Changing of the Seasons

It's that time of year! I love the changing of the seasons. It's so wonderful to go from blistering heat to nights where you can feel a breeze and wear a sweater. It's Fall! Fall brings so many great things to the year. It means the start of the holiday season, warm and cozy clothes, scarves, hats, football, and bonfires. It's always been my very favorite time of year.

We're readying our house for the holidays. I have never been a big Halloween celebrator (yes, mom, you did dress us up and take us trick-or-treating, but it was never a big holiday at our house). We always went to the Fall Festival at church in our costumes, but we didn't really decorate the house and get into the Halloween type of traditions. This year in my new house I have been working too hard to decorate the standard parts of the house that I don't really have time to invest in Halloween decorations. We did at least buy a few cute decorations out of the Target dollar bin (my favorite place to shop!) and we're going to do a couple of things outside on the porch the night of Halloween, but next year we'll try to really put our hearts into it. I'm still trying to put away boxes at the moment inside and it's just not worth it!

I'm really excited because this year our family is coming to our house for Thanksgiving. I only have had my family in my home for Thanksgiving once since I originally moved out for college. We were living in Columbia and went to the big rival MU vs. KU game and we ate Honey Baked Ham catering on my tiny apartment table. That was actually a really great memory even though it was a bit non-traditional. This year, my in-laws, parents, and brother & sis-in-law are going to be there so I have to make it extra special. I want to do the whole pretty seating arrangements and napkin rings thing, but we'll have to see if that is doable or not. I did buy a few decorations for a centerpiece on the table at least!

This week I've been sick as a dog, but since Davey has been working late several days I had to find something to occupy my time. I ended up organizing as much of our office as I could by myself. There is still so much to go through that belongs to Davey, but at the moment, it feels a thousand times better. I bought colorful folders and organized all of my paperwork into the filing cabinet. Then I shredded hundreds of old paperwork from school and things I no longer needed to have on file. Then I tried to go through and organize my bookshelves as best I could. I have way too many books and not enough space for them. I'm going to have to come up with a creative solution for storage in the little space we have. I'm still working on a plan (and by that I mean stalking Pinterest for inspiration), but it's all going to come together in the end.

Meanwhile, I'm still throwing away huge cans full of trash as I try to make some sense of the madness around our home. Hopefully, there is an end in site soon. I'd like to start the fun stuff like painting and decorating, so the junk has got to go!