Mom, emerging from the greenhouse.
All of the plants are in place.
An almost full waterbarrel
The inagural fire.
Spiked hot chocolate.The coolness has started to fall over Fort Worth, and the rest of Texas in general. A week ago, mom and I moved all of our plants we were not able to fit into our houses into the greenhouse. I love my greenhouse. I bought it last year in hopes of saving the hibiscus I spent quite a bit of money on, knowing I would use it for other plants as well. Brian and Kayla put it together mostly, while I helped and entertained the boys. This year, we finally got all of the gravel put in! I keep it warm with the sun (and sometimes a little heater, depending on how long it stays cold), as well as a large bucket of water, which helps create moisture for the plants.
Also updated is my fireplace. I finally got around to having the firewall fixed and a damper and chimney cap put in. This is something that has needed to be done for a while, but I just never had enough money to do it. I really didn't this time, and couldn't have, if I didn't have my mom to help. We've been sitting around a couple of days drinking wine, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate in front of it. Very nice.
I'm on my Thanksgiving break right now. I always look forward to this time, but I may actually be able to enjoy it this year. I don't have to grade papers, even though I do have two write two while I'm off. Winter break will actually be better since my graduate school semester will be over and I will have no TAKS benchmark essays to grade. I'll miss the extra pay, but I'll love the time to read and do whatever I want with my time off. It is certainly a nice thing to experience not having to worry about work while I'm home. I may actually get a book or two read, or possibly even write something... who would have thought?!?