Month: November 2019

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November Is For Self-Care

After an incredibly hectic and busy October, I’m looking ahead to a (slightly) quieter month ahead.  I do still have a lot on my plate at work, but it’s mostly writing, which is much more my jam – quieter, more deliberative.  And I am hoping that means that I can get a little bit of balance back.  After the month I just wrapped up, my life is in a bit of a shambles.  The house is trashed, the fridge looks insane, there are to-be-wrapped gifts scattered all over the dining room and a mile-long list of errands that I need to run.  I need to re-calibrate, take care of the life stuff that needs taking care, and get a little more time back for me.  To that end, my November agenda includes:

  • Hitting the gym at least twice a week, and running at least twice a week.  I’ve missed movement.
  • Cooking up a big batch of veggie stew, and not including any pasta.  I always forget how soggy and gross noodles get when I toss them in my homemade soups.
  • Getting a (sorely needed) haircut, and making an appointment with my dentist.
  • Prioritizing time with the kiddos.  I don’t like missing bedtime!
  • Related: family dinners.
  • Hopping back on the decluttering bus.  It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted anything to Buy Nothing.
  • Putting in a morning of organizing my calendar and files at work and at home.  It’s just easier to keep track of everything when those things are up-to-date.
  • Hiking at least twice.  I need regular nature time or I don’t feel like me.
  • Lighting candles.  I love their flickering glow.
  • Spending Thanksgiving with family and friends.
  • Baking bread again.  Having my hands in dough is good for my soul.
  • Getting a massage, because I think I deserve it.

Yes, October was a long and stressful month.  I’m glad it’s behind me, and when I get a little distance and the fog clears from my brain, I know I will be proud of the work I did.  I’m just really ready to feel somewhat balanced again.

How do you self-care?

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (November 4, 2019)

Well, here we go – another new week.  These weekends are just flying by, and before I’ve even gotten to relax, another Monday is dawning.  Last week wrapped up my horrible busy October at work – I’m still busy, but it’s a tiny bit more manageable.  I celebrated the end of the worst work month ever with a fun Halloween last Thursday; my parents were in town from upstate New York to witness the fun in Old Town.  Our witch and bat had a grand time trick-or-treating and showing off the festive fun to their grandparents, and we even managed to get everyone shuffled off to bed after a minimum of chocolate.  My parents stayed through the kids’ swim lesson on Saturday, then were back off home, because my dad had a meeting that he couldn’t miss on Sunday.  Their visit was too short, but we’ll see them again for Thanksgiving in a few weeks.  After they left, we put on our red and headed to downtown D.C. to celebrate the Nationals and their championship!  I’d never seen a sports championship parade before – it was certainly a sight to behold.  Nugget and I snuck through the crowd and were lucky enough to find a tiny unoccupied spot right at the front, and we had a fantastic view of the players and the World Series trophy.  What a fun experience!  (And, as I said to Steve, now that I’ve seen one – I can watch the next championship parade on TV.)  Sunday was a pretty laid-back day.  The kids were up at the crack of dawn (thank you, Daylight Savings Time) but they played relatively well and didn’t wake Mom and Dad up before new 6:30, so that was a win.  Nugget was my Sunday buddy, as usual – I took him to the playground to run off his energy, and then out for a birthday party in the afternoon.  He ran around and bodyslammed his buddies, and I ate pizza with the moms and discussed all the new curse words the kids have recently learned.  Never a dull moment.

Reading.  Pretty average reading week.  I spent most of the week over Plague Land, which I liked, but didn’t love.  I may continue with the series, but I need a break.  Over the course of Sunday morning (during cartoon time and at the playground) I read a back issue of Slightly Foxed, and it was clearly a good one, because several of the featured titles found their way into my Abebooks cart.  Ended the weekend re-committing to Wives and Daughters, which I am enjoying, but which is hard to tote around town and to work with me – Folio Society hardcovers are beautiful, but not especially portable.

Watching.  One last week of baseball!  I stayed up until midnight on Tuesday and Wednesday, watching the final two games of the World Series – long after Steve had gone to bed.  And of course the best thing I watched was the Commissioner’s Trophy making its way down Constitution Avenue atop a Big Bus.  Go Nats!

