I am dragging to the finish line of this week.
There are a variety of challenging, non-bloggable things happening in our lives/the lives of people we care about lately. I’m a bit weary of writing that sort of thing out—yet again!—but it genuinely feels like there is constantly some minor (or major) challenge going on within our orbit at all times.
And, still, life marches on. There are so many good things happening, too.
Both kids are off school today, which feels… okay.
While I typically dread random holidays—and I’m still not clear what purpose today’s day off from school is serving—I very much appreciate that it lands on a Friday and provides us with a long weekend.
Tomorrow is an all-day youth event organized by our church. It’s happening about an hour away and it runs until 8 pm. THAT IS WELL PAST THE TIME I WANT TO BE SETTLED IN PJS ON A SATURDAY EVENING. Such is the joy of volunteering with teens who are hitting their stride at 8 pm.
It will be fun and exhausting and I’m both looking forward to it and dreading it in equal measure. This year, since Indy is now in middle school, he’ll be involved, too. It will be a memorable family adventure, since John and I are both volunteering and both kids will be participants.
Sunday morning is church and I think I’ve convinced everyone to only go to the 11 am service because… #Sleep.
Let’s discuss Happy Things, shall we?
TRAMPOLINE TIME
Our free hand-me-down trampoline has provided hours and hours and hours of entertainment at this point. Saturday morning found me outside far too early, freezing my feet off (I was in sandals and sadly sandal weather is apparently behind me), filming various flips and tricks in slow motion so Indy could watch them to make note of changes he should make to his form. At least I had coffee.
His repertoire of twirls and spins and flips has expanded dramatically and it’s a lot of fun to watch, even if my heart is in my throat some of the time.
MORE BATCH COOKING
Batch baking continues! I just cannot get over how quickly food disappears. A few weeks ago I made a double batch of banana bread and had oodles of muffins and two loaves and all sorts of it went to the freezer and I figured I was set for a month and it was ALL GONE within a week. One day, after school, Indy ate three muffins. And this was after finishing whatever was leftover in his lunchbox. His increasingly long legs are apparently hollow.
So I made a double batch of pumpkin bread (converting most of it into muffins because they’re easier to transport to school), a GIANT double batch of high-protein waffles (and had about 25 by the time I was done), and a batch of cinnamon muffins. Much of it went to the freezer, and no doubt a week from now, most of it will be gone!
*Update: I’ve already made more pumpkin muffins.
FESTIVE DECOR
I tend toward minimalism when it comes to seasonal decorations (with the slight exception of Christmas, but even then things are relatively understated in our house), but I wanted to add a few little things to mark the shift into fall.
I bought a leaf swag and wrapped it around the chandelier hanging over our dining room table. I put up the wooden garland I bought last year for the mantel, and set out a few other things I was too lazy to photograph for the purposes of this post.
My favourite decoration this year is the set of paper pumpkins Belle bought at Dollarama (the set was $4). They are absolutely adorable in person and I’m tempted to go buy a set for myself. Bonus because they’ll accordion fold back down to almost nothing in terms of storage.
More generally, her room is a festive explosion of fall/Halloween decor. She is ALL IN. And the instant Halloween is over, she’s ready with Christmas decorations.
STARBUCKS DATE
Our foray to Dollarama for those festive accents was followed by a trip to Starbucks. I got a pecan oat latte, and Belle treated us both to a piece of cinnamon coffee cake, which felt very seasonally appropriate. It was absolutely delicious.
I thought these Peanuts-themed gift cards were adorable!
FUN FRIEND TIME
Belle and I had that stretch of time alone together because Indy was off having fun with a friend. They were gone the entire day: first to an outdoor wildlife reserve, followed by mini golf. He was living his best life. (John was gone all weekend at a men’s event.)
When the mom brought Indy home at the end of the day, the boys proceeded to jump on the trampoline for over an hour while we chatted.
GOLD STARS (NOTE THE PLURAL) FROM MY TEEN
For the most part, I’ve taken an increasingly hands-off approach with overseeing cleanliness and order in Belle’s bedroom. She’s a teenager and can and should be responsible for maintaining that space. To her credit, for the most part, things never get too out of control. But her sheets needed to be washed and she also gave me “permission” to clean her room. (In other words, she loves to have a clean space, but didn’t want to necessarily do the work.)
