Sophie's World

9:13 PM (Central time): We have survived the second day of school. The girls are so happy to be back to school (and we are so happy to have the house to ourselves during the day). It is definitely a challenge to be working from a home office when the kids are around. They are more and more independent, but they obviously require some attention during the day. Last year we posted pictures of the girls on the first day of school, but Lizzy (well on her way to being a teenager) insisted on no pictures this year. We were in a hurry, so that worked out okay!

Randall had the girls all to himself last week while I traveled to North Carolina and Virginia. I had several work meetings Monday through Thursday, and then Thursday night I drove up to visit with my mom. We rented a huge dumpster and sorted through tons of things that had been stored in the attic and in two outbuildings for years. Mom was in the mood the purge, and I am very good at getting rid of *other* people's things (just ask me to stop being a packrat with my own things!). It felt so good to get through all of it, and Mom now has room to put all of the things she has been paying $100 a month to keep in a storage unit. It also brings her closer to being able to live closer to us.

Funny story we heard from a church member about Sophie. During a potluck lunch on Sunday, Sophie was sitting with Johnny (also our local district attorney) and they got to talking about allergies. They were talking about what they were allergic to, and Sophie told him she's not allergic to anything except cancer. It's just so funny to us how matter of fact she can be about the whole thing (especially given that she remembers so little of it).

Randall is traveling to Albuquerque tomorrow, and I am traveling to Chicago next week to give several presentations at a conference. I haven't even started putting them together yet, so I'd better get to work on that tomorrow! I've spent lots of time this week dealing with my work computer that died on the way home from my trip last week. I think I've gotten that all settled, so now I can turn to my real work!

Thanks, as always, to our friends and family for taking the time to keep up with us.