It’s not only Friday, it’s the first Friday in November. I am not ready for the pell-mell can’t-catch-my-breath of the last two months of the year (and I don’t even want to THINK about the holidays; I am pretending they don’t exist), but ready or not, they’re here.
- We had our first snowfall of the season! I love snow and it was such a pure delight to see big flakes falling from the night sky, and then to wake up to a good two inches of snow on all the exterior surfaces. Especially because the roads were blissfully bare and dry. I did realize that a) I’d purged Carla’s snow clothing prior to the move, because she’d been wearing them for two years straight and they were sprouting holes and showed an inch or two of ankle and b) I’d never replaced them. Fortunately, Lands End is having a sale so I was able to order her new things. And new snow boots.
- Speaking of Carla, and snow, and clothing: she has extremely specific fashion tastes these days. And those fashion tastes are not always compatible with the weather. But she’s TEN, and I’ve grown weary of negotiating with her about whether shorts over tights counts as appropriate winter wear. Also, at what age does a child realize that it might be wise to put on a sweatshirt if you are cold rather than complaining plaintively about it to your mother? It’s not age ten, that’s for sure.
- Halloween was fine. There was a neighborhood gathering, at which I felt completely overwhelmed. People were nice but not friendly, and there were so very many of them. I brought the wrong thing and used the wrong container (this group seems to lean quite Fancy), but at least I know better for next time. On the good side, Carla seemed to have a BLAST. There were tons of kids. Twenty? Fifty? I couldn’t keep track of them because they didn’t stay still, and sometimes they had masks on, and sometimes they didn’t. But Carla got to run from house to house in a pack of children and that made me feel very happy and relieved. We bought WAY too much candy and now have an entire grocery bag full of leftovers (on top of Carla’s haul), which I am itching to donate as soon as Carla’s school accepts donations. I wasn’t missing candy – so why am I unable to ignore the siren song of a fun size Snickers? None of my favorites showed up this year, either in the candy we bought or the candy Carla brought home; I’m partial to Milky Way Midnights and Sour Patch Kids. But I’m making up for it with the aforementioned Snickerses and a fairly obscene number of Reese’s peanut butter cups.
- Do you put outgoing mail in your mailbox, or do you take it to the post office? I am having a bit of a disagreement with someone about the appropriate course of action. Some context: One of us grew up in a country area that wasn’t served by the postal service; mail was delivered to a post office box in town. One of us grew up in the suburbs of a large city and had access to a mailbox at the end of the driveway. One of us believes that you put outgoing mail in the mailbox, and, in fact, this is part of the purpose of a mailbox; why else would there be a little red flag on the side of the mailbox meant to alert the postal worker to the presence of outgoing mail? One of us thinks that outgoing mail should be handled at the post office only, or perhaps at one of those once-ubiquitous blue mailboxes that used to be on every street corner but have all but disappeared in the wake of 9/11. Who is right? Where does outgoing mail go? If a person wants to utilize the home mailbox, do they have to call the post office to make sure it’s okay, or is lifting the little red flag alert enough?
- I recently read the newest Robert Galbraith book, The Running Grave. It was truly gripping, despite the fact that it seemed like no one had really edited the thing, and despite the fact that the will they/won’t they storyline has been grating on me for about three books by now. In fact, reading it made me want to reread the series from the beginning, so I waited until we had unpacked all the book boxes to find the first book… and it wasn’t there. Neither were the second and third books in the series. My husband thinks that I may have started reading the series on my kindle, which sounds plausible. But for various reasons, I don’t want to read it on kindle again, so I am contemplating buying a copy. But then I will want to own ALL the books in the series, and that feels like a commitment I’m not ready to make. So. Here I dither, not reading the book I want to read, not buying books I want to buy, and not complaining about it on the book blog, but here instead. What would you do? I suppose I could check it out from the library, which would address a whole host of issues, some of which I started to discuss here but then deleted. However, for some unknown reason the library option isn’t appealing to me. What would you do? Have you ever bought a book you’ve already read just to own the complete series? What if I DO buy the rest of the series and the hardbacks are no longer available so half the series is in hardback and the other half is in paperback? Will that drive me book bonkers?
That’s all I have for today, Internet. Hope your Friday is sunny and that your weekend starts early!
