Cliff Notes

Today it was cold (50s) and gray and windy and even though I made bread yesterday it just felt like a bread day. I have been wanting to try my recipe using hard red winter wheat in place of the soft white wheat I usually use, just to see how it would turn out. So I followed my (Rebecca's) recipe exactly for the dough and watched to see what happened. I'm happy to report that it turned out fine, just required a bit less flour and more rising time than usual -- which is as expected. It has a stronger whole wheat flavor but is still good.

The family room painting took two days and one friend on a 24 foot ladder -- and it is mahvelous, dahling. I love it! I was afraid that having a deeper color would bother me with the ceiling/roofline's many angles, but instead it makes it look better. Wish I'd done it sooner.

So, now the dining, living, family rooms, back stairs and upstairs hall are all Universal Khaki. It is perfect. I saw it at Kristin's house, came home and got me to a Sherwin Williams.

Now I just need to get a bit more Latte from Restoration Hardware to finish a tiny bit of the kitchen...

Last week Anna slept next to me for a few nights, and she talks. One night she proclaimed to the darkness, "I want some cake!" immediately followed by, "May I please have some cake?"

So now that both kids are in school, what do I do with my days? Enquiring minds want to know-- I want to know! I've still got piles of laundry, the kitchen was a mess for most of last week, the back needs weeding and the closets silently await my attention. The kids' first 6-week reports came out on Friday so that tells you how long I've had to get to all my projects.

Here's some of what I have done: researched and bought a piano off of Craigslist, weeded the back, painted the front room- living room- back stairs and most of upstairs hall, signed on as VP of Programs for the PTA, found Katie a piano teacher, escorted Anna to soccer practices (canceled and non), 14 hours of Book Fair, literacy volunteer Monday mornings in kindergarten, trimmed and weeded in front, RedRibbonWeek calls to DEA /flyers created/bulletin board designed, school shopping for girls since they will continue to grow, re-installed robe hook in master bathroom, day of loafing at First Mondays Trade Days in Canton, hunted down Halloween costumes for all four of us, the usual Young Women activities and Sunday lessons, trimmed holly and weeded in back, sweated out the State Fair of Texas on Columbus Day, pulled out bloomless lavender and a few other sorry specimens from front beds, lots of Googling.

Did some other things, too.

Tomorrow I'm tackling the family room with a friend and her 18 foot ladder.