And Emily lingered around the house this morning in the hope that I'd be merciful and drive her to school. Instead I encouraged her to dress warmer and find her new gloves I just bought her last week so her little hands wouldn't freeze on the bike ride to school. She couldn't find her gloves and as per usual, blamed Sophie. Sophie, who has her own brand new pair of nifty gloves and thus would have no reason to mess with Em's, but hey, she's a convenient scapegoat for an older sister.

I sent Emily off to school... and then I ransacked the corner of her room where she claimed to have put her gloves. When I couldn't find those I decided that instead I would search for her cell phone yet again. This time I rummaged thoroughly through a weird collection of items on her desk and guess what? HA! I found her little green phone. I pretty much leaped through the house then, whooping with excitement. It's been lost since August! I have it charging now and figure I may have to reinstate her account -- no problem. What a relief though! We've really needed Emily to have her cell phone a number of times since she lost it. Her raincoat is still lost... as are the gloves, but hey, the cell phone is found. Finally.

Other stuff. I work today -- Cherrell had to work yesterday for end-of-month stuff. This is her and Paul's last week of work before they move to Boise to be closer to their grandchildren. I'll work Saturday for them and then my normal Monday for sure. Our district manager had interviewed a new couple and hopefully Paul and Cherrell agreed that they'll be a good match. That kiboshes extra earnings in November for me, but you know what? I am sooo relieved! We're supposed to be in Idaho for Thanksgiving... and Jeff will be down in San Leandro, California next week and I really needed to be around for the girls during that week. Plus I was leaving Willamalane up in the air for their staff meetings, not good. I was stressing a little and praying a lot. LOL.

I guess that's it... just wanted to check in here and the Notes section at fb is just too impersonal. This is my blogging home after all. Hope everyone is doing well!

I don't have all the results, but that's all right. This was Sophie's second meet, her first one having been this past June when she swam the 50-meter freestyle at the Olympic-sized Amazon Pool in Eugene. This time around she had the benefit of the bullpen (for 8 and under), and was able to do 25-yard races -- much easier and a big confidence booster.

The results as of 1:30 p.m. today:

Emily/Saturday

• 100 Free: Placed 34th and improved her time from 1:35:40 to 1:28:10
• 50 Butterfly: Placed 30th and improved her time from 50:59 to 47:23

She was also entered for the Open Girls 50 breast stroke, her best event, but we misunderstood a few things and she ended up being a no show, which was exasperating because when I looked at the times of the girls who competed yesterday and Emily's seed time, she'd have easily made first or second place in the event. Aagh! Ah well. Another girl, the same age as Emily, from our team had the same misunderstanding apparently, so now we're all on the same page about open events that occur in the afternoon during split meets. LOL. Yes, it all sounds like Greek to most folks, but it's all clear now, really. Emily also swam a relay with the B team, but wasn't sure what they placed.

Emily/Sunday

• 50 Back for girls ages 11-12: She placed 27th, but improved her time from 50:01 to 44:44
• 100 Breast Stroke: Don't have her time or place yet
• 50 Back (Open event in the afternoon): Don't have her time or place yet, but she was so scared about racing with the 13 and olders that she fairly skimmed down and back. ROFL!

Sophie/Saturday

• 25 Free for 8 and under: Placed 9th with a time of 27:34
• 25 Butterfly for 8 and under: Placed 9th with a time of 35:44

Sophie/Sunday

• 50 Free for 8 and under: Placed 11th with a time of 1:03:16
• 25 Back for 8 and under: Placed 6th with a time of 27:40
• 25 Breast for 8 and under: DQ (disqualified) -- probably didn't keep her stroke intact

Sophie also swam a relay with the B team -- very excellent experience and kind of exciting since Emily didn't get put into relays until her fourth or fifth meet.

No pictures... worked yesterday and then volunteered in concessions right during the girls' events today -- funny how that worked that way. LOL. Oh well. Volunteers were scarce at this meet so it was all right. We also got the girls sized for their new team suits. The team is going with Speedo this year, rather than Tyr. I'm pleased. We've bought a few Tyr suits and they just haven't been as comfortable or durable as the Speedo suits. The girls will also have the opportunity to order backpacks and warming coats -- I smell Christmas pressies... the backpacks and coats are usually $60 and $100 respectively, but we'll be getting a team discount. I'd already been eyeing the backpacks -- they're waterproof and compartmented for swimming... super nice. Anyway -- kind of nice to be going with a brand I prefer and to get the chance to have some nice things with the team logo and the girls' names on them.

Now my crazy girls are outside, raking leaves. You'd think they'd be napping or something!

I get to enjoy hiding in the warm house today while it rains outside. I don't have errands to run, places to go or people to see. Yea! Instead I have stew meat cooking in the crockpot -- doing crockpot stroganoff for tonight, hot water in the tea kettle and a list of things I've been wanting or needing to do right here in the house. I did run the girls to school today. I needed to pick up Emily's practice cello (she gets two for the school rental price of $20, whoo!) anyway, plus it's very wet outside.

We've stayed up late the last couple of nights as well -- enjoying Ken Burns' documentary on national parks on PBS. I am fascinated by the life of John Muir and the girls are loving the many images of Yellowstone, although now I'd really like to visit Yosemite. Last night's installment involved some tragedy for me -- the realization that there are very beautiful places I'll never get to see, not because I won't be able to travel to see them, but because they are quite simply, gone.

I also have been helping Emily with her math. Math! Of all things! Actually, I had Emily laughing like crazy last night because at the grand age of 40 I have FINALLY figured out how to work factorization trees! Whoo! I was factoring things just for the pure fun of it and driving Emily crazy. Em's hit the part of math where I started to plateau and get behind. I'm enjoying discovering things, even if I'm about 30 years behind it all. LOL. We huddled together over factor lists, Venn diagrams and factorization trees and did ultimately agree that we prefer listing out prime factors -- that method just fits our brains. I started reading up on Least Common Multiples -- they began that unit yesterday. I have her math teacher's website in our favorites links menu -- Em can click right on it and see her assignments for each month. If she were so inclined, she could actually do them ahead of time. But she's not me and she wrinkled her nose at me when I made that suggestion. LOL. But I did sit her down and explain that she really needed to start using her planner that the school has everyone use. It's the difference between being an A or B student or a C and D student. I think I used to use a to-do notepad list to keep track of my assignments, so I'm trying to get Em to organize herself.

It's been fun.

Jeff has been resting as he can. He did see his endochrinologist yesterday for a regular checkup and they discussed the Bell's palsy. It may not return, but then again, it may. She wrote up a note that basically requests of Jeff's boss that Jeff not be assigned to anything that requires the extreme hours he's been working and basically lets him go home at the end of an 8-hour day. One of the nice things is that Jeff will attending some certification classes in October and November. I know the first two classes will take him away from the "office". In fact, he'll be in Alpharetta, Georgia for one week and in the San Francisco area the other week. He always comes back from these refreshed and smiling again. Jeff's also stepping back from some other things for a bit -- in a way he's giving the girls and me a rest too in stepping back from one thing in particular. Whew!

So, we're all continuing to plod along -- entering fall with a surprised look on our faces, but here we go nevertheless.