Reminiscing about October

If you saw my last post, you'll understand why I've been unable to write lately. How did we get to November already? In any case, October meant three things: work, viruses, and Halloween. Sometimes, all at the same time.

My semester began slow. I usually wake up in the middle of the night, and in September, I spent the wee hours knitting. Once October started, however, I switched into work mode, commenting and grading a few assignments every night. Work got so much that I even had to stop knitting on the bus.

Things were going smoothly until Columbus Day Weekend when I got hit by a virus or two. I spent the three day weekend trying to rest, wondering why my cold had not manifested in my chest or sinuses. Then, Tuesday came, and I woke up with a pounding headache and a throat on fire. Really fun. I slept most of the day on Wednesday (something I rarely do when sick), and even missed class on Thursday. I came back to work on Friday sporting some lovely cold sores. HSV looked like it took over the left half of my top lip. I had never had it that bad.

Luckily, I wasn't too far behind at work, and I had started the boys' Halloween costumes Columbus Day weekend. Nikita wanted to be Optimus Prime; Ivan wanted to be Bumblebee, then Thomas. Bent on making them, I had boxes ready, and got spray paint, tempura paint, and cardboard paper. It was a good thing Ivan changed his mind because the yellow spray paint did not take to the cardboard! Because I started so early, I was able to spend an hour here and there working on them.

The other highlight of the month was going apple-picking late October. I was really pleased that we were able to go because our Saturdays are generally shot with Nikita's lessons (art, chess). We went to an orchard in Berlin, MA, and had a great time. It helped that the weather was lovely. The boys loved the tractor rides, and we all enjoyed the freshly-picked apples. I think I had never seen Igor eaten so many apples (especially since the boys would always try out a new variety and not finish the apples). In all, we picked 10 pounds of 5 varieties: Gala, Red Delicious, Mutsu, Jonagold, and Macoun - my favorite.

Notes on the boys: Nikita is doing well in all his lessons. His art teacher no longer gives him homework, and his piano teacher has been impressed by him since I started supervising his practices (or is it the fact that his lessons have been 2 weeks apart because of getting sick?). Ivan, in the meantime, loves to cook along with me. He's also into painting, and recently has been able to put together the larger pieces of Nikita's K'nex. He also really loves music: over the weekend, he was dancing to the Beatles' "Back in the USSR". And last night, we enjoyed the Glee soundtrack I purchased.