Let's pretend It's still Friday

This week of vacation has gone by much too fast, and I would like it to slow down. I'm not quite ready to go back to our usual schedule. So, since we're pretending it's Friday...

• P.'s passport arrived this week complete with Russian visa inside. This is very good news as other US students had some significant difficulties getting one. I will add that P. did this completely on her own, which is no mean feat, as this is a particularly tricky visa to apply for.
• We are now starting the countdown until P. leaves. It will be 19 days tomorrow. It feels much, much too soon, and I'm trying not to think about it. 
• The first coat of blue is done in the kitchen. It looks so much better already. It still needs the white paint and a second coat of blue. J. even pulled out the refrigerator and painted behind it. 
• I signed up for a quilting class today. I've done a little bit, but it's all pretty much self-taught. I'm quite sure there are easier and better ways to do things. I'm pretty darn excited about it.
• One of K.'s gifts this year was a box of tape... scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape. He was thrilled. Another gift was a box of raw materials... paper, twine, rubber bands. He was equally thrilled with this. All week long he has been happily creating. Even better is he can create without fear of his mother walking by and shrieking not to use all the tape up. Life just doesn't get better than this for K.
• When I shared yesterday about the projects I had made, I realized why it felt a little light. It's because I forgot to share a couple of things. First, I embroidered a sweatshirt for my mother. I can't take a picture of it, but I can show you the trial run before I actually sewed on the sweatshirt.

I also made some wax wraps for me and for my sister-in-law. You know, these are the pieces of cloth which are infused with bees wax that can then be used in place of plastic wrap. I had some raw bees wax and some pine resin, so had to strain the wax and then melt the two things together. It was kind of a process, but I now have a whole lot of the mixture that I can remelt to make more.

I really like the wraps. They seem to work as well as plastic wrap does and are a whole lot more appealing. See?

And they look so cheerful in the refrigerator.

• I did have a brief moment of thinking about getting back into the school groove and ordered our books for Nigeria, the country we are visiting next.
• If you usually get a Christmas card from us, but have yet to receive one, it is probably because it was part of the bunch I mailed without stamps on them. In my total embrace of being on vacation, I haven't remailed them. I'll get to it soon...
• Also a victim of my vacation mode was my kombucha. I am now making kombucha vinegar.

And with that, I'm going to end. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and have a happy new year, if I don't get back here before 2019.