Lists, Part the Third

Thoughts from this week:

1. Math really is useful for real life, especially when, say, one is calculating how much flour, baking powder, salt, shortening, and milk one needs to bake a dozen batches of biscuits for strawberry shortcake for one's mother-in-law's wedding reception. Sorry I accused you of lying to me about that back when I was a kid, Mom.
2. (Incidentally, it was cooking and baking that taught me how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. They never made sense to me on paper, but when I was doubling or halving a recipe, it started to click. Thanks, Mom!)
3. Reading through the Little House series and the Harry Potter series at the same time will make for some weird dreams.
4. Trying to write short story outlines will cause a great abundance of Doing Other Things, such as reading the aforementioned books, painting with kids, sewing bags for toys, making peach lavender ice cream, and even occasionally doing your husband's chores. Remarkable.
5. If you want to see your almost-five-year-old light up, buy this book and tell her it's hers (even adding that she has to share it with her sister won't diminish her joy).
6. When planning a Saturday hike, make sure there is NO RAIN AT ALL forecasted not just for where your house is, but for where you're planning to hike. Even if it's only twenty minutes away.
7. In a more serious vein, if you've found the news coming out of Colorado as horrifying as I have, you might find this site helpful - a list of ways and places to help.

A rather bland-ish list this week, but I've no time for more - I'm making syrup for lavender lemonade for the wedding, packing, frantically double-checking that I have everything I need for my camera (they've asked me to do the photos, and even though it's an extremely casual wedding - more of a backyard picnic than anything else - I'm still immensely nervous. I am a very rank amateur photographer!), making sure everything in the house is fit to be left, and still helping Grace dress and undress her baby doll a dozen times a day. Whew!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! (And to all my Canadian friends out there - Happy Canada Day on Sunday! I will try to wear red in honor of you!)