Autumn

I wish I were one of those people who decorate my house according to the season. I’ve always wanted to do that sort of thing.

But honestly, who has time? I barely find the time to vacuum my carpets twice a week. I know. Just give me a bit of warning before stopping by and I’ll race around doing just that.

With today being the official start of autumn I really want to go home and make my house all warm and cozy and, well, autumny. I want to light pumpkin spice candles and hang a string of leaves along the front of our entertainment center (we don’t have a fireplace, so we have no mantle from which to hang this sort of thing.)

I want to make chili and pumpkin bread (which I wouldn’t eat, even if I weren’t ‘eating healthy’ because, yuck!! But my family would love it.)

I want to go through my girls’ closets and purge the tank tops and shorts and replace them with sweaters and tights. Actually, I probably will do that this weekend, leaving just a few short sleeved shirts/tank tops for the occasional unseasonably warm days that are sure to come in the next couple of months.

I want to consciously change seasons, inside and out. I’m ready to start raking leaves and putting bales of hay on our porch for fat pumpkins to sit on, celebrating the harvest.

I’d love to be one of those moms who already has her children’s Halloween costumes hand-sewn and ready to wear in just over a month. Alas, I’m not. My mom, though, she’s one of those grandmas. O has decided she wants to be a butterfly (big surprise) and A’s still in decision mode. She’ll get there soon, though.

I want to buy candy corn and have it sitting in a pretty candy dish on the kitchen table but I fear that would be too much temptation for me and so I haven’t done it yet. Though, I have to confess that I did eat a single kernel of candy corn yesterday. It was soooo good. But I refrained from having a second. I know. Go me, learning moderation and all.

I wish I liked warm apple cider because it would be lovely to have some simmering on the stove, because it gives off the most delightful aroma, filling the house with warmth, comfort.

But no, I’m not a warm beverage drinker. Unfortunately, I’m more like Amy Farrah Fowler in that I prefer tepid drinks to hot or cold, so it would just go to waste. Which would be sad and so I won’t do it. But I want to. I want to welcome the coming coolness in the air and the crunchiness of fallen leaves on the ground.

While I’m not a big fan of winter with its accompanying cold and snow and ice, yuck, ice, I do so love fall and spring. When I grow up, I want to be one of those homemakers who manage to keep their houses seasonal, warm and inviting in the fall and winter, bright and cool in the spring and summer.

Yes, that’s what I’m going to do when I grow up.