Well, right here, mostly, doing what I usually do, only with less inclination to blog about it.  I love commas.  Do I sprinkle them like grass seed, as one of my favorite fictional heroines, Betsy Warrington Ray, was known to do?  I'll let you decide.

My Thanksgiving menu is planned and the shopping is done (except for a little matter of frozen orange juice, destined for my oh-so-fabulous Peach Cranberry Gelatin, which was purloined by a naughty little three year old and must now be replaced).  I even have two pumpkin pies, a large container of mashed potatoes (the very best recipe I have ever tasted) and 17 cornmeal rolls (I have to taste test, don't I?) in the freezer.  I also love parentheses.  I'm planning to call a school vacation starting on Wednesday so that I can dedicate that day to cooking the turkey, making the Mocha Cranberry Cheesecake and the aforementioned jello and setting the festive dinner table.  Which leaves the little piddly tasks for Thanksgiving Day, leaving me with some extra breathing room that day.

A week ago we celebrated our 8th anniversary with a group date to a Mexican restaurant.  Despite the fact that we were eating in a mall restaurant (hey, at least it wasn't in the food court!) we still felt like it was a special treat.  It reminded me of the good old days in P'cola, where we could get good, cheap Mexican.  The kids enjoyed it (even Nathan with his hot dog) and Joel enthused several times over how much he enjoyed anniversaries. 

The little one turns 10 months old today (not possible, is it?).  She seems to be slower on the developmental end of things than our overachieving boys, but that's fine with me!  Two teeth, just beginning to feel a little bit confident with standing supported, has pulled herself up to a stand several times.  Has great talent for finding infinitesemal items on the floor and putting them in the predictable place.

I have a few ideas for Christmas gifts, but my creative juices are running really slowly this year. 

Am not looking forward to government-run "health care" after our experience with government takeover of one of Dave's student loans.  When we were discussing today his impending call to attempt to clear up a mistake on the bill - again - I told him he should point out that we have not had one single problem with the other loan from a private institution.  But I'm sure he didn't.  Sigh . . .

This weekend I had the unique opportunity to sleep in a train car, with two of my good friends.  Our church's ladies' retreat was held at a bed and breakfast made out of converted train cars!  For pics, see the following:

http://www.northernrail.net/tour.htm

It was a fun 26 hour getaway, although there were two little things standing between me and complete relaxation: a severe case of insomnia and having to do one of the retreat sessions on Saturday morning. 

We are also coming off of a week's visit with my parents.  It was good to spend time with them and to see the kids interacting with their grandparents.  Joel loved having all those books read to him!  It was also sweet to see Dad holding and playing with the baby. 

It's nice to be done with planning for the retreat!  I'm not sure what I'll do with my evenings now.  Ok, that's not true.  I can always find things to occupy my time.  It will just be nice to be working on other things now.  :~)

Ok, loyal readers (and lurkers), it's time for some serious feedback.

In a few weeks will be our long-awaited ladies' retreat, and I'm trying to brainstorm ideas for the session on organization.  I would love to hear from all of you on what you would like to hear if you were in this session.  Are there any particular areas that would be of special help?  There will be a spiritual foundation plus hopefully (it is to be hoped) lots of practical applications.