The Edge of Reason

Honorary Mother (it was a Crafting Emergency)

Last Thursday night, I received a text message from Alyssa. She asked me if I would be available on Friday. I told her that I was going to spend the day shopping for John's birthday gifts, and then I asked her what she needed. She text'd me back and said that she may have to call me with some "sewing" questions.

After what I considered to be an excessive number of text messages, I concluded that Alyssa's sorority had what could only be termed as a Crafting Emergency! (Why do these kids not pick up the phone and actually call people? This multiple text thing does me in - I am slow as molasses when it comes to texting on my phone and it was like pulling teeth to get the following information - so what could have been discussed in ten minutes ended up taking a full hour of text messaging to get the full story).

Following is what I would call typical of how most teenagers work - this is the summation of 100 text messages and how the Chi Omega Crafting Emergency was handled:

Alyssa was involved in this "secret" thing with her sorority. But I knew what it is because she had told me a bit about it during spring break - the sorority was participating in a Greek Sing competition that sounded similar to a variety show competition between all the sororities and the fraternities. Secret to everyone but me, I guess????

 

They needed 17 skirts made by Saturday, which was less than 36 hours from the original text message... as in 2 days. These skirts were their costumes, so they were an integral part of the show - the show that Chi-O has won four years in a row and that they were hoping to win again because of PRIDE.

 

They had 1 sewing machine. They couldn't start sewing until 4:00 Friday afternoon because they all had classes and work.

 

After the back and forth text messages, Alyssa finally asked me if I could bring her sewing machine to campus on Friday afternoon. Once I found out what they needed to do in such a short amount of time, I asked her if she wanted my help. She said yes, they need my help (I think this is why she began the text marathon in the first place).

 

So the plan was that I would drive out to GMU on Friday with three more machines, and I would help them set up sewing stations so that they could make 17 skirts in one night.

 

Oh, and did I mention that they did't have a pattern?
And that only 1 person knew how to sew?
And they only had black thread.
Oh... and no scissors... NONE.
And fabric... they didn't think they had enough.

 

Oiy. I had a feeling I was going to have a very late Friday night with the sorority girls.

 

Also, during this text marathon, Alyssa mentioned that her entire sorority wanted to order custom made Greek letter tee-shirts from me. I told her that I could do that, but that we needed get the skirts done first. Seriously - these girls have no sense of urgency at all. It makes me laugh at the innocence and lack of reality for our youth.

 

This whole thing was just SO ALYSSA! What a joke. They didn't even think about this part of their show until the night before the performance. These teenagers just sleigh me - they are so disorganized. They wait till the last minute for everything. And even though Alyssa will be nineteen years old this year, this is the one thing that I will never understand about teenagers. It begins when they enter middle school, and clearly, it continues during their college years. I think it is a very good thing that Alyssa is away at college and that I no longer have to witness these crisis on a daily basis. I rarely have patience for lack of planning. But in this case, I felt sorry for the girls, so I put on my SuperMom Cape and off I went.

When I arrived at GMU, the Crafting Emergency had reached Red Alert status. The girls were in full panic mode. No one knew what they were doing and they looked like pretty little deer with headlights shining in their eyes.

So keeping that in mind, here is how it went:

I am worn out. I can't tell you how much this project stressed me because I wanted to do right by these girls. My main goal was to guide them and direct them, but NOT to take over the project - it was their thing and I was only there to offer guidance. But these poor girls had no clue. And had I not thought to toss in my rotary cutter and self-healing mat, there is no way they would have had enough fabric. As it was, I figured out how to do away with a hem by using the selvage as the hem line. This was a good thing because it meant no hemming stitch, which was good due to the time crunch and their lack of sewing experience (and that ungodly looking black thread they used on the pastel fabrics).

