Speaking French in the morning

My niece just called me on her way to scholar's summer camp -- she's learning French. So we had our first little "Comment ca va?" "Ca va bien!" conversation, which just melts my heart. The kids are coming up from Tennessee for a week starting on the 1st, and they are dying to meet Butters the hamster. My niece will share her blueberries with the hamster, and my nephew will not if they're in a pie. I love these kids. Love how their minds work. I'll have to brush up on my French so I can keep up with them.

It's a good news morning -- Dad's feeling great after a transfusion and will most likely be home today. So I'm running errands for the family and possibly picking him up from the hospital, also getting my parents new cell phones. The morning's blocked off for family care and support, and then this afternoon I get back into the manuscript I'm editing, my guest forum at PashWeddings.com -- which has turned into a full-time position -- and contracts talks for the new book deal. I'll be working with a new publisher for my Bride's Diplomacy Guide, and everyone on PashWeddings is thrilled that the idea for the book came from my work there, answering their sticky questions about family squabbles and difficult situations. Seriously, some of these letters I get just floor me. Someone wrote recently about a bride who put horrible things about her in-laws on her personal wedding Web site. What happened to civility and respect for the in-laws? What happened to wanting to graciously enter a family? I can't believe some of the things that are sent to me, and I'm even more excited about doing this book. Sounds like it's needed.

And of course, I'm sighing over Joe. My own personal hero became a hero at the coffee shop when he handled an unruly, caffeine-deprived, testosterone-driven lunatic in the parking lot. Thanks to my guy, dozens of people got to work on time. Sigh...and he gives amazing footrubs. Double sigh. Just an idyllic evening at his place after a long, long day yesterday, and he surprised me with a gift. I was quite spastic with finding a place to put down my Snapple bottle so that I could open it, so maybe for him the best part of giving me a gift is watching me flip out right before I open it. I'm quite amusing to watch sometimes.

Well, it's errands time, so I'd better hit the road. Dad wants pierogies waiting for him when he gets home from the hospital, so I'll be cooking this morning as well. I wouldn't have it any other way. Dad wants pierogies, he gets pierogies. ;)