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Coffee Talk 10.30.16

Every time I write a date on a post like this one, I stop and get all contemplative for a moment. Time just keeps marching on, no matter what. If you’re in a season of plenty or one of want, one of grief or one of rejoicing, whether the events on the world stage are peaceful or in upheaval, the days and years just keep marching on.

Right now 2016 seems so current, so alive. But I know from going back through my old blog archives that very soon seeing .16 at the end of the date will bring back memories that may seem hazy and dim.

“Those were the days,” we’ll say. “Remember 2016? When we were . . . fill in the blank with whatever is going on in your life.”

“Ah, to have the kids at home again…”

“I sure was thin back then when I was always trying to lose 5 pounds…”

“What were we THINKING wearing those cold shoulder tops? Ugh! What a horrid trend. And we thought we were so cute.”

Okay, I’m done being silly. But do you ever write the date and get those thoughts??? Just me? Oooookay.

I’m still fighting a cold. It’s all in my throat and starting to go into my head. I am glad I didn’t run in the 30º weather yesterday. It felt good to be lazy and nurse a third cup of coffee before getting dressed for the day. We managed to get a quick photo shoot in, and then it was a lot of mundane errands and running the kids around. I boxed up a bunch of returns, which is getting to be my Saturday habit. I ordered a lot of things recently that didn’t work out.

I had my first pumpkin spice latte of the season. I hate the ones at Starbucks (they were too sweet to me before I stopped eating sweets) but we have a local natural foods store with a cafe where they make yummy coffee drinks and teas and smoothies. Their pumpkin spice lattes are THE BEST because they use real pumpkin and homemade simple syrup. It’s sweet enough but not overly sweet, and they are just SO good. I can’t believe I haven’t had one yet this year, but I couldn’t let October end without one, so I drove over yesterday and picked up two — I brought one home to Paul. He hadn’t had one before (he’s not a fan of flavored drinks, but as I said, this is different) and he loved it.

I also picked up these gorgeous flowers and spent over 20 minutes trying to take a picture for Instagram. Ha!

flowers

We ended up with only one child for dinner last night so we tried out a local Thai place we’ve heard great things about — Thai L’ephant, for your locals. It was SO good. Great atmosphere too.

Because I’m a grannie, we got there right as it opened at 5PM, which was providential because it filled up quickly. We were able to get a table without a reservation on a Saturday, but in the future, we’ll make a reservation just to be safe.

We were home and in our jammies by 6:30. I have no shame. Totally skipped out on a church potluck and watched TV till bedtime (which may have been before 9PM.) Thankfully my husband stays up to retrieve the kids from their late night activities. My son often gets home close to midnight from his band cavalcades. Thankfully yesterday’s was the last one this season.

Today is a typical Sunday for us with nothing extra special going on… church this morning and a lazy afternoon, and the kids have youth group activities tonight. I am excited because it’s already like 67º at 7am (a far cry from yesterday’s 33º!!!) so I’m definitely going to get a run in. I can’t pass up that opportunity. It is supposed to be beautiful (and warm) today.

I blame this inconsistent weather for the cold I’m battling. My poor body doesn’t know which end is up… 33º one morning, 67º the next… it’s crazy. I always get sick this time of year. In fact, I had a cold this exact same weekend last year. I remember being sick for Halloween.

Anyway, I will power through because that’s what moms do. Ain’t nobody got time to be sick.

So is anyone dressing up for Halloween? My Instagram and Facebook feeds are filling up with couples and families in creative costumes, and I feel so lame. We used to host annual Halloween costume parties and the adults were required to dress up. I have some hilarious pictures from back then. One year my husband and I went as Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda. He let even let me turn him orange with self tanner. It was hysterical.

We’re so lazy now. We even buy our kids’ Halloween costumes most years because we are too tired to be creative. Bah humbug.

Maybe when we get older and the kids are off doing their own things, we’ll get creative again. Or maybe not. Maybe we’ll be the crotchety old neighbors who shut the door and turn out the lights and watch a movie in the basement.

Which one are you??? Inquiring minds want to know.

Well, whichever camp you’re in for Halloween, you are welcome here. This is a judgement-free zone. At least when it comes to Halloween. All bets are off if I see you wearing mom jeans. Ha!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!! I hope it’s as pretty where you are as it is here!

