You Know It's Fall When...

Kari Anne inspired this post with the one she wrote yesterday...You Know It's Fall in the South When...

According to her assessment, I must live in the south, because I agreed with all the things she said. It is SO HOT here, still. (Although I hear we get a temperature break this weekend. As well as a residual monsoon from the hurricanes and tropical storms and all other such happenings.)

I'm actually not in any super big hurry to rush fall here, but I feel that everyone else around me is. I wouldn't mind some reprieve from the blasting heat and humidity, and please, please, PLEASE give me a break from the mosquitoes. I got three bites yesterday morning in my own living room while drinking my morning coffee. No. You have crossed a line, little biting bugs. (But I digress.) I'd welcome breaks from that, but we don't need to get all crazy with the super cool and cold just yet.

But my version of Kari Anne's post would be called You Know It's Fall in Shafferland When...

* I start planning my Sunday evening menu around football games. 

Back in our eat-as-you-will days, we always had chips, salsa, and queso for dinner on Sunday nights. It was grand. It gave me the night off from cooking, it was fun, easy, and ready in two minutes flat. And it was very football-y. Well once I started to resemble the shape of a football, we determined that might not be the dinner of health-conscious champions. So I scour the Dashing Dish site every week and conjure up game-like foods that won't undo the hard work I've done all week. Sure, it takes longer to prepare, but it's worth it.

* Speaking of football, I get a lot more scrapbooking done.

Since I'm not the football fan Ryan is, I use the game times to catch up my scrapbooks. If it's a full week (Sunday/Monday/Thursday) I sometimes even get...wait for it...caught up.

* Soup season returns.

I do love soup, but I tend to only make it in the fall and winter months. It just seems weird to eat it when it's warm outside. So fall = soup.

* Corn mazes!

We already have this on the bucket list for this fall. Had a blast at the one we did last fall. It only seems right when you live in corn country, right?

* We schedule family pictures.

We got engaged in the fall, so our engagement pictures were also taken that season. (Also because, you know, we got married two months later. Waiting too long meant missing it entirely.) That began our annual tradition of family pictures taken in the fall!

* We plan our new TV show lineup. 

We always pick out a new show or two to try. (Ryan is still mourning his pick from a couple of years ago being canceled this year.) Anyone have a new pick for this fall???

* I CAN START PLANNING FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

Oh yes. I've already started my gifts for this fall, and the letter and card design won't be far behind. It takes me so long to get ready that I have to start early!

* I can bring out the scarves and boots.

I have such a broken thermostat that I can't fully embrace a ton of sweaters and layering and all that jazz, but I do like being able to wear scarves again, and I do like bringing back the boots. Those two things are fun for me.

* Women's retreats (and speaking in general) come back!

When you speak at women's retreats, spring and fall tend to be your busy seasons! I really love the fall retreats. At least around here, they usually include some awfully pretty scenery, and the chance to meet a whole bunch of new women who become your friends is a blessing!

So that's what fall looks like in Shafferland, and it's beginning to shape up, even if it's still a thousand muggy, buggy degrees.

How about fall in your world?