Chilly and Chatty II

{I've used this title before, ironically in the middle of summer, hence the II.}

Greetings from a lovely long weekend.

Current situation:

We had a lovely morning visiting with M's side of the family, and Auntie Bethie brought doughnuts!  I successfully resisted them all morning but since my afternoon run that I had planned to be between 5-6 miles actually turned out to be closer to 7 (I mis-calculated the distance of my route!) I figured I could allow myself half of one.  It's tasting pretty good with my third cup of coffee for the day.

Boy is it chilly!

Situation 1 hour ago:

It was about 19 degrees throughout my run.  It can be hard to motivate oneself to get out the door when it's so cold, but once you're out there's nothing like it.  Cold, still, quiet... the feeling of the coming snow in the air, squirrels and birds chatting and finding food before the weather sets in... so happy I had the freedom to squeeze in that quiet time before everything is covered in ice and snow again and running outside probably won't happen for a few days.

The girls are currently finished with their chores for the day, have played outside in the cold for a while, and are now settling in for some Wii time.  It's nice to see them having some relaxing too, after a particularly busy school week.

You'll notice that I'm drinking coffee from my Jane Austen mug, and that is in honor of Sanditon:

I finally got a chance to catch up on the first episodes last night (did you know you can binge the whole season with a Passport account, even though it hasn't aired yet?) and I was instantly hooked.  It has all the characteristics of Jane Austen that her fans love so much... the humorous, semi-ridiculous characters that you can laugh at, the opinionated, sensible heroine, the mysterious and handsome hero who offends and misunderstands the heroine on their first meeting, the nefarious brother and sister who threaten to take everybody down.  And so much more!  If you're a fan of Austen you simply must check it out!  Preferably on a long weekend with a glass of something and perhaps a few M&Ms.

I promise it will be the cure for whatever ails you.

Speaking of "weekend vibes", I was so happy that I got to sneak in a shopping trip this week with a growing girl!

Isn't she tall????

We have had the hardest time finding pants that fit her.  All parents of beanpoles will feel my pain.  She had requested a Justice gift card for her birthday, and so this past Wednesday I took her out to spend it after early dismissal day at school.  She had been wearing the same pair of leggings for about a week, claiming "none of my other leggings fit!"  She wasn't wrong.

We entered the store and I will admit I didn't have very high hopes of finding pants that were long enough but also fit in the waist.  Lo and behold, we found them!!  Justice is the place to shop, parents of beanpoles!!!  I stocked up on several pairs, despite the fact that they weren't on sale, which goes against my tightwad sensibilities, but... I just knew we wouldn't find a better fit easily, and it would have made me cry to see her wear the same pants yet another day in a row.  Mamas will understand my satisfaction at having solved that problem for her.  She was pretty tickled about it too.

And with that, I will leave you, as I am getting my typical after-winter-run chill and need to go warm up with a hot shower!  Here's to a relaxing rest of the weekend for all of us!