My front yard/driveway

My family and I are safe after Hurricane Milton passed through our area. Our current home wasn’t damaged, though we lost several trees including one that blocked our driveway when it fell (see photo above). As of this writing, we have no power or internet, and cell service is spotty. I’m able to post this because our new home didn’t lose power and I was able to drive over and connect to the internet there.

There were two huge trees down near our new house, too, one uprooted in the backyard and one snapped off at the end of our cul-de-sac. In just a 10-minute drive between the properties, I saw multiple downed trees, a river overflowing its banks, and streets and yards underwater. And we aren’t even in the hardest hit area, nor did we have a tornado touch down.

As uncomfortable, worried, and tired as we are (hurricane prep and aftermath is exhausting), we are safe. We’re sooo grateful the tree didn’t come down on our house, and that the pile of rubble by the road is only debris from the storm and not all our water-logged belongings. My father-in-law’s mobile home, by some miracle, sustained only minor damage.

As I’ve been telling people who’ve checked in on me, now it’s just problem solving.

Hope you had a much more uneventful week than I have!

If you want to help those who’ve been impacted by Hurricane Milton, click here. 

Photo by Master Filmmaker on Unsplash

I was already working on this post when Hurricane Helene swept through, and it feels a bit self-indulgent to talk about a “fun list” when so many have lost everything. I live far enough inland in central Florida that we were not hurt by Hurricane Helene’s pass. However, many areas in Tampa Bay and other parts of Florida, as well as Georgia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, have been devastated. Businesses, homes, and entire towns have been wiped out. If you want to help hurricane survivors in the Tampa Bay area, visit Community Foundation Tampa Bay.  A quick Google search will give you a list of organizations helping survivors in other states.

Fall is usually my favorite time of year…mainly because it’s when we finally have our first cold front after months of oppressive heat and humidity and it becomes enjoyable to leave the house again. But this year, not only are we still waiting for the first hint of cooler weather, my life is currently consumed by home repairs and moving projects (Paint! Carpet! Oh, there’s structural damage, that will be $500 more dollars, please!). I’m not sure I have the time, energy (or money, see above-mentioned $500) to embrace a Fall Fun List. However, I’m stubbornly clinging to the belief that even if the weather doesn’t cooperate, and even if I feel overwhelmed, I will mark the season of fall in some way that is different than the (eternal) season of summer.  (This is an accurate description of Florida’s seasons and it cracked me up.)

I’m Fall-ing, even though central Florida is still Summer-ing. (I’m sorry. I’m really tired.)

So if you, like me, feel overwhelmed right now and unable to make the most of a Fall Fun List, here’s my scaled down Fall Fun List for the Overwhelmed. I’d like to do these, but if I don’t get around to them, I’m not going to stress about it.

Kathy’s Fall Fun List for the Overwhelmed

• Light a fall scented candle. Even the grocery store sells scented candles, so if you don’t have any already, it’s easy to buy one.
• Bake something fall-ish—I want to bake persimmon cookies. My mom used to make a version of these when I was a kid and they were delicious. I’m going to try this recipe. I like baking, so this isn’t a burden—if you don’t bake, there are plenty of bakeries where you can pick up a fall treat.
• Slurp at least one pumpkin spice latte or other fall-flavored beverage.
• Try pumpkin spice baked oatmeal. (Hmmm, I see a theme here…)
• Eat a few pomegranates.
• Attend the first productions of the 2024-2025 Straz Broadway Series. My friends and I have our tickets, so we just need to show up. 
• Choose and order a planner for 2025. I love the hoopla around planner season, and I have three months to made a decision.
• Seek out Fall-ish books and movies (any suggestions?).
• Add a few Fall decorating touches to my current home, and to the new home if we wind up moving before I would normally put up Christmas decorations (the beginning of December).

What’s on your Fall Fun List?

Click here to see last year’s Fall Fun List, here to see fellow Floridian Sarah Hart-Unger’s list, and here to see Laura’s Vanderkam’s much more Fall-ish Fun List.

Photo by Arthur Hinton on Unsplash

“Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future.”

—Daphne Rose Kingma

Our resident deer--something I will miss

As I mentioned in “Summer Fun List Review—How Did I Do?” we’re getting ready to sell our home of nearly 28 years and move to a much smaller townhome just a few minutes away. Because we’re downsizing by about 1,000 square feet, we’ll have to get rid of a considerable amount of furniture and other belongings. 

Decluttering has become my life.

Some decisions are obvious. We won’t have room for our dining room table, china hutch, and sideboard so they have to go. We won’t need many of our landscaping tools and equipment (the landscaping is taken care of by our new HOA association), and my home office will have to share space with the guest room, so I’ll need to sell or donate some of my office furniture (sob).

And so many books. Even though a home library is extremely important to me, I’ll be purging books as I pack. Which ones are worthy of moving with us?

Two questions

During the packing process, I’ve been asking myself two questions:

How much can I take?

