Excuses

I haven't been blogging. This has been pointed out to me, and I'm very aware of it. It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's that I just haven't sat down to write any of it. Here's a few things I've been up to:

• Planting. Planting? In the fall? I got pounds of garlic planted before it got too cold to be outside, and they are safely underground waiting to pop up in the spring. Is it bad I'm just as excited for the garlic scapes as for the garlic?
• Knitting. When the weather gets cooler, and I no longer have any reason to be out in the garden, my "winter hobby" kicks in. All this sitting still and relaxing is good for me during such a busy time of the year.
• Baking. This is the other hobby that kicks in as the days get shorter. I wrote about it over at Homemakers Who Work- I've been compelled to cook and put away in the freezer meals and meal ingredients. I even took a freezer inventory so I'd know what I have on hand! I've never been this organized before.
• Sleeping. The time change that happened earlier this fall really threw me off. It's only an hour, so perhaps it shouldn't have, but I was going to bed before 9:00 for a week after the time change. Now, it's starting to get dark around 5:00 and I want to do nothing else but hibernate. Busying myself with the above Baking and Knitting activities forces me to not to.
• Family. Between a nephew's birthday party, taking him out for his birthday present, another nephew's birthday party, and taking him out for his present (Sunday!), there have been a good number of family-related activities. I love it, and I love my nephews.
• Car trouble. We spent last week juggling our cars while one was in the shop. It's back now, but I'm really tired of car repairs. We're not to the point we need mechanical breakdown insurance, because we haven't actually had any "breakdowns"- but the repairs do add up!
• Consuming Fire Conference. Last Friday and Saturday, I went with a friend to this conference. I got to hear a couple of our favorite authors speak, and learned so much. Most of all, though, I was blown away by all the things so many people are doing to strengthen their communities and work for peace and justice. In comparison, I felt like I'm doing nothing, and I'm trying to figure out where I fit and how I can remedy that. I'm still processing all that I learned, and hope to get some thoughts down soon.
• Everything else. In the coming week & a half, I will: Host out-of-town guests, Speak at a local high school ministry meeting, Go out of town myself, and Cook a pumpkin pie, an apple pie, lots of apple butter, and lots of mashed potatoes.

Note that everything above is away from a computer screen, which explains my lack of blogging. I miss you guys, and will try to be back with exciting thoughts and adventures soon. Or my normal not-so-exciting stuff. We'll see.