Join The Conversation

37 Responses

  1. We don’t celebrate Halloween so we do the lights off and wristwatch a movie or play board games. Some years we go out to eat.

  2. As a busy busy working mom of 7 (blended four mine, three his – but all ours), I love reading your blog. Not only is the fashion exactly my style, but your candor is so refreshing. Life isn’t always what people make it to be on social media … sunshine and roses. We all have “stuff”, but it’s how you push through to all the fun, happy times and memory making that defines you. Reading your honest “life story” always makes me smile and feel just a little less crazy, and a little more normal. Cheers and keep up the great work of being who you are, through and through.

  3. I definitely have those kinds of thoughts as I write the date or look back on pictures! I realized one day that I must be imparting some of this reflection on my first-graders as one of them remarked at calendar time, “Well, can you believe how this month is just flying by?” ???? Sounded funny coming out of the mouth of a 6-year-old, but it’s true. “Redeem the time”. Never waste a day.

    My husband bought a Captain Hook outfit (not cheap) when our granddaughter was having a Tinkerbell-themed birthday party at three. Always being the thrifty one, I proclaimed then that he and I would be pirates the rest of our lives for Halloween! Ha. Six years later, we still are doing that although he may get hot this year in that red velvet coat! I wear a striped shirt, black jeans tucked into knee-high boots, and a long denim coat I got at a consignment shop. It has big buttons, bell sleeves and a belt in the back. I wear big hoops and practically all the jewelry I own! ???? It’s fun.

    Feel better soon. I rub peppermint essential oil (diluted) on my neck and breathe it in from the bottle when I’m congested. It helps.

    1. Redeem the time. I love that!

      Your pirate outfit sounds cute. We did that one year – Paul was the pirate and I was his “wench” – which is gross, I know. It was a tasteful costume, all things considered! The funny thing was, our pastor at the time (he and his wife always had the BEST costumes) walked in and saw Paul in his pirate costume and was like, “All you need is a wench!” and at that moment, I appeared around the corner. It was funny. And a few years ago, my older daughter went as a gypsy, and she came up with a costume on her own from stuff we had around the house. She’s the one with the creative genes in our family. 🙂

      I do have Peppermint Essential Oil, I think. I might try that. My throat is still scratchy, but nothing else.

  4. You can’t just drop a word image like that and move on! We MUST see a Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda picture on the blog tomorrow! Lol!

  5. We like Thai l’elephant too. We’ve never made a reservation it is don’t know that we’ve been on Saturday night either. We like to go at lunch when it’s cheaper, ha. After feeling a cold coming on Monday and then feeling better most of the week the weather change has me sniffling again. Hopefully it will leave quickly again.

  6. Here in south central GA the morning lows are in the 40’s & 50’s then the afternoons it’s in the 80’s or low 90’s. No end in sight with the hot weather, so I’m not getting to wear my cozy fall/winter clothes. It seems the older I get the faster time goes by. That’s another reason to cherish every moment. We loved decorating for Halloween, but we were lucky to have 10 children come, so we stopped. Way out here in the country, on a private dirt road, we won’t have any trick or treaters. We do have our outside Christmas lights up already. My husband is a big hunter, so he decorated when the weather isn’t as conducive to hunting most of the day.
    Feel better!

  7. We live just outside of DC and we took our kids into the city for Thai food last night. So many young people dressed up for Halloween walking around, I definitely felt old and lame!! We used to have so much fun at Halloween before kids and a different fun with kids when they were younger. My boys are 13 and 15 now, so they just like to pass out the candy, the younger one will sometimes throw something together last minute for trick or treating (not quite the days when i had their costumes in August and they were waiting patiently for Halloween!!). So, I totally feel u. Trying to just enjoy each age and stage, but need some good Halloween costume ideas for when these kids are older still and we go out to a party and turn the lights off at the house 😉 Enjoy your run!! 🙂

  8. You are amazing! If i had a cold I would spend my whole weekend in bed or at least home resting so i can go to work on Monday. I only have one daughter and she is a techie so she doesn’t need a lot of transporting im grateful for that.
    As far as Halloween my daughter and I will make up some costume and she will give out candy. She is thirteen and much too cool to go out n get candy lol

    1. Oh, it isn’t a full blown cold. I am just fighting something. I probably made it sound more dramatic than it is — when I woke up yesterday feeling crappy, but after I got dressed, I felt okay to do stuff. I really think it’s this crazy weather we’re having. It has my body all confused. It is 80 today! and tomorrow it will be a high of 53. GAH!

