November 9: Back to a Regular November!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed listening to this audio book, and I can't imagine how it is as a print book, because various people come in and read parts of it (Amy's parents are wonderful!) and she bursts out laughing or uses funny accents in other parts. It's thought-provoking and interesting, but a little weird for me because though I know of Amy's work with Parks and Rec and a little of it with SNL, I don't know it well, and I mostly picked up this book because of her website "Amy Poehler's Smart Girls" on Facebook. It is funny in places, serious in others, and interesting overall, bringing me into a life I neither knew much about nor wanted to live.

So, I highly enjoyed it, but I'm not really sure what its overall effect was. I WILL say that I didn't like having the last chapter read aloud to an audience, because the laugh track/audience was wayyyyyy too intrusive and annoying: a few people laughed at everything: she cleared her throat (gales of laughter). . etc. But, overall, interesting.

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Well, it's been a funny week after three days off. The weather has bounced all over the place, but we got a nice day yesterday: cold, clear, and sunny, so Andy, Zeus and I set off for a New Place: Fort Point State Park in Stockton Springs, an easy half hour's drive away. We spent the morning working out (good run for me, good swim for A; couch surfing and barking at squirrels for Zeus) and putting the yard to bed: A mowed up all the leaves and I planted about 60 bulbs (of course I had no idea I had that many, but they got shoved into the ground, sprinkled with bone meal, and covered up. Good enough, dude!). After showers and wraps from 86 This, we headed out, and had a lovely time once we found the poorly marked fort and a whole side of Stockton Springs that we had no idea even existed before. There's an old wrecked fort (Fort Pownall), a lighthouse, a major league dock and a nice beach where one could drag up a kayak easily (swimming is discouraged due to strong cross currents). . . . It's a real sleeper as a spot to visit, and we had a really nice time!

Upon our return we made an amazing lasagna with homemade noodles and sauce (one's in the freezer for later. . .yay!). Now I am planning/scheming how to make an easy fun skirt with stashed material in place of this $88 numbah from Boden. . . and swimming and church and. . . . of course! 

November 5: Three Snow Days In a Row: A New Record!

Well, the rain last Saturday turned into high wind and thick, heavy, wet snow all day Sunday and into Monday night. The pic below is midday Sunday--we ended up with about 8", total, but it was truly heart attack snow, accompanied by a super-strong wind. We lost the top of the old oak out front--luckily only onto our hedges, but many people weren't so lucky. While we lost power for only about 5 hours, I've heard some people may be out till this Saturday. Yikes.

To my surprise, we didn't have school on Monday due to power outages. No one in the area did--there were something like 45,000 households without. Tuesday, I got up, went for  my run, and ran into Julie K, who told me that MDIHS *still* didn't have power, so we had no school--so I had a second day, and then today, ditto--tho the power was back on by 10 am, so we will go back to school on Thursday. Yay!

No idea how we'll make up those days: rumors are swirling, but no real facts yet. This has been an interesting stretch, and I have to say I've made the most of it. Each night I thought we'd have school the next day, so I prepped and corrected as needed, which means that I really don't have a lot of work to do now! Nice. During my snow days I
*ate b'fast out with Andrea and Ian on Mon., and with Ian on Tuesday;
*knitted and drank tea with Dawn today while she tried to get her tires changed (to no avail);
*made Joe Froggers and iced them!
*knitted a pattern repeat and a half on Emma's stocking while watching "Death Comes to Pemberley";
*voted (to almost no avail, but some. . . );
*switched out my clothes so the bedroom is neater and I can find what I want;
*organized the spice cupboard (YAY ME!);
*removed all the screens and stored them down cellar;
*composted all the jack-o-lanterns and cleaned off the porch;
*almost finished my pj pants (may finish those up tonight; we'll see);
*wrote a college rec (the last one for this year);
*worked out just like a regular week, which made my days really nice;
*walked Z a lot;
organized a consolidation loan so we can pay off our credit cards all at once and save on interest!

PRETTY DARN GOOD. I'm proud of myself, and I had a great time. I do wish I was in more of a napping place, but ah well. Now: a grueling 2 day work week, and next week is Veterans' Day. I am truly quite refreshed, though certainly bemused. Cheers!

ETA: I finished my pj pants! Yay!

November 1: Yay!

November is one of my favorite months: again and again, it seems to usher in a calmer, more settled time marked by a deep gratitude for our warm, cozy house, people we love, and a way to get out of the often-raw weather. At the same time, the leaves are dropping or gone, and the light is amazing. This year seems to be no exception: Tuva left for her new host family today, Andy and I did a lot of cleaning and organizing after a dishwasher leak of major proportions on Thursday night, and we are bracing for a potential snow storm of 6 - 12"! I managed to fit in a good workout with Kiley, a lot of laundry and tidying, a few more steps on my pj pants, the top of the second stocking for Emma, and a LOVELY loaf of sourdough, baked in the terracotta:

. 

We just looked outside and there are big, fat, wet snowflakes mixed into the rain. . . YIKES!

What a nice start to this month. Yay! 

Also: 

Julie sent me books from "her" booksale, and I got a LOT of red tea through Amazon: I ordered twice what I thought I ordered, but that's okay with me!

Off to listen to the rain in our empty-nesting house!