And

How little do I need?

“How much can I take?” speaks to how I don’t want to feel I’m losing items that are special to me as we downsize. I don’t want to get rid of things I need and use, but I also don’t want to leave behind things that really give me a sense of comfort and home. The glider rocker I’ve had since before my son was born falls into this category. I really love that chair, and sit in it often, letting the rocking motion calm me when I’m stirred up emotionally. I’ve scribbled many first drafts on paper in that chair, pondered many a deep thought. I’m not sure I will be able to find a spot for it in our new home, but I really want to.

On the other hand, how little do I need? There is such freedom in having less. Less stuff to clean, store, maintain. It’s calming to look around a pared down space. I’m no minimalist, but I’m happy for this chance to see how shedding excess will simplify my life and allow space for more joy.

OK, one more question

Looking at all my stuff with fresh eyes, I’m also asking, “Am I keeping this just because I’ve had it so long, or because I still love and use it?” Our current home has a LOT of decorative shelving which we’ve filled with various trinkets and doo dads over the years. With a lot less room for trinkets and doo dads, only the ones I really love for themselves will be making the move.

Some hard choices are coming—there will probably not be room for everything I use and love, so even some favorites may have to be left behind. That will have to be OK.

It never hurts to look around and evaluate the things you live with. Eventually, we will probably all have to downsize, or leave it all for our kids to deal with, and from personal experience, I do not recommend this! It may not be easy, but asking these questions about our belongings, even if we’re not planning to move, can lead to more peace, freedom, and yes, happiness.

Have you thought about (or actually completed) decluttering or downsizing? Any tips you can share?

For inspiration, check out The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. And if you have the streaming service Peacock, I also recommend the TV show of the same name based on the book. 

*See what I did there? 😉😊

My jigsaw puzzle assistant

While the calendar says that the season is nearly over, I know that here in Florida we have many more days—months, probably—of “summer” left. But September is just a few days away, so I’m calling it on the Summer Fun List. Let’s see how I did! 

Summer fun list 2024

Rewatch the movie Clue. I enjoyed the stage production so much, I want to rewatch the movie. Done.

Beach weekend getaway with my husband. We tried, but nope.

Playdates with friends—as many can I manage! Whether it’s lunch, coffee, floating in the pool, or a trip to iSmash (see below), I plan to spend some quality time with friends this summer. Coffee, lunch, floating in the pool, thrifting, crafting—it was great!

Ride “Dougie” (fellow boarder’s horse I’ve been given permission to ride) while Tank enjoys his well-deserved retirement. Done.

Go to the movies—if I can find something I want to see. With my husband, with a friend, or even by myself. Twisters...dumb, but entertaining.

Complete at least one jigsaw puzzle. Done.

Watch the Summer Olympics being held in Paris (ah, Paris!) on TV. Done.

Make key lime ice cream. Bought the ingredients but never made the ice cream. I still hope to do it.

Go to iSmash—I have some frustrations I’d like to work out! Nope, and I’m losing interest in paying to smash things, as therapeutic as that sounds.

Watch Black Cake on Hulu. I loved the book. Done, and I loved the TV version, too.

Read by the pool. One way to enjoy the outdoors in a Florida summer is to get yourself wet. An afternoon spent reading and then dipping into the pool when I get hot sounds appealing. I usually prefer to skip the “wet” and “outside” parts of a reading afternoon, but I’m trying to shake up my routine a bit. Noooooo, who was I kidding?!

Create and read from a summer reading list (see below). Done.

Summer reading

Summer is prime reading time since I’ll be trying to stay cool. Here are some possibilities for my summer reading. Even though I’m a fast reader, there’s no way I’ll get to all of them. The ones with an * are priorities (completed titles in red):

Library books:

The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods (already on hold) 

The Husbands, Holly Gramazio (already on hold) 

*My Murder, Katie Williams 

*In Praise of Slowness, Carl Honore 

Laziness Does Not Exist, Devon Price (In progress)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler 

Enchantment, Katherine May 

*Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser. The Project Gutenberg e-book version is here. 

*Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan, Elaine M. Hayes 

TBR shelf:

*Au Revoir, Mary Moody 

*The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, Rumer Godden 

Touch Not the Cat, Mary Stewart 

Traveling While Married, Mary-Lou Weisman 

*Draft No. 4, John McPhee 

Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art, Jennifer New 

August has been its usual difficult self. It’s been even more hot and humid than usual, Tank has been having a hard time with the heat, and as readers of the Happy Little Things newsletter know, we’re preparing to sell our house and move. Posting here on Catching Happiness may be erratic in the coming months, depending on what house-related shenanigans are taking place. I’m excited, but already feeling stressed and overwhelmed with the constantly growing list of tasks related to the move. I’ll do my best to continue to share simple pleasures and everyday adventures as we enter this new stage. Wish us luck! 

How was your summer?