Thursday Thirteen!

Today's Thursday Thirteen is going to be Fall Related due to today being the first day of fall! Enjoy!

1. Whenever Fall comes around, so does sickness! Our house has not been spared. "C" came down with an awful stomach bug on her birthday last week. She started to not feel well around 7:30pm and was in bed, fast asleep, by 8pm. Woke up Thursday morning sick. Throwing up. Spent the day sleeping it off on Grandma Bee's couch. Then, exactly a week later, Bee came home last night around 9:30 from various errands he had going on and told me he had to stop a few times on the way home to get sick. I thought he was being a little over dramatic, but when he spent the whole night throwing up and running to the bathroom, and therefore needing me to empty trash cans, get him pepto, and oh-my-God-make-the-puking-stop, needles to say, I guess he wasn't being over dramatic. I have a sick Bee home in bed, continuing last night trend and I am falling asleep at work.
2. Our neighbor has a produce stand. They have PUMPKINS! As soon as Bee is feeling normal again, I am going to ask him to take me over there and buy me some. I also threatened to sneak into some one's corn field and steal a few stalks for my front pillars. Bee giggled and told me I was silly. I don't think he realizes how serious I am. I'm cheap, and why pay for foliage when I can get it for free?
3. My favorite things about fall are : Pumpkin spice anything. From lattes to room fragrance. I am so down with the pumpkin. Pretty leaves of all different colors on the trees and ground. Nothing more I love than seeing a road lined with trees in a rainbow of colors and dark black, wet, cement. Just enough chill to wear Bee's hoodies, FOOTBALL, Hot/Cold Cider, Leaves burning (you can burn them in lake county, provided you have a fire pit. We do. Awe-sum!) Halloween
4. Things I hate about fall: Summer's over. It gets really really cold at night sometimes. It's too short and Winter seems to barge in earlier and earlier every year. The sun begins it's hibernation for the next 6 months. I start my decent into always.being.cold.no.matter.what.
5. Thanksgiving is going to be at my house this year! I have always wanted to host a holiday meal, but never had enough room. This year I do. I also have the excuse that I have another family now too and having it at our house with both sides joining us is easier and fair.
6. Making Pumpkin Cheesecake. For Everyone.
7. I am always cold, yet my skin to the touch is always super warm (probably because I am giving off all my heat!) so, when it's cold out, Bee holds me that much tighter in bed because as he says, I'm his "little space heater" Benefit for me? He is like my blanket :)
8. Hayrides! Love them oodles! I will always remember when I was about 7, I was a part of the Indian Princess's (kinda like girl scouts, but it's a father-daughter thing) and our "tribe" went on a hayride. There were two tractors pulling carts full of hay and half of us ended up on one, and the other half on the other. I don't remember who decided it, or why it happened (Hey, I was 7...and I've drank a lot since then!) but someone decided to declare "War" on the other tractor. we were "racing" through the trails, we even stopped to get pumpkins and one of the dad's (maybe it was even mine lol) gave me a giant corn stalk and told me to hold it as our team's "flag", then we stuck pumpkins under their tires and took off! It was soo much fun and I kept that "flag" for like two years. Haha!
9. One word - Halloween. I LOVE Halloween. I used to try and go to haunted houses every year. Even into my adulthood. I would even try and dress up every year. I would stress about my costume and which houses to go to. Then, about 2 years ago, I was newly dating this guy and we went to a popular haunted house. "7 Floors of HELL"! Oh, were we excited. We spent the day at the corn maze, and after that got our pumpkin spiced lattes, and now? "7 FLOORS OF HELL!" to top off the day-long date. We got there, it was 7 different "houses". They all took about 1 and a half minutes to walk through, and they were LAME. L-A-M-E, lame. Bonus? It cost us $47 dollars admission (no joke) for the two of us. The whole fairgrounds was done up like some cheap carnival show and pre-teens and teens alike were ALL.Over.The.Place. It was not fun, and we left early. As for dressing up, all the costumes for adults are cheesy or slutty and no matter which of the two you go with, you are uncomfortable. I don't need to pay $150 dollars to look like a slut. I have clothes in my closet that can do that for free ;) I've found the best is just to sit on my porch and hand out candy to the kids and watch them enjoy the "Scary" factor.
10. My birthday. My Birthday is in November.
11. Black and Gold Football. "C"'s team is Black and Gold and so are my Steelers. It's all around footballey goodness :) Also, next year, Bee's team will be black and gold!
12. I was thinking today about how when I was a kid, my parents always picked a Sunday when most of the leaves were already changed, yet still mostly on the trees and we packed up a picnic and went down to the Metro Parks and go hiking and enjoy the pretty-ness of fall, then end it with a good picnic. I might do that this year with the kids!
13. Boots. I get to wear my boots again!