End of Summer Report Card

"I'm just a Summer Girl,
Living in a Summer World..."

The only thing is, Summer is ending.

That much is obvious, even without the store displays of Halloween Costumes and Football gear. Days are shortening, outside light is yellowing, and the trees have begun their annual game of pelting our metal roof with nuts. (it's amazing how something that small can make that large a noise!) Autumn is coming again, and it's time to take stock of what did and didn't happen this Summer.

See More of Friends and Family: Well, yes and no.  Sadly, I missed my High School Reunion again, and I only hope my classmates and hometown will forgive me. On the other hand, my nephew came to see us in June, and I talked with my sister almost every day, which is very good.  Our folks would never have believed we've learned to be sisters and friends.

Learn to DIY on a Dime: Check.  So, I'm a slave to all of those H&G/DIY shows/pictures/ideas, a truth that frightens my husband no end. (His lawn and garden dreams involve Astroturfing the yard.) The only thing is, we haven't got the budget for hiring Home Improvement teams.  So this summer I became less afraid of power tools and more conscious of a penny these days, and I've put that to work around our house.

After restoring a trunk and subdividing a Five Dollar Fern into Four, I used $25.00 in paint, cloth, and misc. to update the rest of front porch furniture.  My Porch is important to me: it's a fourth of our home's entire footprint and more relaxing than a pitcher of martinis but, decor-wise, it needed some help.  The old desk I had out there left long ago, and the porch swing's cushions didn't fit the swing. So I restored the surface of the old, white, resin, patio table, and added a painted and recovered, thrift-store chair to make a tea-and-snacks spot at one end...

...and used the rest of the fabric to cover the severed sections of the chaise-lounge cushion covering the Porch Swing at the other end. Granted, I'm no pretender to the Fixer Upper Show, but the Porch is, once again, a comfortable, sweet place to be and I did it without breaking the bank. Next, I'm turning a felled tree into rustic pavers for a stepping stone path.

Continue to Work on Health and Weight: Yup, although I think my days of faster weight loss are done.  I've got a much lower BMI and resting heart rate now, so I really have to work to get the calorie-engine going.  Luckily, this summer I re-discovered one of the physical activities I enjoyed as a kid: swimming!

For 27 years, I've lived within a stone's throw of a beautiful community pool and never used it! That changed this year and, once I got over my bathing suit inhibitions, I realized (a) no one at the pool was looking at me, even when I accidentally wore my suit inside-out and (b) swimming is too much fun to give up, just because of age and flab.  At any rate, it helped me drop and keep off another 10 pounds. Blouses I bought, but couldn't button, back in April are suitable for public wearing now!

Re-entered the work force: Not yet, although I'm still trying. Well, the ideal job, like the ideal weight, doesn't just appear; you have to go out and get it.

Actually experiencing Summer: This was my greatest wish.  For years, I always seemed to miss participating in Summer, either through circumstance or choice, and I've felt back about that. After all, each of us has only so many summers in a lifetime, and it's a shame to skip any of life's rides. So I participated in Summer everywhere that I could, gardening and grilling, getting a tan and even jumping off the High Dive. (Which only gets more frightening with Age.) And, now that it's September, I plan to enjoy Fall to the Fullest.  I hope you have a Great Autumn too.