We moved to New York in late spring several years ago from a crisp, newly renovated southern California bungalow into a hundred year old northeastern rat trap ("trap" being the operative word, but I won't go there). That experience forced me to grow up in many ways and taught me lessons I'll never forget. Joe, a native New Yorker, started prepping me for winter before our boxes were unpacked...which made me laugh, until the harsh reality of mother natures wrath blew into our backyard in late September. I know, I know talking about the weather is something eighty-year old men do while rocking on a porch sipping Manhattans, but I'm endlessly fascinated by the ever-changing atmospheric changes in our area. One minute we can see lovely, blue skies and the next a downpour, but that makes life interesting and keeps us on our toes! Speaking of keeping us on our toes, that old house kept us working pretty hard and one of my first lessons in east coast weather was changing the summer screens into winter storm windows (a process I'd never participated in). When April rolled around Joe started removing the storm windows and replacing them with screens...the only problem was the 72 windows in our house were all different sizes so that little project proved about as difficult as putting toothpaste back in the tube. Today, little lessons learned, I make life easier for us by whipping out my label maker when Joe's ready to prep for winter. By marking each screen with a designated label (hidden in the summer when installed in the window frame) we never waste any spring cleaning time by figuring out which window goes where.
PREP SCHOOL:
Yep, believe it or not, it's time to prep for winter if you live anywhere that gets the least bit of weather. ALSO, this is my favorite time to buy outdoor furniture. I've mentioned this every year and this season is no different. That outdoor rug you've had your eye on at Target but didn't think you could stretch your budget? Just as the back to school items hit the shelves so do the sale tags on summer goodies like outdoor furniture, coolers, barbeque's and other goodies. Last year I grabbed a few outdoor chairs from Lowes for 75% off and this year I plan on doing the same. Sure I won't be able to enjoy them until next year, but the savings I'll love right now!
