Hello everyone!! Today is all rainy and gloomy, and I am reluctant to move very much yet. I will instead enjoy my coffee and chat with you all.

Wyatt has been so good lately, while my attention has been diverted to different things that I needed to take care of, and I felt like he deserved a visit to the used book store. This kid does love a good book haul!

I have to be honest, I want to read a few of those myself. Lol. I love that used book store. They offer a teacher discount to homeschool families, you can get store credit by turning books in, and everything is 50% off list. Next month I will get free a book since it is my birthday month too! Lots of opportunities to save.

And sometimes you find a treasure in the midst!

I was beyond excited to find this copy of The Stillmeadow Road by Gladys Taber. It’s not the greatest condition but I love it anyway. And I love that little swirl of leaves on the cover. So cute and autumnal. I can’t wait to start this in January!

We have also been making Halloween over here! We converted Wyatt’s old playhouse into a spooky reading room. It looks really cool at night, especially when the wind is blowing.

It would be cooler if I could turn off that street light but I am sure the city wouldn’t say yes to that request. Darn it. We still are enjoying seeing it out there.

Last weekend I had a funeral to go to. My college bestie’s mom died, and there was no way I was not going to be there for her. She lives a little over an hour away, and we haven’t seen each other as much in the past few years with life things and all, but we still will always be there for each other. She made the trip down here the week before for my mom’s funeral, even though her own mother was doing poorly. As I made the drive out there solo last Saturday, I had time to really reminisce on our lives together. The many trips I made back and forth in my 20s, at 3 a.m., alone with no cell phone on the highway. In my 30s making the drive with my family to see her family. And then this time, retracing her steps from the week before, making the same journey to honor her mother and family and of course, Lori. That stretch of road is a bit of a timeline, and while landmarks have changed, buildings have come down and new ones gone up, and Lori and I are now different than those young things we were, I will still always make that drive for her no matter the time, if she needs me.

I wore my new red shoes, not knowing that red was her mom’s favorite color. I bought the shoes for my mom’s funeral, which seems a weird move, I know. But I wanted to add something to the sadness, a touch of joy or crazy, so I went with red shoes. They are not unusual in everyday life, but I felt like they were appropriate to add to the celebrations of our mom’s lives. Just a little smile there with them.

I am happy to report they also look super cute with jeans too.

Last week I went out for a bit with my brother. It was the most impulsive, irreverent night out I have had for a while and I had a lot of fun with him. The two of us have not hung out the two of us like that in forever, and we are going to go do it again. We started by getting a drink, and then while we were walking back to the car, my brother said he wanted to go into the ice arena that was across the parking lot to look at the ice. Just super random. So we walked around the ice arena, and the ice seemed so big and cold and invigorating, honestly. There was a man and his son skating around, and they had the place to themselves. Not many people going to open skate I guess this time of year. It was pretty cool. We didn’t stay long, just a few minutes, and then headed back to his car and this time actually got in it. We were halfway home when my brother spotted a house that had it’s entire front yard set up like a haunted maze. He pulled over and told me that we were going to walk through. So we wandered through the haunted maze on this guy’s front lawn, and the man chatted with us after, telling us that he had created it for his autistic son. It was a cool night out, windy, and it definitely felt like fall. After that I finally made it home, but it reminded me a bit of being a kid, out with your friends, just running all over town doing whatever. It was a good night. Sometimes we all need to shake the snowglobe that we live in.

And I think with that I will leave off here! I need more coffee, and I probably should get moving. Lol.

Here are a few extra photos from the roll.

I hope whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!