What have you been up to? I am busy finishing reports for work. It looks like I will continue to be gainfully employed for the time being.

At home, Mummy is getting ready to go back to Michigan on Saturday. She is much healthier now than when she got here in November- a combination of exercise and my cooking, I think. And social interaction with my friends. And she really likes Evan. Cobban told me that at the Boiled Egg Party she was decorating an egg and he saw that she had written on it "E + H" and asked her what it was and she said, 'Evan plus Homer."

Once Mummy leaves it is time to get to the gym and lose some pounds. My clothes are too tight.

At home I am busy with genealogy projects. And at Ace Hardware tonight Mummy picked out a color for her bathroom- PINK. It is what she wants, so sometime soon I will be repainting that room.

Homer and Puff.

The Annual Egg Decorating and Backyard Egg Hunt Party was a success.

Mummy had made baby Milo a knitted rabbit and he really liked it. He liked the chocolate bunny even more.

Milo and stuffed varmints.

The guests arrived and enjoyed the menu- potato salad, cole slaw, dill pickles from Mark, watermelon rind pickles, butterscotch pudding, and gluten-free carrot cake with coconut cream cheese frosting.

Jeffrey and Ray.

Evan was introduced to my friends.

Many eggs were decorated.

John chats with Mummy while Chris decorates.

Chris, Jim, and David.

At 3:15 the guests assembled outside, I explained the rules (10 points for a fruit, 5 points for the big and small eggs, 1 point for the medium eggs). And then... GO!

The assembled egg hunters.

I had scattered 100s of plastic eggs throughout the backyard. I only found three that were missed.

Egg hunt underway.

I tallied the results with Jeffrey's assistance, because I am so bad at doing numbers.

The winners: Steve (240 points), Patrick (220 points), and Brady (156 points).

Patrick was also best dressed and made the best decorated eggs.

Bowtie!

Pretty eggs.

For me the most amusing aspect of the party was discovering the Vicodin bottle, which had been in my kitchen cabinet with two leftover pills from when I had shingles, had mysteriously ended up in my bathroom medicine cabinet empty. That takes some balls to come to a party and steal pills. I hope whoever it was enjoys them!!!

Let's make lemon soap! First buy some glycerin at the craft store and some lemons at Safeway.

Have your handsome boyfriend remove the zest with the zester.

Zested lemon and 1950s Mallo Ware plate.

Chop up the cubes of glycerin and make a double boiler.

Have Evan stir.

The glycerin cubes start to melt.

They look sorta like ice cubes.

Keep stirring.

Almost melted.

Add the lemon zest.

Stir once again.

Pour into your re-usable molds you purchased at the craft store. Extra soap has to go into plastic cups.

Play Mexican Train dominoes while waiting for it to cool.

Then place in the freezer to help the soap pop out of the mold.

The zest settles into the bottom of the mold, so that portion is slightly darker. No artificial colors were needed. We made rosemary soap last night.

Rosemary soap.

It had a much stronger scent.

Now I guess I better go take a shower.

A couple of days ago I realized that in a month or so it will be 25 years since I graduated from college. How did that happen? Twenty-five years ago this summer I went on my first archaeological excavation and decided that I was going to be an archaeologist.

And last night I had THE DREAM again. It varies slightly, but it always includes the fact that it is the end of the semester and somehow I forgot to go to my math class and also forgot to drop it. I am going to flunk.

In reality, this never happened. I graduated from University of Michigan with a GPA of around 3.8 (Grad school was 3.89). But I still wake up trying to figure out if the dream is real or not. You wouldn't believe how panicked I have felt sometimes. It usually takes a moment or two to calm down.

The otherrecurring dream I have is the Hurry-Hurry dream, where I try to get other people to leave a burning building. That one always frustrates me.

How come I couldn't have dreams about puppies and kittens?

As I was talking to Jimbo on the phone the Gambel's Quails were busy cherping at each other. Suddenly there are numerous pairs wandering around at work, including this couple outside my office window. Soon they will have a bunch of babies chasing after them as they wander around.

Female and male Gambel's quail.

At home most of the frost-damaged trees have woken up and are busy putting out leaves. Unfortunately, the lovely wildflowers we had last year are lacking. I am starting to clean house prior to my annual egg party. Good lord, how much hair did Snowball shed?

Evan and I have plane tickets to hop on the aluminum tube of death in May and fly eastward to North Carolina to see Forrest, Travis, and Chas. Hijinks will ensue.

I think I will hot glue things on my car some day.

Mummy and art car in Bisbee.

Puff and Joey are 11-years-old today. So of course it was important to pose for a picture.

Joey.

They were both naughty and refused to smile.

Puff.

If you ever stop by my house you will see how awesome they are. Puff will jump on your lap and demand to be petted. Joey will take a little while longer, but soon enough she will be there too. They are the best cats ever!