Making Memories

My twin daughters love seasonal decorations. Me, not so much. I like to look at them at other houses, but tend to avoid the extra work and storage for myself. We decorate minimally for holidays around here, much to the dismay of my daughters.

When magazines like this one come in the mail, I think to myself, who in the world has the time or inclination to make such things? But when one of my daughters saw it on the counter, she started squealing and gushing about how fun it would be to make them and could we also make these at Christmas time? What?! Those rice krispie treats look complicated.

Then she informed me that when I come to her house someday there will be decorations everywhere and streamers and it will be lots of fun! Kind of made me feel bad. Sort of. Not enough to put up streamers. 

But mom guilt has a way of prevailing and we made these this weekend...brownie gravestones, marshmallow witches and oreo spiders. My girls couldn't have been happier! They even got to bring them to a party and see others enjoy them. I think we'll have a new fall tradition in the years ahead!

Learning to Love a New Place

So we bought a little rental house. And in many ways it feels like having a new baby. It needs to be cared for and coddled right now. We're tip toeing around trying to learn its patterns and idiosyncrasies and it's definitely kept me awake a few nights! 

I've always been excited about the houses we've purchased. I couldn't wait to get my hands on them and make them my own. This one has cute bones and I'd love to do some things to it, but this time I'm not the one that will be living and making memories in it. 

The house had been neglected as far as maintenance goes, so I've been spending a lot of time over there while different service people check it out. At first, it felt strange to go inside and sometimes I really didn't want to have the responsibility of taking care of it. But now I've gotten used to its smells and sounds and feel more connected. 

We've cleaned the gutters and replaced the water heater. We've had the heating and cooling evaluated and the fireplace cleaned. We're figuring out what to do in the crawl space and working on the yard. 

One project at a time, we'll continue to revive this little house and I hope it will be a happy shelter for those that live here in the years ahead.