I spent 5 hours unjamming machines, setting up, and directing stations. Without the stations, we would have been lost. But once I suggested "stations" they looked so relieved. They seriously had no idea where to begin and it became apparent that they were hoping that I could solve this problem for them. In the end, I had them set up the following stations and we were able to complete 17 skirts in five hours:

1. cutting  - one girl, since I only had one rotary cutter and they didn't have enough fabric
2. side seams - two machines/two girls
3. ironing the seams and making the casing for the elastic  - two girls/two ironing boards because I thought to bring extra
4. sewing the casing seams (this was a fiasco and the seams were very wobbly, but they were good enough) - two machines/two girls
5. threading the elastic - one girl because of the measurement issue (matching skirt color to each girl's measurements)
6. sewing the elastic together and closing the seams - me
7. ironing the finished skirts and logging them into their tracking system - one girl (again, matching skirt color to girl's measurements)

They hoped to have a waistband on these skirts. But with the shortage of fabric, the only way we could make them was with elastic. So one of the girls had to run to WalMart to buy elastic. Thank God she did that. I don't know what we would have done without that option. They had 1.5 yards of fabric for every two skirts... not very much fabric to work with.

 

I only saw Alyssa for 20 minutes the entire time I was there because she was not on the "costume committee". Sadness. But I got to work with the junior and senior girls, and that was really interesting and actually quite fun! They were very gracious and so appreciative. Also, they were SO GROWN UP! What a difference 4 years of college makes. Their conversations were mature and enlightening. I sincerely had a great time and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to get to know the girls whom Alyssa is mentoring with - their example is wonderful and their morals and ethics seem to be in-line with "the good people of society." I feel blessed to have been able to witness this first hand.

Sadly, after all this work, Chi Omega did not win the competition. Alyssa said everyone was bawling when it was over - they were that upset. My heart is heavy for these girls. They worked so hard to win Greek Sing. But, based upon the pictures shown at the beginning of this entry, I'm guessing they were far and above the cutest girls in the competition. The costumes turned out adorable. And their hair looked amazing (they all slept on sponge curlers the night before the competition).

Many years ago, my mother told me that parenting never ends. She said that it evolves and changes over the years, but that when all is said and done, a mom is a mom and the child will always turn to the mom in times of need, even when that child becomes an adult. A Crafting Emergency may not be a real life crisis, but in Alyssa's world, it was a crisis of epic proportions. I am so thankful that she is still child enough to want her mother's help when things go wrong. It was fun to be the hororary mother to an entire sorority during this crisis... even if it only meant sitting down at the sewing machine and helping them make 17 skirts.

Tough love - not for wimps... and I am not a wimp!

I hate drugs. I despise them with every fiber of my being. And, as many people know, this is a sensitive issue for me because I have witnessed first-hand a life of destruction as my brother has struggled with drug abuse for over thirty years. And because of this, I have always been paranoid that something similar would happen to my own children - it is my one great fear in life. And so due to my paranoia, I've been very diligent in parenting my teens - I go overboard when it comes to keeping track of who they are with and what they are doing. They hate it... but I do it anyway. But now we've reached the point where John is almost 17 years old and I can no longer watch over him 24/7. Thus, there is no way know what he is doing at all times. I wish I could continue to shelter him and keep him out of harms way... but I can't. Which leads me to this entry.

Many people have wondered why I have been so quiet lately. I've shrugged it off by telling people that I just don't feel well, blaming my current health issues. But there is more to it than that. What people don't know is that I have remained silent about what is really going - the behind the scenes stuff that is happening in my home... the things I have not shared... not until today. However, because I feel very strongly about this subject, I have decided to be forthcoming with my family and friends because 1) I don't like secret keeping, 2) sometimes good kids make bad choices and there is no shame in that, and 3) as parents we do the best we can with the tools we have and often, even that is not enough. My prayer is that this wrong will be made right and that those who read this entry will not pass judgment - because the truth of the matter is: every situation is unique, and although John is a normal teenager with normal problems, he is also a teenager with a disease which dictates much of how I approach problems with this child. With some problems, my approach is full force with guns blazing. But with other problems, I tread lightly because I am dealing with a teenager who is fragile both physically and emotionally. It's a very fine line I walk each day, and even though I make mistakes along the way, I try to correct them the best I know how.

