Christmas Time!

Good Morning Friends! I hope everyone is healthy and getting ready for Christmas! This month is flying by!

I have finally made my menus for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and the list making begins! We'll be spending a quiet Christmas at home as we are just too afraid to take any chances with relatives and friends, That's just fine. Home is where I prefer to be anyway!

Now we are preparing for a very big Winter storm coming Wednesday night into Thursday. Chances are you are going to be the recipient of the storm at some point as well. I am thinking of cooking very early in the day just in case we lose power.

I will be spending the snowstorm upstairs in my bedroom wrapping all the gifts!  My goodness I didn't realize how much I bought for everyone! I have a lot of wrapping to do. I've been loving playing my old Christmas albums and listening to the YULE LOG  which I DVR from tv every year. If you remember on Christmas morning, DVR it! The songs are traditional Christmas and you will love hearing Percy Faith and the Ray Coniff Singers...all the good ones! Johnny Matthis, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and of course Perry Como and Bing! Brings back so many happy memories of Christmas growing up!

Our tree is a Noble Fir again. We special order it from a nursery that brings them in from Oregon. They are beautiful trees that last! It allows us to put the tree up earlier without it dying and drying out!

 Well, I think I will start organizing my shopping list!I hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Planning

Good Afternoon! Well here we are one week away from Thanksgiving! Time goes by so fast and I am trying to keep up! I've been enjoying my Thanksgiving decor which I have bought mostly from thrift shops and my collection has really gotten big. I really love Thanksgiving and I feel like it gets lost in the list of holidays. Not that people don't love Thanksgiving; its just that after Halloween everyone gets excited for Christmas because the Christmas stuff is out in all the stores, the Hallmark Christmas movies start and many of us start shopping. I know I do!

 We will begin our Christmas decorating Thanksgiving weekend, and we ordered our tree which is a Noble Fir so that may be in by Thanksgiving weekend too! Its really the only "real" tree that can be put up as early. It comes from Oregon and costs more but is worth it! I love real trees and my family only wants a real one but waiting to put it up is so hard! Thats why we get the Noble Fir. They aren't a traditional tree here on Long Island; usually our choice is limited to Balsam Fir or Frasier Fir. 

My turkey is 23 pounds. A big turkey for only 8 people but I love leftovers and I like to send my guests home with alot of leftovers too cause who doesn't love a big dinner the next day of all the leftover food? Plus I make several turkey pot pies for the freezer. My turkey pot pies are awesome (if I say so myself!) because under the top crust is a layer of stuffing which sits upon the turkey and mixed vegetables and turkey gravy with the chopped up turkey! Yum! The stuffing tastes so good baked into the pie. 

Made some pumpkin muffins and some banana bread. 

Here are a few more turkeys! I love them so much! I hope to find a few more before the big day comes!

 

Boo!

Good afternoon! Before I start some of my preparation of goodies for Halloween, I thought I would get a post in. I love my Halloween decorations so much and I will be sad to see them come down on Sunday but the Pilgrims and turkeys will go up and I love that so much! Over the years I have really tried to expand my Thanksgiving collecting and my collection has gotten larger. But for now, lets stay with Halloween and love it! Here's a few photos of my decorating. I forget what I already posted!

I'll be preparing some terriyaki chicken sliders, chilli with the fixings, 7 layer dip, little wieners wrapped in crescent rolls and more for Saturday. No big plans. Just my kids, my son's girlfriend and my daughter's boyfriend.  I enjoy making fun things to eat! And while I'm giving out candy tot he trick or treaters, I love to snack ! LOL I don't know how many kids trick or treaters will be coming because of the pandemic but I did make candy bags and I will be lining them up individually on a table on my front porch. This way no one is reaching into bowls for their candy. They can take a bag and go. I'm saving my favorite Fall dessert for Halloween evening~pumpkin pie! Other desserts will be my graveyard cookies 'n cream dessert, honeybun cake, rice krispy treats and chocolate chip bars.

We may have snow flurries on Halloween too! I think its going to be very cold and probably a little further north there will be snow but we may see a few flurries! Exciting. And the day after Halloween is when I start watching the Hallmark channel Christmas movies. 

