fall fun to-do list update 1...

*whew* I think I'm just glad to have this week behind us. Not that it was a bad week or anything, just busy. Spent last weekend busting butt getting everything ready for the start of the school year. On Monday, my parents came up for the day. And since their garden didn't do so well this year, Mom and I made and canned some tomato juice for them to take home. Then Tuesday--start of the school year for all five of us! And a successful first day at that. When asked upon getting off that bus on the first day, Max said, "Well, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be." Believe me, that's high praise coming from him. And Gray, without even being asked, told me that school wasn't so bad with the exception of not being able to stay up as late as he wanted anymore. Annie's loving her classes at MCC this semester. Well, she's loving her lit classes (an early British lit class and a GLBT lit class), but "loving" is probably too strong a word to use for her calculus course. :P And on the teaching end of things, Rich and I are doing okay, too.

Anyway, while I felt like I didn't have a second to breathe, I apparently did, because I didn't do too horribly on my fall fun to-do list:

1. take pictures at least once a week documenting the change of seasons

Well, it's hasn't really felt all that fall-like yet, though supposedly that's supposed to change starting this weekend. Still, I took a couple of shots showing that summer was indeed thinking about saying goodbye.

Black-eyed Susans making their last stand...

...while mums start making their first appearance.

A few of those early "turners" changing colors and dropping leaves.

And Rich took this one of our new little resident making a meal of a stink bug.














3. get around to actually putting up our fall/Halloween decorations

Yep, did it. A teensy tiny taste:

5. listen to "Don't Fear the Reaper" once a day

Yep, so far so good. In fact, I've probably listened to it 20 times this past week. Which yes, I realize I shouldn't admit to. :P

7. cook/bake at least one autumn-ish goodie a week

Mmmmm...our first pumpkin waffles of the season. Heaven. Stumbled upon that recipe a few years ago, and we've enjoyed them many times since.










8. revel in the whole RIP experience

a. Peril the First--read at least four RIP appropriate books

Actually do have a start on this one--I read the first 2 1/2 volumes of Locke & Key this week. Will do a post on them once I get through Volume 5.

b. Peril of the Short Story--I'd like to read at least one RIP appropriate short story a week

Yay--I did this, too. Read a story by Stephen King from Everything's Eventual called "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away." Have slightly mixed feelings about it. Maybe I'll write a post about the short stories I read...but maybe not. I just have such a hard time with that sort of thing.

c. Peril on the Screen--I'd like to watch at least one RIP appropriate movie/show a week

Netflix streaming was acting up last night, I'm guessing because of the thunderstorms. So we ended up having to watch something on DVD. And even though Annie and I watched The Village not all that long ago, Rich hadn't seen it so we went with that. Totally not sorry about it either. Perfect for RIP.