It was a pleasant weekend. I picked up some library books, did some Christmas shopping, and took myself out for pizza.

I watched seasonal movies, read, knit (okay, it was only one row, but still!), and made it to the farmers market.

Sarah and I checked out a new-to-us farm, picked apples, bought cider doughnuts, and ate ice cream cones.

I biked to the garden, stopped for some chai, and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. (This year it was mostly college students. I didn’t head outside until 6:30, so the little littles were done by then, and the tweens in my neighborhood probably headed to a neighborhood with a better participation rate. The last candy bar I handed out went to a grandma in a wheelchair wearing a cat-ear headband. She meowed at me and enthusiastically took a treat.)

Overall, it’s hard to complain about a weekend that could have been filled with a flood that wasn’t.

How was your weekend?

It’s pouring again as I type this and I’ve checked our dry bags. Mostly they’re doing their job, which is to keep the water from seeping into the rest of the living room. You may have seen photos of water lapping at the feet of the MLK Memorial statue, so you can appreciate D.C. is getting more than a fair amount of rain today. The rain is supposed to taper off soon and the rest of the weekend should be dry. Fingers crossed everything holds.

Other than keeping my domicile dry, here’s what I’m hoping the weekend includes:

• Apple picking and doughnut procuring with Sarah on Sunday
• A trip to the farmers market before she and I leave
• Giving out candy to trick or treaters (I must figure out where the candy bucket has shifted to. I saw it right before I left for Salt Lake.)
• Painting my nails Halloween colors
• Going for my first Coffeeneuring ride of the season
• Picking up a Halloween and a Christmas read at the Arlington library (I really wish they’d coordinated their holds better so I wasn’t stopping in two weekends in a row, but c’est la vie.)
• Reading
• Knitting
• Visiting the garden to pick up the tomatoes that may have blown off the vine this week (I definitely won’t need to water!)
• Doing laundry
• Starting the Christmas cleaning
• Doing some writing

Okay, this feels pretty ambitious for the energy level I’ve had recently, but I’m confident I can put a dent in the list at the very least. And hopefully Sarah will want to drive tomorrow…

The weekend started in Salt Lake, with Mexican food for supper on Friday and a trip up Emigration Canyon to a diner I’ve wanted to try for Saturday brunch (I had part of the leftovers on the plane and the other part for dessert tonight). We stopped at King’s English bookstore, where I picked up an emergency book for the plane ride home (I ended up not needing it, but only because I had it), and then I headed back east to Corey.

This morning there was a trip to the farmers market, and, later, to Virginia to return library materials and shop their Friends’ used book sale, where I picked up a bagful of books. On the way home, I stopped at the garden, the grocery store, and the drug store and chatted with my folks. Our cat sitter stopped by to return our keys and I spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch.

How was your weekend?

Okay, so apparently travel days aren’t great for my posting things when I think I am. Or maybe weekends. But especially weekend travel days.

Anyway, here’s what I was thinking I’d get to today when it was still yesterday (sort of):

• Go to the farmers market
• Return library books to Virginia (and check out the used book sale)
• Visit my garden
• Arrange to pay our cat sitter
• Do a load of laundry
• Procure (and prep if I’m feeling super ambitious) easy lunch foods for this week
• Cuddle the cat
• Sign up for #TBTBSanta before it’s too late
• Buy Jenny’s Christmas present while it’s on sale
• Knit at least three rows

Happy return-to-reality to me!

My MIL keeps asking us what fun things we’re going to do while I’m out in SLC. It’s not clear to either of us that she remembers that we’re here to empty out her house, and neither of us knows the way to remind her without breaking her heart.

Which instead breaks ours.

Honestly, my decision-making abilities have been down the toilet for a while. Sometimes I know I’m making a questionable decision, but the thought of having to prolong it outweighs the smarter voice. And sometimes I’m so caught in the mental vortex of trying to do too much with too few reserves that I’m literally going in circles from one task to another, without ever actually getting any of it done. I understand that sitting down and tackling one thing at a time is the smarter decision, but I don’t have the ability anymore to distinguish which thing needs focus until we’re in a danger zone.

I keep putting one foot in front of another, which counts for something, but honestly it counts for less and less every day. Can I call out exhausted for the rest of the year?

I need to refill my emotional and mental coffers, but the trip to Salt Lake doesn’t really seem likely to offer that. And I’m starting to wonder if this is just going to be life from now on, with nothing ever being great again. (To be fair, nothing is horrific either. Everyone is healthy and safe and I realize how lucky I am that I’m starting from that baseline.). I know everyone is struggling and my situation is neither unique nor interesting, but without getting some prolonged space and energy to recharge, I just don’t see how to keep the daily grind from grinding me up, too.