A to-do list from the equator:

1. Wash some of the filthy windows. August was a WINDY month (to put it lightly) and the windows are a muddy, messy, blechy brown mess. This will prove to be much more difficult than thought because my windows have bars. The bars have spikes. No one will want to steal the grime on my windows!!!

2. Clean out the green garbage. Loja has a great garbage system and it requires multiple cans. The green can is for organic waste, and in order to keep it separate, I have a small pail with a lid that sits on my counter for all the food scraps. Its a compost container of sorts. and sometimes it gets rather... disgusting. Today is the day to clean it out.

3. Haircuts for the boys. A haircut here is about 2.00. But, Dustan insists on saving the money and taking a razor to the boys hair. Last time I razed them, I made their ears bleed, so I am now without a hairdressing job. Dustan has taken over. I can hear Weston crying upstairs. Dear grandma, please send 2.00 for haircuts.

4. Move my furniture. Last Saturday I woke up and declared "This is the day I will change my furniture." It never got done. So, it must be done today. MUST. See, I get in a funk if my furniture is too stable and unchanging. I NEED change. My very soul needs to spice things up by moving things around. After being married to me for 13 years, Dustan has finally given up on coming home and finding his living room, bedroom, or kitchen dishes in the same place. So... today... I will move my furniture.

5. Walk to the store, tienda, or market and find food for my family. We have just returned from a week at our annual spiritual life conference and we ate ourselves to the bone before we left. Unless we want to eat Marshmallows for diner (leftover from smores), I had better get us some food.

6. Jerry-rig clothes line. Since we spent a week away from home, our laundry is... well... bigger than the mountain in front of my home. My lines are full and I have several loads left. Whenever this happens, I use brooms, pipes, misc sticks, prop them up on chairs and wipe my hands, pant myself on the back, and congratulate myself on my ingenuity. Little things. Right?

7. Make granola. Because my boys (including Dustan) think that they will experience daily death without granola for breakfast. I make six gallons at a time, and it lasts far too short a time.

8. Call my mother. Because I miss her.