Well, more than. Or less than. Who really knows.

(edited to add, thank you for your cat-related comments on my last post! any more advice is necessary…)

Wednesday nights are a late night for Louie and me. He has class until after 10 so I wait until then to eat with him, usually…we are on this weird schedule of eating dinner after I finish teaching/he finishes classes, so it ends up being pretty late. Right now I’m blogging, and then I’m going to make some salmon and veggies and maybe have a glass of wine. I’ve never had a dinner break while teaching—I’d rather eat late and have dinner be my last thing for the day. I also never used to teach as late as I do! I think going forward I’ll try to cut it off at 8 pm, or maybe earlier some days and later others…some day Louie won’t have class and then maybe I won’t want to work so late every night. Then again, I have to work sometime, and before school gets out is hardly an option. Sigh. These are not actual problems though.

So, I had originally planned to run the Go Halloween Half this weekend, but I got nervous about the time limit—not that I shouldn’t be able to make it, but that I would be right at the end, and I worried that most of the course support would have ended. I decided to drop down and run the 10K this weekend, and then I found a deal for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon NEXT weekend. That one is more encouraging to walkers and has a much longer course time limit, so I figure it’ll be easier to be slow and still have support (i.e. water stops, maybe some folks cheering) along the way, plus…another week to train, ha! I also have a less busy day afterwards, which is entirely my fault, but I imagine finishing the race and then going and eating hash browns and pancakes and whatnot, and I don’t want to be rushed. So the fun thing is, two races, two weekends in a row! I’m excited!

Another fun thing I’m doing this weekend is playing some “World Chamber Music” written by Michael Hagmeier, who also plays didgeridoo and guitar. We are playing at the Artica Festival around 3:30 on Saturday, and I’m pumped. I am also a little terrified because at least half of the songs have “solo” sections where I have to improvise, but I’ve been doing ok in rehearsals…so maybe I can do okay in front of a crowd. Oh, and hopefully there WILL be a crowd! The weather looks lovely for the weekend, hopefully not too chilly for outdoor playing on Saturday, and awesome for running on Sunday.

(It’s important to leave a clean, folded towel out for the cat to sleep on.)

I’ve been stressed out for no good reason this week. I think I feel like I should be getting much more done than I am? And the house sometimes overwhelms me: between the animals making messes/shedding, too much stuff, some needed home repairs…sometimes it gets overwhelming. Then I try to remind myself we are making progress, and nobody is judging me and who cares if they are, and it’s not my fault…and I’m getting lots of great practicing in, and I even got my email inbox down to ONE page, meaning, no scrolling necessary to see all the emails, and I’m taking an Edx course on Opera, and… I type these things and I always feel a little neurotic. Do I come across that way?

Practicing selfie! I need to get my violin cleaned again…don’t look at how dirty my fingerboard is. That IS my fault.

On a pumpkin related note, I went to Trader Joe’s this morning. I thought when I went the other week things were out of hand, pumpkin-wise…but today was ridiculous. I don’t think I was ever out of arm’s reach of a pumpkin product. I did purchase pumpkin ravioli (already had it once, pretty good) and a pumpkin yogurt, but otherwise resisted. I wonder where the pumpkin tipping or breaking point is?