We have gotten to (and passed) the halfway point of the month. As usual, I am in perpetual shock by how quickly time is flying by.
I am trying to bury my head in the sand and pretend winter is not coming next. September and October have been so wonderfully beautiful and my heart literally feels like it’s breaking a bit at the thought of winter: ice, cold, snow, long, dark nights. There are positives, of course. I love to sit in front of the fireplace, eat comforting, stick-to-your-ribs foods, and of course there is Christmas to look forward to.
But mostly I just want things to stay the way they are now. No boots, no snow, no slushy roads to navigate.
Moving on to happier things.
This week has been all about getting my head screwed back on right and it is taking a while. I feel like I am behind on so many things, big and small. I’m slowly crossing things off my list but basically needed to do a twice-daily brain dump to stay on top of everything. Even then, I dialled in most meals, left laundry until the last possible minute, and took a 2+ hour nap one afternoon.
Let’s dive into this week’s Happy Things!
JOHN’S BIRTHDAY
It has been a whirlwind week, capped off with special celebrations to honour my favourite guy in the whole world.
We don’t “go big” with birthdays but marked the occasion with a progressive lunch of sorts, getting takeout from various spots locally and ordering our favourite thing from the menu! It was a lot of fun.
TIME WITH SHU + KAE
It was so lovely to get to spend time together. We had a perfect blend of relaxing opportunities to chat over coffee/tea and good food, coupled with lots of adventure, like walking on the ocean floor and scrambling over rocks at Peggy’s Cove.
- SHU’s recaps: here and here.
- Kae’s recaps: here and here and here and here.
- My recaps: here and here and here and here.
SLEEP
I’m not sure why I had a horrible week of sleep (I suspect it was a combo of John being away, a hectic mind, and seasonal allergies), but I am making up for it. I have been sleeping as long as humanly possible each night and GROANING when 7 am rolls around and it’s time to get up and help launch the kids to school.
I also threw all caution to the wind and let myself take a very long 2+ hour afternoon nap on Wednesday. I needed it and I let my body have it.
Reading The Brain at Rest by Joseph Jebelli could not have come at a better time. Check out this book if you want to feel validated for taking life easy sometimes!
FALL FLAVOURS
I am here for all of it. The pumpkin pie and bread and drinks. Apple everything. How extra cozy a warm cup of chai tea tastes at this time of year. The chicken and gravy and stuffing.
Speaking of flavours, I’ve had lots of requests for the recipe I use for energy balls. I followed this one from Gimme Some Oven exactly and they are delicious (Kae was a huge fan and I just made a second batch a few minutes ago). I use local (unpasteurized) honey and I’m trying to incorporate more into my daily routine as it’s supposed to help with seasonal allergies. I also appreciate the amount of flax and oatmeal since both are shown to reduce cholesterol!
PIE FOR BREAKFAST
At the beginning of the year I designed a list of fun things to do in 2025. Courtesy of Kelsey from the Girl Next Door podcast, I added “Have dessert for breakfast.”
Tuesday morning found me sitting on the couch savouring a piece of pumpkin pie and a steaming mug of coffee. It was every bit as delicious and wonderful as it sounds.
COOL BLOGGERS WALKING CLUB
The first recap is here; I have been blessed with extraordinary weather, but it’s been a great reminder to get outside and move my body. Some days my walks are much longer than others, but regardless of distance I always come back feeling at least slightly more energized and content.
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- I didn’t have time to pull together a dedicated Happy Things from the Blogosphere segment, but I have to make note of Rebecca’s progress on her crochet blanket squares that she designs based on book covers. I think this is such a genius idea!
- Also, if you want a boost of pure joy, CLICK OVER and read about the latest news in Suz’s world.
- Birchie is planning to re-watch the entire back catalogue of Alfred Hitchcock movies. I feel honoured I got to watch two of his most famous films when she came to visit me last month.
- That first sip of coffee on a dark, rainy fall day. MAGIC!!!!
- Crossing items off my to-do list. It is so long right now. There are so many loose ends and I have felt, like Jenny, incredibly scattered of late. But each day I’ve been “gifting” myself a fresh piece of paper (sorry trees) and writing out my list in Sharpie (somehow it feels more satisfying to write out my tasks with permanent marker).
