Life: It Goes On - November 5

Thirty-five years. Thirty-five years The Big Guy and I have been married as of last Monday. So often my brain still tricks me into believing I'm not much older than that so it's hard to imagine that we have been "we" for so long. Not long ago I met a woman who has what can only be described as a very unusual marriage; still, she called her husband her soul mate. I'm never sure I understand what that means or if BG and I are, in fact, soul mates. But I do know that no one knows me better than he does, I would not be the person I am without him in my life, and that he is my rock. As opposed to the days I feel 35, some days I feel pretty old so it was strange to think, when he said to me "here's to another 35" that, theoretically, that could happen!

This Week I'm:

Listening To: Podcasts (including Criminal, Pod Save America, and Classical Classroom), NPR in the mornings, and Sam Smith's new album, after listening to him on an NPR interview.

Watching: The World Series, football (it's quite the bleak year for this fan), Disney's 2017 Beauty and the Beast (I loved it in the theaters; in rewatching it, I was as big a fan), and Bridget Jones' Baby.

Reading: Starting a new book today, Beverly Gray's Seduced by Mrs. Robinson, about the making of the iconic movie, The Graduate. I just finished Andy Weir's Artemis, which I'm reviewing tomorrow. I enjoyed it a lot.

Making: For our anniversary, I did roast a pork tenderloin, baked hasselback potatoes, and made chocolate-dipped strawberries. We did chicken flatbread pizza one night. And last night, we had pasta with tomatoes from our garden that are still ripening on our counter and basil I've brought inside to keep growing.

Planning: On continuing work in my office this week. Doesn't it feel like I'm always talking about working in this little room? It does seem to be a room that is always in flux as things change around here. One of these days, I'll finally decide what it's real purpose is!

Thinking About: Yeah, it's one of those weeks when my head's aswirl with so many things I can't even seem to alight on one thing long enough to finish that thought.

Enjoying: A quiet day yesterday while BG was off to spend the day with friends and Miss H took a four hour nap in anticipation of a very late night last night with her best friend who is on leave from her post in Virginia.

Feeling: Like I need to get busy cleaning but I'd much rather be doing organizing and decluttering things.

Looking forward to: A very quiet week. Again.

Question of the week: Last week a lot of you were surprised that I had already started shopping for Christmas. I couldn't possibly get it all done if I didn't start early. My question for you is, how do you find the time to get everything done for the holidays that needs to be done? Start early and spread it out or devote the month of December to getting it all done?