Dates on my calendar worth noting

Dates on my calendar

...worth noting

Calendars are something else.

We often become so very dependent on them and rely on what they contain in written form, soon we begin to associate and refer to them as being our "brain". Mine is definitely my brain these days! I'm pondering the big picture of these special occasions below in my head, mentally gathering timeline countdowns in grand anticipation of them all.

Here are a few...

• 70 - Days until 2009 is formally ushered in. New beginnings are a good thing.

• 63 - Days until Christmas (nine weeks exactly from today!)

Does anyone else dislike mailing labels ruining
the front covers of their favorite magazine?

• 50 - Longest length of time for a final moving day (we're hoping for Dec. 1st!) Yes, we found a house! Yes, we have an offer in on it with the builder! Yes, it's happening! Yes, our heads are spinning!
  

• 38 - Days until Advent begins

Two days ago we woke to white frosted grounds, everything white actually outdoors. When the sun popped up yesterday and the wind calmed down, it was time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.

Since Jack Frost made his appearance and painted everything his favorite icy color, and in grand anticipation of wintry white weather coming our way soon, the children and I spent a portion of our afternoon yesterday winterizing our outdoor items while the sun was still shining.

The cool air nipped at our fingertips, but in lieu of the weather forecast ahead, this was our moment to seize for getting the job we wished to get accomplished complete.

As a secondary bonus, it was also great preparation for our upcoming move. If we can have everything in order for packing when the time is at hand, and a fresh snowfall doesn't hinder our work progress, surely we will be ahead of our game.

• Everything was dry by this time of day, the patio furniture especially.

• We moved chairs, tables, planter pots, bird feeders and hooks, umbrella stands, and took the bicycles from the bike stand.

• The twinkling lights I love so much wound up on the patio railings came down.

• The garden hoses and sprayers, the irrigation hoses in the garden beds, the clothesline caddies with pins, and even the toys located here and there in the yard were hauled off , wiped down and stored away.

• Along the way we found a son's football, the skewers for the fire pit, and other items of interest requiring preservation over the winter season.

Today the weather held up again, the sun shone so the garage was emptied, organized and winterized some more with a few items shuffled to other areas.

• The golf clubs are inside, though our brave game players will still use them for another two weeks when able.

• The surf boards and sand toys are packed away, the tents and fold up camping chairs are stored well.

There is something satisfactory when all is in order for a seasonal shift change, and likely we've already been doing this for a few weeks now, but it's completed for the duration of the coming weeks.

• All alike items are stored together for packing up and easy finds at the other end in our new home.

• Three tennis balls somehow found their way up into the eavestroughs around the garage portion of our home, so our older son braved climbing up the ladder to retrieve them all.

Like a check mark on a to-do list, another thing is done and behind us. Ladder is once again hanging up on its hooks along the garage inside wall, mission accomplished.

Strange to note our barren decks after the work bee

With the monsoon amount of rain we had last weekend, a few outdoor carpets required lifting to allow for the accumulated water to run off. The decks look barren without even so much as a flower pot left on its surface.

Wet carpets required hanging to drip dry

Normally there are a few things we never pack away for seasonal changes, even for winter.

• Our bird feeders are usually left up all year round, but a good scrubbing and disinfecting was required eventually, so why not now while we had time to do so. They are all packed away in a box for the birdies we'll entice to our garden in our new home.

Bird feeders are washed, scrubbed and packed away

• Even the beloved trampoline was unassembled and packed away, something we never do for winter. The children claim it offers more bounce when left up all year round, but somehow I just couldn't imagine leaving it up and hoping (!) we could take it all apart when moving time edges closer. Frozen springs don't work well with frozen hands trying to yank them off.

So, we are prepared for any weather here. I smell snow in the air. I love the snow here, so bright and cheery and so easy to drive in. Oh joy! Bring on the snow! But let it melt away for our moving day. :-)