No, I'm not dead. It might seem like it, from the activity level on my blog lately, but in reality, that just means I have been so darn busy that I have not had time to blog. At all. :-(

But, I thought I would just dash off a quick note to let you know that I am still alive and kicking in the Peace Country, and give you a quick update:

• More bullet points. I know. It's late, what can I say?
• Remember this project? Well! It's finally DONE! DONE, DONE, DONE! While the majority of the project has actually been finished for several months, meaning I finished all the taping, mudding, and painting some time in August, last Tuesday I finally put up the trim that was only necessary to make it match the pass-through window on the other side of the kitchen. Here, you can ooh and aah:

• The dinner theatre on Friday night was very enjoyable. I am so glad Serena took the kids for the evening so we could go. Babysitters are a valuable commodity in this town, and apparently, a rare one. (I need to get to know more teenagers.)
• Saturday's recital went well. We had seating for forty-one in our T.V. room. (Logan, and you laughed!) There wasn't a lot of room for, you know, breathing, but we all made it in, with a few empty seats to spare. And all of my students did excellently--I couldn't be more proud. Very poised, and their pieces were well played. You wouldn't have known that it was most of their first performance. Jude decided to "help" me perform my song, which was the final piece. It was a song I wrote called "Home For Christmas" (and no, I don't know how to post audio files, or I would put it up here--help, anyone?) Jude added a few key bass notes, then turned the amp off and on to make my life more interesting. (We were using my electric Yamaha.) Funny how kids know just what to do to get attention, and just when to do it so that Mommy won't make a big fuss. I forgot to take any real pictures of the recital, but here's a cute one of Jabin in his tux, trying to stand up using the coffee table:
  
  
• As soon as the recital was over, the students and chairs were packed up and out the door, and I had grabbed a bite to eat, I threw my scrapbooking crate--still unpacked from the previous weekend--into the van and toodled out to Robin's for a night of "personalized calendar"-making. The class had started at 5:00, they live about 25 minutes out of town, and I didn't leave here until about 6:30, so I thought I might miss it all. Guess I didn't need to worry, since we closed 'er up around midnight. Although I was two hours late, I still managed to complete the majority of the pages--should only take about two more hours of work, actually! Yay! So much fun. PLUS! She had chai! Scrapbooking, visiting, and chai. Can't really go wrong with that combination.
• Sunday Jason got me excited about building a log home. Pretty much since then, I haven't been able to think about anything else.
• Today at Jabin's one year checkup, I found out he is in the 20th percentile for height, 29th for weight, and 93rd for head circumfrence. So I guess you were right, Dad: he's just a little round-headed kid. His new nickname is Charlie Brown. And it looks like he's hit a double-recessive with the short genes. (Sorry, son.)
  
• Just got home from watching Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at Wes & Serena's. Good movie. Good day of visiting before that. Nice to have a break, after the craziness of the previous week.

One more week of teaching after this one, and then a break! Yay! Maybe I'll have more time for ye olde blogging for a couple of weeks!

Or maybe I'll renovate my basement. Hmm...