Fall Fun

Kirby and Connor enjoy an 80 degree day at the pumpkin patch.

Whew! This past weekend was a doozie! Husband and I put on our big boy & big girl pants (respectively) and turned down tickets to the Wyoming vs. Air Force game to stay home and get some projects done. In the end, it was a good thing because UW lost big-time, and we were very productive. The beautiful 80 degree weather we enjoyed all weekend made for three great soccer games and a nice trip to the pumpkin patch; and all of our outside work seemed a lot more fun.

Okay, let me be straight with you...I didn't really do outside work. I took on more of a "director" role, walking around from flower bed to flower bed, pointing out what needed to be pruned or cut back, and how to do it. In addition to gardening, husband also did the final lawn mow and blew out the sprinklers. I spent much of the day in the kitchen puttering and having a hard time staying organized, so that my favorite fall meal (cabbage burgers and cheesy potatoes) took me three times as long as it usually would. However, the cabbage burgers tasted wonderful after a day of work.

Husband removed our old, failing dishwasher and replaced it with a new one that my sister and her husband happened to have on hand and not be using. For quite some time now I've been a real snob about having mismatched appliances - we hate our bisque appliances, but can't afford (and don't need) to replace them all at once, so there was a big debate about whether or not to accept the free black dishwasher. In the end, frugality and practicality won out. This will tend to happen when you're dealing with the amount of home/vehicle/electronic and appliance repairs we've been dealing with lately. At any rate, it turns out I love how the black looks, and when other appliances need to be replaced, that is the direction we will go!

Husband puts the finishing touches on the dishwasher...
did I mention he also had to do a little mold remediation?
It seems our old dishwasher had been leaking and we didn't know it!
The fact that whoever built this house didn't finish the hardwood
floor underneath didn't help either. Can you say moldy sub floor?

I'm also quite proud of the little bit of crafting I did this weekend. I used to craft a lot in high school and college, and found that since I've been married with children, I have rarely done anything crafty. I had so much fun making these ghosts, which I found on one of my favorite blogs, Fly Through Our Window. The craftsmanship involved is not really what I'm proud of - they're felt and were assembled entirely with fabric glue - but it's the fact that I actually followed through with it!

Felt ghosts - I even made one for the baby for next year!

And finally, it must be said that I have hit the height of nesting. Unfortunately, I am "not a very good pregnant person", as husband says (and this is a fair statement - I'm really not. If you know me well you know my issues, and in addition I've had terrible back pain during this pregnancy and extremely low blood pressure which makes me feel fluttery and get really quickly out of breath). So, my nesting has to rely on the charity of others, which is very very hard. I'm so blessed to have an AMAZING support network. My aunt was here the other day and got started painting the nursery, Husband plowed through everything I asked over the weekend and tonight he vacuumed the entire house (I can't push the vacuum anymore - which drives me nuts!), and this morning, my little cleaning fairy (more like angel) came. TGFM - Thank God For Mom! While she cleaned today, I was able to get a couple of organizational projects done. Check this out...

Contents of junk drawer, emptied onto table...

I had put this project off far too long!

The junk drawer after a huge amount of purging -
plus I found our museum membership card,
four free skating passes, and several gift cards!