Fall-back weekend before children: hmmmmm.  How should I spend this extra time?  I think I’ll sleep in and then go have a leisurely brunch.

Fall-back weekend with children: Please sleep past 4:00 a.m.  Please sleep past 4:00 a.m.  Please sleep past – dammit.

Happy Monday, friends.  How were your weekends?  We had a lazy weekend around the neighborhood, which was exactly what I wanted.  With all the excitement of Halloween happening last weekend and into the week, and with the busiest season of the year directly ahead of us, I really, really needed a weekend or two in a row with no plans and no commitments – and that’s exactly what we got this weekend.  On Saturday, we walked out to the library and farmers’ market, then stopped by the playground – the leaves are finally out! – and the fire station on the way home.  So – our usual circuit.  The furthest afield I ventured was a fifteen minute walk to yoga while the kids napped in the afternoon.  Added in a family movie night with pizza and Star Wars (Nugget’s first viewing! he shouted “THERE’S MY BUDDY!” every time Darth Vader was onscreen), and it was a pretty perfect day.  Sunday was even lazier – I don’t think I got out of my pajamas all day.  We did lots of playing, made paper plate turkeys with feathers listing what we are grateful for, some reading, and a bit of laundry and work so we felt like we’d been at least a little bit productive.  I felt a little under the weather on Saturday and worse on Sunday – I have a vicious cold in my throat and head, and I basically sound like Sexy Phoebe singing “Smelly Cat” all the time.  So a lazy Sunday at home was just what the doctor ordered.

Reading.  It was a good, productive reading week.  I finished Poems Bewitched and Haunted on Halloween – perfect timing!  It was loads of fun, a perfect Fright Night read, and made me want to read more poetry soon.  Then I turned back to Dark Money, which I had been plodding through slowly.  It’s one of those incredibly interesting and informative nonfiction reads that I think are very important – but it was also sort of dense and I don’t seem to have the wherewithal to keep track of all these shadowy foundations that are one step away from money laundering… in thinking about it, though, perhaps that’s exactly the point.  Yeah, food for thought.  Anyway, Dark Money was due back to the library on Saturday, and I was still fifty pages from the end, so I flew through the final couple of chapters while the kids played, and then dropped it in the overnight return box.  On Saturday evening, I turned to Little Fires Everywhere, the new Celeste Ng.  I’m about a third of the way through it and really enjoying it, so more next week, I’m sure.

Watching.  It seems we are straight-up re-watching Parks and Recreation, which is fine with me.  Duke Silver just made his first appearance!  On Friday evening, we ate takeout Indian food while watching Ann break Leslie of her fear of first dates through “bad date immersion therapy.”  Parks and Rec is definitely helping us hold it together as we wait for the next season of The Crown to drop on Netflix – not too long now!

Listening.  I’m back to podcasts as I take a little break from audiobooks.  At the moment, the “Read Aloud Revival” episode on the Scholastic Kids and Family Reading Report is in my earbuds, and it’s very interesting and informative.  (Further down, I’ll share the best thing I listened to all week – it’s my “loving” for this week, so read on.)  In addition to podcasts, I’m still playing the Book of Mormon soundtrack on repeat.  Less than two weeks to go until we will be saying “Hello!” to Elder Price and Elder Cunningham at the Kennedy Center!

Moving.  Sort of a slow week.  Sleeping has been really bad lately – it seems like the whole house is conspiring to keep me awake some nights, and this lousy cold hasn’t helped matters.  That’s making it hard to get up and out of the house for early morning workouts.  I made it to power yoga on Tuesday, but missed Friday, because Nugget was clinging to my neck from 4:30 onwards.  That made me sad, because the Friday classes are taught by my favorite instructor, who is moving to Africa in two weeks, and I’m trying to soak up as many of her fabulous vinyasa classes as I can before she leaves.  She also teaches on Saturday afternoon, though, so I made a point of going to that class, at least, and – I got into crow pose for the first time in years!  This is a big deal!  Jaimie – the instructor – came over to my mat and gave me Muppet arms.  Wahooooo!

Blogging.  I have a Project 24 update coming to you on Wednesday (spoiler – I’m on track, I think?) and on Friday, a fun photography post about a surprising thing I learned while doing the black and white challenge on Facebook last week.  Check in with me then!

Loving.  Best thing this week was a podcast episode!  As I’ve been working my way through my ever-neglected podcatcher, I listened to a pretty recent episode of The Mom Hour, all about things you can do to get ready for the holidays NOW, instead of waiting until December and making yourself miserable.  There were a ton of great tips – lots of common sense, but sometimes you need that, right ladies?  The Moms suggested writing thank-you notes and putting together your kids’ teachers’ gifts in October (this is revolutionary, and I will definitely be getting that task done early); scheduling out as much of your holiday calendar as you can in advance, down to the last trash pick-up day before Christmas so you will know when you need the garbage guys’ bonus checks ready; and making your Shutterfly projects ahead of time so you’ll be able to take advantage of Cyber Monday sales without spending that whole day making photo books (which I try to do anyway, but the reminder is good).  I was so inspired that I jumped right onto Shutterfly and started making Nana’s Brag Book 2017 – hi, Mom!  (Don’t worry; this is a gift she gets every year, so I’m not ruining a surprise – she knows it’s coming.)  The Mom Hour is my favorite parenting podcast, and I think this was one of their best episodes yet.  No one else can get me more inspired to be on top of my parenting game while simultaneously reassuring me that everyone feels like a flake at the end of the school semester.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?