Happy Halloween my friends! I hope all is well with you – indeed that your day is not scary or creepy! We’ve been enjoying some lovely beautiful weather, that’s been bringing our temps down into the 20’s overnight. The full moon has been pretty amazing also, the yard covered in the silver frost with the moon light making it sparkle gives this season a bit of a magical feel.

I’m sure watching the moon come up with the grands has also tilted the magical feeling in a positive direction. Singing our song, and sharing the moment is pretty darn amazing. We are very fortunate that we get to share these children with their parents. The picture I am attaching, does not nearly do any justice to the moon rise, but it’s a placeholder for now. Maybe my new phone will do a better job…?

Life has been busy….a bit too busy for my liking, but what would I take out?

The garden has been neglected for some time now. The corn never gave us anything other than tall stalks, but no cobs. However, the pumpkin patch did not disappoint! It gave us a ton of wonderfully beautiful white pumpkins in addition to tiny orange ones and several other types that made for a great display on the front step. I also sent some home with the grands, my mom, my dear friend and had enough left over for the dogs to pick-up several throughout the day to run around with and drop in random locations.

The grands spent the night a few nights ago, there’s been visits to the pumpkin patch, visits to the hospital, work, pottery, pumpkin carving nights, dinner and lunch dates and of course being sure to get the proper exercise, eat right & drink plenty of water…..

We had a lovely sleep over with the grands, my almost 8-year-old granddaughter has taken a very keen interest in crafting & creating! We tried a watercolor painting that we found via Instagram with an amazing artist by the name of Andrea Nelson. We also tried a page from my step-by-step book, but we didn’t do very well with that one, but certainly enjoyed the pumpkin one! There are so many fun things to do at Nana’s house, that it’s so difficult to know what to do because we want to do it all! We decided to put ideas in a hat and draw out one or two of them to narrow it down to just one or two things so we don’t wear ourselves out trying to do it ALL!! Outside time, play time, craft time, meal time and of course bath time flew by! Needless to say, we very much enjoyed our time, the kids were rightfully worn out, so our jobs as grandparents was done proper!

Grandbaby #4 is due any day now! We are on standby to whisk away GB #3 so mommy and daddy can focus on bringing home the new baby. I plan on taking a week off of work so we can be there for them, but honestly last time I was prepared to take time off, they ended up not needing me, so we will see what happens. They are in the middle of a home addition also, so life has been a bit crazy for them.

I do have a pottery show coming up, of which I am not prepared for at all, but that certainly is the story of my life. I was working on some of the mugs last night while I was questioning my choices to the design. I find myself wondering why I’m spending my time glazing small details on things – almost like I’m back in the 1990’s when I did ceramics with my ex-husband when the kids were little. I feel a bit like a dork – but then I wonder what I would be doing instead. I’m still trying to figure out my style, am I a ceramic-cute-details-bright-color-functional-piece producer, am I a traditional-wheel-throwing-earth-color-glazing-functional piece producer, or am I a little of everything-all-over-the-board-not wanting to get stuck in one area or the other, exploring all of the things that come with pottery?

I did have a “big” dessert & pottery night for a fund raiser for the CureSMA foundation! We raised 202$, next year I know it will be bigger and better! I’ve also decided from here on out, that I will donate 10% to the foundation in addition to doing the dessert night. We didn’t have a huge turn out, but we had people show up, stay and visit and several people purchase pottery. It was a success that we will definitely do again.

Mom has had several falls this month, after her third fall in 7 days, we finally decided to have her transported to the hospital where they were going to discharge her the next day – to a rehab facility, but she didn’t want to go, so she thought she would just go home AND the hospital thought that was just fine. She was unable to do much walking on her own, but thought it would be okay. Her support system – consisting of one of younger sister, my daughter, and two care givers -convinced her to stay in the hospital until we could get the okay to get her into rehab. The insurance denied the stay, so I had to have a contentious conversation with the care management team at the hospital, where I told them that indeed we were not going to come get her to take her home, I am not qualified to meet her needs.

Three hours spent in the hospital talking to the care manager, basically having them tell me that they were going to charge “us” for mom staying in the hospital instead of the family taking responsibility for her. Also, on the phone with the insurance company questioning who made the decision to override the doctor’s recommendation and what type of background do they have to be practicing medicine.

In the end, the insurance company approved her stay at a rehab facility – however; it was the day after she went home with a caregiver……honestly…..so exhausting! And, of course, mom is mad at me for wanting her to go to a rehab facility. There is a doctors appointment coming up with her primary care provider, thankfully my sister is going to participate in this one, she can ask questions and she can be involved with the decisions with mom.

Thankfully work is much better this year – so much better that there have been times when I’ve almost pinched myself. I have a space where I can produce materials, in addition to having a place to put my bag & lunch box. Goodness me, seems like a low bar, but honestly, it makes a difference to feel like there’s a place to belong and be part of a team. I’ve also been granted a bit of latitude when it comes to being in charge of my schedule and how I provide support to my student.

I thank you so much for stopping by for a visit, I hope that your October was amazing. The year is coming to a very quick close, only 60’ish days left of 2023…..whose ready for 2024? Until next time, hugs to you! Hopefully I will be back before next year!