Christmas is 69 days away and there are 10 Fridays left. So my question for today is are you done with your Christmas shopping yet? Have you started? When do you typically start shopping? (Or creating for those of you who make your own gifts)

Ever bought gifts ahead of time and then lost them? Or if you are an early shopper, do you have a dedicated place to store your gifts?

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My answers: No, I’m not done. Ha! I have started a tiny bit. It varies when I start shopping. I think shopping early is a lot easier with younger children than young adults. (And a bit more fun, kind of miss the toy aisles over here)

What I do varies yearly but I did like the year I bought roughly 2 gifts each month for my boys. I was in the habit of shopping on Christmas Eve for a long time. And actually enjoy it but have started trying to be done earlier now.

One year, I did indeed lose a gift finding it well after Christmas. It wasn’t anything big just one of those, I thought I bought that kind of things. After that, I started storing presents I bought early in specific places.

(And to end with a funny note: When I went to google how many days until Christmas, my happy fingers hit search before I was finished typing and chickens typically hatch in 20-21 days if you need that knowledge for any reason.)

So, last weekend G attended a baby shower. Wait, what? Yes, apparently couples baby showers are the thing now.  He even won a baby bingo prize! (It was a nice Kohl’s type blanket and some candy). Maybe couples baby showers were a thing back in the day and I never knew?

And on Thursday, he’s going to a wedding. Yes, a Thursday wedding. I’m starting to feeling old over here….

(Note: the baby shower couple is different from the wedding couple, just to clarify)

So, I was wondering. When was the last time you attended a baby shower? Was it a couples baby shower? What about a wedding? Was it on a Saturday or a different day of the week?

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The last baby shower I attended was….let’s see my great-niece is in 1st or 2nd grade now so 7-8 years ago! And it wasn’t a couples one, women only at that baby shower.

Last wedding we attended was I think maybe the summer of 2020 or 2021, I know covid was still a big quarantine type thing because I remember being nervous. I’d had to sign some type of work agreement for not being in big crowds. It was an outdoor wedding and not very big though.

Very recently, we attended a reception for a friend’s daughter (the wedding was a small intimate location wedding). It was very nice and held on a Saturday night. You know you don’t get out much when you need to google what cocktail attire means. Interestingly, they didn’t play a single slow song during the reception! Even the 1st dance songs seemed kind of bouncy.

(Confession: I didn’t get this post finished until Thursday morning but am back dating it as I have something else in mind for today)

Quick one for tonight.

They’ve issued a freeze warning for our area tonight. So from almost 90 on Saturday to freezing weather overnight, then back to the 60’s and 70’s for a bit.

Spent a good part of the afternoon bringing in outdoor plants. They grow outside and yet, the inside space seems to shrink. Not pictured above is another Boston Fern and a cactus. I also cut the zinnia blooms and stuck in a couple of vases. And I just realized I forgot about the monstera. SIGH. Well, too late now. We’ll see if it can bounce back from a bit of a freeze. My husband won’t be sad if it doesn’t make it.

Anyway, I was wondering if you’ve turned your heat on yet for the season? Or if you have a fireplace, have you enjoyed a fire? Do you have a set date that you hold out until turning on your heat?

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My answers: No, we’ve not turned the heat on yet. And sadly, no fireplace outside of the Netflix picture here. I haven’t had a Netflix “fireplace” fire yet either. October seems very soon to turn on the heat but if we get super cold, I’ll probably bump it on. Never hurts to test it. We don’t hold out for any set day around here.

Hopefully, most of you already know that I don’t talk politics on this blog. So no names during the answers to these questions, please.

Last night, I had a chance to catch up with one of my older brothers on the phone. (I have 3 older brothers and an older sister.) He mentioned someone stole my sister’s political sign from her front yard.

I laughed and asked if they replaced it with the opposing candidate. They did not. However, we both decided a fun practical joke would be to drive around and switch everyone’s signs to the opposite candidate. Not that it would ever really work in the era of ring doorbells and such.

Anyway, it gave me the idea for today’s question.

Do you put political signs in  your yard? What about bumper stickers on your vehicle?

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My answers:

No. My husband’s always been opposed to putting any type of political sign in our yard. I think the only signs we’ve ever had in our yard related to kid stuff (congratulatory signs, a sign advertising a mattress sale at the local high school for a band fundraiser, etc). Oh, and of course, I’m not opposed to a garden flag:

No bumper stickers. I refuse to put any type of stickers on my bumper or even in my rear windshield. When in college, I used to tape the parking sticker on the windshield so I could remove it once done.

After a brutal (mostly) dry and hot summer, our temps are dropping this week. The first freeze advisory of the season comes on Tuesday.

