What's Up Wednesday: October 2020

Welcome to What's Up Wednesday for October 2020. I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me To to talk about what we've been up to lately. I love writing these post, I love reading all of your posts, and I love re-reading my posts to see what we've been up to in previous months/years.

image from here

What we're eating this week...We're eating the last of our CSA veggies and it's all the fall root vegetables -- celeriac, butternut and acorn squash, and pumpkin. I love that our CSA introduces us to veggies we might not have acquired otherwise, like celeriac.

What I'm reminiscing about... Well, Hallowe'en isn't completely cancelled in our province, but our family isn't comfortable going out trick or treating this year. And costumes aren't allowed at school so our kids won't be dressing up. So I'm reminiscing about some of my favourite costumes that the kids have worn.

Harry Potter * Hermione Granger

a moose * Kevin Pillar (former Blue Jays centrefielder)

 

I've already promised the kids that we'll go all out for costumes next year.

What I'm loving... Oh my goodness. Our fall colours are incredible this year. This fall has been hard in a lot of ways but the colours are giving me so much joy.

 

What we've been up to... School, work, baseball, dance, and getting Covid tests. Sadly, Rachel, Dave, and I all got hit with our "regular" fall colds and much of our October was defined by into the 2020 mantra of "if you're sick, stay home." Unfortunately, in 2020, if you have what is likely "just a cold," you need a negative Covid test before you can resume life. I understand that, but we had three weekends of self-isolating while waiting on Covid test results. Thankfully, they all came back negative, but that definitely defined our month. Well, Covid tests and baseball defined our month. At least one of them was fun.

Sam playing in his last game of the Fall league.

What I'm dreading... I'm dreading November. I don't like November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving in October so we don't have that to look forward to. I don't like when it gets dark so early. And baseball is over -- both Sam's local league and Major League Baseball. I really need to find something to make November exciting. Please let me know if you have any ideas because I need something to get me out of the November funk.

What I'm working on... When I was home for a week waiting on Covid test results, I started working on our Disney Cruise photo book. I really need to finish it and make our 2021 calendars. And I want to schedule our family pictures and order our holiday cards. I just realized I have a lot I should be working on right now :)

What I'm excited about... I've written before about my blog friends' Happy Hour which Emily, Allena, and I started in April. Well, now we've invited another blog friend (Erika) and we've started a book club!!! We had our first meeting last week and it was AMAZING!!! We have another "gathering" scheduled in November and I can't wait!!! I put "gathering" in quotation marks because we live in four separate provinces/states so our gatherings are virtual.

Allena created a graphic for us (which I LOVE) and wrote a great blog post about it. You can read her post here.

What I'm watching/reading... I've been watching a lot of TV lately. It's been an oddity of our fall. Currently, I'm watching World Series baseball as I write this post. I want the Dodgers to win but I want the series to be close. So far, so good. (I'm writing most of this post on Sunday night as I watch Game 5). We've also been watching Hallmark Movies. Sadly, we can't access the Hallmark Channel in Canada but one of our networks, The W Network, plays Hallmark Movies on the weekends. I need something sweet, predictable, and fun and Hallmark Movies have been delivering!

Sadly, I haven't been reading much of anything. Welcome to the weirdness that is 2020 -- I've basically stopped reading and started watching TV. Who am I?!?!?! I just can't seem to concentrate much on reading these days :(

 

What I'm listening to... Normally, our Lego lives in the basement but this past weekend, Sam and Rachel brought it up to the playroom and it has taken over. So I've been hearing a lot of Lego playing going on.

 

What I'm wearing... I wanted to buy a new work cardigan, and I needed another pair of jeans, so one night I went shopping. And I ended up buying a completely unnecessary blue sweater/jacket. It's so soft and, if I'm not at work, I've been wearing it non-stop. It really is the perfect piece of clothing for 2020 -- it feels like wearing a hug.

What I'm doing this weekend... We're trying to figure out a different kind of Hallowe'en celebration. I think we'll finish our cemetery tour from the spring (you can read more about it here). If kids dress up, there are some local stores which are doing socially distant trick or treating on Saturday afternoon (which feels safer to me than going door to door), so we might do that. We're planning on an orange dinner (grilled cheese and Cheetos) and then watching a good Hallowe'en movie. We might watch "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" It's going to be a different Hallowe'en but hopefully it will still be fun. And yes, we bought a box of candy to eat in lieu of trick or treating!)

What I'm looking forward to next month... Well, I talked about November above. I'm not looking forward to much of anything in November. I need to have a better attitude about November but Canadians also need more exciting things happening in November :)

What else is new... I really can't think of anything.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. I'm looking forward to reading all of yours over the next week(s)!