Don’t leave your purse in your car overnight on the front seat, even if your car is parked in front of your house. I got home from Bible study and was so tired, I had determined I would go straight to bed, which I did. I could not even tell you whether I locked the car, but I had the keys with me, which ordinarily means that I have locked the car. But when I got ready to leave at 6:30 this morning, the driver’s door was slightly ajar, my purse was gone, my other bag was dumped, and my camera and jump drive has been taken as well. I never carry much cash, but I had extra because I owed a friend some money, and I had also bought 100 forever stamps in anticipation of the postage going up next month (that’ll teach ya’ to try and outwit the old U. S. of A., you hussy!). I had taken in my briefcase, my cell phone, and my laptop, fortunately. So today I had to take off work and call all the right 800 numbers. Now, I hope my identity won’t be stolen, although sometimes I feel like someone might be doing me a favor!! Maybe I need to start a whole new life! Sigh.

Caitlan says she thinks her interview went well. It lasted from 11 until almost 5. Now we’ll see if call back. If they are smart, they will.

Please keep Caitlan in your prayers today as she has an important interview. May God’s will be done either way.

I am the customer who has won “story of the day,” not once, but twice at Miller’s Tire and Auto! The first time was last summer when I took the truck in to have the oil changed, and the mechanic came out with a six foot snake skin from under the hood. I had moved the truck and noticed a snake skin under it at the farm, but had no idea that there was an even bigger one under the hood. Today I had just seated myself in the waiting room when the girl who writes up the orders rushed in to say, “You won’t believe that they found under your truck!” Apparently when they put it up on the lift, there, hanging on for dear life, was a red squirrel! He had traveled all the way from Kelley Ridge! I can just imagine him clinging by his squirrelly little claws yelling, “YEEAHHHHHH!!!!” as we rounded the curves on 1295. They had to lower the truck down off the lift and chase him out before they could change the oil. Tim Miller said they would all have a good story to tell when they got home.

We spent a lovely afternoon at the Calhoun house at a baby shower tea Ali. Sharon, Kristen, and Karen planned a perfectly lovely and delicious repast for us, reminiscent of our trip to England. We all enjoyed seeing the many cute gifts for Baby Hannah Mae, right down to handkerchiefs embroidered with her initials! After the shower was over, Caitlan got good fashion advice and interviewing tips for Monday from all the Calhouns. They were so helpful and supportive. I think she has finally decided on the light grey suit with black pumps and hose, and wearing her hair up. She will be GREAT!

Busy day full of errands. We headed to town at about 11 and made the trip to the tax man (I didn’t have to pay—YAY!), got the oil changed, went to dinner with Deb at Red Lobster (Cajun grouper—yum!), talked to the bank and the finance man about IRA’s, stopped at the library and the P.O, paid off the lawyer for the last of the charges to settle Joe’s estate, checked our email,and hunted for shoes for Caitlan’s interview on Monday. When we got home, I was pooped. We both fell asleep early, KK reading her Janet Evanovich book, and me finishing my latest fun find of a mystery author—John Dunning. I highly recommend him—his protagonist is Cliff Janeway, an ex-homicide cop turned bookman (finds and sells rare books). Really fun!

Oh, the woes of taxes! I worked all day. At first I almost had a heart attack when I couldn’t find my W-2 or the interest statement on the 4th Street mortgage. In a last ditch effort, I checked my Clan meeting bag, even though I knew that nothing would be in there. Turns out they were in the bag along with a Netflix movie I had lost (the first season of 24), several bills, and other forgotten mail. I guess I mistakenly put them in the wrong bag after our last meeting. Whew! I was glad to find the paperwork as well as the dvd—now I’ll get a $20 refund! So I went through a year’s worth of sales receipts, marveled at how much I spent on little things for school and on the renovation of 4th Street, and listed everything carefully in both anticipation and trepidation of my meeting at H&R Block tomorrow.

