Knock on a pumpkin...

Wow, I am half-way through October and knock on a pumpkin, I'm still staying relatively healthy.  Since October tends to be my bewitching month, I hate to get too excited yet but I'm trying to remain cautiously optimistic.  Last year at this point I was staring down the front end of a three week hospital stay--no fun.

So far this month can be summed up in mostly two words: exercise and apples.  I am still dedicated to keeping these wind bags of mine as healthy as possible so I go workout 5 days a week.  I wish I could say I enjoy it, but I can't.  It's too hard and frustrating to apply the word "enjoy" with any bit of credibility.  Tolerate would be a better description.  Thankfully a variety of podcasts help keep my mind off of what feels like my eminent demise.  What does feel good, however, is that I keep at it even though it's hard--it gives me a sense of accomplishment.  I just wish the sense of exhaustion didn't follow so close on its heels.  It's hard to stay motivated to accomplish anything else the rest of the day, sigh.

Our little apple tree produced a bumper crop of the juiciest, yummy apples.  Combined with some apples from a friend, I've managed to do 7 batches of dehydrated apples and put up 20 pints and 10 quarts of applesauce.  Not only that but I made a dee-licious apple struesel and a tasty applecrisp dessert as well.  The very pores of our house exude the smell of baked apples.  That being said, I am sooo done with apples for awhile--as much as I love them, I have apple overload.  

Yesterday we got to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my youngest nephew.  Max was as thrilled with the balloons and wrapping paper as he was with his presents.  What a cutie pie!

Max and Maggie with his
Special Agent Oso cake.