A post about nothing, because I really don't have anything interesting to say tonight.

I can't believe it's midweek already! It's been a mixed week for me. I've had a lot of pain and health issues this week, which has been very unpleasant. On the other hand, though, I've had a very mentally challenging and productive 'week' (since my work week is Mon., Tues., and Weds., my week is now done) at work. I've solved lots of problems that I initially looked at and thought there was no way I could figure out a solution anytime soon. But I did, and that's been a real high for me. I love it when my brain gets a good workout! I even ended my day today on a kind of mixed note. I spent the last 1.5 hours of my day in a meeting, and I would generally rather have my teeth pulled (unanesthetized) than sit in a meeting. The meeting was with one of my favorite coworkers and two of my favorite users, though, and the subject was an interesting future project on one of the systems I really enjoy working with. I even stayed a half hour late, which made me, of course, later to pick Luciana up, prolonging the high point of my day, which is my sweet baby-girl hug. However, I was in a rather enjoyable meeting, so I can't complain too much. I woke up with a migraine this morning, but my drugs finally beat the headache by about 3:00. I guess it's been a good week overall.

We really enjoyed last night's debate, mostly because McSame tanked horribly and Obama did well. That entertains me a lot.

Oh, we did have our Petland protest Sunday for a while. It was pouring rain the whole time, but we stood out there for 1/2 hour, until our signs started getting to the point of structural damage. We had a lot of positive support from the community, as always, but of course attendance wasn't as good as it usually is.

We took L. out after dinner tonight to get some shoes. She would like to wear flip flops and sandals (with socks!) all winter, but we had to force her to get some weather-appropriate shoes. We ran into a friend out at Payless (one of the few places we can find decent non-leather shoes), who was trying to get shoes for her daughter. Her son and H. (who was with us, as usual) got a little rambunctious in the store, and I was horrified. My girls have never really behaved that way in public. L. even got a little wild and naughty. It was very distracting. Anyway, we did manage to find some shoes for L. but will have to go back at some point to get her some winter boots. I was too flustered and embarassed by the children's behavior to finish shopping. My friend is now fostering cats and had some questions about successfully socializing the new cats into the house. It was perfect timing, as I was able to quickly recommend the "Cat Wrangling Made Easy..." book that I just finished (and passed on to my mom, who is also finding it very educational).

Now that the cooler weather is here and L. has started wearing pants again, I see that almost all of her pants are too short. We will have to replace most of her winter pants/jeans. UGH! That adds up quickly. She is growing up way too fast!

M. has a speaking engagement in Stevens Point tomorrow night. Since we didn't get our camping trip last week, we are tagging along with him for a little mini trip. They are putting him up in a hotel, so L. and I are going along with him. We will do some hiking up there during the days, and enjoy the fall color. He speaks at night, and L. and that leaves us to play games and enjoy the pool.

I had to do a little photo shoot with our bunny, Scraps, a few weeks ago. One of our AR friends wrote an article and needed a specific type of photo to go along with it. Scraps is not a very cooperative little model, so I took zillions of pictures to get a handful of decent ones. Here are a couple of shots from Scraps' new modeling career. The computer screen ended up blurry and out of focus in several of the shots, because she kept standing on the arrows, causing the screen to scroll.