Missing people...

Did anyone notice that Blogger was down for a couple of days?  I guess you get what you pay for, huh?  I've missed writing posts!

It's been a tough week for me; at the beginning of the week the sun was shining and I was working on my flowerbeds, finally!  I had planted some geraniums and, since we have just about skipped Spring altogether here in Colorado, it was so nice to finally get out there a little bit.  My very first tulip was just up when the weather took a turn for the worse, and it snowed.

Uh huh.  Grapple, sleet, lows in the 30's.  It was so depressing.

Then, I learned that my mother's brother, Marcus, had passed away.  We used to always call him "Chickie" -- I don't think I ever knew why.  He was a Vietnam Vet, and I think that war affected him profoundly and for the rest of his life.  The news of his death and my inability to fly to California to attend the funeral has made me, truth be told, a real basket case, for the last few days.

I just really miss my late parents sometimes, and am missing California like crazy lately, too.  Unexpectedly, I felt a strong urge to travel back for the funeral to be with everyone -- even though I haven't always enjoyed spending time with my mother's family.

Also, my brother Joe (on the right, above) who is in his mid-50's now, will be starting 8 weeks of radiation treatments for prostate cancer in a week or so; I'm bummed out about his having to go through that, and would have loved to spend some time with him before he starts.  He is so worried.

So, I've been very weepy for a few days.

But...there was a bright spot in my week; on Thursday, my friend and Silver Bella buddy Jeanelle came over for lunch.  Here she is holding the little gift I picked up for her in Kansas.  She collects those little covered chicken dishes.  This one was wrapped in vintage ribbon and filled with vintage jewelry!  I made Karla's chicken salad for her -- and Jeanelle brought CUPCAKES!

How gorgeous are these?

I showed her all my Birdsong projects and she took a look at my craft room/office (aka The Hoarder Room) and my clean up progress; it's coming along well but I still need several hours to make it presentable.  It was fun to hang out with Jeanelle, and we are planning a craft get together to do some weaving as soon as we can.

Earlier in the week I stopped at an antique store I haven't visited in a while and found this really wonderful vintage rack; I think it will be a perfect tag display piece, don't you?  I loved it so much I paid full price -- $18.99.

So...I'm planning to have a weekend better than the week was; I'm going to try to cheer up and be productive.  Hey -- has anyone noticed I'm almost at both 300 followers and 600 posts?  I'm going to dream up something fun to giveaway for when I reach those milestones, so stay tuned.