Halloween 2020

Granddaughters

Baby R

Baby C

So fresh

Welcome Baby C!!!

She was born at 8:10 this morning. She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces, and is 19 inches long. Her parents report she's a sweet, calm girl and looks just like her older sister.

Speaking of Baby R:

It's a wonderful day. 

Tree Shopping & Pumpkin Carving

It was another emotionally cruddy day at work. I ended up nicknaming one coworker "Boggs" and her cohorts "The Sisters," if that gives you any idea. I was left looking like this:

(yeah, I don't know, maybe I should quit)

Hubby and I made it to Shorty's before they closed. We saw many delights there that would qualify for future purchase. He's dying for a Japanese maple for the front yard. We also saw this beauty:

Tis the season to cut gourds open while Halloween movies play in the background. 

Work Was So Exhausting Today.

I'm glad I get to go home.

Yvonne told me today that she liked all the blue, but "What's going to happen when I start dyeing my hair purple? I'll have to buy all purple stuff." Oh, Yvonne.

Hubby sold some shoes to a guy on Facebook Marketplace and after he picked me up, we drove up to Salmon Creek. The exchange was made and we celebrated with a shake and an ice cream sandwich at Burgerville (he had the shake, I had the ice cream sandwich). Once home, we drove over to Shorty's to look at trees but apparently they close at 5 on Mondays. Very sad. Could this day get any worse?????*

Now I'm chilling at home, trying to figure out what to eat. 

*something I've learned to never ask. The answer is always YES

Cozy Sunday

Stayed in bed quite late into the morning. Hubby and I finally got up and made breakfast and ate around 11 am.

Chad spent some time on my face.

Baby R playing

Later, we had our Sunday family dinner - Domino's pizza this time. As we sat around the living room eating together, all ten of us, we were reminded of our old chaotic Family Home Evening days. In that spirit I suggested we all give a Sunday Report (when we did Monday Reports, the kids had to study a topic and write down five facts to share with us). C went into his years-old imaginary experience as a passenger on the Titanic, which was taking quite a long time. H: "You have a 5 minute limit to tell us fake facts about the Titanic."

So much laughter and fun. We played a few games and danced to a couple of songs before we separated for the evening.

E texted us with his DNA test results. It was fun to compare his with mine. M is eager to get hers done too.

It Was A Saturday

Some good things happened today. I went to breakfast with Sandy and we scheduled our next meet up for two weeks out. The weather is making us both want to indulge more often. I wore my new-to-me Doc Martens, the new Eddie Bauer gray sweater, and my white jeans. LOVE. 

Hubby and I bought two new pillows for our bed and switched out our spring/summer bedroom and bathroom linens for the fall/winter stuff. I hand-washed a dust ruffle and Grandma Keen's antique piano scarf in the tub, and did a few loads of laundry. I sorted through some clothes in my dresser. 

I played with Baby R, a lot. 

I dealt with some heartbreaking family drama. It's nothing I can discuss outside of my immediate family. It's major and life-altering and ongoing and it sucks. There's no silver lining. 

People are going through tremendously heavy and horrible things right now. I think it's good to remember that.

Work, Shopping, Dinner

Work: Fine; I drank a cafe mocha before work and dressed warmly, and the sewing was interesting. I listened to a lot of Phil Hendrie 

Shopping: We took off for the outlet stores in Troutdale shortly after 5 pm and shopped at Eddie Bauer (bought a white long sleeve tee to layer under stuff and a dark gray/green cowl neck sweater) and Rocky Mountain Fudge Factory (we're not fans); visited the Columbia and Vans stores. Back in the Couve, we went to ULTA and found purple hair color in conditioner form; can't wait to use it this weekend

Dinner: Spaghetti Factory. We spent some time with H and met his good friend Kelly, who served us

And now I'm in bed.

Just Thinking Out Loud Here

I know I've already griped about this, but I'm tired of being cold at work. I'm thinking back to last autumn and winter, and thinking "Nope."

So maybe it's time to start looking around.

The silver lining is that my black Birkenstock clogs are roomy enough to accommodate fleece-lined tights AND these nifty huge comfy socks I bought at Goodwill yesterday:

Still, I'm bugged that I'm this cold. It's not even winter yet.

Later: Hubby texted and said, "We're going to the pumpkin patch!" Yay! He picked me up from work and we went to meet the kids at Sauvie Island. 

So fun! 

Was Blind But Now I See

I had a fun and interesting morning at the eye doctor's office today. I am now wearing contacts, the 30-day disposable kind. Before today I had no idea of this, but apparently my left eye is my distance eye and my right eye is my close-up eye. It'll be fun to see how this affects work tomorrow, such as when I'm threading needles or trying to match stripes on striped binding. 

I will also be cutting my hair because that was the first thing I noticed, how out-of-control my hair looks right now. It hit me just how blind I've been, doing my hair and putting on makeup without glasses on. It's so funny how life-changing this is, and yet not.

After the appointment, I came home and played with Baby R and watched Law & Order SVU with Maya. I took the baby and ran a quick errand to Starbucks and then to the ATM. I dropped her off at home, then went to the post office and Goodwill. I'm looking for big sloppy warm shirts and sweaters to wear over my clothes for work, since our workplace is unheated. I have no idea how this will go, but last year in our old space, with a non-working furnace, it was stinking cold and layers were our life savers. Yvonne says that everyone in production also put heating pads on their chairs. Last winter I was in shipping, and ran around all day with cold hands and feet - I can't imagine having to sit and sew and just freeze the whole time. Not my thing. I scored some nice things at Goodwill, all blue. I can't seem to get away from that color.

Speaking of blue: I cut layers in my hair (thanks YouTube):

Put together a new bullet journal with new stickers:

I made R lunch and we watched a couple of episodes of Yar together. She suddenly had a hankering for carrot cake, so we drove to Safeway and bought treats for her, Bella and me.

After picking Hubby up from work, we went to REI and he bought some Danner hiking shoes for his birthday. Yay!

Home again:

Lunchtime Sunshine

The old Birkies need a polish. No judging.

I'm fasting from social media again, except Reddit, which I find uplifting, inspiring, and motivating, and bonus: anonymous commenting. It's more "media" than "social".

Last night I had a strange, unpleasant dream and woke up from it with the words "calm" and "slow" in my head. Like, I need to slow my life down. So much is happening right now, to me, my family, and our country (covid-19 and the Biden vs Trump presidential election). It's a challenge to be positive or hopeful right now and I'm trying to think of anything possible to get and/or stay happy. It's another reason for my fast. 

Also, I'm going to turn off my phone when I get home from work, try to take Baby R on a walk every day, and focus on my people and home and projects as much as possible. 

So if you are reading this, you know the plan. I'll see you when I see you. Keep in touch. ❤

Evening update: I was joined in the bathtub by this fellow.

Yes, his tail is in the water. I've never seen two cats more unafraid of water. It's so funny. 

Today was my payday, so Hubby and I bought ourselves some Costa Vida for dinner, since everyone else was out or feeding themselves. After dinner we spent some time with Baby R in the front yard, Hubby mowing and both of us pruning. We watched some Rick Steves, and now here I am, with my hair turning the water blue.  

I just heard from Carla that our new piano will be delivered on November 2. Color me thrilled. 

Goodbye, Old Friend

This morning we took the old piano over to E's house. I wore my sushi socks for this important occasion.

E and I in the truck:

C caught a nap while waiting for us:

Later: Sunday dinner was breakfast burritos. We were happy to have H come home and eat with us.