Go directly to Jail- do not pass go, do not collect ANYTHING.

Well, my dears, I've been busy. I successfully finished my kitchen painting project...Well, mostly finished it, I should say. There are some things that I can't do yet, but all that I COULD, I did. And the main wall is completely done and I'm VERY happy with it. It's yellow. A gentle, sunny, slightly buttery, cottage-y yellow.

I'm also working on some "window treatments" for the living room. Basically they're just thin panels of a red material draped over some hooks...Okay, I stink at describing them. I'll have to get some pictures up when it's all done. Brad kindly installed the hardware very willingly and in a timely fashion. With some tweaking, it should look fairly satisfactory soon. Right now I can't even look at them without going into conniptions because something's not quite right with how they're hanging and I don't have the energy to deal with it right now.

I made a little Christmas topiary which I was actually pretty excited about...but Brad says that it looks like something out of Dr. Seuss (he says it is like a car wreck - so horrid that you can't keep your eyes off of it), so I have banished it to the laundry room, where I catch occasional fleeting glimpses of it, as it sits forlornly on the dryer. Sigh. Such a waste.

This evening, a couple of the kids- a brother and sister about 9 and 6 respectively- from next door came by to say hi and I invited them in...partly because Grandpa was here and I know he loves kids and partly because, well, it just seemed the thing to do, and I wasn't thinking. Well, they came in and we were having a great old time, and suddenly their mother showed up on our doorstep, not too happy about them not telling her where they were going, and swooped them away. I felt really bad. These neighbors are nice people and have been kind to us...but after all, they don't really know us from Adam...and I wouldn't want my kids hanging out at the new neighbor's house without ME there...and the last thing I wanted was for them to think we were evil people. Maybe we should just put up a sign on our lawn that says, " We're not drug dealers! Trust us! We're GOOD!" I called over a little bit later to apologize and they were very nice and said we weren't to blame at all...so I guess it was just a misunderstanding- I thought she had been miffed with us but apparently not - so things feel a little more straightened out...Rargh! The little boy asked me if I would give him guitar lessons and I did have wit enough to say, " As long as you ask your mother..." So tomorrow, he may show up on my doorstep again...and maybe not.

Speaking of visiting and new people, I'm going to go to jail next week. Just passing through, though. Dennis has invited me to come talk to a teenage girl there who has expressed interest in having a visitor. Excitement galore! It's not every day that one receives an invitation to jail! I was just thinking recently about how I miss my girls at the Shelter and lo and behold, God has provided this opportunity. Lest you think I'm braver than I really am, let me tell you, I'm a little nervous about it. I've never visited anyone in jail before. What am I going to say, when it actually comes down to it? It's going to be a little different than the Shelter, where there were activities such as school or crafts or whatever that made it so that you were doing something while you got to know the new girls...Meeting new people in a vacuum is a tad intimidating...But I suppose I do have the Holy Spirit to help me out, so I guess I'll try to remember that! Anyway...further bulletins as events warrant.