September/October are my favorite months of the year (closely followed by April / May / June). Spring is nice, it starts to get warmer, and for a while the bugs don't bite, LOL, but fall has lovely weather - not to hot, not yet getting cold, again very few bugs... but oh my, the colors!

I am fortunate enough to have a bank of lilacs directly across the road from my kitchen window in the spring, but in the fall there is a tree right beside them that bursts into brilliant orange so rich and deep its practically indescribable. I know other people get to enjoy both of these bits of nature as they come and go getting their mail (the mailboxes are also directly across from my kitchen window), but I often wonder how many of them actually stop and admire... take a moment to enjoy... the beauty just sitting there. Most of the time I feel like it's my own private view, LOL, and I try to pause and enjoy it at least once every day.

But Sept/Oct are also my busiest months, with shows and meetings and Bill on vacation wanting to get work done around the house... and I must say I am actually quite pleased with what we accomplished in Sept, even if we didn't get everything done we had originally planned to do, LOL, but do we ever?

We didn't get all the work done in the kitchen we had planned on, because (as I mentioned last month) we ended up changing the floor plan - again! So we mainly worked on the laundry room, which I am happy to say is almost done (new ceiling; ceramic tile floor; back door; wiring changes; drywall and paint) ... I got the floor grouting all done in there yesterday, and the first pantry put in today, but Bill ran out of days to finish building the other 2 pantries, so will get them done during his next turn home, or possibly in Nov, as he's not home very long this turn.

I also got a new drier this week, as the bearings were going on my old one... so it really does feel like a whole new room!

The cabinets are all pulled out of the kitchen - again - LOL, and I cleaned the slate floor tiles with this special cleaner this week ... then they had to sit for 48 hours before I could put an enhancer on the tile (which I'm doing as I write). You apply enhancer to an area, let it sit for 10 minutes, buff it off, wait 30 min, apply another layer, wait 10 min, buff it off, move to a new area and start again... so it's taking quite a while to do (and I'm writing this blog in between applications, LOL).

Once all THAT is done, the floor has to sit for 8 hours (no walking on it), then be kept VERY clean for 3 days to really soak in and set the slate. Which means it will be Tuesday before I can add the new grout (with special enhancer in the grout too), and I may apply one more layer of enhancer once the grout is cured, just to make sure it all stays beautiful. I think if we'd known how much work slate tile was, we wouldn't have been quite so taken in by the beauty of it, LOL. Fortunately, once all this part is done it seems fairly easy to maintain - in fact, you're only supposed to clean it every 2-3 MONTHS, with a few drops of mild dish soap dissolved in a few cups of hot water!

And then we can start moving cabinets back in... but not sure how much we'll get done of that before Creativ, which is coming up far quicker than I like, ROFLOL. I may also hold off, and not put in too many cabinets before Bill gets home (next Saturday), as we are shifting the countertop stove unit over a bit from our original changed plan (sigh), which means the plug and light switches have to move (again) - and we forgot to put in a plug for the over-stove fan, so that has to be added as well.

And, as if all that wasn't enough, (sigh), when our DD and I were pulling the cabinets out of the kitchen we realized we also put the ceiling light (which is this long beautiful glass and wood enclosed fluorescent light fixture) about 2" too close to the cabinets on one side of the kitchen (the top cabinets on that side are pulled out farther than on the other side of the room, as they are sitting on top of the built in oven unit). So we ALSO has to move the light over a bit. Always something!

Anyway, I think that's all I have to share this month, (GBG). Most of my time is being taken up with the shows and classes this month, and trying to get some new designs out to be stitched so I have something to release in the new year, LOL. Wish me luck - and HAPPY STITCHING!