Falling off the wagon....and rolling down the hill...

Slacktastic.

Not technically a word, but one I have invented to describe my blogging status of late. It's not that I haven't wanted to, dear friends, just that I get sidetracked by the day to day, and then the day to day gets exhausting, and, well, you all know how it goes. And I don't even have kids yet. So let me make up for my slacktivism with a nice, steaming hot cup of update.

I have lost my camera battery charger. I may not find it until we move. Picture posts will be few and far between for awhile, so bear with me. (I always have this debate in my head when I type that. Anyone else?)

We're buying a house.

Well, lemme rephrase that, we're trying to buy a house. After all the debate about selling/fixing up my house, about where down payments would come from and what we could afford vs. what mortgage lenders were willing to give us, after settling all that satisfactorily so that we could move on with our lives, we found a house. One we really love. And we offered them what we thought it was worth, and they said no. Then we offered them a bit more, and they said no again. People, this house has been VACANT since May, and we are begging them to take our money, and they keep saying no. I mean, isn't this supposedly a buyer's market? But these fine people, living in their other house and paying two mortgages for 4+ months, they are not interested in our measly offerings, they want more more more. I personally have decided that they owe the K-town mafia some significant money, cash they can only hope to make from the sale of this house, and THAT is clearly why they are being so stubborn. So, today, we make our final offer, and hope like hell they accept. Otherwise, it's back to the drawing board, back to our second choice (which, while it is certainly a lovely house and would make a fine home for us, it's...just...second...), back to making offers only to have them be refused while the clock ticks on and I start going bananas in our too-tiny house. So, send some good vibes our way today in the hopes that, by noon tomorrow, we will have a contract on 2631 Blue Meadow Lane.

So, beyond the back and forth negotiations, we've been busy with the remodel of my old house on Avondale, and packing, and our Yard Sale. Y'all, I love a yard sale. We had a great great day--the weather was perfect, the people watching spectacular, and the company delightful. John and Natalie joined in the selling with us, to start getting ready for their big move to NYC in the spring, and both households cleared out a ton of great, formerly loved items--many to folks who could really really use them. We all made some good quick cash, and anything that was left went to Goodwill. Once we do move, we plan on having another sale in the spring--I'm sure there are plenty of items we thought we would keep that will find their way to the garage at Blue Meadow :)

Linus has had a fantastic couple of weeks lately, thanks to fall and the bounty of acorns and oak trees at the Yorkshire house (formerly just Matt's house, this is where we live now. Linus has spent every previous fall at my house on Avondale, where there are no oak trees). Oak trees = squirrels, and Linus the Protector, Patroller of the Perimeter and Guardian of the Household, is having a blast defending us all from the rodent onslaught. Of course, he could never catch one, but it's entertaining nonetheless. Once he's treed one, he'll stand or sit under the tree and bark at it--not frenzied barking, just a calm and steady stream of barks, like he's negotiating with it, or reading it the house rules, which apparently include no unauthorized visits from squirrels. Linus knows all about the rules, because he is a Good Boy.

Fall is positively my favorite time of year. My heart just swells in October, I love everything about it. Cool crisp mornings and evenings, sweaters, fires, pumpkins, leaves, winesap apples, just everything. I told Matt that I firmly believe fall is the best season, because it appeals to every single one of our senses. Fall has a great look, sure, with the vibrant colors in the leaves and the pumpkins (and gourds and mums and pansies and cranberries...), but fall has a smell (bonfire smoke, cinnamon and spices), a sound (crunching leaves, crackly fires), a touch (squishy pumpkin guts, frosty mornings, wool sweaters), and my favorite, a taste, all it's own (turkey and cranberries, pumpkin and squashes, sweet potatoes, apple cider, brown sugar, oatmeal, soup!). Fall makes me swoon. I adore fall, I want to distill fall down into a thick, caramel liquid and keep it in a bottle with a cork stopper in my closet, and when summer heat beats me down or the boring winter rain makes me stir crazy, I want to take my bottle out and inhale the fall aroma, and pour it in my coffee mug and drink it down like honey and whiskey. Fall is it. Fall is where it's at. Fall wins.

I hope you all are enjoying your fall, wherever you are! Now that we know where we stand, house wise anyway, I promise to keep you all better apprised. This weekend we head to Matt's family reunion in Alabama (perfectly timed for the UT/Bama game), where I'm sure to find some post-worthy stories to tell. ;) So, lots more to come!