Arrrgh!!!

I'm pressed for time today. My sister, Nancy, and her family are coming to visit for the weekend. YEA!!! The house is clean, most of my weeding is done. I have some office work to finish and shopping to do before they arrive. Would it be too, too mean to have the scent of chocolate cupcakes wafting through the house as they walk in the door?? *G*

We have two silo type feeders hanging from a flower "crook" at the back door of the garage. I can see the feeders if I am at the kitchen sink, or if I'm working on laundry. These feeders carry the medium chipped sunflower hearts that just about all our visitors (feathered or furred!) like. This morning I saw two house finches at those feeders, and realized that the house finches have been missing for the better part of two months. Usually we are inundated with them, but they have been conspicuously absent. I wonder if they went further north to try to find a cooler, wetter habitat?

I have been piecing blocks for two Birds in the Air Quilts. There are pictures of the blocks in the late July archives. I started out making 70 blocks with red, green and a range of neutrals for what I hope will be a quilt I can use to decorate the couch this Christmas. True to form, I cut enough patches for probably three quilts, so I cut MORE patches, this time in a range of mid to dark blue, to make a lap quilt for the church bazaar. All the blocks (110 in all) are finished and ironed open. Now, I need to lay them out on the floor so that I can decide how to assemble the quilts. I may put my visitors to work on this. As soon as the larger top is done, I can send it off to be quilted. AND, I have the outer border and backing for the Halloween quilt, and I could finish the border and send that, too! I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

I've been reading about how to keep day lilies blooming. It seems that there are varieties, like "Stella d'Oro" that will bloom all season. The trick to keeping them blooming is to dead head every other day, and to clip off the spent stalks. This may work for some of my other day lilies, so I need to get out into the gardens again to do some pruning. I think the perennial salvia would re-bloom, too, so it's going to be snip, snip, snip!

I get to go out to lunch on Saturday with the ladies of my family, and again with my favorite CPA on Tuesday. When it rains, it pours (so you know how often I get to go out to lunch)!

Speaking of rain.....we SO need the rain! I know there are lots of places where you're praying for dry. Please send that rain our way. August is going to be hell if the drought keeps up like this. (You can check, but I think I've had the same complaint for the past three Augusts.)

Did I mention that we saw one of my nephews perform in "The Fantastiks?" I am SO impressed at what high school kids are doing these days. This was an amazingly polished performance. All nine actors (incoming Freshman thru incoming Senior) did a fine job, well above what I might have expected. This particular school is only four years old, and it has an exceptional theater department. We're lucky that my nephew lives in that school district. He has been in every single performance that has been staged since the school opened.

Sooooooooo....I need to do some accounting, clear off my desk, shop, and get those cupcakes in the oven. I hope all of you have a great weekend, doing whatever makes your heart happy!