- Songs by Josiah Queen. Garden in Manhattan and Dusty Bibles are having a moment in my house.
- For the first time in over a month…I can check the mail! I haven’t tried to figure out how rotating strikes work, but I know someone came to our mailbox and left things and that feels like progress.
And that’s a wrap.
Your turn.
- What’s the last piece of fun snail mail you received?
- How often do you take naps? And how do they impact your sleep at night?
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You definitely need that sleep, Elisabeth! No wonder you’re wiped – juggling visitors, kids, blogging, and everything else is a full-time marathon. Love that you’re giving yourself permission to nap, sleep really is underrated. Will you be having a quiet weekend?
Also, hooray for your mail finally working! In South Africa, the postal system basically doesn’t exist, so letters are all electronic and parcels come via private couriers. No surprise handwritten cards here – sadly!
The weekend is quiet-ish.
Indy is hosting a sleepover for a friend at our place tonight, Belle has a b’day party, and John leaves for Europe. It’s not PACKED, but it’s not empty, either. But I’m hoping for some early bedtimes across each night. Fingers crossed!!!
I did get a bunch of fun cards in the mail last month- this month is all bills and flyers. ( And the infinite stream of college mailings- once a kid takes a standardized test, the mail never stops.)
I tend not to take naps at all – if I lie down in the middle of the day, my eyes pop open and I am just waiting to be interrupted. The only nap I’ve had in ages was when I sat in an easy chair and lightly dozed. But my sleep is crap lately ( commenting at 2 am and 4 am is never a good sign) but I can’t blame naps.
Enjoy the weekend- I hope you can catch up on sleep!
Bills and flyers…that’s most of what we get, too. And all that was there for the first mail check after all this time were flyers. Womp, womp.
I didn’t used to be able to nap. Then I had kids and now I can nap…a lot.
Ugh. I hope your sleep improves. It’s rough on our minds and bodies when sleep isn’t going well 🙁
I’ve gotten a lot of cards over the last 3 weeks so that has really brightened my day. And now the bills from the incident are starting to roll in so we play, ‘guess how much this bill is’. We won’t have to pay any of them so it is kind of fun for money nerds like my husband and me. The first one to arrive was the ambulance bill ($3,000 for a 5 mile ride!!).
I’m still going strong with walks and only missed one so far! It’s been a gorgeous month for walking and I, too, dread what comes next.
Happy birthday to John!!
Eeks! That is a BIG bill. Thank goodness you don’t have to pay them out of pocket. Yikes.
Yay for daily walks. I’m so glad that has worked for you in the midst of so much upheaval. And your leaves look so pretty in the pictures you’ve sent.
I don’t take naps unless I have the flu. Naps give me headaches for some reason. Plus, I’m never tired.
Fun mail? I received a nice card from a cousin I don’t actually know after my mom died. I have 21 cousins on my mom’s side, most of them quite a bit older than me and living all over the US. I only met her once, in 1976. It was nice to hear from her and she shared memories of my mom from when she was a little kid in the late 1950’s.
I will admit that I often wake from naps feeling groggy and miserable. BUT, in the long run it really helps me recuperate.
I CANNOT imagine not feeling tired. Sigh. I feel tired so often, especially in this season of life. I didn’t used to in my teen years but since having kids I feel like my default is being tired.
That’s a fun piece of mail, indeed. And it’s always nice to strengthen family connections, however distant.
Good husbands are born in October, I guess 😉 Happy Birthday to John! I recognized your sleep data bc I just got an Oura ring and I am loving seeing all the fun facts about my body. The most surprising thing has been how much sleep I actually get but still feel tired?!?! I was convinced I was awake for hours each night but the ring tells me otherwise.
Same! I usually get quite a bit of sleep, but I am perpetually tired. My deep sleep numbers are not great, so I’m going to do some self-experimenting to see what might be causing that. Cooler temps at night + maybe getting tested for apnea are the first things on my radar.
Hooray for wonderful husbands and the delight of getting to celebrate their birthdays.
My last piece of fun mail was a birthday card from my brother! I do probably get more fun mail in October than any other month because of the b-day. As to naps, I can only manage them if I’m sick; otherwise, i just lie there for a few minutes while my body says “oh yessss” and my brain says “oh, you could be doing this, don’t forget to do that, what about the other thing” until I get up. I envy your nap!