Listening.  A little of this, a little of that.  Some music – show tunes, probably – and some more of my Audible Great Courses “History of Medieval England” audiobook course.  I’ve got a little over six hours left.  Home stretch!

Making.  Nothing, much.  Lots of work product, as usual.  Chatter with the other moms at the playground and this weekend’s birthday party.  Plans for baking bread and cooking up veggie stew – but no actual bread and no actual stew.  A lot of complaints about the disaster zone that the house has become (So! Many! Toys! Everywhere!) but very little progress in actually cleaning it up.  I’m just so exhausted.

Blogging.  I need a turn and more balance in November, so Wednesday’s post contains some musings about how I’m hoping to focus on self-care this month.  On Friday, I’ve got October’s reading recap for you – lots of highlights from a good month of reading.  (At least October was good for something.)  Check in with me then!

Loving.  One more time – I have loved the journey the Nationals took us all on this baseball season and postseason.  As I’ve mentioned a couple of times recently, I’ve been following the Nats – mostly casually, but always enthusiastically – since they returned to D.C. in 2005, when I was in law school.  I have fond memories of watching them lose spectacularly at the old RFK Stadium, beers in hand, with college friends.  I’m definitely not going to multiple games every season – who has the time, let alone the spare babysitter cash? – but I do love the team, and this team has had something special about them all season.  It was a joy to watch them catch fire this summer, and the ride through the postseason was so much fun.  As they say – bumpy roads lead to beautiful places, and the Nats definitely wound up in a beautiful place.  It’s been fun to cheer along this summer and fall.  Now re-sign Rendon, please!  Let’s go Nats!

Asking.  What are you reading this month?

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Halloween 2019

Happy November!  It’s no secret that I’m glad it’s here – while I’m still busy at work, at least my crazy October is over.  We all have months where it’s especially hectic, but it made me really sad that my turn happened to fall in October, which is my favorite month.  A lot of the fall fun that I was hoping for didn’t happen – no apple-picking, no pumpkin patch – and that was largely because of my work schedule, complicated by fall colds for the kiddos.  So I was really looking forward to Halloween, even more than I usually do, because it meant my ridiculous month would be behind me – finally.

Halloween started as they always have in recent years – with the adorable costume parade and class festivities at the kids’ school.  Only the early childhood hallway actually parades, so this was the first year I only had one in costume and walking.  My parents were in town to see the fun this year – yay! – so I met them at the school and we watched Nugget and his buddies strut through the school hallways.  Then my parents headed off to do their own thing, while I hung around to help first with the junior kindergarten class party, and then with Peanut’s class “pumpkin day.”  (Which involved estimating and then taking size measurements and then counting the seeds in a few pumpkins that the parents had donated to the class.)

While I’d have loved to stay at the school all day, I eventually had to drift off back to my computer and do some work.  I picked the kids up promptly at the end of the school day – no aftercare for them – and we headed home to get ready for trick-or-treating.

Ever since we moved back to NoVA, we’ve been celebrating Halloween on a particular street in Old Town.  The street closes to traffic and becomes a big, wild block party.  The residents go all out – dressed to the nines in their costumes, and with elaborate decorations on every house.

The scene was as happening as it always is, and the kids were extra excited this year, because they finally got to share it with their grandparents.

They were really into going from house to house and collecting candy this year.  I followed along behind, snapping pictures of all the over-the-top decorations (as I always do).

Spiders were big this year – literally and figuratively.

Skeletons, too.

While most of the houses went all-in on crazy Halloween kitsch, a few were more understated.

The kids made out like little bandits.  This was their biggest haul ever – they hit every house and more than half filled their (large) treat bags.

This Halloween was especially fun, because everyone was in the mood to celebrate our World Series-winning Nationals!  I spotted nods to the Nats all over town.

This dinosaur with a Nats flag was the hero we all needed.

Also this guy with a “City of Champions” sign taped to his Washington Capitals jersey, with recent championships recited on it.  I appreciated that he was celebrating D.C. women’s sports, like the Mystics, too!

The Bryce Harper skeleton made me feel very seen.

Our family pumpkin celebrated the Nats too, of course.  (Victory parade tomorrow!)

Happy Halloween!  I hope you had a fun, safe night with lots of treats and not too many tricks.