Have you started your shopping? I do a little at a  time as I have many to buy for but I love it! And I'm so excited to add another to the list as I will be a great Aunt for the first time around the day of Christmas!! Of course you never know when the first baby will arrive but it could very well be Christmas Day! 

I got a great surprise the other day! When my cousin and his wife had visited recently, they told me about an old house that had been in his wife's family that was recently sold. The house was well over a hundred years old and in the garage was an old plow that had been used on the property as the property had once been a farm. They said they wanted me to have it! Well, I thought it was a nice gesture and thanked them not realizing they really meant it. When they came to visit the other day, they brought it! It's perfect! Not too big (which I was afraid of!) and not small! Just right. It will  be going in the garden bed in front of my chicken coop! I can't wait to plant around it next Spring!

Now all I need is the Amish buggy parked in my driveway and my bucket list of antiques is complete! HAHAHA

Have a wonderful day! Don't forget to "follow" this blog and comment!

 

Fall Fun

 

Good Afternoon! How is your decorating coming along? I'm happy to say I am finished and can now sit back and enjoy it all. Not that I ever sit back! There is always so much to do and I also like to make the most of my favorite season.  I made the above sign with a print, a small piece of wood, paint and mod podge. Actually I made several different ones. Some are seasonal and some are not. Very fun and easy to do.  

So I am making a day of food for Halloween so that my kids can have their friends/girlfriend/boyfriend around and know there will be fun for them. I'm not sure what anyone's plans are but they always know that there will be good things to eat. 

Some of the things I'm making are chicken/cheese sliders, chilli (you gotta have chilli!) with all the fixings, 7 layer dip, heros, graveyard cake, salsa/guac & chips and a few other things. It may sound like a lot but believe me it will all be gone!

Here are some more photos of decor around the house. Some of my mouse collection above. 

My favorite pumpkin lantern...still need to get the biggest version of it if I can ever find it. I bought it in Lancaster years ago and every time I go I go looking for it again. No luck yet. 

I'm wondering what the trick or treating will be like this year. I've gathered more stuff and more stuff and more stuff because I want to make my Halloween bags special for the kids. I feel like they have sacrificed alot of fun because of the pandemic and they deserve some extra special treats. 

I did my Halloween tree and I still have ornaments to work on so I'm try and get that done this weekend. I'm not cooking today because I have a refrigerator full of leftovers from my guests yesterday! I love to cook but I sure do enjoy a free day sometimes!

Have a great day! I'll be back soon! Encourage your friends to blog. Its fun and we can all follow each other!

My Favorite Time of Year!

 

Good Afternoon! Well, I am working overtime  trying to get everything I want to do DONE! Fall seems to leave so quickly so I am so happy I got a head start this year. I did some decorating outside and will still probably tweak it this weekend. I'm so happy the weather is  cool. I made banana bread this morning! I think I'll be doing a lot of cooking this weekend. I'm in full nesting mode so that means lots of comfort food.

My chicken coop has been readied for cooler weather. The chickens are moulting so the coop was full of feathers! ugh! Feathers are a hard thing to round up! My chickens are so loveable that as I am cleaning they follow me around because they want me to pick them up and snuggle them . Anyway, their bedding is thick and warm for the upcoming cooler nights. 

I plan to make an apple cake soon. I've gathered some recipes and will see which one I make.  I bought some Macintosh apples. Do you have a good Fall recipe you just love? Pumpkin Crunch cake is awesome. It's funny that I actually had to BUY eggs. My chickens are moulting and not laying very much. Over the Summer I was getting two dozen eggs per week. Now I'm only getting one egg a day! I told them they are my feathered freeloaders! 

See those little buns on the bottom plate? That's some of the primitive faux food I made. It was fun to do. I bought fake food from Hobby Lobby and with mod podge, cinnamon, coffee grinds and tea bags I worked on a few little projects.  I want to try making cupcakes out of foam insulation! I see so many talented people making them, and mug toppers, and cakes and they look incredible. 

I'm looking forward to the movie on Sunday night on the Hallmark Mystery channel. It's an Amish story. I hope its good! It's called Follow Your Heart. I also hope the way the Amish are portrayed is accurate. 

I hope you have an awesome weekend!

