So while Rudi is away, expect a total lack of productivity from me.

Well, not total. I did knit a few rows on Mystery Project #1 tonight while catching up on the episode and a half of Ugly Betty I’d missed this season. And I am diligently working at putting away the rest of the Halloween Almond Joys and Reese’s Pieces … in my stomach.

Tomorrow I plan to make beer, return library books, and watch BritComs. Maybe if I’m feeling particularly energetic, I’ll make some bread in the breadmaker or paint my toenails.

Such is the exciting life of the occasionally single woman.

At six a.m., should I bother going back to bed?

Am I really awake?

Would I regret staying up at, say, ten a.m.?

Would I be flat out asleep on my keyboard come two p.m.?

Why isn’t Jenn writing things to convince me that exciting things happen at such a dark and crazy hour?

I’ve been exhausted all week and have taken to going to bed as soon as I get home, getting up for supper, and returning to bed. I think it’s allergies, as I’ve also been sneezing a lot when the Claritin wears off. I know it will pass and I will spend a portion of the weekend in bed snoozing while Rudi parties with his mom at her med school reunion in Florida.

In the meantime, I offer you three beautiful things from this week. I admit it was hard to choose, because it’s really a lovely time of year.

1. I dressed up for work yesterday and enjoyed the odd glances I got on the Metro. But when I got off at my stop, there was a gaggle of preschoolers waiting to get through the stiles. They were all knee-high and bedecked as ballerinas and pirates and superheroes, but they audibly gasped to see a full-grown witch pass them by.

2. Rudi and I bought new hoodie sweatshirts at the last Threadless sale and I’ve been living in mine because of that incomparable softness of the inside of a new sweatshirt. I don’t ever want to wash it!

3. Rudi and I baked cookies Friday evening to take to Sweetpea‘s party. Usually, Rudi does the cooking and I handle the baking, but Rudi had pointed me to this recipe and was much more skilled at the shaping of these than I. We had great fun and I packaged them up in a bowl with a cloth napkin, popped them into my Red Riding Hood basket, and thought nothing more of them. I handed them to the hostess when we arrived and she delighted me by being grossed out. And she wasn’t alone. What merited such a seasonal reaction? These.