Well, that's the last time I mention to young Mr. Jobe (as I did last week at church) that I was planning on "getting around to" posting on the blog. I showed up this week to a disapproving "Hmmmm, I see you didn't post."

Well, here's what's been going on...

1. We drove to Virginia for the week of Thanksgiving...28 hours, each way. Yeee-haw! Carrie and I took turns, starting out at night, which let the kids sleep through about the first half of the trip. It's a little surreal driving all night, stopping for coffee or gas or sundry goods in the wee hours. We hit Memphis going in each direction around dawn, and drove all the next day to our destination. The most depressing thing about driving from Texas to anywhere is...eight hours into the trip, YOU'RE STILL IN TEXAS!

2. Bodo's is open on the Corner! If you're not from C'ville, you may not know that Bodo's Bagels, for my entire time in Mr. Jefferson's town, was "Coming Soon!" in its enviable location on the Corner. Now the long-expected eatery has arrived, and we partook while visiting, to our gastronomic delight. We even bought T-shirts.

3. I replaced the major light fixtures in our house with more trendy ones...not expensive ones, mind you, just better looking than the vintage 1995 ones the house came with. Hopefully this will give our house the certain je ne sais quoi for some prospective buyer next summer.

4. Read Grisham's latest nonfiction book, An Innocent Man, while on vacation in Virginia. A far cry better than his recent novels (The Broker being the most egregious example), it details the history, arrest, conviction, and subsequent exoneration of an innocent man for the murder of a young Oklahoma woman.

5. Ate at the Texas Farm to Table Cafe, one I've been wanting to try for a while. Housed in the old Pearl Brewery location as part of a revitalization project, the Cafe is an example of community-supported agriculture, using only Texas-grown and produced foods on its delicious menu.

Well, posting will resume soon. Check out updated pictures in the photo album for now...