Happy Sunday!

The sun is shining. The windows are open. The temperatures are fall-like. Jim is home and is on dance duty. The chores are done – well, except for laundry, but that doesn’t count. Football will be on TV later. Groceries are ordered and will be ready for pickup later today. Wisconsin won. Iowa State won. It is a great morning.

Holly has settled into her freshman year of school with the grace and aplomb we expected. We had many conversations before the start of the school year about expectations and the importance of time management, as well as the consequences should she fail to meet our grade expectations. It is still early days yet, but she is handling the strain of her courseload (all honors classes), her Poms duties, and her three to four hours of dance each night reasonably well. Granted, she is exhausted by the weekend and asks for nothing but to let her sleep as long as possible, but I think we can all appreciate that.

This upcoming week is Homecoming week for her, and it is so much fun to see her so excited about it. Unlike Connor, who thought the whole week was a joke, she has given some serious thought to each day’s theme and selected each outfit with care. I hope to get a picture of her every morning because she has some great costumes planned! She also has two pep rallies at which to perform and a parade as well as the big game. She will round out the week with a long morning of dance rehearsal and then an afternoon getting ready with her friends for their first Homecoming dance. I am excited for her.

Connor seems to be doing well. His school has not had the greatest of semesters so far. First, there was the campus-wide lockdown for the BB gun prank. Then, this past week they had to come to grips with the tragic and senseless death of one of their student-athletes. What little I saw of yesterday’s tribute to that student was beautiful and poignant. It made me shed a tear or two, so I cannot imagine what those students are experiencing. He keeps busy with two jobs and his classes, so I have not been able to talk to him as much as I would like. I reconcile my disappointment at that to the knowledge that he is happy and exactly where he belongs.

As for Jim and me, we keep plugging along. Jim has had several business trips lately and will continue to have them about twice a month as he seeks cost savings opportunities around the country. He loves his job and always has an anecdote about something at work – usually one of the dogs. Cletus loves going to work too, and he always comes home exhausted from a hard day of playing. It is so fun to see. I have been busier than usual as my company looks to switch over to a new ERP system at the end of the month. Between that and a new facility, budgets, customer demand outpacing production capacity, retention difficulties, and kicking off a new training system, it has been a bit hectic, a lot stressful, and plenty of fun. I have a great group of coworkers now that work hard but know when to play too. I know more changes are coming soon also, so these we all help each other stay sane when it would be so easy to succumb to the insanity of work right now. It makes going to work a lot easier when you know you will be working with friends.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying these first few days of autumn! Whatever your plans today, I hope they are fun and relaxing. Have a great week, and I will see you here next time!

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Here are past posts from the last few weeks in case you missed them the first time:

• It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 27 August 2018
• Good but not great
• The Loneliest Girl is unputdownable
• A misguided synopsis led me astray
• Fabulous Friday – 31 August 2018
• It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 3 September 2018
• The world needs more women like Maria Feodorovna
• This is no Eden
• Megan Abbott is my hero
• Fabulous Friday – 7 September 2018
• What’s for Dinner? – Week Starting 1 September 2018
• It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 10 September 2018
• A glimpse into the family dynamic of a child sociopath, or is she?
• Fabulous Friday – 14 September 2018
• Wherein Sarah Knight teaches me how to not give a f*ck
• It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? – 17 September 2018
• Need a scary book that pretty much covers everything?
• There were never such devoted sisters
• The better real Lolita story
• Fabulous Friday – 21 September 2018