Harmony and Havoc: The shame...

There's almost nothing I hate worse than finding a blog I like (usually cooking related) and having the author seemingly fall off the face of the earth.

I'm ashamed that I'm that person.

I have such good intentions, but life - my crazy big life - just does its thing and pretty soon a month has gone by and I find my poor little neglected blog, sulking in the corner. I don't know how many times it can keep on forgiving me.

Anyway... October was a good month. Having Joshua home is so cool. I love hearing him sing and play guitar, and it's been fun to see him interacting with his siblings again and watching him adjust to "civilian" life. He's been accepted to BYU in January, so he's been busy making plans for yet another big transition. It's not that I want an adult son living in my house forever, but I will be sad when he leaves.

October also brought us our new dog, Clover - the sweetest little sheltie you ever did see. She and Rocket spent two days trying to kill each other, but once they got all that out of their systems, they're now the best of friends. Clover seems to be a tad perplexed about this crazy notion that peeing should take place OUTDOORS, so I've been more grateful than usual for wood and tile floors. I can't be mad about her mistakes. She's simply too freaking adorable.

I've been working quite a bit, and I'm mostly enjoying it. Even though it's hard to be away from my responsibilities at home, I just keep thinking about the fact that my paycheck will help get Zinnia home from China. I'm grateful that I can work during the school hours so that I'm home when all the kids are here.

And then there was Halloween - my most loathed holiday. We did the obligatory trick-or-treating with the littles, then stuck a big bowl of candy on the porch with strict instructions to visiting goblins not to be too greedy, and then we headed out to a basketball game at the college. Much more fun than sitting at home answering the doorbell 5000 times. We came home to a single Snickers bar in the bowl. Either we planned well, or some stinkpot teenagers wiped out the stash in the first 5 minutes. In which case we're lucky we didn't get egged or something. I call it a win all around.

So. Pictures. Enjoy.