{ It's finally cooling down }

I think that Texas has finally realized that it's Fall.

The past few days we've had pretty cool weather, and it was cold enough yesterday morning, that we started a fire.

My husband and I were able to sit, drink our coffee, chat and slowly wake up before he went to work.  I could get used to those mornings, it felt so good to sit in the quiet darkness and enjoy the crackling fire with a delicious cup of coffee.  Helps you set the tone for the rest of the day.

I've been puttering around lately, not really with a specific project in mind, but getting the housework done and then moving things here and there, and trying to make it more homey.  I'm still struggling to feel like I did about homemaking a few years ago, where I spent every available minute working hard at making things for my home, placing decorations just right and making it a true representation of who I am and what I like.

So I've slowly been trying to get back at that.  One of the things I did a few days ago, was finally make my garland for the fireplace, and I love how it turned out.

All I did was use crochet thread to string the dried orange slices and some Fall leaves from my yard.  The effect is just what I was looking for, beautiful, homemade, simplistic and something that goes perfectly with the Fall and Winter seasons.

You know I was thinking yesterday about how much I miss my kids being younger, in the sense that we always went out of our way to decorate for all the holidays, and the past 2 years we've stopped.

I no longer decorate for Halloween or Easter, or Valentine's day.  Come to think of it, the only season I really go out of the way for is Christmas. 

I miss going to the Pumpkin Patch, and carving pumpkins with the kids, decorating and buying costumes and the anticipation of Trick or Treating.  I see younger families still excited and having that to look forward to, and I remember how that felt, and truly miss it.  But, you know life changes, people change and we are in a new Chapter and Season of our lives and so we adapt and go with the flow.

I guess now I have to look forward to doing all that again with my grandchildren, one day, right?

I've been enjoying watching My Mother and Other Strangers.  It is a fascinating period drama set in Northern Ireland during WWII when the US Army Air Force set up a base in their small town.

What I don't like is that as with so many other period dramas I enjoy, just when I get into it I find out that it's either been cancelled or only has a few episodes.  This one has just 5 episodes and at first I thought that it might be a good idea to not even get into it, but I couldn't help it, I'm a sucker for period drama and even though I know it will end much too soon, I've been loving it.

If you want to watch it for yourself, the link can be found in the Period Drama Series list I posted a few days ago. :)

Crochet wise, I've been trying desperately to finish my Mandala Madness, not for any other reason than I'm quite sick of seeing it staring at me from across the room.  My Atlanticus and my Nuts About Squares are going to turn into Christmas presents for someone, I'm not sure who yet, but just want to give each of them a nice edging, a wash and block and it's done.

My Liliana CAL is coming along nicely, and I'm surprised at how much I like my color combo, I stuck with just 3 colors and am throwing in the occasional white row here and there, but it's very minimal as I don't want it to be a big part of the blanket.

It needs some blocking, but I tend to wait it out and not block as I go.  Some people do, some don't, and I'm in the *leave it until the very end* group.

Not much else is going on around here, at least not anything exciting or worth mentioning at the moment, as the life of a stay at home mom is not really glamorous is it?

I'm finishing up this post and then it will be time to get dinner going.  Tonight we're having one of my favorite comfort meals and something that I would often request as a kid.  Sausages in tomato sauce with Mashed Potatoes.  You'll see it in my Weekly Meals on Sunday night :)

With that said, I just  saw the UPS man drop off a package, which I'm sure is another book for review, so I better go grab that.

Have a wonderful Wednesday night and stay warm friends.  Blessings.