I am kinda sorta attempting to complete NaBloPoMo, with the full expectation that life will make it impossible any day now. If you want to follow along, or join in the fun, check out San’s blog here.
I still haven’t read the prior Cormoran Strike tome; at 1,000 pages, it’s daunting. I agree about the will they/won’t they dynamic. It feels manipulative. Snow!? I doubt we’ll get much this year but I still need to have my winter tires put on. Sorry that people weren’t friendly at the get together; it will hopefully improve over time. I can’t have Kitkats or Almond Joy in the house.
OOOH! Glad you liked Running Grave- I LOVED it. Funny, I’ve also thought of rereading the series from the beginning! I’ll probably wait a few years though. I read the first few as library books- if the hardcovers are still available, I would go ahead and just purchase those. I agree about the will they/won’t they storyline, and considering the ending of this one, if something doesn’t change in the next book, I’m going to get downright angry.
I have about 50 little packs of Sour Patch Kids I can send your way : ) That’s what we gave out and we have a ton left over.
Yes, we put outgoing mail in our mailbox with the flag up. That’s what the flag is for! But if it’s really important I take it to the post office because I’m paranoid.
You can put outgoing mail in your mailbox OR take it to the blue mailboxes. Either way. Also, you can take it inside the post office and put it in a slot there if you want. Also, this is going to shock you, but we have a wall-mounted mailbox on our porch that doesn’t even have a flag. When we have outgoing mail, we just use a clothespin to attach the mail to the outside of the mailbox and the carrier takes it. And I have never ever notified the post office that I have outgoing mail – what an annoying phone call for someone to have to field – there’s a flag for a reason!
I may be persnickety about this because my mom retired from USPS and heard A LOT of complaining about things that customers did that wasted workers’ time.
I told someone this recently on blogs, but I didn’t wear a winter coat at all in junior high or high school. There are boring reasons for this, but I swear to you that I am the queen of outwear now, so dressing inappropriately for the season will probably not be Carla’s life forever.
Oh I absolutely use my personal mailbox to send outgoing items whenever needed. Which is not very often, but I know in September I mailed Asher’s band registration and the check (for some reason it didn’t go to the school- had to go to the 3rd party band company people, I guess). Just dropped it in mailbox and put the flag up. Now, if I have to mail a BUNCH of items (e.g. 60 Christmas cards..), I usually either drop them in a big blue mailbox or mail at the post office. I guess I feel those little mail trucks aren’t that big and maybe they don’t have space for TONS of outgoing mail that way?? I don’t know.
My kids are hit or miss on outerwear. I mostly have just given up and have decided that if they are cold, well, they are cold. They are old enough to “live and learn” a little. That said, we had some snow and cold weather this week too and they both asked me where their winter jackets were. (Also, I need to check that sale because I am 99% sure they don’t’ have boots or snowpants that fit. Ethan’s jacket is questionable if it’s really big enough to make it through this whole year….should probably do a formal inventory…. ugh. Not in the mood.)
Well, in Germany you cannot leave outgoing mail in your mailbox for the mail carrier to take because a) most mailboxes are locked and b) the mail carriers often deliver mail by bike and don’t have the space to pick up outgoing mail AND carrying all the mail they deliver. However, I have worked as a mail carrier during college and would sometimes make exceptions when people (esp. elderly people) asked me nicely because they had a hard time making it to a post office or official mailbox.
Haha, I had to chuckle about Carla not wanting to put on a sweater when it was cold and then complaining about it . Sounds like my niece. I think she grew out of that around 12-13 or so.
P.S. I am partial to fun size twix. I didn’t buy Halloween candy on purpose and then someone left a giant back of fun size everything at our break room at work.
Well first of all, you’ve got the best of all worlds with the snow and the fall colors.
– It started snowing for us during trick o’treat time. All the kids were saying Merry Christmas.
– Speaking from personal experience, I think the age of 32 is about when “kids” start dressing for comfort. My youngest stepson went through a phase where he kept wearing shorts well into the winter and once the weather got warm he switched over to wearing his winter coat through the end of the school year.
– We have a boatload of leftover candy. I got my annual Almond Joy but not my annual Butterfingers.
– Yes the proper procedure is to toss whatever you want to send in the mailbox and flip that flag up without a care in the world. On your next mail delivery if they take the letter and flip the flag down you’re good, if they don’t then further research is needed.
