I have a busy month of October with working at my son in laws family pumpkin patch on weekends, grandkids on Tuesdays and working my other job 3 days a week. I decided I probably wouldn't get to some of the link parties (mostly photography ones, since there's not usually a lot of comments on those), but hopefully will stick to Tuesday Four and Wednesday Hodgepodge. I will probably combine them to just get them done all at once. Cheers to fall!

I have a busy month of October with working at my son in laws family pumpkin patch on weekends, grandkids on Tuesdays and working my other job 3 days a week. I decided I probably wouldn't get to some of the link parties (mostly photography ones, since there's not usually a lot of comments on those), but hopefully will stick to Tuesday Four and Wednesday Hodgepodge. I will probably combine them to just get them done all at once. Cheers to fall!

Routines

 Howdy! 

It's time again for Tuesday 4 hosted by Anne from Cottage by the sea.

They say having routines in your life keeps you mentally healthier than living a disorganized or haphazard life. Schedules have a profound effect on our well being. Belonging to clubs, organizations is good for us.  

According to research from UCLA  Health, "  a predictable daily routine supports mental health by reducing stress, lowering cognitive load, and creating a steady sense of personal control. "

It keeps sickness away too. People with good daily routines and habits live longer and decidedly healthier lives.  It promotes a feeling of productiveness and purpose.

Boredom contributes to sickness and cognitive decline in the elderly.

1. Do you have a daily routine for yourself and for your home?  In some areas I suppose there's routine. For example, I sweep the kitchen and wipe down counters daily, try to have dishes put away and the kitchen tidied before bed. I don't have tasks I do on certain days, it just depends on what is happening. I used to have more of a routine when I wasn't working and didn't have other things that would kind of get in the middle of the plan.

2. What is your morning routine? Depending on the day, during the week I'm up between 4:30 and 6:oo, on weekends I let myself sleep without an alarm unless there is something I need to be at. Weekdays I usually get my husbands lunch put together and his smoothie made before he heads out the door, then I put my stuff together, enjoy my coffee, play my NY Times Games with my aunts (we play wordle, connections and strands and then send each other the results), maybe hop on the computer if I have time before heading to work. If it's a Tuesday, I head to my grandkids homeschool co-op in the morning to help. If it's Wednesday, my day off from work, I'll do whatever I decide to do. How about your bedtime routine? After dinner, I make sure the kitchen is clean and then around 7:30ish I like to go take a bath and relax, then read for a bit, do my duolingo and go to bed. 

3.Do you have a routine get together for a family meal or game/movie or pizza night? My MIL has planned a monthly "cousins" lunch, which is usually my family and then my brother in laws two boys (he lives too far). As far as my own family, we don't have a routine time as everyones schedules are pretty busy. We'll throw in times when it's doable though. 

4. AnyTV programs, clubs, organizational routines you never want to miss? No, not really. When our girls were younger, we'd watch an episode or two of Little House on the prairie on DVD, and we always watched the Voice and Amazing Race together. I have an in person book club and I never like to miss that. Do you attend town meetings, choir practice? No. 

It's time for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce, who blogs at From This Side of The Pond.  Each week she'll pose some questions for us to answer. What a great way to journal life.

This week Joyce forgot to post the questions on Sunday and didn't have them ready so she said she's winging it, thus the first question. It's okay Joyce, you're allowed to forget..I'm always impressed that you come up with new questions each week. 

1. Let's embrace it shall we? What's something you recently forgot to do? Not what I forgot to do, but I help at my grandkids co-op and I thought we were in the kindergarten class but turns out we are in the 3rd grade. Thankfully I'm not teaching anything. I know there are definitely things I've forgotten to do though, I just can't remember what one was...haha. Oh, I know, I've literally driven by our local corner store several times since Sunday and each time I forget to stop and pick up honey! 

Is your memory these days more like a sieve or an elephant? It probably depends on what it is. Some things are great and other things...I literally have an alarm set for things...the other day I did a grocery order that I needed to pick up after finishing working at the pumpkin patch. I KNEW there was a chance I'd forget, so I set 3 alarms knowing I could snooze the last one if I got out later. I didn't want to get home and realize I forgot and then have to drive back to the store. 

2. Share a trick/strategy you have to help you remember things you need to remember. Setting alarms, and I use a digital calendar (Artful Agenda) which is helpful. I set when I have to pay bills on it, have a to do list, etc. (of course you have to look at it). I set alarms for things like "bringing something somewhere", "taking something out of the fridge at work because I went to the store first", "stop at the bank"...that sort of thing.

3. What's your favorite fall vegetable to cook with?  I don't know if I have a favorite fall vegetable..my hubby is not a fan of squash of any sort. Pumpkin is a fruit apparently, but considered a veggie in the kitchen (according to AI) so I do use a lot of pumpkin. Also, I love delicata squash....I love to thinly slice it, toss with avocado oil and parmesan cheese and bake til crisp. Oh, and pumpkin seeds from the Kakai pumpkin are amazing. Recipe here. Do you prefer your fall veggies roasted, blended into a warm soup, or fresh in a crisp autumn salad? I love fall veggies, so I will take them any way! 

4. October 5th is/was National Do Something Nice Day. Did you? Well, I try to always do nice things and/or be nice. If so tell us about it. Or maybe someone did something nice for you, and if that's the case please share. Let's see, that was Monday...I worked. I can't really think of an "intentional" thing I did or that someone did that stood out on that day. But, perhaps it's because my nature it to always just try and be kind, be nice etc. I did bring some yummy cookies on Monday to share, that I bought at the pumpkin patch.

5.  Nathaniel Hawthorne is credited with the quote "I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house."  

Do you tend to spend more time outside this time of year? Not necessarily more. I do enjoy exploring to see the changing colors, but sometimes my days just run into each other and are no different than the next day. 

Do you actively pause to soak in fleeting moments of beauty in your daily routine? Elaborate. Not as much as I'd like to. When I do, it's usually when I'm home by myself. I like Joyces answer to this question. I definitely want to be more intentional about this. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. We are heading on vacation next Friday the 16th through the 25th. I may not join up next week as I'm pretty sure I will have no time to come back and comment and I'll be trying to get ready to head out. We've never been to Arizona and are looking forward to it. We will be seeing friends and also sight seeing. I realized this morning that I didn't rent the lens I thought I had and I'm so glad I thought to check. Phew. I was still able to get it rented for the trip. 

We are also starting work on our property development (adding a garage and two RV pads)...I say we, but we are hiring it out. After literally building our own home, I have to remember to clarify that "we" are not doing any part of this with our own manual labor..haha, though my hubby and I did have to move 10+ established blueberry bushes and that was a chore. Because the yard is torn up and there is a lot of dust, I honestly have no desire to decorate the outside of the house for fall. I was planning to go get some pumpkins today, but think I'm only going to get a few things if that! 

Joyce also mentioned something in her post about the A-Z challenge, and I reminds me to make a note to join in on this. I think it would be fun. I just need to think of how I would do it. 

That's it for me. If I don' see you next week, I'll see you after I'm back, hopefully with lots to share. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin