5 Things From My Weekend

So here's some real talk from me... Our September, and the first part of our October, was incredibly full. There were lots of important things happening and we made it all work. However, since about October 9th, we haven't been doing a lot. I know rest, and slowing down, is important, especially after a season of busy-ness. However, these past couple of weeks I have been feeling... flat... blah... grumpy... down. Generally, I've been struggling, and in a bad mood. And I don't like it.

I've mentioned before that November in Canada is rather dull -- we don't celebrate Thanksgiving this month, there aren't any breaks from school/work, it's getting colder and darker, and there's just not much to look forward to. (And I don't like getting ready for Christmas early so please don't suggest that -- it doesn't bring me joy.)

So I've decided to give my head a shake, realize I have a lot to be thankful for, and start documenting these things. After all, just because there's nothing big and monumental going on, doesn't mean that there aren't a lot of little things every day to be grateful for. So here are five things from this weekend that I'm thankful for.

1) Jr Youth Pumpkin Shenanigans

Dave and I are Jr Youth sponsors and on Friday night we had a fall event where we played with pumpkins. And fire! One of our Jr Youth sponsors is a young adult who is also studying to be an engineer and he likes blowing things up! Which is right up the alley of the Jr Youth :) So I had some more low key pumpkin experiments planned and then we put sparklers in a pumpkin, we exploded a pumpkin through a chemical reaction, and we just had a lot of fun and laughter!

2) Saturday afternoon with Rachel

 

Unfortunately, I had quite a bad headache on Saturday so it wasn't until about 1pm that I felt well enough to leave the house. However, Rachel and I walked uptown, found items for a DIY Hallowe'en costume, and got ice cream.

 

3) Rachel's Hallowe'en costume

 

Rachel and her friends went out trick-or-treating and decided to go as "party animals." Rachel was a bunny. We had to make bunny ears out of kids' mittens stuffed with leaves but she was pretty happy with her costume and had a lot of fun with her friends. And win for me: she didn't come home with a ton of candy. Yay!

 

4) Leaf raking

This week is when the city will come suck up all of our leaves, if we've raked them to the curb. So I spent about an hour yesterday raking our front lawn and then Dave helped me bag a few leaves in the back yard. I'll have to rake a few more times but the bulk of the work is done. Phew. I'm thankful it was a lovely afternoon for raking.

 

5) Pumpkin walk

 

A group in our town was hosting a pumpkin walk and I was curious to check it out. But none of my family was interested, so one of my good friends came with me. It was so cool! People drop off their carved pumpkins and then you can walk and look at them all. There were probably over 200 pumpkins and some were simply carved and others were more elaborate. Next year I'm absolutely making my family come with me!

Dave and Sam were up at camp for most of the weekend helping with the work weekend. They hauled a lot of wood from one end of the camp to the other and came home quite tired. But I think they had fun. I hope you all had good weekends too.

What's Up Wednesday: October 2026

I'm finishing writing this post as I watch the Brewers take on the Rays in Game 4 of the World Series. Even though my Jays aren't playing in it, I'm still soaking up all the baseball I can while it's still being played.

Answering these questions monthly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... We got lots of amazing fall veggies in the last weeks of our CSA so I made a couple of different kinds of squash soup, cabbage rolls, and we've discovered a really yummy stir fry with Napa leaf cabbage (aka Tokyo Bakana). It's been a delicious month of eating around here. Tonight Rachel is making supper and she likes to experiment with recipes she finds on Instagram so we'll see how that goes...

making cabbage rolls with Sam

 

Also, when I was in New York with Janice, I picked up a bag of cinnamon crunch bagels so Rachel and I devoured those this month. Yum!!! 

What I'm reminiscing about... Well, almost a year ago, our big renovation started. This time last year we were packing rooms up, making tons of trips to the thrift store and our storage unit, and getting ready for chaos. After all is said and done, I can say, it was so worth it!

last meal in our playroom, October 2025 

packing up the basement, October 2025; renovation begins, November 2025

   

What I'm loving... All the fall colours. They've been amazing this year and I've just been really trying to notice them this year.

our backyard tree at various points this month 

What we've been up to... October started out with a bang as I took a couple of days off work and Janice and I enjoyed a trip to New York City. We saw Hadestown, walked all over lower Manhattan, had an amazing tea time at a chocolate cafe, and discovered tiny art prints. It was so much fun!

 

After that, we had a quieter month, and I haven't actually taken all that many pictures. We had a very quiet Thanksgiving weekend but Dave and I did go on a hike in the woods.

Rachel and I participated in a readathon...

We read at Starbucks for a bit after walking to the library.

  

We celebrated our church's 40th anniversary this past weekend and Dave and Sam sang in the choir. And we've had a lot of time to relax and have naps after our very full start to the fall.

We also had time for S'mores on the deck.  

What I'm dreading... I need to read my inspirational book from last year, How to Winter by Kari Leibowitz, because I'm already dreading winter. As the days get darker and the temperature gets colder, I need to remember how winter can be really beautiful.