October is such a busy month for birthdays! I know so many people celebrating this month. It’s very festive.
I have had THREE naps this week. The most I’ve had in a single week in ages. But my sleep was also complete and utter crap last week. I am starting to feel like I’ve caught up on my lack of sleep.
For years I couldn’t nap. Then I had kids and I think I learned I needed to get extra sleep any way possible!
Hooray for mail again! You can look up where the rotating strike locations are. Currently there are three I believe. It seems that basically CUPW will pick 3-4 locations where they are striking and everywhere else will be business as usual. Our first day of mail was also just flyers. But today we got two kid magazines, a card from a friend for me, and the bill from my husband’s ambulance ride when he had his axe accident. (It’s only $130 so much cheaper than what I see Lisa reported above!!!)
Just the thought of his axe accident still makes me shudder. Thank goodness ambulance rides are much more affordable here!
Yay for fun mail (minus the bill).
I’m out of the routine of checking my mail. I saw the mailperson go by today, but didn’t actually go check the mailbox.
Sleep is magic.
And I’ve also learned to appreciate hibernation season as an extended rest – yes, the cold can literally ache in me bones, but it also forces me to slow down and let myself rest and recharge before things go wildly active again in the spring 🙂
Thank you for the shoutout! 🥰 This project is turning into the coolest thing, not just as something I’ll be able to use soon (hibernation blanket!), but in getting people talking 🙂
Totally making those energy bites soon, and a firm believer that dessert makes an excellent breakfast, lol
I have been hibernating this week. It has been cool, overcast, and rainy and I have been squeezing in extra rest whenever I’m able. I have napped THREE DAYS in a row which is so much more than normal, but I can tell my body needs it so I’ve “given” in and am definitely starting to feel better because of it.
The energy bites are delicious, though not quite as delicious as the slice of pumpkin pie was when I had it for breakfast!
So many happy things! I am just back to civilization, will slowly work back on your recaps, I’m sure it was a wonderful bonding experience for you all.
I don’t always take naps but when I do it’s usually less than 1 h and feels rejuvenating, anything longer will affect my evening sleep.
It was such a special, wonderful trip!
I have such a hard time limiting my naps. Usually if I’m tired enough to actually nap, I want a LONG sleep…
Thankfully, it hasn’t been impacting my night sleep because I was just so tired from a week of bad sleep so am clearly “catching” up.
What a wonderful list of happy things! Before my surgery, I was not a napper; napping would ruin my sleep that night and/or I’d wake up with a headache. So not worth it. Since my surgery, however, my body will hit a point where it demands sleep and a 20-minute nap makes all the difference. Nutrition is making a difference in how often those lulls hit me, but I guess I’m on team nap for a bit longer, haha! PS: Hooray for mail!!
That is exactly how I feel – like my body is DEMANDING sleep. And I love to get cozy with a magic bag at my feet and just surrender!
Oh yay that the strike is over, at least for now. The last piece of snail mail that I received was a really cute postcard from Kim @ Kims Has the Runs. It’s always so fun to get mail.
What’s making me happy about this post is seeing all of the things that I got to experience – lunch at Cumin! (HBD John!), NS landmarks! Wolfville scenery! The Charleston mug!
Yes! It was the cauliflower from Cumin. So yummy. Along with take-out sushi.
You know how I feel about my Charleston mug.
I’m with you on dreading the winter days with the messy roads and freezing temps. Ugh. Our weather here is still warmer than most fall temps that we usually see. I’m here for it.
Suz’s news is so exciting. Yippee!
Bummer about your sleep. I’ve been having decent sleep lately, but I stay up later than I want to every night. There’s never enough time in the day. *sigh* I do like to nap, esp while laying on a lounge chair on the deck in the sun with a book. I know some people hate a nap, but if I can snooze for 15 minutes I feel re-energized.
the last fun snail mail I got was probably from Michelle at Doodle. I did send engagement cards to my two nieces that are engaged and one of them texted me – she was just tickled to get a card in the mail.
I am NOT ready for winter. I never am, but somehow I feel like I might be dreading it more this year??
Yay for fun mail; I adore Michelle’s cards. She’s such a talented artist.
