AT HOME, FOR THE DURATION

We had friends for dinner on the porch last night.

Ah-h-h... Routine. I love it. And then, I don't.

This week I'm craving routine--morning walks, some yoga, some shopping, lots of reading, some repair guys... A week at home when I'd not planned to be home. Lovely.

CA is in Central Illinois with his mom. She was discharged from the nursing home today to continue her shoulder replacement rehab at home. Unlike her (2) hip replacements, the physical therapy part of the rehab doesn't start until the arm has been immobilized for five weeks. So, he'll get her re-settled at home, do the grocery shopping and errands--including picking LFW up at the airport tomorrow when she arrives for a 5 day visit. He'll come home on Thursday.

Until then, I'm on my own and planning to get stuff done and also do a lot of lingering.

The HUGE PROJECT will move forward soon. The new beds arrive on Friday, and on Wednesday the hardwood floor guy comes for an estimate. Until we see how the new wood floor(s) open things up, we can't quite imagine how the furniture arrangement will truly work. The plan is to have two seating areas in the great room--open, yet somewhat defined by the placement of wooden borders. There will eventually be a rug in one or both of the seating areas. I've been doing some legwork looking at upholstery fabrics, but am anxious to see what DV has chosen for my perusal. She comes on Thursday.

Tomorrow I take the BMW to the repair shop for a look at the damages from a Starbucks drive-through incident last week. Nice lady and nice insurance company. So far we're expecting it to cost at least $2800. Glad it's her deductible and not mine. Third time I've been hit in a year. Give me a break!

D and M, in Bratislava, will be moving out of their lovely home in a couple of weeks. After a summer in the mountains for M and girls, while D is coaching the Slovak National Baseball team, they'll relocate to Orlando, FL for a year. So, we get to meet them in Orlando in August--just after the new baby boy is born in Omaha. He and his mama take precedence, but there's plenty of love and attention for all of them.

CA has reneged on his agreement to cut back on his coaching... A month or so ago he said he'd be willing to cut out the Fall coaching, but when we were discussing renting a house in France in 2012, he said it'd have to be after mid-October... The money is a nice benefit, but I really, really want to be in France in September and October rather than November and December. We shall see. We shall negotiate.

It is suddenly summer, with no spring to reflect back on. Oh, right. We had a day or two scattered amongst the lingering winter.