Shower, fun mail, a clean desk

1. A long, hot shower after morning aerobics.
2. A package with piano music and three Netflix movies coming all at once in the mail.
3. My husband found some of my notes and my Visual Basic installation CDs when he was cleaning in the basement.
   

No-rush shopping, help with cooking, Apple Dapple

1. Some time for shopping this evening without worrying about the time. I bought some art supplies for the girls and office supplies for me.
2. I had help with lunch today from my middlest girl, and my oldest girl made supper almost by herself (though I did start the noodles cooking).
   
3. Apple Dapple
   

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Recipe for Apple Dapple

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of grated apples

Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir into creamed mixture. Stir in vanilla and apples.
Bake in greased 8"x8" pan in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. (Best served warm with ice cream or whipped cream.)

Slumber party-ish, autumn leaves in the sunset, coming home to my hills

1. Staying up on Saturday night until the not-so-early hours of Sunday, talking about everything with my sister and brother, just like it was a slumber party.
   
2. The colors on the trees were so beautiful as the sun was setting. Everything was pink and orange and red. It was even prettier than it had been on Friday. Breath taking.
3. The sun set about the time I left the interstate, and as I got close to our road, I could just barely see the outlines of the hills that are close to our house. But even in the dark, I recognized the hills, and I knew exactly how much farther I had to go to get home. And for the first time in what seems like a really long time, I realized that I was starting to feel like I was coming home. I don't know if I felt that way about Northern Virginia, and I know I never felt that way about Europe. It was a good feeling. There is a song by Sara Evans called "Restless" where she sings, "What do you do? Where do you go/When nowhere feels like home? . . . I guess God just made some of us / To live and die by highway dust." That's how I've felt for so long. Maybe things are changing for me.
   

Tea time, hot chocolate time, other people's kids

1. Tea with a good friend---the kind of friend you can be completely honest with and you know that you'll never regret it, that it will never come back to haunt you later.
2. Big, soft chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate at the ETSU homecoming event.
3. Watching other people's little kids play on the bouncy things, and knowing that I didn't have to try to keep track of three kids of my own.
   

Beautiful leaves, "Stormy Weather", long hugs

1. I think they've had more rain in East Tennessee than we've had here. The leaves between my house and my brother's house were incredible, especially between Crossville and the Clinch River. Every hill was filled with every color between bright yellow and a red so deep it was almost purple, mixed in with the dark greens of the evergreens.
2. I had a chance to listen to some of my CDs that the girls don't like as much as I do. It was fun to drive through the cloudy weather listening to my Previn/McNair "Come Rain or Come Shine" CD. (You can read my review on Amazon.com.) "Don't know why / there's no sun up in the sky . . ."
   
3. Long hugs from my niece.
   

Family

1. My brother
2. My sister (his wife)
   
3. and my niece

I'm going to their house for the weekend, so I'll be away from the computer. I'll fill you in when I get back.

Warm jeans, my calendar, cinnamon toast candles

1. Warm jeans from being dried on clothes racks beside the wood stove.
2. Finding my calendar where I had written my grocery list.
3. A dozen new, 33-cent candles that smell like "Cinnamon Toast." (I love burning candles when the weather turns colder.)

Help cooking, safety, anti-scary movies

1. My husband took care of the icky part of cooking supper tonight, the raw meat and raw eggs part. I was so happy.
2. My husband cut down several dead trees up in the top part of our lot, and he didn't hurt himself.
   
3. While my husband watched a scary movie downstairs, my youngest child and I played Othello and Stratego in the living room while we listened to Christmas music. I know my husband will think it's too early for Christmas music, but he wasn't there, and it was a good defense against all the shouting and screaming in the movie downstairs.
   

Baby turkeys, cleaner house, pretty leaves

1. Our "baby turkeys" aren't really so little anymore, but we still can tell which ones are less than a year old. It's difficult to imagine that we saw their eggs just a few months ago. We were taking some trash out to the garage this morning, and they saw us, but they didn't even leave our front yard. They are definitely used to being around us.
2. My youngest girl helped me clean the kitchen while my other two girls hung up clean clothes. It feels good to think that you're staying on top of the cleaning around here. We cleaned up in the dining room some also.
3. There is some wind, but not too much, and the leaves are really swirling as they fall today.
   

Crossing the street, opening doors, and great ladies

The girls and I were discussing cultural differences and women that really stepped out of their roles to do great things. It brought back a lot of great memories.

1. I told the girls the story about all the older men in Tokyo that wouldn't let me walk next to the road, and how I really had to plan out my route between the institute and the hotel to avoid hurting anyone's feeling or causing too much trouble. It came down to the fact that I needed to be on the sidewalk on the right-hand side of the road, which sometimes meant crossing extra streets.
2. I told the girls about being in Yellowstone, and going to a Bible study with one of the boys from Tennessee, in his car. I was so happy when he unlocked and opened my car door for me. After I was in the car, I reached over and unlocked the driver-side door. He got in the car and said that he was so happy to be with another Southerner because none of the other girls are polite enough to unlock his door for him. I suppose small favors like this go out the window, so to speak, once everyone has automatic door locks. (When we were in England, as a family, my husband kept forgetting that the driver's side was on the right, and he would go to the left side of the car, and then pretend that he'd been doing that all along so that he could open the door for me. It was pretty funny.)
3. We talked about Mother Teresa and Corrie Ten Boom. The girls had heard the names before, but weren't entirely sure of exactly why they were so famous. It was really an encouragement to me to think about what these women had accomplished in such difficult circumstances.
   

