the season, it is a' changin'

Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday.  I love everything about fall, and Halloween is right in the thick of it.  Black cats, dancing skeletons, and scary movies!  Chilly mornings, stormy nights, and cuddling by the bonfire! 

You only have to look at my craft stash to see where my holiday love lies.  I've got personalized Halloween stationary, post-it notes, countless rubber and acrylic stamps depicting various aspects of the holiday, skeleton candy sprinkles, Halloween cupcake liners, candy molds, treat bags, scrapbook paper, ribbons, stickers, vellum and chipboard shapes, cookie cutters, cake pans, and paper punches.  Now, I can add Halloween stencils to the list.

Now it's easy to use powdered sugar or cocoa to decorate holiday pies.  Way to go, Martha!

Unfortunately, this year all of my holiday paraphernalia is packed away in moving boxes...much like the rest of the house.  Empty bookcases...

...empty cabinets...empty shelves.  Hopefully we'll be closing on our new house one month from now!  And, while I can't enjoy my own Halloween goodies, I can at least try to appreciate what's around me...like this spooky neighborhood cat with positively glowing green eyes.  A perfect Halloween cat, you might say!

Meanwhile, I've been getting into the fall spirit around here with my usual seasonal bouquets.

I love spider mums, and they seem to last so much longer than 'regular' mums.  I've also been buying lilies.  I didn't use to like the smell...but it's been growing on me.

 

I just haven't had time to get outside with my camera, but I couldn't help but notice this small butterfly perched on our back screen door.

 

 Beautiful large, patterned eyes!

He only perched for a moment before taking off again. 

That's like my blog entry today, too...a brief perch, and now back to packing!

Have a great week!

Home Sweet Home

I did something a little unconventional yesterday - I committed to buying a house that I've never actually seen.

Really!

I joked to Todd that the next time I play the party game "Truth Truth Lie", I'll have another outlandish "truth" that will help me win the game (besides "My parents used to hunt rattle snakes in Death Valley", "I once drove over a cliff", and "My high school friend once worked with an infamous serial killer"!). 

It's in Anderson, South Carolina, about 20 minutes from Todd's new job at Clemson University.  He was there last week with the son of a family friend, who videotaped their experience. 

The house was built in the 1940s and has a lot of charming features, I think.  There are four large bedrooms:

Bedroom and Patio

It has a cheerful kitchen with a big greenhouse window.  Just beyond the kitchen is one of my favorite features, a big sun room that overlooks the back yard and the 11-acre pond that borders the back of the property.

Kitchen and Sun Room

The house has a big finished basement with another bedroom and bathroom.

Basement

Beyond the basement is a one-car garage (perfect for storing our business) and a two-car carport (beneath the sun room).

The house sits on almost 1 1/2 acres.  A little white fence encloses a small area by the house - perfect for a vegetable garden!  In the front and side yard, I'll slowly start building a cottage garden!  I love the thought of being able to sit in the sun room and look down on the garden.

Front Yard

I'm so excited to really get settled in.  I feel like I've been a nomad for quite a while.  After high school, I moved several times:  to Indianapolis/Broad Ripple for 4 years, then to the south side of Indianapolis for 4 years, and to Portland, Oregon for several months before buying a house on the south side of Indianapolis about 8 years ago.  I moved into each of these homes with the knowledge that I wouldn't be staying for too long, which felt a bit unsettling because I'm the sort of person who has a very strong desire to put down roots somewhere.  For the past three years, while Todd has worked on his dissertation, we're talked about this:  where do you think we'll end up?  Now we know:  we're going to be in South Carolina, and in this house.

I can finally plant roses in the garden!