1/3 of the way through

Claire et Le Passe Compose is 1/3 of the way completed.

I did some hard-core stitching last week.  This is officially 9 weeks and one day progress. I decided I had earned a break for the weekend, so have been focused on reading.

I finished a book, Enchantress of Paris, this morning, about Marie Mancini, I have had it for a while, Our library lets you renew books 20 times, and then, when everything was shut down, they set the next renewal date to July 31st. Someone else is requesting it, so it has to go back. They can have it, it was not good. Maybe it's my general lack of knowledge about French history, but I just could not get into this book. I did finish it though. It's ready to go back to the library. I have one heavy adult book to get through, and then will read young adult fiction for a bit.

If one can say anything good has come out of this isolation, it's that I have expanded my horizons on my reading material. I had already started reading more books by African American authors, but I finished Girl Woman Other last week and it was phenomenal (although, full disclosure, the writer of this book is not American and the book is set in Britain). I have some works by Asian writers, and even chose some books with LGBTQ+ themes, which, honestly, I haven't had that much exposure to, but I LOVED Red, White and Royal Blue. I bought quite a few books from various sources over the past 4 months and am dying to read them.

Not much is going on here otherwise. My husband found a new job. He had started working part time, but it was very hot last week, and he isn't 20 anymore. But this guy pursued him and basically hired him without an interview, for what he wanted.  When my husband closed his company, this one took over some of his customers, so he was able to see the work my husband does. He also said he saw him around the supply house and liked his attitude, so he wanted to work with him.   He was supposed to start tomorrow, but the company is so busy, he actually started on Friday. Yay!  I am so happy for him; the company seems good and seems pretty flexible. This is the kind of work I have been praying for for him. It feels good to let go of that anxiety; we have started to talk about buying me a newer car, and adopting a puppy, things we haven't been able to think about with all the medical debt and unsteady work, but we can . . . maybe . . . think about. I think we are going to celebrate his official start with a cake tomorrow. Yum!

Happy July!

Hi, everyone!

Hope your July is going swimmingly so far. We soldier on here at my house.

My husband found part-time work with an old employer. He starts tomorrow. We both know part time is not enough, but it's something for right now, and, hopefully, he will find something better, full time.

Our 4th of July was pretty tame. My daughter, the Someone-Not-So-Small-Anymore turned 8 at the end of June (I know, CAN YOU IMAGINE!!!!), and we had her birthday over 4th of July weekend because I had what ended up being a 4 day weekend. It was very small. My mom and brother, and Left-brained's parents came for pizza. They have all been social distancing, and they used hand sanitizer, so it was OK.

We also went for our traditional blueberry picking day on the 4th of July. I do not advise it. It was incredibly hot and humid. We couldn't bring our own containers to put the berries in, normally not a big deal, but you had to pre-purchase containers, and I just couldn't fill mine. They put my mom and daughter on the side of the row away from everyone, but I had to wear my mask. I do not advocate berry picking in mask in 90 degree heat.  Mainly because this orchard has smaller bushes, so no shade, and our bizarre May weather--the freeze warning over Mother's Day--killed the blossoms that were there, so the berries that survived weren't as big and it took longer to pick. I ended up with heat exhaustion, not a fun way to spend the day. I spent the afternoon in bed, only waking up when the whole neighborhood reenacted the Battle of Baltimore. Ugggghhh. I did feel better at, like 2AM, so had a long party day last Sunday. Oh, well . . . I try to remember to enjoy the moments, if not the entire experience. We have been doing this picking at this orchard since I was tiny. I only missed the year Katie was born, for obvious reasons, LOL. And we were together. Lots of families didn't get to spend 4th of July with their loved one here on Earth.

This was not the best week in the house. My son, at some point, got up on my desk and CUT the wires in both the power cord and the mouse for my laptop. I am so upset with him, but at least it was my personal laptop and not the one for work. I can always salvage another power cord and will buy a wireless mouse. For this, he lost his Paw Patrol toys for a few days. Some other stuff happened, and I was so frustrated by Friday that I just told my husband I needed to get some time to myself yesterday.

I ended up going to Hobby Lobby to get some floss I need for Claire. I have been having issues finding a decent supply of floss since they relaxed the restrictions. I know there are supply issues, but I do worry they will put us back in lockdown again, and I don't want to be without supplies to finish this piece. HL was FULLY-STOCKED. I got what I needed and got out of there, then treated myself to some HOT Krispy Kreme doughnuts and a large Coke, then went home and stitched for most of the afternoon. It felt like bliss.

My updated progress on Claire. I have reached the bottom of the design and now am working my way over. I am so pleased with her. She is my pride and joy. I may take a week off when I finish this column of pages, but not sure.

I hope your month is rolling along.