Last Marching Band Performance!

 Last night the Topeka High Marching band had a Pops concert at Washburn University. They played all of their music on stage, and it was such a fun night of music. I can't say enough about the staff that leads the Marching Band. They have made such a fun and inclusive environment for these kids. I am so glad Alex decided to be a part of it, and he was bitten by the band bug. I think he will probably do it all 4 years! 

I don't have pictures, but it was a very full weekend of getting things done. Our Christmas lights are up. Why chance doing it in bad weather? And I haven't taken Halloween down yet, so the outside of our house truly reflects the inside, controlled chaos. LOL! 

I switched out the summer wardrobe for the winter wardrobe. P.S. After seeing all of my clothes in the basement, I think I need to take a break from my favorite thrift website. I have about three years' worth of clothes as it stands. Oops

Lastly, I sorted all of the quilt pieces for my Alpaca quilt. I think the last time I worked on it was March, and let's just say they got moved around several times this summer, so now they are organized again. With tomorrow off work for Veterans day, I hope to get some of them sewn together. The placemats put me back into the sewing mood, I need to capitalize on it. 

Happy November, y'all. 

The entire marching band on stage. They rocked out! 

Since Alex was in the third row this was the only picture I could catch of them moving chairs. 

Last week he tried out for Honor band, and he was selected!

Goal Post and Kansas Half

On November 1st, I ran the Kansas Half Marathon for the second time. My favorite part of this race, as a Kansas girlie, is they pick a different Kansas symbol to feature each year. This year was the state reptile, the box turtle! More often than not I am a slow runner, so I wanted all of the turtle running gear! I have a t-shirt, a shoe bag, a medal and a beanie with the box turtle and I love it. 

My goal for the race was 2:15 and the pacer that was leading the 2:15 group was confident we could run a sub 2:15. I told him, I just want to run a 2:15 anything, 2:15:59 was just fine with me. But the pacer kept me going and I ended up with a 2:14:53, he wanted me to sprint at the end. I didn't, but he was still pretty pumped we finished with a sub 2:15. LOL It's always a good day when you don't let your pacer down. 

Wouldn't have had a great race if it wasn't all the training runs with Laura and Aron. I ran for many years by myself and I am so glad I have running friends now. They are the best! 

Did some solid work on my goals last month. 

Read 30 Books: 25/30 83% done 

I finished three books this month! 

The first book was China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan. I've read another book of his and I really like them, but this was book two of a three part series and I didn't realize that. I bought it at the Library Booktique and it was an "I like that author" purchase without researching if it was a stand alone novel. Don't get me wrong, the family drama was top notch but there was a lot of missing information. All that information was probably in the first book of the series. LOL 

My second book of the month was the third Carl book! The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook was really great. More characters were introduced and one of the crawlers that has been in all the books was killed. You kind of figure Carl will always make it because there are 7 books in the series so it was a shock to lose someone and kinda put me back on guard. I read this one mostly in Springfield at my work conference, and my roomie Jenny let me skip some after conference socializing because she knew I had to get back to Carl! I'm sure some eyebrows were raised but we both knew she was talking about my book! 

My last book for the month was Whistler by Ann Patchett, and I had to take a break from Carl because I had been in line for this book for a couple of months. So when it was finally my turn I needed to read it. It has a horse on the cover and Whistler is the name of a horse. It was not a horse book, I repeat not a horse book. I read it mostly on my girls weekend, and I highly recommend. The way the author writes it is very soothing and the family story was tangled but all written very well. I need to look up more books by her. 

Run 620 Miles: 574/620 92% done

I ran 74 miles in October! My highest monthly mileage for the year. It's going to stand as I'm not training for anything anymore so I will probably drop down to 45 or 50 miles a month for November and December and that will easily get my yearly goal. Yay! 

Grow My Savings by 60% (Done August!) 

Finished this goal for the year! Am starting on my 2027 goal, no time like the present! 

UFOs (Unfinished Objects) to Be Completed, in No Particular Order 12% done? 

All I have completed is two photo books. At this point I'm going to change the list I only have three months left, so what can I really do? I think the list below is challenging but doable! 

• Alpaca Quilt
• Placemats Finished in October! 
• 2 photo books for Daryl and Alex (1 book done for each) 
• 1 stitched project from stash

The end was in sight! 

