As the end of September comes to a close, I’m sharing a bit about what we’ve been up to, as well as other random thoughts as we end one of the most beautiful months of the year.

• It was so fun to see all of the cute back to school pictures of our friends and family earlier this month. We have two grandchildren in college now (which makes us feel very old:) and the others are in grades 5-12. One of my favorite things about social media is watching all of these children grown from afar.

• Last week, we started a total gut job of the tile in our master bath and closet. We haven’t done a project of this magnitude before because most of the houses we have lived in either didn’t need it, or if it did, it was too costly. We have lived in this 24-year-old house for 17 years, and it was finally time to give this room a little upgrade. I will do a complete blog on the master bath before and after next month, but suffice to say that even with great contractors, demo is not for the faint of heart:) In other words, it has to get ugly before it can start looking pretty again. Luckily the whole job will be done in less than two weeks, so in the grand scheme of retiling and remodeling, this has gone by pretty fast.

• How do you feel about Pickleball? Are you a fan? Do you play? One of my daughters, her husband and friends are obsessed, so we are going to learn how to play. To get us started, my husband ordered us a Pickleball set complete with a carrying case, so now we’re invested:)

• You know that feeling when you order something online and then you wait anxiously to see if it lives up to your expectations? Well, that was the case with this pair of amber glass hand and dish soap dispensers I ordered on Amazon for the kitchen. At only $15.99 for the pair, I was worried that they would appear cheap, but boy, was I pleasantly surprised when they arrived! Beautiful quality, well packaged, and the brushed gold pumps are sturdy and perfect in every way. They were purchased for part of an Amber and Copper post that is coming soon.

• Our local electric company has enacted a peak period demand charge beginning this month, which as the name implies, will charge an additional fee for energy usage during peak periods. In our case that is between 6-9 am and 5-8 pm. We are trying to make some shifts to accommodate this new program, one of those being to wait until after 8 pm to run the dishwasher and starting laundry after 9 am. We had been feeling pretty self-congratulatory until this morning when I opened the dishwasher to unload it and realized that in our desire to wait until after 8 pm, we forgot to run them:( You know what they say, “the road to energy savings is paved with good intentions.”

• My husband and I were in Costco this week and I couldn’t resist going down the Christmas aisles, just to “look.” Well, wouldn’t you know, I found the cutest holiday ribbons! The first one is a gold/red/green plaid that is beautiful and encompasses the colors I plan to use this year. The second one is made up of gnomes with strings of lights tying them all together. Super cute, especially for the grandkids. At only $7.99 for 50 feet of wired ribbon, it is a real bargain. I know it may be a little early for most of you to start thinking about Christmas ribbon but consider this a friendly PSA that if you wait until December to look, the nicer patterns may be gone.

• Random birthday facts: I read an article the other day that said that more babies are born in September than any other month of the year. And furthermore, the most babies are born on September 9th and the least number of babies are born on Christmas Day. Coincidentally enough, my father, who passed away in 2002, was born on September 9th, and my mother Clarette’s birthday is September 14th. We were fortunate this month to celebrate her 92nd (!!) birthday with a fun day of lunch, sightseeing, and dinner with family. My mother is beautiful inside and out, and we are so lucky to still have her in our lives. As the family matriarch, she manages to keep up with all of her family and friends with loving support.

Well, that’s a wrap on this September. Our fall weather has been simply glorious here in Southeastern Washington, with sunny days and cool mornings. I hope to see you all in October!

Good tidings,

Diane