It definitely feels like Fall to me this Autumnal Equinox.  The deciduous trees are starting to get that tinge of color that symbolizes Fall. Temperatures have dropped down into the 60s. The summer garden veggies are pretty much finished with production. I need to pull a bunch of things before the rain kicks in and everything gets mildewy and mushy.  The last of the sunflowers and dahlias have bloomed in the yard.  These are sure signs that summer is over.

 

Have you noticed  it is getting darker earlier and earlier? The change is happening a little too quickly in my opinion.  It was totally dark by 7:30 p.m. last night!.  Friday evening I was walking the dog and I smelled someone's fireplace going.  A fire in the fireplace already?  Yesterday we did our annual excursion to the Greek Festival...mmmm yummy Greek food, but it is another symbol of Fall to me.  Don't get me wrong. I like Fall.  I love the fact that we have seasons and I do enjoy Fall color in Seattle. Except I don't have enough warm maternity clothes that fit.  All the stuff that fits around my big belly are for summer.  I can barely fit in the one or two pairs of maternity pants I do have and when I wear them for extended periods of time I feel constricted and the baby writhes due to the pressure on his little head.

 

It just seems like summer went too fast this year.  I didn't get to go tubing.  We only swam in the lake once this summer.  I think we may have only canoed once this summer as well.  It never even really got hot enough for me to set up a paddle pool in the backyard. 

 

I guess it is time for soups, stews, roasts, new TV, and all things cozy.  And, of course, a Fall baby boy.

 

Drove by the old house yesterday and noticed a for sale sign.  The woman who bought it was a real estate agent, so I am sure she was just flipping the house. I think she has been partaking of the neighborhood crack if she thinks she is getting $625k for the house.  Yes, it is a lovely home, but the location pretty much precludes that price. And the housing market is not the greatest right now. There are tons of houses available in that area for less.   I do think we could have gotten slightly more for the house back in the day when we sold it, but not substantially more, and we didn't want to run the risk of having the house sit on the market forever.  We took the advice of our agent and priced to sell in under two weeks.  We were anxious to sell and move on with our lives at that point....especially after that person died (hit and run) right outside the house the day before we put the house on the market. :)

 

It was very, very interesting to see the pictures of the interior and see what she had done to the house.  She did a few things that I always wanted to do, like remodel the kitchen and put in a gas range.  I like some of the kitchen remodel like the new appliances and new counterops, but hate the black cabinets. Everything was too dark. I like that she removed the cabinet to the right of the sink to open up the bar area, but she did something weird to the shelves.  She took the carpet off of the stairs and refinished them...another thing I had aspirations to do.  And it looks like she ripped up the carpet upstairs and refinished the floors.  The bedroom floors look nice. She got rid of all of our brightly painted walls and made them white.   I have to say, I think our real estate photos looked better, though.  I think we staged it better.  She didn't change the living room, dining room, and bathrooms other than paint.  She totally ripped out my garden and put grass...which was so sad to see.  All those hours Roger spent building me flower beds for nothing.  All the hours of tending and loving that yard and now it kind of looks blasted.  To each their own...I tend to like a naturalized messy garden and I'm sure she liked it orderly and low maintenance.  The woman also used the exterior photo we used (after she bought the house she put up an ugly ass wood fence around the property...it looks awful).  That's because the street appeal of the house right now is for shit...she let all my plants die and of course that fence is real welcoming....

 

CRAZY.  Roger and I were totally tripping out last night looking at the photos.  But we love where we are so much now. I have no regrets.  There is something to be said about living in a stress free environment.  I drive by the lake every day on the way home and it never ceases to put a smile on my face.

 

It was pretty trippy to look in on the interior of a house we spent so many years loving and caring for.