John is my kid who is easy to love. He isn't shy about hugging me or telling me thank you. And every single day he says, "I love you, Mom," as he kisses me on the cheek and goes about his merry way. Seriously, it is difficult not to love a boy who shows such open love for his mother. And it is also difficult to get mad at a person who is so gentle and caring.

But John is also my child who does everything he can to test my patience as he pushes all limits trying to define his personal self. Currently, he is flunking his classes - and he doesn't even care because he claims that he is making a statement about what a waste of time homework is. His thought process is that if he passes the tests, then that should be proof enough that he is learning something in the class. And his latest declaration is that he is not going to compromise his integrity by bowing to authority. What the heck? Where does he come up with this stuff? Does he not realize that he is possibly throwing away future opportunities because he refuses to "compromise his integrity?" Good grief. Where did I go wrong?

Sadly, we think there is more to this latest rebellion streak. Last week, his therapist called me into her office for an emergency meeting. After discussing John's attitude and his current lack of desire, we put our heads together and concluded that drugs may possibly be involved. In the meantime, I also received calls from his teachers informing me that he is failing his classes and that he seems to have "checked out" when it comes to putting forth effort in the classroom. They told me that he has a bad attitude and that he is unwilling to discuss his grades with them.

I won't deny that this did not come as a surprise, although I thought we had put it behind us after John was caught with possession of marijuana last January (caught by the police... not by me). At that time, John made a big production about throwing away his drug paraphernalia and he promised to shape up. His punishment for breaking the house rules AND BREAKING THE LAW was removal of freedom privileges, as well as no testing for his driver's license. And he seemed clean for a while... he was clear headed, he was putting forth great effort in his school work, and his attitude was positive.

Until now. And now is where I'm at. The time has come for the tough love approach. So after much consideration and contemplation, I decided to call his doctor to discuss this problem. First of all, John takes numerous prescription medications, and drug abuse could seriously compromise the usefulness of those meds. Additionally, adding street drugs to the mix could potentially be lethal. Therefore, I'm dealing with a situation that is [potentially] more than casual drug abuse. I had no choice. I had to tell his doctor. Not a fun conversation. In fact, I felt like a failure as I explained the situation. But right now, it's not about me. It's about saving this child, which means I have swallow my pride and admit that something went wrong. That's not to say that *I* did something wrong... because I don't know that I have. But SOMETHING went wrong. Therefore, I must take the blame for letting this happen regardless of where the fault lies (and I truly believe the fault lies in the availability of street drugs and the secrecy that surrounds this problem - if more people would talk about it, and if as a society we would work together to fight this battle, I think parents would be better prepared when the problem lands smack-dab in their lap. But because there is so much shame associated with drug abuse, we don't talk about it - we don't want to eat the humble pie that says, "my child is not perfect." Instead, we hang our heads in shame and suffer silently, hoping to quietly solve the problem, without knowing exactly how to do so. But if we, as parents, would put our heads together to discuss why our good kids have made bad choices, I sincerely believe we would be better prepared to fight this battle).

After speaking with John's doctor, it was decided that a drug test was absolutely necessary and that said test had to be administered without John's knowledge. Therefore, my job was to "trick" John into taking what is commonly known to teenagers as a piss test. Note that tricking my kids goes against everything I believe in when it comes to parenting. But, like I said, the time for tough love is now, and tough love is not for wimps. I CANNOT BE A WIMP - not now. I have to be strong, and tough, and even mean. SIGH. I can do this. And I did. I took John to the lab and told him to pee in a cup. He pretty much figured out what was going on... he turned to me and said, "it's a good thing I'm clean." Great, big, giant sigh. Maybe he is clean. Maybe we are all being paranoid. And maybe John is just a rebellious soul who is trying to fit in by being troublesome. Maybe... maybe not.

