#MicroblogMondays: Odds & ends

• (Odds & ends:  my go-to format/catch-all subject when I can't think of a single coherent subject to write about, lol.)(Which almost always turns out to be more material than I thought I had floating around in my brain...)  
• It's late October, but the weather has still been mild enough that the air conditioning has still been kicking in periodically and I could wear my capris, if I wanted to. I made the switch to long jeans during a cool spell a few weeks ago, but I did wear sandals & shirtsleeves yesterday afternoon. I'm not complaining -- and the weather is supposed to start getting cooler & rainier over the next few days -- but it does seem weird.  (They are also predicting a snowier-than-usual winter -- so I suppose I should just shut up & enjoy this while it lasts...!)   
• Dh was asking if we should buy any Halloween chocolate when we go grocery shopping later today, in the (unlikely) event we get any trick or treaters knocking on our condo unit door. (It took me a minute to realize that Halloween is just a little over a week away -- we are so removed from that now.) Last year, we wound up eating the chocolate we'd bought ourselves. I suppose there are worse things to endure... ;) 
• I booked our plane tickets to spend Christmas with my family out west last week. One more thing off my to-do list, and it's a relief not to have that hanging over my head. (Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that that "snowier-than-usual" winter weather doesn't affect our flights...!) 
• I always go through an enormous amount of angst when trying to decide which dates/flights/times will be the best for all concerned... if we go all that way, I want to make the trip long enough to be worthwhile -- but I don't want to stay too long because I know it does wear on my aging parents, much as they enjoy having us all around. I also have to take my sister's work/vacation schedule into consideration, as she has been gradually taking over the airport pickup/dropff duties from my dad, to spare him a trip into & out of the city.  Dh is no help whatsoever -- he says whatever I decide will be fine. (Of course, I will hear about it, should it NOT be fine for some reason...!)  
• Speaking of Christmas -- my sister informed me that she, my mother & Parents' Neighbours' Daughter had a discussion about Christmas over the (Canadian) Thanksgiving long weekend. Specifically, the need to cut back on the presents front -- although we haven't yet agreed on just how that's going to work/where the cutting back is going to take place. The Little Princesses/Parents' Neighbours' Granddaughters will still be completely spoiled, of course ;)  (and my sister actually used the "Christmas is for kids" line on me.... grrrrr....).  Right now, everybody (still) buys presents for everybody (and we all also have stockings).  I do realize that's become a bit of a financial & logistical strain for both my parents (on a limited income, in a place where the shopping is limited ( = trips to the larger town 20 miles down the road, or the city, 45-60 minutes away), and my mother doesn't get out & around as easily as she used to), and also for PND & her husband, who have two small children, a mortgage, daycare costs, etc.  Still, it makes me sad.  Another way in which my world seems to be shrinking/diminishing as I get older. 
• I figured out who unfriended me on Facebook a while back: a cousin that I haven't seen in almost 40 years, but whom I adored as a kid.  This person actually went missing from my friend list once before & I sent a new request, which was accepted (again). I will do that if I think the unfriending might have been done in error. I know that older people sometimes don't know exactly what button they're clicking on Facebook. (I've also heard a few people blame Facebook itself for unfriending people on their list -- although I wonder if that's just a convenient excuse...!). But twice? Hey, I can take a hint, although it still makes me sad. :(  

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.