I did enter a pie-baking contest. Now that's something I've never written before in my entire life! I e-mailed my sister that I had entered a pie contest and she wrote back, perplexed, "Why are you entering a pie-eating contest?" No, I couldn't win a pie-eating contest, but I thought I stood a shot at pie baking. The nicest part was my husband's enthusiasm for the project. I saw the ad in the paper on Thursday and mentioned it to him. "You've got to enter! You will win! There is no way you won't win that contest!" So, I baked a really beautiful apple/pear pie and took it to the convention center Sunday and entered it in the contest. There were only 12 entries, so I thought I had good odds to win one of the three prizes, but I guess not. Unless they are mailing it to me and didn't call. I'll hold out hope.

I also made some killer cinnamon rolls over the weekend. I was going to put the recipe in here, and I hope I still will (so it doesn't get lost someday!), but not now. The key ingredient is a package of pudding, surprisingly. They turned out super-delicious. They are quite similar to Cinnabon rolls. Trouble is, at the mall you pay $4 for one and that price alone is enough to reduce your appetite. At home I was free to eat all two dozen. And I did.

Sunday I also got together with the Austin journalers at Ruta Maya. Just a small group: Steph, Kramer, Rachelle, Jette, and Chip, but it was fun once all the teenage gang members moved inside for their rap contest/concert whatever. You just don't imagine if you set up a coffee appointment at a coffee shop at 3 pm on Sunday that you'll be surrounded by the crips and the sound of thumpthumpcheckitoutcheckitoutcheckitoutthumpthump.

Work was primarily uneventful until yesterday when I came to work to find out that the computer guys were going to blow out all the Christmas music in our system and "start fresh." Fine except that we have some songs in our system that can't be replaced. I had to keep the classic expert calm and communicate with IT and figure out how to "hide" these records from the purge. I had to call in reinforcements and a college kid worked about six hours saving them. Better him than me.

Chicken-fried Tuesday last night with B! Meal wasn't as good as I was hoped, but it was great to see her and laugh. Today is her mother's birthday, the first since she died, so it is a sad day. We laughed about her nutty mom and my nutty mom.

My nutty mom story. My sister told it to me. Mom and Dad ate at a restaurant Friday and Mom said that the cute girl that waited on them had on a grey cotton outfit that said "Grayson County Work Release Program" on the back. She didn't know they let people like that work in restaurants and this girl was so cute and personable she just couldn't imagine what she could have done to be in prison and she certainly hoped she could get a fresh start, etc. etc. My sister said, "Mom, do you think it was a costume. Friday was Halloween." Long Pause. "You know, you might be right! I saw another girl in pajamas and fuzzy slippers and I knew she was in costume, but I didn't even THINK about this girl being in costume."

Welcome to my nutty world.

David Letterman's show last night was the best ever. So sweet. He was back to announce the birth of his son. What a cool thing it will be for that kid to get to see that tape in 10, 20, 30 years. I would love to know what my parents said to others at the announcement of my birth. I know my dad was at the hospital long enough to see me into the world on an early Sunday morning and then rushed off to a brotherhood meeting at the church so he could announce it. I was the first baby born to a church member after the founding of the church. That's my only claim to fame.