Blogs are great. I love to read the blogs of my friends and fellow quilt designers… to see what is new, what they’re working on, what inspires them.  When it comes to the Lizzie B blog— we love to talk about all that stuff too.  But ya know, sometimes LIFE just gets in the way of being CREATIVE!  Kids have to be taken care of, driven all over town, and FED, believe it or not.  Household errands are always looming, bills have to be paid, school or church activities have to be attended to….and let’s NOT even mention the ever-present laundry that one household can generate.

So… sometimes, a creative blog topic just eludes us. Some days just about the most exciting thing that happens is that I find a free evening when I DON’T have to burn the midnight oil, and I get to hop into bed early with a good book.  That was the case Monday night.  So on my way to bed (and you know what I am talking about MOMS.  That meandering path that takes 20 minutes, putting dishes in the kitchen, picking up and re-plopping piles of books, shoes, laundry that belong elsewhere, turning off lights, closing cupboards, wiping down counters, and all the rest of the routine that happens on the way to bed!) … anyway!  On my way to bed, I picked up a little bit of trash on the dining room rug, and upon close inspection…. one bit was the corner of a $20 bill!  Gasp!!  And the other piece….OH NO!  A small piece of a $10 bill.  Crap!

I slowly and suspiciously made my way into the bedroom, where to my horror I discovered a much bigger problem.  The contents of my hubby’s wallet, scattered around and dog-chewed.  I spun around and nabbed the culprit (who follows me around like a shadow) JUST as she was trying to escape the room.  Yep, Daisy the puppy-doodle (she is a mix between a golden retriever and a big poodle, and is 1.5 years old… just still behaves like a puppy!) was attempting to skulk out of the room.  I swear, dogs think they are invisible when they hang their head and skulk!!  In that low, calm, scary mom voice (kids know what I am talking about here!) I told her to GET IN HER CRATE.  Which she never ever ever does, without a treat.  But this time, oh BOY, she knew she was in trouble.  You would have thought she had just had her last meal and was walking the walk-of-death in a prison.  She accepted her fate and waited for me to close the door.  (Actually, I knew it was for her own protection.  Hubby was sure to find out what was going on REAL soon!)

Well, CRAP!  There goes my early evening all curled up with a good book.  I am a great procrastinator— tomorrow is always the day to GET IT DONE!  But in this case, I couldn’t put it off. Hubby leaves the house WAY earlier than I am willing to get up, and I did NOT want to have to hear “Hey, have you seen my wallet?” at 5:30 am.  So with a sigh, I scooped up the ravaged mess. She had chewed to bits whatever currency was in the wallet, ALL of the credit cards were gnawed-upon and pierced with tooth marks, and his drivers’ license (which was not going to expire til 2043, seriously!) was also mangled. The only thing intact was the darn health card.  Interesting. 

     I carried the remains of everything my hubby holds dear (OK, not EVERYTHING… but a lot) and went into the den to find him.  Didn’t even need words….(HE had all the words, it turns out!) one look, and he knew. Turns out Daisy is smarter than I thought… she also knew the metal crate would be a good place for her to HIDE.  

Well, you know, after the screaming, yelling, and downright CONNIPTION-FIT…. he sighed and got busy fixing things.  Gotta love the internet!  A new drivers’ license ordered, a couple of credit cards to be replaced (’cept the corporate card… he was gonna have to head into work the next morning with the grown-up version of “the dog ate my homework”… and get THAT card replaced).  He SWORE he had 6o bucks in his wallet, but I was only able to piece together $30.  I figured we are a partnership, right?  And since I did the first $30…. HE could do the second half.  Maybe the next day.  After it was, ummm, processed.  And expelled.  Eeeuuuwww.  I was NOT gonna go there. I  mean, I know the economy is bad and all, but NO.  I am not going there.  I will give up, well… something.  No gatorade this month for the crew!  Or,  no X-Box rentals at Blockbuster.  You know, to sacrifice, to make up for it. (Zack, however… the poopin-scoopin’ 12-year-old is hoping for a BONUS found in this weeks’ chores. He’s a boy, need I say more?)

So, that’s how it goes some days.  The life of a quilt designer.  Pretty much same as everyone else.  One crisis after another when you have kids, dog, spouse, etc in your life.  Gotta just LAUGH sometimes, which we did…. sometime during the conniption fit, I just could not help myself.  Pretty soon, even Duane was laughing. (Well, kinda). Turns out that laughter is contagious, and diffuses a LOT of situations.  The doodle was released from jail sometime during the night (not for good behavior… but you know, just clemency).  I gave my hubby some lunch money for the next day… and life goes on.

We have a project in our upcoming book with Kansas City Star Quilts (it’s coming out in April!) that we call “Laugh a Good Laugh”… it’s really fun, and I can’t wait to show it to ya. (OK, here is a sneak-peek!) It is based on a favorite quote, “A good laugh is sunshine in a house”, by William Thackeray.  

I like this one too…. “Laugh a lot, and when you’re older, all of your wrinkles will be in the right places”.  I don’t know who said that, but it’s good to remember.  

LAUGH!  (Oh, and keep things up and away from naughty puppies…)