Hi Friend,

Long time no chat! I know it's only been a month but so much has happened that it feels like so much longer than that. How are you doing? I hope that you're doing well.

As I sit here typing this I can't help but chuckle to myself. You see, when I launched the newsletter back in April, I chose a once a month schedule so that I would have plenty of time to craft a nice letter to you. Low pressure and tons of fun! No last minute rush to get everything done.

...

In true scatter-brain fashion I realized that today was the 21st when I was half way down scrubbing the walls of my bathroom. 😂 So I finished the walls and came rushing into the office to write this.

I have notes of things I wanted to mention, but I think I'm just going to embrace the scatter-brain moment and just share whatever pops in my head.

New Chapter of Life

Despite the month getting away from me, I was expecting a slow month compared to years gone by.

For the first time in 22 years I have no kiddos starting school. It's a bizarre, bittersweet feeling. I'm so proud of both my boys. It's just hard wrapping my brain around the notion that they're all grown up.

Skipping the back to school craziness was delightful, but as life tends to do, it filled that space with other things.

New Worries

My Mom was recently given a tough medical diagnosis. The prognosis is hopeful but it's a tough road from here to there. She had her first treatment earlier this month and thankfully it all went smoothly.

I'm not going to lie, my brain's been spinning in weird ways ever since finding out and my world is definitely off kilter.

Back to Our Normal Chaos

In light of that, we've been trying to keep things as normal as we can. I'm a little more scattered than usual, so things are a little more chaotic than usual.

Lots of things are in flux and I'm sure a good portion of that is just due to changing life seasons. Also I got started on my seasonal cleaning a little early which always adds extra chaos.

This week we decided to give the dogs their pre-winter baths which entails emptying the entire bathroom. Our vanity is open shelves so nothing is safe from the shaking off that happens immediately upon their exit from the tub.

This is why I always plan to do my seasonal deep clean and declutter of our bathroom when we give the dogs their own version of a deep clean.

Our youngest dog, Xander, is a Husky/Mastiff cross and he has yet to find a body or puddle of water that he will not run through or jump in, except for the tub. He spent a good ten minutes telling me that tub water is not the same as outside water and how I was a meanie for trying to get him to go in it.

So my husband had to get in the tub and we had to lift the big guy in there. I wasn't expecting to need help with Xander. Our older dog, Thorin, he's a different story.

Despite being half Lab, he does not like water. Even as a pup he avoided puddles and mud. In the last few years he's started enjoying spending a little time in the river and lake near us, and he's discovered the joy of running through water filled ditches and their wading pool on hot summer days. It's so nice to see him enjoy it. But again, when it came to the tub, all bets were off. So my poor husband had two baths with the dogs and then had to shower after.

Two hours later and the dogs were mostly dried. Thorin loves being blow dried and Xander hates it but will happily lay in the sun. My arms are still recovering which is why I'm only getting to the deep cleaning of the bathroom this morning.

Hello Autumn

Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox and the start of one of my favourite seasons. I'm ready for some cozy evenings and chilly mornings, how about you?

We don't really do much to celebrate, but I will be running our throw blankets through the wash and packing away some of the warm weather gear. Just a few little things to mark the day.

---

Planner Video Tour

I received a number of replies to last month's newsletter saying yes to a video walk through of my planner set up. Right now I'm in the middle of reworking my planning system.

When I went through my planners to plan the video I realized that I'm not really using some of them. Sometimes multiple planners work well for my brain and sometimes they end up collecting dust. In this case the planner I was using for personal and family stuff was just sitting on my office cart collecting dust.

The video is coming - I just need to finish getting things figured out. I've gone back to a hybrid weekly and daily planning system and I forgot how much my brain like using Cornell Notes style daily planner pages.

I find this layout works well for work and personal planning. I use the left side for home, family, and personal tasks. The large section for work. As you can see, I like to break down my tasks. And the bottom is perfect for notes or thoughts.

I need a few more hours to finish getting everything set the way I need it and then I'll be ready to share it all with you.

In the mean time, let me know if you'd like a copy of the daily planner pictured above. I'm planning to share it on the blog in November, but I'm happy to share them with you all early.

---

Subscriber Only Printables

I'd say drum roll please but I don't think anyone is going to be surprised by the results of last month's poll.

The answer was overwhelmingly YES for Subscriber Only Printables! And you'd like a mix of both ones that can be personalized and ones that you request.

I'm going to keep it super easy - if you want to request a printable, just hit reply to any newsletter and let know what you'd like. The more details the better.

As with Reader Request printables, I can't promise I will be able to make all of them and I will not create a copy of someone else's work. Other than that I'm happy to try to help as much as I can.

I'll kick things off with a personalized printable next month.

---

Quick Shop Update

I just wanted to quickly mention that all the calendars for all the collections (except Tropical Paradise) are now available in the shop.

The last couple were kind of wild to work on after so many years. Pretty in Pastel was especially nostalgic because it was the first calendar design that I made matching planner pages for.

Just a reminder, all the planner printables for these collections are available for free on the blog.

Scattered Squirrel Stationery Shop

---

Around the Treehouse

My focus has been split all over the place the last month so there aren't too many updates for this section. There are a couple of new posts on the blog - August's Reader Request which has some new landscape oriented printables and some personal size ones. Plus a look back at the first cleaning printables I ever made.

The Blog Page

I shared some extra printables in the Scatter-Brain's Guide group over on Facebook. If you haven't joined yet, please feel free to come check it out. It's a fun, supportive group. You'll find exclusive printables in the files section and next weekend I'm kicking off a holiday planning challenge. You're welcome to come join in on the fun!!

The Scatter-Brain's Guide

---

Here we are at the end. This one was a long one, if you stuck around this long, thank you. I hope you enjoyed it. Before I let you go there's one thing I've been wondering - do you enjoy the autumn or do you have another season you prefer more? Hit that reply button and let me know. I love hearing from you.