Why I Am Behind on My Blog

Thursday, May 6

Wake up at 6 a.m….go for a run. Not quite sunrise, and the street lamps are stirring their yellow hue in with the dusky blue of the sky.

6:45 load laundry

6:50 make breakfast for all (scrambled eggs, sausages, waiting to make toast,
smoothies…strawberries, frozen bananas and blackberries, whole yogurt, protein powder, apple and orange juice….mmmm! frosty cold YUM!)

7:00 Lance is up, getting ready for his work day as a photographer at a new job!

7:15 Lily is up and at the art table

7:30 Lance eats breakfast with me, quick kiss, he’s out the door

7:45 Try to wake up io

7:48 Try to get Lily to break her play-doh bakery focus so she can get dressed and ready for school. She has made a lovely pie, complete with criss-cross
top.

8:00 Still no io up…open curtains, kiss her feet…”C’mon, lovebug..morning!”
She rolls over and pretends to snore.

8:01 Sit down to breakfast with Lily. Dressed but no shoes. Yet.

8:15 io walks in. Sits with us for breakfast, but I announce it is time to take Lily to school. We put io’s breakfast in a bowl. Head for the door.

8:30 This is the mystery zone, where we always walk out the door on time to get to school on time, and then everything gets hazy…Generally, because the cats need to be fed, so Lily feeds them, we all pile back in the car; Lily now has shoes on. io is munching on breakfast.

8:42 Drop Lily off at school. Kisses all around.

8:45 Need gas. Drive through and fill tank

9:00 Run in to get office mail

9:15 Clean kitchen

9:30 Take shower (io is now at the art table, making a play-doh spaghetti plate, complete with meatballs)

9:40 Dry hair, get dressed.

9:50-10:30 Play with io. We create a world of play-doh food, and decide to decorate Dad’s place setting. io pours his favorite bowl of cereal, and places a tiny spoon and fork on a miniature napkin next to it. She then decrees he will be thirsty when he gets home, so she pours him a little glass of water. He will need a banana. That goes on the other side of the plate. “Hey!,” she says. “He will need milk for the cereal!” I say that is for tonight or his cereal will get soggy.

Next, we go outside with her purple umbrella and two chairs. The umbrella goes over our heads not to protect us from rain, but from bird poop. io says it could happen! We watch the birds come eat the seed io has scattered all over the driveway. She yells “SCAT!” at the cats and with hands on her hips says to me, “How was THAT!?” I nod, “Good!” except that now our birds have all flown away, as well. We don’t care! We laugh and throw more seed. Then, we get the hose and she says, “Make it RAIN!”, holding her umbrella over her head, and I squirt the water high in the air. Pum-pum-pum-pum! As it hits the purple plastic, giggles escaping from underneath.

10:42 Realize my mom is coming at 11 so we can go hear Anna Quinlan speak for the Austin Children’s Museum luncheon. Dress quickly. Throw on some make-up

11:00 My mom arrives. Dawn arrives (to play with io while we are gone…hooray for the mermaid!!!) My mom looks great—she’s got such a way with clothes and design! More kisses goodbye, as I toss lunch ideas out for Dawn and io, and off we go.

11:30 We reach the Renaissance Hotel. We are guests of the museum, so we are grateful to be in the midst of so many interesting people. I see Anne Elizabeth Wynn, the mayor’s wife, who just purchased my decorated ceramic pot at the Umlauf Sculpture Garden party. We hug and kiss, and I introduce my mom. I thank Ms. Wynn for buying my art! She says it is in her kitchen and we have to come over to play with the kids.

11:45 Seated at the table. Little golden boxes wrapped with pretty purple ribbons. Gifts! Inside are tiny mirrors decorated with beads. OOH! We drink our waters and gab with the nice ladies (and one gentleman, a professor from St. Edwards who has taught their 44 years!)

12:00 The program starts. Two little Korean girls, 3 and 7, perform a traditional dance. A sportscaster from KEYE gets up to start introductions. Anna Quinlan speaks. (Not sure if I am spelling her name correctly!) She is fabulous. She uses notes. That was some good info, as I have to speak tomorrow (which is now today) and I am always wanting to have my programs memorized.
She is funny, direct and poignant. We applaud. We ask questions.

1:30 On our way home to see io

1:45 Get home. My mom leaves. Change clothes. Dawn stays for a bit so we can catch up on office items.

2:30 io and i have snacks. We play until almost three, when we go pick Lily up from school

3:00 Pick up Lily, decide we want girl time at Half Price Books. We go and have tea, sit in a big, purple chair and read about electrons and how electricity works. Another book is about Rescue Helicopters and the teams that run them.
I have some cinnamon hazelnut coffee…io has her traditional apple cinnamon tea, and Lily has Darjeeling.

4:30 Walk over to Walgreens and buy ice creams, a Blue’s Clues notebook (io) and skinny balloons (like the clowns use) for Lily.

4:50 Walk back to car, drive home

5:00 Play with skinny balloons. Lily twists them into swords and hats.

5:30 I am making dinner for the girls. Nana (my mom) is coming over to play with them so Lance and I can go to the Universal Living Wage benefit.

6:00 Lance is home, I am getting dressed for the event, the girls are jausting with their swords, my mom is here, now wearing a clown hat.

6:30 Lance and I take seperate cars to the event. He has to be back by nine to relieve my mom. She has to drive back out to her RV before 9:30 or she will be too sleepy (and worn-out!)

6:45 Reach the event at David and Sue’s house. See Cat (who looks fantastic in red…helping with the silent auction items)

7:00 People are starting to trickle in. Eddy Hobizal is there to play piano. I sing
“The Lady Is A Tramp” with him. That was fun!

The event lasts until around 11. We had a marvelous time and raised money for a very worthy cause (another blog). I auctioned off my purple electric guitar. Cat and I had garnered signatures from Shawn Colvin, Keb Mo, Little Feat, me, Taj Mahal, etc. The guitar goes for $3000 (plus a private lesson from me!) Cat did such a good job getting so many musicians to sign. Three cheers for Cat!!!
Peter Bay (conductor for the Austin Symphony) graciously allowed himself to be auctioned off for a dinner date, and my new friend, Rafe Foreman, drove all the way from the Dallas area to be our live auctioneer….and he is FUN-NEEE! So grateful to all my friends for pitching in to help on a stunning night of good food, comaraderie and love.

10:30 Get home, Lance is waiting up for me. We have ice cream. Lance’s mom calls. His dad is in ICU. We take the phone to bed with us. I can’t sleep at all.

2:45 Lance’s mom calls. Not sure what is happening, but Lance’s dad now has 103 fever. They think it might be pneumonia. Please keep him in your prayers.

8:45 a.m. out the door to Houston for my speaking engagement…