7 Quick Takes!

Here we go....

--- 1 ---

It feels like I spent almost every waking moment this week either reading books, gathering more books to read, or writing about reading books.  In other words, it's been a perfectly heavenly week.

--- 2 ---

Brian's on his first golf outing since we moved to Austin.  I'm hoping he's having a marvelous time to make up for the fact that baseball season is over for us.  [read here for Brian's ode to NY from last October]

--- 3 ---

Natalie's officially completed her first week of homeschooling, aka The Great Homeschooling Experiment.  You know what?  We had a great week.  I feel really lucky to be able to have extra time together this year.  I'm going to keep posting the daybook posts until I run out of time -- or willpower -- to continue.  Feel free to read or ignore (unless you happen to be one of Natalie's relatives, than I expect you to keep track of every detail of her progress!)  I think the post helps me stay accountable.  Plus, I may be trying to make up for how poorly I did keeping up with Natalie's baby details.  It kills her -- and me--  that I can't remember her first word and that I didn't WRITE IT DOWN!  

--- 4 ---

 I'm keenly aware that this season of having all four kids still under one roof is running out of days quickly.  I'm trying to pay attention to all these moments together, even the annoying ones when my 20-year-old son eats up my favorite breakfast granola and my Alex plays guitar too loudly in the morning. (don't tell Kendra, but I couldn't think of one single thing that she does annoying enough to add to this list!)  I want to be present to all of it. 

--- 5 ---

It's Columbus Day weekend and I'm kind of mourning the Northeast.  I will say that Texas weather has been practically perfect in every way for the past week or so (if only it would rain to make the grass green again!).  But, there's nothing quite like upstate New York in October.  I had to google "Central Texas" + "pumpkin patch" to try to find somewhere nearby for our annual tradition of trekking through the fat and happy gourds of autumn.  To make it a little more tricky, I was trying to find a pumpkin farm en route to meet up with my cousin and his family who live in Temple.  We found ONE location, but it's in Temple!  She told me to not "expect the Northeast" but I figure even if the pumpkins are disappointing, Jared & Natalie's kids are so adorable we won't even notice.  Should be fun.   I imagine I'll be posting some pics here next week.

--- 6 ---

I'm trying to figure out where and when and how to keep pursuing publication.  I'm kind of hooked now that I got to see my name in "print" last week.  Any suggestions??

--- 7 ---

I've been waiting for the right time to post this video and just haven't gotten to it yet.  Figure now's as good a time as ever.  Granted, it's about a half hour long, so it's not for the merely curious.  But for those who consider themselves (a)  fans of my children OR (b) fans of my sons' band Where's Ulysses, OR just plain old (c) addicted to humouring me, spend some time strolling through this video.  Tyler must have spent hours combing footage of the bands last year of shows together, piecing together a kind of farewell/highlight reel.  In my opinion, he did a fantastic job with both audio and video editing -- way to go, Ty! (even if we do have to see your droopy drawers on the screen capture thumbnail)


By the way, in case you haven't heard, you can download their free farewell EP, Surplus, at their bandcamp site.


Happy weekend, y'all!

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