1. Well, fall is here I guess. Last Sunday, we were swimming in Niki's pool and cranking up the AC at home. This morning, six days later, I turned the heat on for the first time. Honestly, I'm thankful we made it to October before using the heat. But I'd be ok if we never had to use it again. (#Iliveinthewrongstate) 

Sunday: last swim of the year. 80s and sunny.

Yesterday: beef stew and homemade bread for a rainy day in the 50s

2. If nothing else, the cooler weather makes me excited to start thinking about Christmas! We did our family name draw this week and I bought the first present for one of my kids yesterday. The money situation is looking quite dismal lately, so I need to stretch out the Christmas spending. I'm also probably going to have to start working at Once Upon on Fridays. Life is expensive. I saw a facebook post this week from a national deals website (Hip2Save) that said, "If you had $150 to spend on dinner this week, what would you make?" And sooooo many people responded, "Ramen. Canned soup. Nothing." I get that I live in a low cost of living area, but that seems crazy to me! I try to stay under $150 a week for all groceries - including paper products, health and beauty products, cat food, and all meals/snacks. I don't always achieve that. Honestly, I'd say my monthly groceries fall more around the $1000 range. But even that seems out of control to me. I've considered donating plasma to make extra money, but if my last blood draw is any indication, I don't think I could handle that. #thanksBiden

3. We had a random day off of school on Thursday. We were already up and getting ready when I got the text that there was no water at school, so it was cancelled for the day! Of course, that's one of my two work days, so I'm out that money. But I'm not going to lie, it was nice to just chill at home. Lena talked me into taking her and Levi to Once Upon to pick out Halloween costumes. For the first time ever, they're doing a coordinated costume! I couldn't believe Levi agreed to it. I hope he doesn't change his mind between now and Halloween. Haha. 

4. On Friday, I cleaned the basement playroom. No one ever actually plays down there because it's become a catch all. But I turned on a podcast and cleaned/reorganized/purged for two solid hours. And lo and behold, Lena and Levi have been hanging out down there! Levi was even inspired to clean his room! 😲 Remember those car tracks that I was going to sell until Levi suddenly took interest in them again? They were spread all over my living room floor for days. The clutter drives me crazy, but Levi won't play with anything unless it's in his face. I finally cleaned it all up and put it in the basement, because now I'm unsure about selling it, and he hasn't touched it since. 

5. I've been thinking a lot lately about how so many people are struggling with such major things that we don't know about. So many broken relationships, so many adult children walking away from their faith, so much conflict within families. Social media has convinced us that everyone's life is great, when in reality, almost everyone has something. And it's not always appropriate to broadcast your issues. It's one thing to say, "I have cancer. Pray for me." It's another thing to say, "My husband cheated on me, but we want to make this marriage work." Some things aren't meant for public consumption. Especially when they involve other people. So it's easy to assume that because people aren't talking about it, their lives are easy peasy. . . . Now, don't read into this. I'm not saying I have anything major going on in my life, and the examples above are made up. They don't necessarily represent anyone I actually know. Just something I've been thinking about, and reminding myself of when I start to despair that everyone else has it better than me. 

6. Levi had a well-child appointment this week. The doctor said he looks great and she doesn't have any concerns. But I realized when I got home that I do have some concerns I should've brought up. Haha. I'm the worst at that. All of my kids have had minor tics at his age, but I feel like his aren't going away, and he's actually adding more. Someone said it may be a magnesium deficiency, and when I looked that up there were a few other symptoms he has that could be attributed to that - namely his sleep issues. Last night he woke up at 3:40 a.m. and never went back to sleep. It's not happening a lot, but enough that it's annoying! So I'm asking my crunchy friends (and there are a lot of you) for a magnesium supplement recommendation. It'll have to be a gummy of some kind, because he won't swallow a pill. Does such a thing exist? 

7. Meme Time

We may never know . . .

I'm gonna start saying this. 😂

Did this today!