Foggy Fall Falls Fast

It's fall! Being that it's Oregon we've had quite a few days of showers already and quite a few days starting at 50 degrees with 80s reached by afternoon. The type of weather that makes dressing in layers necessary, evening fires desired, and cuddly down comforters on beds a must have.

After working 60+ hours last week between covering gaps in staffing in the center, teaching my fall classes, and handling the admin, lesson prepping, and email responses that new jobs and terms requires, I am more than looking forward to two things. The first thing that I'm looking forward to is the end of week three of the term, which is when I'll have the center staffed by students, the term will have regulated, and Fall 2011 will be much more routine. The second thing I'm looking forward to is Christmas, when Fall 2011 will be completed and there will be a week or so of vacation hopefully, beyond the usual happy celebrations of course!

Lots of good things have been happening as of late:

The House:
A few weeks back I painted two rooms in the house. I'd intended to write a whole post on how awesome it was to add color and to cover up the horrible off ivory paint in some of our rooms, but obviously I ran out of time. I actually got a good deal on paint by using our Chinook Book coupon for low-VOC paint, and the upgrades they've made to the new low-VOC paint has paid off because I didn't have any real issues with coverage and the smell was very minimal. Hub and I made a great painting team. He taped which I hate, and then I painted the whole thing, which he hates doing. We both helped clean-up and we borrowed most the painting supplies from my aunt & uncle, so all we shelled out was for the paint and a drop cloth.

The finished dining area in green.

The other big news with the house is that we got our new bed & mattress. Ironically hub kept telling me that it didn't matter what our master looked like cause we just have our eyes closed while we're in there. Well, well, now that we've got new paint and a comfortable bed and mattress....guess who is starting to spend more time lounging in there? That's right folks! We still want to add some art work and when it's all said and done I'll post pictures. (Plus I've got two more rooms and the entry I'd like to tackle with fresh coats of paint too!)

The Chicks:
So far they're continuing to grow and thrive. Hub upgraded their perch a few inches, we've swapped the heat lamp for a regular bulb and lowered it back down, they demolished the first pear placed in their home last night, and their beautiful feathers are filling in. They've gotten to wear they want an adventure each day and they enjoy the moments we put them in the raised beds to root around. The other day hub called them from the sliding glass door and they amazingly came right in to him! I've had a few concerns about potential health issues, but so far they seem to keep making it alright. Not sure these pictures will do their feathers justice, but the one is starting to look just like the original picture I'd found on the internet:

And Weddings:
My gal's wedding was yesterday and while rained forced the wedding & reception to both be held indoors, it was a beautiful affair and the venue was perfect. Everything went off fairly well--no major fiascoes. The ceremony went smoothly, food was tasty, the wine was delicious, laughter and love flowed, mingling occurred, and now two of my favorites are off enjoying a week to relax and relish in their love! I have to give two thumbs up to my gal who not only looked beautiful but who kept it simple, relaxed the week before because it was all already organized, and who rolled with the punches the day of. A more beautiful and simply elegant bride one rarely gets the chance to enjoy these days!

And then this next weekend we'll hit up one more wedding and help one of my favorite MPH gals celebrate the official joining of her love to her man!

Other News:

Hub started his official entry back into college on Monday of this last week, which means it's busy, busy for both of us around here. He's taking a legit full load of classes and seems to be enjoying most of them after week one. (In fact, I'm slightly jealous---he's taking a sign language class!) Add onto his courses the regular volunteering he started this summer (he's part of a program that matches new veterans with older and/or disabled veterans who need transportation services across town to medical and shopping appointments, etc), and he's definitely got quite a bit on his plate.

Given that both our schedules are a bit crazy and we're dealing with transportation to get places etc, we headed to Costco this last week to try to stock up on food, including things that would be quick, simple, yet still fairly healthy to make in the evenings when we get home or when we're on the go.

I've got lots of great "plans" for the yard, and I'm hopeful we'll get the bigger items done in the next month. We have the Asian pear that we need to get planted still and a few other gardening plans to help prep for next summer. The most recent gardening section of the paper, helped me develop some additional items we need to accomplish (mulching, planting, etc), but with our current schedules and rain I feel just lucky when we even get an hour out in the yard. Today we were able to do some raking up of pine needles, hub cut down the rest of the old diseased apple, and we picked the pumpkins and cleared out more of the raised beds. We stacked the wood from the tree in the shed to cure for the next year, and hub chopped and brought in the rest of our old wood for fires this week. And we'll have to hope that the rest will get done as it can. ;)

Having distracted myself enough today, I'm off to eat some pizza and finally finish my planning for class tomorrow, and to light the living room's candles and stoke the fire. Hope you each are relishing your moments and enjoying the changing season into fall! Layer up, burrow down, but let your autumn heart swell and continue to give!