Catching Up: Moving, and Grads, and Webinars, Oh, My!

I've been absent from the blog for all the usual reasons (life, life, and life), plus a few new ones, just to keep things interesting:

• We've been helping my parents get settled in at a picturesque retirement community. They are now only about two hours away from us (instead of fourteen) and we are thrilled. Over the last week, my sister, her husband, my daughters, and I helped my mother sift through many (not all...we're not done yet) of her hundreds and hundreds of books. My sister and I each hauled three boxes of books home because you know how much empty bookshelf space I have: 

This is what my living room looked like after the last used book sale we hit. Then we went to another used book sale. I didn't take another picture. 

• Betsy Ray graduated this weekend from the community college she's been attending. She wants to be an elementary school teacher, so she'll continue next fall at a state college not far from here. College-for-Edmistens, so far, seems to have taken the same shape as Homeschooling-for-Edmistens: piece it together in the way that works best, as economically as possible, keeping goals in mind, while not being afraid to shift gears if something isn't working. Classes in the fall, for both Anne and Betsy, will involve commuting to the state college, taking a class at the community college (Betsy can get one class at a better time/price there), and a couple of online classes at a third college (Anne is dipping into a possible new major, which kind of thrills me because it involves English.) Basically, this means we are dealing with three different schools. The FAFSA is so much fun! 

• I've been doing a lot of interviews for You Can Share the Faith, and tomorrow (May 16, at 11 a.m. central), I'll be doing a webinar with Our Sunday Visitor. They tell me loads of people have signed up, but the great thing about a webinar is that the room is never too crowded. You can find out more about it here, on the registration page. Other recent interviews included Busted Halo and Teresa Tomeo's Catholic Connection. 

• On a completely different note, Ramona's latest favorite website is Creativebug. We sketch, we paint, we play, repeat. 

• To sum up: I'm still alive, in case you wondered.