Ahhh........Autumn

One of my favorite seasons.....the others are winter, spring and summer....although I love the coolness and lack of humidity and the really clear blue skies we've been having.
Terry's away on another gig and as usual, I try to get so much done while he's gone...a big of a competition with myself....I end up starting about 7 projects, and finishing about 3 of them. But something inside me just makes me work harder...tonight, as my niece Mandy says, "I've got nothing". Laid some self-sticking tile in the basement....at least the ones I could do without having to cut. Can't find my knife so I used a pair of special scissors...till my fingers got sore. But I must say it looks good. You don't have to use grout, you just abut each tile to the other. What is it about me that makes me want to improve every space I inhabit? Is it the God-given creativity? Is it just not being satisfied with the normal? Or is it that I just love adding color and shapes? Guess whatever it is, or maybe all of them combined, is what drives me to action.

Just realized I began this over a month ago....so many things compete for my precious time. Looking back over what I wrote, I also know we've come a long way in just a short while. Now the basement is totally finished, painted 3 different colors so you might think you're sitting in Starbucks! I love purple, so the 2 end walls are painted "pinot noir"....a beautiful rich dark purple that we also have in our master bath. The longer side walls are a lovely creamy butter color....same as our upstairs guest suite. (yes, tried to save a bit of money by using "leftover" paint) The little game room is the "acorn squash" copper color we have in our powder room. With the thick frize (sp?) carpet and the furniture, it looks as if it's been there forever. For the first time in years, Terry has a really great office space in one end of the large room, and he's got our upright piano, keyboard, 2 desks, the desktop computer, and tons of bookcase room for his music reference books, etc. I think that makes me the happiest...that my honey has probably the best space in the house for his "man cave".

Thanksgiving weekend is probably a nostalgic weekend for most Americans. It's my favorite holiday because I love the fact that God has created within us a need to be thankful and grateful. With each passing year, kids and grandkids grow older, and many of them become more distant, either geographically or emotionally. We (at least I do) remember years past with even larger tables and more loved ones surrounding us. This year we had Bobby and his wife Mary Lynn and their yorkie named Yogi (Sarasota), and Jimmy and his girlfriend Mira (NYC/London) for a whopping 6 days! Hayley and her husband Jason came for Thursday and spent one night with us.
I love this time of day...early morning in the autumn...bright sunlight through the almost bare trees, birds flocking around my many feeders, Meisha (mini schnauzer) curled up on a fur blanket beside me, and Max (grey tabby) trying to help me on the computer! (so of course everything takes twice as long because she wants to touch each key that I'm touching!) House is still quiet for now, but soon everyone will be up and wandering downstairs for coffee. With the fridge stuffed to the gills, it's hard to believe we ran out of eggs and orange juice, so Terry made a quick drive to pick those up for breakfast. Bobby and ML will be leaving "early" today and we'll take Mira to the airport for her flight back to London. It's Hayley's birthday, so Jimmy, Terry and I will stop by to bring her card and gift and maybe have pizza or something easy because we're all about "turkeyed out"!!! I really hate it when everyone leaves on the same day, so I'm secretly glad that Jimmy couldn't get a flight to NYC till tomorrow! He usually flies standby so of course the Sunday after Thanksgiving is pretty crowded. But it gives me one more day with my firstborn, which I will savor fiercely.

Terry's back and I hear some stirring upstairs...so guess it's time to start the coffee and breakfast. Thank you Lord for children who want to spend time with their mom and stepdad. These days there are many people and activities clamoring for everyone's time, so we are grateful that these kids chose to be with us.