Paul passed away yesterday, after a very long, brave battle. He was at peace with it, which is a great comfort to Lori and Jim, and all of us that love him.

Jim has a gift which is very rare and special: to ease the burden and comfort the soul of those who are very sick and whose time is dwindling. I....we all...thank God for him.

I am eternally thankful that Lori had another year with Paul, with lots of laughs & shared times. She, they....we all watched as he transitioned into being at peace, happy and relaxed. And we are thankful.

We will all miss "The Story Teller".

Busy, busy, busy week, this last one! "Nearly" finished the bathroom refresh: the floor, vanity/sink, paint are complete...but the trim work is not. I need to install new trim on the door and the window, which should be done tonight, and I'm a little worried about the joint between the sink trap and the sink downspout. I think I'll add an extension to the downspout to make sure that the 2 don't "ever" separate. When I installed the sink and connected the drain, the trap has very little overlap on the spout. If I add the extension, there will be no doubt. The very last thing we need is another water leak under the sink.

Now the bigger news: I met my birthmom and brother for the first time ever, this weekend. They flew in from California on Friday morning and I picked them up at the airport. We got to spend all of Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday getting to know each other. It was very exciting! I thought I'd be much more nervous about our first meeting, but aside from a few last-minute jitters as I waited at baggage claim for them to arrive from the gate, I felt very comfortable and optimistic about seeing them both. My brother's first words, aside from "Hello", were "You have the same eyes". It was very cool and exciting to see someone besides my children, who resemble me in some way! We compared hands and toes, hair and temperament.

I've lots of thinking to do....it's all still sinking in. Is there a precedent for such a thing? Not to my knowledge.

More later...

I missed the "Full moon" on Monday night, but last night (Tuesday) as I was driving home from school around 6:15pm, I noticed it just coming into view at the top of the trees and it was spectacular! Great big and yellow! By the time I got home and got out the camera, however, it had already reached up into the sky and appeared to "diminish" to a normal, white nearly full moon.

Tonight it will be at 96%, and I intend to have the camera ready at 6pm to see if I can snap a few pics of it cresting the tops of the trees....we'll see how it turns out. I hope I can capture it while it still appears yellow.

AACK!!! Missed my second bathroom-refresh deadline!!

Plumbing problems this weekend. I ran into some headaches installing the new copper...working in tight spaces, trying not to cut out a huge chunk of drywall on the kitchen side. Fun. fun. fun. Ended up with 2 more joints than I anticipated, but these things happen, I guess.

I managed to get everything in place, sweated, and with NO leaks!! YAY!! All the new valves are in place. (BTW, I HATE teflon tape!! Pipe sealant works MUCH better!!) Then I installed the toe-kick heat duct-work. Patched the wall where the towel bar had been in preparation for a new one. I also painted the filler strips that will fill the gap between the new vanity and the wall. Had to let that dry, so I wasn't able to install the vanity yet. :(

That will happen tonight. New vanity and connecting the sink. It should be a pretty straight-forward deal. I've test-fitted everything, so its just a matter of putting it all together and anchoring it in place.

Then I'll install the door trim, window trim and medicine cabinets. Not sure I can get all of that done in one night, but I still have tomorrow night.

Big day on Friday!! More details later...