Not much to report this week. Let’s get to it anyway.

• Thanks again to everyone who joined us for this month’s Show Us Your Books. Steph and I genuinely appreciate your participation and enthusiasm and we have another giveaway planned for you next month (linkup is December 8).
• Finished Ready Player One, almost finished with Stoner, picked up God Shaped Hole (a book I read years ago and saw a picture of on IG but didn’t remember what happened so maybe it’s worth a reread).
• Obsessively listened to Welcome to Night Vale. It’s genuinely the weirdest podcast I have ever listened to but it’s so, so funny and creative.
• Stuck to my TV regimen of Fargo, The Bastard Executioner, Big Bang Theory, Mom, How to Get Away with Murder, and John Oliver. Looking forward to the next seasons of all the Netflix shows I enjoy (and the new season of Prison Break!) and am currently in the market for a new show to binge watch. Suggestions?
• Everything in the next paragraph is true–On Monday, I got an email from the child’s principal that they had to put the school on soft lockdown due to police activity at a house a bit up the road from the school. Fortunately, she stayed home on Monday and I breathed a sigh of relief because I freaked out a bit that their lockdown drills had to actually be applied (note: a soft lockdown is one where the building is locked but normal activity continues inside the classrooms. Not an actual lockdown where they lock the school and the classroom doors and the kids and staff and teachers go into the breakout rooms). So I keep reading the email and it turns out, the lockdown and police activity were due to the emu that’s been running loose in my town for the last 2-3 months. Guys. We have an EMU on the loose AND NOBODY CAN CATCH THE DAMN THING. Everyone around here is mildly obsessed with this rogue emu because it’s hilarous. Our residents group posts pictures of emu sightings. People debate the emu. The thing is a freaking legend. We were even in the news!
• I also learned that there have been orders to shoot him on sight, provided he’s not on private property, since apparently animal control or fish and wildlife or whomever has been charged with capturing him don’t have the capacity to humanely tranquilize him and he’s become a “safety hazzard”. I have so many thoughts on this, the least of which is I am appalled. He’s not harming anyone or anything and if people wouldn’t stop their damn cars to take pictures and/or selfies, he wouldn’t pose a traffic problem. If he were aggressive, I could understand. But he just wants to be left alone. And people and deer and cats and groundhogs run out in the middle of the road, too, and no one campaigns to shoot them. Fortunately, there are some great people where I live who are trying to get him captured safely and humanely. ETA: The emu has been caught, unharmed, and relocated to a farm.
• Ticked a couple of items off the fall project list, which felt great, even if I’m sucking ass at NaNo (seriously, my goal is simply to finish my book not write 50K words so I won’t actually be a “winner” if I get to my goal). But I am writing a little bit at a time so I’m getting closer to the end.
• Haven’t read much on the internets since I’ve been obsessively researching how to run my writing contest and podcast for work, recipes for the Whole30 the husband and I are currently doing, and all the tweets from The Bloggess’s thing about awkward moments. If you have a few spare hours and haven’t read those yet, DO IT. You will not regret it.
• Got this funny from the husband:

This is our last weekend with the cheer gym we’ve been going to for 3 seasons. It’s a very bittersweet parting but one that’s necessary. She’s superexcited about her new gym and as a parent, I’m very pleased with it, too. Other than that, we’ve got nothing planned. Maybe a movie and some (necessary) food prep. Definitely books.

How about you guys? Any big plans?

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Every time I see the number 37, I think of the movie Clerks. I’m not the only one, right? RIGHT?!

Anyway. Weekly recap stuff.

• Didn’t finish any books not for work but currently reading You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine. Picked up Infinite Home, Ready Player One, the new Nickolas Butler, and an eBook (Brene Brown’s Daring Greatly). Hopefully all will be read in time for the next Show Us Your Books on November 10th. And congrats to Kate and Kristen for winning the one year anniversary giveaway!
• Started volunteering in the library at the child’s school. Told the other volunteer I like books more than people. She was not amused. #sorrynotsorry But guys, if you have a kid and you have the time, offer to go in and help the librarian. School libraries are so crucial and the librarians work really hard. No, it’s not the most glamorous or fun job like chaperoning a field trip, but I can guarantee you it’ll be appreciated.
• NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS, BITCHES!!! #LGM
• Also currently dogsitting for a little dachshund I’ve named Houseguest (not her real name). Freaked out a litte behind her owners’ backs because when they dropped her off, the brought her and her food. No dish, no bed, no toys (no leash because she’s always off leash. Her legs are so small and she’s old so it’s not like she’s going anywhere). I mean, who does that?? Here, watch my dog but I’m going to give you absolutely nothing she needs for you to take care of her for 5 days. Made me mad.
• Speaking of dogs, Barkley went to the vet for his yearly appointment. The growth on his leg that forced him into the cone of shame (if you follow me on Instagram, you saw the pathetic picture)? Easily removable through a little minor surgery. YAY!!
• Created my own personal online scheduler for appointments and phone calls. Because obviously I’m important now.
• Worked through an unexpected pantry challenge because getting to the supermarket has been near impossible. It’s amazing what you can come up with to eat when you have to use what’s in the house. Makes you realize that sometimes, maybe we have too much.
• Made my friend Mackenzie’s pumpkin dip but subsituted honey for maple syrup since we had none on hand. SO EASY. Here’s the recipe: 1 cup canned pumpkin, 1 package cream cheese (softened), 3 tbsp honey or syrup, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Mix (I used my electric hand mixer). We used apples as the dipper but you can really use anything you want.
• Read some fun internet things: This list is filled with some of my all-time favorites: 5 films that turned 30 this year (and why you should care). An amazing story, actually written in April but discovered by me this week, on how a Mets fan turned his pain as a fan (and trust me, it is painful to be a Mets fan) into a lucrative business. All the truths in this one: 10 reasons your house will never look like a home goods catalog. Malls: one of the staples of my teenage years. This is a cool photo projects about what malls looked like in 1989 and how they haven’t changed all that much. Major props to the chick rocking the Skid Row t-shirt.
• We’re supposed to go pumpkin picking this weeked but this about sums it up:

Hope you guys have a great weekend! I’ll be catching up on sleep and reading since no baseball and no cheerleading competitions. See you Tuesday!

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