It’s Wednesday, and Caitlan and I have been busy, busy, busy. We stayed the night with Mombo last night, and then I had a meeting with Jerusha to discuss the decision of whether to homeschool Justin for kindergarten. We headed for Kelley Ridge around noon with Greg Brown in the back seat. He doesn’t travel well any more, but I just felt he needed to be back at Kelley Ridge for a while. We stopped at Walmart in Stanford and bought some material for KK to make a dress. Once we were home, we could see that spring has sprung on Kelley Ridge. I even have trees in bloom, not to mention the jonquils! We moved bookcases and I started my work on TAXES!

Left Champaign after breakfast with Nancy. Highwayed to Louisville with KK listening to a Katherine Valentine book about a haunted rectory–we were expecting a light-hearted yarn about a rug-hooking group of Catholic women and got a scary devil story that neither of us would have picked. Linked up with Brendan and Maria at Lynn’s Paradise Cafe. Over to Maria’s newly arranged apartment–right out of DOMINO–to reacquaint ourselves with Brenna the Wonderdog. Made flight reservations for June to go see Ian in Hilo. Said hello to Kyle, Angel, and Scott. Bye to Brendan as he will leave on a trek to the West Coast tomorrow. Tears. Took Kyle Miller and KK to Los Aztecas to feed her Mexican food craving. Stopped by Kyle’s to get high heels for Caitlan in order to alter her new Ann Tyler suit trousers. Back down the road to the Valley to stay the night. WAIT A MINUTE. . . .did I say I bought tickets to HAWAII?!?!?!? Is this some kind of an April Fool’s joke?!

We slept in later today. I got up and used the treadmill in the workout room. We probably would have used the pool and hot tub had I not forgotten a bathing suit. Breakfast was good again–waffles, bacon, and fresh grapefruit. We decided to make this a shopping day and check out the nearby malls. We explored the University of Illinois campus yesterday. It’s huge! Also took a Walgreen’s excursion and found all the Easter candy on sale for 10 cents–even the big chocolate bunnies! Today we found Hobby Lobby, kind of like Michael’s or Garden Ridge. Caitlan found some cute red and black dishes that she wanted, but she has to wait until she has her apartment. We also hit up Linens and Things and Bed, Bath and Beyond for satin pillow cases, Borders for some states quarters books, and Ann Taylor for a suit sale for Caitlan’s interviews. She ended up with three nice suits (two from Ann Taylor and one from TJ Maxx), and I think they will serve her well. She still needs some nice gray heels. She looks beautiful in them. We made it back in time for dinner which the hotel provides–fried chicken, mashed potatoes, salad bar, steamed veggies, rolls, and lemon meringue pie for dessert. We even had Yellow Tail wine choices and Blue Moon ale! Brie and crackers for an appetizer! I highly recommend this chain!

March definitely went out like a lion–rainy and windy. But we know that spring is here–Nancy found crocuses!We ended up he evening with a game of Phase Ten which Caitlan again won, hands down, and I lost miserably! She says that she always loses, but only when her brothers are around. Hmmm.

We thought we were going to have a rainy Sunday, but it turned out to be cloudy but pleasant. since we anticipated rain, we ate an early breakfast of oatmeal, scrambled eggs, and sausage at the hotel and headed down the road toward Monticello, IL, to Allerton Gardens. This is one of the seven wonders of Illinois, and we had been there one time long ago when we came to see Kristi. At the time I remember seeing the many statues of Chinese Fu dogs (they reminded me of Pookie), and the beautiful wisteria vines. Of course, the wisteria wasn’t in view, but we got to see the gardens anyway, and imagine what they would look like. Much of the statuary was visible. One of my favorite parts was the rows of Chinese musicians. Caitlan looked like one of them. We had a good hike, and it was great fun being together again. We drove into the town of Monticello to see what it was like and to get some great pizza at Monical’s. Caitlan and I went to Mass at St. Matthew’s that evening, and we got in a rousing game of triominoes before settling down to read our books. Caitlan won the triominoes game, but not before complaining that she always loses.