Goals update

I spent all month saying "why do these people have pumpkins out, they're so out of season....  Wait.  It's October?!"  Which is to say that it does not feel like October.  I wore shorts and a tank top last weekend. 

So my loosely planned goals for October didn't all happen, but I got a lot done and had a few adventures too.

• Bus work - time to start working on the interior.  I don't think any interior work was done (Kyle swept, does that count?).  We took it places though!
• Visitors!  My little brother and fiancee (!) spent a weekend here.  It was great!
• Find a couple inspiring recipes.  Fail.  If anything, I'm even less excited about cooking than I was at the beginning of the month.  We'll see how this plays out.  If I could justify the ingredients and expense of processed food, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  Just. not. feelin' it.
• Gut the garage. Done!  And it feels so good.  And it looks great.
• Start some wine. I started an elderberry port.  I briefly mentioned elderberries in this post, and I started wine from those berries, but this month I started a port using the spent berries from the wine as well as some fresh (frozen) berries.  I wanted to start a kit but Kyle claimed the last carboy for beer.

Also, I should have mentioned another goal to start working out regularly again.  In my August/September funk I pretty much stopped exercising (sooo helpful - let's kick the endorphin habit while I'm down), so October was my month to get back on track.  So far so good!  And I'm really pleased with my current routine - for some reason I'm loving the P90X yoga, in addition to some strength training and cardio.

So here's some November stuff:

• Pretty sure camping is on the docket.
• Start a batch of Drifter clone beer.  Widmer Bros used to brew a fantastic pale ale called Drifter, but has discontinued it.  Some great homebrewers made a clone recipe and we just bought the ingredients.
• Get dirt.  Kyle made a raised bed, and dirt is all that's standing in between me and fresh arugula.
• Meet some new people.
• Complete a class I started taking on Coursera - free education available online?  I love it.  I can learn about topics I actually want to learn about! 

That should keep me busy.  I also have a few "admin" tasks that I can't seem to kick off my to-do list.  I'm hoping to get a burst of motivation to get those done too.

On to the photos!  The garage was a nasty project with old shredded insulation filled with lots of rodent droppings and the like.

Surprisingly, the only live thing we ran into was a snake!  I expected more of the mouse / cockroach variety.  Our neighbor came to the rescue and helped us relocate this fellow.  Snake experts at work tell me this is a rat snake, which is a good one to have around.

That same weekend, we really put the house together - hung the art, unpacked all the wine onto the wine racks, etc.  Really made it feel like home.

Kyle built some sawhorses, a raised garden bed, and has started on a large workdesk for himself.  So handy!  The raised bed was made with like $4 worth of lumber, because we got almost all of it from the 70% off rack at our local home improvement store.  Score.

Of course BunBun was on the scene offering his company for the outdoor work.  Sadly, BunBun went to live on the happy bunny farm out in the country this month.  It was especially traumatic for me, as I saw it happen.  I still miss that little guy.  I was well on my way to adopting him, and the yard feels really empty without his presence. 

We took the bus on a longer trip (where 'longer' means 'more than five miles from home').  First to our fav brewery to show her off, then to another brewery for an event they were hosting.

The owner promptly offered to trade us a brewery for the bus.  We probably should have taken him up on his offer.

The weather here has been so nice that we took a picnic lunch down to a local park on Saturday (first photo of the post).  Even when we can't get away from home, it's still so nice out that tacos on the porch are a weekend staple.  We might have to huddle indoors for warmth this weekend though.

Suddenly, November!  I keep trying to make plans then completely changing my mind, so it's really hard to say what November will bring.  I've been feeling a little unsettled lately and in need of some direction.  Time management is a big part of that, but at the same time I recognize that I need some downtime to recuperate from long, frustrating days.  Balance.  That's what I'd like to see in November.  Balance and some turkey.