October wrap-up and plans for November

Reading

Snail I saw at the bus stop

I've begun Middlemarch and am so far on track with our reading schedule.

Reading Challenge List: Nothing.

CBAM: Angels in America by Tony Kushner, parts 1 & 2

Romance: The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen by Victoria Alexander (review coming soon!)

Nonfiction: Hunger by Roxane Gay

Listening

The Lady Travelers Guide was on audio so I spent some time listening to that. I've also spent a great deal of time with the new Pink album, Beautiful Trauma. It's so perfect for my mood right now.

Watching

terrible pic of my new dress from eShakti

The latest season of Call the Midwife. I'm also almost finished with Miss Fisher's Mysteries, and I've begun season 2 of Stranger Things.

Knitting

My East Neuk Hoodie is progressing! I've divided for the armholes and I'm nearing the end of the back. I was stymied a bit for a moment there, but realized I cannot count. Thank goodness for simple math to get me back on the right track.

I also worked on a little cross stitch project, and now that I'm almost finished I've ordered two more.

Eating

Briefly got on track with some healthy meal-planning and then it all went to hell again, culminating with me getting sick the last weekend of the month. Not eating well, plus an exhausting conference, do not work together to make me healthy.

Doing

As I mentioned, I attended a conference this month. The New England Library Association was in Burlington, VT this fall and it was jam-packed with great, informative sessions. Some of the highlights were sessions about critical media literacy (i.e. how to spot fake/biased news), free speech vs. hate speech, and neutrality. Chris Bohjalian was the featured speaker, and authors Garth Stein and Ann Hood also spoke. I was hoping to type up my notes, but feel really behind right now so I'm not sure I'll get to it.

October always feels so busy at work, and it's even more so this year. In addition to being away for the conference, I was out for a couple of days because I had vacation time to use up, and I also had to train two new substitutes. We're also in the planning stages of a renovation which means extra meetings.

#riotgrams day 29: recent acquisitions

This month I participated in #riotgrams, which was on Instagram and sponsored by Book Riot. Each day there was a theme or topic and you just post a book-related photo on that topic and tag it #riotgrams. It was fun! I've been using Instagram a lot recently, but even so it was a bit of work to make sure I had something relevant to post every day.

I finally ordered some clothes from eShakti and can't believe I didn't do this years ago! Their clothing can all be customized to size as well as preference for length, neckline, and sleeve styles. Plus everything is machine washable and has POCKETS. Dresses with pockets, you guys! I bought a dress and a jumpsuit (!) and then as soon as I got them I ordered another dress. I should also mention that their clothing is pretty inexpensive. The dress I just got was customized to size and style and was a total of $66 including shipping.

Plans for November

I'm hoping to read Sense and Sensibility very soon as I'll be seeing a production of it in December. It sounds like we're getting our front steps rebuilt in a couple of weeks, and also getting a new retaining wall so our neighbor's house doesn't slide down into our yard. We'll probably do something for Thanksgiving, though I don't know what yet. But I'm sure it will involve pie. I'm traveling to Maine the first weekend of December for family Thanksgiving (we celebrate it whenever people have time off from work, which isn't always actual Thanksgiving weekend.) Otherwise, I'm just hoping to get caught up on stuff at work that I got behind on in October.

How was your October?