Either way, today I'm on pins and needles as I await the results of this drug test. And if the test is positive - I don't know what I will do. Is my next step house arrest? Do I dare put a child who has been home-bound from high school for five months back in a situation where he is not allowed to be with his peers? Because, really... what will that teach him? He will suffer in solitude and he also won't be allowed to clean up his act by making good choices because I will have removed the option of choices altogether. I don't necessarily know if that will help, other than to make him feel more isolated and become even more rebellious (my fear is that he will run away!).

John will turn seventeen on Sunday. He absolutely must take responsibility for his actions, but I'm not certain that house arrest is the answer. He's already pretty removed from society, which is probably why he turned to drugs in the first place. I don't know. I don't have answers. The only thing I am sure of is that I love this child with every fiber of my being and I will continue to do the best I can with the tools I have, and right now, my tool is mandatory drug testing. From there... I just don't know.

And so there it is: "the rest of the story." My life is currently consumed with raising this child. It requires every ounce of energy I have. I'm emotionally worn out, which is why I've been absent from the world. Next week I will have surgery to correct the health problems my body has foisted upon me. I've opted for a day surgery rather than a full hysterectomy because, as I told the doctor, "I need 18 more months to finish what I have started with raising this child. I cannot afford a six week recovery period." Therefore, we are buying time with the removal of the growths only, praying that they don't test positive for cancer. Hopefully, this surgery will accomplish what it is supposed to do (cease the hemorrhaging), and I will then be able to focus 100% on the task at hand, which is to love this child through thick and thin, as I continue to instill the lessons of making wise choices and the consequences that occur when mistakes are made. Because the truth of the matter is: sometimes, good kids make bad choices. But when all is said and done, it is not the bad choice that matters, but the lesson that is learned from the experience.

Tough love... it is not for wimps.

It was a little something, but it was wonderful!

I took Alyssa back to the university yesterday. It was very difficult to say good-bye this time because we had such a nice visit during her Spring Break. And I just have to say it again: What a difference a year makes! She is so grown up and mature after being in college for only seven months. Through the years, I have often questioned whether my parenting abilities would be enough to send her off on her own. Now I know... I must have done something right. Whew. What a relief. Next comes John... and I am still worrying and fretting over the same things. I only hope that he takes to college as well as Alyssa has. I've still got eighteen months to get it right with him - and to be honest, I've got my work cut out.

While Alyssa was home, we decided to do a little something different: we took a road trip to Pennsylvania. We'd not yet seen Lon and Debbie's new house and we used that as our excuse to justify the trip. But the real reason we went to Pennsylvania was to celebrate Debbie's birthday and to celebrate Casey's recent achievements in the world of skiing. He's had a such great year and will be competing in the Junior Olympics next month.

Because they are always skiing on the weekends, we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving. But thanks to Debbie, we've followed Casey's success from afar, which is almost as good as being there. These pictures are of my brother, Lon, and Casey practicing the race course. I absolutely love the picture that shows Casey edging ahead of his dad!

I'm still getting used to the idea of having family members close enough that an airplane is not the required mode of transportation. This was the first time in almost twenty years that I have been able to get in a car and drive to see family - what a treat that is. Considering that we aren't used to road trips, Alyssa and I were pleased to discover that we didn't mind the drive at all. In fact, we timed it by the number of CD's required (three, to be exact). We turned up the tunes and I sang while she hummed (she is not one to sing out loud) for the entire two and a half hours it took to get there. I think we must have had a silent no talking aloud policy going on, because the only time we actually gabbed was when we had to pay the tolls and figure out directions. Before we left, Alyssa declared herself the official Navigation System and banker for this trip. She even used her "Navigation System" voice, which will always be one of my favorite memories of her Spring Break.

