It has taken a while for me to get around to this post, mostly because I could never manage to get the room tidy enough for a photo shoot.   But today we managed to get it presentable enough to show off.  I will say that, while there is sufficient room both in terms of drawers and hanging space for our storage requirements, and bedrooms are much more organized than they have ever been, I still have not resolved the difficulty of where to put the dirty laundry buckets. But the family closet is definitely one of the biggest improvements in our household to date.

(as always, full screen is best, and the i pops out for captions)

Well, we’ve completed our first “official” week back to school.  That means that even though we started our homeschool year a week earlier, this week began all kinds of other classes, like Great Books (online), MoezArt (theater class), and of course Laurent was back to class at GCC on Wednesday. Everybody is *thrilled* to be back at the books – especially my college girl… a month of vacation is way too long for her!

I’ve spent a couple of days without my computer, thanks to some kind of strange cyber malady that was affecting 2 pc’s and a laptop.  I snagged a few minutes here and there on other people’s computers,  but of course it just isn’t the same.   Usually my husband is Johnny-on-the-spot fixing things like that, but he was engaged in something else yesterday:  attaching my grinder to the table so I could mix up my very first batch of bread in many months.  And what a batch it was!

I had no idea how much I should increase my old recipe, but when Paul came back from the store with 3 boxes of Vital Wheat Gluten, that basically defined my limits, since I used to use one box per batch of dough with my Bosch mixer.  And it turned out to be exactly the right size recipe.  I now know that Bogart the Hobart can make 3x the dough that I was making with my old Bosch.  Since, however, I do not have a Bakery oven in my kitchen, I can still only make a maximum of 6 loaves at a time.  So I popped the first six in to rise, and then formed the rest of the dough into loaves, zipped them up in freezer bags, and stowed them in the freezer for future use.  This batch made approximately 6 2.5 pound loaves and 7 that were closer to 3 pounds.  Not too shabby!

Anyway, once all that very important bread-making was done, my hubby was able to spend a few minutes this evening repairing whatever we had done to muck up the works on our computers, and we are now all back in working order.

Today was a short day for everyone, since Laurent was done before noon, and Geneva was invited over to a friend’s house around 1pm.  I believe she and her friend spent their time in equal proportions with watching scary movies, laughing loudly, pillow fighting, and otherwise wreaking havoc on the dear friend’s home.  When we went to pick her up tonight we ended up visiting for quite an enjoyable while with the parents, and didn’t get home till close to 11pm.

I’ll close with a batch of photos (with which I had great fun playing around)
of the two children in my family who are
most alike,
and who fight and razz and bicker the most,
and who secretly love each other,
and who both hate hugs.

I think I’ll call it
Feel The Love.
Or maybe
Foto Fun.
Or maybe
I Like Hugs.  *Not*.

It was a good day.  School happened.  Karate happened.  The girls made a tasty dinner while I was gone, and Heather was at the house when we got back after six, and we all sang the Nicene Creed (we had three out of four parts, not bad) and ate dinner around the table and laughed a lot and… it was a good day.

Tomorrow is a big day for Laurent – she’ll be taking off with the Ss. Simon and Jude juniors and seniors for Kairos, a mountain retreat up in Flagstaff.  It’s a wonderful opportunity, and will be 4 days of fellowship and learning and growing (and no cell phones or computers!).  I can’t wait to hear all about it when they return on Monday.

In the meantime, tomorrow evening I will have to shop without “my brain” (as I am wont to call Laurent, since her level-headedness frequently saves me from shopping disaster when my head is spinning with the crowds and choices and decisions in front of me) and that seldom ends well.  Megan, with typical impulsiveness, leaping hilariously toward the office intending to volunteer her services, ran smack into the side of the upright freezer, and managed to finish off the pratfall with great comedic aplomb.  The Lord only knows what manner of adventures I’ll have to relate when we return…

Did someone say one of these girls looks like me?

If so, then all I can say is
*I am SO LUCKY!!!*