      My 13-y/o still likes to dress up. Go figure! She’ll be trick or treating. My 16-y/o son went to a Halloween party last year at a friend’s but I haven’t heard any rumblings about anything going on this year. It definitely is different as they get older.

  9. Love your blog. Especially your personal observations today. I often feel the same way too. Time just seems to slip away, even when I’m trying to be mindful of it. Thanks so much for sharing your styling tips and family life.

  10. Halloween has always been one of our family’s favorite celebrations. I have great memories of sewing costumes when my kids were little and decorating the house. Now I do the same things with my grandsons. Times DOES keep marching on, but in my experience the new days are as full as the ones from the past. Yesterday we accompanied my daughters family for a fun day in Oakland, Ca where the merchants handed out candy, then we all walked with the grandsons in an informal costume parade, followed by a big FREE party for the kids in a beautiful old cemetery where one of my grandmothers is buried. There was music, bounce houses, face painting, food trucks and a pumpkin patch. Many families were dressed in a common theme and so our family wants to do that next year. One of my favorite was the family who created a pirate ship around their son’s wheelchair and the parents were pirates. Lots of creative, happy families enjoying a beautiful fall day. It was perfect!

  11. Great post! Made me so nostalgic! Time does fly and certainly faster and faster as you get older! I’ve been both types for Halloween–dressing up and parties then bah hum bug the next few years! I think the commotion wears me out now! It was a struggle this year to decide if we were turning our lights on, and finally decided we’d better, it’s been a few years now and starting to feel guilty! don’t want to wake up to t.p. ????… Worst part about it though, is the chocolate candy now staring me in the face!!!!????

  12. We don t celebrate Halloween here in the Netherlands as you do but I love it! I think I will start a tradition next year with a Halloween Party! I hope you feel better real soon!

  13. So relieved to hear we’re not the only ones who are too tired to rally! Seems like I could throw a party, get a great costume for us AND our kids, decorate the house wildly, and celebrate the season with abandon back when they were under 12! Now I have 3 teens who drive and we’re not as busy, but entertaining is low on the list!! I do remember my parents becoming far more social AFTER we left the house!! Perhaps these are the normal “seasons of life…” Appreciate your honesty. Now where’s my Twix and Pinot Noir?!

  14. Jo-Lynne, you are nowhere near a “granny”! HAHAHA that cracked me up! However, if eating dinner and going to bed early makes one a granny, I guess I am one, too! I’m a 9:00 bedtime kind of girl!
    On Mondays we take our day off from eating clean and go to my amazing mother-in-law’s house for dinner. All of my kids join when they can (with two in college, it’s always iffy) and it is my favorite night of the week!
    She decorates A LOT for Halloween, so tomorrow night we will help her answer her doorbell for trick-or-treaters. 🙂

  15. Ha,ha, I could have written this post! So much of it reminds me of my life! My kids are adults and laugh at us for being the first ones at a restaurant to get seated for dinner! I don’t care, who wants to go to bed with a full stomach? My husband and I used to host Halloween parties every year. We too have some great pictures! We had Cone Heads,,adult Power Rangers, the Wizard of Oz cast and others with equally elaborate costumes! I have to say that every year we all looked forward to the dress up but as the years went on it waned. I feel that if we are lucky enough to have grandchildren one day we will resurrect some of the old costumes and join in the fun! Until then we will enjoy checking out the costumes as they come to the door. I think if most people were honest we would see that a lot of others live the same simple life and as for me, I am happy with that! Happy Halloween!

  16. Ditto on what Aida said: Love how real you keep it!
    With our baby a college senior and our only grandchild 5 hours away, I sometimes want to borrow someone else’s-ha! So….I’m enjoying seeing the kids come to our door in their costumes. We have many more trick n treaters this year so it’s been fun.
    Happy Halloween!!

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