Speaking of memories, Alyssa and Debbie flunk the test of photo memories because neither one would allow me to take pictures of them. So, no cake pictures, no group pictures, no pictures of the girls at all (I'm still pouting). Thanks to Casey, I was able to take a few pictures that actually show people in the image. And, technically, I do have a picture of Debbie - she's in the photo shown below... she was trying to hide from me:

While there, Alyssa and I both commented that the beds at Lon and Debbie's house are The Most Comfortable Beds on earth... even better than the Hyatt or the Hilton! This is a good thing for those who visit Lon and Deb, but now that I am aware of this well-kept secret, they may have a difficult time getting rid of us the next time we visit. Seriously, Debbie's beds are heavenly.

And as heavenly as the beds are, the guest bathroom was heavenly as well:

Check out that faucet in the bathtub. I won't admit how long it took me to figure it out... but know this: it was almost noon by the time I got out of that tub. Oiy. When I talked to my mom after we got home, I told her that when she visits Lon and Deb, she will need to call me from the bathroom so that I can walk her through the process of turning on the water. After I sent her the pictures, she agreed that she would definitely need help with the faucet.

And now Alyssa is back at school. I think she enjoyed her Spring Break - we managed to complete most of the things she had on her list, and she seemed happy and relaxed as she packed up the car to head back to college.

That's the thing about Spring Break - kids just want to do "something", and over the years I've come to conclude that the little somethings can be just as nice as the big somethings, because a little something can always be made into a big something when approached with the right attitude and a sense of adventure, which is exactly what we did when we decided to take our road trip.

A special thank you to Debbie and Casey for indulging us in our sense of adventure. We can't wait to see you again... and sleep in the beds... and re-test the bathtub... and hang out in your family room wrapped up in blankets... and eat your fruit... and maybe even take a picture or two??? You helped make Alyssa's Spring Break special, and for that, we thank you.

Tee-shirt applique - a how to pictorial instruction guide

Before Alyssa's Spring Break began, she started a list of things she wanted to do while she was home from college. The number one item on her list was to sew the Greek letters of her sorority onto tee-shirts. Knowing that there are a lot of "rules" that go with being in a sorority, I asked her to make sure that it was not "illegal" for us to make our own letters. She promptly followed through and was told that we could make our own Chi-Omega letters, but the letters had to be identical to those that were used for official sorority business and activities. Once she received the go-ahead, she was gung-ho to begin this project.

As the person who would be designing and sewing the letters, I felt a lot of pressure to not screw this up. First of all, I've never appliqued on tee shirts before. I've made tee-shirts back in the days when I used my serger to sew clothing for my kids - but I've never embellished the tee shirts using the applique method, and because tee-shirt material is very stretchy and loose, I was concerned with how to go about this project without messing it up. I also didn't want to let her down since she is not one to ask favors of me. The fact that she actually asked me to do this for her was proof of much this project meant to her.

And so after stressing for an entire weekend (she couldn't stop talking about it), I took a deep breath and tackled the project yesterday. When I realized how very easy this project is, I knew that I had to pass along the instructions, because not only is this an easy project, it is also one of the most inexpensive projects I have ever made.

Following are the instructions... I've tried to include enough pictures for each step in order to keep it simple.

Supplies required for this project are:

1. A tee-shirt - available at Michael's (cost of $3.99)
2. Wonder Under paper backed fusible webbing
3. Tear-Away Stabilizer - I prefer the roll, but it can be purchased in a package also
4. Grid paper to trace pattern on - available at any office supply store in tablets
5. Fabric - we purchased fat quarters at JoAnn's (cost of 99 cents each!)
6. Coordinating thread
7. A sewing machine with a zig-zag stitch (I set the width to 4.5mm and the length to .7 mm)
8. An ironing board and iron

These are the original [read "official"] tee-shirts that I used as a pattern guide - the girls have been spending anywhere from $20 to $30 for each tee-shirt at the local mall. When personalizing your own projects, any image can be used to create a pattern. Coloring books work well, as do computer images of objects such as baseballs, bats, footballs, flowers, peace signs, computer fonts, etc. Just print out the image you want to use and then make a pattern out of it. You can size it on the computer before printing, which makes this step fast and easy (unless you are following sorority guidelines!).

