The house is quiet so I thought I'd blog a bit. I have nothing to say, but hey! that's never stopped me before.

At ten o'clock this morning I drove over to the farmhouse behind my favorite Amish store and picked up Miriam and her daughters Linda Ann, Sadie Mae, and Anna Mary. They were coming over for a couple of hours to do some cleaning for me in preparation for Chelsea's wedding. Sadie Mae is too little to clean, even for an Amish girl, so I set her up with colored chalk and now the big, kid-friendly chalkboard in our dining room (hung low, its bottom resting just above the baseboard) sports a beautiful picture of a house (appropriately labeled "house") and barn. While the wee artist was at work, her mama and big sisters were busily sweeping and wiping and rinsing pretty much everything in my kitchen and dining room. They did a great job.

It's amazing how a bit of cleaning -- even someone else's cleaning -- can encourage a woman when she's in over her head.

My emotions are all over the place these days. I am by turns excited, distressed, worried, exhilarated, annoyed, depressed and hopeful. I imagine this is pretty normal for the mother of the bride.

It's time to check on dinner. After that I think I'm gonna curl up with a good book.