Recap on Our Fall so Far

Autumn is flying by. I can't believe it's almost Halloween. I haven't been posting enough about everything we're doing. We've been busy. Really busy! So here's a post where I try to catch up on everything that's been going on recently. 

I've been painting furniture.

Mike installed a light on the deck with a switch and added a switch controlled outlet for the deck/greenhouse. 

Mike and I put away the pool for the season in early October. We are keeping the pea gravel base on the apron to use next year.

I powerwashed all the flaking paint off the playhouse. I won't repaint it until spring, but at least the paint won't flake onto the kids anymore. It looks terrible, but oh well.  I also powerwashed the house and porch steps. 

Mike reseeded the lawn and it filled in and looks SO much better. 

I re-sealed the driveway (much needed). It needed 2 coats because I waited too long. 

We've started Oliver's bedroom updates (he's getting a slightly more grownup, big kid, pre-tween room). I'll share photos of this soon. 

We decorated for Halloween. More pics coming tomorrow when it's not pouring rain for the 50th day in a row. 

We put a desk and computer in the playroom. Oliver doesn't really "play" as much anymore and both of them have a hybrid school program which requires the ability to zoom. The desk gives them a place to work away from the dining room table but is close by. We're planning ahead for winter on this one. 

I started organizing the basement (on rainy days). This is a lofty goal that I haven't reached in 5 years. Will this year be the year? I hope so... I think this COVID winter is going to test our sanity. Having an additional space to "be" this year will be helpful.

[No photo because I'm too embarrassed to show how bad it is...]

I'm slowly cleaning up the garden. The tomatoes, beans, spinach and cosmos have been pulled up. Actually, the archway collapsed in a wind storm (not surprised, it was ridiculously inexpensive and not made to last) and that sparked the cleanup there.

Everything I want to save has been put into the greenhouse in anticipation of our first frost/freeze (which didn't happen yet, but it's happening Friday night). 

I'm harvesting dahlias and zinnias as much as possible for bouquets... I'll probably be digging up the bulbs this weekend.

I bought mislabeled mums for the porch. I like to wait for them to bloom so I pick plants that have tight buds, relying solely on the labels. All of these were mislabeled... I thought I bought pink and purple! 

They're still pretty though. Especially the cream one with yellow centers and pink tips. 

I've nicknamed October "Hiketober" this year... we have gone hiking a lot this month while the weather is at optimal fall hike. Matt is strong enough this year, that even on little legs, he can keep up on a 3-4 easy to moderate mile trek. It's been lovely. We're doing at least 3 walks a week and we're loving it. I'm hoping we can continue this into November - I want to get outside as much as possible while the weather is nice and not buggy. Plus the kids need to get their energy out and without the pool, it leaves us with biking and hiking these days. 

On my to do list right now:

• Plant cleanup as the plants start to die back for fall. 
• Dig up dahlias post-frost and store them for winter.
• Garage cleanup so we can put things away for winter (though we'll be keeping our patio furniture and fire pit out as long as possible this year so we can extend our socialization season). 
• Clean and organize basement so we can use the extra space this winter 

Also... before the frost... my morning glory! There are two twisted up together, a pink-purple and a blue that photographs a touch purple but is really a deep bright blue in person. They are gorgeous and I'm so happy that they bloomed after all!