October Pointless Lists

Technically I'm finishing this up November 1, but the beauty of scheduling posts is that you can go back in time!  How's that for Halloween magic?

Halloween dawned dark and darker.  Johanna was pretty sure it was NOT morning (I was questioning the clock myself), but we managed to get everyone to school.  I helped out in Johanna's room most of the morning, working the cookie decorating station.  Pretty awesome station to get to run, all things considered.  The kids were a little too worried about making a mess, and when they'd drop frosting or whatever, I practically had to talk them down from the ledge.  You're frosting cookies!  Messes are bound to happen.

"Look, I'm 40 and I have frosting on my pants, so don't worry about it," I said at one point.  This got me a lot of open months, plus a "You're older than my dad!" in hushed reverence.  Because I'm THAT OLD.

It bothered most of them that I wasn't dressed up.  I told them I was--I was being myself from last year.  (I'm used to blank stares, so whatever.)  I forgot I was wearing Halloween socks (because I'm THAT OLD).  That might have saved me a lot of explaining.

P.S. If you think three hours of frosting cookies with second graders is enough, then you'd be correct.

P.P.S. Johanna's ninja costume looked more like a cat burglar.  "Everyone kept asking what I was," she thoughtfully explained today.  I told her she was so stealth as a ninja, that's why.  Honestly, I don't think she cared either way.  Abby borrowed a cape from the drama department and rocked it as a vampire.  Seriously.  She even won a prize that she had to collect at lunchtime.

Abby quote of the day: "I'll be the only eighth grader dressed up, probably, but who cares? I'm going to wear this cape like a boss."

Pointless list time!

Movies watched:
Um, right.  We're seriously thinking of getting rid of our Netflix account.  There's nothing "On Demand" unless you're seven and like the Disney channel.  Why not just hit RedBox?

Books read:
Simplicity: Essays by Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus.  I follow their blog about minimalism, which is how I learned about the book.  For $5 I figured it would be worth it, even if you can find all but two of the essays on their blog already for free.  (I just found them maybe two months ago, so it's not like I've managed to read everything already anyway.)  I enjoyed the book--they have a very clear, straightforward way of writing and they have great ideas and questions to get you started on a simpler path.  A lot of the ideas and questions tend to repeat themselves... and I'm not really sure what to say about that, except I get it already, but maybe repetition is a good way to get things rattling around in your skull, so who am I to judge?  Recommend--even if all you want to do is hop on over to the website and check out what they have to say there.  They've really helped me on my path to minimalism, and I am grateful.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt.  This book is so weird and awesome.  I've been wanting to read it forever, and this month Amazon had it as part of their 100 Books Under $3.99 promotion, so I grabbed the thing for $2.99.  SCORE.  Because it would have been worth it at regular price.  The story is told by Eli Sister, who is a very serious, thoughtful kind of murderer in the 1850s.  The prose reminded me a little of how Jane Austen would have written a western.  It's a comedy because of the writing, not because of the situations.  Completely entertaining.  Highly recommend.

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy.  This is the first book I've ever checked out from the library for my Kindle.  I chose it because the wait list was short (it only took a week to get the email saying I could borrow it now) and because there was a time in the late '90s when I read nothing but Maeve Binchy.  Even though all her books are pretty much the same story, they're enjoyable.  So I was not disappointed here--it's a good story, plus in her later books she liked to include characters from other books, so there were all sorts of people in this thing I already knew.  Ah, books.  It's a safe bet.

Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  So last October I found these books and thought it was a series of three.  No so much.  This is the last installment, and while it wasn't my favorite, it was decent enough.  I knew how it was going to end without even skipping ahead, but I wondered how the writers would get there.  And now I know.  Yay knowing!

...And another book that I got for free that I will not even tell you the title of because it was stupid and I'm embarrassed I read it/skimmed through wondering if it was really that stupid (yep, it was).  Sometimes just because you can self publish doesn't mean you should, people.

What I'm reading now:
I finally started in on the third Game of Thrones book, "A Storm of Swords."  It will probably take me another two months, but it's dark and dreary and Winter Is Coming, so I was sort of in the mood for the commitment.

Garden update:
The end!  It's funny how you go from chomping at the bit to being completely over it in four short months.  I haven't even been to the farmers' market because it's just too much pressure.

Things I did not think I needed to tell Johanna, but totally should have:
We do not eat tomato soup with our fingers.

Things I learned:
To make sure Jo has a spoon when I serve her tomato soup, just to be on the safe side.

How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

I find myself at a loose end this morning.

It doesn't help anything that the day is dark and foggy.  Not that I necessarily mind--we were so bright and so hot for so long, the change is kind of nice--but not being able to see past the driveway makes me feel slightly claustrophobic.

Okay, I guess I can see a little farther than the driveway.  Whatevs.

Anyway, I had plans but they fell through, so instead of getting ready to meet a friend for lunch, I'm roasting five (small) pumpkins in the oven.  I just cleaned them off and tossed them in there, because really, what's the worst that can happen?  But now I'm wondering if maybe I should have taken off the stems because, um, smoky.  And really burny.

(Skilly just came inside and he's looking at me like maybe he's wondering if I'm noticing the smell.  Is that bad?)

So can I just say that I've got a little bit of a love/hate relationship going on right now with eBay?  I'm attempting to get my shopping done early so all I have to do in December is sit around eating cookies.  I know, right?  Genius.  I'm all for shopping locally, but I'm wanting to get Johanna some special Lego pieces to round out her collection, and you can't just go in and buy, say, a dozen flowers or 15 fence pieces or three horses at our local toy store, let alone Walmart.  So I've been bidding.  And losing.  And swearing.  And then finding a similar product with a "Buy Now" tag.  Except!  I finally DID win, even though I was on pins and needles the whole last minute (I got outbid with eight seconds left on some Lego trees yesterday.  SUCKED).

I forgot where I was going with this.  Oh, yes: Eric thinks that for the money I'm shelling out we could have just purchased an actual Lego set.  He's totally right.  Um, except I'm still going on with my plan, so...

Although I did promise not to bid on anything else.  Um, Lego-wise, I mean.  There's a karate outfit that would totally fit Johanna's American Girl doll that I'm still debating on.

As for Abby, we'll utilize someone locally to fix her iPod Touch screen, and then probably throw money at her for books and music.  Easy peasy.

P.S. The minimalism project has been on the back burner while I chase blatant consumerism online.  I really need to get back on that train.  I am so in love with my minimal kitchen and bathroom and bedroom I can't even tell you how much.  I've been telling myself I'm too busy... but I think it's just that I'm too lazy.  Ah, damn.  Assuming my house doesn't burn down from my smoky pumpkin stems, I'm off the computer now and into the hall closet...

P.P.S. The house did NOT burn down, and now that the smoke has cleared (cough), it smells rather delightful in here.  Crisis averted!

Midnight Oil, Beds Are Burning.  Fun fact: This is my public's favorite song from the '80s.

Found

I have a little tableau of found objects on my (crappy) adding machine at work.  It all started when Cranky Steve found the dinosaur in the parking lot, and then Jody brought me the "diamond," and then suddenly I had an alien and a penguin too, except I have no idea where they came from.

Well, anyway.  No story, really.  Just, here they are, and they make me happy, and every day there's a bit of excitement because who knows when someone else will secretly add to the collection?