October- Month in review

October was not a particularly great month. There were plenty of good things and many reasons for continued gratitude which I hope my actions and attitudes display... but, in the nitty gritty day to day life challenges, October, was, well challenging. In early October, Abby celebrated her birthday. It was the first time that we didn't get to see one of the kids on his/ her birthday and it was hard. I know this will be the new normal as the kids leave the nest but being new, it's hard. We were happy that we got to see Abby a few days after her birthday for her teeny tiny fall break (one day off of classes!). In late September, Jacob went to visit a friend at his friend's college town and apparently a good time was had by all, except that Jacob came home with a little more than he left with, namely bronchitis. (He was tested for Covid but that test came back negative. He was diagnosed with bronchitis.) Jacob and Donnie almost didn't go to to UC- ND game in early October due to Jacob not feeling 100%. He and Donnie did go to the game and had a good and memorable time but Donnie caught Jacob's bronchitis and spent one weekend miserable and about an entire week not feeling well (but Donnie didn't miss a day of work). Next Alyssa came down with it... only to recover, only to relapse. She had to miss the regional cross country race on Saturday. It was the worst possible time to get sick but that's what happened. 

Super spreaders! (of bronchitis) at the UC/ND game (that ND fan, tho)

Jacob and AJ in 2007(ish?)- little superheros/ little stinkers and now here they are...still stinkers but not so little

Getting to see Abby close to her birthday was better than nothing

Next came expensive car trouble. We are very fortunate to have four cars. Four not new at all cars. Four foreign built cars. Everything is expensive to fix with these vehicles and in October we reached a new high car repair bill- $5k for the Boxster. Oh, and it needs new tires. And, I had a full tank of gas when I brought it in and it was returned to me with HALF a tank. Rick, the owner of the auto repair shop mentioned that the mechanics drove around in it to make sure that a noise we were hearing was no longer present but I think that using half a tank of gas to make sure a noise is no longer present is a little excessive.🤣

We were so happy to get her back. Is the car gendered? I do think of the car as a "her." In fact, when we were considering vanity plate options, I wanted the plate to be, "Madchen." Das Mädchen is the German word for "girl." We bought the car primarily for the girls to drive first- Abby and then Alyssa. The car is German made and one of our girls, Abby, looks very German. In fact, I've dubbed this picture of her, from when she was about eight years old, das Mädchen. I think she looks like a little German girl here.

Anyway, Madchen was not available as a license plate name (it was already taken). 

And the worst, do you want to know the worst thing about October? The very worst thing that could possibly happen to us, happened to us. I realized towards the end of the month that WE DO NOT GET THE HALLMARK CHANNEL SO WE CANNOT WATCH HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES. We don't have cable TV (haven't for years), rather we stream. We used to stream with Sling but we switched to YouTube TV at some point because it was cheaper and YouTube TV. We so rarely watch tv that we wanted the cheapest option, clearly not realizing the devastation that not having the Hallmark Channel would bring. I bought Hallmark Movies Now thinking that would solve our problem but no, it didn't or it only sort of did. Only a few Christmas movies are available with Hallmark Movies Now and none of the new ones. Alyssa and I watched a Christmas movie from 2014 when she was sick. It was so bad that it was good (the "hallmark" -if you will- of all Hallmark Christmas movies). I guess the only work around is to go back to Sling at least for the next couple of months.

Alyssa and I have watched a couple of Hallmark movies on our ersatz Hallmark channel… 

Donnie has been working almost non-stop. He has so many clients who want business deals completed by the end of the year. Some less than favorable tax hikes are considered very likely in 2022 so business owners and job creators are doing what they can now (and who can blame them??). Donnie worked at least a couple of hours every Saturday and Sunday in October in addition to all of the weekdays. And I (probably foolishly...) agreed to a long term sub job assignment in late October. So definitely more work than we are used to- it's a blessing, and for Donnie, all the work that he's been getting is a testament to what a good lawyer he is. He keeps getting referrals and existing clients want him to do more for them. 

With that preamble, here is how the categories shaped up:

Kid's activity- Cross country came and went. Alyssa had numerous meets in October. She was supposed to run on October 30 at the regional meet. However, two days prior, she came down with a fever. She had to miss school the Thursday and Friday before the meet which meant she couldn't compete on Saturday (she was not feeling well enough to anyway but she couldn't due to missing school on Friday). It was such a bummer- terrible timing but there was  nothing we could do about. Her cross country season is now over. She is not sure about doing indoor track over the winter but she may. She wants to take a break- cross country conditioning began in June so she has been running a lot. 

We enjoyed watching her when she was able to run in the month of October

Books read- I did a post here on the books that I read in September and October.

Recipes tried- only one new one- when Alyssa was home sick, she said that banana bread or muffins sounded good. I only had one extra ripe banana so I searched for a banana bread recipe that called for just one banana. The bread was ok- nothing spectacular and I would not use the recipe again.

Items purchased

I hadn’t bought anything for myself since the Nordstrom Anniversary sale

Alyssa and I were at our local running store where I found this sports bra on a good sale. It is not my size but the spandex-y like material renders an exact size match to not be necessary. 

Bought these mules in Oxford during parent's weekend and I love them. I feel like this picture does not do them justice. The color of my feet, in the photo, kind of blend in with the shoes. In reality, there is more of a contrast and the shoes just plain look better in person!

"The Office" is one of the few TV shows that we all really like so I bought this for us to try over Thanksgiving break. 

I bought this insulated tumbler for mobile tea drinking to replace the tumbler that I had been using from David's Tea. The David's Tea one was better quality but the lid broke so I had to place it all. I got this from the Daily Grace company and also purchased two devotionals and some Christmas presents from them. 

I feel like I have done a lot of complaining. I will end on a pretty note:

Pretty sunset near our house (I took the picture when Alyssa was driving us home from XC practice one evening)

Pretty tree (this is in our front yard)

Pretty Bee (one of Alyssa’s nicknames- took this picture when we were in the car to take Alyssa to a football game which was pink out themed).