September is almost over?

How? I think I've just been drugged for most of it. Allergies. Have. Kicked. My. Butt. Really.

The temperatures have finally fallen below 90 degrees and we've finally, finally been getting some rain. It's actually looking like we might get a fall after all.

I have been working on some things. A new painting, a quilt, laundry, cleaning the house, checking off items on the list of things to fix/do to the house. But mostly, trying to get life in order with a seventh grader. Hopefully all is on track now.

I did get to spend time with this wonderful woman in September.

My mom. She had a big birthday this year, as did one of her oldest and dearest friends. So we all met up in Texas for a long girls weekend. We stayed at a B&B in Llano on the river. Nothing surrounding us but longhorns, bugs, and high temperatures. Some shopping in Fredericksburg, and picture taking with painted deer sculpture complemented our tubing experience on the river. (Let's just say that 6 inches of water + deflating innertubes does not =best experience ever) We also went to the Rockbox Theater in Fredericksburg for a show that was covers of oldies by Texans. Mom loved it. I loved tubing better. I think the oldies from the tour bus loved it too. It was really too bad that I was flying, or too good, depending on who you asked. I found some awesome iron gates and a great mail sorting cabinet, fairly priced at an antiques shop. Just not fairly priced to ship as well. Or fit on an overhead compartment of a plane. Husband happy. Me, well, I'm still thinking about them.

Maybe I can get into decorating for fall now.

Chores

I don't like doing chores. No one really does, do they? I know my kids aren't happy about them. In order to help remind my kids(and honestly, myself) what they need to do everyday and what chores are theirs this week, I needed a better system. The old one, obviously, wasn't working.

Enter the Chore Chart. This was made with my new, very cool Cricut. Chore Chart is one of the cartridges for it. I got mine at good old Wal-Mart. Each part is multiple layers, so it took some time to cut, glue and put together each chore "sticker" (for lack of a better term). The M and C are my kids initials and the chores that follow are specific to them for the week. The ones in the middle are things they are expected to do daily. The weekly chores can change, ie, one walks the dog, and one feeds the dog every day, the next week, they switch. As to how well it works, well, we're just on week 2. So far, not perfect, but better than before. It's certainly cute!

The Cricut was my birthday gift to myself. My husband bought himself some golf clubs. I think that was a fair deal. I've also made some decorations for my Sunday School classroom. I'm having fun playing with the Cricut. I just need to put it away for a little while though. I have a quilt to make for a new nephew. He was due 3 weeks from now, which would have been plenty of time to put a quilt together. He chose, instead, to grace us with his presence yesterday. He, Mom and Dad are doing well, but Aunt Misty needs to get moving on this quilt. Hopefully, you'll get to see that soon!