I will finally say it: Happy Fall! I love Fall! I do! I just want to spend my life appreciating the present moment instead of wishing it away for the future. Anyway, summer is officially over and while sunshine and warm days will always be my favorite, Fall has it’s own pleasures. However, if the occurrence at our household on the first day Fall is any indication of what is to come, I’m done with this season! THIS is what I found in our basement on Saturday:
Yep, that’s a snake. The picture makes it look much bigger than it actually was, however, that makes it no less terrifying or nightmare inducing. I was heading down to the basement to do laundry and kicked an empty laundry basket down ahead of me because I had my arms full. I got to the bottom of the stairs and I could see Sansa looking strangely at something on the floor in the dark. I turned the light on and confirmed that it was a !@#$%^& snake! It was about 6-7 inches long and it was coiled up like it was going to strike at Sansa. Of course, I yelled for her to come to me and go upstairs and yelled a few choice words up to Philip about what was down there and that he needed to come get it. I had to take a pic first and then he scooped it up into a bucket and took it far away from our house, at my request, and set it free. At first we were kind of freaking out because the markings on it are similar to timber rattlesnakes, which are indigenous to WV. We didn’t see a rattle but again, it was tiny. After consulting the animal expert,Marsha’s husband, Brad, we’re pretty sure it was a milk snake, which is not venomous. For my peace of mind, it was a milk snake, or I can’t live here anymore. We’re still not sure how it got in but we may have an idea. When Philip ran the electric for the hot tub he had to punch a hole in the cement in the basement to run it to the breaker box. There was a hole just small enough around the plastic casing that a stupid, tiny snake could’ve gotten in. That better be how it happened since that hole is now plugged. Otherwise, I can’t live here. So keep your fingers crossed for me that this is the last encounter I have with a snake in this house. My anxiety level has been maxed out and I wish I would’ve had my Apple Watch take my pulse when we were scouring the basement looking for others. We haven’t found any signs of another, luckily. I’m actually grateful that I have my weird issues of not wanting things to touch my feet, which is why I always turn on the basement light when I go down because if I had stepped on that thing…omg..it makes me sweat just thinking about it. I now have PTSD from it and couldn’t sleep last night for dreaming about it. Philip says it wasn’t nearly as big of deal to him as it was to me, other than he worries about Sansa and Sophie. As do I. I also worry about my ability to sleep ever again. Oh well, they make drugs for that, right? 😉
Anyway, aside from that horrific experience, I had a great weekend and enjoyed the wonderful Fall weather. I got to watch my girl, Kate, play soccer today. She’s a boss with that ball. She scored two goals and would’ve had three if she watched where she was kicking it, like not into the goalie’s hands. Oh well. I’m super proud of her. I had a pretty good week, prior to the weekend, too. I got accepted into the graduate program at Rowan University this week and will start my Master’s degree next month. I canned 25 pounds of tomatoes from our garden. I also got to teach yoga to the high school girls’ soccer team at the park. All in all, a pretty good week.
The onset of Fall, coupled with the arrival of my Lakeside Collection catalog, makes me start planning for Christmas. Christmas is not my favorite holiday, it’s usually a pretty tough time of year for me, but I do enjoy shopping. Which conflicts with my desire to declutter. It’s an endless battle. I buy new stuff and sell my old stuff. Buying other people stuff is even better because it doesn’t junk up my house and I like making people happy.
So I’ve been looking through this Lakeside Collection catalog and they have quite an assortment, from wasp traps to toe rings and everything in between. I have been looking forward to ordering a green ceramic lighted Christmas tree that they had last year (that I didn’t order), that is like the one we had when I was little. Both of my grandmas had one also so it’s a classic Christmas decoration for me and I need one. Lakeside is great for finding stuff like that. Home goods is one of the unique categories they have. Some of the decor they have is really nice and minimally priced. Some of their kitchen goods are the dumbest things I’ve ever seen people waste money on. Or maybe they don’t waste money on them and that’s why they’re on the “Sale” page. They have a burger press that holds 2 pounds of meat and “makes (8) perfectly shaped burgers every time.” If there’s one thing that I require about my burgers, it’s uniformity. I mean, you wouldn’t want one person’s burger to be slightly larger or smaller than someone else’s and you can’t rely on your untrained eye to gauge a precise quarter pound of hamburger, no sir. Oh, and, they have a Chef Tony Bacon Bowl Pan. It's for making bowls out of bacon, duh. From what I could tell, it’s a muffin pan turned upside down that you wrap bacon around. I’m sure there’s something that makes it special though because it’s been coined a “Bacon Bowl Pan” so you must not be able to turn it over to bake muffins or cupcakes or egg cups. There’s also a Butter Once Corn Butter Knife, which is literally a spoon that has been flatted a bit on bottom. But you can butter your whole ear of corn with one pat of butter, all at once! None of that having your butter fall off your butter knife crap. Nope, not with the Butter Once Corn Butter Knife. I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing some freelance writing and one of the posted jobs I saw was writing product descriptions…I’m pretty sure I’ve found my calling!
No, really, they do have some cool stuff..like flip flip shaped solar lights and pillows shaped like chocolate chip cookies and pizza. Do I want these things? Yes! Wait, no, because that will lead to wanting to eat chocolate chip cookies and pizza every day. I want them anyway. But should I buy them? Noooooooo. Should I buy an Automobile Snow Broom that promises to effortlessly clear my car all winter long? While the offer is so tempting, when I pause and think about it, I have another item that can clear the snow from my car all winter long…my Regular Broom, no trademark needed.
The point of this long, scatter-brained rant is this: if you really want to clear the clutter and make your home a happier place, stop bringing in more clutter. Don’t be fooled by clever (that’s questionable sometimes) marketing and advertising. Companies want you to spend your hard earned money on their crap that you don’t need. Remote control color changing flameless tea light candles sound cool but would you actually ever remember to turn them on? Or would their batteries die before you remember you have them and want to show someone someday? Think of it like this, every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of life you want. Vote for a clutter-free life. As you go forward, toward the holiday season, contemplate giving gifts that people can use, rather than keep, such as tickets to experiences (movies passes, amusement park, concerts, comedy shows, etc.), awesome skin care products, really great coffee (I’ve heard Philz Tesora blend is fabulous, just sayin’), gift certificates to restaurants, manicures, hair appointments, massages, etc. Anyway, Pinterest has tons of ideas if you need others.
As always, here's the obligatory pic of my girls, Soph being a hellion and then feigning innocence while choking Sansa.
As always, here's the obligatory pic of my girls, Soph being a hellion and then feigning innocence while choking Sansa.
