The Last Day of October

The end of October is here! Tonight is Halloween and I am sure I'll have more photos to post as we go out with Princess Jasmine (aka Sydney Jameson) tonight. But for today, I just wanted to post this shot of us with the Harrmann gang taken earlier this month when we were there for Rhy's 3rd birthday. It's been a great month, a busy month, and a FUN month. And FINALLY it's starting to feel like fall here in Missouri! Hope all of you had a great October too!

A lovely Fall day!

Today was a gift, pure and simple! We are at the end of the first quarter at my school, and today was a day off school for "Fall Break"! And what a delightful day it was! I slept an hour longer, got outside for an early morning walk, and got a great deal done around the house to catch up on things! It was SUPER!


A Project Giveaway update: This week's items included a HUGE bag of plastic trash bags off to the recycling bin at my local market, and I took more clothes off to Goodwill as I changed the closets over from Summer to Fall. Sweater weather is here my friends!!! Yahoo! (p.s. - the dog at right is not our pooch, but he's awfully cute in that sweater, don't you think?!)

Busy, busy, and more busy!

I am sitting here watching the news.... as the last of the 33 miners are coming up from deep under the earth and I am amazed and humbled by their spirit and joy! Not a one has been anything but jubilant and grateful for the experience that they have survived. To a one they come out smiling, cheering, and hugging those they love! It's so uplifting that you just can't stop watching it!

There is absolutely no good excuse for my month-long absence from the blog scene other than that I've been feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all the things going on in my day to day teaching life and focusing my efforts on keeping my head about water there. Papers seem to take longer to grade, and each day comes with an endless list of things to do and stuff to stay on top of. I have 45 minutes per day to get the little things that pop up during the day done... and it's never long enough. There, I am finished whining. It's nothing compared to being REALLY buried like those brave guys in Chile, and I am sure that those of you who read this have better things to do than listen to me fuss.

On the upside.... lots of good things going on with us Staude's. We got to spend the past weekend in Michigan helping to celebrate our grandchild Rhylah's 3rd birthday. What a gorgeous weekend it was! We watched Rhy blow out her candles (photos coming soon) and open presents, and it was all so much fun!

Our harvest is complete and the crushing and pressing went very smoothly! The new Niagara and the Seyval are in the bottles and folks are loving them. We are going to bottle the Concord this weekend. So all that is going smoothly and well!

All in all, I have a LOT to be thankful for in our busy month just past... hope you have much the same in yours!