October! I love October!

 Oh, my dears, we are right in the middle of the 'ber months, and like all basic bitches, I am thrilled.

October goals:

Read my Book the Month back ups (all of these, plus the new John Green that's on it's way)

Start a Girl Scout Troop. Minnie really wants to be a Girl Scout. We went to an intro meeting at the library where I thought I would be matched with an existing troop, but there aren't any open spots! The event was aimed at connecting people from the same grades and schools together to start troops, but we were the only people fromMinnie's school. Soooooo, I guess I'm starting a troop. YOU GUYS. HOW DOES THIS STUFF ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?

Carry on our tradition of going out for a drink when Ben gets home for the week. I love this so far.

Visit UWEC for parents' weekend

Pick apples

Visit the pumpkin patch 

Make my holiday gift wish list

Buy at least 2 gifts each for Harry, Jack, and Cooper

Clean out the big storage room in the basement

Set up Jack's room for Harry and Jack (Move beds from Coop's room. Move a bed from our room to Coop's room. Sell existing beds in the room on Marketplace. Buy a new mattress so the beds from Cop's room will match in height. Clean out bookshelves so each kid has one. Get a matching IKEA dresser? Empty closet)

Decorate for fall, I do not really want to do this because I am feeling overwhelmed by clutter, but Minnie is ALL IN.

September: What I Read

 SO MANY BOOKS this month you guys! Mostly audio. And! This is the first month of the whole year that I have only read 3 books on my Kindle, instead of the book-a-week rhythm I was going for. I actually had a disturbing feats and famine book cycle this month instead of reading a little bit every day, so I am going to try to get better at habitual reading next month.

Here are my reads, from worst to best:

Baddies in a bad way (7)

📚🎉Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb: Snooze. I read this light romance for the Pop Sugar challenge, and I did. not like it very much.

📚🎉Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd. Meh. This should have been better, based on the plot about commercial time travel. This author is actually a husband/wife team, and I have liked their other books.

📚🎉Love You More by Emily Giifn: It's not just her politics that suck.

📚🎉Awake, Awake by Fiona Mozely: This was really bussy, but it just... didn't do it for me.

🎧Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead: Anne told me the main character is really unlikable, but I went for it anyway.

📱🎉Start at the End by Emma Grey: NOPE. I usually really do like this author, but this (time travel! or at least multiple timeline) romance did not totally work for me.

📱🎉Forget me Not by Stacy Willingham: SNOOZEFEST.

Super solid back list titles you can probably get without a wait (3)

🎧The Float Test by Lynn Steger Strong: I saw this author blurb something else and remembered how much I liker her. This is a book about a fractured family and adult sibling drama, and it's excellent.

🎧Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven: I loved her previous book about a Unitarian church searcxhing for a new minister, and this one was also great. Set in suburban inland CA, a family drama that had great characters and an excellent plot.

🎧Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead: another CA book-- this one is about ballet dancers, and I looooooved it.

Not bad new books by old faves (2)

📚🎉The Witches of Caimbridge by Alice Hoffman: Spooky fall and dark academia. Liked it!

📱🎉Big Little Truths by Lianne Moriarty: Fun to revisit these characters and see how the show's popularity impacted her writing.

Best books of the MONTH (3)

🎧🎉Someone Else's Husband by Kimberly McCreight: COULD NOT PUT THIS DOWN.

🎧🎉Hollow Bones by Jodi Picoult: TRASH but GOOOOOD TRASH!

🎧🎉Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox: YES-- a beauty pageant murder book? SIGN ME UP.

BEST BOOKS OF THE YEEEEEAR (2)

🎧🎉The Thoroughbreds by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham: This is the sequel to last year's The Academy, and it is fab. I think it's maybe going to be a TV show! I wish it were going to be another book, but, alas. SO FUN THOUGH YOU GUYS ad one of my favorite things I've read this year. Meeting these characters again was like reconnecting with old friends, and it is so fantastically escapist. 

🎧🎉The Understory by Chloe Benjamin: OH WOW. This is a total masterpiece. I read some reviews that said you really have to suspend your disbelief, and I think this is absolutely true-- some things just do not make sense or hold up to rigorous scrutiny, but WOW OH WOW. I think you should read this right away.

The stats:

Snippets

Some moments from a busy season: 

My oatmeal exploded in the microwave at work when I ran upstairs between classes I was observing to eat breakfast, and I almost cried. Instead, I pivoted and ate my nectarine and plum with 2 of the granola bars I stock for my TAs. Calorically similar but not as filling.

Now Dorothy and Cooper are selling things on Depop as well as buying, and I am constantly going to the post office. I wish they could drive. I also wish they'd think about donating their cast-offs instead. But! I do like the idea of a fast fashion exchange. Is anything from Brandy Melville ever worth more than like $6 anyway?

Minnie is a joy to watch in the water at swim team practice. Is she the fastest swimmer? Absolutely not? Is she the most technically proficient swimmer? No not at all. Is she working her little tail off learning strokes and applying corrections from her coaches? YES SHE IS, and it is a delight to observe. She is such a good listener, and she is so determined to improve. I was like Minnie, I am so proud of you for working so hard and being so cheerful when your coaches tell you to fix something, and she looked at me like I was crazy and said MOM THAT'S WHEN THE LEARNING HAPPENS, AND I LOVE TO LEARN.

