Fall Break

Fall is here. Last weekend was beautiful. I spent Sunday afternoon walking along the river. It was lovely, even a little warm. However, yesterday, the rain blew in, and it's been cold. We turned the heat on last night for the first time, and this morning when I was walking Charlie, I was rushing, not only because I needed to get to work, but because I was FREEZING. I've tried a few pumpkin spice lattes, but I just haven't been in love. There's something so charming about them this time of year.

We had Fall Break on Monday and Tuesday, which as a student I absolutely loved, but as a professor, I'm wondering if there's any benefit to it. I'm sure the students love having a long weekend to go home, but they COMPLETELY check out, which doesn't benefit anyone in the long run. They get hammered the week before with midterms and then get hammered this week in classes that were sparing them last week from midterms. All the while, they haven't done any work during the past four days. I should say that of course there are a few exceptions, but the majority of my students are just not doing their homework.

I've tried to get in the Fall spirit. I've made a few trips to Michael's (fun!) and bought some fall garland. I've decided I'll wait until after the holidays and stockpile the decorations. However, I've found some fun projects I can do in the meantime. We also visited the pumpkin patch, although it was in a parking lot, but still fun. I think we're planning on carving the pumpkins soon.

Charlie loved the little pumpkin. He was so frustrated he couldn't keep it as his own (to chew on, of course.) I chased him around the house and had to put him in the bathtub to get the pumpkin back.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we got to finally spend an evening out on the patio using the fire pit. It was so romantical. I hope there's a few more weekends this fall that we can enjoy the backyard. Unfortunately, our friends fondly refer to it as "chiggertown" because of the lovely bugs that call it home. We've sprayed a few times now, and I hope they're gone, but I'm not certain. I think we might also have some poison ivy or poison oak on our hands. ugh...

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks, Halloween, a few football games and maybe a 5K or two. Oh and of course, Thanksgiving!!! I'm going to try to find some great gluten-free recipes, so I don't have to miss out.