Hey all -

We're doing well. We came back Saturday from Boise to see Billy Joel in concert here in Portland. It was nice to have Sunday here to recover from the driving and nights away. We did miss having Sunday in Boise, though!

Billy Joel was amazing on Saturday night. I just downloaded his 2006 live CD called 12 Gardens Live. He sang all of our favorites. There were only maybe 2 songs we weren't familiar with; but even those were AWESOME. We did notice that he had transposed most of the songs down a few tones (not quite as young as he used to be) - but man, he still has a fantastic voice, and stage presence. What a performer.

Tonight we're hosting two couples from the church board. We are a relatively new Board, so I suggested to the group that we do some get togethers outside of the "upper room" setting where we normally meet; and bring spouses so that we can get to know each other better and even get to know spouses. I put together a matrix (yes, analytical in too many ways, I know!) and planned out who is getting together with whom in which months, so that everyone gets a chance to have dinner with each of the other couples at least once.

My norm when entertaining is to start dinner with more than enough time to spare, then frantically try to pull it all together after everyone has arrived and is hovering around the kitchen island. Well this time, with my knowledge that this time of the day (5:30 ish) is when I feel the ickiest, we prepared in advance! We made the chili on Sunday afternoon, and froze it Sunday night. I took it out and put it in the fridge last night; and put it on the stove when I got home from work around 5:45. People aren't coming until 7 (and they're bringing the salad & cornbread), which gives me a good chance to ensure dinner will be ready shortly after they arrive - and I have time to post on the blog and read my book (I made dessert last night too)! I'll let you know tomorrow how it really all plays out ...

K, signing off now ... Love you all - M