– Oh wow I haven’t purchased a physical book for myself since???????????????????? I’m seriously drawing a blank. So my advice is: good luck;-)
Your backyard trees are beautiful. We had snow on Halloween as well, but it has since melted due to temperatures in the 50s all week.
I’m sorry Halloween didn’t live up to your expectations for the adults. I’m glad Carla had a good time. Why can’t adults behave more like children?❤️💕
I’m impressed you like snow. It’s pretty and I want a few inches Christmas day and then the rest of the year – NOOOOOOOOO. Though I agree that your backyard is gorgeous.
Our mailbox has a mail slot on top where you put outgoing mail, so I’ve not had to think about this one…growing up we had an old-school mailbox at the end of our driveway. When you had something to be picked up, you pushed up a little red flag on the side. I miss having a mailbox like that…
Mail definitely goes into the end of the driveway mailbox and you flip the flag up. I am so firm on this point that I was very annoyed at our mail person when I had the flag up for FIVE DAYS and they continued to leave my incoming mail right on top of my mail to my nieces. They eventually took it and that was the first time in my life that it wasn’t taken the first day.
I think most people feel a little overwhelmed at an event like that. You figure out who the friendly ones are at smaller events, I think.
Mail definitely goes in the mailbox with the flag up. The only time I take something to the post office is if I’ve enclosed a check/cash/gift card. Or need special service, like a return receipt.
I used to wear shorts with tights all the time. It was My Look back in the late 80s/ early 90s. I remember telling my mother that “tights are just as warm as pants” which, there is no universe in which that is true. And this was in Calgary! In the winter! How do I even still have legs.
Sorry your Halloween gathering wasn’t fun. That sucks.
I have never in my life had a mailbox on my driveway where mail was gathered. We always put it in a free-standing mailbox, which are everywhere, but it sounds like that’s not the case in the US anymore. That’s too bad, they are so convenient. I only go to the post office if I need stamps or am mailing a package, and sometimes I just get stamps at the drugstore. I am kind of in awe of the little flag mailbox. This feels like something I have read in a book but never seen! Now in Kelowna we have a community mailbox for our street. Everyone has a little box, and there is a slot for outgoing mail, and if there is a package, the mail carrier leaves a key in your box that is associated with one of the larger boxes on the community box and how many times can I write box box box box box box. Anyway, then the key goes back in the outgoing mail slot.
My mail carriers come right up on my front porch to deliver mail AND pick up outgoing mail. I just use a small binder clip to attach it to my mailbox (which is attached to the front of my house). Everyone does. EVERYONE.
My son is 38 and has not worn any winter coat since high school, even when he went away to college and walked to all his classes across a flat, windy campus in Bowling Green, Ohio. He is ridiculous and I have told him so many times. Good luck.
I mean, the city person is correct. The mailbox in front of your house works just fine. But I also grew up in the country and prefer to safely deliver my outgoing mail to a post office or blue box (there are a lot of them in my town – I use the one at the library the most).
I didn’t know there was a book blog – where is it??
Of course you just put it in the box and put up the flag! OF COURSE!
You absolutely CAN put mail in your mailbox with the little red flag up, and they will take it. Or, some thief may come along and take it. For this reason, I put all of my outgoing mail in a blue mailbox about a block or two away. If I know the mail carrier is coming, I will sometimes hand it to them. One modern issue that has popped up for me (in the “Oh my god, could this issue be any smaller or less important” category) is that our mailman will take the mail if we leave it out front with the flag up (my family doesn’t have the same issues I do, they will put it out front), he will deliver the new mail, and take the outgoing, but not put the flag down. Somehow this feels connected to the dishwasher issue you wrote about.
Mailbox with flag. 100%. Why complicate a system that works?
I’m disappointed that adults were more friendly at the Halloween party. We switched the kids from Catholic school to public years ago and while we made friends eventually, it felt like we were outsiders for a long time and sometimes still does.
I don’t buy books very often, so I would be on team LIBRARY BOOK to reread a book that you don’t necessarily want to own.
I do not want it to snow. I do not want to deal with winter. Not my favorite season, but the photos you’ve shared are very pretty.
