I bought it.  It came today.  I have yet to crack it open, due to the absolute insanity that is my life the last few days, but I am looking forward to learning how to make my camera would like it is supposed to.  Maybe when Oona’s 30.

Yesterday was spent returning the craptacular tiller we rented from the local hardware store (I had to drive the box truck.  It was not a picnic.  Paul’s lucky I used to be a bus driver or there’s just no way I could have managed it. It was like driving a giant rattling metal lunch box that’s loose at all joints.  But I digress).  The tiller barely scratched the surface of what I really need done, even with the wet and soggy ground.  We pulled up some massive roots, though.

After the tiller return I spent a  good chunk of the afternoon at the doctor’s office having a biopsy done (don’t worry, it should be fine.  Oh, and Oona stayed here with my mother, who did my dishes for me!!!  Thank you!!!).   Then I had to fly back home for Neve’s Brownie ceremony.  She bridged from being a Daisy Scout and is now officially a Brownie Scout.

Look at that wild hair.  She won’t let me near it.  She also insists on wearing the most outlandish creations to school.  I fought her all year, determined to make sure she dressed in an appropriate manner, both for the weather and the day’s activities.  Last week I gave up, since their last day is Friday.  Plus I talked to her teacher, and she knows I am not dressing Neve in the pink Hawaiian print cargo capris with green striped top, purple socks, fuschia crocs and cheetah print fur coat.  Apparently she’s seen much worse.

Today I eeked out a finished object – a handbag from the Oh Fransson! blog.

This, my friends, is my one small victory for today.  Oona has been particularly out of sorts lately, and today was no exception.  She was so testy I put her in her car seat and drove around aimlessly for 45 minutes so she’d take a nap.  Even now she is wrapped around my ankles screaming.  I don’t know why – nothing I’ve tried makes her happy.  I think it’s just a case of the “WAY over – tireds” and she refuses to concede.  Mighty frustrating to watch.  Especially in light of the newest drama unfolding here in the house of woe.

I took this picture an hour ago in my closet.  Looks like hamster poop – except both our hamsters are serving their time in their luxury condos in Emily and Neve’s room.  So why is there all this rodent poop all around the empty suitcases in my closet?  I tore through all the suitcases, shoes, and other miscellaneous junk all over the closet and found exactly zilch.  The cats have not seemed particularly interested in the closet, which is a good sign.  Last year for about 2 weeks before we discovered we had mice upstairs Sushi sat guard in the hallway, all day and all night.  And just this weekend Jasper alerted me to Sherbert the hamster’s escape by standing guard outside the girls’ bedroom closet all day.  Sure enough, there was a hamster roaming around the shoes in there.  It does then both comfort and confuse me that despite the presence of a fairly large quantity of droppings in my closet none of the cats has been poking around in there.  It does serve to remind me how incredibly badly I need to clean out the dark corners of this house.   Every free corner  has been stacked with stuff that needs to be put into storage and  I simply have not had a free hand to put any of it away.  Good thing I had my moment of baking Zen this weekend while making a strawberry – rhubarb pie.  It was yummy and gone (sorry Rachel!)!!