What is this blogging thing you speak of?

Well, hello to my few dozen readers!  I've missed you.  Seriously, it feels like weeks since I last blogged.  But it's been only 8 days.   Zoinks!

A friend just blogged about how this is the time of year when she gets most creative and prolific.  If these words are turning green, it's because I envy her. 

For me, this time of year is when all my routines fall apart.   I experience a brand of busy like none other; the things that keep me sane - swimming, volleyball, walking the dog and blogging - start to feel like onerous tasks that are getting in the way of work.  Yes, I'm aware that this is a bas-ackwards way of looking at things, but it's happens.  Every October.

October is when, on the work front, sales take a dive, and it seems to take everyone by surprise. We refuse to learn from history.  A little gloom cloud settles and makes it harder to keep up the good spirits on my team.

October is when everyone and their uncle is hosting an event that I should be going to.  

October is when I have to make a trip to Madison at what seems to be the worst possible time (though it's always great when I get there).

October is when I realize my life would be simpler if I had a craft: something I could make people for Christmas gifts.   (Like my aforementioned super bloggy and creative friend.  You should go check out her blog and buy her stuff.  It's great).

And October is when it gets gorgeous outside, so all I want to be doing is walking or hiking in those last few glorious evenings before Daylight Savings turns the world dark right after lunch. 

Instead, I bounce from meeting to meeting to event, cram in a 15 minute dog walk, race off to another meeting/event, come home, play with the dog for ten minutes, lament the nasty state of my house, and go to sleep. 

Cooking, you say?  That's funny.  I eat out too much, and get that nasty, if-I'm-not-careful-I'll-gain-10-pounds-BEFORE-the-holidays feeling. 

(Yes, I know, poor me.  At least I have a bed to sleep on, food to eat, electricity to power this computer.  I can assure you, I feel duly shallow as I type this.)

Yet on the flip side, because so much is going on, lots of good things happen, and I have to remind myself that it's important to pay attention to them, too.

Like, for example, the fact that my blog boot giveaway winner decided to give her boot gift card away.  Seriously, how sweet is that?

Or that my coworkers staged probably the most impressive Halloween ever on Wednesday.  There was dry ice, as you can see.  Enough said.

Or that this godforsaken, soul-killing slog of a presidential campaign is just a few days from over, and we can go back to not talking about politics on social media, like we do everywhere else. 

Or that I'm not traveling again until Thanksgiving, and that I'm planning the most exciting Christmas trip EVER with two friends.   And that this planning required me to order 4 pairs of shoes to try on, only one of which I will keep (thanks for the idea, Sarah, and the free return shipping, Zappos).

Or that this tree is outside my window at work.

Or that this truck did not fall apart and empty it's cargo onto the street in front of me today, as the dangerously tilted right side would seem wont to do.

Or that despite the fact that I've been a terrible dog mom this month, my dog still loves me. 

Or that it's now November, a great month full of baking, visiting and selling tickets for holiday outings and presents! 

Good and not-so-good, there's been a lot of fodder for blogging in the past 7 days.  More to come, and I probably won't be able to resist a political post or two, so stick with me.  It won't last.  I'll go back to blogging about inanities soon enough.