planning snacks for a Monty Python and the Holy Grail party. Any suggestions? The simpler (yet still effective), the better! I had a great idea before I fell asleep and I can’t remember it…

making the last of my mermaid tea last as long as possible. I want more, but I can’t decide between that or a fall flavor…

rearranging the schedule with changes from my husband’s work schedule. They’re good, but they do mean I have to scramble.

making birthday cards for friends and planning birthday events for the season

playing mix-or-match the library book, since we need all three of our cards nearly full for our homeschooling! We may go back to the city card, which gives us more titles at once, but the cards we have do give us one week longer per item, which is very nice.

listening to old 90s songs with Wood Sprite

writing all the words (some of them twice)

using pumice to get red juice off my kitchen table. Groups of teens are just as messy as toddlers, if not messier!

lesson planning more carefully than I ever have before, particularly in terms of history. Luckily another mom has already addressed a lot of terribly racist sources in the curriculum I’m using and has found suitable substitutions, which helps tremendously! It’s pretty difficult to avoid racism in history, and I don’t want to avoid it altogether since we need to address it every single day, but I also don’t want racist values taught within it.

so grateful my dad got his kidney stone out! Indy took him to the ER a few nights ago and he’s been in the hospital since. We saw him last night and he looked much better but I know he’s ready to go home.

counting down the days until we can put the air conditioners away. Today is lovely and we haven’t had to use them, but they do block the windows on gorgeous days like today, too.

attempting to balance Wood Sprite’s various classes and homework with my own assignments and work, all within Indy’s schedule and all of the people asking for his repairman know-how. I feel like I barely saw him in September.

wishing we had a lemur. I’m sure it’s a terrible idea, but the one we pet at the Renaissance Fair stole my heart.

fighting a toothache, an infection and other fun issues

wondering how time passes so quickly lately. Every day feels like it’s half as long as it used to be, or maybe I just write that much more slowly these days.

loving Aldi’s low-carb bread (thanks, S!)

feeling overwhelmed by TV choices. Anyone else feeling this way? I haven’t watched a show since Stranger Things in July because we just don’t have the time, but even if we did there are so many to choose from that it’s unbelievable. I have a few that I “fell behind on” months ago which makes it feel like work you need to catch up on, too!

itching to try Indy’s new beard oil (on Indy)

loving the latest version of It (Part 2)! I’m surprised that I did. Indy and I haven’t seen a movie together since spring and we had free passes and some time to kill a long drive from home while Wood Sprite was at an activity, so that’s what we did. It was so much fun. I miss doing just-for-fun things…

feeling so proud of Noke, who’s been taking his meds like a champ. We’re doing our best to make sure every day is fabulous for him, which includes Wood Sprite taking him out for “strolls” outside. He always wants to go out but he’s only allowed while supervised in the yard.

also itching for Fortune Cookie Soap’s Circus of Dreams collection and Halloween box (which ships next week!). I’ll have a candle with a brain in it before Halloween! Can’t wait.

making the house smell like cinnamon ginger pumpkin

putting teeny tiny bits of Halloween up when I stretch my legs from writing for long stretches. I have a bunch of bat silhouettes on the back of a door that I love in particular

getting sort-of excited about October 1, which is our real decorating day. We just have so many things scattered throughout the day that popped up on the schedule we’re not sure how much we’ll fit in.

attempting to understand the human experience

wanting all of the pumpkins, everywhere. The mums, too, although I can’t have those around my pets.

also getting sort-of excited about October. I love all of our daily things but I have no idea how we’ll do them all. Maybe we’ll do about a quarter of it all…

alternating between being grateful and terrified, the latter of which is mostly associated with the small bits of news I pick up

trying to find a time to fit in this year’s 4-H training, which is a new requirement, even for long-time volunteers, that we’re just learning about. We also have 30 kids who want to shoot archery this year, and between their schedules and Indy’s being up in the air, I really have no idea how it’s going to work out!

What are you up to this week?