Monday 20 June 2011

Looking forward to Summer in Southern Illinois

Well this is the last day of Spring and so tomorrow Summer begins! 94F forecast today, but should be cooler for the rest of the week. Wendy, Andrew and Neil arrive in Chicago on Thursday and will be with us Friday so we're pretty excited about their visit! Wendy and I have been e-mailing regularly with questions about activities, driving, plans and everything else.

We also have a new addition to the family. Last Monday Tom and I were at Irish Inn for Lynn and Brian's Cherokee renewal of vows and a wee kitten was sitting on their porch. Apparently it had wandered out from the Shawnee Forest that morning and they think he was abandoned somewhere close by. I fell in love with him of course, and Tom relented on his "No more cats in the house" statement and wee Smudge came home with us. Mango has not been a happy cat since and terrorises the kitten. He's had so many squirts of water (apparently it's a training aid so that he knows he's doing wrong) that he'll have webbed feet soon! Early days though, hopefully he'll tolerate his wee brother soon.

I've been enjoying my Wednesday Craft group and started a crochet bracelet with wire and beads yesterday. It's looking pretty but slow going with all the other stuff I'm trying to do - get the yard in shape, organise the rooms for the Jones's, and clear out clutter from everywhere! Just as well women are natural multi-taskers! Told Tom we'll need a truck to take everything to Salvation Army so there will be a few trips this week for sure. He's been busy too with his DIY projects - new porch lights, shower head and glider, rail and the vent in the bathroom has finally been replaced too - YAY The lawn mower refused to start yesterday so nae mowing. Hope the guy gets the estimate to us soon for a new deck before I go crashing through the old one! It's really dilapidated now, especially after all the rain and storms we've had.

OK better get some work done now and get rid of our 'To Do' list!