Water, Water, Everywhere

After my last post was a bit heavy, thought I'd lighten things up with what we've been doing lately! Most of all, just listening to it rain. It's been SO wet here, everything is soggy and muddy. I am so grateful we finally have some decent grass, so at least the mud isn't quite as close to the house. The poor horses and cows, though... October in Wisconsin is kind of miserable!


We've been working off and on at putting a front porch on our house, which included refinishing my grandma's old picnic table. I'm thrilled! I think I might actually eventually learn to like this house after all. (Just in case you're wondering, no, I haven't liked our house. I like the location and the property, but not the house. I think mostly because I was burned out from remodeling our previous house and not ready to face another huge project, and this one has been a whopper.) The most delightful part of our new porch is that we are putting a small second story balcony above part of it, which will be accessed from the master bedroom. I'm dreaming of being able to do my writing with a big westward view next summer!

The last two days have been very humid and warm, resulting in the yearly plague of Asian beetles and Boxelder bugs. Just stepping outside the door can feel like an aerobic exercise trying to keep them from going into the house and out of all convenient crevices on one's person. Thankfully it usually only lasts a short time, and we'll soon be back to normal exits and entrances.

The baby of the family finally moved out of her toddler bed into her own room and big girl bed. Not quite sure how ready I was for this progress (I won't confess how long I've been putting it off!), but she is thrilled. So thrilled, in fact, that she runs to put her jammies on as soon as supper is over, then comes to kiss us all goodnight before snuggling in... for about 10 minutes, until the sounds of the rest of us going about our evening are too enticing and she has to get up to check out what's up. The toddler bed and changing table/dresser have been sold, and all the clothes she's outgrown have found new homes. Sigh. But I'm super duper glad to be done with potty training and, for the most part, interrupted nights.

Overall, we've stayed pretty healthy and happy lately! Way too busy for our own good, I think, but that comes with the season as we frantically try to get everything we need to buttoned up before winter shows up... racing between raindrops.