It’s been a long, exhausting week but here are some favorites of mine.

For one, I was able to get a lot done this week so I felt productive. No pictures, but work-wise, I am relatively caught up.

Two, my daughter’s official cross country season ended Wednesday. Her school came in third for girls and the boys won for the third year in a row! Isaac was on the team the last two years before he went to 9th so that’s kind of neat also.

The final race is always at the ARP. Below, her time when she ran it her very first time back in 2021 and her time this year. This was also the location of the first race of the season and she did awful – actually worse than when she was 8! But she improved immensely in the span of only a few weeks.

Three, my parents came through town last night on their way home and took us out to dinner. Even my oldest was home so he got to go – he’s normally working. After dinner (of which I took zero photos) the kids asked my husband to throw them the ball – a family pastime that always ends in tears. But for a moment, they all got along.

1. I’m furiously grading papers today because my parents are still here and will be heading over soon. They got an airbnb IN my neighborhood since all hotels seemed to be booked. This happens in our town, especially when there’s a home game for FSU.
2. So I have this Halloween blow-up – the only thing of its kind I own – and I cannot find it. I have looked pretty much everywhere, multiple times, and it just does not seem to be materializing. My daughter swears we put it in the upper storage area but I have looked so many times, it’s crazy. I just don’t know how I could misplace a box that size. I mean, it’s not huge but it isn’t small either. Ugh. I’m tempted to just buy another.
3. It’s overcast today, which gives me a headache. Not sure there’s anywhere I could live where the weather would be perfect. Though, fair to say, it looks like those cooler temps are coming in next week. That will certainly make it bearable.
4. Next week I am conferencing with my students; this means I’ll be tied to a zoom room almost all day. But it’s not too bad when I think about how I won’t have to go to campus.
5. We have a 30 mile ride coming up on Sunday and I’m trying not to panic. Actually, I feel pretty good about it. We plan to do a much flatter route. Next week though, the official 35 mile ride/race we are doing will be hilly as the last two weeks we did so, there’s that. Wish us luck!