October 1st

Wow. I can't believe it's already October. It has been three months since I made the move to leave my job and stay home. It doesn't seem that long ago. I was out of the country visiting my Mum back home for seven weeks so it really hasn't been that long since I've actually been home.

Autumn is definitely in the air now. I had windows open today for a little bit but there was a bite to the wind that soon had me closing them once the late afternoon came. With the colder weather comes the thought of winter. It is not my favourite season. I don't like the cold or the snow we get here in Southwest Michigan. When I first moved here I thought it kind of strange that a lot of older people left the area to go to Florida for the winter. Now I understand it. Unfortunately we don't have that choice - hubby is still hard at work and neither one of us are near retirement age!

I was reading a blog I visit frequently and the topic was what do you do to prepare for winter. To be truthful I haven't really thought much about it before but one of my goals in staying home is to be a better planner and not do things spur of the moment as well as saving money. I won't be going out as much in winter - and need to cut down on store runs anyway - so I want to be stocked up with things BUT I don't want to pay for the nose for them. I am making more dollar store runs and stocking up on toothpaste, hand soap and other things I know we'll use. I suppose I need to think about food stocks for winter so we can just do a fresh fruit/veg/milk run each week. This will mean meal planning (not good at it!). I am trying to build up a good variety of recipes to keep us going. I plan on putting more thought into this subject over the next few days.

 Looks like someone else is getting ready for winter too!