It’s been awhile

Wow, where has the summer gone? I'm sitting here wrapped in a fuzzy blanket & going over Christmas gift ideas, while the kids work through their 6th week of school already. Wasn't it just last week that we were heading to my little sisters' house for the 4th of July? And here we are needing to rake this weekend, with a batch of pumpkin cornbread baking in the oven to go with the spiced cider in the crockpot. Our garden is harvested. The purple beans were awesome. We harvested a big, fat handful of them every day for over 6 weeks. There would have been quite a few more, but I'm afraid we became neglectful in watering for the last month due to other commitments. Our two tomato plants are STILL yielding 6-10 cherry tomatoes each day, despite a translucent layer of frost on the deck each morning. We had a dozen peppers, 3 tiny acorn squash, 4 separate lettuce harvests, a small mountain of fingerling carrots, some truly puny radishes, (the basil took over my radish squares!) and a handful of chive-size leeks. So we will not be doing radishes or chives again next year - and I'm seriously considering putting my basil into a self-contained area as well because it was monstrous & is STILL withstanding the frost just as well as my tomatoes. All in all though, we are calling the garden a success this year. My living room is finally starting to look as if *I* had decorated it, rather than being a recreation of my grandmother's place. The threadbare loveseat was replaced with one from Craigslist, as was our pretty-but-enormous electric fireplace. And the carpet is now covered in a hemp rug that goes beautifully with the walls & wood-tones, and really helps to bring home that "old-world" feeling we've been aiming for. Our media shelf was replaced by a pair of super-skinny shelves that flank the marriage wall & all but disappear, so that our DVD collection is no longer the focal point in the room. And soon, VERY soon we will find a small armoire to replace the TV table so our television can actually be closed off since we only use it to watch movies at night. Yes, we are still without any type of television signal. And being within 6 months of the digital switch, we are still planning on NOT purchasing a converter-box. It has been nice, these past 5 months to not have to drag the kids away from the television every time we've wanted to go somewhere or do something. I'm looking forward to the next few months. The cooler months, when fuzzy socks & throw blankets force us to sit closer during the evening have always been my favorite. And the kids are excited about making Christmas gifts WITH me this year, and we have already chosen several wonderful ideas. The fact that we will be making nearly everything, and that they WANT to & are excited about doing this is the best gift I could imagine.