We are now months and months into pandemic shutdowns, travel restrictions, and general malaise. In an effort to keep these last months of the year from spiraling into a hot mess, I thought I’d come up with a list, similar to the ones I often make for weekends, of things I’d like to accomplish each month. I will not get mad at myself if I don’t cross items off, but if I get stuck this gives me a physical place to turn to to see what I could work on.

This month is … fraught. This weekend marked week three Rudi was out in Salt Lake. We know he’ll be out there at least another week, but it has the potential to stretch on for a while past then. And the sun has hit the road south to go shine on other people for the next three-plus months. And the fate of democracy … there is reason to be hopeful. Maybe not optimistic, but hopeful.

But either way, I need to do a better job of taking care of myself in November than I did in October.

Here’s how I think I can do that:

• Eat supper by ten each night. (I know. Some of you are in bed at that hour. I’m not. And ten would be a huge improvement over midnight, which is when I’ve been eating about half the time.)
• Get out once a week first thing in the morning before my first work call. This will be painful, but it’s probably my best shot at getting some sun during the week. Also try to take at least one midday workweek walk around the block.
• Eat more veggies. I keep buying them as if someone is going to cook them for me. Related: Look through the cookbooks I love to buy and then hand off to Rudi.
• Start working on Christmas stuff. I cannot make mixes, write cards, and craft all at the same time. So I need to start earlier. Maybe if I write out the envelopes in early November at least I’ll actually get my cards out this year. I have already started sampling new Christmas tunes. And I’ve done a little shopping and started looking for other gifts. (Yes, to Bridget and others wondering, we are doing the Virtual Advent Tour again this year. I’ll have a formal announcement a little later in the month.)
• Put out more fairy lights.
• Plan a virtual tree-trimming party. (The tree will still be IRL.) Or maybe several? Those mass Zoom calls don’t seem so fun to me.
• Bake something. Anything at this rate. Or make bread. Also, see if the sourdough starter in the fridge is still any good.
• Spend more time reading and less time on my phone.
• Get through all my recycling and paper shredding. (I hate my shredder, so I just stopped using it.)
• Call my friends.

How about you? What will help you get through November?

I may have mentioned before that I tend not to give a lot of thought to Halloween costumes until the day of (or, maybe the night before). I have an interesting closet of “normal” clothes that lends itself well to a set of concepts, and I find that procrastinating encourages my brain toward creative combinations.

It does mean that some aspects of costumes get inadequate attention, but I learned years ago that as long as you give people the suggestion, they’ll usually get there in the end. (The exception to this was Raggedy Ann, which pretty much no one got, in part because I resorted to red hair spray, rather than yarn.)

This year, my wings came up a little short. If I’d thought about this last weekend, I could have knit wings, but I didn’t. So I made do with tissue paper around jewelry wire and fastened to my cycling visibility “vest” contraption beneath my jacket. Sometimes they looked like wings and other times leafy epaulets.

On a warmer Halloween, I might have opted for a different top. But since the high today was in the low 50s and I was spending the evening at a concert in the park, I wanted warmth. I did trade out my wreath for a hat (but with the tiara on top of it) and added long mitts.

I should also add that it’s particularly challenging to get a full-length shot by yourself, so apologies for it not being the best exposure/angle. I had to use the selfie timer and prop it up against my bag of tomatoes and herbs on an upside-down water barrel.

And I will add a thank you to my parents, who feed my quirky tastes. My mom made the tulle skirt for me a few years back. The velvet jacket is also from them, as are the sparkly Chucks, the bag (for storing fairy dust, hand sanitizer, knitting, and candy corn), and the bubble wand. The fake fur muff was a gift from my brother decades ago.

What fun combinations did your closets offer up this Halloween?

This weekend’s plans include:

• Coming up with a costume. I have some ideas.
• Carving my pumpkin.
• Baking cookies.
• Coffeeneuring at least once.
• Attending a concert.
• Possibly picking the last of my tomatoes. We have a frost warning tonight, which I missed earlier, and may be expecting another going into Monday.
• Dropping off my ballot.
• Reading outside in the sun.
• Tracking down quarters for more laundry. I hadn’t expected to have to wash and dry the floor towels.
• Sleeping in an extra hour before the farmers market.

What’s on your to-do list this weekend.

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. My boss told me if things get too stressful or upsetting in the wake of the election to feel okay taking a sick day to recover my mental health.

2. The office sent everyone holiday cookies & candies, which I plan on digging into next week when I will want to stress-eat everything in sight.

3. Karen and I had a nice long catch-up tonight on the phone. It felt as close to normal as anything does these days.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week before Halloween and the election?

I should have taken a before picture of my cute apple mummy turnover before I warmed it up and melted its eyes. But it was delicious and I can’t feel too bad about it.

I hope you all have a wonderful week before Halloween! Pick up your favorite candy. Figure out what costume you want to wear around the house or to the grocery store. Settle on scary or cute for your jack o’lantern’s style. You got this!

I may have mentioned before that Rudi is generally the cook around here. It’s not that I can’t cook; it’s just that I don’t particularly like to. And that when I do, inevitably supper happens at midnight. We eat dinner pretty late around here on a normal basis, but my cooking took us to such new levels after Rudi’s first convalescence years ago that he resumed cooking duties within a week of returning home. After his second surgery, he took over the next night.

However, needs do as needs must, and after ten days of sort of suffering through the easy options in my pantry, tonight I pulled up my big girl pants and made stuffed honeynut squash for supper.

I had ingredients on hand because I keep shopping as if someone in the Burrow is going to cook real food. Corey has shown no inclination, so it really did fall to me.

Anyway, they were stuffed with a combination of millet barley, spinach, garlic, shallots, and cranberries and topped with feta. The cranberries made it a tart filling, which contrasted nicely with the sweetness of the squash.

And I was smart and cooked all the honeynuts I had, so I should have two more meals that just need to be reheated.

Thank the heavens.