(Note: Above photo is from last year, trees around here haven’t changed that much yet.)

Lots of things I’ve been putting off that need to happen. Plants brought inside. Clothing located. Should probably do a heater check (make sure the heat works before the temps drop crazy cold).

Do you live where the seasons change? Would you rather live where the seasons change or where they are pretty much the same year round?

Do you store you cold winter clothes separately and pull them out at a certain time of year? When do you typically do it?

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My answers:

Yes, the seasons change here. Sometimes all in the same day! Summer lingered a bit this year. I really don’t think I could handle living somewhere the seasons didn’t change. Even though summer is my favorite, I would definitely miss the other 3 seasons!

I do store my winter (and fall) clothes separately. Honestly, I’ve learned to wait before switching things out too much. And because our seasons sometimes swing wildly from warm to cold, I typically keep out one or two outfits for each season.

Let’s do something simple for Saturday.  We’ll pretend we’re just going to order pizza for dinner tonight. What are we ordering? Tell me your favorite kind of pizza?

Do you think pineapple on pizza is a-okay or a food crime? Any toppings we should absolutely NOT put on our pizza?

Where should we order from tonight if we’re picking a national chain? Pizza Hut? Papa Johns? Little Caesars? Domino’s? Papa Murphy’s (is that national chain?)

I’m sure we all have our local favorites that win out over the national chains…

Oh, almost forgot the crust! Thin? Deep dish? Hand tossed?

Extra cheese? Extra sauce?

Do we need the little packets of parmesan cheese and red pepper?

And, what about breadsticks of any kind?

Let me know what to order so we can be sure to get something you’d want to eat.

Should I order some side salads or wings as well?

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My answers: As usual, my answers depend on the place.

My favorite kind of pizza is actually Hawaiian. Pineapple on pizza is fine and great idea if you want my opinion. Just don’t put too many extras on my Hawaiian pizza, please. Also, nothing wrong with a plain cheese pizza.

I think I’d go with Papa Johns for the national chain as we’ve had good luck with them lately. Pizza Hut is close though. If it’s good, it’s very good. However, sometimes it’s not so good.

I’m not overly picky and can just remove most the toppings I don’t like to eat. I will be removing any olives (yucko) and mushrooms (eww, not on pizza, please!) for sure. Onions and peppers don’t bother too much (well, until later).

Thin crust has been a go to lately but if the pizza is decent quality I don’t mind hand tossed. Not much of one for deep dish pizza.

Extra cheese, sure! Extra sauce, no thanks.

Sometimes I’ll add the little packets to pepperoni but not really to anything else.

If we’re talking Pizza Hut, then, yes let’s get a double order of breadsticks. Skipping them from anywhere else though.

We don’t order side salads but I might have salad stuff here. Sometimes I get an order of wings for the kids.

Okay, what’s our order?

The questions are completely random today.

First though, a joke:

What’s a ghost favorite treat?

A: Booberries!

Ha! Found on Pinterest and immediately filed away for the next time I work with my fun preschool kids.

(By the way, isn’t my new little ghost necklace cute? It lights up as well. Something I got as part of a promotion from a “ghouls night out” event I attended with friends last night.)

ONE: Candle Scent

If you’re burning candles or wax things or oil diffusing, what does it scents are going strong at your house today?

TWO: Breakfast Cereal

What’s your favorite breakfast cereal? Or if you don’t eat cereal, did you have a favorite breakfast cereal as a kid? (Note: The Kelce mix is actually not bad and I kind of liked it.)

THREE: Netflix Binge

What TV shows are you currently watching?

FOUR: Phone Photos

How often do you erase phone photos? I took most the photos in this post today, October 11. So, I was curious to see how far I had to go back to find another month when I took photos on the 11th? How far do you have to go back from today to find another 11th where you took a photo/photos? What did you take a photo/photos of on that date?

FIVE: Plants And Flowers

Do you do inside plants or outside plants? Do you have any plants you bring in for the cold months?

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My answers, no the pictures did not give all away!

ONE: Yes, I am burning the sugared snickerdoodle today and it just might be a new favorite. I was burning a 3 wick called leaves earlier but sadly, I don’t think I like it. Also, in the bedroom I have the oil diffuser going with “Joy” and hint of “Nutmeg” (I have a weird thing about not burning candles in the bedroom).

TWO: My all time favorite breakfast cereal is Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. Close second is Apple Jacks. Interestingly, my younger son and breakfast cereal connoisseur thinks Peanut Butter Captain Crunch is awful. Do you think it’s maybe because it’s all I could eat the last couple months when I was pregnant with that child?

THREE: Picture did give this one away. I’m currently watching White Collar on Netflix. A nice simple 2009-2014 show).

