Please tell me that I'm not the only one who can't find time to do everything you want to.
   As you may imagine, from my blog absence lately, I have been insanely busy.  Work, family commitments, chores, getting ready for the quickly coming winter season... It never ends.  It seems that all I do any more is say, "I am SO busy!"  But, it's the truth.  I just hate sounding like a broken record.
   A few things, as there is no way I can catch up on over a month of my life in one post:
   Since Kit Carson Day I came down with 3 separate colds, one right after the other.  I wasn't "down and out" but for a couple days all together, I actually managed to keep going to work through it all.  The last cold seemed to throw me back into health fairly quickly, which sounds odd and is odd.  I felt ten times better after I recovered from that cold than I had for a month.
   Been helping work cows (it's Preg-Testing season), though not as much as my mom has.  She's gone almost every day during the week to help out.  So far she's helped with about 2000 I believe (it may be more than that).  I helped out with 400.  It was a long day, but praise God for good weather!
Here's a picture of me that evening when we were almost through.  I look tired!

    As some of you know my little sister started going to public school here in KC this fall.  Since mom and I have to work to support the family there wasn't any way for mom to keep homeschooling her.  It was a really tough decision, but so far everything has been going well.  I'm definitely learning a lot more about public schools...  My little sister, despite a rough first week, has adapted well and of course has made a circle of friends.  We had them over for her birthday, which was a wild night of giggling and shrieking girls (I was chaperone).  I seem to have made a hit with all her friends, as whenever I go to a school function or event I am literally swarmed!  It's fun.  Then there are all the younger girls who follow me wherever I go.  I love it, they are all great fun and so cute!
   I have become a card shark.  With my circle of friends from the Melodrama we have been getting together almost every weekend to socialize and play cards until the wee hours of the morning.  Pitch is a wildly popular game out here, and after several nights of this game I think I have it figured out and I'm a lot more confident in playing it.  Poker is another favorite, especially Texas Hold 'Em.  Now this is a game where I have some talent.  A couple of the guys said they didn't want to play with me any more... lol. Somehow they can't say no the next time however.
   Oh and yes, the cold weather is moving in!  We've already had our first 3 snows of the year, nothing really substantial, but it's been awful pretty to see those snowflakes falling.  We still haven't gotten our woodstove set up, so evenings and mornings in the house are FREEZING!  Especially mornings.  You know, there is nothing quite as shocking as waking up in your lovely warm bed, the blankets all around you, the sunlight drifting through the window, then realizing you have to get up out of that warm bed.  Throwing the blankets off is the first shock as the cold room air hits you while you are still drowsy.  Then your feet touch the floor and you stumble around the room to pick out your clothes for the day.  Then your feet touch that frigid bathroom linoleum and you get Goosebumps on every surface of your body.  And then the worst.  You take off your still warm and cozy pajamas and slip into your jeans and shirt, which are ice cold.  Now you are cold to the bone and wide awake.  And coffee is starting to look REALLY good.
   Well, I'd better wrap this up, as I have a list to accomplish today (burn the trash, load some lumber, feed some animals, clean the house - again - , try to sell something...)
   Oh, quick note of interest before I go.  My dear sister Amber is going on a business trip to Las Vegas and invited me to join her!  So, I'm off to Las Vegas to stay in a fabulous hotel and act like I actually have money for 5 days.  LOL!  We found an awesome package deal online for one of the best hotels in Vegas (The Signature at the MGM Grand) so for the first time in my life I'm going to stay in a room with a Jacuzzi tub, bathrobes, a flat screen HD TV, a room half the size of our entire HOUSE!  Then we'll go see the sites and take pictures, eat out at some swanky restaurants.  (Is it weird that I get all goofy at the thought of eating at Emeril's restaurant!?)
   Anyways, some fun relaxation time coming up for me.  I am nervous about flying however.  I never have before...
   Until I write again, God bless!

P.S. Some important ballot issues are coming up this Election Day across the nation.  See Micah's blog on Stem Cells!