the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good:
It's a bit of a tradition to head to Leavenworth (more specifically, Icicle Creek Canyon) for Eric's birthday weekend.  The weather is usually warm and dry on the east side of the mountains come spring time - or, at least warmer and dryer than it is here.  We camped at 8 mile campground in a perfect spot near the river.  Andra, Steve, and Neve joined us - yay for good friends, campfires, great conversation, and fun times. Friday we climbed, Saturday we hiked, and Sunday brought more climbing.  Our hike on Saturday was magical.  As we were hiking up the canyon in t-shirts, we noticed some specks floating down from the sky.  When we stopped for a rest, I saw that the specks were MELTING!  It was snow...the sky was blue above us.  The snowflakes were drifting towards us from the clouds to the west and, although we were under warm sunny skies, there was snow falling on our heads.  The climbing was great - I was stronger than I expected...thanks to all the PT work I've done this winter. 

We had a great time and came home with raw fingers, sore bodies, happy kids, and feeling relaxed & rejuvenated. 

The bad:
In the midst of packing up from the picnic area, I left behind my festival quilt.  This is the quilt that has been everywhere with us since Rowan was born - beaches, camping, climbing, festivals.  I made it while I was pregnant with her.  I remember the thumping of the sewing machine next to my big belly - wondering what she thought of the rhythm of cut, sew, iron, sew.  I loved that quilt.  It's hard to part with it...another lesson in "letting go" - when will I learn that lesson so that I will stop losing things (isn't that how it works)?   Well, I'll be making another before summer...you can be sure of that!

See it?  In the background there?  (sniff sniff)

The ugly:
Millworks.  We found out right before our weekend trip that our appraisal came in low.  Way low.  Unrealistically low.  "There must be a mistake" type of low.  Without a reasonable appraisal, the bank won't (can't) lend us the money.  The bank is still reviewing the appraisal so we still don't have details - all they have told us is that it doesn't look good.  I'm somehow optimistic.  After all, mercury is in retrograde this week.  I'll blame it on that.

There is hope that we can somehow overcome this *HUGE* obstacle.  After all, we have overcome so many obstables over the course of this journey.  The power of positive thought is huge...so, think some good thoughts for us!