What I'm working on... I'm still working on sorting my office and hanging pictures. I'm just not very motivated to deal with things in my office so it's taking a long time. We've also been starting to do some winter yard clean up. This week I'll probably be raking leaves.

 

This has also been a week of self-care for me. I took advantage of the beautiful weather and walked home from church on Sunday, I had a massage earlier this week, I had a nap yesterday after work, and I'm going for another walk with a friend tonight. So I'm also working on taking care of myself.

What I'm excited about... Currently, I'm excited that the Brewers are likely going to win the World Series!!! I've definitely been cheering for them this post-season and they've been playing some amazing baseball.

I'm also excited about making Applesauce Jumbles, drinking Cranberry Tea, and watching holiday Hallmark movies. And, as you'll see below, under "what I'm wearing", I'm also excited about my matching set!

What I'm watching/reading... As I mentioned above, Rachel and I did a readathon a couple of weeks ago and I read This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page. I cried my way through it and I LOVED it. It's a love story but also about a love of books and bookstores and how reading can change your life. It was soooo good!!! This book is divided by months and each month, there is a list of suggested books for that month. I took pictures of each month's suggestions and I will definitely be reading some of those over the next year or so.

As I mentioned above, I've been watching World Series baseball. I've also been watching the tree in our back yard change colours. Our bedroom window looks out over the tree and it's given me a whole new view of it! Hahaha!!!

What I'm listening to... Sam is still teaching himself guitar so I've been hearing a lot of guitar playing coming from the basement. I love it! Also, I've been paying attention as I walk and enjoying hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot. Additionally, after seeing Hadestown in New York at the beginning of the month, I've been listening to that soundtrack over and over.

What I'm wearing... Rachel convinced me that watching Hallmark movies would be way better this fall if we had matching sets to wear. I've been wearing mine for the past two weeks straight and, honestly, I might have to get another one because I'm loving mine.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... I'm helping to host a Jr Youth event, I might be supervising a sleepover for Rachel and her friends, and Rachel and I will probably get ice cream so we can take advantage of the October flavours at our favourite ice cream shop. Dave and Sam are headed out of town (with the car) for the weekend so whatever Rachel and I do, we'll probably be walking a lot!

What I'm looking forward to next month...We're going to a concert which I'm really excited about! Other than that, November will be a lot of being cozy at home as it gets darker and colder outside. November will never be my favourite, but I've learned to embrace it (a bit.)

So that's what's up with us this last Wednesday in October. Thankfully things have slowed down a bit for us, even if does make for a less interesting blog post :)

Weekly Hodgepodge

It's been awhile since I've linked up with Joyce at From This Side Of the Pond for the Weekly Hodgepodge. I thought this would be a good week to do so. You can find Joyce here.

 

1. This week's Hodgepodge lands on 'Back To The Future Day'. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) traveled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2.

Did you see the movie? Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015.

I don't know that I ever saw Part 2 but I loved the first movie. Michael J Fox was my teen heart throb and it was a bonus that he was Canadian too! In fall of 2015, Rachel had just started Junior Kindergarten, Sam was starting French Immersion in Grade 1, and I had just started back to work full-time after four years of being a stay at home mom. To remember where I was at, I re-read a few of my Fall 2015 blog posts and Wow! The kids were soooo little!

Also, that June we had just taken the kids to their first Blue Jays game and that year the Jays made the playoffs for the first time since 1993 so it was a very exciting fall!

2. Which -ber month is your favorite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why.

I think October is my favourite. September still feels too much like summer and also, with school starting, there's just too much going on to really enjoy it. November is a little boring in Canada as we have no holidays that month. I've learned to embrace the quietness of November but it's still not my favourite. December is balancing too many things, usually -- Channukah, Christmas, dance performances, work chaos -- just too much going on.

October is perfect -- we celebrate Thanksgiving (in Canada), usually the leaves are changing but it's not too cold. The colours are amazing -- I realized the other day that it's almost like living in a perpetual golden hour -- the light is just incredible all the time.

This is the view from our living room and the view of our front yard. I took both these pictures yesterday. Isn't it just amazing?!?!?! 

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze...your favorite fall color to wear? To eat? To see in nature?

I love wearing red -- all the other colours look awful on me. This time of year, I love eating orange -- pumpkin cream cheese muffins, butternut squash soup -- it's all so yummy! I love seeing all the colours in nature! See the above pictures.

4. What do you miss most about being 20?

There's not much I miss about being twenty except that I was living in a university residence and I always had friends around. Now between work and kids' activities, I feel like I don't get to hang out with my friends in the same way. I also miss the energy I had when I was 20. It's 7pm and, after i'm done this blog post, I'm going to bed. I'm so tired right now. When I was 20, I would be working on homework, going for a late night pizza run, and then maybe watching a movie before bed.

5. We're roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What's one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate.