On a Friday afternoon, I cleaned up my office, recycled papers from literal YEARS ago, and prepped what I needed for my first meeting of the day on Monday. I loved spending just a few minutes taking care of future me, and when I got to campus a few minutes late the following Monday and had a student come immediately to my office before I even had a chance to walk down the hall and fill up my teeny tiny Hydroflask, I felt pulled together and ready to welcome them.

Snack box Sunday is still working for me. I really like asking Dorothy and Cooper to tell me what they're hungry for on the weekend when I am grocery shopping and then packing a whole week's worth of on-the-go snacks. This week, Cooper's box has 47 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, and Dorothy's has 27 grams of protein (she does not drink a protein drink like Cooper does) and 4 grams of fiber. Not bad

Cooper! Is a permitted driver. WHAT.

I am writing this at swim team practice while I grade 250 case studies (I grade these every week, and my TAs grade the 4 large papers in the course-- I really do have the sweeter deal, but it's tedious), and I have to tell you that 8-and-under swim team swimmers are ADORABLE in their swim caps and Speedos with their fins and their kick boards-- oh my goodness. I miss watching Minnie outside the window of the dance studio, but sitting in the warm natatorium twice a week is a trade off I can live with.

Quick trip to Eau Claire

 We had so much fun driving up to see Harry on Sunday. The drive was lovely because the leaves are starting to change, and the weather was crisp but still friendly-- fun all around.

Fall Food: 2 cozy things I have made + 3 on my wish list

 I have already made PUMPKIN MUFFINS so we could bring some to Jack, and they were as delightful as I imagined they would be-- hot take: THEY MUST HAVE CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

I also ADORE this salad, and it was perfect with arugula and chicken mixed in the next day and as a stand-alone side dish the first day. I think beets would be an excellent addition.

I have big plans to make these pumpkin oatmeal cookies from NYT cooking

I also really want to slot in these enchiladas

And! For some reason, it does't really seem like fall to me until I make spicy chicken and sweet potato stew with apple bread.

Dorothy and I have big plans to go to Trader Joe's and buy a bunch of pumpkin and fall things for a big snack board dinner on Saturday, so we can watch Toy Story 5 with Ben and Minnie while Cooper and crew goes to HOCO. SO COZY, you guys!! Will report back on fall treats.

What food screams fall to you?

(Minnie's class can finally bring books home from the library-- kindy has to leave their books at school-- and Minnie snagged a cookbook with big plans to make the cake below).

Bradley Fam Weekend

 

Clearly, the girls and I have a shoe type. That type is Addidas. Kids shoes for all.

That was our shoe circle sitting near the door of our Peoria hotel room because we spent the second! weekend! in! a! ROW!! in P-town this time for Parents' Weekend at Bradley.

We enjoyed a pickleball tourney, cookies the size of our faces, dinner and dessert with my mom and Steve, some Peoria shoe shopping for Jack, and the Peoria Riverfront Museum's America 250 exhibit. 

We were so blown away to see that painting of GW up close and in person that we got TOO up close and in person, and in the live version of that pic, you can hear the alarm going off. OOPS.

Stay tuned because we have Eau Claire Parents' Weekend in just a couple weeks!

Notes from a WILD start to the semester

 I took a hot yoga class! And I did not even get sweaty! To be fair, it was only 45 mins and was a lovely flow. There was only one time when I confidently popped up in warrior 2 and found myself facing the rest of the class instead of the wall. Lefts and rights are hard **shrug.** I do think I went deeper than I normal would on some things (skandasana, I am looking at you) because the heat tricked me into thinking I was bendier than usual. I will definitely be back-- I think especially in the winter, it will feel amazing. 

I am still loving decide-once athleisure Thursday (but this week, I have class observations and will probably level up a teeny bit)

Speaking of decide once, I have basically worn the same thing to teach so far

And! The snack box decide-once is rolling into week 2

This week Dorothy is in the snack biz, and we have added nutella sandwiches.  (her box also has strawberries)

Ben and I have also instituted a Thursday night cocktail hour where we go out for ONE SINGLE DRINK and come home to watch Big Brother with the big kids (who definitely used to be the little kids). It's perfect and low stress-- no reservations, asking each other what we're hungry for. etc etc etc.

I am a little underwater in-- checks notes-- all areas of my life. I have barely been reading (thank goodness for audio books!), and class admin stuff is all encompassing. I have 400 undergrads of my very own this semester and supervise the teachers of 1000 more. I think things will slow down. But! That[s why I am writing this n a Tuesday and not a Monday. Blergh.

It is getting dark and cold here, you guys, and I lost my very favorite fuzzy fall coat! I wore it to the last department meeting of the year in May (eff you Madison for still having coat weather in MAY), and it disappeared. I have checked the lost and found, etc. (I think maybe it just fell out of my bag between my building and the car) SO, YOU GUYS. I bought a replacement (NEW WITH TAGS) on Poshmark for $18!!

My IG algo is almost entirely messy bun hacks, and I am rethinking my hair cut at the end of next month...

(Not really. I am growing out my gray hair, and I think the best way to do it is to get an aggressive trim every 4 months until the weird orange ends are gone. IN A FEW YEARS).

More later because we had the best tme at parents' weekend!

But let me just say by way of closing (spoiler: not really a closer coming up more like just onemore random thing in a series of random things-- you're welcome). THIS MOISTURIZER is so good I use every single bit. Highly recommend and very gentle on redness-prone skin.