Berry Mad has emerged! She had burrowed a couple weeks ago, and for a while I could tell she was coming back out occasionally to make new mud for herself, but then she didn't seem to even be doing that. I was trying to decide if I should go dig her up (I don't want to overly bother or stress her, but it's not actually cold enough in here for her to hibernate.) But as with last year, as soon as I started to really worry about it, she came back out.
Not that she looks happy about it, lol.
Bonus Guava Splash. (With fruit flies.)
Sadly Three, one of the katydids, passed away a couple days ago. He was the third of the three we caught this year, but the first to go. This is about the end of the katydid lifecycle; we haven't heard any outside for a week or so. Last year we had two, and one died the last weekend of October, and one the first week of November.
So far both Clickbait and Green Bean are doing all right: still eating their beans, and Clickbait has had
plenty to say. Unfortunately, we probably only have another week or so with them, but we can always hope for more!
I am free for nine whole days! I try to take the bulk of my "holiday" time off around Halloween, since that's my favorite, and doesn't have as much PTO competition as the time around Thanksgiving/Christmas.
As always, I have a long list of things I want to do. Lots of it is creative-ish stuff, like writing or working on the arty reading page I'm about five months behind on. I'd also like to read more, get some of my enamel pins displayed, maybe even play A Video Game, which I basically haven't done in a year+. Mixed in, I'd like to do some of the little cleaning projects that never seem to happen, like getting shelves dusted and drawers organized. Our nice weather is holding, at least to some extent (might be a bit chilly, and some overnight freezes, but not supposed to be snowy or anything,) so it'd also be nice to get a little more outdoor time in before the time change + not seeing the sun for six months makes me lose my mind. I also have plans to get together with Taylor for a couple nights. Also gotta fit in my annual
Over the Garden Wall watch, obviously.
Now it's just a matter of
doing those things. I know that last year after my Halloween week off I felt quite disappointed in how little we did with the week. I think the weather was less cooperative, but my recollection is a lot of days kind of wasted in being stuck in "waiting" mode, where I'm scrolling on my phone for a couple hours because we *might* have an errand to run later, or taking a nap that ends up eating the entire afternoon... every day.
We already did our big "event" for the holiday, which I'll post about in a day or two when I get the pictures sorted. (We went to the "Spirits and Spirits" event at the Four Mile House, which was a lot of fun!)
I feel bad for my coworker. Yesterday she told me she was going to put in her two weeks notice today. Sounds like she and her fiance are splitting up. He's moving back to be with his trump-humper family in Wisconsin, and since she can't afford to live here on her own, she's moving home to her family in Alamosa. So big breakup, quitting her job, and having to move all in one go.
Weirdly, I keep catching myself kind of slipping into "New Year" mode. It could be the shorter days, it could be just general autumn wanderlust feelings, could be the subconscious desire to skip a chunk of winter... I sort of suspect it's just me, haha. I feel like I often get about 3/4 of the way through an allotted time (in this case, 2025) and am ready to jump ahead and start planning for the next bit.
In this case, I
really want to start sorting through my TBR list again and figure out what I realistically expect I can get through in 2026. I keep slapping my own hand away from it, because I'm not there yet! Gotta get through this year before I can reasonably guess where to start for next year!
To a lesser extent I'm sort of doing the same with writing goals, and trying to figure out a plan to actually get some sort of writing completed next year (unlike this year.) But again, gotta get through this year to know where I'll be at!
The World As It Is continues to sort of suck. Alex won't be getting food aid for November, which is money we definitely rely on to, y'know, eat. We will be okay, but I know there are people who are likely to be less okay than we are.
But that's kind of a downer to leave it on so...
Looking forward to this week off, and really hoping to find ways to make the time intentional!
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meridian_rose) wrote2025-10-30 11:05 am
