Since Then

          It took me a little while to adjust back to the way things were before the kids got here but adjust I did. I had to. I had things to do. Miss Rosie and I had a gift exchange planned for Thursday (the first of August). I'd finished her birthday present and hung it on the cabinet to enjoy his beauty and my hard work until I gave it to her.

          This is by far the most complicated piece I've ever put together and I took extra pains to make sure everything fit right.

          Just before the kids got here, I noticed Miss Rosie's rooster was hanging funny.

          Yeah. The weight of the piece had pulled the feather off. I wasn't happy about it, but I was thankful it didn't fall and break. With the kids coming, I didn't have time to fix it. So that was what I planned to do Thursday. Wednesday I'd planned to make a Lemon Roll to take along to our gift exchange. Miss Rosie likes lemon.

           The roll came out just fine, no problems there.

          Thursday I went to work on the rooster. I got him back together and was holding him by the top ring, admiring my work, when the ring gave way and it fell onto the counter.

          Two feather tips broke. Sigh.

           

          What am I going to do! I lamented. I pushed the green feather back into place and it stayed well enough. I'm not giving her a broken piece, was chased from my mind with, Nobody's dead and I can fix this. (A favorite saying of Patti's friend Lori). The only problem was we needed to leave in 20 minutes!

          "You can reschedule," you say.

          I know, right! I thought of that too. Only I feel so bad that she's had to wait almost three months for her birthday gift that I didn't want to break our date.

          Well, I thought to myself, she's not going to see the broken tail feather right away and she won't miss the top ring at all. I'll keep our date, tell her what happened, and bring it home and fix it.

          "OH!" Rosie gasped when she saw it.

          I could tell she liked it even before she said, "It's beautiful!" And a smile graced her beautiful face.

          Then I had to tell her what happened. I'll fix it but in the meantime, she gets to figure out where she's going to put him!

           Now. I did mention it was a gift exchange. My big 6-0 was the very next day. Not shy about what I wanted I requested an Almond Joy Cake and something she paints.

          I'm not a big chocolate lover...

           I know, right! That's almost un-American!

          But I love the Almond Joy Cake that Miss Rosie makes. "If you leave the almonds off the top you have a Mounds Cake," she said and I laughed. I'm happy with almonds.

          And then she gave me my gifts. Yeah. Gifts! I don't know how I got so lucky to have someone who loves me as much as Miss Rosie does, but she does.

          Miss Rosie painted a Blue Bird on a tin for me. I love, love, love, this! She did such an amazing job!

          And if the cake and tin weren't enough — which they were — she also gave me a yard (or garden) flag pole and three flags I can change with the seasons. I never thought I wanted one of those but now that I have one, I love it! And can't wait to go shopping for flags!

           I am so very blessed.

          Let's call this one done!