Hello everyone! How are you all doing today? I am just starting my second cup of coffee; Wyatt is not adjusting to this time change very well and is waking up so early!!

How is it only Thursday? I feel like this week has been crazy busy. I did know that this week was going to be a busy one and that the rest of the month settles down but I have been so distracted!

Monday we went to our first St. Andrews Society meeting. I didn’t know what to expect, and the center is about 30 minutes from my house, not too bad of a drive, but I still had Billy and Wyatt go with me for this first one. The first hour was social hour, and we met some very delightful women. One woman was from Scotland, and still had her brogue and she and Billy hit it off. I talked to another woman, who was so sweet and she told me she had lived in England twice in her life, once in the 1970s and once in the 90s. How cool would that have been? England in the 70s seems like it would have been really cool. There were drinks (I had a Strongbow and Billy had a Guinness) and a giant potluck, and just a real sense of happiness and joy all around. They had a musician playing the whole time, and I really had fun. However, it was going to be too late of a night for Wyatt and the membership coordinator, who sat with us since we were new, told us it was fine if we left whenever we wanted. So we stayed for the bringing in of the colors, where they piped in the flags, played a few other songs including Scotland the Brave, listed to the first speakers and then quietly slipped out. It was a good first introduction. We probably won’t be able to attend these first events in November and December as we are pretty booked already, but in January we are hoping to attend the Robert Burns dinner.

Tuesday was election day, and I had already mailed in my ballot so I didn’t need to go to the polls. Wyatt and I just had a pretty normal day, and I stayed away from social media and the news for the most part. However we did take Election Results day off. I figured we deserved it. All the public school kids had Tuesday off, so we took Wednesday.

It was also Billy and my wedding anniversary yesterday too! We didn’t do anything though, and are hoping to go out this weekend instead. He did work from home however, so that was nice.

And this is how nerdy we are. We got fancy journals for our anniversary gifts. We want to make them artsy, with drawings and paintings, but also folklore and traditions (me) and Billy wants to do a whole nature meets technology art project in his – like comparing the internet to mushroom mycelium, and the like. They are handmade leather with heavy paper with deckle edges, and we are just nerding out with them. I am so lucky that we are both like this, very interested in little projects and art and holing up at home during these months.

Speaking of projects and cozy type things, I stumbled upon the coolest unit study yesterday! Yep, I said that. It is a book study of Winterhouse, but it is so immersive that I knew it was the perfect December read for us. I am in love with it. It has suggestions for having a breakfast every morning, cinnamon rolls and chocolate chip pancakes (and doesn’t make you feel like you have to do it all from scratch!), built in quiet time for reading, puzzles, just so much. I am really excited to start it in December with Wyatt. I had been sort of hoping for something fun to mix it up a bit and this is perfect. I chose Christmas at Winterhouse, but there are 3 other options to choose from, including Little House. These are all from Bookish Adventures, and I depending on how this goes in December, I would like to try one of her other book studies. Wyatt loves stuff like this, probably because I am his mother and have raised him like this lol, and he learns so well when we do big old deep dives and involve different ways of learning.

And honestly, that is about it from around here! We are transitioning from the whirl of September and October and are starting to turn inward, to home and cozy. I bought a new bed light to replace the one that died so I can sew in bed again at night, we are settling in with our art projects and learning projects, focusing on friends and family and baking and good meals. And it feels right.

Just a few photos from the camera to end with!

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