After selecting an image to recreate, a pattern needs to be made - I use the grid paper for proper sizing.

Once the pattern has been designed, trace the image onto the Wonder Under. Iron the image to the WRONG side of the fabric... let cool before trimming to size.

Before the sewing begins, stabilizer must be attached to the WRONG side of the tee-shirt (the inside-out side). I baste a square or rectangle and later remove the basting stitches before tearing away the excess.

Now comes the fun part: sewing. Remove the backing of the Wonder Under and iron the shapes onto the RIGHT side of the fabric. I iron one layer at a time, and then sew that layer. After each layer is sewn, I iron on the next layer and sew that. To put it another way - when appliqueing multiple layers, the process is to stack one upon the other, sewing a layer at a time. I use a zig-zag stitch around the edges, making sure to catch all raw edges. There is no pre-fold hem required, as the wide, tight zig-zag stitches and the sticky back Wonder Under will finish the edges.

To finish the project, remove the basting stitches that hold the stabilizer in place and then tear away the excess stabilizer (see noted photos above). Press tee-shirt to fill in any basting stitch needle marks that may still appear - these will go away once they are pressed back into place.

Here is what the finished projects look like:

 

My total cost for each tee-shirt was $5.33. Note that this does not include the price of the Wonder Under or the stabilizer. If those items are purchased specifically for this project, the base cost will increase substantially. However, one package of Wonder Under is 2 yards in length and that will make over 20 tee-shirts. A roll of stabilizer is also 2 yards in length. Therefore, these supplies are what I consider to be staple materials, so I do not factor in these items in the overall cost of the tee-shirts.

So there you have it - a simple and very low budget project that can be completed in a day. Each tee-shirt took two hours to make, which included tracing the Greek letters, and all of the cutting, ironing and stitching. Like I said, I'm slow when it comes to sewing, and I'm sure that most people would be able to speed up the production time... I'm just not most people... I'm one of those slow people.

Alyssa is thrilled. She has already started to brainstorm more sorority projects. In fact, she wants to sell these tee-shirts to the girls in her sorority (once again, I told her that she absolutely had to get permission to do so before she started advertising tee-shirts for sale!). After she decided that selling Greek letter tee-shirts was a good idea, she then asked me if I would be willing to make them for that purpose. This made me giggle. I honestly think she believes that all I do is sew my life away - maybe a tad bit accurate, but not the entire truth... I do have a few other activities in my life! Anyway, I told her that I would consider making more, but that if I were to sell them, I would do so via the [still not created] Etsy Shop so that she would not be responsible for collecting the money.

When all is said and done, I'm pleased with the results of this project, and I feel honored that Alyssa would trust me enough to ask me to do something sorority related. It's been so much fun having her home. She's grown up a lot and she is really fun to spend time with. Once again, I am tickled with this turn of events. Spring Break has never been one of my favorite "breaks", mostly due to the not-so-spring-like weather that occurs every year, in addition to high expectations from kids who have no concept that the entire world is not on spring break. Now that Alyssa has been in college for almost a year, she finally understands that March weather is probably going to be crappy, the world doesn't revolve around spring break, and having a break from classes is worth celebrating regardless of the weather or the lack of a BIG EVENT. The BIG EVENT, in this case, is having her home. And in my world, that's huge!

Alyssa's Home! YAY!

If someone would have asked me last September whether or not I would be looking forward to having Alyssa home for ten days in March,  I probably would have rolled my eyes and fussed about the power struggle that would ensue... but, oh what a difference seven months can make! I am astounded by the change from then to now.

