Autumn snow

Even though it wasn't a total surprise, it was forecasted, I was excited like a little kid to wake up to bright white outside. It's only enough to cover most of the grass and I haven't excited Dave enough to make a snowman, or snow-Kiki which is what he suggested, but still - it's snow and not even Halloween. I don't think this has happened in a while.

One of the things I have noticed since moving here is my not worrying about personal time so much. I used to try to hoard it up as a precious commodity. I thought the more time to myself I had, the happier I would be. I still get a lot of time to myself, but I don't think about it the same way. I've finally started to see chores as things that are part of life (sometimes enjoyable) and not so much as annoying obligations. I'm also able to just do things rather than over-think them. It's still a tendency of mine to over-think things, but that has more to do with emotions than actions. If it's been a while since I've seen my Grandma (a week, like today) I just go and see her, simple. And yet it wasn't always that way. I would weigh what I needed to get done, what I wanted to do more, how the choice would affect me in the future, blah, blah, blah. Maybe I'm starting to live my life more in the world and less in my head, but I know that these are still small steps that I'm taking (visiting Grandma, getting chores done now rather than later, going outside in the morning instead of waiting until the work day is over). (I guess) I'm committing myself to living in the world more and just doing things (like the Nike motto).

In other news, Kiki puked again today. When we first got her it happened a few times until I started brushing her daily (she is a long-hair calico). After the brushing it happened only twice, and now she has a "lion-cut" hairdo so I thought the fur wouldn't be a problem. I guess it's time to start brushing again, or being more careful about her food. She has a tendency to chow down when it's there so we try to give her small amounts multiple times a day. Here's a picture of the new bouffant.


Enough blog, time to start real life for the day.
Two more pics... one from Sept and one from today -


Sorry... two more things...
1. Do I now need to rake snow along with the leaves since they have recently begun to fall?
2. Dave just came in and told me this story... The other day he had one of his second graders ask him what death was, the reason? a story that was part of his curriculum. The story involves blue jays and a coyote. The coyote wants to fly so the blue jays give him feathers and teach him a song that he must sing in order to fly (I assume that this is the musical part of the lesson, it being music class and all). Now that the coyote can fly, the blue jays tell the coyote they want to play a game and start pulling out his feathers one by one - leading to his death. Is this really an appropriate story for second graders? That's fine that they learn the blue jay song, but did the coyote have to die? what was the point of that? Sadistic little blue jays. Apparently Dave told the poor kid that death was getting hurt (I'm hoping that there is some parental involvement and that someday the kid knows what really happens when people die).
3. (last thing I promise) Netflix will be delivering Spinal Tap to us today, for the second time. Dave must have forgotten that we already watched it (because he got bored and fell asleep at the end) and rented it because a friend thought it was hilarious and recommended it. I don't care that much, just find it amusing. "D minor, the saddest key of all."