I've hardly been writing here at all. There are a lot of factors contributing to that: I'm really busy, there's someone sleeping in the room with the computer, so I can't come write first thing in the morning, I'm no longer convinced that I'm completely anonymous here...

But I think the main thing is that when you skip a few times, you begin to find it easy to skip.

This is true for most things, I guess. If you do it every day -- brushing your teeth, reading or watching the news, checking your online bank account, whatever it might be -- then you always do it. You don't forget to brush your teeth, right? You don't stop and consider whether or not to make coffee on a particular morning.

Once you skip something a few times, though, it becomes a decision. Should you go to church or sleep in? Should you make your bed today? No appointments today -- do you really need to shave or do your hair?

I've got #2 daughter visiting this weekend. Partygirl has invited us over for mimosas. Today, #1 daughter and I went to the downtown square of the town where I teach on Fridays. We had never been there, though I've lived here all these years. We went into the little shops and the Visitor's Center and stuff. We stopped at a tiny Italian restaurant where we had a delicious but unexpectedly pricey meal. We did the grocery shopping and got back in time for me to spend just an hour or two at the computer. So I guess I started the weekend early.

#1 daughter is reading The Purpose Driven Life, so we were talking about the idea that God has plans for us. I wrote about this a couple of years ago, when I was unemployed and people were telling me this.

It was intended to be comforting, but I wondered, what if God's plan for me was that I should fail miserably and die in a gutter, as a bad example to frivolous people everywhere? Or what if God's plan for me was to be collateral damage in someone else's much grander plan?

I also had trouble figuring out what to do about it. After all, if God had a plan for me I would need to discern it and cooperate with it. If God didn't have a plan for me, then what should I do? Something completely different? How could I tell? I couldn't seem to come up with anything. "If God has a plan for me," I though, "I should work hard and do my best. If God doesn't have a plan for me..." I never could finish that.The whole question sort of lost steam.

#1 daughter had more possible viewpoints.

If God has a plan for us, she suggests, then it doesn't matter what we do. It'll all work out the way God intends anyway.

I can't see this. I mean, we have free will, so presumably we can screw up God's plan or at least slow it down and interfere with it a whole lot. And it seems clear that, while we may or may not be able to determine just what God has planned for us, we can be confident that God doesn't plan for us to hang out in our pjs drinking gin all day. It must matter what we do.

And then, if God doesn't have a plan for us, then she suggests that we should do whatever is more comfortable and least scary. It's one thing, she says, to be bold and step out in faith if God has our back. If not, we probably had better sit pat. Unless you stand pat, which sounds too firm and definite. Maybe we should sit tight.

It's probably a good thing that these options didn't occur to me at the time. Now, I feel that it's too late.

It is not too late to begin or continue the Holiday Grand Plan. It is week 3, the week to clean your entrance way and foyer. I think that means I have to clear out the coat closet. we should also do the following list of holiday preparations:

• Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
• Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
• Buy two canned food items from Menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
• Keep 2 boxes in a pantry area or storage place to put these in so that they are not used in everyday cooking - make sure to label them so that when food drives start your holiday supply stays intact and the food drive gets the food purchased for it.
• Buy all supplies for homemade gifts. Package each project with directions and other information in zipper food storage bag and place in a basket or box in craft/sewing area.
• Buy film, camera batteries, blank videotapes. Hide them; write yourself a note.

Note all the things we can cross off right away! Some of us don't have entry ways or foyers, so we don't have to clean them. People who aren't planning to make homemade gifts can skip that part. Hardly anyone buys film or videotapes, so we can all feel virtuous as we cross that off.

Enjoy that. Also enjoy Square Numbers, a mesmerizing math thing. And X-entertainment's Hallowe'en Countdown. If you go there, you'll notice that the author uses the term "Hallowe'enosity." I think this shows that he (it is a guy, and seems in fact to be a grown man who has a job and yet does things like taste test Hallowe'en Pop-Tarts) has read Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas and other books by our beloved Louise Rennison, or that her style has spread even unto men who make Pop-Tart crafts.

Yesterday #1 daughter and I went to an art show. It was a choice between the food show at the Farmers Market and the art show in the Next County, and we picked the art show. Usually, art shows around here are hot stuff. We have a logn local tradition of handwork, and the stuff is usually varied and excellent. I thought I'd get much of my Christmas shopping done.

It was a disappointing art show, frankly. I liked the booth of Regalia (I could help them with their website, though), and I did find a piece of simple jewelry for someone's stocking, but mostly we looked around us saying, "Where are the artists?" There were boats, a whole bunch of chiropractors, and the funny lemon above.

We went into Sephora, since we had driven all that way. Sephora is always fun to visit, I think. They had a silicon-based mousse foundation that fills in your wrinkles and I suppose makes you look doll-like, and one that you airbrush on. They had pretty boxes of glimmery eyeshadows. They had bright, juicy shades of lipstick from Clinique, and moody deep ones from the tattoo parlor woman on TV.

They also had Shiseido skin care products. A saleswoman sidled up to me and asked whether I liked Shiseido. I had been telling #1 daughter that when I was young, we had all believed that Shiseido was the best skin care product (that and erno Laszlo, but they don't sell that at Sephora, I promise you). I was laughing about it, a bit, because I think maybe all the skin care products are essentially the same.

"Really," I suggested, "the key to good skin is staying out of the sun, never smoking or drinking, and getting plenty of sleep -- and having done this from a young age. Right?"

This is my mother's approach, and the she has lovely skin. I bet she doesn't visit Sephora from one year to the next, either.

