Much Better

Ozzie would rather have sun in his eyes.

He went from gazing at the fireplace to 90 degree weather in a couple days.

The Girls are Home

It happened again like so many times in the past. 

Two girls came in, then another and another and before long the house resounded with the joyful, often missed sound of laughter and chatter - as they caught up on the days, weeks and months of college in different cities with new friends and some of the same ones too.  

I savored the moment - the Central girls together again, then went upstairs so they could disclose secrets not for a mother's ears. I savored the moment because Saturday Katie leaves to study in Europe and the house will be quiet until she...and the girls come home again.

A Fireplace Day in late May

First the downpours came, dark and heavy, the kind of spring rain that pops the heads off tulips and creates rivulets of rainwater in the grassy ditch.

The temperatures dropped to 45 degrees, the air conditioning turned off and the heat came back on. The fireplace, which stood cold all winter in our absence, was a reminder that 80 and 90 degree days are fleeting pleasures this time of the year.

Ozzie (our snowbird kitty) is mesmerized by the flames, but even he would rather be outside.

The Promise

After a brief but welcome string of warm and sunny days,

 the weather turned wet and blustery again as if 

She 

 a righteous and faith-filled woman,

 the beloved of one strong and adoring husband, 

 the proud and protective mother of four tall and handsome sons

 is weeping 

at the reality of leaving them and their earthy home too soon

but not forever. 

Happy (God) Mother's Day

My children were miles away this Mother's Day
but here we are celebrating a very happy
graduation day with our Godson

It's easier to ...than buy an iPad 2

  

Ha I wish I could!

Day 1 -- I went to the Apple Store and asked for an iPad 2 demonstration.  I spent close to an hour with a very enthusiastic Brit who waited a year to be hired by Apple because he loves the products so much.  I told him my husband offered to buy one for my birthday and Mother's day (five days away).

Day 2 -- The Apple Store opens at 10 a.m. or so I saw posted online. Jeff and I were there a few minutes before only to be told that the shipment from that morning was gone. Gone? Wasn't the (already packed) Oak Brook store just opening for the day? That's when we learned, the Apple people in the bright blue shirts open the doors by 8 a.m and buyers line up by 7 to 7:30 a.m. for a number to buy one of the who knows how many iPad 2's came in.

That day I discovered it's easier to...
  get the oil in my car changed than buy an iPad 2
  have an eye exam, pick out new glasses and pick them up a few hours later than buy an iPad 2
  walk to town and back than buy an iPad 2
  help pack up a friend's entire kitchen than buy an iPad 2

Day 3 -- Out of bed by 6:30 a.m. On our way to the Apple Store by 7 a.m., coffee in hand and feeling pretty confident we'd beat the rush. We expected to wait a bit outside, but again the store was open early around 7:30 a.m. with people inside getting private instruction.  We were let in, only to be told that there was no shipment yet that day, but don't worry if a shipment arrives later in the day, they hold it until the next morning so folks who wander in mid-day or evening don't get priority over those of us who get up early and stand in line. So come on back tomorrow, same time, same place.

Tomorrow we're leaving early for Memphis so we did what any now desperate iPad 2 junkie does. We got the Apple Store address in Germantown and will swing by on our way in to see if the iPad 2 is as popular in the Memphis suburb as it is in Chicagoland.

Today I discovered it's easier to...
  make a lemon pie from scratch with fresh squeezed lemons than buy an iPad 2
  pack for vacation than buy an iPad 2
  transfer hundreds of photos to an jump drive than buy an iPad 2
  make dinner for company than buy an iPad 2

Day 4 -- We arrived in Memphis about 3 p.m. Friday and drove straight the the Apple Store, only to be told that they too were waiting for a new shipment and to try again tomorrow, not quite as early as Oak Brook but still before opening.

 I discovered it's easier to...
    drive eight hours from Hinsdale to Memphis than buy an iPad 2

Day 5 -- One day before Mother's Day (five days 'til my birthday), Jeff was determined to have another go at it.  He and Tom went to the Apple Store around 8 a.m. and came back with a sad face, saying you have to be a Memphis resident to purchase an iPad 2, to which Anne Marie replied Tom's a resident.
Just Jeff kidding around!  He pulled out the coveted ticket with the caveat that we return before the store opens to line up with all the others.  If I was ever on the fence about the iPad 2, by now I really really really wanted one.  To quote the bard, "All's well that ends well".   I got my iPad 2, but still discovered a couple things in the process.

I discovered it's easier to ...
  confidently walk up ticket in hand for your exact model instead of taking a chance, like the man who  bought his wife a slightly better Mother's Day gift than he expected
I also discovered it's easy to...
  spend so much time in an Apple store that a sunny Memphis day can turn cool and rainy.

Fast friends waiting to go in

My sales associate Bridgid