Monday, October 13, 2008

Blogs and excuses

I saw where Mrs. Catherine is no longer blogging and I will miss her very much. She's real... Velveteen Rabbit kind of real.

Also, I was wondering about Mrs. Wilt recently and went to The Sparrow's Nest to see if there was an update... only to find her blog has been removed. If anyone knows how she is doing, please write!

Sally Clarkson has a beautiful post about the times in which we live and the need to trust God. It is good to have her back from England and no, I haven't even written her an e-mail.

Bad Brenda! I must be glued to the office chair and be more productive about chatting through e-mails with nice people. It's exactly because you all are so patient with me that I am behind. Everything else has demanded attention.

Uh... now the excuses...

First there were two weeks of illness, then spending twenty hours with A. for her nursing project (which was actually delightful) while trying to catch up on housework and getting the yard ready for freezing weather. And now... my sister is flying in on Wednesday. My oldest sister.

As Stephanie said when I told her, "Did you check for dirt under your nails?" I do dishes so much that dirt doesn't have time to collect on my hands but it certainly does on my kitchen floor, not to mention spider webs on the ceiling. This is my oldest sister (twenty years older) and I am the youngest. Some things never change, no matter how old we both have become. I will be scrubbing the place tomorrow so it absolutely sparkles when she arrives. I wonder if there is time to vacuum the lawn.

She usually visits this time of the year, when the trees are at their peak color and the temperatures are cool. We had record heat (mid 80s) over the weekend but we'll be back with highs in the 60s and perhaps 50s while she is here... hehehe. Let her tell me how warm Tampa is at Christmas while she shivers for a couple of days adjusting to the cool weather here. (There's that Bad Brenda again!)

I look forward to her visit each year but this one will be bittersweet. It is her first visit since her hubby (aka: Uncle Gibby or "The Old Coot") passed away a few months ago. We all miss him so much, it will seem so strange not talking to him while she is here, thanking him each day for letting her leave her home in Florida to "come home" and visit all of us.

When I talked to her over the weekend, she was telling me about a picture her six year old grandson drew in first grade last week. It showed all the members of their family and in the sky was a stick figure with wings... Grandpa as an angel. Hmmm... never quite thought of The Old Coot as an angel but I sure would love to see him in Heaven someday. :)

I am hoping between scrubbing, shining stuff, and vacuuming, I will get another pantry post together.

Photo: Building Memories; J. Sorenson; allposters.com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, 20 years older... now there's a literal generation gap. My mother is 21 years older than I am (and I'm 21 years older than my firstborn daughter, too, in fact).

Don't forget to wax your driveway ;)

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

Last time I was at the Sparrow's Nest there was a message saying she had moved to blogger, I think. Something like that but I didn't bookmark it.

I hope you and your sister have a lovely time and don't over do the cleaning! You're just starting to feel better!

Manuela

DebD said...

Enjoy your visit with your sis.

Anonymous said...

hi Brenda-
I am so disappointed that Mrs. Catherine closed her blog-it was wonderful. Mrs. Wilt is expecting as well as homeschooling and i think Mr. W. is still job searching. She probably found it better to close her blog for now, rather than leave it up and people keep wondering. I am glad you are feeling better-your blog is a bright spot in my day. Thank you
Alisa in CT

Anita said...

I envy you getting to be with your sister...

sherry said...

I'm praying time with your sister will be full of precious moments and a few sisterly giggles. Don't worry about having the house spic-n-span, Brenda. The fact your sister is 20 years your senior may very well also mean that her eyesight isn't what it once was. :o)

As to MrsWilt, I emailed her about the closing of her blog. Hope to hear something soon. There were some disgruntled ladies messaging in her chatbox, that MrsWilt wasn't 'informing them of her absence'. Sigh. This happened quite often so perhaps MrsWilt did the right thing in closing her blog. She will be greatly missed but she's doing the honorable and loving thing in seeing well to the ways of her household. We all should. We're not beholden to anyone in bloggie-world.

Off my soapbox... :o)

Anonymous said...

I can certainly relate! My mom lives out of state
and when she said she was coming for a visit, I
spent an entire week cleaning and rearranging
closets and 'stuff'. It seems that no matter how
old I get (I'm 51), I still want that approval! : )

My mom left this morning and as I looked around I
thought, wow - everything looks so nice and tidy!
That's one great thing about having a real deadline!

Enjoy your visit with your sister!!

Susan B said...

Brenda, I hope that you enjoy your visit with your sister. It's always good to spend time with family. My husband comes from a family of twelve children (he's number eleven), and his oldest sister is eighteen years older than him.

I was sorry to see that Mrs Wilt deleted her blog. I enjoyed her blog, and will miss her posts. I know her life is very busy now. I didn't know about Mrs Catherine. I would check her blog every so often, and enjoyed it too.

Maggie Ann said...

I am sorry for your sister's loss. And I love how much cleaning you are doing...especially wondering if there was time to 'vacuum' the lawn. Now thats the icing on the cake...=)

Becky K. said...

I always wanted a sister. You are very blessed. I got a scrappy younger brother, whom I now adore, but fought with most of our growing up years...lol

Enjoy your visit.

Becky K.

jules said...

Mrs. Wilt can now be found here:

http://www.the-sparrows-nest.blogspot.com/