Cardinals, bicycles, and white flowers

1. The Cardinals won over Detroit tonight in the first World Series game. I'm hoping that a win for the Cardinals might help my dad feel better.
2. We had a pretty day outside today, and the girls finally got out their bicycles and helmets, and they all three rode around the yard this afternoon.
3. There are some new white flowers blooming in my front floor beds.
   

Memorable clothes, reading, and the Transcontinental Railroad

1. I found the "Tapestry of Dreams" t-shirt that my mom bought me at Epcot back in 2002. I'm wearing it today. I love this t-shirt, and I loved that parade, and I love my mom. I found the kitty sweatshirt that my mom bought for me when I was pregnant with my oldest girl. I love that sweatshirt, too. And I unpacked and sorted three boxes worth of junk and clothes.
2. The girls were keeping themselves busy today, and I finished most of my grading and cleaning this morning, so I spent the afternoon curled up in bed, under my comforter, reading. It was a nice change for me.
3. Finding a great site on the PBS website about the Transcontinental Railroad---our history lesson for this week. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/tcrr/sfeature/sf_map.html
   

Logic, Job, and orange sunrise

1. Going through the logic course and the geometry course with my oldest daughter. It helps me remember why I love mathematics so much!
2. Having a great Word from the Lord stuck in your head. "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD." (from Job 1:21) "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (from Job 2:10)
3. A glass of Great Value brand "Orange Sunrise" sugar-free drink after morning aerobics.

Gasoline prices, country quiet, and newsy letters

1. Gasoline at the Murray's on Highway 231 in Murfreesboro was $1.999. That's the first time I've seen it for less than $2 a gallon in I don't know how long.
2. We heard a helicopter go over the house today, and it really surprised us. Later, when I was in Murfreesboro, I noticed the sound of the interstate---that low sound of constant moving tires on pavement. We used to hear helicopters and interstate all the time. I'm so thankful to be away from all of that, at least most of the time. I love our quiet country house on our quiet country road.
   
3. Getting a long, newsy email from my best friend. It's so much easier to laugh at things going on in my old office when I don't have to be there anymore. Thank you, Kathy, for cheering me up.
   

Thick comforter, silver linings, and mama and baby

1. The feel of a thick comforter and a warm bed when the wind is howling outside.
2. Early morning sunshine through the clouds, so it looks like every cloud really does have a silver lining!
3. We saw one of our mama deer and her baby in our front yard today, really close to the house. I wonder if she'll come around so close once hunting season starts in November.

Going without shirts and extra effort

1. Josh Holloway on LOST, especially without a shirt on. (We've been watching Season 2 on DVD.) I also like his dimples, his beard, and his accent.
2. My husband is also looking good without a shirt. He's lost 35 pounds in the past 4 months.
3. I put a little extra effort into lunch today to help boost morale to start another week of school. The girls really appreciated it, and that really made me happy.
   

Bucks, clean clothes, and sunshine

1. Two six-point bucks down by the pond this morning.
2. A basket-full of clean clothes after doing laundry yesterday.
3. The sound of the furnace and the afternoon sun on my back.
   

Glory, coyotes, and country t-shirts

1. The prayer-meeting scene in the movie Glory. I love that movie, and Morgan Freeman, and James Horner's score. A great scene in a great war movie.
2. The sound of coyotes, but mostly when they are up in the hills on the neighbors' property and not so close to the house.
3. We saw a woman with a t-shirt that said, "I'm a country song waiting to happen."

Frost, little clouds, and finishing piano books

1. Frost on the tall grass and weeds in the back pasture.
2. We had a clear blue sky today, just when I went out to the kitchen to cook lunch, there was one tiny little cloud outside my kitchen window.
   
3. Ordering new piano music for the girls. My oldest daughter has played through almost all the music I have for her.
   

Rainbow curtains, new music, and Christopher Columbus

1. The morning sun coming through the brand new "rainbow" curtains in my youngest daughter's room, and the look on her face when she saw it for the first time, too.
2. Listening to a new CD by Little Big Town (really awesome harmony).
3. Fixing Italian food for supper in honor of Christopher Columbus, and deciding that his favorite vegetable was peas.
   

The smell of Autumn, Keith Urban lyrics, and a great parking spot

1. When I stepped outside to run some errands, I could smell the flowers that are growing outside the dining room window. It somehow just smelled like Autumn.
2. As we ran our errands, my middlest child and I were listening to country music on the stereo with the windows down while we drove. As I pulled into the dump, the CD was playing a Keith Urban song with the lyrics, "There ain't no doubt that God's been good to me. / 'Cause he put me smack dab in the middle of Paradise . . ."
3. I got a great parking spot at the grocery store tonight, only three spots from the handicap parking.
   
   

Pink fog, clean dishes, and Chico Marx

1. Our valley was very foggy this morning, and when the sun came up, all the fog turned pink. Simply breath-taking. Through the pink fog, I saw three big bucks in our back yard, close to the house.
2. A dish rack full of sparkling clean dishes.
3. Chico Marx playing the piano (particularly today in the movie A Night at the Opera)