The Prodigal Son and Another Winner!

The prodigal son has returned and we killed the fatted calf but he wasn't here to eat it!

Yes, my son has moved back home--temporarily, or so he says. That was one of the reasons for the frenzy of cleaning that took place here over the weekend, although not directly. We've put him in our daughter's former room because it was the only room with a couple empty drawers and a little bit of closet space. Someone told me I shouldn't make him feel too comfortable, so he won't stay very long--sounds like a parent who knows her stuff!!! Anyway, that room was pretty much ready for him, but we live in a small house, so I wanted to do what I could to make the rest of the house a little less cluttered--with three adults here, it's going to feel cramped no matter what I do but having it tidy helps.

I was going to cook a celebratory steak dinner last night, but I was cleaning here and he was cleaning his old place and still packing stuff so I postponed the big dinner to tonight. But, as I alluded to, he wasn't able to be here for it because he's still cleaning and packing. I'm pretty sure, though, that this won't be the only meal I cook while he's living here.

And how do you know when your kid has moved back in? Those of you with semi-adult children probably know the answer to this one! Your garage is suddenly piled high with mountains of dirty laundry! So, knowing that my son will be spending much of the day tomorrow doing HIS laundry, I spent some time yesterday doing ours--something that's usually my hubby's job but since he was working, I did it for him. I went to take the last load out of the dryer today and what did I find? A dollar bill! Woo-hoo! Must be my lucky day!

And speaking of lucky days, we have a winner of the Decoy pattern!

Again I asked hubby to pick a number in the range of entries, and tonight he picked number 22, Angela of Quilting in Cornfields. If you read her blog, you'll see that poor Angela is up to her ears in fabric and is thinking about taking over space in her daughter's closet, so it's probably a VERY GOOD THING that she's won a pattern and not more fabric--it sounds like she has PLENTY of that! Like most of us, I suspect, her problem lies not in buying too much but in not having enough time to use it. Well, that's MY excuse, and I'm sticking to it!

Today I DID finish my version of the Decoy quilt using the Prairie Paisley fabric though, so I can feel good about using fabric and not just stockpiling more. Next it's on to quilting the other patriotic quilt. Maybe that will be done by next weekend, assuming not too many chores get in the way of my playtime. Oh, and one good thing about our son moving back home? He knows how to cook and does a pretty good job of it, so I'm anticipating a night or two a week when I'm not the cook and can just come home and play in the Sweat Shop!

Congratulations Angela! And for those of you who didn't win either of my giveaways, stay tuned. If the thing with my son moving back home doesn't work out, I'll have a drawing for a 27-year-old young man who is an excellent soccer player with carpentry skills and a penchant for spray paint art work.