Can I make it to three entries this month? The fact that I’m getting this first one up when October is half over does not bode well. While I haven’t been writing here, I have been taking photos every day, so I’m hoping a handful of those will serve to catch you up on what I’ve been doing in the last three weeks. (Of course, if we’re Flickr friends, you’ve seen these images already, but not all the words will be repeats.)

Pretty much I’ve just been up to normal stuff, like grocery shopping. On a recent trip to the store, I chose the ugliest lemon in the organic section because I was worried no one else would take it home. I think it looks a bit like a hedgehog.

A be-skeletoned Spooky Monkey (called Tricks by the Beanie Babie folks) has joined my sock monkey family. Mr. Karen asked if this monkey would be so cute after Halloween is over; I do believe he will. Work has been rather stressful lately, and treats like this $5 sock monkey cheer me up (and are much healthier than the same money spent on fast food or candy or suchlike).

I made another quick trip back to Illinois during which I got in some good family time, including playing with my baby grandnieces, one of whom had learned to crawl and the other to climb stairs since I’d seen them just two weeks before. It’s so much fun to see them figuring out the world, and I’m a little sad that I don’t get to see them more often.

I’ve been going to the gym, which at this time of year means I get to see the sunrise either from the parking lot or through the windows by the indoor track depending on when I managed to drag myself out of bed and out the door.

I’ve been enjoying the fall colors. More than once while driving in recent weeks, I’ve wished I were a passenger so I could just take in the spectacle. I also do not hesitate to be that odd lady walking around the parking lot taking pictures of trees.

Of course I’ve been playing with nail polish. Here’s a squad of pumpkins assembled to be packed up and sent off as prizes in my nail blog giveaway.

I’ve been doing a tiny bit of knitting, but have nothing finished to share yet despite having two projects so close to being done it’s just silly that I haven’t completed them. Things I haven’t been doing: quilting, updating physical photo albums, losing weight, running, decluttering, and about a million other things I want or need to. I can say for sure that I will have no trouble keeping busy after I retire. I may even have to pick up more hobbies, like penny pinching.