Fall at My House

Good Afternoon! Taking a break from my work around the house! I'm tired out right now LOL. Time for my coffee break and visit with you all. Its been a little hectic with some appointments for Mom and also trying to get my house decorated for Fall. I think I'm ahead this year though! I've made it a point to keep pushing and not let unfinished projects and decorating just sit. That's been my goal of 2020 and so far so good. I have been getting things done and I feel good about it. One of my projects is to make some primitive faux food and I actually mad those buns in the photo below. Well, I didn't make them but I primmed them up! I'm happy how they came out and they smell delicious. Just don't try to take a bite!

Spinach Tortellini soup was on the menu the other night. If you haven't had it, you must google the recipe and try it. It's delicious! And I hadn't made it in a long time~I had actually forgotten about it until I saw the recipe on the internet again and this time I printed it. A friend of mine makes stuffed pepper soup all the time. I will have to try that one too. Soup is so good. My favorite, and I make it really good if I say so myself, is Corn Chowder. 

So other than that I've just been cleaning and decorating. Bringing in my plants from outside and all that good stuff. I began to winterize the chicken coop since its been getting colder and I've pulled out most of my vegetable garden. I enjoy the change of seasons. I embraced the Summer and planting and bbqs but I also don't mind when its over and I plan for the next season. We got a big load of pumpkins and gourds last Sunday and we planted our mums and ornamental cabbage. Like I said, I think I'm ahead of the game this year!

These are some cake candles I got at The Old Candle Barn. I just love them! 

 Shorter days and longer evenings! I am ready!

It's Coming!

 

My favorite time of year is coming! I'm so excited that Fall will be starting. I mean even if it isn't officially Fall, it is in my house! I hope everyone is well. In my last post, I spoke of the storm we were having, Faye. Now we just got over another one! Branches down and a mess in the garden. I hate when all of the wet leaves have choked all my flowers. When my kids were little they waited for blackouts! Now not so much although we do have a generator. Blackouts were fun when you were a child  and when they lasted a couple of hours and you could pretend you were camping! LOL

Corona virus has spared our immediate family so far, thank God, although it has hit some people we know and love. Very scary. I think the fact that we have to stay home for the most part or that our activity is so limited, people have a new appreciation for their homes and doing things together as a family. If any good could come from this, I think that's it. I recently did leave for three days with my family though to take a break from caring for my Mom and it was very nice to get away. I don't do that often as Mom needs 24/7 care in my home but I did come back refreshed and renewed! I'm a homebody anyway so the virus really hasn't affected my life that much! I missed the restaurants the most! And food shopping changed so dramatically. We all have to make adjustments, right? 

Do any of you watch Priscilla & Chelsea on their show  Flosstube? If you cross stitch, you will love their youtube show every Saturday morning. Priscilla, the Mom, also has a great blog called Priscillas 2000. She's an amazing decorator and cross stitcher. Also a quilter. Check it out if you have time.  

Today I made a big Sunday sauce (on Monday ) hahaha I also made a layered dish of chicken parm and eggplant parm! It was so good! I thought of it this morning since I had some small eggplants from my garden to use and some left over chicken cutlets from dinner over the weekend. so the bottom layer was sauce, then eggplant parm & mozzarella, more sauce, chicken cutlet and keep going! Really good. 

well I hope you have a great evening! I'll be back!

As the Wind Blows...

Good Evening! Tropical Storm Fay is blowing winds and dumping some rain on us! Oh well! It's the season for it! I hope this finds you healthy and happy! Two words we can't take for granted anymore, can we? Above is my tree decorated patriotic style with salt dough ornaments I ordered from the very talented Pam Gist Duncan, of Duncan's Salt Primitives. Aren't they awesome? She makes all different types and for all occasions. I bought flags, crows, stars and more. I sure get some amazing stuff from talented crafts people on line.  

So how is your Summer going? So far so good for us! My Mom celebrated her 90th birthday with a lot of fanfare from family and friends and she loved every minute of it. Our original plans were curtailed due to the Corona Virus but we celebrated on a small scale nonetheless! She's mostly interested in the cake anyway! What a sweet tooth! That seems to be a thing for older people~all they want is sweets!  

This guy below never takes a break so when he did, I took a photo! That's my husband. My kids were like "Dad is reclining...Dad's on the recliner..." Shocking! LOL

 Every year I buy sunflowers and this year I had a hard time finding them! I usually had them by the end of June! Just got these this week. I don't know why it was hard to find them but whatever! I just love their happy flower faces!

