I am so glad it’s the weekend. The week always goes by in a blur and on Saturday I feel like I can take a moment and finally breath. I am trying not to schedule anything on Saturdays since it’s mostly my catch-up day – catch up on house cleaning, grocery shopping, phone calls with the family in Germany, garden clean ups, laundry, you get the idea. And my plant babies are taken care of, too. Until we bought our house in 2018 I never got plants. Somehow, I was always hoping we would move back to Germany rather sooner than later and it was more thing to give away if we would. Leading up to the house purchase we had some serious conversations about the plans for our future and where that would be and well, ended up buying the house. That settled it (at least for now) and I started getting plants. I never had a green thumb but now most of them are thriving (and multiplying). They seem to like the weekly attention even though I don’t do anything special. Maybe I should not write this down not to jinx it? I can be a little superstitious sometimes.
Actually, I take it back that I never make plans on Saturday. Today I signed the kids up for an engineering class where they get to make a prosthetic hand out of cardboard and straws. It’s run by UC Berkeley students, and I hope they have fun. It’s not enough time to go home and come back so my plan is to sit somewhere in a café while I wait for them. Maybe read a little (I am inspired after reading all the book posts yesterday)? Or take a walk on campus? Berkeley has a beautiful campus. I will show you sometime.
And then next Saturday I am organizing a little early birthday gathering for my daughter with a couple of her friends. So there it goes, no Saturday off for me. But with Thanksgiving coming up and a week long school break it’s a special month.
The other plan for this weekend was to get family pictures taken. Usually, I have the kids pictures taken each year but I thought it would be nice to have the whole family for once. We do have family pictures here and there but it’s hard to catch a good one. And I so want a good one with all of us looking our best. We will see if it happens this weekend as there is rain in the forecast. It already got moved to Sunday instead of today. Do you ever have a professional take you family photos? It’s the first time we do it.
I also should take down the bats in our big front window and finally finish the t-shirt that I already cut out and that is waiting to be put together. Last weekend the dining room table was still filled with Halloween costume and art supplies but those are gone for now so there is space for a new mess. For us those things always happen at the dining room table. We have a little breakfast nook next to the kitchen that we use for our meals so no need to clean up every time.
And I want to read some more of the blogs I discovered this week through NaBloPoMo. The list got a little longer and you can find all participating blogs on San’s side the in between is mine who got everyone organized. Thank you for that again! I am glad I decided to go for it even it is overwhelming at times. It’s starting to become a little bit of a fun routine but I have a whole new appreciation for people who do this on a regular basis.
What are your plans for the weekend? Are you as excited about it as I?
Home here and there 
I have a very chill Saturday planned – mostly trying to figure out blog posts for the coming week, working out, and reading. Tomorrow I’m going to make some cookies and go to book club, but I’ll also do annoying chores like laundry and cleaning. In general, it will be a chill weekend and we don’t have a lot on the calendar for weekends in November, so that will be a nice peaceful interim before the madness of Christmas begins.
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That sounds nice. We are going to visit friends the Thanksgiving week so that will be a nice break for us before the holiday craziness starts.
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I love your front window with the curtains and the bats and the sun coming through!!
And I understand your feelings about the plants (and the constant thought in the back of your mind if you might be moving back to Germany and then have all these things to deal with) ALL TOO WELL… I have lived like this for YEARS, overthinking every purchase.
We owned a house for three years (now back to renting for various reasons) and when we bought it, my sister’s first comment was: you’re staying there for good. I tried to comfort her by saying that buying/selling houses is MUCH more common here in the US than it is in Germany (where most people just buy a house once in their lives, if at all!).
The thing is, we can’t live our lives with the “what ifs” in our heads all the time… if you move back, you’ll find someone to take your plants 😉
I hope you have a lovely weekend. Saturday is my catch-up day, and like NGS, I’ll be doing some blog reading and writing this weekend. I am so glad you joined NaBloPoMo… and hopefully that will give you the kickstart to keep blogging after the month is over 🙂
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“We can’t live our lives with the what ifs”, you are absolutely right. It took me a while to get there but I finally managed 😉 Isn’t it funny that for a lot of Germans buying a house is a forever decision? I am not sure yet how long we are going to stay but we will see. I am just glad we settled for now Hope you have a great weekend, too!
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I’m glad you’re enjoying NaBloPoMo! I’m also enjoying reading all the new (to me) blogs.
I work Saturday mornings, but now I’m home relaxing on the couch and watching football. But I also have plenty to do around the house- laundry and cleaning, grocery shopping and taking down the Halloween decorations. And oh yes, I’m making a cake this weekend! So it will be semi-busy, but fun.
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It has been a busy weekend for us so far – I think it will be busy until after Christmas now?!
Friday night is always my absolute favourite time of the week. It’s so nice to put away the kids bookbags and settle in for a night when we don’t have to think/plan much at all for the next morning.
Like San, I LOVE the view of those bats through your window. It looks so cozy and cheerful.
Hope you had a great day; sounds like a very fun opportunity for the kids. And kudos on all the plants. Like you, I just started buying plants recently. I’m amazed they’re still alive because I only water occasionally (once every week or two)…but maybe that’s why they’re thriving? Now I’ve probably jinxed it…
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I also have the feeling the weekends until the new year will be busy. It sometimes feels like the year is almost over even though we still have a couple of weeks.
The kids had a lot of fun and were happily playing around with their robotic hands they made out of straws and a paper roll when I picked them up. Makes all the organizing and driving around worth it.
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I love indoor plants. Yours are looking very happy. You have a good selection there.
I think the only professional photos I’ve got done of all of us are a couple taken when we were at Whistler. One is on our mantlepiece now. One year I did a photo project where I took a photo of us all every month. I would set it up and then if someone else was there get them to take it or I’d use the timer on my camera. That was a really good project but took a bit of work to do.
This weekend is almost over for me as I type this. It has involved running, brunch and packing boxes.
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I like the idea of the picture every month. Maybe I give that a try hoping for cooperation 😉 as the kids get older they don’t like their picture taken anymore so it’s always tricky.
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I love that bat window. That is some halloween decoration I could get behind. I also love that there are some new blogs in my feed and I am trying to read as much as possible. But it does take time. But I wouldn’t want to miss it.
I try to. keep most of my weekends free of events. But than I am an introvert and dont need to see so many people.
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Those bats are with me for a couple of years now but I think this was our last. The tape I used this time was not so easy to get off and sadly a lot of them ripped. Just have to either make new ones or make something new…
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My weekends tend to be on the busy side these days, but it works for me since my weekdays are pretty chill (I work from home and live alone, so it’s possible for me to go 5-6 days without seeing anyone!)
Those bats are such a cool decoration!
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My weekends are generally working weekends, but as the post I’m literally working on now highlights (it’s not yet published), my priorities need to be reset. Having weekend time available, as you did, makes all the difference in one’s engagement with Mondays, I find.
Berkeley is lovely. My biggest challenge there would be a) no school where I could be faculty (they don’t have my specialty) and b) traffic/location/affordability. I do dream of moving to a more temperate location, though, and have considered northern CA (and the PNW in general) as an option high on my list. I love the midwest but… your pictures remind me just how much I love that area of the country. Me and millions of other people. 🙂
So glad you are doing NaBloPoMo – I am glad to have found your blog!
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Oh, thank you! It is lovely here but yes, we pay the price for it. We don’t live in Berkeley but moved to Richmond because it’s more affordable but still out of reach for many.
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