Happy Fall (or Autumnal Equinox)

Happy Fall! Like Mother Nature knows or something, the air turned this week and suddenly, it feels like fall.

I mentioned awhile back how in love I am with the Fox’s preschool. I can’t help myself, there’s something magical about the place.

On Thursday morning, the Fox and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up apple cider. See, his class was having an Autumnal Equinox celebration, and they needed something to drink.

“We celebratin’, Mom.”

“You are? What are you celebrating?”

“De earf. It spins and spins. And then, we get a treat!”

“It spins and spins?”

“Yes! And we get muffins!”

You can’t really argue with that, can you?

Today, he attended the celebration. I was home with MaM, so I didn’t get to see the decorations, but he tells me they were fancy. When I asked him what he did today to celebrate fall, he told me he celebrated the equinox, and he made a bird feeder.

“How did you make a bird feeder?”

“I take de icing and put it on my pinecone. De birds like de icing!”

“Did you roll it in birdseed?”

“Yes. They like birdseeds too.”

So welcome, autumn! The fox and his friends are ready for you. *

 

And for those of you who need a refresher on what, exactly the autumnal equinox is, I defer to Wikipedia:

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth‘s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth’s equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day have approximately equal length.

At an equinox, the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points: classically, the vernal point and the autumnal point. By extension, the term equinoxmay denote an equinoctial point.

An equinox happens each year at two specific moments in time (rather than two whole days), when there is a location (the subsolar point) on the Earth’s equator, where the center of the Sun can be observed to be vertically overhead, occurring around March 20/21 and September 22/23 each year.

Although the word equinox is often understood to mean “equal [day and] night,” this is not strictly true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal; those days are referred to as the “equiluxes” to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart.[2][3]

Seven Things You Don’t Ever Need to Store

This week the empty POD was taken away. After going through most of the boxes and crates and garbage bags of stuff, I have a few tips.
Without further ado, here are the top seven things you should not put in a storage unit, ever.
1) Boxes of half used crayons. I have unpacked approximately elevenity hundred used crayons. I have another bazillion inside my house already. You know what you don’t need to bring with you, wherever you’re going? Used crayons.
2)Glitter. If you weren’t doing glitter crafts before you packed up, what makes you think you’ll suddenly start wanted to do glitter crafts when you unpack?
3) Clothes your kids have outgrown. If you have to fill out paperwork to become parents like we do, and your 99% sure you’re not going to feel compelled to do that again, just let them go. Yes, baby clothes are cute and sentimental. Know what’s more sentimental? Pictures of your kids in said clothes. Make a favorite outfit flipbook and move on.*
4) Toys your kids have outgrown. See #3.
5) Cleaning rags and towels. I unpacked a box full of old towels and cleaning cloths. Why, I ask? Oh why?
6) Perishable toiletries and food items like cough drops. This isn’t from me, it’s from a coworker who packed up his medicine cabinet and left it in storage for over a year. Cough drops melt. Saline leaks and rusts things. Deodorant turns to goo. If you are trying to declutter, commit to using up what you’ve got and resist the temptation to stockpile more. But don’t pack toiletries for storage.
7) The Blender. You know when you’re going to want frosty beverages and smoothies? When your blender is at the back of a storage unit, unable to be unearthed. It’s not that big. Trust me on this one.
I could go on and on, but sometimes you don’t really know what you don’t need until you don’t see it for awhile. I remember going to Goodwill so many times while we were packing, and I went to Goodwill so many more time during our 40 bags in 40 days month. Guess where I’ve been dropping loads off weekly every week in August? Goodwill. Yes, we paid to store a lot of things I ultimately unpacked and then proceeded to get rid of.
Oh well. Live and learn, right?
*I’ve also come to the conclusion that there is enough baby stuff in the universe that should a child fall from the sky and into your lap, long after you’ve passed on your baby goods, that child will not be naked or wanting for anything. I am convinced of this, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who can prove to me otherwise.

Well, That Was Fun

Have you entered a time warp? No, no, you haven’t. There really was a post up last two weeks ago, all about what you don’t need to put into a storage unit.

Last weekend, however, this little blog was hacked, and it’s been restored to mid-August. Michelle: 1, Hacker: 0.

Anyway.

I’ll put the storage unit post back up, and maybe, just maybe, write a post or two for September.