November Days

Good Morning! October sure flew by! Like a witch on a broom past the Halloween moon! I don't remember an October going by so quickly but then again we have been really busy. I did make lots of pumpkin desserts though. I tried several I had bookmarked for a long time! Do you ever find you do that? You have all kinds of recipes or crafts pinned or saved only to have them just stay PINNED OR SAVED!! I'm trying so hard to finish up loose ends and recipes I have saved is one of them Also getting caught up on my reading. I read and review Amish fiction books for several Amish fiction authors and I receive the book, read it and then have to submit my review and lately I was accumulating a back log of them! Now I'm up to date (almost) and it feels good! Reading the Amish fiction books that are Thanksgiving or Chrismas themed are so special.

All the Thanksgiving boxes are down and I'm just about done decorating. Are you having the holiday? I am ! I love cooking for Thanksgiving. Its so fun when the supermarkets start to get us ready with all the baking displays and all that! It really gets you in the mood to cook!

My husband and I went to Tractor Supply last week and they sure have some good Christmas items! I saw this sign and said this is the TRUTH!!!That's my goal for 2020! And its amazing that 2019 will be over shortly! I mean, here we are on Election Day already! But back to Tractor Supply~~we loaded the back of our pickup with all the supplies I need for the chickens and it was so fun cause the day was cold and I felt like I was storing up for the long winter!! I was feeling like a pioneer girl :)

Have a great day!

October

Good afternoon! It's a cold and rainy afternoon here! Lots of leaves are falling off the trees. We are a little behind getting some of our outdoor Fall décor done, but it's coming along! The corn stalks are up and I have some mums and planters. I just want it up all year!!! I love it so!
Here is my Amish tool carrier:

I see so many great ideas from websites and all the Facebook groups I belong to. I was thinking how it used to be before social media discovering new decorating and craft ideas. I depended so much on all the different country decorating magazines that were out and taking tons of photos when I would visit Lancaster of all the store displays of country items. Do you remember all the different Country magazines? Country Collectibles, Country Decorating Ideas, to name a few. I still subscribe to Country Sampler. Most of the others aren't published anymore and there are new ones but they are are expensive! I am a huge fan of Country Sampler, and I can't imagine cancelling it! I look forward to it so much and now more than a few of my acquaintances have been featured. I know social media can be a hazard to our lives in many ways but I think its also a blessing for communication and learning. I learned to knit watching you tube! And most of all I learned from what I saw on people's Facebook, craft or selling pages. And all the great friends I have made that are like extended family!

Back to the pumpkins, I thought this gourd looked like a chicken so I bought it for that reason! Added the googly eyes and its supposed to go near my chicken coop  I don't want to put it outside!

And not related to my chickens, who I love with all my heart and don't eat (except for the eggs they lay), I made a big pot chicken soup and a big chicken stew over the last weekend! So good!

Wish there was some leftover because this is a good day for soup!I hope you have a greatr afternoon!

October Eve

My favorite month of the year is October. Not just because I love Halloween, but to me it just introduces a whole season of months that make "home" the centerpiece. The "Ber" months as they are now called, are all my favorites. I never quite accomplish all that I wish to but  each year I'm getting better at it. 

Started to get my mums and ornamental cabbages. Next weekend we will get the bulk of them and in the weekends that follow and we do some of our Fall activities, we will add to it. I'm partial to the dark rusts. Just about finished my decorating for Halloween and Fall. I have added quite a bit to my Thanksgiving collection since last year too.

If you have followed me in the past you know that every year for over 25 years I have a Halloween party~~this year we will host another but it is more Fall/Harvest/Halloween than just Halloween. My daughter and her friends are into the rustic farmhouse harvest look so that's what we have decided to go with. My daughter is very crafty and creates some beautiful things so I know she will be making some nice things.

Fall Decorating

Good Afternoon! How awesome is it to have some cooler temps? I am so happy! Got a bunch of my boxes down for some decorating although I'll be scaling it back this year due to my duties with Mom. Then again, my idea of scaling it back is still way more than most people do in general so no one will probably even notice! I think you know this is my favorite time of year! Moo already has taken over her favorite blanket in the livingroom! I never saw a cat that loved comfort the way she does! Its hard to get her to give up any blanket and pillow or even move over on the couch!