During the Christmas break, Alyssa worked so many hours at Hollister that I rarely saw her. She worked, she slept, she worked, she slept some more, and then she worked again. Her goal was to make enough money to pay her sorority dues, and so she asked for double shifts at the mall - and double shifts is exactly what she got - but that meant no time at home other than to sleep between shifts. In the end, she did make enough money to pay her sorority dues, so all was well in her world, in spite of the fact that we barely saw her during the entire break.

Last month, upon my insistence, Alyssa came home when she was sick - same thing... sleep, sleep, sleep. I didn't see her at all, other than to offer fluids and more flu medications. As soon as she felt  better, back to school she went. And that was that. I hardly even count it as a "visit home" considering that she was dead to the world.

Which brings me to now... ten days of having her home again. Needless to say, I've been beside myself with anticipation. In fact, I've set aside the entire week so that I can "go with the flow" and do whatever she wants to do. I feel like a child at Christmas... waiting for Santa to come so that I can finally see what delights are in store. All these months she's been away, and I've missed her so very much each and every day. Having her home is exactly what my heart needs at this moment in time. Bonus that she seems as anxious as I am about spending time together doing the mother-daughter thing for an entire week.

We started her spring break with this -

a very long line of parents waiting in the No Parking Zone to pick up our college students. What a joke... too many parents... students in no rush... and no place to go other than sit in line and wait. But what were our options? We could either, 1) leave our kids at the college campus instead of waiting, or 2) wait for our students to get in the car. I think that waiting for our students was the obvious choice in this instance. And so... we waited... and waited... and waited some more.

I enjoyed watching the students eventually begin to meander to the parent's vehicles - the parents were so obviously anxious to see their student, but to be honest, these freshman have no sense of urgency at all! They were officially on Spring Break and their actions showed that their intentions were to cease the insanity of college life and ease [very slowly] into the ten days that are officially known as Spring Break. I laughed out loud as I watched the parents tapping their feet and the students not giving a damn at all. At least I was not alone!

When we finally arrived home, after a wonderful lunch at our favorite diner, Alyssa loved on the dogs until they were nearly beside themselves with glee over seeing her again, and then she turned to me and said, "Let's take a nap... what chair do you want?" That's my girl! She knows how to nap and she knows how to make her momma happy.

And so we napped. I gave her the sofa and I chose the napping chair.  I snoozed for a couple of hours. But Alyssa... she slept, and slept, and slept some more - four hours of napping for my tired college girl. I think the stress of mid-terms finally caught up with her because she took to the sofa as though it was the most comfortable place on earth (it's not!).

When she finally woke up, we watched two hours of America's Next Top Model (so much like old times!), and then we watched a dance movie that I've never seen, "Honey", with Jessica Alba. <--- fun movie if you enjoy dancing.

And so begins an entire week that I plan to dedicate to my growing up daughter. She is so much fun to be with. And, in fact, I do believe my eye rolling days are over and that she and I will once again be friends. Joy, joy, joy over that small, and much welcome, miracle, because, to be very honest, I don't know if I will ever recover from the Momma-Trauma that was so much a part of her senior year - man was that not fun!

But finally, we can put the past traumatic days behind us, and our plans for Alyssa's Spring Break include a sewing project - she wants me to make a template of the Greek letters for her sorority and then applique them onto tee shirts, which might turn out to be quite challenging, because although I am proficient with applique, I am NOT proficient with sewing things on tee shirt fabric. We'll see how this goes.

Additionally, Alyssa wants to make a quick trip to Pennsylvania to visit Lon, Debbie and Casey. I'm up for that! I think we will take our road trip on Tuesday and Wednesday. It should be fun. (John is going to throw a fit when he finds out that he is excluded from this road trip... and I am so not looking forward to dealing with that nonsense).

I guess the moral of this entry is this: they do grow up, and they eventually become our friends; absence really does make the heart grow fonder; and finally, my almost grown up daughter is a delight. I am so thrilled to see her again and to have the opportunity to spend one-on-one time together. And even if she decides to sleep the entire ten days, I'm just happy she is home.