"My Thanksgiving wish is that I want a robot."

While in theory I may not love the childrens, I do find them amusing at times (why can't they always be like that?)

Thanks to Kristy at She Just Walks Around With It for posting a link to this site . She also has her own amusing editorial notes, which you should check out, too!

I hope everyone enjoys their day tomorrow. Chop the crops!

Season's End

I'm always a little sad this time of year. Winter is nearly here, which means cleaning up the yard and putting it to bed. It is nice to get rid of dead and dormant foliage, branches, and stalks. And I like to think about what things are going to look like in spring after the shrubs and trees get their winter trim-backs. But it also means bare branches, little stubs of rose bushes that have been trimmed to the ground, and flower beds with nothing in them but tubers and bulbs below ground. And I always renew the promise to myself that next year, I am going to be more attentive to my garden and yard.


Before we planted our bulbs last weekend, planted a new Liatris , and divided our iris corms, as I was cutting back the roses and dahlias I saved the last blooms, which ended up being more than I expected. A little early winter, mid-November cheer for inside the house. Because outside is looking pretty sad.

It's like he knew me...

The Hilary doth protest too much, methinks.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

Thanks, bethgirl!

I'd better hurry and post...

Or my favorite season will have passed me by without so much as a blog entry describing colors on trees, the cooler weather, or some sort of delicious autumn-themed treat.

So without further ado:

Honestly, the season has somewhat passed me by here in Portland. When I left for Ohio, it didn't seem like fall yet. Maybe it was but I had been working so much that I didn't notice it. Ohio on the other hand was full of autumny goodness. The weekend we spent at Mohican State Park was beautiful, despite the weather being a bit blustery at times.





























As for autumn-themed treats, I had my first piece of pumpkin pie on October 25th, and have since been enjoying baked squash, gingerbread, and maybe the best--Pumpkin Gelato (yes, it is so good, it calls for capitalization!) Some of our stores have locally-made gelato at their delis, and there is a pumpkin one right now that is ridiculous. It's not orange-colored, fake-spiced ice cream...you can taste the actual pumpkin and the real spices, which make it seem not as sweet. I'm sure there's just as much sugar in it, but I like to pretend.

And of course, the weather. I love, LOVE, when the air turns brisk, the nights are chilly, and I'm forced to slow down and stay in. I have to say, though, the ending of daylight savings kicked my butt this time around. I swear, even though it's been a week, I've been ready for bed at 8:30 every night. Is it just me?

O-H!

I-O!

It's where I've been lately, walking and driving the beautiful maple, birch, and sycamore (and of course buckeye) filled roads and trails of Mohican State Park and northeastern Ohio. Spending time with family (the in-laws) is always so very fun, and I love to travel and see new things.

But it's always great to come home, too.

Until I can collect my thoughts, pictures, and up on my sleep, this is what you get for a blog entry from me.

If you're interested, my friend Amy had some great news regarding how she will spend next summer. Pretty amazing!

Wait and see...

As predicted, luck was needed in picking out a paint color. We had quite a time of it, and in the end I feel like the right choice was made. See, I'm all for more muted tones, while The Husband likes bold and bright. Not to mention, we're both sort of stubborn people. No, I'm not kidding. It's true.

Now that our floor is more neutral, the one thing in the kitchen that demands you pay attention to it is our dining table. It's a vintage red formica and chrome one, much like this one but rectangle. Oh, and not new. In fact, it's well-worn. But I still love it.Obviously, an earth-tone was going to be too...earthy and bland. I was tired of discussing it, so I just let Husband pick the color.

It's actually much brighter on our walls than this swatch indicates. At first, I felt like I caved too easily. It was too bright, what my cousin K would call "Sesame Street Yellow." But once we got the furniture back into the room, it's really grown on me. And once we get the stuff back up on the walls, and the trim color chosen, and the new cabinet and drawer fronts in and painted...well, I think it's going to be just great.

All I wanted to do was paint the kitchen...

But then my practical, if not overly-ambitious, husband decided that paint of any color would clash with our ugly linoleum floor and equally-ugly cabinets. So what was the decision?

If you answered, "put in a new floor, order new cabinet doors, then paint the kitchen which ever color we wanted regardless of the color of the floor," then I have to commend you for knowing The Husband better than I do.

Seriously, we put in a new floor on Thursday, and finished up the edges tonight. It's not as daunting a task as it sounds, really. We didn't have to pull up the old floor; we just tore out the rubber edging, spread down a cement-based spackle to fill in the grooves, then installed the self-adhesive 12x12 vinyl tiles. Since our plan is to completely enlarge and remodel the kitchen in 5 years, we didn't spend a ton of money or anything, just went with something affordable but attractive, and something we could install ourselves.


Here is our old floor. In case you were wondering, that's not real brick.


Here is the cement-y spackle goo we applied, so our new floor wouldn't have to see the hideousness of the old floor.



Here is a badly-lit picture of our new floor, mostly installed. The Husband swears "it looks just like marble, " and that it reminds him of an ice-skating rink. It doesn't to me, but I still like it.


The next step is paint the walls. Well, technically...the next step is to agree on a color to paint the walls. Wish us luck! (If you've ever done home-remodelling projects with a spouse or loved one, you know we'll need it.)