A beautiful fall day

Today was such a gorgeous day.  It was almost 70 degrees, and bright and sunny.  A cold front is coming through and the wind picked up, so the leaves were gliding.  It was truly a lovely day.  Work has settled and I'm able to get things accomplished in a more timely manner.  And of course, it is a lovely time of year when I currently have only 25 work days remaining in the year.  Ahhhh.

Since the time change on Sunday, the days feel even cozier as the darkness settles in earlier.  It makes me incredibly ready for the holiday season.  Although I still miss the big family meals at my aunt & uncle's house, and I miss the gatherings at Christmas, I'm still looking forward to family time.  We have some fun things planned, and my mother-in-law will be here for the entire week of Thanksgiving.  I am so grateful and so excited.

One down thing to today is that my mother had to say good-bye to her dog, Peach.  She had begun to suffer, and that is just not okay.  I know how much my mom must be hurting today.

 

This is one of my favorite days

 Today will be one of my favorite days.  First of all, we had that extra hour of sleep last night.  That is always spectacular.  Secondly, other than altar prep this morning at church and a meeting after, we had nothing on our calendar for today.  It was chilly and overcast, and that made for a fabulous day of being home and cozy.  Andrew made a huge crockpot of chili for dinner.  The house is fairly picked up and other than the fact that I have to work tomorrow, it was nearly an ideal day.

Yesterday was busy as I made my weekly trip to my mom's house and then we were invited to the state parking to visit with some people we knew who were camping there.  It was really a lovely evening.  The weather was nice, the food was delicious, and the company was very pleasant. 

Friday was a really lovely way to end the month of October.  Andrew attended the first home playoff football game in decades (possibly ever) and it was a victory!  He's really enjoyed the season.  I was all set to be home and pass out a few pieces of candy...very few.  However,  Thomas and Lyndi wanted to come down.  When I realized there wouldn't be much trick-or-treating happening, I asked if they still wanted to come.  They said they would come down and watch Hallmark Christmas movies with me.  I wasn't overly enthused, but it ended up being a wonderful evening.  In fact, they slept over because we just kept watching!  I'm so grateful they still want to hang out with us.  I'm definitely starting this month of gratitude with a lot of gratefulness!

I feel like we've turned a corner

I woke up this morning, realized it was November 1, and I was instantly excited.  It's a Saturday, which is always a good thing!  A new month always feels fresh, and the beginning of November really feels like the unofficial beginning of the holidays (since I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, it doesn't count for me 😂), and the beginning of November is still very lovely around here since our fall really came later than normal.  And I can't help but feel we might have really turned a corner at work.  We had another incident at work this week, but it was so much more minor compared to other things.  I'd like to think the drama of our school year is over.  And regardless, November and December each only have 14 work days for me, so only 28 work days left for me this year!