Keeping up and keeping on

Life is crazy lately.  My mom had a blocked artery in her neck.  They have been watching it for about 6 months and things were not improving so surgical intervention was recommended.  She had the procedure yesterday and came through very well.  But she was very worried and stressed leading up to it.  If I am Pollyanna, my mom is Ms. Worrywort.  There were very slim chances of something really awful happening but that was the thing that was stuck in her mind.  I was at a loss as to how to best support her emotionally. To me, 97 per cent odds are really good; but if I tried to point that out, I think she thought I was not thinking about what she was worried about.  She is all ready home (the operation was yesterday) and none of the things she was really worried about with the surgery came to pass.

Added to that mix, is the ramping up of kid activities that naturally happens at this time of year.  Dance starts next week which meant a trip to the dance store to get the shoes.  Oy, the shoes.  This is a really good store that does a great job of fitting well and carefully.  But it is soooo expensive.  However, I have friends who live 40 minutes away who drive to this store because of the fitting they do. And I know the owner and her daughter, so I shop there too.  I had to buy 4 pair of shoes for KC as he had outgrown his ballet, tap and jazz shoes and now also needed hip hop sneakers.  He adores getting his new dance shoes, and his obvious delight just thrills the staff there.  An additional bonus to him--in dance shoes, he is in adult shoes!  LOL  Lissa needed new tap and ballet shoes as she had grown a full shoe size this summer.  I think the dance store owners are going on vacation courtesy of my family. LOL

Rob is busy with his girl friend, his piano lessons and volunteering at the children's museum. They like him so much there they called and want him to come in an extra evening to help due to an event they are having this weekend. He was pretty excited to be chosen from the cadre of volunteers that work there.

Our garden is producing in abundance and we really need time to can our tomatos.I am trying to figure out the logistics of that as Kirsty has a new job which takes her out of the house 3 hours a night.  She is cleaning the administration blg of a local private school. She loves the job and is home at a great time. The kids are in bed (except for Rob) and we have a bit of time for tea and chat before she heads up to bed.

And this weekend we get together with Rob's brother D (hopefully--he has not answered my FB queries) and with Fiona on Sunday. We are training into the big city to see her at school.  Oh and Sunday will be my birthday celebration. Yup, fall crazies in full force!