Everyone had a great race! The weather was perfect. 

When it gets cold, I'll be ready with my turtle hat!

After race pancakes!

Fall Fire Pits and Sewing

Happy Halloween! It was weird to not have any of our kids home for the holiday, but they were all off having fun. My boys are with their dad this week and Jeff's kiddos went to a big Halloween party at their grandpa's house. So Jeff and I had a lazy day that ended up in a Kansas City Fabric store so I could finish the placemats I started last weekend. I also found some fabric that was on sale because it was "Halloween" fabric, but cute skulls are something I use year round! 

We had about 50 trick or treaters come to the house tonight. That's a good number! We turned off the light at 8:30 because I have a race in the morning! Here is to a lovely end to the month of October. We were spoiled with the mild weather and I soaked up all the cool morning runs! If I could eek out one more mild morning tomorrow, I will accept the cooler temps after that. LOL 

First smores of the season, hopefully not the last. But we shall see!

Got new shoes this month, they are ready to race!

Ready for the table!

Got some brown for the back, completes the fall feel. 

Can you believe this was 40% off? A steal!

Girls Weekend in Arkansas!

 I think one of the hardest parts of having adult friends is finding the time to hang out with them. I am happy for this season of life, (kids are older, job has annual leave) where I can take little trips with my friends. We have to plan about six months in advance, but it is worth it! 

With three of us in Topeka, and one in Oklahoma City; Rogers, Arkansas was an ideal location for a meet up! We got outdoors, did a little shopping and worked on our crafts and books Friday through Sunday. It was just what the doctor ordered, and the weather was awesome! We even learned how to play Mah Jongg from Karen, once you get the hang of it, it is pretty addicting. Thinking about investing in tiles.....

I am so grateful for these lovely ladies for making our weekend happen. My heartful thanks to Jeff and the kids for taking care of everything at home and not making me feel guilty for going away. I have a great support system inside and outside of the house. <3

Big smiles after eating way too much Mexican food!

The view from our deck

This was a great place for me to get in my 4 mile run and the other ladies to hike! This month I ran in Illinois, Manhattan, KS and Arkansas. Ready for my half next weekend! 

Paved trail around a lake with only one hill? Yes, please!

Placemats 80% done, just need fusible interfacing and a back!

My very first Mah Jongg! 

Land of Lincoln, Work Conference

 Last week I headed to Springfield, Illinois, with my work bestie Jenny to the National ESP conference. It was a nicely done conference, and connecting Extension work by to our history, including Abraham Lincoln was brilliant. I have been in Extension for 14 years, and that grounding was just what I needed. 

On top of lots of professional development sessions, we got to visit the Lincoln museum and the Lincoln family home in Springfield. Our hotel was located downtown, and I got to run by these things in the morning too. Very cool town, and on Route 66 to boot! 

Alex's last football halftime show was on Thursday, and I made it back in time to see it. Their show all season has been Route 66 themed because it is the 100th anniversary of the famous highway. I ran along the route and sent a picture to Al! He thought that was pretty cool. 

Thanks, Jenny, for being my travel buddy! 

I even got to meet the guy!

The Lincolns' home that we got to tour. 

On my morning run was the Capitol of Illinois and the historical capitol. As well as the Lincoln law office and home in Springfield. Very cool!

Last home football game of Freshman year!

It was fun to watch the halftime show get better and better!

Spooky Month

 I am really excited that I decorated for Halloween by Oct. 3rd this year. The front porch and entryway are ready for the season! I also got some mums that should take us all the way through fall. 

The weather has been beautiful and that has really helped me get out in the morning and get my exercise in! I knew I hadn't missed any runs last week because my knees started to ache, so this week I took a couple of days off. LOL 

Yesterday, was Alex's first Marching Band festival. They will get a rating from the festival at Washburn University so that will be good feedback for them! At the awards ceremony they got one trophy for their percussion (IYKYK). Fellow 501 school Topeka West swept all of the award categories. So, if my 501 school can't be the outstanding band of the night, I'm glad it was our 501 neighbor! 

Jeff was out of town for a work conference this week but made it home in time to go watch marching bands, I will be out the next two weeks for work conferences and am relieved he will be keeping the home front taken care of. October is usually a blur and this one will be no exception. Ready, set, go!