Big goings on...

Wow! how things can change in a week! The craziest thing happened! And I mean CRAZY! I had a tooth pulled on Monday. No, that wasn't so crazy 'cause it was needing out of there. But as I was loafing that evening, I get a call from my Aunt Dottie. (I am super close to all my aunts- they are just the greatest.)

*Poor baby had broken her foot! She was doing OK, but there was a complication- she was planning this big trip and now the dr was saying she couldn't go! She was so dissappointed, but even more so when she found out it was too late notice for a refund! $2200 down the drain. Did I want to take her place? splutter splutter cough cough! Whoa, dude!

*So she gave me the low down and the only two down sides was the fact that I'd have to buy my own airplane tickets and I'd be gone 9 days! oh, and I had to leave in 3 days! Whoa Nelly! as my ds Joe says. I thought about it, talked to Bill about it... and just felt a bit overwhelmed. I decided that there wasn't any way I could go- I mean, did I even have time to make arrangements for the kids? Could Bill live without me that long?-I'll tell ya, that was the biggest question in my mind. He is very self-sufficient- especially with the kids- a real hands-on kinda guy, but we are very best friends and he gets lonely! So I called her and said I was so sorry, but I just didn't see how I could go. (Guys I'll let you in on a big secret. I am the biggest homebody you are likely to ever meet. I love my home and my family and I get just giddy when I know that I don't have to walk out that door and get in a car for a whole day. Just being here makes me soooo happy.)

*Plus, just to get things even more complictaed, BOTH of my parents were having angioplasty done on Tuesday and Wednesday. (By the way, they both did very well and are expected to go home, this morning.) I think my brain was still a bit fuzzy from the tooth extraction. Well, I slept on it and when I woke up in the morning, I had a new perspective. It could be a whole lot of fun. Buckets of fun. Who couldn't use an all-expense paid vacation? So I'm going! Shocked, aren't you? Not as shocked as I am and as the people who know me are. So ya wanna know where I am going?

"On the road to Boston." That's an old bluegrass tune. Well, I'm flying to Boston, Friday. And from there I am joining my Aunt Dottie's best friend, Debbie- they were going together- and a tour group- of only 11 people, and we are going up the northeastern seaboard all the way to Canada to see a bunch of lighthouses. There will be three boat rides and a couple historical landmarks, besides. All my meals are included and we'll be staying in real nice hotels, too. Bill says that maybe it 's a good thing that I am going without him. He says one lighthouse might be interesting, but do you really need to see 20? Oh, I don't know. Coming from a land-locked state, I've never given lighthouses much thought! Aside from the occasional hymn at church...I suppose I have only thought of them allegorically! So now I'll be finding out if I like them! I really think I shall as I love anything old and still practical. Plus, I'll be eating lobster- for the first time, and sailing on a boat on the ocean, and meeting a lot of new people- something I love doing and find a bit challenging if I am staying home all the time! So, bon voyage! I'll be back on the 15th. I see a lighthouse quilt in my future!

Speaking of old and still practical... My computer is up and running again, but I still haven't figured out how to upload pictures from my camera... so I was browsing through my old pictures and found this one that I never posted. Sarah's Mom sent me these adorable little 3" bowties. I'm not sure of their origins, but she knows I like to use up little bits and pieces. This is one of the wallhangings I made from them. I liked the funky 1940's green- seemed to like each other. I made another one in a soft yellow for Sarah when she was here for our birthdays. I quilted this one in little random baptist fans...hmmmm baptist fans... who do you think it was for? Yep, Darcie- one of the very sweetest people I know.