Pre-Easter Scribblings

Fiorella was out tossing rocks across the driveway when one of her neighbors came walking down it with cookies in one hand and an Easter lily in the other, Fio was overwhelmed. Sure, she had delivered a small Easter basket to Neighbor a few days beforehand, but if this was tit for tat, Fio had been solidly out-tatted. Especially since Neighbor also promised Fio a big load of rocks.
*
Two of Austin son's dogs got bitten by a snake yesterday, and she prays they are doing well. Thank  you, God, for vets.
*
While Minnesota son is talking electronicsand other male mysteries over with Husband today, Fio plans to spirit his wife away to Papi's Pies for a treat.
*
Fiorella hasn't been as circumspect as she'd hoped, but her chocolate bunny consumption is way down from preceding years. She's also kept the Peeps in check. But come Easter morning, all bets are off,
*
Ah, Easters of the past. Dying eggs the day beforehand, wearing a new dress to church, Easter egg hunts. Will Baby experience these, or are they now out-dated?

Quick Snippets

Fiorella is in a tizzy trying to prepare for the Romance Writers of America conference in New York. First off, she has to find a nice dress for the Saturday night awards ceremony.  Yes, we all dress up like we're attending Cinderella's ball.  It's our own fantasy because we spend our real lives in jeans and T-shirts.
*
Several people have explained various electronic gadgets to Fio, but she has to work with then herself to understand them.  Yes, this monkey can't just see--she has to do.  Daughter would label her a kinesthetic learner.
*
Fio decided to check back through the revisions she'd made and nearly died. She'll have to revise the revisions.

The Latest

Fiorella and Husband agree on many things, but not all things.  Definitely not on the thermostat settings- Fio wants it cooler, and Husband wants it warmer.  Let the battle begin!
*
The stockings are all hung by the fire with care: red-green-red-green-red-green-red-green-red.  Close together, but if anyone else showed up, Fiorella would gladly squeeze out another inch or two.
*
When she was younger, Fiorella always had a new dress for Christmas Eve church service, but now she wears something already in her closet.  Old friends are the best friends
*

The Perfect Dress

The anger was always seething beneath the surface, but Mother's deepest insides were mushy sweet.

The summer before Fiorella entered high school, while the family was visiting relatives "up North," Fiorella spotted the perfect dress in an Akron department store.  It was a brown and orange plaid with a straight skirt, and it would assure everyone who saw her the first day of school that she was a person of consequence.

But it was expensive--probably over a hundred dollars in today's currency--so Fio had to walk away.  Late that night, Fiorella heard Mother, on the other other side of the partition that separated her parents' bed from the anteroom that housed cots for Fio and her brother, talking with Dad about the dress, explaining its importance to Fiorella.

Despite Dad 's concern about trip finances, he relented, and Fio walked proud and confident into Waco High School that fall.

Thank you, Mother.  You understood.