To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

1993 or so

I am at my Uncle Robert and Aunt Rachel's house tonight. It is just lovely. All the children are about helping cook and putting out the fall decorations. The smells coming from the kitchen are wonderful and there is soft music in the background. It reminds me so much of the evenings in our home before we all got growed up and sech. If I could pick any time or place to go back to for a moment it would be to a chilly fall evening at home with everyone there. One of those nights when the fire was going because we didn't have central heat and air and we all ended up together in the Living Room because there was no den and we didn't have 5 different bedrooms for everyone to go to and hide in bed and read a book. We just read on the couch or on the floor with our toes propped up on the front of the stove soaking up the warmth. You know, back before there was The TV.

Mom and Dad, do not despair. I do enjoy watching the old movies with you but those days were priceless.

Plus, that was before I really knew what stress was and my biggest challenge was deciding what puzzle to build or what LightBrite design to work on.

Little tiny children that most definitely read this blog, soak up these days. They pass all too quickly.

I am in Memphis and I have no cell phone.

Wednesday

I would just like to state that the bedrooms, playroom, hallway and bathrooms are clean picked up. I just wanted you to know that. Oh, and I want to thank my mother for folding 123,456 pieces of clothing while she was here last night. And I am losing over half of my little family today and that makes me very sad.

And here is a very strange pair of shoes.

I just needed you to know all that.

Items that only the more expensive name-brands should be used because it really makes a difference:

1. Q-Tips
2. Trash bags
3. Dr. Pepper
4. Toothpaste
5. Laundry detergent (Only, Gain Original Scent)(For me, anyways)
6. Dryer Sheets (same scent)
7. Pantyhose


(Thank goodness for sales and coupons.)

My Tree and Me

I really like the uniqueness of these geneology charts. These are by My Tree and Me.

Twitterpated

I am totally and completely in love with my new cast iron skillet.

Boo Humbug!

Some days are so long. And it's not that they are bad, they are just taking forever to end. Today is one of those days. I need to go get supper on and get ready for the trick-or-treaters that are going to be showing up before long. We are going to let the girls put on their princess dresses to hand out the candy. That's about the closest I can comfortably get to celebrating this demonic holiday. If we didn't live in a housing addition that had 1,098,570 children in it we wouldn't even be doing that. I just hate Halloween. Why are people drawn to something that tries to glorify ghosts, witches, death, and all sorts of spooky and nasty creatures? I don't get it. I'll just take me some Thanksgiving, thank you very much.

Part of Aunt Rachel's comment that she left on my cousin's blog:

If it's the Swine Flu, you'll need Oinkment. If it's the Bird Flu, you'll need Tweetments.

You're funny, Aunt Rachel.

No Kidding!

I have been in such a creative slump here lately. I used to think of the best posts all throughout the day and most never made it to the computer but they were good. Now I think of nothing. Nada. Zilch. I used to write the most hilarious posts while I took a shower. It's too bad I didn't have a voice recorder in there because by the time I was actually at the computer I could never remember the paragraphs that had been created earlier. So you would just end up reading some lame "I love this/these" type post. Cheating posts, I call them. One post was about past clothing. Specifically, large, elastic waist-banded blue flowered culottes that were the complete basis for my wardrobe in the 7th grade. In 9th grade I had moved on from culottes to skirts that came to my ankles. I had a skirt that became known as My Ever Familiar Skirt. It was brown with little flowers on it. And I wore it EVERY DAY. No kidding. I hated having to always wear a skirt in public and this skirt was the only skirt I owned that didn't make me feel like a complete loser when I was the only girl at the horse club not wearing riding pants. It was, to me, barely stylish and I was clinging to that since everything else I owned was not stylish at all. I mean, AT ALL. I still own this skirt. I put it on about once every 2 or 3 years just to smile and remember all the good I-want-to-go hide-in-the-corner-and-be-invisible moments.

In the 6th grade I a wore a mini skirt everyday. No kidding! I was a rebel. Wait a minute, That's not right. I wasn't a rebel. That was just my delusion talking. I did wear a mini-skirt but it was a blue jean mini skirt with a foot of eyelet lace sewed on to the bottom so that it hit me below the knees. Sometimes, when I actually did want to be a rebel, I would go into the ladies bathroom and tuck the lace up under the skirt and stand and twist and look at myself and imagine what it would be like if I actually could let the world see my knees. In college I did buy a blue jean mini skirt but I never had the guts to wear it. Thankfully. It's no one's business what my scar covered knees look like. But it was there, hanging in my closet, letting me know that I was a dork.

I want to share a picture with you. You need to prepare yourself b/c it is rough. You might cringe. You might even cry. Maybe I shouldn't post it and spare you the agony. Nah. At least you aren't in the picture (well, some of you are). Ok. I think I will start with something a little less shocking.

Here we have Sarah sporting our Nana's old swimming suit. Cute, isn't she?

Next up, we have me in an outfit that I made myself and was quite proud of. I also considered this extremely fashionable.

I'm just easing you in, by the way.

Below, you will see two different pictures of me in My Ever Familiar Skirt. Notice once the cold weather hit I added sock to the ensemble. Snazzy.

It's about to get ugly.

This is "us." Aren't we looking goooood. Mmh! I'm the one front and center. The one with the hair that apparently got overlooked that day. The one with white socks and Keds.

And now for the big one. It's so bad. I'm laughing so hard right now. Don't just glance at this picture. Study it. The longer you look the more you will laugh. Check out the placement of Rachel's waistband. Check out Asa's pants. Check out my mini skirt. Check out Anna's skirt. And then, go make sure your children are wearing something appropriate. Or, (I like this idea better) put them in some of your old clothes and take a picture so that later in life they will have something to blog about.

Jesse, Anna, Matt, Rachel (snicker, snicker), Asa (guffaw), Luke, Me, Stephanie, Leah

The Pupinni Sisters

I am loving these girls. How fun is their website?