Hibernation is setting in...

I can feel it in my bones... fall is upon us. If I were to be an animal, I most certainly would be a bear. It's an innate feeling... instinct if you will, that I have to curl up somewhere warm and not return until spring. Seriously. I did not go outside Sunday once. Nope, not even for a second. Want to know what I did? I complained feverishly about the freezing temp. "Can we please start a fire, or turn on the furnace?" ... oh about 5 times. Yes, I could have have gotten up the couch and flicked the heat button on our thermostat... but I was shivering under blankets! Once I felt I had enough heat to move a little... I quickly tried to locate my stash of socks that have been hiding all summer. (Flip flops... your dead to me now.) Then my pants, then a long sleeve shirt... and then another a few moments after that. Dan was running around half naked and looked at me like I was growing a third eyeball. Then, I spent the rest of the day trying to harness and capture the heat in any way I could. Numerous times (and I mean at least 10!)... I had to remind my husband and children that they were not born in a barn and the door needs to be closed. Seriously - I think every time one of them went in or out, they left the door wide open! What a terrible summer habit - but hello people, it is freezing! (12 degrees Celsius - what I wuss, I know!)  I drank coffee, lots of it. Then I drank tea, lots of it. After I felt comfortably warm I started to clean house. After all, this is where I am going to be spending a great deal of time over the next 6 months! I spent all summer avoiding my house and trying to be outside every chance I got... and now I have a whole lot of housecleaning to attend to. There is no spring cleaning in my house - by the time spring sets in, I'm ready to get the heck outside and into the garden. The cleaning starts in fall in my house. So I started to clean cupboards yesterday and will slowly work my way around the house until all is organized and cleaned. Summer clothes need to disappear and the winter sweaters reappear. Time to go through all the kids' clothes and put away all the ones that don't fit anymore. Cull the toys and everything else... before we settle in to a long winter. Hello socks, slippers, pajar boots, fleece pjs, hot baths, warm tea, desk heater and my automatic car starter.... we meet again.