Well dang, I bet those energy balls are awesome—full of forbidden ingredients to one watching her blood glucose. (Sob)
I might just roll up and die if the mail stopped. Today I received a very pretty card with a big fat check for 3 pencil drawings, which I MAILED to the customer last week.
Rebecca must have the most incredible stash of every yarn color available! If I didn’t suspect it is acrylic, I might have a bit of yarn envy.
Naps disrupt my already disrupted night sleep. If I feel the need to nap, I try to get up and move my body, jump on the mini trampoline, march down the driveway, anything to not fall asleep during the day! I would HATE having some sort of tracker telling me a sleep score—shut up, machine, I CAN’T HELP IT. So there.
They are definitely sugar bombs. But they are delicious.
That’s great about getting your commission cheque!
“I dialled in most meals, left laundry until the last possible minute, and took a 2+ hour nap one afternoon.” <– Um, you and I are treading parallel paths my friend. Like you (and Jenny) I am feeling so scattered lately, and I have been really phoning it in as a housewife. I think I made dinner once this week? And the laundry basket was literally overflowing before I finally got it together to throw a load or two in the washing machine.
Sleep is still really challenging for me, and I too took a two hour nap yesterday. Unplanned, and it feels a little illicit and almost shameful?? Why do I feel that way about rest? I saw an Instagram post recently about how naps are the new day drinking and it made me giggle but also it hit a little too close to home. I mean, why NOT nap when sleep is hard to come by at normal times? But I think I feel so guilty about it because it's not like I'm doing laundry or making dinner in the middle of the night. I don't know. I envy your ability to give yourself grace. Which you — and I — DESERVE!
Okay this is a very sullen comment in response to your happy things post! Happy birthday to John and happy weekend to you, Elisabeth!
I am feeling it hard this week, Suzanne. Must be something in the phase of the moon or something??
Grace comes in waves; see my angsty brain dump post from minutes ago…haha.
It can be difficult to enjoy the moment instead of letting the dread creep in. I know winters where you are are rough, so I sympathize. Autumn, especially if it is sans fires, is such a beautiful season.
I’m glad you’re catching up on your sleep. I had a few nights of sleep a few weeks ago, and it was horrible. Just lying there (laying there? I never can remember) awake for hours is excruciating.
I’m glad that you got some mail, but BAH that it was not fun mail. My last fun mail was probably a postcard from you and Birchie!
Any mail feels like a step in the right direction. I’m out of practice and keep forgetting to check! I’m so glad our postcards from NS made it out before the strike.
I love fall, but it definitely starting to feel like winter is on the way. Brrr. I have my winter coat out and that helps. Life is too short to be cold more than necessary. I hate admitting it’s time to dig out mittens and hats, BUT they help do the job of keeping me warm.
[…] As I mentioned yesterday, I am feeling scattered […]
I can only imagine how much you want to put off winter. I don’t blame you. Your summer and fall look SO glorious!
Happy belated birthday to your John. I love the progressive lunch idea; very clever.
I’d forgotten that you are still having a Mail Strike— it seems like that has lasted a long, long time, which is a bummer for everyone.
The progressive lunch was fun! A “greatest” hits culinary adventure.
Happy belated birthday to John! I knew it was his birthday (because it’s close to my Jon’s birthday!)! It sounds like you had a lovely low-key celebration.
I am so thrilled you’re hosting the CBWC again! I’ve been walking a lot with my mom, but I didn’t get around to posting about it. It’s wonderful to see so many join again for this!
I love that you got to hang out with Shu and Kae. Man, you’re the “blogger destination” these days! 🙂 I do hope to come and visit sometime, too!
I will welcome you with bells on (is that just a local saying???).
I would be honoured to help you take in the sights, sounds, and flavours of Nova Scotia.
It really was an epic trip and I feel so, so grateful for the time we spent together.
I am feeling very behind on life right now! Hence me responding a week late to this blog post, sigh.
I am the napping QUEEN. I love a weekend where I can take at least a 1-hour nap Friday/Saturday/Sunday. That’s my ideal weekend, ha. They don’t impact my sleep at all, which is troublesome because you would THINK a 3-hour nap would mean I can’t sleep at all that night but alas. It does not! I’m just a sleepy girl!
A good nap is a true joy in my life. I didn’t nap at all this week, but I’m hoping to fit some in my parents’ next week!