thoughts in fall

I really do adore fall. I think it reminds me of all the falls my family spent at Garity's Prairie Gardens, the football games, the leaf jumping, the walks down at the lake when it was a little to cold to wear a fall coat yet you wore one anyways, the pumpkins on the front steps, the crunchy leaves walking to school, and the bike rides. Fall makes me miss my family, and always makes me long to be outside.

This week I have been thinking a lot about kids. Kids I know, my future kids. Just kids in general. I watch the news almost everyday here and I am shocked by how run of the mill a murder story is. When Tammy Haas was killed in Yankton it was never NOT in conversation, it was never NOT in the news it was never forgotten or blown over. It was a huge deal. My town had never seen murder, and has seen it maybe 3 times since then, which was the mid 90's. I was raised in a town where if someone was diagnosed with cancer the whole town... all 13,000 came out in MASS to make dinners, bake cookies, pray. Anything and everything. The reason I am thinking about kids is because I don't want to raise kids here. I don't want them to hear that 2 teens were shot in the early morning and that's it..... like this happens all the time so NO BIGGIE. I can't handle that. I can't. I can live here and thrive here, but I am not bringing children into this world. It is so hard to think about. I know that me having kids is DOOOOOWN the road... but I figure the more thought and loving energy I put into it now... the better it will be when the time comes.

Just to once again remind you all of what I dork I am... I am in love with the RealSimple Magazine... dear lord. So good. I mean like did you know that there are like 20 different uses for CD's... put in under a candle to catch the wax, scrape a window... I mean... come on!!! So anyways... there was an article that a woman wrote and at the end she said to put her to sleep at night she goes over things she is thankful for. It puts you to sleep in a good mood and it is a good thing to remember. I have always been a fan of the thankful list. Mike and I used to email each other 5 things we were thankful for everyday. So I will adopt that for here... I will end with 5 things I am thankful for.

1. The mere idea of pumpkin pie, and apple pie make me thankful

2. kitty claw trimmers... her little claws are like razor blades if we let them grow to long

3. stocking hats... homemade

4. a solid 86% in math

5. love. love that calms you down with a simple touch.

xo E