Good-bye Summer, Hello Fall

The picture on the left is from when we first moved into our house in August 2011. Picture on the right is from this summer.

Sometimes I really hate the summer. Many people get modified work schedules or take lots of time off during the summer and there are so many plans and activities organized to fill up that empty time. Normally people think of summers as being relaxed, but for a person who continues to work 40 hours a week and then have every weekend and evening stacked and packed, summers can be pretty high stress. On top of it, summers in Northern Illinois can often be horrendous with the heat and humidity. I realize that summer can often be no better than the dead of winter because I don’t want to be outside at all, and find myself rushing from the car to the house. Whether I’m inside to stay out of the heat or the cold, what does it matter, either way I’m house bound.

But, THIS summer? This summer was amazing. If all summers were like this, I could become a summer person. I think the high was mid 90s (and those days in the 90s were probably less than 7 days total), it didn’t even reach 100. Mostly it was nice and cool in the 70s and 80s. And yet, there were almost no mosquitoes. It was almost too good to be true. There were plenty of activities planned too, but I didn’t feel obligated or worn out. We had a few weekends that weren’t spoken for, allowing us to just relax when we needed it. Mostly I was just excited and constantly looking forward to the next thing. My pale skin has not been this tan since middle school when I held a pool pass and spent most of my time in the sun. It’s also fun starting my fitness journey, though I needed a lot of cbd pain roll on to relieve my muscle pain.

At the beginning of summer, anticipating a lot of fun activities ahead, I started using my chalkboard as a list to remember the summer. I originally created this board to be able to chalk out ideas, scribble fun doodles, or let kiddies draw when they visit, but this summer the board has been dedicated to the list. I like it so much I kind of want to keep a list for every season. Perhaps I need to create another board just for that.

It’s been a very full summer and while I have enjoyed it, now at the end, I am also missing my downtime and have barely peaked my nose into my studio. It is currently a WRECK of EPIC PROPORTIONS after a couple of craft shows and large orders that went out last month. This summer was amazing, but I am looking forward to things calming down a bit, major and deep cleaning of my studio, and working on a lot of projects that have been stuck in my head.