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!

What's Up Wednesday: September 2026

I mentioned in my last What's Up Wednesday post that we always hit the ground running in September and was that ever true this month! Between work and school, things going on at church and the synagogue, and then some annual community events, we didn't do much else in September, including blogging! The rare moments I was at home I was sleeping or staring into space, gathering energy for the next needed thing. September was a month!

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... Right before school started, I helped my co-worker with a task, and to say thank you, she brought me some fresh garden tomatoes and a bar of chocolate. Inspired, I decided to pull out our electric s'mores maker and, right before school started, we had a night of making s'mores on the deck. We're looking for another quiet evening to make more because it was so much fun! And it's also the first time I can remember that I've really enjoyed s'mores; I even ate two! We were going to pull the maker out again this past weekend but we were all too tired by Sunday night.

 

As I write this post, Sam is cooking supper for tonight. He never tells us ahead of time what he's making so we only know it includes baked potatoes, pasta, sage leaves, and lemon. I love that some nights we're eating whatever the kids are making!

Update: Sam made gnocchi, from scratch, for supper and it was delicious!!! We're so spoiled!

What I'm reminiscing about... It's official. Baseball's post-season started last night and the Jays aren't playing in it. Boo. So I'm reminiscing about how incredibly amazing last October was! It was the best ride ever and we soaked up every minute of it!

 

First ALCS game; October 12 

 

The Jays made it to the World Series; October 20 

 

First World Series game; October 24; This was such a bucket list item for me!

 

I still don't really have the words to describe what last October meant to Canadians. I do recognize that this October, however, I will be getting a lot more sleep! There are good and bad things about your team playing October baseball :)

 

What I'm loving... I'm loving the little touches of fall throughout our house. I bought all of the decorations below at Dollarama because I'm cheap like that! Hahahaha!!!

I'm also loving that we finally got the lights hung around the sliding doors in the living room and I have such cozy lighting each and every morning when I'm drinking my coffee-hot chocolate. 

  

 

What we've been up to... Well, as I said above, September held a lot. Sam started Grade 12 and Rachel started Grade 10.

We celebrated the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rachel and I also biked 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) to church and back as part of a bike bus for Gathering Sunday (the first big Sunday of the fall after summer).

We attended Doors Open and climbed the Pioneer Memorial Tower...

...as well as interacted with a living sculpture in a town near us. This was such a cool thing to experience!

We really enjoyed LUMEN, the festival of light and technology in our uptown...

... and the next day we joined in on the Terry Fox Run (which we walked) to support a kid in our neighbourhood who is fighting brain cancer. His team colours are blue, red, and white so we were dressed in those colours.

This past weekend our street had a party and it was so fun! We helped set up ahead of time, Dave played music during it, the kids baked cookies for homemade ice cream sandwiches as a part of our contribution, and it was just a really great time!

And we enjoyed a meal in the sukkah at the synagogue.

On Sunday, the kids did our weekly grocery shopping (AAAHHH!!!) while Dave and I went to see a play in Stratford with Tim and Janice. 

Did I mention September was full of so many things?!?!?!? 

 

What I'm dreading... Getting stung by a wasp. The wasps are horrible around here right now. They even fly around my face while I'm hanging out laundry. I've never ever been stung by a bee or a wasp so I completely dread it happening.

What I'm working on... Organizing my office, finally! I thought I could get this done before I started back to work, and then I had a goal of getting it done in September. Clearly, I was not being realistic so my new goal is to get it done by the end of October. I started with hanging a bunch of artwork, mostly made by the kids. My goal for my office is bright and cheery and so far, so good!

What I'm excited about... Well, I'm excited the kids did our weekly grocery shopping this past weekend. I'm hoping they'll continue the trend as that's a huge chore off our plates. And I'm excited about every single meal they cook.

 

When we went to LUMEN, we discovered that our local clay and glass gallery has one piece by Dale Chihuly! As you may know, I love his glass work and I cannot believe there is a piece in our local gallery. (And now I just took too long a break from writing this post and spent way too much time trying to figure out how to get to Grand Rapids, Michigan or Venice, Italy to see his latest installations!)

What I'm watching/reading... I don't really know what I've been watching or reading this month. I re-read a few books about September 11th after the 25th anniversary passed a few weeks ago. I had just been to New York City in July 2001, visiting my friend who was working at an office at the UN. One of her housemates was a firefighter (he survived) and so the whole thing just hit really close to home for me. I was in my late 20s and so many of the victims were around the same age as me. Anyways, as I've read some of the books again, I'm learning new things (or possibly re-learning them) and it's just been an interesting, heavy, month of reading.

 

As for watching, I haven't had time to watch much of anything. Since I'm not near as invested in MLB playoffs this year, Rachel and I have plans to start watching some Hallmark movies in October. I don't know if we'll watch some of the fall ones or even start watching Christmas holiday ones really early this year.

 

What I'm listening to... Sam came home from camp and asked Dave to teach him to play guitar. So I've been listening to Sam learn the guitar. Dave also played at our street party this past weekend, and is playing at an upcoming coffeehouse at church, so I've heard a lot of guitar playing this month! 

 

What I'm wearing... I'm not wearing much exciting this month. Some days are warm enough I can wear capris, but some days I've had to pull out a sweater. It's a very in between kind of month.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... Janice and I are doing a girls trip this weekend and I can't wait!!! It's going to be so much fun!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... Time to slow down! I might participate in a readathon. We'll celebrate Thanksgiving. And I'm hoping to spend some cozy time under a blanket, watching some movies or reading some books. I need to have less happening in October and, thus far, it's looking a little calmer than September was. Phew.

 

So that's what's going on with us this last day of September. I'm very ready for "cozy season" and a little more time to relax. We shall see if I actually get it!