It's been a long time since I have given our apartment a thorough scrub-down, so I've decided, now that the weather is getting cooler, that it would be a great time for fall cleaning. It will be wonderful to freshen the place up after the stuffy heat outside! I'll be keeping a list on the sidebar and updating it periodically over the next month. Here is the first area I plan on tackling:

Living Room/Dining Room:

1. Wash curtains
2. Dust blinds
3. Wipe down walls
4. Clean windows
5. Dust everything
6. Vacuum floors, furniture, and under furniture
7. Scrub tile and wipe down fireplace
8. Wipe down baseboards
9. Wash chandelier globes
10. Spot clean the carpet

My parents are coming to visit at the end of October (yay!), so that is my goal to have the whole thing accomplished. If there is anything I may be missing from this list, let me know!

She's in one of her "I'm so lazy I don't want to do anything but look cute" moods.

While autumn is officially here, it hasn't cooled off much here in Texas. The days are still hot and sticky, and nights are the only time that one can notice that fall just might possibly be in the air.

My garden is starting to look a little more chipper, since my rose bush is finally starting to flesh out after being droopy for the past few months. I even got a rose on it last week. I decide to start some tomato and basil seeds a few weeks ago, and I now have really cute seedlings to show for it. In most areas of the country it would be crazy to start seedlings in late August, but I think I have discovered the secret to Texas gardening--summer is not a viable growing season. Who knew? Fall is the time for many summer plants. We'll see how my seeds do once the weather cools off a bit.

I someday dream of having a large garden of my own, where I can grow all of our own produce for fresh eating and putting up for the winter. I finally decided this year to try growing some veggies, just to get a sense of how it should go. I have just put lettuce and carrot seeds into large pots, so we'll see how that goes. I'm hoping I am not to early on the lettuce.

Maybe next time my rose blooms I'll post some pictures. My balcony garden is really starting to come alive!

I mentioned awhile back how fatigued I was feeling, and I think by the grace of God I have finally come through that slump. I think overall I was feeling very stressed from an unfortunate work situation (that I'm going to keep private, at least for now), which was playing itself out in some minor physical symptoms. I mentioned that I thought my desire was also stemming from my longing to be a stay-at-home mom, and while I still strongly desire that, I don't think that was the main thing.

I think I have come to terms with the way things are at work, and I have finally accepted them. I'm sure God has a reason for keeping me in this situation, but I just don't see it yet. But at least I have been given peace. What a wonderful thing that is! I feel much more at ease balancing work and home responsibilities, and while I still struggle (the actual situation hasn't changed at all) I'm excited to be moving forward.

You know how a stationary object will stay stationary unless acted upon by an outside force? That's sort of how I feel. I hadn't realized it's been a month and a half since I've been here. The longer I've been away, the harder it has been to motivate myself to get back in motion on this blog. Now that I have the momentum going, I should have a few posts rolled out by the end of the week. :-)