One by one, I'm taking my favorite things out of their boxes. Don't forget that the Freeform Channel will be showing Hocus Pocus like a hundred times during their 31 nights of Halloween! 

Have you started your decorating? 

I'm planning to make some fabric indian corn and some stuffed pumpkins. It just isn't Fall if I don't create something!

Random Thoughts

I could probably post every day if I had either the time or the feeling that I'm interesting enough to post every day~~I'm not really! I have an over active mind! So many things I want to do and complete and yet the days go by so fast! How pretty is that pumpkin up above? I think that's a beautiful idea! This time of year my head is filled with ideas and my enthusiasm is boundless yet I don't get to accomplish nearly half of what I want to! I can't get up any earlier!!! And I can't drink any more coffee to keep me at it! Oh well! I'll do my best and see what happens!

I am pre ordering this new Amish book! The cover looks so exciting to me! Of course, I would find pie exciting! But the cover just drew me in!! Plus it is several stories, what they call a novella, and I love those!

I'll be happy when the cooler weather is here to stay. Its been in the 60's and I love that. It goes up tot he mid 70's and that is till fine but today and tomorrow it'll be a little higher. Then for the end of the week I believe the temps drop again. I'm hoping for a cool week end. I didn't get to make the Pumpkin Crunch Cake yet but I plan to before the week come to a close so we have it for Saturday and Sunday! Perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. 

I have to show you a photo of my recent purchase from the marketplace on Facebook! A great Amish made cabinet! If you follow my page, you may have already seen it but I don't believe I have blogged about it yet. I'm still tweaking it but I think I have it almost right and I found the perfect spot. You sure can find some good stuff on there! That's my second purchase in just a couple of months!

Have a great afternoon!

Welcome Fall!

Well, almost Fall anyway...We had a nice Summer albeit some sad events and I think I'm ready to move on. It was a strange Summer actually..my Mom continues to decline, our cat passed away ...but I'm not going to complain because we are truly blessed and that's what you must focus on. But back to Fall...started some decorating and as usual I never actually finish. I'm always adding and tweaking. That's what's so fun about. I love my home with all my heart and making it special for my family and visitors is still so important to me. I think one of the reasons I love Fall so much is that the nights are longer! So many would disagree with me on that but I have always loved it! It's still that signal to me that its time to wind down the day. Dinner, homework, jammies. Close out the world till the next morning. Our own world behind the closed door. Well, its a little different now~~my son works full time and my daughter is in high school so I'm not exactly getting the kids into baths and an early dinner LOL but in my mind its still that way!

So with all the changes many of you know about relating to my Mom, its been an adjustment for all. At 89 years old, she is pleasant and mellow and so grateful. It's hard to watch the people you love suffer but she does have some good days too. I made one of her signature dishes the other day~truly a favorite of any one that has eaten it! Italian potato salad!

White potatoes boiled and halved, mixed with sliced tomatoes, onions, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper, and olive oil. So yummy! And from potato salad last week to what I'm making today! A banana cream pie and a new recipe I saw online that looks so good! Its Pumpkin Crunch Cake! Look it up! It looks heavenly.

Showing you my new Annie I received from the lovely Ivonne of Bonchy's Favorite Things! I love her so much. I'm gonna have to show you a close up! And I bought a mini quilt from a lady on line which comes tomorrow so I am so excited.

I know everyone is looking forward to football season today! So many posts about their day of games. We wait for hockey! October 4th is the first NY Islanders game. Can't wait. (Another reason to love Fall!

I'm going to start work on my Salem tree. I think I had mentioned it last Halloween. I saw an example of one too late and tried to remember it for this year. I have decided to make it a combination of Salem and black crows. Getting everything I need to make some ornaments and also sort out what I have already made. This is the inspiration tree but my tree will look different. My tree is green, I plan to use old fashioned orange lights and the colors will be black & orange!

Speaking of orange lights I affixed some new ones to the top of my hutch. I like these better than the white ones I had. I think I will  leave the orange up all year because the glow is so nice. It reflects off the pip berries and looks so nice in person.

