it's been a long time!

And there went the month of July!

It's been way too long since either of us has posted. I can't say anything terribly exciting has happened between the last post and now...new carpet in the basement, moved the office upstairs, very hot weather, bought a window air conditioner so we could at least survive the nights, work is both busy and fulfilling for both of us, weekends have been busy (we went to a Tigers game last weekend with my parents and grandparents - fun!!), work on our entryway and yard continue (when it's not too hot), etc.

For me, I've started work on the Christmas 1 catalog at FCS. We publish 3 Christmas catalogs so the next month to month and a half will be very intense. Fall 1 will go out the door tomorrow (it was supposed to go to the printer Friday, but we had a ton of last minute changes). We had our first proof of the Fall 2 catalog last Thursday. And we begin planning for our Christmas 2 catalog Tuesday. Crazy! It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit, especially when the temperature outside is 95, and listening to Christmas music just doesn't appeal to me right now. I love the summer and I don't want to wish it away! With all of this busyness, I have to remember to take one day at a time. I tend to get overwhelmed by the imensity of the task ahead of me instead of taking it in small chunks. But so far, so good. I pray that it continues this way!

Pete's spent a few weeks in June/July filling in as the activity therapist on his unit and had a ball. It's an area he's truly gifted in and that he really enjoys. He has a great relationship with Mark, the unit's AT, and they'll conduct a training session together for other Wedgwood ATs soon. For his work, Pete received a letter of commendation this week - what a guy! He also replaced my parents' hard drive, which decided to die last weekend. He spent a good amount of time at their house on Monday and Tuesday getting that figured out and replaced. As an added bonus, he also bought us a new hard drive, which he installed with glee this week (along with some new computer fans that have a blue glow - they make a nice night light). He's also taking down the painted-over layer of wallpaper in our entryway. Thanks for your dedication, honey!

In the next couple of weeks, we hope to replace the threshholds in both of our entryways (they're wood and crumbling) and have some work done on the doorframe of our front entryway. There's some water damage there that has caused the wood to rot (need gutters!) but I also have a feeling that is also where our friendly neighborhood carpenter ants have set up shop. Yikes. That may also warrant a call to an exterminator. They're everywhere and that seems to be the place they like to scurry to. I love living in an old, wood-sided house. Really I do! :)

Okay, another long post and no pictures. We'll try to get some pictures up soon.