I literally had to blow the dust off the keyboard before I started this post, such is the attention that I have paid to this space over the last few months. My best excuse is writer's block, so we'll go with that.
Anyhoodle, on to the post! And thank you to Sheaffer and Shay for the writing prompts; without them, I would accomplish absolutely nothing.
What I've Been Eating
Aside from teaching Queen B how to make my chili recipe while she was home visiting this month, I haven't really been spending much time in the kitchen. I have, however, had some really good restaurant meals, including pasta carbonara at a restaurant in New Mexico, where we went for my nephew's wedding; sadly, I forgot to take a picture of it. I did manage to take a picture of the pesto bruschetta that I had when we celebrated Shanti's birthday at the beginning of the month, so I'm not a total slacker.
What I'm Loving
I loved having Queen B home for an entire week! We got to spend some quality time together on our road trip to the wedding in New Mexico, where we were joined by Shanti and the Man-Cub, Mom, and my Aunt and Uncle, who made the drive from Colorado's Front Range. Time with family is always my favorite. All that was missing was Hugh, who had to stay behind for work.
What I'm Reminiscing About
Nothing at the moment.
What I've Been Up To
Krisi and I grabbed a mutual friend and hit up a sourdough class last Friday. Kristi and our friend are brand new to sourdough, and while I am somewhat educated, I thought I could benefit from the workshop. I learned some new tricks and am now feeling more confident about trying another loaf.
What I'm Working On
I recently finished the application for our national charter reaccreditation and completed the documentation required for a site visit to monitor our largest federal grant. Each document took hours, and I am happy to have them off my plate.
What I'm Excited About
I have been waiting for Hugh to build a greenhouse for me since roughly 2020. We finally have some movement on that front! I spent hours online researching the greenhouse that I wanted, and we finally picked it up in early September. It then sat on our trailer until the middle of this month, when we finally had our old dog kennels removed, making way for it in the backyard. Queen B helped Hugh dismantle the kennels, and then the Man-Cub arrived to help us load the parts onto a trailer for Chris and Jana to take to their house. Chris and Jana then helped us transfer the boxes the greenhouse is in to the concrete pad where the kennel used to stand, and where the greenhouse will now live. Are we finished? by no means. Am I worried that the boxes will rot away in the winter snow that is statistically due to arrive any day now? Yes, yes, I am. But! I am closer than I was two months ago, so I choose optimism.
What I'm Dreading
I am entering into budgeting season at Not So New Job, which I hate on a good year; throw in federal funding cuts and a lot of uncertainty among donors, and it's especially nerve-wracking.
What I'm Reading
This month, I moved from cowboy smut to hockey smut (not mad about it) and am currently on book 3 of Chelsea Curto's DC Stars series. They are quick, fun reads with a nice heat and happy endings. Greatly entertaining.
What I'm Watching
I'm still sort of on a break from the television, and I haven't been to a movie in ages. I'm not even using the TV for background noise; I prefer the sound of our air purifier or the fan in our bedroom. I think this is benefiting my mental health. I do, however, scroll mindlessly through TikTok videos, my feed primarily consisting of ginger kitties being holy terrors, sourdough baking content, embroidery tips, and the occasional ghost sheet video, of course.
What I'm Listening To
I have expanded my smut intake from books to audiobooks. I especially enjoy books narrated by both a male and a female. I do have to pay attention to where I listen; I can't have people at work or in the gym figuring out that I have become a basic bitch who enjoys BookTok-level shenanigans. I'm a professional, after all.
What I'm Wearing
I wore a sheet and sunglasses for a series of pictures my staff is doing for our annual Halloween social media post. It's not a fashion statement or anything, but the video we're releasing is hysterical.
What I'm Doing This Weekend
On Friday, we will celebrate Halloween by handing out candy to any trick-or-treaters who come knocking, although, with it falling on a Friday, and with the Petticoat Junction town council throwing a bash downtown, I don't know how many kids to expect. Hopefully a few, at least.
Saturday, I will be taking down all of my Halloween decorations (which several people have called me out for not doing as good a job of posting pictures on my social media accounts this year as I did in past years). I will then decorate for Thanksgiving, because we are hosting far-flung relatives this year, and it would be a shame to skip my turkeys, pilgrims, cornucopias, etc.
I love decorating for the holidays, so it will be a good weekend.
What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month
I am looking forward to having Thanksgiving at our house. As I said above, we have relatives coming who we don't traditionally see for the holiday, so I want to pull out all the stops. I got a smoking good deal on a 24-pound turkey and am already thinking about the menu for sides. Thanksgiving is the Olympics of food over here, and I am determined to medal.
