Living in limbo - I'm done with it.

So here we are a week after my last post...and I've been thinking.

I do that a lot, you know...think.  Ruminate.  Chew on things.

And after all that thinking I have determined that I have been living for "what's next" and not for "what's going on right now."  Upon further examination (why yes, there is ALWAYS further examination), I've realized that I've been living like this ever since the Husband was laid off...over FIVE years ago!

At first, the "what's next" was waiting to see what was coming done the pike.  Then, after he found a job, the uncertainty that came with selling the house and, of course, this whole house hunting debacle; as evidenced here and here, means that I have been living in limbo for QUITE some time.

Enough is enough.  I need to live in the here and now.  I have wasted FIVE years!  That is unacceptable.

So today I was on a mission.  Halloween is exactly a week away.  So I went in search of pumpkins, decorative straw bales and burlap.

Yes, me.

I've never been one for decorating so much in the fall or for any other season other than Christmas. Because how can you NOT decorate for Christmas?.  Halloween...not so much.  I decorated more when Man-Child was small and avid for the ghoulish-ness of it all - but my heart wasn't in it.

But today?  Today I was all about decorating for Halloween/fall...but on a more grown up scale.

Now, here's the thing with decorating this late in the game; everything was 50-75% off - YAY!  The other thing about decorating this late in the game?  Not much is left - BOO!  I was able to score some decorative straw bales at 50% off but the white, tiny fake pumpkins I was searching for?  Nowhere to be seen.  If I was searching for purple or black glitter pumpkins then I would have scored.  Unfortunately, that wasn't what I had in mind.

So I branched out and hit the grocery store and Home Depot.  Home Depot came through with the mums and while, I missed the tiny, white pumpkins at the grocery, I was able to score a medium pumpkin and some variegated gourds which resulted in this (very modest, for a very modest porch) porch-scape.

And, I have to be sure to add that the Husband was the provider of the red leaves.  With all the yellow going on, I knew I needed to throw some red in there somewhere.  Across the street, in the common area, is a red maple that is located fairly close to the neighbor's yard, but me being me, didn't feel comfortable crossing the street to gather a few leaves from the lawn.  I tried to convince Man-Child to gather a few for me.  Obviously, he didn't feel comfortable about it either.  In fact, he tried to accuse me of using him as a "mule" to "steal" leaves.  But the Husband had no compunctions about traipsing across the street and gathering a few leaves for me.  (Just another reason I love him...he's sane.)

And then I actually partially unpacked a few of the boxes that I've been living with - mainly just the Master Bathroom; but I felt a little freer.  Tomorrow I plan to unpack the baking supplies and just a few of the decor boxes - the rest I am sending to reside in the attic until we find a house.

In the meantime?  I'm planning on living for today.

Because really?  Five years of living in limbo is insane.  It's time to live for now.