If only the temps would drop a bit so that I could feel like it was officially fall! The wind is blowing the leaves off of the trees today. The colors are at their peak and I'm looking forward to viewing them in all of their splendor on Sunday when our family gets together with my BIL and his family to ride down the Abingdon Creeper Trail. I hope I remember to take the camera this time. I have blown soooo many photo opportunities this year by forgetting the camera. 2008 is going to be a very small section in the kids' scrapbooks whenever I get around to working on them again. I've given up feeling guilty about not keeping them up to date ... I figure I'll catch up when they go to college and then I'll be able to turn them over to them once they are graduated and on their own!

My husband got confirmation last night direct from the CEO of his company that next week is the week when he will FINALLY get a raise! Hallelujah! It's been a long time coming and it has really increased our faith that our company is going to make it through this economic turmoil. They have spent two years restructuring themselves to make it through this recession ... they were actually a bit ahead of the curve on that call and I am so thankful for that! We do not want to have to look for another job elsewhere, especially with the housing market the way it is.

Tomorrow, the pumpkins arrive for our church's Pumpkin Patch. Last year was our first year doing this and I hope this year runs smoother. Gonna spend most of the day at the church tomorrow working on last minute projects before we open next Thursday. My sister is sending me a bunch of homemade jewelry to sell on the weekends at the Patch and donating a portion of each sale to our chosen charities. I will, of course, be wearing all of the EarBling that she created for me and taking orders for those as she just really can't send me one of everything. I finally found a divided container to hold all of my beautiful crystal dangles and I should take a picture to share them all with you ... they are divided out by color now and it makes it so much easier to choose a pair to wear each morning.

Even with me opening up the house on cool mornings, our electric bill last month was $35 more than the previous month. On the bill was a note stating that we would see 30% increases on our monthly bills this winter. Yikes! So, we plan to do a couple of things to help out this winter. With me home by myself each day, I can bundle up and crank the heat down. I may look into buying a small space heater to keep me toasty. At night, the beds will be layered down to keep us warm so that I can turn the thermostat down for the night. I'll just warm up the house about 30 minutes before the alarm goes off. We are putting all of our plugs on power strips that we can turn off each night and/or leave off until needed. Finally, we are going to be putting those foam insulation things into all of the light switches and plug sockets. They are supposed to help a lot! Last winter, I put heavier drapes on the windows and kept them closed to keep the rooms warmer and that worked well, too.

I have barely started my cross-stitch project, but at least it's now ready to just pick up and stitch. My daughter is working on a project as well and learning the not-so-fun task of ripping out stitches when the count is done incorrectly. Oh well - live and learn, right? She is enjoying it for the most part. I cross-stitched a lot while in high school and before children came, so I am hoping that she developes that same affinity for this craft as it is fairly easy and inexpensive. I love to cross-stitch gifts for others and have a few planned for the future, but am going to start on something for me now. I usually have a couple of projects going at the same time to prevent boredom. Time to get off the computer and get on with the rest of my day - there is laundry to fold, a kitchen to clean and some other odd chores awaiting my attention. I hope you have a great holiday weekend!