Hello, Self.

Saturday morning and nowhere that I have to get to today--what a lovely feeling. The water is on for my second cup of coffee, KidOne and KidThree are asleep, so the apartment is all mine, figuratively speaking. I do so love peace and quiet. Today I do want to get to the library, as I've finished all my library books and need a new batch, but that is a want, not a need, and if I'd rather stay here and vegetate, I can! (Of course I probably won't, there aren't many calls stronger than that of unread books, but the important thing is that I have the choice.)

Yesterday I talked to BabyJ's mother about not being able to continue watching BabyJ on Fridays after this month. Luckily for me, she had remembered that I had told her some time back about having committed to the twins' care beginning in October, so she wasn't too surprised. They will continue to call me for weekends and such. I hope they go out to lots of weekend matinees so I can see BabyJ often or I may go into withdrawals.

We had a lovely time together yesterday morning. We got to wave to the garbargeman twice, as he came back up the street enroute to someplace else after emptying the cans on our side of the street, and we got to see some men stop a rental truck and re-arrange their goods in the back (it looked like something had shifted, causing them to pull over), and, best of all, we got to watch some workers cutting down a tree and chipping up the branches. BabyJ and I visited with one of the men while he was working on the woodchipper (not running it, just tinkering with the engine); he told BabyJ to stay in school! When he was ready to run the machine, we retreated to the other side of the street and sat down, then watched happily as the tree's remains got all chopped up.

Later BabyJ and I took a little walk to explore the neighborhood. At one point, he was bending over to examine some tanbark, but when he went to stand up, he got mixed up. He forgot to bring his head and body vertical before straightening out his legs, so when he straightened his legs to stand, the weight of his head (looking down at the bark) pulled him right over; he landed face-first in the bark. He was so surprised that the bark bit him like that! I scooped him up and brushed off his face, all the while watching the slow motion start to his roar of pain at the inequities of the world. He calmed down right away, as he hadn't really been hurt, just shocked and dismayed and wounded at the unfriendliness of tanbark.

Next week KidOne's rental will be all ready for her to move in. I get my bedroom floor back! KidOne I will seriously miss, but it will be fun to get to FINALLY finish putting this apartment together, only a year after having moved in. I am so set and ready to do that, it isn't funny. A friend of KidThree's is all booked to come and help me move bookcases and other furniture around--I am just itching to get all that done. And it's not like KidOne is heading off to foreign climes, she's just going a couple of miles away within town here.

KidTwo has not posted any photos of her trip yet. KidTwo, get going--your mother needs pictures. She did call a couple of days ago--it was so good to hear her laughing voice. Things are going well down there with all the relatives, and she had no trouble meeting her FriendS at the airport (he is visiting down there with her for about ten days). Relatives there have sent many greetings up this way, and I've sent as many back. Now I need KidTwo to have a visit there after October, when I am solvent, so I can send gifts, too. Not just to the grandparents, but to a cousin who has always acted as the southern mother to my lovely girlies when they are down there. Someday I hope to return the favor with her girls, if they can ever get visas to come visit us.

Our ADA called yesterday. Everything should start on Tuesday, with KidThree having to testify the following week. It seems hardly possible that this blasted trial will ever happen, continued as it has been so many times, so I'm not holding my breath. Time only will tell.

KidThree asked if I was done watching politics now. Oh the sweet optimism of youth! No dearie, those were only the primaries--now the real fun starts. I explained all to her, so she knows what is in store for her the next couple of months.

Soon will come October and the babies and, with them, solvency. What a relief that will be.

A