ah, well

The first thing I thought this morning was not, 'Aaah, I really needed those ten-and-a-half hours of sleep. I was beyond exhausted last night.' No, it was, 'Oh, man, I didn't post anything last night!'

So, ah well. That was short-lived. Back to posting as usual, which might just be better...one less pressure. That's okay with me. Maybe next year.

Anyhow, here're yesterday's items for donation:




These are all extra copies, which is exactly what happens when I don't catalogue my books (of course, then I'd have to take the list with me every time I left my apartment). I am still missing seven and twelve (The Penultimate Peril, I now have on hold at the library). I'm not loving these books, but I was really hoping to. They read so quickly though, that I just want to get through the series.

6th grade art class

I think that's the last time my visual arts skills developed. There has been no subsequent growth. I'm trying to be unapologetic about that. Pic and I have begun having art time and I love to sit down and draw with her, but the frustration always threatens to bubble up.

It's probably been a good decade since I last really sketched and I miss it. I was always so upset, though, that what I was seeing -- with my eyes or in my head -- never matched what I was creating. I think I need to let up a bit on myself. I'm just so eager to find a talent, any talent, that I often don't give myself the time to actually develop one. (Let's not get into the whole, 'Is talent innate or can it be learned?' debate. The ancient Greeks were asking that same question and I'm pretty sure we still don't have it figured out.)

So, this month will be full of daily moments of drawing, coloring, painting. Maybe I'll get a be a little daring and try sketching again. We'll see.


[Art]

credit, where it's due

I didn't mention, but my NaBloPoMo badge is from here. There's always a page for badges. I usually only use the ones sent in by other posters (post-ers). I wasn't inspired by the ones under the November badges, so I waited and I really like this badge. I'm soaking up as much autumn as I can get before all of the beautiful color fades into winter.

declutter eleven and twelve and...

Yes, I'm still decluttering and it's been over a week! I thought I would have given up by now. I'm just hoping that it lasts the full thirty days (and beyond?). The bags went to Goodwill la questa mattina (this morning). Also, we gave away the stroller and the learning-toilet-thingie to a friend this morning. I forgot to take pictures beforehand, so here're images I found on Google Images. (The stroller, we bought used. It didn't have the fun fabric the one pictured here does, but it worked just fine.)




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Two quick notes on our reading around here:

We just finished reading In Defense of Food. Somewhere near the end (I'm going to have to loosely paraphrase here, we've returned the book to the library), Pollan urges his readers to go to the farmer's markets. He says something about there being no processed foods there. I think he's talking about the idyllic farmer's markets I imagine when I think of what they might be like other places. Here, though? I always immediately think of the Sparks Hometowne Farmer's Market, which we've finally given up on. As for the no-processed-foods thing? I just have two words: rubber pretzels. Okay, okay, a few more words. Every time we've been, we've marvelled at the amounts of unhealthy foods (and at the non-food products) you can buy as you choose your produce.

Finally: last night, Cardo worked late. Pic waited up for him so he could read her a book, but she finally gave in to sleep before he was home. At five o'clock this morning, she called out for him and asked, 'Did you forget to read me a book?' so they sat together, read a book and then both went back to sleep. I love her priorities.

a four-year-old's humor

Ah, the jokes have begun. Soon enough, she'll have enough to put together an entire stand-up show. Actually, all of her jokes, thus far, are made on-the-fly. Before you read her joke, please note that the hilarity lies in the fact that she finds herself so entirely amusing during the telling.

Q: Why did the balloon go up and up?

A: Because it was full of air!

[Laugh hysterically, causing your parents to also laugh hysterically.]

time travel

And, just like that, an hour has suddenly been added to my life. Oh, daylight savings time, how strange you are to me.

I'm sitting here in the quiet of the apartment, in the corner of the office-library. I'm uploading photos that I might actually print out so I can start filling in photo albums. I'm writing my monthly letter to Pic, recapping the last month (good thing that I just practiced by posting more generally here). These letters started out as weekly, but that only worked for the first few months, maybe. For the last couple of years or so, I've been lucky to get in more than one letter a month. I'm also listening to shows on Netflix and catching up on my newest blog-love.

In a few moments, though, I'll sign off of my letter, make myself a cup of sleepytime tea and go burrow down into my bed.


A cozy image (from almost three-and-a-half years ago) before I go.


G'night.

october

Welcome to November, aka National Blog Posting Month, or for the more ambitious, National Novel Writing Month!

Okay, now that the welcome is out of the way, I'd like to look back on October.

What would have been a month of mainly me, on my own, beginning a new programme, securing lodging and child-schooling, ended up being very different. It ended up being a month of semi-hibernation, of sorts, and quiet adventures. I wrote about some yesterday (it doesn't take much to constitute an adventure for La Famiglia B).

Very early in the month, we had a chance encounter with a friend I haven't recently seen and who I haven't heard much from lately (yes, just what everyone else is thinking about me, I know and I apologize). Because of that encounter -- and my own hiding out -- I've been doing a lot of thinking about friendship, but I'll save that rambling for later. Let me just suffice it to say that I have amazing friends. Truly amazing. I thank you all for your patience with me while I attempt to figure things out for myself.

A bit later in the month, we took a short family trip to our western neighbor. The first part of the trip was business-related, but, after that, we made it over to Monterey. We usually go to the aquarium (of course), but we passed on it this time. We had a great (and much-less-expensive) time, nonetheless. (I still am hoping that we will be able to go to the aquarium next time though.)



Recently, we've gone to visit our capital, taking in the Halloween sights as we do every year, playing at a pumpkin patch we happened upon last year and returned to this year.



We also took that Virginia City trip, but I apparently took zero pictures, although I wore the camera so attractively attached to my hip the whole time.

Pic and I made her costume, following a great many of the instructions, ignoring others. We went trick-or-treating for the second year in a row with Coach J and her family. I can't describe how happy I am to see Pic and Destructor together. I love watching Pic grow, but it's been such a treat to also watch Destructor grow and to watch their friendship grow. I feel lucky to have the Coach J family in our lives.



There has been so much more, of course. We've caught up a bit with my godparents. We've made a new family friend who we immediately loved. There has been reading, learning, walking, growing. I've been trying to learn who I am and shape myself into who I want to be. I've been so lucky to be able to watch Pic grow into herself more and more each day.

There have definitely been some rocky times, but overall, I've been soaking up this autumn. It is, after all, my favorite season and I certainly don't want to waste it.