Randomizer

1. I collected three eggs today, which means - fanfare, please! - that all of my hens are now laying. As a reward, I bought a bale of hay to line the inside of the coop (just kidding, lol, I meant to buy the hay yesterday, the day after the new coop was installed in the new run, but I never made it up the road). Despite the fact that the hens seemed perfectly happy laying on the bare floor, they immediately loved the hay, fluffing in it and settling it in and emitting happy-chicken noises. I praised them copiously for their diligence in providing me with fresh, amazing eggs. I love my chickens. The only explanation I can come up with from my rapid metamorphosis from "Ew, chickens are smelly and GROSS!" to "Eee, chickens are ADORABLE!!!" is that my pent-up mothering instinct was desperately seeking an outlet and the three small chicks I bought for an Easter photo shoot just happened to be nearby. Regardless, I'm in love.

2. My allergies have gone completely crazy. I have no idea if it's the fall allergens starting up, or an as-yet undiagnosed food allergy (cringe) (I have an appointment with an allergist coming up - eep!), or what... at first I thought I was getting sick, but one dose of Benadryl and everything cleared up for twenty-four hours, when it started again. Abster is sniffling, too. :( So far, my strategy for dealing with this is to take allergy meds as often as possible, and consume large amounts of caffeinated drinks to counteract the drowsiness brought on by the meds. An imperfect plan, to say the least.

3. Speaking of caffeinated drinks... I pulled up to Dunkin' Donuts today and they had pumpkin coffee back in stock. Glory, glory, hallelujah! I literally did a fist pump and said "Ye-es!!!" very loudly, causing Abigail to raise her eyebrows, lol. This makes the second coffee shop in our area to bring on the pumpkin-flavored drinks. As soon as Wawa gets theirs, we're all set.

4. I wore a new sweater on Sunday. It was orange, it had dolman sleeves, it was the perfect weight, and it made me so outrageously happy. :) I wore it with a black skirt and black loafer wedges, but I can't wait to pair it up with the new skirt I have coming in the mail and the new boots that arrived on Saturday. Today, I wore my new denim shirtdress for the first time (bought it at the thrift store for $6 at the height of blistering summer heat on faith, because it seemed impossible that it would ever be cool enough for me to wear something that heavy, and had the tailor shorten the sleeves for me). All this to say, I love fall clothes!

5. Dare I say it? I know some people will want to kill me just reading this, but... I'm already thinking about Christmas time. Aided, no doubt, by the fact that my family has started rehearsing for the Christmas program, and I start rehearsal next week for the church Christmas cantata (I got the lead!!!), but I'm happily anticipating pumpkin pie, handprint Christmas trees, black friday shopping at 2 AM, picking out the perfect wrapping paper, carols playing nonstop, and hot cocoa. I've totally started writing my winter bucket list. And for the first time ever, Abby seems to be looking forward to the idea of snow. She's told me at least half a dozen times how I'm going to teach her to make a snow angel, and then we're going to make them together; also, that we will go sledding. :)

6. We had the most. amazing. weekend. Normally on long weekend like this, everyone is working on different projects, my dad is trying to get stuff done, but this weekend had an amazing relaxed vibe that felt, honestly, like being on vacation. We stayed up late, we played endless games of Catan, we swam, we snacked, we slept in. I enjoyed it immensely. :)