FOUR: I took those photos on February 11 of this year. Clearly, the Chiefs were playing. I took a walk at a local park, and sent my husband a picture to show him the store for some reason was completely out of Hydrogen Peroxide.

FIVE: Of course, I do both though usually only plants inside. And I took that photo today, yes, my tropical hibiscus is still blooming in mid-October! I need to cut it back and bring it inside before the cold really sets in but it won’t stop blooming. Of course, it’s supposed to be almost 90 today.

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I was sitting down here really lacking inspiration for a question. Then, I went down that rabbit hole of reading silly articles (and some news ones) on the yahoo home page. This time, I was reading all about Patrick Mahomes homes in KC and apparently, one in Texas for his off season. And one about rumors that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged (they aren’t). Ha, yes, I get pulled into a lot of articles about the Chiefs.

So my question for you is this: When you read those silly or serious articles on either your computer homepage or social media posts, do you read the comments? Do you comment?

And if you avoid getting sucked into any of those articles, please tell me your secret!

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My answers: I try really hard not to read the comments because well, they get annoying. Yes, I’m being polite and not typing the sentence about people being a certain way (not smart) that popped into my head. That said, sometimes I cannot help myself and I read those comments even when I know better.

Generally, NO, I do not comment. What was it Mark Twain famously said:

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than open it and remove all doubt. 

Wish a few more people followed that motto especially in our online world. Of course, sometimes they do entertain me and keep me busy correcting spelling and sometimes grammar in my head. Now, I’m hoping I didn’t make either of those errors in my post.

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My husband went today to get his SD card from a trail cam on his hunting land. He had an unexpected couple of days off. Of course, he asked if I wanted to go. And I did except I had to work this afternoon.

So, planned to just stay here and clean, maybe run a few early morning errands. Then, I stepped outside. And I knew I needed to be in nature for a bit if only locally. It was so nice out this morning.

What errands? Off to a local nature center for a walk. Last fall I took many walks here. I’d drop J off at school and then since I was so close, go on a walk. Why do I feel I need a reason to go walk there during the mornings? I have no idea and I need to get back to those walks.

My timing was good as I wasn’t first and some lovely soul had cleared quite a few spiderwebs for me. So I could enjoy the sights a little better. I zoomed way in to the top of a tree to try and figure out these birds, never quite managed it.

However, I didn’t have to crane my neck to see this woodpecker.

Or these geese blocking the walking path.

I could’ve walked through them instead of over to a fishing spot but I’d have missed this guy at the edge of the water.

Uh, is there a question in this post? Yes. Where do you like to walk? Is it in a city or suburban area or more out of the way? Ever skip your errands and go do something entirely different? Do you have a set errand day? Did you run any errands today? What’d you do?

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My answers: Since we live in the suburbs of KC, most places I go to walk are pretty much in the suburbs. However, this area has some very nice nature centers that can make it feel like you are far from civilization even as you hear the outdoor gym class of the local middle school.

Clearly I skipped out on my errands today. Lucky enough to have a schedule that I don’t need a set errand day. I do like to grocery shop on Mondays though.

Turns out one of my errands was fairly important and so I did stop and fill my car with gas on the way home from the nature center. I’d had enough walking for one day, ha!

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Another quick one tonight. Just late getting down here to my computer time and so pushing things close to bedtime again. I’ll answer comments tomorrow, I promise. Thank you so much for playing along and answering!

Tonight’s questions are easy: What was for dinner? Was it what you had planned? Do you menu plan? And was it a hit or miss?

Please tell me that I’m not the only one serving up the ocasional (probably more ocasional than I want to admit) miss over here.

My answer

Actually, I’ll give you a bonus by prefacing that last night we had corn dogs and French fries. Remember I worked until past 6 and so had my husband in charge of dinner. However, I did suggest that dinner. I didn’t suggest the full on frying of the fries in oil but he did and they were good!

Usually, I do menu plan though not always. Corn dog dinner was not part of the menu plan as I didn’t make a menu plan until today.

Anyway, not sure why after a meal of corn dogs and French fries, I desired something a bit healthier. Ha.

We had chicken fajita salads tonight. Sounds yummy, yes? And healthy with what lettuce for the salad, onions and peppers, even a few tomatoes from the garden.

And…it was a miss. SIGH.

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Everyone did eat at least. And then everyone sought out their own dessert, ice cream for my husband and G. J had a handful of candy corn. And I had some apple slices with caramel dip.

And now because I’ve been procrastinating (watching Netflix, sad as it is), I need to go clean up my disaster of a kitchen instead of spending more time here.

Hope whatever you had for dinner tonight was a hit and not a miss!