Changing Seasons

Fall is officially here! We put a giant orange pumpkin on our stoop next to our pot of purple mums.  The yard is filled with crunchy leaves.  We rake them into piles, and Emmie jumps in them.

In my last post I vowed to get off my lazy arse and stop taking naps, and I did it! Most days I've been getting up before Emmie and showering.  That helps me feel fresh and ready to face the day.  When she goes down for naps, I work.  I've been much more productive than usual.  It only took a couple days to cast off the anchor of exhaustion that usually weighs me down in the afternoon.  There was one witching hour where I was inexplicably wide awake, but for the most part, I've been sleeping more soundly at night, too.
With the weather getting colder, it's become necessary to get the clothes dryer hooked up.  There have been fewer warm, dry days where I can wash the laundry and hang it outside.  It's kind of funny: on nice days, my first thought is always, "I should do laundry."  Bruce tried to hook the dryer up one day a few weeks ago, but the gas line was capped.  He needed a pipe wrench to get it off, and we don't have one.  His plan was to borrow one from a coworker.

On Friday, my brother came over to babysit Emmie while I went to a work meeting.  That was the first time anyone has watched Emmie in our new home! It was fantastic.  Instead of waking up Emmie from her nap, packing up her stuff, getting her dressed, driving 40 minutes to my folks' house and then 40 minutes to work, I was able to walk out my front door, get in the car, and go.  Emmie was sleeping, so all my brother had to do was chill and watch the monitor.  I got to sip free Starbucks and bottled water at a conference table and wax intellectual in an adult setting.  It was rejuvenating.

When I got home, Bruce was off work and had picked up a pizza for all of us.  He informed me that he and my brother had fixed the dryer! My brother brought my father's tools to take care of it.  I am so lucky to have such a helpful brother!

Having a dryer is a huge convenience.  To tell you the truth, hanging clothes on the line is cumbersome.  Sure, the laundry looked all nostalgic out there, blowing in the wind, but it had its unpleasantness, too.  For one: bugs.  Somedays I'd have to brush the clothesline with a small broom, because spiders spin webs across it.  Bruce said one evening he went out to get the clothes and he saw the largest spider he's ever seen in his life.  Then we'd have to shake all the clothes before we dropped them into the basket, in case little bugs were crawling on them, to avoid bringing creepy crawlies into the house.  Ew!

On top of that, air-drying clothes is one thing, but air-drying towels is another.  Whereas clothes get crisp like they're dry cleaned and starched, towels get crunchy and hard.  No one wants to step out of the shower and grab a rough, scratchy towel.  I can't wait to have soft, fluffy towels again!

I came home from work yesterday, and the house was warm and smelled like dryer sheets.  Mmm.

With the season change, I've started to get really excited for the holidays!  Decorating my own house has been so special.  We only have a few fall/Halloween decorations, but seeing them out fills me with joy.  Emmie is fascinated by all the 'punkins'.

But what I'm super excited for is Christmas! The other day we got our "New Home" ornament. I can't express what that means to me.  I CANNOT WAIT to put up our tree, right by the front window.  I can't wait to show Emmie all our ornaments and stockings and our Nativity scene.  Remember, last year I didn't get to put up our decorations, except for the little pink tree in Emmie's room at my in-laws' house.  The year before, she was only two days old on Christmas.  We brought her home from the hospital in the early afternoon, and within  minutes our little rental townhouse was full of extended family.

This will be our first Christmas in our own home, just the three of us, waking up to see all Santa's surprises.