A busy weekend

It was quite the busy weekend around here. It was homecoming weekend, so that meant a parade Friday afternoon, game Friday night, and the dance on Saturday night. It also meant getting college son to and from college to spend the weekend. I had a women's retreat most of the day on Saturday. I wouldn't have gone, but I was the only one from my church on the planning committee, so I was obligated. After I got back, I fixed daughter's hair and make-up for the dance and spent the rest of the night on the couch. Sunday we had obligations at church all morning, an afternoon baseball game for TB, and then DH and I drove CS back to school. So a few highlights:
* The weather was perfect for the parade, game, retreat, dance, and the drive to the cities. A few clouds here and there, but the fall colors are getting so pretty.
*The dress turned out pretty well. Her friends thought it was "retro", I don't get that, but she looked nice in it. Her date's tie turned out a little wonky, but I think he just wore it for pictures. He brought me flowers as well, not sure what to make of that, but it was a nice gesture.
*The retreat was nice; held at a church camp in a beautiful area fairly nearby. There were several friends there and as I said the weather was nice. I didn't benefit from a true retreat on a spiritual basis as I would have liked, but there were too many contributing factors for that to happen.
*Lastly we always enjoy taking CS back to school on a Sunday night. We usually take him out for dinner before we drop him off and it is a nice chance to catch up. We went to an Indian place with a buffet last night which was kind of a stretch for a couple of Iowa farm kids. It was okay, but a lot of new flavors and some of it was really spicy.

Lovely Fall Day

It is a beautiful day here today. We got some much needed rain last night, so everything seems very crisp and clean and the sky is a brilliant blue. I hope this nice weather will hold for the homecoming game Friday night. TB's marching band puts on a special show after the game. College son is coming home for the weekend for the first time since going back to school. The dress turned out good enough for Senior Daughter to wear, so I am very happy about that. It may be awhile before I tackle something like that again. I'm anxious to have the time to get back to some quilting. I have many projects waiting for me and I would especially like to make something for fall. I finished a wall-hanging this summer that I am rather proud of, there are quite a few errors as usual, but it's finished. It took me a long time as usual. I'm a firm subscriber to the "Better finished than perfect" philosophy. It was intended as a spring/Easter wall-hanging. I finally finished it in the middle of summer ( a couple of years after the Easter in question). I decided to hang it up for awhile anyway. I think I will take it down today and bring out my Fall decorations. I was inspired by Joan and her beautiful Fall decor. Usually it nears Halloween before I get things out. Ha

Days Flying By

Wow, where did August go? I can't believe it's September already. Everyone in the family, except DH, had their first day of school yesterday. It seemed to go well for everyone, although I haven't gotten a full report from college son(CS). He has already been back at college for two weeks, training for his job and working as a computer lab and tech support person. He was more than ready to go back to a new dorm and roommate both of which seem better than last year. I was most excited about him having a sink in his room, but that paled in comparison when he visited some friends from last year who are living off-campus. He was totally wowed by their awesome apartment, so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he'll want to move out.
Senior Daughter (SD) and I had a nice trip to Iowa last week for a college visit to the old alma mater, ISU. We also managed to stop at one of my favorite quilt shops and stayed over with the in-laws and helped them with a few tasks. The campus was beautiful as always, but they didn't do such a great sales job otherwise. She is interested in Biology and Pre-Vet and the old prof they had us meet with was neither encouraging nor welcoming and barely tried to make her feel interested in going there. The music dept. however was great and arranged a meeting with the guy who would be her music teacher. It was fun to walk around campus with her, it brought back a lot of memories and I enjoyed telling her stories about my college days and showing her the dorm where DH and I met. I'll post some more pictures of campus another time.
I'm back to work at the elementary school nearest to our home. After working full time the last few months last spring, I'm back to my regular hours, just afternoons. I will miss the benefits, but it is a great schedule and I really like my coworkers and being so close to work. Not to mention time alone in the morning at home. No more excuses for not blogging or doing the other things I need to at home. We're gone from home most nights with different activities, so that time is precious and needed.
Our youngest son is a sophomore in high school. The upperclassmen started late yesterday, so this was his first day with the early wake up. Their bus comes at 6:50, so for a boy who could sleep all morning during the summer it will be a big adjustment for awhile. He got up on his own this morning, so I hope that will keep up. His blog nickname will be The Tall Beast or TB for short. I'm stealing that name from the Olympic volleyball player Phil Dahlhauser. He's 6'5" at 15 and still growing, so the name fits.