October 2020

October started with Ainsley getting asked to homecoming. The boy that asked her had asked her on a couple of dates over the summer. Both times they went to Chick-fil-A and did a fun outdoor activity. One time they played frisbee golf, and I can't remember what they did the other time. While we're on the topic of dating, Ainsley actually went out on several dates last year. Usually with boys from her classes at school. I'm always happy when there are kids that reach out to her at school. And ironically she always seems to get along better with boys than girls. Which might be why she gets asked out on dates, but doesn't necessarily have a group of close girl friends. Anyways...I digress.

After ordering a bunch of dresses on Amazon, she ended up picking one that I bought for myself to wear to a wedding a few years ago. Easy, peasy!

With the help of Hobby Lobby and Heather she even made her own boutonniere. I thought it looked great!

Sadly her date missed the memo and didn't let us know where they were taking group pictures, and they were the only couple without parent there.  Sad. But we got some cute pictures of them in the yard! From the sounds of it they had a fun group. There were five couples and Ains said she had a good time. Because there was no actual Homecoming due to Covid, a group of people put together a mini-homecoming in a barn somewhere out in Eagle. Ainsley's group got invited to the mini-homecoming and it sounds like it was the low point of the date. Ainsley's group was a bunch of LDS kids, and the dance was not. Ains said that her group stood out because they were dressed modestly. She said she'd never felt self conscious for wearing sleeves in her entire life until that moment. I guess there were a lot of really low neck lines and short hem lines. She said they made the best of it and had a good time, but they were all happy to leave and finish their date just as their group. They just went to someones house for games and dessert. I'm so happy she had a good time!

Also in October, Leo found a big stick.

                                                    

October also marked the beginning of what would consume our lives for months to come. We started working on financing and getting quotes for the remodel of our kitchen and bathrooms. We got lots and lots and lots of quotes. The kids got sick of having to clean up the house so someone else could come measure. And of course the plans kept changing as the quotes came in and as we finalized our financing. Here are the before pictures of the rooms we were remodeling.

October also marked the beginning of my midlife crisis. Basically I don't know what I want to do now that I'm a grown up with no kids left at home during the day. Actually, I know what I want to do, I want to be a mom with a beautifully organized home, dinner on the table, home canned goods in the pantry, and the laundry always done. But the truth is, I need to feel a little busy and have a bit of a forced schedule for me to be productive. And we've gotten used to the extra money I make and living without it would mean giving up things I don't want to give up. I was offered a coaching position at Lewis and Clark for volleyball again this year, but turned it down because I was a little offended. The head coach hired her friend and bumped me from the B team to the C team (which means you have a horrible schedule) so I decided it wasn't worth my time, plus my shoulder was still bothering me and it wasn't worth damaging that any further. I'm becoming more and more unhappy with my library job. The job itself is amazing, the women I'm working with...not so much. I started looking into what I might want to actually "do". I called Ashlee Erickson and talked to her about her t-shirt printing business. I look at websites daily for job postings, and I try to think about what it is I want to do but nothing fits. I want to work for 2-3 hours a day, make decent money, and have time to still have what I ultimately want, to be a homemaker. So basically I'm still waiting for that magic job to appear.

We also took time to restock our food storage and supply again in October. We made sure that our freezers and cupboards were full so we wouldn't be forced to panic buy like we did at the beginning of the pandemic.

Carving pumpkins was awesome this year. The weather was so nice we were able to do it outside. I plan to carve pumpkins outside for the rest of my life! Its happy and sad all at the same time that all of my kids are now old enough to do their carving on their own. I just hung about while they worked. They are getting so old!

October 2020 marked the great canning supply shortage. With the whole world home and growing gardens all spring during quarantine, now more people than ever were wanting to can that produce, and supply was already limited due to factory shut down. I always checked every store that I went into for bottles and lids and pectin, they were always out. And the prices online were crazy expensive! I eventually found a deal for buying supplies in bulk. So I bought a ton just to get the price per box down to a reasonable price. I had to wait forever for my lids to come. My freezer was bursting with grapes and tomatoes waiting for these lids.

Emmie Dressed up as an M&M this year with a group of the girls from the neighborhood. She really only hangs out withe Elsie (the rest of the girls are older) but she still had a good time dressing up with them. 

Because of Covid most people came out into their yards with their candy this year. Owen went out trick or treating with his friends, which didn't last long. They ended the night just eating candy and watching a movie at a friends house. John and Ains set up the projector and showed "Nightmare before Christmas" on the garage while passing out candy. And I ran around picking up and dropping off kids while trying to take down the Halloween Decorations. I'm a bit of a pooper on Halloween. By the time Halloween night rolls around I just want to pass out candy and take down all the decorations and get ready for Thanksgiving.