Oops, let’s restart this again since it’s been awhile since the last recap. Sometimes I only have time to review and reflect on the month in my mind, and don’t get a chance to sit down and write/type things down.
October had some unexpected happenings…some good and some not-so-good, but that’s life.
No one is going to care about this except for us, but last month we finished almost all of the Marvel movies in a year (minus two). And it wasn’t hard to decide what to watch next because a new season of Dancing with the Stars started. I know not everyone enjoys the drama, but we love to see how some of the celebrities transform over the course of their dancing journey. If you watch, who do you think will win the Mirrorball Trophy?
Moving on to actual life stuff now… š
We had two house setbacks – ant invasions that have been ongoing since September (maybe August?) and a leaky roof that we seriously thought was going to collapse on us. I’ll share more about this on my substack soonish(?) (link below). The leaky roof was more of a “quick” fix than the ants. Our routines and sleep were disrupted for a few days, but it was done and done before we hosted gatherings at our house. In house progress news, we scheduled a bulky pickup, in which, very random big items (some from the previous homeowner almost two decades ago) left our property. (And Norm had one scheduled for his mom’s house too.) And we had a gas meter update…not sure what that entailed but the guy was in our yard for quite a bit of time. Last small (in the grand scheme of things), but heavy, thing was the arrival of our sideboard. I think we’re done buying “big” things for now, mostly because we don’t have any money left. We need the sideboard to house our extension panels when the table is not extended. It was a team-lift item, but somehow, our driver was able to move it from the truck into our house by himself. And then, it was up to us to move almost 200 pounds across the house. Good thing our house is below-average size and didn’t have walls blocking our way.
In meeting and appointment news, there was an endospecialist consultation (dental), lp meeting (school), and board meeting (church)…seems like a good mix, maybe not that first one, but it has to be done. Every month seems to have some kind of medical/dental appointment, but we’re privileged to be able to have them. I remember years not being able to do that without big 100% out-of-pocket costs.
Some fun things for the teen were the Trellis Market, Holy Tea, Activate Dublin outing, and a 4-hour study date with our fabulous pastoral resident Diana. Everyone needs a Diana in their life. The market didn’t have a long ramp-up but the youth showed up and so did the church to raise money for two nonprofits. I loved seeing the youth share their passions through their baked goods, hair styling, and creative arts and handcrafts. E was able to contribute 22 of her crocheted items to sell. Also teenish-related, we attended my alma mater’s preview day. The campus has changed so much since I graduated decades ago. Some building are no longer there, and new buildings have been built. I don’t think this is where she will be attending, just a good chance to see what a college has to offer in different ways.
And of course, the highlight of our month was hosting gatherings again! Before the pandemic, we regularly hosted gatherings of all sorts…no fear, I invited online acquaintances to various events. IĀ think the largest gathering was E’s first birthday. We had 70ish people here. Then, health and house stuff took over our lives. Now that we’ve been blessed with a “new” home, it’s time to use it as a blessing to others. We hosted my sister and brother’s birthdays the day after our ceiling got fixed. The following week, we had our community group (minus two families) over. (Sorry we don’t have a real TV screen for our viewing.) Good food, good company, full belly, fully heart.
Here are some other spaces where you can find me online:
House Progress: Substack
This post has the links to all 10 “New” Home posts. (I’ll link my “settling in” posts soon.)
My Weekly List: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
These posts are a quick recap of what I listened to, watched, ate, and read the past week posted on Sundays.
The Declutter Journey: Instagram | Facebook | Membership | The Declutter Community (free)
If decluttering is one of your goals, I have a space to guide you. (Membership is on hold, but I have resources available.)
Bookish Family: Instagram | Substack
We share about the books we’re reading and other bookish things.
Hello Mornings: Monthly Membership | Accountability with Me (exclusive to members, this is paused, but if you’re still interested, message me.)
This is a community to work through morning routines, morning bootcamp, goal-setting, planning, daily check-ins, Bible studies, and so much more! If you need 1:1 accountability, I offer this in the this community as well.