I know I haven’t been blogging much. I suppose I’m a little paralysed by the prospect of Thanksgiving and Christmas and everything I have to do over the next few weeks. Not that I’m doing anything about it. Usually having a deadline is just what I need to get things done but right now I feel incredibly unmotivated to do anything besides going to the gym.

Surprised? Me too. I think I just had to wait until technology caught up with my need to exercise. It makes it so much easier to stay on the treadmill when I only have 10 minutes left on the TV show I have streaming onto myi phone via Netflix. Right now I’m half way through season 3 of Damages, which I highly recommend for anyone needing a new addictive TV experience. I would appreciate recommendations for what I should watch next because, at the rate I’m watching these episodes, I only have a couple more weeks of workouts covered. Then what will I do?

It’s only Tuesday, but the weekend already feels like a distant memory. I think a lot of the blame lies with the Typhoon we’re currently experiencing in Portland – the one that makes me feel as though I must have moved to Japan because I know it rains here, but this is a little ridiculous.

Still, we had a dry weekend so I can’t complain too much (not that I won’t try). I spent most of it doing stuff around the house like cleaning before the cleaners arrive today (stopped myself short of scrubbing the bathroom), piles and piles of laundry (it was NOT a good week for the washing machine) and finally taking my car in to fix damage from when I was rear-ended in (cough!) March. Yes, it has taken me that long to do anything about it and I am only taking action now because my husband shamed me into it by getting the van fixed within mere weeks of his own accident. If your counting, that’s two rear-end accidents within the same year. How did we get so lucky?

In addition to all of the above, my husband took Thomas to a birthday party and came home with an extra child to stay the night (I shouldn’t let that man socialize by himself). Thankfully the child was Liam who is much better behaved than my own children and no trouble at all. Still, we decided to venture out of the house on Sunday morning to burn off a little pent up boy energy, despite the frigid temperatures.

I think these may be the last photos of autumn colors. The typhoon destroyed most of the remaining leaves and they’re now spread across our freshly raked lawn.

Liam was an absolute dream at the park and wanted to stay longer to play. My kids complained endlessly about the cold until I finally gave in to the whining and took them all home.

I have a rare day off tomorrow and plan to take Thomas and a friend to the Portland Art Museum to see the Japanese art exhibit (wish me luck). Then on Thursday we celebrate the holiday of eating with the traditional Ishida take-out Thanksgiving dinner. We have a few extra people this year, but the adults still outnumber the kids 6-4 so my plan to sit around and do very little except eat and drink still seems achievable. On Friday we officially kick off the Christmas season with a very special train ride. More on that soon.

Wishing a wonderful Thanksgiving to all of my American friends and, to my Aussie friends, I’ll do my best to try not to think about the fun you’re likely having sipping cocktails in the sunshine while I struggle to warm my hands with a hot toddy by the heater.