Gather home.

My friend Melissa made the folk art piece on the left. On the right is a print of a pencil sketch by Edward Hopper that I fell in love with at an exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art in late 2013 or early 2014. I bought it because it reminded me of Dad. Its hanging wire has been looped over the back of my spinning chair since I framed it

It's been a lovely, mellow day. I woke up roughly the usual time, came out to the living room, and swept up the feral dust bunnies that had accumulated under the cot while Fourthborn stayed with us. Then I brought in the three drawers that have been sitting out on the black chair on the front porch since I liberated them from my neighbor's front yard a month or more ago. Those went into the garage. They will emerge at some future date to be upcycled.

I swept the porch, dusted off the chair, and brought out two white artificial pumpkins that have been hanging out just inside in the front door since I went on my mad pumpkin buying splurge. I also grabbed the French flower bucket from the alcove in the dining room, et voila!

Took me less than half an hour to significantly improve my curb appeal and my spirits at the same time. I will eventually get rid of the broken Christmas lights.

Attended a birthday brunch for a friend with whom I used to serve in the temple. Afterward I stopped at Trader Joe's for more ginger cookies (we were almost out) and Hobby Lobby for some autumnal additions to those forsythia. The new silk foliage is currently taking over the fallow side of the bed.

When the children's father and I owned the home in Irving, I fell in love with Chinese lantern plants, but he nixed them because they are so invasive, subject to disease and pests, etc. (This is what happens when you marry a man whose undergraduate major was biology with an emphasis in botany.) So now I have silk ones, and big red faux berries and one ginormous silk Gerbera daisy. I have zero interest in traipsing out to the porch in my jammies and tweaking the arrangement tonight. Maybe tomorrow after church, or maybe one night after work. (Or, me being me, possibly one night next spring, when it's bluebonnet season.) Meanwhile, what's there is already pretty nifty.

Earlier in the week I ordered a handpainted rayon jersey tunic from a shop I'd seen online. It arrived on Friday. Tomorrow I'll figure out what I want to wear with it to work on Monday. It looks like what eating raspberry ice cream with big chocolate chunks tastes like.

I also got myself measured for new temple garments, because of the weight I've regained and because I've been guesstimating the fit for the last 40 years or so. It's occurred to me that maybe one of the reasons my ankles swell when I'm stressed is because the elastic in my garment bottoms is just that much too snug. I don't know if this will help, but I'm willing to set ego aside and find out.

In knitting news, I'm cranking out another baby sock and wishing it were the first of a pair for Justice.

In doll news, I emailed the company in Korea this week, and Valor will ship out next week.

In laundry news, for people who are not Goths, we sure do have a lot of dark clothing. I'm washing the first load as we speak. Full disclosure: Middlest and I both like richly colored T-shirts, which means that they get washed with the darks so as not to make my bright pastel shirts crabby and surprised.

OK, gotta go see if it's time for that second load. And then I think I will work on the hem facing of Justice's shirt. Two rounds knitted on the baby sock and a porch spiffed up do not equal sufficient creativity for one day.