I’m exhaling – just a little, and cautiously, because you never know.  But I think the worst of October is behind me.  I spent last week on a business trip to Dallas – a stressful one with long hours and a lot of pressure.  I can’t talk about it for obvious reasons, but I’m glad it’s behind me, and glad to have had supportive colleagues that stood ready to help, a boss who took my calls at any hour of the day and into the night, and the chance to go out for Tex-Mex a couple of times.  (Alone each time, just me and my book – which was exactly what I needed after days on end of meetings.)  I got home at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, collapsed into bed, and was up bright and early to greet two little pairs of feet running down the hall to welcome me home.  After such a long, charged workweek, I really needed a restful weekend to recharge.  Two days were not enough, but they were better than nothing.  On Saturday, Peanut was complaining of an earache, so she stayed home with Daddy while I shuttled Nugget to swimming lessons and then to a new-to-us roadside produce stand to pick out our family pumpkins.  Our next-door neighbor was delighted when we told her where we were going, and begged to be remembered to the chickens – she said they would come running if they heard her name.  We did see chickens, but none of them responded to Nugget’s and my shouts of “HEY CHICKENS!  CHICKENS!  ZOYA SAYS HELLO, CHICKENS!” and we got more than a few strange/alarmed looks from fellow pumpkin shoppers.  We left with a wagonload of pumpkins and inspiration to create a pumpkin in honor of the Washington Nationals (who need all the encouragement they can get right now).  Sunday was another laid-back neighborhood day.  I took Nugget out for a haircut in the morning – he needed it; his hair had grown into a shaggy mop that I loved but that was making Steve crazy – and we got caught in a torrential rainstorm.  Eventually the rain stopped and we wandered over to the playground for an hour – and that’s about it.  Just a simple, at-home weekend, which was what I needed.  I could use another day or seven, but it’s back to the grind for a few days, and then a true exhale at Halloween.

Reading.  Slow reading week, but a good weekend.  I spent the workweek over The Secrets We Kept – started it on the plane to Dallas on Sunday night (if you heard about the tornado, yes – it was an exciting flight) and read it in bits and pieces all week; a few chapters over breakfast here, dinner there, until I finally finished it in the airport on Friday afternoon, while waiting for my plane to arrive.  Rather pessimistically, but on the off chance I did actually get through an entire book over the course of the week, I’d packed Sula in my suitcase, so I swapped them out and started my first Toni Morrison novel (I’ve read a book of her essays, but never read her fiction).  Read for a little while on the plane, before spending most of the flight frustrating myself trying unsuccessfully to stream the World Series, then finished it up on Saturday evening.  At first I thought I’d go back to Wives and Daughters, but remembering that my book club is reading The Blue Castle (my selection) this month, I pulled Valancy off my shelf, sunk in and immediately remembered how much I loved this book the first time I read it (at Sarah and Naomi‘s behest).

Watching.  Lots of baseball highs and lows.  I ecstatically jumped on my bed in my Dallas hotel room as my Nats got off to a roaring start in the World Series, but missed all but the first two innings of Friday’s game, and those I watched at a bar in the Dallas airport, shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of new friends.  Anytime someone tried to sit with us, we made them swear allegiance to the Nationals.  It occurred to me that we could have made for a very funny, banter-y start to a sitcom or romantic comedy movie.  The game didn’t turn out well despite our pilot’s helpfully announcing the score periodically over the comm (obviously, a plane full of people going to D.C. were going to be interested).  And Saturday night was – yeesh.  Come on, guys!  We need this!  I’ve been a Nats fan since they rebooted the franchise while I was in law school – I remember going to games with my friend Amy back at the old RFK Stadium, when the Nats were so bad that it felt like watching a Little League game.  (And y’all: I have a younger brother.  I have watched several people’s shares of Little League games.)  I’ve cheersed with beers with college friends at Nationals Park, paddled the Anacostia just below the stadium, and pointed out the racing Presidents to the kids.  This team feels like they have something really special and we’re in sort of a dark place as a city right now.  We could all use something to believe in.

Listening.  I’ve been in a music mood all week, and the fact that my earbuds were blasting a rotating playlist of Eye of the Tiger – Hasa Diga Eebowai – Down in the Trenches – Could We Start Again, Please – Landslide should tell you everything you need to know about my week.

Making.  Bolognese!  Saturday night!  Because Impossible Ground is now at Wegmans!  And that calls for a celebration!  Steve, Nugget and I loved it.  Peanut was unimpressed.  Story of my life.

Blogging.  You all know what’s killing me – work, these days, especially the contentious case that brought me to Dallas all of last week.  So on Wednesday I have done my best to come up with a “saving my life” list, a la Katie.  And on Friday, a few snaps from Halloween.  Stay tuned!

Loving.  Honestly, my first inclination was to say “nothing.”  It was a long, miserable week.  But I try to end on something positive every week, so – think, think, think, as Pooh would say.  One thing that I have really enjoyed this weekend is Miyoko’s vegan roadhouse cheddar – I’m slowly working my way through their product lineup and I am super impressed.  It’s a cashew base with nutritional yeast and a pleasantly tangy flavor, and I have been dipping pretzels in it and starting to think that I need to plan a trip to Bavaria.

Asking.  What are you reading this week?