The kids had the day off school for Columbus Day. Elianna is on her way home from Nebraska and the boys spent the day working out in the woods. One of the former directors had made wooden platform for his kids. At some point since then it was destroyed by a tree. They disassembled everything and made a pile of wood in the yard. I’d periodically go out to check and see how things were going.

I spent the day inside. The weather has turned to the chilly kind that sparks holiday inspiration. My special Christmas cleaning mood music was on while I spent much of the day sweeping and putting out fall decorations in the front of the house, cleaning the bathroom and Elianna’s room, and jumping back in to the laundry cycles. Elianna cleans her own room but I swept and vacuumed and changed the sheets.

Dad told the boys they had to come in at 3. “I wish I could get them to channel that energy toward the things I would actually like for them to do”, he said around lunchtime. I said, “Oh I know.” He said I should make the boys fold the remaining baskets downstairs. I’m torn. I like folding it myself and having the neater end product, but it does take time. I left a basket half-folded for whoever gets to it first.