The 17-year-old did a singing competition where he had multiple appearances in front of judges (not low stress!). I had sort of assumed he could just drive himself there (it was 30 minutes away) but since he is under 18 he was required to have a chaperone. Fortunately I found this out before the actual competition itself (phew!), but it did require some recalculating of the weekend to make sure everyone else still had rides.

We also had a swim meet on Sunday for the 9-year-old that was on my calendar as a “swim team carnival” — I sort of assumed it was a drop in Halloween-themed thing…but then my husband told me it was a meet. And the 9-year-old was in several events. I also made myself available to the 17-year-old as he was filling out college apps — not low-stress!

(Though I remind myself and him that he has been admitted to one of our flagship state schools already, and any other applications are just if-he-wants-to extra. Also, the 9-year-old did really well! He is fast.)

There were multiple Halloween parties, kid get-togethers, a music lesson and such. But, before I construct a narrative that I didn’t have any time for myself this weekend, I can look back on my log and remind myself of a few highlights.

For instance, on Friday afternoon I went for a walk with a friend in a nearby nature preserve. The leaves were very pretty! I also sat on the hammock for 30 minutes reading a magazine.

On Saturday, in between rounds of this singing competition (I decided to drive us back home for a bit in between) I went for a 40-minute run in a different nearby nature preserve. Also pretty!

On Sunday, I hit up the big kids to babysit the 4-year-old while my husband was at the swim meet, and I went on a scheduled tour of the Woodmont Estate not too far from my house. This house has quite an interesting history (it’s still run by the Peace Mission Movement) and I’d never been inside, so I took the opportunity. Fascinating. Then the 17-year-old invited me to go to a pumpkin-carving party with him — one of his friend’s families was hosting, and he said parents could come too. I was flattered to be invited and had a good time.

So, still a lot of good stuff. And I worked a bit on my puzzle – which is harder than I’d planned on. The pieces are randomly shaped, meaning a straight edge doesn’t mean it’s an edge piece…ugh. Slow progress…

In other news: I collaborated with the PeachTree Virtual Assistant agency (which I have used for my VAs!) to produce a “Time management playbook.” This has lots of practical tips on organizing your time. You can download it from their website at this link. (Scroll down to the second line or so).

Photo: Fall light and flowers

The leaves are pretty close to peak around here. A few weekend highlights: I took the 12-year-old out for a sushi lunch on Friday (the kids had a half day)….and then took a nap to recover from my ridiculous Thursday night O’Hare-plus-hotel experience. I ran 6 miles with Jane along a river trail on Saturday morning. We went for a family walk along a trail and through a local cemetery. We went to Dutch Wonderland’s Halloween event on Sunday. This little amusement park in Lancaster isn’t exactly Disney World, but the kids had a surprisingly good time. I think it helped that it wasn’t crowded so they could go on whatever rides they wanted whenever they wanted.

And, finally, trick-or-treating! We had a vampire, an inflatable dinosaur, another vampire, a ninja, and an adorable little lion. The dog pretty much refused to wear his pumpkin costume, so that was that. We did two local neighborhoods where the houses are close together and the streets quiet. Some people went all out, though I was surprised at the number of houses that put a bowl of candy outside rather than have kids ring the doorbell. We tend to do this — because we are out and about with our own kids — but we’re talking houses that had done fairly elaborate get-ups in the past. Maybe this is the new post-Covid world, where people look for ways to limit interaction.

Now it is November. This always happens the day after Halloween, though it seems to sneak up on me nonetheless. I think November is an under-rated month, with the leaves at their peak at the start, and the month ending in a cozy holiday vibe. Unfortunately, it’s also going to start getting pretty cold. And I will just be cold again until May….