If your mailbox has a red flag, I would say it is fair game to put outgoing mail in it. Ours does not nor do most of the mailboxes in our urban area of the city so we drop all of our mail in a blue mailbox in our neighborhood for outgoing mail or we go to the post office. I would love it if we had an actual mailbox with a flag but we don’t! I would probably only use it if I had a couple of pieces of mail because our mailman services our neighborhood on foot. Like he parks once and then walks for several blocks. So I wouldn’t put our Christmas cards in our mailbox if we had a flag. But 1-3 pieces of mail? Absolutely.
I swear, I am going to propose a study to demonstrate, once and for all, that tweens/teens/young adults have different internal thermostats than adults. Seriously. I will be wearing multiple layers and a scarf in a classroom, and my undergrads will be wearing crop tops and shorts and will not have jackets. When it’s 45 degrees outside. ???
Amazing!! I am SO jealous of your snow. Here, in NJ, we’ve had 60s. We also had Halloween with a big group of people so after a while, I excused myself and went back to the house to hand out candy. Whew, it CAN get quite overwhelming.
I would also like to know more about this book blog!!
My general rule of thumb for buying books is that I need to anticipate re-reading them multiple times in the future, otherwise I’ll get them from the library. I’d rather have the full set of a beloved series even if not all of the spines match.
My almost-10-year-old was in a tailspin over my insisting she wear a coat down to the bus stop at 7:30 AM in the dark when it was 28 degrees out but felt like 22 (with wind) this week. So… solidarity.
Our mail gets delivered right through a handy mail slot in our door. If we have 5 or fewer pieces of outgoing mail, we stick it on the front of the mail slot and they take it. For bulk mailing (like thank you notes or Christmas cards), I’ll drop it in a blue mailbox.
I live in a condo building, and there is a box we can drop outgoing mail into, next to the mailboxes. But! My mother once saw a carrier deliver mail and not even check if there was anything in the box (which they are supposed to do), so we don’t put anything important in there, we drop it in a blue box or at the PO.
The house I grew up in had a slot in the front door for mail, so we never had the flag-up option, and I was used to either finding a box or going to the PO.
Love the snow! About the clothing choices, I hate to say it, but remember the impossible clothing battles from toddlerhood – like where my 2 year old wanted to wear her cat Halloween costume year round? Well, they come back in full force for the tween-teen years. The primary one seems to be the refusal to wear a coat in cold weather. At the middle school, there is not a coat in sight. I gave up on that battle. If they want to BE COLD, well, fine! Based on a sample of 1, I think they come base to their senses a little around age 15. At least a few more kids at the high school seem to wear coats and my high schooler does on the coldest days.
YES – you put the mail in the mailbox with the flag up. Why else would there be a flag?! I have a community mailbox (as in, individual mailboxes in one location – not, we all share a mailbox, haha) and there’s a little slot for outgoing mail so I always place mail there when I need to send it out.
SNOW. I went for a walk today and came back inside sweating. Yay Florida.
We have a big group mailbox at the end of our crescent – I can mail letters there. Anything bigger than a letter has to go to the post office. I am jealous of anyone who has a mailbox at the end of the driveway with a little red flag.
I am always too hot and hated being made to dress warmer than I wanted to, so I never did that with my kids. Eve dressed warmly of her own accord (once day she tried not wearing her snowpants like the ‘cool kids’ and said ‘all I felt was cold, and awkward about how much smaller the lower half of my body was than the upper half’) and Angus did not, and the only thing that bothered me was that he never wore gloves, which seemed like it would be terrible, but I said nothing.
I don’t know what I would do about the book. I have bought a book I’ve read just to own it, or to own the series, although I’m less of a compleatist than I used to be – I have some series where some are hardcover and some are paperback.
SNOW. It seems snow soon. No? It is lovely to look at via my computer. 🙂
I almost always put my mail pickups at my actual mailbox, unless it’s something special like a big ass check for the IRS, then I go to the post office.
Mail fraud is a big thing down here, so I don’t ever leave anything in my mailbox overnight.
Wow… I am four weeks late and I have no idea how I managed to not read your posts. I am so sorry.
Your first snow. also arrived. almost. four weeks prior to ours.
As for the mail issue. That seems to be an US issue. I have never heard of anyone in Germany being able to give the mail to the post workers at the door. Wem always have to go to the post office or use the mail boxes that are around the city for dropping. of mail.