It didn’t take very long—maybe 10 minutes total—to clear all the socks off her floor (are they clean? are they dirty? NO ONE KNOWS, so I took it upon myself to wash them all), dust her desk and side tables, and strip off the sheets, and vacuum the floor.
After everything was done, I sent her a text message awarding myself a gold star. And she gave me double gold stars. Praise can’t get much higher than that at this stage of parenting.
HAPPY THINGS IN BLOG LAND
- In case you missed it, I was a guest over at The Frugal Girl earlier this week! A huge thanks to Kristen for hosting me in her lovely corner of the internet.
- Catrina ran her first sub-90 half marathon. AT 58. This result is wildly impressive!!
- I thought Melissa’s travel hack of heading out on a food tour during a very long layover in Singapore was truly genius.
- This poem (and original art) by my friend Jan made me smile.
- Diane’s annual family trip to the Renaissance Faire always sounds delightful!
- When I posted a picture of my new mug, my friend Jana took special interest in it and asked for the brand name (10 Strawberry Street) and then promptly ordered one off eBay! She has a special affinity for blue and white (check out the tile on her kitchen floor). We’re now twinning (fraternal, not identical) with our pretty mugs!
- Who doesn’t love celebrating a dog gotcha day?? Lindsay’s adorable puppy—Maysie—has been with her family for a year now.
- I thought Laura’s Substack article about “Send show notes for life” was a brilliant idea.
- I used to check our mail almost daily, but these days we’ve been stretching it to almost a week. The unintended result? There’s almost always something “fun”. This week, an absolutely touching handwritten message from blog friend Maria, and a very special postcard signed by Michelle, Kyria, and Birchie! I’m sad I wasn’t able to join them in person, but receiving a postcard in the mail was the next best thing.
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- This one made me laugh. Indy was playing a mini-basketball game with a friend on the floor of his bedroom when one of the balls rolled under his dresser. I happened to be walking by so I helped them pull the dresser out and BEHOLD: half a dozen empty granola bar wrappers. Busted. He was like: Oh, that was from back in the stage when I was really into granola bars. They’ve probably been in this little hidden nest for several years at this point.
- We were in the middle of a spray-painting project when our existing can ran out (there was still a bit of paint left, but something got clogged and all our tricks to get it working again failed). I popped into the local hardware store and managed to get the LAST can of the particular brand/shade/finish.
- And, over the weekend, since I had the spray paint handy, I touched up the paint on our dryer vent and a few other exterior things. Most of these sorts of things don’t come standard in black, so we spray painted them black years ago. And that paint has slowly flaked off. If I’d had more time I would have spent more time scraping off the old paint, but that can be a next summer job. Now that the paint has been touched up, it’s clearly time to focus on clearing all the cobwebs off our siding!
- A Use Up Our Leftovers salad. I chopped up the end of the romaine lettuce that’s been languishing in the fridge for ages, half an avocado, corn on the cob, a few croutons, and some thinly sliced pork tenderloin, also left over. SO good!
- I met up with a mentor of sorts this week; she was my first boss in my first job out of grad school and we had mostly lost touch (waving in passing if we saw each other). I was on a walk with Joy last week when we bumped into each other and decided to get together for coffee and to catch up. For context, the last time we had any significant conversation, Indy was a BABY. A lot has happened. And it was delightful to see each other again.
That’s a wrap from me. Happy weekending, friends.
Your turn.
- What are some Happy Things in your life this week?
- What is your least-favourite laundry item to deal with? I also dislike matching socks. Oh, and stuffing liners back into sports bras. Ugh.
- Do you decorate your living spaces for changing seasons?
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After your travel post on the Frugal Girl I decided to hop over here to check out your blog, too. I also revisited your guest post and (belatedly!) saw your response about optimists/pessimists/realists needing data. Hi!
I still think running hot water is an engineering miracle.
I, too, love organized spaces and organizing spaces. It took over three years in this house to stop smiling every time I opened my bathroom drawer. In the old place there wasn’t enough space for proper organization, the type where you can see everything and don’t have to shuffle stuff around to get to other stuff.
Over the summer I discovered more on the long list of “things that could be worse”. There’s hard stuff in my life and what I discovered is more ways in which the same stuff is harder for others. I’m still thankful for that. If that isn’t the perfect pessimistic optimistic outlook, I don’t know what is.
