My children have a holiday from school this entire week. It’s considered a “winter break.” It is currently in the 80s outside, so I’m not feeling altogether wintry around here.

My daughter is celebrating a friend’s birthday today, and I baked a loaf of my banana bread for the birthday girl. I’ve never particularly cared for bananas, and I am not alone in this. My banana bread is extremely popular with the 7th grade class. It’s not heavy on bananas. Haha.

My daughter is also putting the finishing touches on an umbrella she has designed and painted for the Seattle Children’s Hospital fundraiser that my friend has set up. This is all totally beyond my ken. So far, Maddie has established a lavender background for the entire parasol. She’s also painted white flowers, that look like plumeria to me, across that background. Where I had some serious second thoughts came with her choice of color for the centers of the blooms, and for the smaller blooms: she chose a shade of red. In my mind, I thought lavender and red could NOT work together at all. I was (surprise) completely wrong. It’s such a contrast and it really seems to highlight all of the colors. I will be posting photos, I just have to wait for Maddie to leave so that I can get near her project with a camera. 🙂

Since it’s a holiday, I have workout companions. First thing this morning, after our oatmeal, we headed to the stadium stairs and the track for an intense workout. Moses is getting exceptionally fast with the running. Over the shorter distances, I’m usually chasing Maddie. Over the longer distances, I dominate. I’m competitive enough to be happy about that. Now, over the longer distances, all I can hear are footfalls close behind me, right before Moses flies by. He makes it look effortless. (Note: believe me, it is not effortless.)

Our seminars are off and running in Dallas this week, and I’m working up a book sale to spark more manuscript sales. I hope that this week has started off treating each of you well.

Blessings…