That feeling when you’re cited in the book you’re reading to tell you how to do your job better.
🍿 Watched Autumn at Apple Hill.
🍿 Watched Autumn at Apple Hill.
I wanted made-for-TV Christmas movie vibes without succumbing to the early Christmas fervor, because I adore autumn and Halloween. So I hunted around and found Autumn at Apple Hill, which checks so many boxes for this kind of movie:
✅ adorable small family business
✅ event planning
✅ charming small hometown
✅ workaholic Suit Man
✅ save the place!
✅ neighborhood holiday Halloween party
✅ developers hotel chain
✅ charming hotel
✅ guy she went to high school with
Is it fine art? Nope. Does it get the job done? It sure does.
Unglamorous voting selfie!
Finished reading: You Had Me at Happy Hour by Timothy Janovsky 📚
Of course Timothy Janovsky can write a book that has incredible mental illness & neurodiversity rep, is adorable, and scorches, all at the same time. A very hot 🔥🔥🔥🔥, almost 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥.
🔖 Read Spinning your wheels by Annie Mueller.
This is a great read. Sometimes the only way out is through, and the only way through is patience, and that can feel really hard.
Fan Studies Network North America 2024 starts tomorrow. It’s one of my favorite conferences. Between work and parenting, I don’t know how much I’ll actually get to, but I hope I at least get to some of it!
💬📚 “His brain doesn’t work like everyone else’s, so he’s largely stopped expecting understanding from others.” Timothy Janovsky, You Had Me at Happy Hour
We love a romance between two neurosparkly kings.
Fortnight notes, 9/30/24 - 10/13/24
Trying fortnight notes today.
I finally got W’s fancy watch back to him, with a nice new battery and glass that isn’t cracked. A belated anniversary present but handled all the same.
I had grand dreams of embracing my Jew-ishness (the hyphen is there because while I’m ethnically ⅜ Jewish, my family assimilated so thoroughly that I am completely disconnected from the plurality of my heritage) by making a Cheerwine brisket for Rosh Hashanah but was thwarted by migraines.
On October 5, W and I built our 12 foot skeleton with the help of our neighbor and in the evening, I went to see & Juliet with our friend who has gotten tickets from some friends of hers who couldn’t use them. I wasn’t sure I would like it because jukebox musicals rarely work for me, but it was a lot of fun. The second act has more ballads in a row than I would have liked but overall it was a great time.
One of M’s friends was born the exact same day as him. We went to her birthday party which was Taylor Swift-themed with karaoke. Many of the other guests were students I work with and their families. I was the first grown up to actually do karaoke. I sang “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” and while I didn’t do as well as I wanted to, people said nice things. Kid reactions ranged from saying to a parent with pride, “I KNOW HER!” to a confused, “Why is the school librarian singing?” A couple parents said I was so brave to get up there and I told them that I’m a karaoke hustler (not actually, I’m a ringer if a DJ knows me and needs somebody to jump in with an upbeat song but I’ve never participated in a contest) who’s spent lots of money on voice lessons, so that made it easier.
On the way home from the party, I took M to Fresh Market and he picked out a delicious vanilla cake from their bakery to have as we celebrated with W’s mom. When we got home, we finished building a big trampoline which was M’s main birthday present.
The next day was M’s actual birthday and we gave him quite a few books, a LEGO Friends cat playground set, and the Pokemon Battle Academy box that teaches you how to play the trading card game.
It was a mostly normal work week. Friday was a staff development day so M got to stay home with W while I went in and caught up on some work and learned about the development of our campus safety plan.
Then I ran errands! I picked up library holds and a new belt and returned a nightgown I didn’t love. This was big as I’d been sitting on these errands a little while.
Saturday we went as a family to a local farm that does a corn maze and hayrides, has a spooky nature trail, and lets you pick your own pumpkins. It was a gorgeous day and we were outside for about 4 hours.
Today, W and I went to the local theater’s horror series and saw The Thing and They Live. I ate way too much popcorn and have felt pretty gross tonight. Next time, no popcorn or a smaller order of popcorn.
How have the past couple of weeks been for you?