Dear Kids,
      I was just looking at my shopping list: bread, bananas, BreathSavers, butterscotch chips, burritos, bird seed, and rubber cement. If it weren’t for the rubber cement, I would think I was living in some giant cosmic Sesame Street (The letter for today is . . . “B!”)
      We finished up our trip to Michigan with a lot of fun events. We went apple picking with Sharon’s family–they drove us to a cider mill about 30 miles away, where we ate apples off the trees, picked some to take home, bought donuts, drank cider, and had a general good time. Then Dad and I made a trip into Detroit to find the grave of his 2nd great-grandmother, Christiana Hawes. We found the grave, but it’s in a very bad part of town (or maybe all of Detroit is bad.) There was trash at the sides of the road, potholes in the pavement, abandoned buildings, sewer gas in the air . . . let’s just say we left as soon as we were done. No sightseeing. The rest of the time, the last couple of days, I re-did Sharon & Seth’s kitchen floor with some press-on vinyl tiles from Lowes. It turned out really well (covered up the “cafeteria floor,” as Sharon called it.) Then, 24 hours later, Dad and I were back home, enjoying a party at Charley and Suzy’s. They have totally re-done their kitchen area, and it’s completely elegant. There’s travertine marble on the floor. It looked really good. But so did the press-on tiles at Sharon and Seth’s. It’s all good.
      After our week of vacation, it’s strange to come back to ordinary life. I forgot it was so hectic. Here’s what I have in the next two weeks: 1. My piano recital. 2. The Relief Society auction, which I’m in charge of, by default. 3. The election next Tuesday, where I’m a voting machine tech again. 4. Giving a Relief Society lesson next Sunday. 5. Printing 30 more copies of the ancestor book which I thought I was finished with. And there’s the fun stuff--chess club, 2 book clubs (plus Goodreads online, which I’m addicted to), visiting Grandma and Grandpa, house projects, cabin projects, family, the cats, and the bird. I’m spread way too thin, but I can’t give up anything.
      About the ancestor books: I’ve spent the last several months re-doing the stories of Grandpa Allen’s ancestors, adding pictures and indexes, printing 30 copies, and having them hard-bound at Schaffer bindery. I picked them up Monday, and made up a flyer for my cousins on Grandpa’s side, with pictures of the book. I sent them all the flyer, and now I have orders for way more books than I have. So it’s back to work on that. But I’m really glad people want the book. Next year I’ll do Grandma Allen’s side, and then a combined book with all the ancestors on both sides. I plan to have everything finished by Christmas of ‘09. On our web site I’m going to have a link to all the books I’ve done. People will even be able to order “The Ackerson Kids Grow Up.” You’ll all be famous.
      Lots of love, Mom