Here it is last night:

That's about it for now. My other plan is to get together a list of some of the Amish Christmas books I want to order. So many good ones being released and the Amish fiction for Christmas is so nice. 

Hope you have a nice day!

Glorious New England Break

We took a trip last week for three days to some of our favorite locations! How I love New England in the Summer, and visiting Salem, Concord, Rockport and Marblehead sure put you in the mood for Fall and Halloween! What a great trip it was and it took careful planning and organizing due to Mom' condition but it sure worth it! Unfortunately, my son could not join us as he was working but Caitlin, my husband and I fit in as much as we could. We started off in Salem (as we always do) and visited our favorite locations from Hocus Pocus,our favorite movie. If you'd like to see the photos from that you can join my Fall/Halloween page on Facebook, Halloween at Home & More!, and I posted several. We visited our favorite sites in Salem, especially our favorite, the House of the Seven Gables. I could just spend all afternoon there. The grounds, the home~~~And I feel like Nancy Drew every time the guide reveals the hidden staircase in the fireplace!

We walked for miles because it was so beautiful out and we agreed it was perfect to park the car and just roam along the Derby Wharf. We visited the Judge's home too. He was the presiding judge during the Salem Witch Trials. We ate in Salem at the Witch's Brew for lunch and in Peabody for dinner and I had an awesome shrimp/beet & goat cheese salad! Caitlin had a big fisherman's platter and my husband had a giant prime rib he could barely finish!

Our first evening we ended in Gloucester with the famous fisherman!The water at night was gorgeous and we took a cool photo of our shadows!

The second day we still spent in Salem and then it was off to Concord where we shopped and had lunch at the Colonial Inn!

The trip would not be complete if we didn't visit the schoolhouse where the real Mary (Sawyer) "brought her lamb to school one day", and visited the beautiful grist mill.

Dinner was at Longfellow's Wayside Inn.  The Inn is a very special place to my husband and I. We had drinks before dinner in the old tavern and then onto dinner which was incredible. We had lobster bisque, scallops and steaks. I think because the weather was cooler, I was really feeling like Fall and when I went to bed that night, I was already thinking about my Fall decorating. Plus all the Salem and Hocus Pocus stuff had sent me into the whole old fashioned Halloween feeling. 

Our last day, we spent in Marblehead and Rockport. We visited the historic cemetery that they filmed in Hocus Pocus 

and then we went to the water and enjoyed the shore. More shopping, lunch and then we were on our way. Back to Home Sweet Home! Hope you enjoyed the trip with me!

Hello August!

Good Morning! August is here already and my plants are still thriving (surprisingly) with the heat we've been having! I have my sprinkler system working overtime! I hope everyone has been enjoying their Summer! I don't know about you but as soon as August rolls around, I am already dreaming of Fall! I want so badly to pull out my Fall accents and arrangements and just decorate! I will wait as I always do until the last week of the month! By Labor Day, we will be decorated for Autumn.
We have a special trip coming up and that will put me in the Halloween mood for sure! Details to follow!

I have some visitors coming today and I think I will use these great new napkins I just bought! They are under the sconce I purchased as well!

I need to get a set of black ones too. BY GRACE PRIMITIVES is the site on Facebook I bought them from and I have bought many other things as well. Great prices and she is lovely.

Caitlin and I are sewing this Summer. We both made some pillows.We are hand sewing them and its so fun. She made bandana pillows, and I made a few with an Amish couple on them.  I am  working on a table runner but my sewing machine jams and is quite frustrating.

On my Country Decorating page, I was mentioning how much I love timer candles, the battery operated ones. I have an obsession. Its the first thing I look for when I go to PA or into a country store. Some people only have them timed for the evenings. I do both day and night. I do that because I know when I go into a favorite country store to shop, I enjoy seeing them lit. So....I'm helping to keep the battery industry thriving! hahahaha

Say hello to two of my girls! This is Loretta and Delilah! They are five months old now! And they are very nosey so they enjoy seeing what goes on around them!

I hope you have a wonderful day!