Soak it all in. 2027 is bringing some big changes for our family as Sam graduates Grade 12 so I don't want to rush through all of this. My biggest goal for the last weeks of the year is to finally finish all the post-renovation stuff -- hang pictures, unpack boxes -- I just don't want to think about this stuff anymore!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

 

Technology is not my friend right now. I wanted to post a picture of me and Rachel but my iCloud won't load my pictures. Grrrrrr. Plus, ever since I got back from New York, my phone has been three minutes ahead so all my alarms go off three minutes early. Nothing is horrible but it's just not smooth sailing, technologically, for me these days.

 

So those are my answers to this week's Hodgepodge. Now I'm off to snuggle in bed. The meme below is me and I'm looking forward to being cozy in my bed with my window open. Hahahaha!!! (I guess that's really just another random thought...)

image from here 

10 On The 10th: September 2026

I have a few blog posts I want to write so I'm going to work on them chronologically. Taking 10 pictures to document the 10th of the month is something I've been doing for quite a few years. I did take 10 pictures on September 10th, but I never published them. So here's my "10 on the 10th" for September. September 10th was a work day, and the third day of school around here, so my pictures are a little boring.

Every week day morning I get up at 5:30am. I stumble to the kitchen and put away some of the dishes from the previous day.

Then I make myself a cup of coffee-hot chocolate. I LOVE our single serve, non-KCup using coffee maker. It just needs water and whole beans.

Then I sit in our living room and try to wake up. After this morning, I made it a priority to hang lights around our sliding doors and now the ambience is much better in the mornings!

I also do the Wordle almost every morning. I haven't been doing very well with them lately. 

I honestly have no idea why I took this picture -- hahahaha!!! However, I often wish I could sit in my living room for a lot longer and enjoy quiet mornings. So maybe I was sad about having to leave this space and get ready for work...? I don't know :)

It was "walk to work" time. I love the path!

  

This is a glimpse of part of the school where I work. It was built over a number of years and this is a view of one of the older parts. The area where I work is much newer and less glamourous!

Just because summer is over doesn't mean that I'm not still growing grass. I was trying to fill in a few empty spots. I know this is not an exciting picture, but I'm still very excited about all my "baby grass" as I call it! Hahaha!!!

I had a lot of laundry to fold.

This is the reading nook we created in a corner of our bedroom. I had book club this night but forgot to take a picture during it.

So that was a fairly regular week day in my life in September -- work, trying to get some stuff done around the house, and book club. I promise you, when I get around to writing about October 10th, it will be a little more exciting! And I will remember it better :)

Currently: October 2026

Even though I'm late, I wanted to link up with Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. You can find Amy here. If you follow me on Instagram, you will see that last week at this time I was in New York City with my best friend, Janice. It was our first ever girls' trip and it was so fun!!! We're already planning another trip! So this "currently" is a little New York focused :) And that's also why it's late; we got back on Tuesday night and then I dove into three days of work.

[Falling for]

Oh my goodness -- do I ever love New York City! Being there with Janice made it extra special and we found so many fun things to do, as well as revisiting old favourites. I was definitely "falling for" New York again! And it's even better in the fall. Above is from our visit to Summit One Vanderbilt.

left: me in Battery Park; middle: us at the New York Bean; right: me on the High Line, one of my favourite New York City spots ever

[Scaring (me)]

Honestly, right now what is "scaring (me)" is how fast Sam's Grade 12 year is going. Time, slow down please. Our fall has been full speed thus far, and I really need things to slow down so I can savour every moment.

[Working on]

Besides organizing my home office, (yes, still), I'm "working on" trying to make blogging a priority. I want to write some New York posts, I have "10 on the 10th" posts to share, and I want to catch up with all my blogging friends. I'm looking forward to some slower weeks in the next little bit to catch my breath, be more present, and try to work on some of these things.

[Loving]

Back to New York, Janice discovered these mini print vending machines throughout the city. For one dollar, you got a random mini print. We had a lot of fun with these and I am "loving" all my NYC mini prints. I'm going to find a frame for them and hang them in my office as a reminder of a really fun trip! 

 

[Entertaining (me)]

I was super excited to experience a new musical on Broadway. A friend of mine has raved about "Hadestown" so we chose to see that one. I've been humming the songs all week. It was so good! It was definitely "entertaining (me)" and has continued to do so!

 

Also, Janice and I walked down to Battery Park so we could ride the Sea Glass Carousel. It was magical and weird and completely wonderful! So that was also "entertaining (me)." I can't wait to go back with my family, especially Rachel, and ride it again!

 

So that gives you a small taste of what's going on around here currently. I'm reminiscing about a wonderful few days in New York and trying to catch up things around home. We're off for Thanksgiving Day today so we've been enjoying a quieter weekend at home. I'm going to read some of the other posts in the "Currently" link up, make cabbage rolls with Sam, and try and do some more work in my office. After all, now I'm motivated because I want to display my tiny print collection!