I am ever so closer to finishing my mother's website and getting her brochure done. It is strange, I am helping a friend with a brochure for her new business, and our interactions have not been tension filled with yelling on her part...the total opposite of my most recent experience of trying to help someone out!

Habitat for Humanity is coming to pick up the furnace on Friday (though for a fleeting moment I thought I was going to be able to give it to a friend whose furnace just broke). I picked up my locks and keys yesterday, since the Lowe's person had them all keyed the same. In four years, I have never had a key to the back door. Having one will be a luxury. The door should arrive in another week or so, and my front door will finally be secure. House progress for once.

When I did go by Lowe's, it was a battle to walk past all the lovely gardening stock. I really, really would like to add a few items to my yard, but with $4,300 unexpected debt between the HVAC and the door, I can't even afford to think about it. Last summer, I promised myself I would redo the side bed in the corner of the fence because the seedums had grown completely out of control. While the heavy weeding job did wonders, it is still lacking a certain something, even with the hostas peeking up from the ground. It is a good think that Mr. Handyman will be picking up the door!

I have knocked a few things out at work, responding to yet more last-minute-requests-from-poor-planning. I have scanned more of my grandmother's old family photo collection (this project is WAY more work than I had anticipated). I did my laundry this weekend, despite sleeping away most of it.

Yet...I haven't worked on my novels at all. So, despite being legitimately productive, I feel as if I have missed the most important part: doing that which is so satisfying to me, that which defines me.


NOTE: I read two letters and "opened" another present from my friend's goody package. The present made me chuckle all evening. It was a small game that was obviously a "prize" from a kid's meal. Do you see what I mean about knowing that she is thinking about me while out and about in her life? I really, really like games and here's one I could tuck in a pocket and pull out anytime I found an unsuspecting person I could ambush into playing with me. Such love God has showered upon me through her!

NOTE 2: Speaking of games, when I went to paint my best friend's house a few weekend's ago, she had a few "welcome" gifts for me. One was so great I could hardly speak. A while ago, while shopping with her, we bought those new H2O Uno cards. They are clear and plastic and just a bit too cool. We definitely enjoyed playing with them in Italy, even if shuffling them takes a bit getting used to. I also already owned a set of regular playing cards that I had actually bought for a little girl since they have pink and purple polka dots on them, but ended up keeping since they came in a plastic case. It is so easy to carry them about to whip out for a quick game. Well, my dearest friend gifted me with a new set of regular playing cards...clear plastic...in a plastic case to boot. Joy runneth over!