It's PSL season. You know what that is, right? Pumpkin spice latte. It's not just a drink, it is the official kickoff for fall _ the ref's whistle signaling that it's time to break out the sweaters, boots, cider, pumpkins, candy corn and endless adorable crafts.
Not wanting to miss out, I tried a pumpkin spice latte. I drank what I could, dumped the rest of it down the sink and stood there wishing I had my money back.
PSL did not kick off fall for me. It only made me revert to my original thought on pumpkin _ that it is a bland vegetable made tolerable only by being in a pie.
The same women sipping PSLs and savoring the arrival of fall are flocking to Pinterest in search of adorable crafts. Our youngest daughter has already made a wooden sign with arrows pointing different directions that say bonfire, apple cider, hay rides. She's clever, crafty and decisive like a good crafter should be.
My last Pinterest project (make that Pinterest fail) involved thousands of small red beads, a hot glue gun and a wooden cutout. The end product was supposed to be a festive Christmas decoration to hang on your door. Mine turned out looking like a giant red N. Having been born in Nebraska, every time I walked by it I yelled, "Go Huskers!"
Besides, the husband asked if it was really necessary for me to craft. He claims his nerves can't take the sudden outbursts and shrieking. I tend to be careless with the hot glue gun.
PSL and crafting may be out by a process of elimination, but there's always outdoor decor. I see friends on Facebook talking about spending entire afternoons putting up fall decor.
I was thinking maybe decor was my call, when I heard about Mum Mania on my favorite Saturday morning home and garden show broadcast from a local hardware store _ big mums at low prices. "Come on down," they said. So I went on down.
I was feeling confident about my outdoor seasonal decor potential. Maybe Mum Mania was where I would excel.
I purchased four incredibly big mums for an incredibly good price. After dropping three off for other people, I took the last one home and stuck it in a pot.
The wind blew it over in the night. The big clay pot cracked and broke into pieces and so did the mum. I kept pieces of the broken mum to remind myself that outdoor decor can burn you faster than a hot glue gun.
My last chance for savoring the arrival of clear days and crisp nights was fall fashion. Then I discovered women are wearing one-size-fits-all plaid wool ponchos. A large plaid poncho on a height-challenged person such as myself looks like I barreled through a horse blanket head first and took the blanket with me. Whenever I try to pull that look off, people stop and ask, "How's the horse?"
Fall used to be my favorite season.
