks a lot like that now. But we (Josh and I) are dealing with it slowly as he has the time and I have the inclination so I'm sure I'll be able to post a good report soon. Or eventually. I'm kind of taking things one day at a time right now, sometimes one hour at a time.

This is how special a son I have. It's been raining non-stop for several days here in Central Florida. Remember the song "Rainy Days and Mondays?" No sunshine for days in a row isn't good for my psyche, let alone my temperament. Last evening Josh came in from work, soaked and miserable, and said, "Hey, Mom! I brought you something." What he'd brought was a container of chopped liver and a loaf of New York rye bread. Amazing how a schmeer (or two or three) will cheer me up! Such a good boy!

Maybe you also remember my January 3 post, "Yes, it WAS a good year!" where I mentioned that my favorite niece was expecting her first and long awaited baby.

After a long, tough labor and then a C -section on May 8 that sweet little girl joined the family, which had an empty space longingly awaiting her. Mother and daughter are doing fine. Daddy is, of course, proud as punch and my sister is glorying in the joy of a new grandchild. I'm excited to have another whack at the pile of little girl fabric in my sewing room and the mass of baby themed embroidery designs on my computer. It's a good thing and, according to her maternal grandmother, Eliza is a good baby. Practically perfect, I suspect.

I had a real treat last weekend. My close and long-time embroidery friend, Dawn Wenner was part of a "sparkle-embroidery" cruise that was leaving from Port Canaveral. She came in 2 days early, so we had dinner together on Friday evening and I got to mingle with lots of old friends on Saturday. One of the gals brought along a quilt she had made using embroidery designs and applied cyrstals from Dawn's web site. It was so beautiful I was really glad that I always carry a little camera in my purse so I could take pictures to show you. Amazing, don't you think?

What as Ann been up to the past couple of weeks? Well, I bought a refrigerator and moved all the food into and the magnets onto the new refrigerator. I built a glass door cabinet from IKEA; have yet to assemble its pair. Where would I put it? I finished up with Social Security (Whew!) Drove round trip to Clearwater to visit another long time, at least a couple of years before AnnTheGran, embroidery friend, Lee Alpern. And, of course, spent time with friends last weekend. It was the first time I'd driven on the highway in as long as I can remember and I'm glad the kids made me get a GPS unit for the car. Just in case you were worried.

I think that's it for now. I'm glad I've gotten over my first "real" post since, well, you know. Until next time, y'all take care of each other. TTFN