FALL CLUTTER & CLEANING

I feel like I have been gone a long time!  I just keep trying to find time to myself to do a post when it's quiet around here...that never happens!  And if I don't do it first thing in the morning, it gets pushed back and then I run out of daylight.  But I'm here, so...

I finally went out and got mums! Yay!  Home Depot had the best deal around, I think they were 3 for $8.97.  But they were the smaller pots.  I contemplated going to my garden nursery where the selection is bigger but the prices are sky high.  I settled for Home Depot.  Emily selected the colors, the burgundy red and the rusty orange and although I had doubts about the combo, they look great.  They have just started to bloom so I thought I'd wait on pictures.  No pumpkins this year either...sniff, sniff, the squirrels just make a mess of them and it's heartbreaking!  Even the little pumpkins that I put on the window ledges, they get up there and peer at me through the window all the while chomping away.  Nope, no more.

Last weekend, The Husband and son Jeff went to the lake to put away all of our summer stuff.  I took a pass on going as I had plenty to do here.  Lo and behold, they came home with most of the plants we keep on the patio.  Normally we just bring them into the lakehouse, water them the few times we are there and pray a lot.  So, say hello to Mrs. Hibiscus, who will be spending the winter with us in our tiny...er, cozy home. 

And here is Mrs. Hibiscus II, living in the family room.  The annuals just might make it, they have survived winters in the past.  And the hibiscus have bloomed.  I could use that during the cold, snowy winter.  So, I have welcomed them to Chicago!  Sort of.

Oh, he brought home a few ferns, too.  I love them to pieces...when they are outside.  Inside, a little messy.  I guess I am being a little fussy, it's only six (long) months!  The rose tree is there on the left, that's The Husband's pride and joy.  I hope I don't kill it!

I stared at and fiddled and stared some more at my mantel until I couldn't take it anymore.  Finally I just added a pitcher of hydrangeas and called it a day.  I think it looks balanced now.

I have been paying more attention to the kitchens I see on blogs and in magazines.  As you may remember, we redid our kitchen last fall.  It looked so nice I didn't want to put anything on the pretty new counter tops!  But it didn't take long before I cluttered it up.  Yep, I'm a clutter person and I don't know if I can ever change.  It's not messy clutter, just things that need a place of their own or hidden out of sight.  The new blender, which I had every intention of using to make healthy smoothies (and rarely did).  The tiered fruit stand.  Who likes warm fruit?  The trifle dish, the bread basket, another plant from outside...So yesterday I did a clean sweep.  And I feel good.  But, it's not me!  It looks like we are getting ready to sell and I've staged my house!  The Husband is thrilled he can see the granite again, and my interior designer daughter, Emily, thinks it looks perfect.  What do your counter tops look like?  Seriously.  Do you like things handy?  Do you like your favorites out?  Do you make little vignettes in the corners?  Do you have to clear space just to roll out dough?

I think I have managed to complain throughout this post!  Cabin fever already.  Some people feel like cleaning and organizing in the spring, but fall is when I take a look around and want some order in my life.  After spending the summer mostly outdoors, we're forced move back in and suddenly we notice the windows aren't so shiny and there are fruit flies around the basket of onions.  Yes, that happened to me the other day.  So, I made a mental list (I lose real lists) of all the organizing and fall cleaning I needed to do, when I heard Emily clomping up the stairs with the big box of fall decorations.  "So, where are we going to put this stuff, Mom?"  Grrrrrr...

See you soon! :)