Glory, Glory, Hallelujah!

This very blessed Thursday marks six weeks that our dear little Eli has been breathing oxygen on her own! Elated about this milestone, Eli decided to do something spectacular--sleep for six hours straight last night! *Give me an E...E! Give me an L....L! Give me an I....I! What's that spell?* Hopefully she will make a habit of it.

To reward my little angel, and because my period of confinement has finally ended, I introduced her to a man we all know and love, a man who has inspired thousands to reach their goals, a man whom I have dearly missed for the past three or four months. No, Opa, only the first of those criterion apply to you; I am speaking of none other than Billy Blanks.
Eli, quite unfortunately, does not yet see in Billy what I see in Billy, and could only stand a 15 minute interview with him. Alas, we will encourage her to reach up to her higher power, remind her that she has to give some to get some, instruct her that in today's world, whenever things get hard, people wanna quit, but she ought not to quit, and hope our sessions will be a little longer in the future. (I comfort myself that Julia didn't warm up to Billy too readily at first, either, but now she often calls to see him of her own accord).

In other business, some of you may have wondered what sort of domicile would send me into rapturous states of euphoria. It certainly isn't Jini's Kensington or Caci's Paradise, but every grandmother house has some element of charm, and this one certainly captured my fancy.

Perhaps it was the lilac and rose bushes which guard the front entry....
or maybe the hardwood floors and oak bookcase in the living room.
Having a window by the kitchen sink--combined with cupboards big enough to hold our dinner plates and still close completely--was of course a big draw....
as was having a real-life linen closet in the bathroom (I once confided to Justin that I would know I had made it in life when I had a beautiful, well-stocked, capacious linen closet. This one deserves only the appellation of "linen closet," so I have not yet "made it" at only 23).

Despite all these many much-desired amenities, I think the real clencher was the dimmer in the dining room. And you all thought Kinsi was the romantic.