What a beautiful day to get caught up!!

Today was an amazing day! It was beautiful outside, not too hot not too cold, so Dave woke up and started on the yard work. He cleaned out the flowerbed under the kitchen window, I think we are gonna try to plant tomatoes this year. He also managed to break my poor froggy!!! He trimmed the Honeysuckle bushes on the fence in front of the house. He started to cut the grass, but then got sidetracked. He went and bought me a swing so that I can enjoy the sunshine and outdoors in comfort this year instead of spending so much time inside. Isn't he just the best?!

AIMEE'S 20TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

On the 23rd of March was Aimee's BIG day....she is no longer a teenager!!!! She turned 20 years old!!! I can't believe she is that old. It has been an interesting ride the past twenty years with her. She is an amazing woman. She has been a challenge and a joy, ones I would NEVER trade for anything in the world because we have all grown to become better people. We had homemade pizza for dinner and chocolate creme pie for dessert, we even made her blow out the candles!!

Yesterday I got a wild hair and decided that since we will be getting ready to packout of here in about 8 months I needed to go through stuff and organize and clean the basement. WOW, I can't believe all the JUNK we got rid of!!! Empty boxes that have come with books, movies, presents, and art supplies in the mail that we thought, "Hey we can use that box to send gifts back to the states so we will save it." Did we send any gifts back to the states? Of course not, because we want to see everyone's faces when we give them their gifts in person. Any way, there was TONS of stuff, I think we filled up one of the HUGE trash bins at the end of the street. It still needs some work, but a little bit at a time does wonders!!

Then I organized my craft supplies so that it is easier for me to find things that I need instead of buying more. It is amazing the amount of yarn I have gotten since we moved here. I filled two RUBBERMAID boxes and two bags with the yarn. I don't think I will be buying any more for awhile. My cross stitch supplies are now in drawers that I can easily get too and know what I have. Maybe I should sell some of the projects I have finished? I used to sell them when we lived in Colorado and then the buyer got them framed themselves so that they were matched to their decor. My scrapbook supplies are a little bit more organized, but I still have a ways to go to organize them better, besides I can't get too many supplies here in Italy. I guess that's a good thing. Now where to put everything?

Now all I need to do is get about five more bookcases for all the books and DVDs we have bought in the last two years. We haven't had any satelitte, cable or AFN box to watch television so we hear about or see a preview for a movie or series and we buy it. We get hooked and then order the whole series so we can be entertained. The DVDs we have decided that it is better to have them in a storage book so that they don't take up so much space. We had two bookcases with only DVDs, two rows on each self, and we have got them down to 17, yes seventeen, storage books. We have over 300 titles. The girls and I LOVE the books so most of the bookcases are overflowing with novels, books, stories, comics and whatever we can read. Again we love the series type books so when we read the first we have to order the series. We have become the library for all of our friends! We don't mind, but we make them sign away their lives in order to take them home. Bummer huh? Oh well, I love my DVDs and books. Plus we have put a label on all of our books that say they are 'From the humbly crowded library of Pamela J Holloway.' I think it's cute any way.

While we were organizing, Kaitlyn had her friend Olivia over to play for the afternoon. Kaitlyn is such a lonely little girl because we have no American children that live close by so we have to arrange playdates for her. She usually goes to Olivia's house, but since they were getting ready to go on vacation for spring break we decided to have her come to our house. They had a great time playing with PetShops and games and watched a movie before we had to take her home. Kaitlyn is sad because Olivia will be moving away this summer.

Once we got Olivia home and picked up Aimee from work we had to go to the laundrymat to get the piles of laundry done. We put the laundry off all week because it takes so stinkin' long to do it. Now that it is getting warmer outside we can hang most everything on the line. YEAH!!

I did so much yesterday that I can't hardly move today. I laid down on my new swing outside in the fresh air, read a few pages of Janet Evanovich (one of my favorite authors), and took a nap! I think everyone tried to wake me up about four times, but I was so comfortable and it was so nice out I just ignored them.

Aimee gave me my birthday present last week...a cuckoo clock made in Germany. Isn't it beautiful? I've always wanted a cuckoo clock. My Dad's parents have one downstairs in the family room and I love it. So now I have my own and it was bought here in Italy, but made in Germany. Cool, huh?

I was able to finish the baby ensamble that Wendy wanted me to make for her future baby girl. It consists of a dress, booties, headband, blanket and 2 burp cloths.