Thanks, Sue!

Tuesday, April and I got to head out to LaSalle, IL to visit Sue, my mother-in-law . I haven't gotten to see her new house since she moved out there and April hasn't had a chance to visit since before Mother's Day.

Sue insisted that we not mail her Mother's Day gift and rather, bring it when we could. I didn't know Sue had a birthday present for me and I can only assume April told her to hold on to it until we could get there to bring her present.

So when we got there the belated gift exchange began. She loved her goodies and I was very happy to receive a cool walking stick with a penguin at the top. Since I don't have my digital camera handy I'll show you a photo of a similar stick, but not the exact one I received. One of these days I'll snap a shot of the real stick for your viewing pleasure. Mine is taller and all carved wood, and not this molded sculpture on a smaller cane (I like mine way better!)

Sue also handed me a most excellent Opus birthday card with a check inside. Cash...is there anything it can't do? I was happy as a clam with the walking stick so the check was quite literally too much. However, she was planning on giving me something from my Ten Things Tuesday Birthday list or at least give me some dough to put me on the path and so...

Today I purchased one of those cool craft totes to transform into my new prop bag. This thing is HUGE and emptied out a couple of bags from my car's trunk. Now I have something a little more "airplane travel-ready" as well as a neater look for my stage show. I need to make a few adjustments to it and tweak it out a bit to make it more stage ready, but right now it is chock-full of props and resting in my car, waiting for my gig later today at the Buffalo Grove Park District.

Thanks so much, Sue! You're the best In-Law a guy could ask for!