Count Your Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving! Our family has been looking forward to this day so much; not only because we love the holiday but because my niece has invited our whole family to celebrate at her home. It's her very first holiday as a newlywed! What an undertaking for a novice homemaker. I have no doubts we will have the best turkey dinner we ever did have! I admire her enthusiasm and marvel at her courage to take on such a major holiday as Thanksgiving. Oh, and have I mentioned she's doing the whole traditional dinner without help? Family members can only contribute a few appetizers or desserts! I made a couple last night, and Caitlin helped me make these yummy cupcakes that look as though they are ready to march on over to Michelle's and Brian's house right now! We'll be leaving after we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade~~I truly believe if I miss seeing it (even once) I'll have bad luck the whole year! Then off we go to what is surely going to be a wonderful day with everyone I love.

Have a happy Thanksgiving and be grateful for all that you have. There are times when we don't feel very blessed but when you actually think of all that you have, your list is endless. Count those instead of sheep when you go to sleep tonight.

The Christmas boxes have all been removed from storage in our shed waiting to be opened! Not until Friday! I feel we must not let our turkeys and pilgrim decorations be forgotten. Friday will be the day our home changes seasons, so to speak! Our live tree will not go up until two weeks before Christmas but I do set up other artificial trees including my favorite gingerbread tree starting the day after Thanksgiving.

While straightening out a storage closet, I came across several boxes of special lights I love to use! I'm sure you have all used them yourselves in your prim crafts~~brown strand vine lights. I love these. I love how the brown blends in so well and all you get is a vibrant, clear light. I will be affixing these to some new crafts and decorations for sure!

I also wanted to show you my favorite Raggedy Anne! She sits on a bench in my foyer to greet everyone. She was my first and my favorite! She is amish made and I bought her at Country Road Flowers on Rte 772 in Intercourse, PA! She has the sweetest face!

When we visit Lancaster County, PA, one of my favorite stops is The Countryside Roadstand on Stumptown Road. It's a working amish farm with a lovely business that sells crafts, candles, homemade goods, fabulous wooden items and so much more. We enjoy stopping for the made on premises ice cream, lemonade and root beer while we shop. I have even bought one of their delicious chicken pot pies to have for dinner once we got home from our trip.

I have bought many items from them that I love but my favorite is this picture of amish girls quilting. It's even prettier in person. I had always seen pictures like these in different stores in amish country but they were always out of my budget~~until we discovered the Countryside Roadstand! They have tables and tables filled with different ones ranging in price from $15-$35! They are all handmade and pieced together. I found the perfect place to hang it three years ago, and I wouldn't think of moving it from its spot!

I have since bought one for my bathroom of a an amish girl hanging laundry on a clothes line. Again, where I placed it I wouldn't thinkof moving it!

My Furry Little Buddy!

Everyone may not like them, but I love squirrels and enjoy feeding and observing them. I have a little pail I keep by our rear door filled with peanuts just for my little friends. I also love feeding the birds and when I throw peanuts to the squirrels, I also feed my blue jay friends! Many times they will challenge a younger squirrel for the peanut and steal it for themselves! Feeding the birds is probably one of my top five favorite things to do!

Now that Halloween is over, I have relegated our painted and decorated pumpkins to one of the rear porches and keep my unpainted "naturals" on the front porch for Thanksgiving. Then I noticed one of my little friends helping himself! I couldn't help but smile and, of course, grab my camera! Enjoy the feast, my little buddy!

My family and I had spent a lovely day apple picking in upstate Warwick, NY recently, and since we all love applesauce I invited my Mom over to make some with us. Caitlin really enjoys being in the kitchen so we let her do the majority of the work! She did a great job.

First, we peeled about fifteen apples, then cored and sliced them. We then boiled them till they were soft and when they were cooled, we put them in Mom's special pot that when turned, pressed them into applesauce. Delicious!

Everyone who knows me and my family knows we love going to Lancaster County, PA. I've been going since I'm very little and since the 1980's have gone quite often. It's almost like a home away from home; I know streets, side roads and even several people recognize us from going. The serene farmlands are so beautiful and even though I do my fair share of shopping, I also just love riding around photographing farms and homes. We modeled our home after many, many homes we've seen and toured there. I feel like I have built myself a piece of PA right here on Long Island! This wonderful area has been so inspiring in everything I do from cooking to decorating and it's even become my "happy place" in my mind through these tough economic times. Believe me, daydreaming of amish buggys clip clopping on country roads past farms and shops is a big stress reliever to me.

Of course we always have our favorite spots and things to buy. One of my favorite things to get is wooden plates and bowls. I have ones displayed that are not for a particular season and others that are. I have large and small. They are all so nice and are inexpensive. I've never paid more than $15. On Halloween, my good friend, also a PA lover, gave me what has become my new favorite! A little black cat sitting on a fence looking at a full moon on a Fall night! It's so beautiful; I can't bare to put it away so it just may have to stay up all year. I found it a home on a shelf in one of my Amish cabinets. Thanks Mary!

Like Icing on a Cupcake!

Today is such a special day! We put the shutters on our house! I am so excited because it was just what the front needed. Originally, we had thought of doing burgundy but when Bill held up the black shutter against the clay siding, it all just came together! Our house project is nearing it's completion. Except for some work on the second floor, this massive undertaking will finally be finished.

I also got the last of the Halloween decorations packed away. See you next year all my witches, cats and bats! Welcome turkeys and pilgrims! Thanksgiving is such a lovely holiday. Sometimes I feel it gets lost between the Halloween decorating and the Christmas Black Friday shopping! We should really take the time to enjoy the day, the season and the people we have in our lives and be thankful for all of them.

As I am unpacking my Thanksgiving items, I am pleased to take out two of my favorites: Gurley Candles Boy & Girl Pilgrim. Love them! Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without them! They were the first set of Gurley candles I ever owned, and I treasure them.

Have a great afternoon!

We had a wonderful brunch with our friends yesterday. It really started off the day with fun! I was excited about my table and how I had set it so I posted a picture!

We had bought these adorable spider web doilies intending to use them in some of my windows as decorations; instead I put them under my plates as placemats, and they looked terrific! Many times I used doilies as a decoration. I buy valentine and shamrock doilies because they usually come in pretty large amounts for a small cost and you can easily fill a window for next to nothing.

I also wanted to post a picture of a beautiful painted parchment my cousin Jo gave me for our favorite season. I hung it on the french doors of my parlor. It looks so pretty.

Oh, and a carton that I had some supplies in marked "Halloween" was in the corner of my kitchen and as I was cleaning up last night after the very long day, Robin just happened to jump in. I thought it was fitting~~a black cat in a Halloween box!