Welcome!
Yes, perspective really does help shift our perception of “hard.” While I never want to discount my own basket of challenges, when I’m honest about the severity of what I’m facing it can remove some of the sting from the situation. I am safe, have a roof over my head, money in my bank account, food to eat, a loving family. That alone is cause for great joy. Though I can certainly still be very irritated by the pesky responsibilities of adulthood 🙂
Stuffing liners back into sports bras!! Absolutely spot on as the least favourite item in the laundry, and one of the reasons Kai is not on laundry duty. The sports bras test his patience way too much! 😂
Double gold stars for Mum!! That’s so sweet of Belle. And I love that you have Starbucks dates together! It’s so nice to have a stress-free chat and some proper one-on-one time now and then.
How are your parents doing these days? I hope they are better!
I know they make some sewn-in liners, but why is this not standard practice? Does the person designing sports bras not ever have to wash their own.
There is something special about chatting in a public space over coffee.
There are still some family health challenges that are… tough. Thanks so much for asking <3
Oh, the hidden wrappers! My one son did that with mini candy bars and granola bars- stuffed into the cushions of a chair. I didn’t care he ate them, but there’s a garbage can within 8 feet- why not throw them away?!?. Behind the dresser is remarkably clean- bonus points to you. ( my house, the dust bunnies abound!)
I used to decorate a little for holidays, but can’t be bothered now. I might put a little black cat art on the door and mantel (some a gift from my sister, and the wooden black cat a cute piece I bought years ago even though money was tight.) I just hate having to store things anymore- I gave the other Halloween stuff to salvation army this summer. The leave garland looks charmiing- mi n small but chic!
I know the feeling about good mixed with hard. I skipped thankfulness posts this week because I felt the weight of several big things. But we move forward! I hope you continue to find fortitude to get through the day and see the good. The Saturday event sounds like a great time. I’m volunteering this weekend at a school chicken dinner -saturday prep- breading chicken for hours- and Sunday serving. Its the only kind of volunteering I’m good at- I stay far away from the annual auction or event planning. But I can be a helpful pair of hands for the mundane stuff.
Socks on the floor of teen room- clean /dirty? Who knows. Certainly not the tern boy who put them there. Schroedinger’s laundry. I’ve sniffed too many items in my life- chuck it all in the wash.
Enjoy your weekend!- you’ll be a blessing to those kids!
Ha! Maybe the wrappers displaced all the dust bunnies??
Even a few little items of decor can feel fun and festive. Too much feels overwhelming to me (and then of course you have to store it). I really like the leaf garland. I think it was $3? And it doesn’t take up much space for storage but adds a fun pop of colour to the living space.
I love being behind-the-scenes for volunteer events. Give me a job I can do over and over (washing dishes in the kitchen), and I’m happiest. I have no idea what they’ll need me to do tomorrow. It’s supposed to rain, so that’s a bummer, but I’m sure it will be a lot of fun, even if I may need a very long nap on Sunday afternoon to recuperate.
I FORGOT TO LOOK AT YOUR GUEST POST! And now I’m out of time for the morning, so I MUST remember to do that later!
Belle is so fun, I love how she’s so into decorating. I have my two pumpkins out, that a friend bought for me at craft fairs years ago, and this weekend I’m heading to the farm market for some decorative gourds. I will not use my usual language to express the season! Or, not here. I will on my own blog!
Tomorrow is my friend’s big 60th birthday party and I am in charge of cupcakes, so today is all about making the cupcakes.
It’s raining, which is happy news for the dry valley, but sad news for Rex. Nevertheless, we walk in rain or shine, and so we will be pretty wet by the end of the 5k. Rex does not like the rain, but walk we must. (it’s actually nice because he walks super fast in the rain, so there’s no dawdling or sniffing, we are efficient walkers in the inclement weather!)
She LOVES to decorate. This is also the girl who started a countdown for Christmas 2026 on DECEMBER 26th 2025. She takes holidays seriously. You two would get along fabulously 🙂
Ohhh. Cupcakes. Yummy!
Happy wet, fast walking today.
Oh, Belle and I are soul sisters! As you know, I LOVE decorating for seasons. And I love that you had a Starbucks date.
