My daughter’s newest thing is to tell me, “I want you.” She’s been doing it for a few weeks (and now my younger son is too). “I want you, Mommy,” she says lazily, with mild petulance, like a rich lady summoning her butler. Sometimes she says it urgently, or angrily. However she says it, she means it. Sometimes she wants me to pick her up or play with her, but usually she just wants me near her. Both of them seem to freak out lately if they suddenly realize I’m not in the room with them.

This development makes it that much harder to get anything done. All I wanted this weekend was to get the knobs back on my newly painted dresser so I could start to use it. I’d sneak upstairs and start fiddling with a knob and the screwdriver, and two seconds later–

“Mommeeeee, I WANT YOU!”

And as I’m writing this, my son just escaped from upstairs where my husband is putting them to bed, came up to me, and whined, “I want you.”

Anyway. I did manage to get a few things done this weekend, even though my husband was gone a lot of the time. Saturday, soccer was rained out, so we went to Goodwill in search of Halloween costumes. We found a skeleton costume for my younger son and some fairy accoutrements for my daughter. My oldest found a grotesque alien mask. With just under three weeks left til Halloween, they will probably change their minds a few times, but at least we got the ball rolling. I spent $29, and I also got a fleece vest and a sweater for myself. (I also got two great pairs of pants at Frugal last week for $20.)

In the afternoon my daughter and I went to our town’s annual Book Festival, which I had never been to before. It was inside the high school due to the weather. There were new and used books for sale, from different vendors as well as individual authors. There were also various discussions and activities, but we went so late that we missed all that. I did get to see Ms. C.W. Browning, author — my friend from high school. She signed her spy thriller for me.

Overall, it was a little consumer-y for me. Booth after booth of people trying to catch your eye and hawk their books. I’d be pretty happy just using the library for the rest of my life; I’ve got a housefull of books already. But I did buy one book for my older son. It’s actually a gratitude journal. It just caught my eye since gratitude is a touchy subject in our house lately. The kids don’t seem to show much of it. Mainly, it’s my oldest that I’m concerned about. Lately he seems to find fault in everything — dinner, snacks, outings. Unless something is *exactly* what he wants, he mopes. To a certain extent, I think this is natural for someone his age — he’s starting to realize that he has control over certain things, that he can make choices and refinements and make something *perfect* for himself.  But the mopiness that results when things don’t work out drives me and his father nuts. The other day, my husband was actually driven to show him videos on YouTube of kids who were paralyzed, to show him that his life ain’t so bad. (Or maybe it was to warn him away from crazy stunts. I forget!)

Probably, as with many behaviors, modeling is the way to go. I like to think that I show gratitude for the good things in my life, but maybe I’m not doing so quite clearly or loudly enough. Something to think about.

But back to books — I am in the process of setting up my phone so that I can download books for free from my local library. I need to make some space on my phone for the app. They only have about 20 titles available, but they all look to be current and popular — I noticed Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, which I’ve been meaning to read.

Other stuff: Last week I switched my auto and life insurance providers, saving around $400 per year — my first crack at the big budget items.

My fall vegetables are doing well. No bunny incursions yet.

Romaine lettuce

Carrots (Scarlet Nantes)

Another type of Romaine

We picked the last of the tomatoes and I’m constantly skinning and freezing them as they ripen. I’m wondering when the first frost will be. It’s neat to be watching the weather and seasons with new attention. I may need to cover the carrots and lettuce. I haven’t thought much about next year’s garden; it seems so far away. I’m toying with the idea of really tall planters, like my friend J. has:

No more bending or squatting!

Her garden is quite lovely and inspiring:

Another thing that’s hard to think about is insulating the house. I know I announced it would be my fall project, but my mind goes blank when I think about actually figuring out what to buy and do. Maybe because it’s 80 degrees out today.

Coming up this week: flu shots, my daughter’s annual checkup, soccer, soccer photos, baking cupcakes for the Fall Festival, cooking/avoiding take-out, calling Verizon to try to break free…