So this afternoon was our first official fall clothes shopping trip. Took Shelley for sweaters at Old Navy and she found some really cute things. (I'd love to think she's going to get as much good out of them as we got last year, but come on, two real winters in a row? I don't think so.) Bethany will be next, and then it will be the boys' turn...

When I was a senior in high school I wanted to go to ORU in the worst way. My parents said no, not if they were paying for it. I was kind of bummed and I wrote a letter to the school asking that they pray that there would be a way that I could attend there. My young and naive mind got a real shock when I got back a form letter that they send everyone who writes with a prayer request, and it had nothing to do with anything I had said. From that day on I had a sour taste in my mouth about that place. And through the years I have thanked God for parents who had the sense to tell me no. Watching the unfolding scandal that now engulfs ORU, I continue to be grateful. What a shame.

Half of our bedroom is now an office. But both The Papa and I are very happy with it and think it is going to streamline our lives a lot. This afternoon I'm going to sit on the floor and transfer our files to the new filing cabinet and then just smile at how organized my life is. It's nice that I'm only feeling the need to keep about 10% of the hard copies I used to, so filing is becoming less and less of a chore. The other nice thing is the pungent smell of new wood in here :-)

Finally, finally, our beloved Fighting Irish won a game, and what a game! We went in 0 and 5 to play a team (UCLA) that was 4 and 1, and we beat them 20-6. So I'm wondering, if we win every game from here out, could we still make a bowl? (Hey, USC lost to Stanford yesterday, so miracles happen!)

The Amazon boxes full of Christmas presents started arriving this week. This is the time of year when my UPS man thinks about just bringing a sleeping bag and setting up shop in my house since he's here so much. Well this year, not anxious to repeat the total disaster of last year, I asked the Papa to do some prep work before we stored the boxes in the usual place: the bathtub. I know, I know, but since I'm not really able to crawl in and out of a tub and since it's very large and keeps things out of the way, I use it for storing Christmas presents. I wasn't going to use it at all this year since I'm still scarred by the losses last year, but Lyric suggested that we duct-tape the plug in the tub and then line it with plastic trash bags. This might be the only time in my life I've ever said yes to duct tape.

I have found some neat software for organizing bulk cooking days...I'm still on a trial run and I'm finding bits of time here and there to try and teach myself how to use it. But it has some fabulous features...lets you print out different reports for your cooking day, like how many and what kind of containers and freezer bags you will need based on your recipes that particular day, prints out separate lists of ingredients you need for cooking day vs. the ones you will need when you actually prepare and serve the thawed dish, makes lists of which small appliances you'll need, and has a feature that will make the calculations automatically for doubling, tripling, or even making 16x a recipe. It does have a bug or two--I quadrupled the size of a recipe (just playing around with the software, not actually in the kitchen) and it told me to bake it in a 52x36" pan LOL. However, on the container report it correctly said "4 13x9 pans". Anyway, if I successfully use it, I'll do a real write-up and link for those of you who might be interested in trying it out.

Happy Birthday to John Caleb, our 8th (and next to last!) teenager. I love having teenagers so am glad to have another one in the house. 'Course I loved him when he was 12, too! John Caleb is very attentive to his mother and is the first one, after The Papa, to bring me a cup of tea or hold the door open for me or check to see if I need anything when I'm sick. Gals, he's gonna make a great husband! For now, he's a joy to have around the House.

Snip, snip, time to get on the floor and get at those files! Happy Sunday!

Labels: Clothes, Education, Food, Holidays, Homemaking, Sundays