Into the Fall

Well, we are moving out of Summer, and into Fall. Rather quickly, I might add. I dare say we might skip right over it and head for Winter already. Sure, I'd love to add another few months onto the Purgatory we call "Winter in Minnesota"...

In all it's inevitability, we spent the last weekend Winterizing the yard. We ended up with a whopping 22 bags of leaves, and that is not counting the piles I used to insulate my potted plants. I set them all next to the foundation of the garage, on the sheltered side of the house, then covered them and packed them with leaves. Then wrapped the pile with netting to keep the leaves from blowing away before it snows. I'm sure it's not a pretty view for the neighbors on that side, but lets just not get into the condition of their landscaping. In any case, it's all done. Well, Dustin is going to do the last mow and fertilize this week. Then we will be done until Spring. As much as I hate Winter, it is nice to get off the hook when it comes to yard work.

We also spent the weekend before this one FINALLY shoveling up the rock in the front of the house. We decided to bring it all to the side of the house and level it off. We plan to eventually build an outdoor run for the dogs, so it will be a good base. That's a project for next year though. Okay, maybe the next year. Anyway, the rock is gone, with the exception of what was hopelessly mixed in with the dirt. We'll sod over it anyway, though. So it should be okay. We bought the pavers to build our patio next year, so early next Spring our front yard should actually be presentable! I can hardly wait!! I'm tired of looking at our plain, bland, dirty house. At least this way it will just be plain and dirty. *Sigh*

We have decided that the weather has just gotten too cold to run outside at all. Of course, we may have a few nicer days that we can sneak outside. But for now, we just can't do it. We have discussed buying a treadmill, but in additionto having no idea what we are buying, we don't have the money. So we are going to check out our community center gym. Well, it's actually the Bloomington high school gym, but it sounds nice. And they have an indoor track. So we're hoping to do that tonight for the first time and check it out! For $2, it's worth a try!!

In other news: We've had an unfortunate event. The company where Dustin has worked for the past seven years has had to downsize, which has put him out of a job. The housing market is just not in a place right now that supports building more new homes. Last week was his first week "off" and we will now decide what our options are. Fortunately, he is a prized employee and good at just about anything he puts his mind to, so we are not worried about him finding work. We're just hopeful that it turns out to be something that he can enjoy. Although it is not an ideal position to be in, we are both staying positive because we know that things always work out the way they should.

Remodeling has also been rather slow this year, but even after a very slow Spring, my company has gotten busier again. There will also be some changes as a salesman that has been here for 18 years will be leaving. Not sure what that means for me, but we'll see.

So that's my update for now. I'll try to stay in touch!!