The clerk disagreed with us, and colleague of hers chimed in. There is, apparently, new technology. Clinique, they said, was a skincare line for college girls (I'd admitted that I use Clinique. #1 daughter admitted to using Dove. The clerks were a little shocked). Shiseido is #1 in Japan, but is apparently riddled with artificial ingredients, or possibly doesn't pay them the commission the other stuff does. They hardly mentioned it at all. They got all excited about fruit acids and collagen.

We left empty handed and had lunch at Orange Julius, a childhood fave for both of us and just about what our budget can stand.

We came home and I graded papers till time for dinner, which was a sweet potato galette, chicken, and grapes. More work after that, with The Office in the background.

Here's the pretty worksheet I made for FreshPlans.

My sister said, "Coding and choir. That's pretty much it for me." Or words to that effect. Yesterday, I posted the post containing this nice worksheet as a PDF. I'm pretty jazzed about having figured out how to do this, I also made a black and white version for people to print out for the classroom. This process took three hours, but that's far less time than it takes to knit a sweater, so I guess it's okay

I went up to the Next County to teach my writing class. One of the students told me that she waits all week to come to my class. I found this gratifying, of course. If I'm going to drive all that way, I want everyone to enjoy it.

Then #1 daughter and I went to lunch and planned out the future for FreshPlans. It's not getting many orders any more -- we've made just under $8 this month -- and that's a shame, because it's a lot of fun to work on. Still, we got that planned and did a bit of grocery shopping. #1 got the idea to make a "Friday Box."  I think this is a great idea. Instead of chatting about issues as they arise, she said, we can put notes in the Friday box whenever we think of something. On Friday after my class we can go out to lunch and have a meeting to deal with all those things. This should increase our efficiency.

After that I did all my blogging, and behold! the day was over. #1 son and I watched Numb3rs. It was a fun day.

There was a football game, which I did not attend, but we won.

I went to the farmers market, where there were many lovely fruits and vegetables and fresh local honey. I grilled the eggplants, along with some chicken and potatoes.

I knitted quite a bit, in between playing games and having conversations and roaming around town like tourists.

It's still too hot, but there are apples at the market. This has to be a good sign.

It's the last day of List Week, and I have listed the foods I need to make and the ingredients for them. I have a few things on the gifts list, but I need to come up with some perfect things to make for people's holiday gifts.

Here's a list of possibilities. Maybe one will be perfect for your list, too:

• Slippers I planned on making slippers last year, because I figure people need them in cold weather and handmade ones are the best, but I didn't get it done. Maybe this year.
• Moonlight socks Another project I've intended to make in the past but haven't yet.
• Ice Queen A sort of cowl or fascinator you can wear around your neck and then pull up over your head when you get cold or want to be more fascinating. Like a scarf without the ends.
• A driving cap These are worn by older guys in my neighborhood, and they always look pretty debonair in them.
• Tychus Everybody loves this hat.
• Traditional tams They may or may not be stylish, but you clearly love the person you give it to or you wouldn't go to that much trouble.
• Henry A manly scarf. James Bond would wear it.
• Interesting geometric bag Because just because I have too many bags doesn't mean everyone does.
• Tsantsa I think a shrunken head chalk bag might be cool for climbers.
• Knitted wire earrings A fellow Xangan sent me a couple of crocheted wire necklaces some years ago and they are still my favorites.
• French General style jewelry I love this stuff, and I have a book with instructions. Whether the women on my gift list would wear it is less certain.
• Steampunk Bug This would make a fun brooch for someone who find the French General stuff too girlie.

Are you admiring free gift patterns online? If so, share them!

I switched to the new editor here at Xanga, but I miss the "currently reading" box. I'm still reading The Tenor Wore Tap Shoes, but I like putting the picture of the book up. I may have to figure out how to go back to the old style of editor. Yesterday we had a meeting with clients. Then #2 daughter headed back south for a visit, I wrote up all the blog posts for the day, and finally I went to the rehearsal of the choirlet.

I enjoy spending time with those ladies. There's such a variety of backgrounds and personalities in the group that conversations are unpredictable. We might hear about someone's delivery of a load of pigs or about someone's conviction that all her conversations lately end up being about bowels. (I thought she said "vowels," by the way, and pressed her for details.) We also sing all manner of stuff. Last night there were a bunch of choruses from the 1970s and 1980s, and I was goaded into my usual rant about how churches say "contemporary music" and then serve up stuff from a previous century, and had to explain that this rant is just a reflex by now. I really dislike most of those songs, though, and often find the ones I don't dislike boring. I made them sing "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere," though, not in retaliation, but because the title is so funny.

We also sang "Broken Pieces" by Ruby Kitchen. This is sort of a sultry cowgirl camp meeting song with bad rhymes, and I think the congregation will like it a lot. I will be singing deTar with the Presbyterians on Sunday and won't be there to sing it, so I sat out and listened as the ladies sang it. They were standing there on the screen porch, dancing around a bit and coming in and out of focus with their harmonies, and I was very touched by how much fun they were having.

We've been singing together for over three years, spending almost every Thursday evening with music first and then cake and conversation afterwards. We've seen one another through health worries and job losses and troubles with our kids and changes in the church and travels and good deeds and all kinds of adventures.

This group probably demonstrates that the unlikeliest people can become friends, given enough time.

It also makes me remember how, when I was a young woman, I would see groups of older ladies and think how much fun they were having, like teenaged girls. I always wanted to be one of those ladies when I got old, and I think maybe I will be. Assuming, that is, that I continue hanging out with the choirlet.

We're singing John Ireland's "No Greater Love" in the Presbyterian choir. I've got a duet this Sunday there, too; it's a completely tune from the one I linked to yesterday, though, and I can't find it online at all. Nor do I know it. I'll have to plunk it out on the piano and learn it.

Does it seem as though I'm just singing and working? That's true. Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't make for interesting blogging. The semester is properly underway, and things are busy, and that's about the size of it.