Ten on Tuesday.

1. Wow. Last Tuesday of September.

2. Fisher and I went on his half birthday date over the weekend, to a movie (The Secret Life of Pets) and lunch (Red Robin). I love that kid. And I love this tradition. (Thanks, Stahrs!)

3. We also watched the Twins lose their 100th game of the season. No matter. We are not fair weather fans. There's always next season.

4. A lesson I learned last week: Don't buy the two bag package of riced cauliflower from Costco unless you can use it that very same day. It's a good idea in theory, but a few days later you just have a smelly fridge.

5. Did you watch the debate last night? Oh my goodness.

6. I just finished listening to Raymie Nightingale on audio this week while running, while grocery shopping. I don't usually listen to audiobooks without the kids; that's kind of our thing over the summer when we road trip or just schlep to activities. But I truly enjoyed this and am going to see what else the library has for me!

7. Alla and I went to the new Goodwill yesterday and scored an amazing Halloween costume for her, as well as a costume for her part in the school musical Beauty and the Beast! Not sure what that place will be like in a few weeks, but right now you can have your pick of the cool costumey stuff! She declared it her favorite store and said she would like to shop there for her prom dress. I wrote that down. Should make her sign it.

8. I am desperately trying to catch up on my own personal editing in between client sessions and editing. I looked back through my 2015 pictures and wondered why they were so disorganized, and then remembered that oh yes we were remodeling our house for the first three quarters of this year, and for the first three months at least there was dust everywhere and plastic covering our stairs. So I guess I had other things to do.

9. Started a new book with the kids, The League and the Lantern, which so far is a hit all around!

10. I did a very adult thing this week and planted some mums. I don't know, are mums a Minnesota thing? In Costco last week I saw women walking out with those flat bed carts full of toddler-sized containers of them, for $14.99 each, and while I recognized this as a good deal, I couldn't for the life of me understand what to do with them. But then I came home and saw how sad my annuals were doing so the very next day I ripped them out, got some (smaller) mums from Trader Joe's and plopped them in my big planters. Voila! Planters updated for fall. I am an adult.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. Alright, before Halloween is here already, I better put up some pictures of the kids' first day of school. Sixth and third, for the love.

2. Though apple season is upon us, we are actually swimming in tomatoes. This is the first year I've ever done anything but cherry tomatoes - one cherry, one Early Girl - and it has been quite the few weeks of constant harvesting and constant consuming. Two tomatoes at each meal isn't even quite cutting it.

3. With the kids back in school I am attempting to increase my running miles after the decline that comes every summer with the heat and kid activities. Fall is my [running] jam. Forget 90 degrees, tomorrow morning will barely be fifty. Love.

4. With the kids back in school I am back to menus - for breakfast and dinner. Menus are saving me.

5. Fisher is playing fall soccer. Still trying to figure out what's going to save me from that.

6. The remodel is done here! We are still living with quite a few bare walls and no nightstands, but these things are quite livable compared to the amount of drywall dust that was settling daily.

7. This weekend we took the kids to dinner and a movie - Brasa and Star Trek.

8. Lots of reading going on lately. Alla is pleased that there is considerably less math homework in sixth grade, so she is taking full advantage of those hours and reading many, many books. The new Raina Telgemeier came today, which she tore through, and she's in the middle of Paper Wishes. I am reading Love Warrior and Ms. Bixby's Last Day.

9. Ron took Fisher to soccer practice yesterday, so Alla and I took advantage of the free hour and went for a seven mile bike ride, which was so wonderful. My middle schooler, so far, is just lovely.

10. Today is September 13th, which marks four months until the big 4-0!