These last two weeks have been birthday central at my house.    Do you have any idea how many calories I’ve consumed in icing?   Yeah,  I don’t wanna know.

But one thing is for sure.   I like making my own cakes because I am love with buttercream.    My girls?   Eat the cake and dutifully bring their mother the leftover icing on the plate.  Now that is well-trained.

We met my family for a birthday lunch at Cheddars.  Most of my pics were awful that day—too dark inside, too light outside.  But I did get this one cute one of the birthday girls.

And we finally caved in and let Emme have a sleepover.   We’re kinda anti-sleepover people.   In general, shouldn’t people be in their own homes in their own beds?

But we thought maybe if she saw that it’s really not as great as you imagine, she’d stop dreaming about sleepovers.   The girls were awesome.   I stayed up til 3:30, an hour or so after I heard the last peep.   I hope she got it out of her system because it took me all weekend to recover.

The funniest thing was what I overheard as the little sisters were playing American Girls.

Girl 1:  “Be careful with that Julie doll, her head came off  last week.”

Girl 2:  “Oh, that’s okay, we’ll let her be the mom and she can just sit around and knit.”

Where do  they possibly get the idea of a mom who’s lost her head and just wants to sit around and knit?    I have no idea.

And we’ve had a lot of these lately.   I could make a whole scrapbook of the various sunsets I’ve witnessed here on the lake.   Amazing.   The handiwork of one infinitely creative God.   And besides the fact that I can’t find my biscuit cutters since I’ve moved,  I’m adjusting pretty darn well to this lake living.   If I could just somehow twinkle my nose and make my old studio (aka craft room) appear,  I face it right to the this sunset and craft away.

And finally, a  little blogging housekeeping:

1.  My computer is going on a little field trip to the Genius Bar today.  {At long last, my lovely laptop will travel in her beautiful handmade case!} Which means I’ll be computer-less for a few days. Which means I’m already starting to break into a cold sweat.   Which means I’ll have to try to wrestle that iPad out of Steve’s hands.   Which means it could get ugly.   Pray that the geniuses haven’t lost their mojo.

I’m hoping to post on my recipe for chicken-and-dumplings while my computer is gone.   But otherwise, it’ll be sparse around here.   And even that could be questionable.

2.  Over the past few months,  I have tried  returning comments, answering questions etc by emailing people back from their comments.  (Your comments get sent straight to my email.)  That can sometimes get redundant if people ask the same questions but I also like doing that because it’s easier to get to know people.     Would you rather I ‘talked’ to people back and forth in the comments section or continue to send the personal emails?   Do you go back and read the comments section looking for answers or for other folks’ input?  I just can’t decide which I like better.   I used to interact more in the comments but frankly, since I changed to wordpress,  I don’t like the layout of the comments section and I read your comments from my email account so I don’t often actually go the comments section of my blog.    It’s kind of monotonous visually.      I have checked  into making the comments more visually appealing but I don’t think prophoto (my wordpress theme) has many options.   I know they don’t support threaded comments, which is too bad, because that’s my favorite style and I even like blogger’s comment style—where they’re broken up into shorter, easier to read snippets.

Interacting with all you great peeps is my favorite part of doing this.  Maintaining a blog is a lot of work and I can guarantee you that I wouldn’t have the fortitude to stick with it if it weren’t for you.   So thank you.   And I’ll miss you while the geniuses try to work a little apple magic on my mac.  I’m also in the market for some new perfume today so if you give me a suggestion before noon,  I’d appreciate it.   Scents I’ve loved in the past:  light blue by d&g,  one by calvin klein and most recently  mademoiselle by chanel.

Very truly yours,

ms.edie

p.s.  I’m making the perfect roasted chicken for dinner.   I’ve made it before.  It’s the perfect Friday night fall dinner.

When I first started this blog back in 2008, I had no idea that I was entering a brand new world that would literally change my life.

It never ceases to amaze me at how many wonderful, talented people live in my computer. You guys are amazing.

You inspire me, you make me laugh and cry, you teach me things. You make me think and rethink.

I am so thankful for you.

And especially for those of you who have a link on your blog to lifeingrace. Because of you, I’ve met the neatest people in the world and my life has been enriched and blessed.

And about the picture:
I love the new Lonny magazine online. I saw the {IOU} sign in that magazine a few months ago. I thought it was just perfect. So I bought the letters from Hobby Lobby, spray painted them black and then sat back and watched as people took long looks at the letters.

What does it mean? *Who* do you owe? My husband chuckled and thought, “Yeah, ya kinda do—now pay up.”
Everyone asks about it. It’s a conversation starter. It’s my little nod to gratitude. That we don’t live in a vacuum. And that everything we have, even a little ole blog, is possible because of so many others. Because they read it and support it and write the sweetest comments and emails.

So from the bottom of my heart, I O U.

I really do. And I thank you for meeting me here and for introducing me to your friends.

And a special thank you to the top ten referrers to Lifeingrace, all of whom, I am privileged to call friends.

Tara from Between You and Me.

Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy

The Nester

Emily from Chatting at the Sky

Melissa from 320 Sycamore

Kristi from Pink and Polka Dot

Amy from Playing Sublimely

Melissa from A Familiar Path

Donna from Funky Junk

Julie from Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Now when I look at my little letters above the bedroom, I’ll think of Stevie of course.   Cause I owe him lots.  And lots.

And I’ll think of my children, who’ve brought me countless joys.   And my sister and my mother.   To whom I could never repay my debt of love and gratitude.

And all the wonderful people who’ve touched and shaped my life.   And that includes you.

Whew, I owe a lot of people, don’t I?

Oh and for your weekend reading, try out this brilliant post from Rebekah, who is much smarter than I , and can so thoughtfully articulate what I would have said if I had said what I was thinking a few weeks ago.   She says it better.   And I am thankful for her too.

So, who do you owe?