Sorry to hear you’re going through some hard things. As always it helps to focus on the positives, because there always are plenty if we’re paying attention.
Hee hee… if you think Indy eats a lot now, just wait till he’s a teenager. There was a phase where Paul was trying to gain weight and he was literally eating us out of house and home.
Your day tomorrow makes me shudder a little. I know it will be fun and rewarding, but OOF THAT IS LONG. I’m glad you can sleep in on Sunday.
Oh and one more thing. Sports bra liners make me very, very angry. I also don’t love washing and drying fitted sheets, because things always get stuck in the corners. Like bra liners.
Happy Friday!
I think you and Belle would be fast friends. I am confident you’ll meet up one day and can discuss your love of fall, decor, and Starbucks 🙂
Fitted sheets are such a nuisance. They constantly “steal” socks and I find them a hassle to put on beds, too. In general, I loathe changing sheets.
Welcome to life with a middle school/high school aged boy! There will be a direct correlation between his adult height and the amount of food consumed in your house for the next few years. It is nothing short of awe inspiring to see how much one tiny human can eat. I see that he’s moved on from the tree pose to the upside down pose;-)
Putting liners back into sports bras is the worst chore known to the human race. When I was a serious runner I used to take the pads out before washing them, but now that I’m only going through 1-2 sports bras per week I live dangerously and just throw them into the wash as is.
It really does continue to astonish me, how much one tween boy can eat! (Which in this moment I’m realizing: how fortunate are we to be able to afford all the food he could want/need; it must be such a hard thing as a parent to be struggling with food security and so desperately wanting to be able to satisfy your children’s hunger. REFRAME FOR ME!)
I also live dangerously! But I feel like there is no need for them to be removable like this. Everyone hates it. Why must it persist???
Life pro tip: Just throw out the sports bra liners. YOU DON’T NEED THEM. Who decided they should be separate inserts anyway? I have thrown all of mine away and have no regrets.
I basically hate the process of all laundry, but we do it as a team, so that makes it more fun because we talk and I sing the “folding the laundry” song. It’s truly a highlight of my week now.
I hate wearing them without liners, Engie. I have tried this hack and it just doesn’t work for me.
I am trying to imagine how adding a fun song would transform my laundry experience. I don’t HATE it, but it just feels never-ending, and that part I do groan about a lot. As in, this very second I need to go put on yet another load of laundry.
That is good you have a long weekend and have a great time at the youth event.
It sounds like the kids are really enjoying the trampoline and good job with the batch cooking!
Your fall decor is so pretty and the pumpkins are very cute!
The little glimpses of fall decor make me smile! It’s minimal enough to not feel “invasive” in our space, but there’s just enough to make me happy.
It’s starting to look very fall-like around here which I am liking. I don’t like what comes after fall but I do like fall. Plus I was so tired of my summer wardrobe so am very happy to don sweaters and dresses with tights! But the best part of the past week is that I wasn’t traveling! Last week’s trip was totally exhausting and is likely the culprit behind the nasty flare I had. I travel again this next week and have to fly out on Sunday, and it’s the start of a 3 week stretch of travel… which might turn into a 5 week stretch if our depos happen in the 3rd week of October… but I doubt they will so I am sort of blocking that possibility out of my mind.
I am a minimalist about decor so the extent of our decorations are these 2 little fall-outfitted chicks and some purple spider-shaped lights that I will put on our mantel. I should pull the both of those items out today actually!
I don’t mind folding laundry but it is tricky to tell what is Paul’s and what is Will’s since they are so close in size. So it’s a mental exercise and not a mindless task for me!
I do enjoy my fall wardrobe.
Thank GOODNESS you got a bit of a break from travelling. It’s exhausting both mentally and physically.
Gah. Five weeks. I am hoping it isn’t so.
Would you ever think about separating the laundry by boy? It can create a bit more work, but that way you don’t have tease out whose clothes are whose?
I love a bit of fall decor in the house! Your leafy chandelier swag is pretty, the mantel garland is so sweet, and Belle’s white pumpkins are gorgeous! I gasped at the photo of Indy upside down on the trampoline! Wow!!! My least favorite laundry item is the fitted sheet. It swallows up all the other items in the dryer, and nothing can get dry! My main happy thing is the beautiful fall weather we’ve been enjoying. It’s not too hot, but not too cold. Just perfect!
