The disappearing week....

It has been seven days since I wrote in here..... and I have no idea where the week has gone. Seems like I've been busy with one thing or another.... and there were times when I got busy with one little thing and that led to three other little things and before you know it, half of the afternoon is just gone.

We're in the midst of better weather...... not so oppressively hot.... the temperature hasn't been past 98 degrees in about two weeks now. And even these mid 90-degree days feel cool and comfortable, if you can believe that.

We're still walking every morning...... J, J, and me.... sometimes my husband comes along as well. Down our hill we go... around the bend of the next part of the road, up the hill further down, around the bends near the still-dry creek... and then we're on the flat part of the road. Walking back is best-- the uphill parts are down-hill... much nicer for walking but by then we're mostly wide awake so it really doesn't matter. From my driveway to the end of the county road and back is about three miles, so it's a fairly good walk for that time of the morning. We've been adjusting our leaving-time as the sunrise gets later. Before we know it, we'll be turning the clocks back one hour and we'll have to readjust the starting time again.

I've been spending time making Halloween cards.... love to make cards...... all these boxes of pretty papers and layered embellishments..... out they come for all the holidays, and out comes the box of double-sided tape (less messy than paste) and before I know it, I have a batch of cards to send to my cousins up north. And, of course, a card to Aunt Dolly, who got me interested in making cards before I started first grade.

Aunt Dolly saved every bit of pretty ribbons, wrapping papers and greeting cards..... into a big box they all went. On rainy days, or on too-hot-for-the-yard days, out that big box would come and she would put it on the kitchen table. She would open the lid of the box and say to me "Make something." And I would...... paper dolls, clothes for the paper dolls, tiny little books fashioned from bits of magazine ads, greeting cards, place cards, or just a little "Happy Tuesday" sign that my grandmother would put on her dresser near the little votive candle that was always there. "Keep your hands busy with beautiful things and you'll make your corner of the world more beautiful as well." I can't begin to count the number of times Aunt Dolly would say that to all of us.

I've also been getting things ready for the Halloween party..... re-arranging decorations for the umpteenth time.... making a pumpkin tree from little branches that fell from the pecan trees (tiny smiling pumpkins are now hanging from those branches).... and I've been counting out candy corn for one of the guessing games for the party (can't have a Halloween party without a vase or jar filled with candy corn).... there have just been a lot of little things that I've been busy with all week long that kept me away from typing. Then, of course, the fun stuff gets interrupted by laundry and cleaning and cooking..... who wears all these clothes and uses all these towels? And who brings all this dust into the house? And do we have to eat again? Didn't we just do that yesterday?

I put Halloween boxes together for my little cousins in Chicago.... books and games and Halloween surprises for them. I try to send a box up there every month or so... there's a holiday in every month as far as I'm concerned, so I can always find little things for the kids.... and they are just at the right age to be excited about getting a package in the mail with their names on it.

And we haven't even mentioned Christmas yet..... which is right around the corner. My 'gift closet' is filled with holiday gifts that I've been finding all year long....... I will need to get busy wrapping and boxing those gifts so they're ready to mail right after Thanksgiving. I hate to mail boxes once December starts..... the post office gets too busy, too crazy, and there's more potential for lost or damaged packages. Right after the Halloween decorations come down, up will go the Christmas decorations..... all the little 'house elves' will come out after midnight and get all of that done for me, of course. Ho, ho, ho!

How many days till Christmas? I haven't counted yet, but I'm sure the number will be less than I would guess.