October rules.

I love this month.

I have made it to another Treacherous Tea with my mom, and we took the kids for the somewhat macabre scavenger hunt at our local museum.  Nothing like getting the kids to eat kitty litter cake after finding items like "Crazy Clara", the "Death Beatle", and "Raggety Angry".

We made it out to the Corn Maze, carved pumpkins with some family a week or so back, and our cemetary is standing once again on the front lawn.

We aren't going to check out a pumpkin patch (figured the corn maze and their outdoor activities fits that bill) and we didn't make it for our annual grave tours in Fort Langley (which I did miss). 

I always think of my friend Kelz this month (from Oz).  After our first fall together, I must say that I appreciate the changing leaves more than I ever did before - all the spectacular colours.

We also had great Thanksgiving dinners with family, and one of my oldest and dearest friends made it up here for a long lost visit.  It was amazing to get the chance to reconnect.

All in all, a great month... except the nasty cold and ear infection that came around...

I am really looking forward to Halloween on Friday - it should be a crazy night with lots of kids, especially if it doesn't rain.  I am also looking forward to November, and our usual week off and trek to Seattle.  Fingers crossed, we may make a few trips!

It is hard to believe Christmas is less than two months away.  The time is truly flying.  I am thinking of trying to do more, and less at the same time.  The kids are quickly reaching that saturation point, and it is not just about more things...

An almost? Replaced by amusement.

I really wanted to like this one... I guess it doesn't help when you are currently reading the Order of the Phoenix to your son, and trying to get in to Rowling's new crime novel under her pseudonym.  The funny thing is, I can't say that I didn't like it.  I only got about 125 pages in to this one before I had to return it to the library.  The jury is out whether or not I would request it again so I could finish the story.  It is well written, and the characters were interesting.  I don't know why I didn't really connect with the story.  I enjoy crime thrillers, but in this current moment of time, I am not all that interested in reading them.  Oddly enough.  I apparently have been in to humour or slightly supernatural reads (when you take a look at the books that have been catching and holding my attention in the last few months).  I am not sure if I just wasn't in the mood, or if there was something there that just wasn't really engaging me.  Perhaps one day I will finish this one.  I don't know.

 Where I found the cuckoo was really hard to turn pages, in this book, the pages were turning themselves.  It is crass.   It is funny.  In weird ways, it made me feel a bit better because I do not always watch my language and have been known to spout off with a few tirades that have been peppered with less than savoury language.  It is even funnier when you consider his dad is a well educated doctor, and he really, truly does come up with some spectacular one-liners.

My pop had a really unique sense of humour as well, which I miss, and I am grateful for him in the sense part of my stiff upper lip is likely from his tough love. This is a great book to get from the library when you need a quick read, or a bathroom book when you only have time for a short story.  I will admit that I did bust a gut with the last story about his dog.  I almost counted this as two books for the yearly total, but I figure that since I didn't really get anywhere with the Cuckoo, and I did get through this one pretty quick (it is really short and not a real novel per say)... this is okay billing.

A much more satisfying trilogy...

I have a read a few trilogies in the past few years, and this one is by far the best.  Hunger Games, kind of peaked, the Divergent series tanked, and the Dark Materials were ok.  A year later and I can't say that much stuck with me from that one. Now this series, on the other hand, got better as the books progressed.  I remember being far more irritated with Matthew, as a possessive vampire in the first book than the more self-aware version that we see in this book.  Diana, as a witch in denial evolved from being slightly irritating to a fully rounded character.

This was a great book to read entering in to October, and the month of All Hallow's Eve.  Nothing like reading about witches, daemons, and vampires to get you in the mood.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and this book in particular.  Well written, and well researched.  I was a bit sad when I turned the last page.  There were many elements here that I would say that I look for in a good book. I have also noticed that I have been drifting a bit more to these types of books lately... I hope that Harkness bring this cast of characters back for a new series, or even a continuation if only because I enjoyed the story so much.

Busy.

This is a great article about 'busyness'. It talks about the 'tyranny of the to-do' list, and I must admit, this strikes pretty close to home in my world.

Allowing time for self reflection is so important in trying to remain spiritually connected to your self.   I do struggle with managing myself, my time, our family, my work, sports for the kids, doctors appointments and other people I have to meet with, in other words, a lot of priorities.  Sometimes I write lists just to recognize how many things I am accomplishing in a day, especially for those days where it feels like all I was doing was effectively spinning my wheels.

I like the idea of bringing back play, even in our adult lives.  I have also taken to small moments to stretch.  Last year when I was jogging I will admit I was terrible for just getting out there and plodding on the pavement, or trail.  I didn't really stretch, and my idea of stretching out after was plunking my ass on the couch with a glass of cold water. I want to start jogging or walking again on the weekends, but I have come to realize I need to build in that stretching time. After starting to build in some stretches to my daily routines, I have come to realize just how "tight" I have become.  The last few years have been quite frenetic and overwhelming at times.  It also feels like one cycle is slowly drawing to a completion and I am moving in to the next cycle.  Things are ending, and new things are beginning and it is exciting to be in this transition stage.

The stretches are just as important as things like keeping up with this blog (even if it is normally just posts about the books I am reading), knitting (I am working on a birthday gift for someone), obviously reading, and then my lunchtime walks at work.  I would really love to get in a walk a weekend, and then to also work in some hatha yoga too.  To see some friends here and there, and to spend more quality time with Ken, and not always with our kids.

The busy is crazy though.

From the article: "So, as much as I wouldn’t wish overwhelm on anyone, I actually see it as a positive thing. For too long, work-life issues were always seen as “women’s issues.” When they’ve really always been about both good work and raising the next generation. What we all need to be talking about is redefining work to be mission-driven and flexible, rather than rewarding long hours of face time. The former enables not only everyone to have time for living an authentic life as well as being a more productive, engaged and efficient worker. The latter just leads to more inequity and burn out.".

I think this is something that I will try to keep in mind.  Being flexible, being more mission driven and to accomplish tasks rather than just grinding parts of it out.

I also think it is important to bring back some play, and I think I would like to seize the little joys more, and to try to do something that scares me a little as often as I can to stretch myself in different ways too.