Weekly Wrap Up - Welcome Fall

Here in Virginia, we typically have blazing hot weather in September, fractionally cooler weather in mid to late October followed by full on winter in November.   The weather, like everything else, just had to be different in 2020.  It's been relatively mild from Labor Day on, but this past weekend through this week we've dropped into the 30's at night, with frost, and sometimes only the 50's during the day.  I LOVE IT!  We're actually getting a fall this year!

I've not turned the heat on yet, so it's usually around 65-67 degrees in the house when we get up.  By mid-morning it warms up, but until then we're all slumping around in hoodies and heavy socks.  All the more reason to drink hot tea and coffee during those early hours, right?  

I did a bit of fall decorating over the weekend. I found a really cute (albeit it busy) fall tablecloth that adds a bit of whimsy.  I've placed a few pumpkin arrangements here and there, slapped some fall colored leaves here and there and put out my scarecrow and flags. I need to pick up some real pumpkins. I don't do a lot of fall decorating (mostly because I'm a tightwad)...but I do like having some of the colors and shapes sprinkled throughout the house.  Here are a few photos.

Monday, Olivia got to sleep in for the first time in what seems like forever. I didn't expect to see her before noon, but she was actually up before 10am.  Lindsey was up at her typical 7:15-7:30am and hitting the books over her cup of coffee. I spent the day deep cleaning the house and working on laundry.  Olivia did some deep cleaning and purging in her room as well.  Lindsey had a babysitting gig from 12 - 4pm.  The evening was low key (yippee).

Tuesday morning Olivia and I went to the chiropractor.  Her back and hip are doing much better, and this visit was more of a maintenance appointment.  We came home and she helped me to plant a bunch of creeping phlox around the hedges at the front of the house.   Lindsey's trying to adjust to having Olivia roaming through the house while she's working on academics.  It's a mix between distraction and annoyance that her sister is finished with school. Everyone, including me, nestled down with a book to read for the afternoon.  

Wednesday morning Olivia and I went on a little road trip (she's practicing her driving).  Her t-shirt memory quilt/graduation gift was finally done, so we went to pick it up.  It was a beautiful crisp fall day, perfect for a road trip. On a side note, I wish the majority of people could remember what it's like to learn to drive and not be so rude and reckless.   Anyway, the quilt turned out great!!  It's much larger than we'd expected (which I love).  It features summer camps, vacation Bible school, sports teams, ballet performances and other things that represent Olivia's childhood.  She loves it!

Thursday, Lindsey finally redeemed herself on her history test.  Now that she's moving out of the ancient world and into names she can pronounce, she's doing better.  Her other subjects are going really well...she just is not a history fan.  She's added a weekly babysitting gig on Thursday's so she was gone a couple hours late morning/mid-afternoon.   Olivia was able to pick up an extra day at the horse farm.  She's been working on job applications, catching up on a lot of reading, and starting to learn German.  The evening was the standard volleyball and jiu-jitsu.

Friday morning was gray, rainy and drab.  Olivia worked a lot on her German lessons.  She seems to be enjoying the class and is doing well with it so far.  The good news is that one of her youth leaders speaks fluent German, and our next door neighbor does as well, so she'll get to practice with conversations as she moves along.  Lindsey's work load for the day is pretty light since she had a few quizzes, she should be done before noon.

Looking ahead, I'll have another book review coming in a few weeks.  I've been trying some new recipes, so I'll be posting about those in coming weeks as well.

Have a great weekend!