I’m really longing for some cozy early evenings in too – early bed times… or at least if not bed then book, blog, or painting time. Unfortunately Fall is not my cozy at home season for work….
I love seeing Fall Decor, but I’m not a seasonal decorator myself. I just get so annoyed at having to put things away, so I don’t want to put things out that can’t just stay out. (Hence my very cluttered kitchen counter top of small appliances…) I will do Christmas lights, but then I’ll leave them up well into January because I don’t want to take them down.
I hate putting away laundry – so tedious. I don’t mind matching socks – we just put all the kids’ socks in one bin and sort once a week. And honestly, most weeks, I just sort eight pairs of socks and figure that’s good enough to get through the week… I’m also not to precious about matching socks – if they’re the same brand and style, I don’t fuss about the colour.
I need to do a roundup of my fall home because I went a little crazy, but it all makes me so happy! Belle and I are kindred spirits in that sense.
I still think about those days when my mom would tidy/reorganize my room. She always did such an amazing job! It was not a common occurrence, which made the surprise even more sweet. <3
It’s Sunday morning here, and you are at church, so the busy Saturday is behind you. I hope it went SWIMMINGLY and you’re not too exhausted, and hope there is a nap on your schedule for today.
I don’t decorate much for seasons…I have a metal pumpkin that I put out front, a leaf wreath for the door, and a little ghost for the gate that says ‘Happy Halloween’. That’s it, nothing inside. We do have mantle decorations for Christmas, and we put up a tree. Mostly it makes everything feel cluttered to me. I love Belle’s pumpkins though, and your leaf garland on the chandelier! So fun.
I LOL’d at the wrappers you discovered.
I went shopping this week, looking for a new dress up type blouse, and found nothing that didn’t make me feel horrible about myself. GAH. So frustrating. I ended up ordering 8 items online because they were not available in the store, and hopefully one will work and I can return 7 of them. Luckily I can return them in person.
I hope your busy weekend was the right mix of busy and restful! It was super busy here – one of those where on Sunday evening I feel more tired than I did on Friday evening. Yikes. All good stuff just not the way to be going into the week. A friend just reached out about getting together on Wednesday and I know I should say yes as she’s been asking for awhile and technically I can make it work, but I’m peopled out right now, so don’t know what the right thing is to do. The joys of being an introvert married to an extrovert!
Happy things:
– The leaves are magnificent so far this year. The colour seems to be early and intense.
– Attending a friend’s baby’s baptism today. It was especially wonderful as this is a baby who cameafter two losses in a row.
– a really tasty crockpot dinner waiting for us when we got home after a long day at church
It WAS busy, but also good.
Say no, Maria! If you are leaning into saying no, realize more things will certainly come up between now and Wednesday to drain your energy reserves. There will be a time to meet up and hang out but coming off a busy stretch, it’s okay—good!—to say no.
The leaves are so pretty!
Hooray for crockpots.
(Hi, WilliamB!! Have you been here before?)
Hey, our mugs almost match! There were so many to choose from, so I picked the least expensive blue and white on eBay—they have an enormous variety, and I have NEVER EVER EVER spent that much money on a mug before (repressing it, don’t ask.)
“The pesky responsibilities of adulthood” —ain’t that the livin’ truth. Pesky and endless.
Scraping old paint off and repainting a dryer vent is so far down my to-do list that I need binoculars to see it.
Fall decor consists of a big pumpkin that I took from a friend’s neighbor’s field of rotting pumpkins. It is on the steps leading to the walkway to our front door. That’s it, that’s all. It was free, and it will compost.
Eeks. I feel very guilty being responsible for you spending excess money on a mug; I do hope it’s worth it. I have LOVED mine (but it was only $6.99).
Ha! The white showing through under the black was really bugging me, so while it was not at all important, it does feel good to have it done!
I always feel silly buying a pumpkin (often we don’t—how unfestive). They’re not cheap and they rot so quickly. Like you, we compost them, though.
A late comment from a wild week, but thanks for the Maysie shoutout and cheers to all these happy things! Just the glimmers I needed on this Feedly catch up!
Aww. Hooray. Maysie clearly brings so much joy. She certainly brought a smile to MY face reading about her <3