Thursday 13: Daybook musings

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... Fall seems to have slipped in, overnight. Woke up to wind and some spitty-spattery raindrops. It's cool... Nice, but I fear I will be missing the sunshine oh-so-quickly.

I am thinking... that I have a hard time going from home (which is super quiet and just me during the day) to the normal, civilized, conversational world, and getting my brain clicked into THAT gear. I am still in my own head, it seems, and if I run into someone in the store (this happened last week) and they want to converse, I'm really kinda short, brief... maybe could be seen as rude. And I don't mean to be. It's weird. I think I need a rev-up time, some sort of brain acrobatics that requires conversation. Something to get me ready to be with people. On days when I am up and out in the world from the start--at meetings or whatever--it seems to go better. I guess I'm just bad at switching modes...

I am thankful... for so many things. This week I've really been thinking about the basics. Glad to be alive. Glad to be healthy. Glad to know love. Baaaasic.

In the kitchen... I roasted a LOT of tomatillos, tomatoes, garlic and peppers today. My method here is to get all the ingredients cooked and then I HAVE to make stuff, right? Marinara... enchilada sauce... yum. The roasting garlic just about drove me nuts tonight, it smelled SO good.

I am wearing... stuff for running. I am hopeful that I'll get out and pound the pavement here in a bit... the cool temps should make for a comfortable run, I'm thinking, as opposed my usual hot-faced-by-8-a.m. look and feel!

I am creating... stuff. I'm in fragmented mode, so I need to pull a little focus together. This week I've done calligraphy, some embroidery, a little crochet on the weekend, a whole heck of a lot of Photoshop research, and that's about it. I have a number of things to get done before the holidays, so I had been get crackin'.

I am going... to Spokane next week, for a little business. A little work with one of the non-profits I volunteer with, doing some interviews. Should be a nice combo of fun and work. Spokane is old stomping grounds for me... lots of memories around that area from high school. Also plotting a trip north to Canada to see my Grandma before the holidays... and a brief Seattle jaunt here soon, for the boys' annual football excursion (which somehow coincides nicely with a little shopping excursion for Kim and I... sweet!).

I am wondering... how long I'm going to be able to extend my runs to before my right knee objects. It can be a little creaky when I head out, but a mile or so in it tends to feel happier. I want to increase past my usual 2-3 miles, but I'm nervous.

I am reading... very little actually bookish at the moment. Lots of internet research for a couple of projects I'm working on, but I do need to pick up the pages of a REAL book again here soon... My Amazon cart is full of possibilities, and my Kindle has oodles of samples to puruse, but what else is new?

I am hoping... for a peaceful fall-into-holiday season. I know, now that I've put it out there, something dramatic is just bound to happen. Ha. Here's hoping not!

I am looking forward to... all of those little out-of-town jaunts I mentioned above, as well as general fall loveliness. 

I am hearing... the dogs, barking at some imaginary thing. They can really go to town protecting the place, that's for sure. Most of the time I think of it as their lovely way of communicating. Every once in awhile I want to buy muzzles...

Around the house... I am needing to stay on top of recycling. I love doing recycling and am really committed to keeping our trash to a minimum, but boy does it require a vigilance... It's kind of like laundry, in that the minute you think you're done, there's another pile to do/sort.

I am pondering... hitting the send button on an email I've had in my drafts file for a bit. But that's about how far I've gotten: pondering. After all, I'm hoping for peace, right?! Sent emails do not always equal peace... but, sometimes they have to be sent anyway.

One of my favorite things... is apparently the smell of roasting garlic! Ha. I'm still on my basil kick. And tomatoes. There is NOTHING like a homegrown tomato. Somehow the three of those ingredients will find their way into my tummy today, oh yes they will. I have been making up big batches of pizza dough that we can eat a couple of times during the week, and so tonight will be pizza night again. Yum.

A few plans for the rest of the week... husband has encouraged me in getting out the canning equipment to put up the enchilada sauce and marinara sauce, rather than freeze as I was so lazily inclined to do. I know he's got a good point about using freezer space thusly, and I also know it will be less of a pain in the butt than I imagine. It's one of those things that once I bite it off, I'll enjoy. But talking me into it, that takes a bit... just ask husband! Ha. So that's this afternoon and tomorrow... and more yard stuff and then boom it's the weekend, which should be lovely and a bit cooler.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...

I just love the gold of the wheat (well, the wheat leftovers, anyway) and the blue together. I hope we have a few of those days left this year...

What do you have on tap for the rest of the week? Tell me! Any big weekend plans? I want to know!

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