Sometimes, I don't have enough to do, and I am lonely and bored. Sometimes, there is too much going on, and I feel stressed and exhausted. Life could be viewed as an attempt to balance those extremes. If you try to be healthy, by preparing your own food and getting enough sleep and exercise, and try to be mindful, buying locally and living an intentional life, and you try to make sure others, like your husband, are doing what they want as well, it can be very difficult to maintain that balance. I have perhaps crossed over into "too busy" this weekend, which is likely to happen this time of year. Generally, I prefer it to "too quiet" and it seems to be easier to recover from.

Yesterday was beautifully sunny and clear, with an incredible sky and frost on the ground again. The temperature was about 29 for the third morning in a row. We took a short walk in the rustling leaves. Ray enjoys spotting deer and sending Cameron to chase them. We do sometimes hear gunshots not far away, which makes me nervous.

We went to pilates and the farmers' market, talking to our young friends Lisa and Geoff. I bought another cauliflower and some tomatoes, at $3/pound. When we got home, there was time to gobble some lunch and change our clothes. Then we took the cookies I had been working on for several days (oatmeal-raisin, iced lemon, and oatmeal chocolate-nut bars) and went to the Fellowship. Nifty-gifty was proceeding under a new guise: Holiday Hoopla. In addition to childrens' crafts, several people were selling hand-made items, mostly knitted, although they didn't have a lot of business. I had three things for sale and they did not go. Gaybrielle and Clarissa have amazing knitted hats and mine just look lumpy beside them. And they are priced lower than mine. I can't imagine making any money that way. I sat and talked and knitted until it was time to sing carols.

Calvin helps his Mom

We ran through everything at 3 and then piled in cars and drove to several homes to sing for them. Jean has cancer, Catherine has MS. Her Mom was there with hot cranberry cider and cookies, which I skipped since they were not homemade. We went to Tess's and then we split into two groups, since we were running out of time. Half of us went to Schombergs; we were in the half that went to MacNairs. We had ridden with Barbara K. in her van, so had to go back to the Fellowship to get our car, even though we were close to home. We picked up our empty cookie containers and I am still annoyed that every single cookie was eaten. They were only half gone when we left for singing. I suspect some people took more than their share or even took some home. I have trouble with being truly generous, I guess, especially with the cost of butter, etc.

We were home about 6:30. It was completely dark by then, of course, and we had not fed the pigs. I finished the meal I had started the day before, sauteing onions and peppers, chopping an old zucchini i had to get rid of and adding it, grating some cheese. Ray heated up the tortillas, and voila, dinner! Feed the dog, jump back in the car, and drive to Town and Gown for Jesus Christ Superstar. I had suspected, but couldn't believe, that I would fall asleep. We sat in the front row and I nodded off a couple times. It was very good. It is wierd to see a show that is all music. And that I know every word of. It was like they were lip-syncing--who were these people singing this music? Anyway, very enjoyable. We were home about 10:30 and asleep soon after!