 Just some shots of the property. The girls enjoying a supervised walk in the backyard. And that big girl is Virginia. She's got quite a personality. The other two are polish chickens. I call them Phyllis Diller birds...and you'll understand it if you know who Phyllis Diller was!

Added another two dolls to my collection but I only got to photograph this one!

 Favorite plants in your garden? Obsessed with hibiscus! The one below is three years old as I bring them in for Winter and they survive. I got a white and a yellow to add this year. And they bloom in the house over the Winter too! Its so special.

 The lettuce in my garden has finished! What a big crop I had! I am now getting peppers and celery. Waiting on the zucchini but I fear what happened last year has happened again. All flowers and leaves and no zucchini which means I have gotten stuck (yet again) with male plants! Everyone is drowning in zucchini...not us. And we LOVE it! LOL maybe its just a little late. Also have eggplants, tomatoes, basil, parsley, spinach and jalapenos (for my daughter!) I can't remember what else but not much else. The lettuce was incredible. My husband offered to make my garden bigger yet again cause he knows how much I love it but unfortunately I have been suffering with bad arthritis in both knees and both ankles and bone spurs :(    The bone spurs in my ankles are very painful and are obstructing my gait as I walk. And the garden and chickens and flowers take up a lot of time so I'm almost afraid to add more to my plate. Then on the other hand, I hate to surrender to pain! Wait and see what happens I say ….gee, I say that a lot. Life is such a "wait and see!"

We try to enjoy our firepit as often as we can. I don't get out there as much in the evening cause I don't like to leave Mom in the house alone. She comes out before it gets dark and enjoys the yard but its a little much after dark. Here are my kids with their friends at our fire pit! Priceless! These girls have been our neighbors and friends since they were all babies together! Literally infants! Photos like this just make me happy.

Years ago, actually back in 2009 when I started blogging, there were so many other great blogs to read and follow. I am still InTouch with many of them even though they don't blog anymore and moved mainly to Facebook. I've been encouraging them to come back to blogging as they had mentioned they missed it! At different times, they have all said they miss it. I hope they will! Although I have my decorating pages on Facebook, there's nothing quite like blogging. 

I hope you have a wonderful night!

Starting to Feel Like Summer!

How are you? We are all doing well. I don't know if the era of the virus is over yet, I actually fear it will make a Fall comeback, but I am happy to see a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel for many. We've spent our time working around the house and doing some things here that really needed attention. Working outside is joyful for me. I really like working in my garden and because we've had a good share of rain, it's growing well. My lettuces have taken off! I planted Romaine, Butter and Red Leaf lettuce and we've enjoyed them every night. Last night, I added an anti pasta to the salad. Cheese, meats, olives, mushrooms...it was delicious. My cabbage plants are getting large leaves. No cabbage yet but big leaves!

Our mulch and planting up front are complete. I'm just looking for some potted sunflowers!
The hard work is worth it. We really enjoy our porch and backyard. I have now entirely cleaned out the chicken coop and summarized it with fresh straw. The whole group of chickens gets very excited for that. I do it several times a year but they just love that the nights are longer and I notice they stay in their run longer in the evening before retiring to the bunkhouse to sleep. The chickens love Summer nights! I don't free range. Their coop has a very large enclosed run for their safety. You know what is a fun item I got? My brother bought me a solar powered fountain for my bird bath! The birds love it. He got it on Amazon.  As far as 4th of July celebrations...not sure if we will be socializing as we have to keep Mom healthy and keep her socially distanced.

While I've ben home, I have done some shopping! I purchased my Amish lady on the swing and my trio of prairie ladies from Ivonne Grant!  I love them!

I've started collecting the Ashton Drake series of Amish Blessings dolls. They are from years ago but I am finding reasonably priced ones on Ebay!

Next up for me is working on my Americana tree and garland. I ordered and received a new counted cross stitch picture to start. I usually do stamped cross stitch and haven't done counted in about 5 years. It takes a lot of concentration but I need to challenge myself! those projects plus reading a new Amish fiction book, The Bake Shop by Amy Clipston.  

Leave me a message about what you've ben doing! And thank you for your attention. :)