Autumn is more than half over. It's November already. Thanksgiving is the end of this month. Yikes.
There's been more light when I wake up. That's the only positive thing about Daylight Spending Time.
I wandered down to Target at lunchtime on the 1st. They didn't have any of the furry Elmo costumes I saw last week and didn't buy but they did have a Sully costume (no face) a big fuzzy blue and purple thing. I plan to sew the gloves onto the wrists, close the face and bottom of the feet, give him eyes and a nose and stuff him.
Tuesday was Voting day. I walked over to the school at 7:15 and made marks on paper. Precious little good it did but still. It's the thought that counts, I suppose.
Tuesday was also my first day of volunteering for Junior Achievement. The program is one day a week for five weeks. I did my best to channel my mother and involve the kids. I think they enjoyed it. If nothing else, it was different. I don't really think they learned much but I think they had a good time.
The first activity was "What is a Community?" with a worksheet (with truly abysmal artwork) and stickers. I'm not entranced with the program as it's laid out in the booklet nor am I very happy with the materials. I was surprised and dismayed to learn that the fancy "community" poster, does not have an elementary school depicted on it!
On Wednesday, I got this quote in my email:
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
— Gail Godwin
If that's true, maybe I did OK with the second graders…
We had a whomping thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon. It got really dark and started to rain a little before 4 pm. We had a short power loss, then thunder, more rain, then hail, more thunder, more hail, then a lot more rain. Bebop was concerned. I was supposed to have a meeting at the Company at 5 (yuck) but it was postponed until Friday. I was glad. I was not looking forward to going out in the deluge.
Rich bought a copy of this year's Entertainment Book on Tuesday, so on Thursday night we went to an Italian restaurant in a Best Western hotel down in Pacifica, on the coast. The place has a lovely view of the ocean (with two big spotlights so people can see the waves rolling in at night; there were good waves). The tables are set on three levels, all facing the windows, so all of the tables have the same view. That's very nice and well considered.
The food was tasty, if a bit precious. The plates had wide rims which were decorated with tiny bits of red and green bell pepper and onion. The total, even after our $15 discount, was still $10 more than what we usually consider to be at the upper end of what we like to pay for the two of us. I reminded Rich that the restaurants in the front of the book are not places we'd go if we didn't have the book and the discount!
We did another restaurant from the Book on Saturday night, a place that we've been to several times before (but only ever when we have the Book!).
I heard the sound of raccoon paws tossing sunflower seed late Saturday night, so I went upstairs and sure enough, there was a raccoon on the porch. I took out some peanuts and marshmallows. He didn't want to be too close to me so he went under the porch onto the sunroom roof. This one was a grabby fellow, not as polite with his paws so I put the marshmallows and peanuts on the porch rail down near the deck where he could get them.
There was another one who peeked around the corner of the hot tub. I tossed him a peanut but (ooh!) that scared him and he disappeared. Sorry guy! I should have tossed a marshmallow. They don't make any noise when they bounce off the deck.
Sunday we drove around to a few stores to look for wine racks. Eventually, we ended up at Cost Plus. They had lots of wine racks and we found one we liked, made of dark stained wood. It holds 44 bottles. Given that we don't drink much wine, I think that will hold us for a long time to come!
We also found a very nice carpet that we both liked. It's green, fairly thick pile, with a design in blue and red, made in India. Everything fit in the Scion (I love that car). When we got home, we installed the new carpet in the living room in place of one of the carpets we'd had there previously; we moved the replaced carpet downstairs. Then I said "I'd really like to get another one so we don't have mismatched carpets in the living room". Rich said that was OK with him so I went back to Cost Plus on Monday and bought a second Indian carpet. They look very nice and feel good beneath our feet. They make the living room look different (and better). And the cats like them. 🙂
I didn't do a lot of reading this week. I read Mistworld by Simon Green. Is that really all?
In between and around the rest, I've had two naps, several good meals, and interesting conversations with various and sundry. I've chatted with my dad and snuggled with the cats. I've been enjoying the ability to be at home in the afternoons, although now that I don't come home at 4:30, I've been working later and napping less. I guess it's a tradeoff.
Onward and Upward.
Slightly Off KIlter 