The Only Place I Want to Be

Right now, today, I am in the one and only place that I seem to want to be all the time anymore…my home.

I don’t know when or how or why I’ve turned into such a homebody. I used to love being out and about, taking walks around the neighborhood stopping to chat with acquaintances along the way. I used to love walking around the mall window shopping, or idly browsing the aisles at Target and Hobby Lobby. Crazy as it sounds, I even used to love going to the grocery store.

I don’t know if it is because the past few months have been busy and stressful and I’ve taken so many trips since spring, but right now, I just want to hang out in my house, bake cookies, pull out all of my pumpkins and colorful leaf garlands and bedeck everything for fall. The weather has been fairly delightful this summer with only a few miserably hot and humid days sprinkled in amongst mostly glorious ones, and on days that are cooler, like today, I want to accept Mother Nature’s beckoning to sit on my porch sipping coffee and listening to the locusts that are out in abundance right now. That mating call that can be so loud at times just signifies summer I think. I know some people find it annoying, but I don’t. And when I say “cooler,” don’t get me wrong…it’s not cool by any means. It’s still 90, but the steamy humidity is blissfully absent—perfect summer days. The kind that make me wish I lived somewhere warm all year round.

I so enjoy being at home that I almost feel resentful when I have to leave for some reason. There were too many evenings the past two weeks that I had to be out after dinner and all I could think about was getting home. This week, I looked so forward to today because I knew that I had absolutely no place I needed to be that I didn’t want to go. The house is clean, I only have one basket of laundry waiting in the basement, and while I have some ‘work’ work to do this weekend, I don’t even care. Because I am home.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel like being a recluse and shutting myself off from the world, I am just enjoying being here.

So, this afternoon, I spent some time in the basement unstacking dusty tubs searching for my fall décor. I couldn’t find most of it—no idea where my husband put it—but I did find a few things just sufficient to get me started. Even though it is still officially summer, once September arrives, I am always anxious to transition my house from summer to fall, both inside and out. I didn’t do much today, just enough to put me in the mood for crisp, cool days, sweaters, simmering pots of yummy soup, apple pie and all things pumpkin.

I’ve been making an effort these days to use some of things I love in different ways, and as I was decking out my dining room table with white pumpkins, bittersweet garland and candles, I happened to glance over and notice the small collection of milk glass vases on a shelf in my living room. I just knew they would look really pretty with sprays of orange flowers. I love milk glass, and it was kind of fun using a few vases in a way other than just letting them gather dust on a shelf.

 

I also bought myself some sunflowers for the kitchen counter this afternoon. I adore sunflowers, and I buy them whenever I can because they make me smile and remind me of a dear friend.

The yellow flowers in these vases have been there most of the summer, and I almost replaced them with something more fallish, but I decided I really like how cheerful they are. And, look at that cute little yellow carnival glass sunflower bowl--I bought it a few weeks ago at an antique mall here in St. Charles, and it was only $3!  

 

You can’t tell from the photo, but I found a picture of the kids at a pumpkin patch taken the fall that Rachel was two and put it in a frame. I’m sure they will all roll their eyes when they see it, but do I care? Nope! :) They are all so cute and little, and I really miss our annual trips to the pumpkin patch. Buying pumpkins at the grocery store just is not the same as having the kids run through heaps of pumpkins picking out their favorites.

I have a few more projects up my sleeve, but that’s the extent of my fall flourishes for now. As much as I love summer, with fall approaching, I am looking forward to cozying things up, trying some new recipes, and finishing some painting projects. This is my last free weekend for a while, and I am soaking up and enjoying the peace and tranquility in my house right now as much as I can. While it’s not quite “sit on the porch in flannel pants” weather, fall is in the air, and I even have a simmering pot of potato cheese soup on the stove and a bag of apples ready to be made into a pie tomorrow. This will all have to be my fall fix for now.