Fall Is My Spring

Spring has all the luck. It brings to mind renewal and revival. It means its time to spring into action. Spring means plunging head long into cleaning, organization, and projects around the house. Spring means it's time to put an end to the hibernation that inevitably comes with winter and awaken to all a new season has to offer.

I, too, love to greet Spring after a long winter. I can't wait to see the green buds and welcome warmer temperatures. I'll do a few things around the house - maybe change a bedspread or replace my spicy, warm scented candles with more crisp, clean scents. I, however, do not find myself making large scale lists of things that I plan on doing as part of reviving myself after a long winter. Spring is simply not that time for me.

Fall, however, is a time when I find myself eager to do things around the house. As August ends and September appears around the corner I start thinking about all the things I need to do to make my house more of a home. I assume part of it is the fact that more people are going to visit during this time of year. Between football games, birthdays, Thanksgiving, and all the other events that work their way into these upcoming months I find myself entertaining more in the Fall than any other time of year. I also think these projects and improvements are my way of preparing myself for the long winter ahead. Sometimes I feel like a bear getting everything ready to hibernate in my den for the next few months.

This week I was overwhelmed with the ideas that kept popping into my head. While drying my hair on Monday - This is when I do my best thinking, by the way. I think it's the warm air and white noise. Anyhoo... - I kept thinking of new paint colors for various rooms throughout the house. At lunch on Wednesday I started budgeting replacing the carpet in our house with hardwood. While driving to work on Thursday I started wondering whether Space Bags really worked as well as they appear to on television and if so how much could I organize with them. I had an epiphany concerning a way to improve the look of my dogs' crates this morning in the shower. There might be a later post concerning the dog crate project. I might actually try to - gasp - sew.

I don't know how many of these projects will get done, if any. It's so much fun to just to think and plan, though. I think this is what most people feel like in March and April while I'm busy praying that I won't have to drive up our snow covered driveway one more time. I'm excited about the prospect of changing a few things and enjoying how a small effort can make a huge difference.

My mom and I have made a tradition of heading to an arts and crafts fair around this time every year and I always come home with some new autumnal decoration for the house (this year's purchase was the cute witch's boot pictured above). I think this is where the bug usually bites and I start itching to redecorate and redo. I started today by decorating a few things in my entryway, kitchen, and our formal-ish living room (nothing in this house is actually formal). I smile every time I walk past the curio cabinet in our breakfast nook and the sparkly "Happy Halloween" sign on the mantle. Hopefully all of you can find a few projects around the house to bring a smile to your face over the next few weeks. Happy Fall, everyone!