Twas the last days before Halloween...

 Happy Sunday! oooh TWO DAYS till Halloween! Why does this month go so fast? I did alot of what I wanted to do but still it seemed to go too fast! Believe me I will enjoy what's left of spooky October! 

Today I have a few things to do in the kitchen. I'm making sauce because I'm making chicken parm for dinner and I'm also trying out a Martha Stewart recipe that looked good ~~Eggplant Stackers! You actually slice the eggplant and roast the slices and then build an eggplant pile and layer with sauce & cheese. It eliminated the frying and the bread crumbs. (even though I fry my eggplant in flour not bread crumbs). 

Plus, because the kids will be watching football on this rainy day I always make finger foods for them to munch on. Its my fun Sunday thing to do. I actually text them what we will be having on Wednesday in a little Menu text adorned with footballs...They know their Mom well so they love the effort. I've always celebrated every little thing   Our favorite sport is hockey so when our NY Islanders play, it's Hockey Game food! Hocus Pocus movie watch night means food! Football? Food! Its so fun. 

The rest of the day I'm working on cupcakes and treats for my neighbors and making my Halloween crafts while I watch the game with the kids. I am not a football fan yet but I am learning the game  Making more smores too!

I've been enjoying everyone's Fall decorating on Facebook. So many talented and creative people. I just want to copy all their ideas! :) 

Some things I'm enjoying lately:

*Coffee with my half and half and cinnamon sugar!

*Dunkin Caramel Iced Coffee with extra carmel, almond milk and cold foam

*Bombas slippers

*TJ Maxx Halloween mug selection (i can't help myself)

Before I go I wish you a Happy Halloween! My candy bags are ready and its going to be a cool crisp Tuesday! YAY!

All the October Vibes

 

Good Morning!  October is my favorite month and I just want to fill it with so much! I've been doing quite a bit and I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas too! I already started Christmas shopping ~ I always start with the little ones first. I have three great nieces and nephews and one on the way. I love shopping for them. 

We had a great trip to Lancaster and we were glad to meet up with friends we have that live in Ronks.  We had a wonderful dinner with them at the Fireside Tavern in Strasburg. The trip was filled with many stops at farm stands and beautiful drives through the farmlands. Every road had mums and pumpkins for sale. 

We stopped at the Bird in Hand Bake Shop and they had wonderful inventory of colored pumpkins, stacking pumpkins and gourds. I was in my glory! My husband and I had pretzels and ice cream and coffee! I had the best ice cream EVER! Peanut Butter Overload is the name of it. I can't wait to go back and have a larger one!

I bought lots of vegetables from the Garden  Spot Farmstand. A huge head of broccoli and a n even bigger head of cabbage! I also got some banana peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes and plums. The cabbage was so large that i ended up dividing it 3 ways! !/3 for the freezer, 1/3 for my chickens and the other 1/3 I used to make sausage, onions and cabbage which was delicious!

Here are some photos of some of our stops:

I did alot of shopping at my favorite stores: Harvest Moon Candle and Sweet Ricky's General Store. Harvest Moon sells all kinds of prims and she markets her candles and melts which are my favorites. She originally comes from Long Island too! Anyway, her candles are very scented and seriously last! She now ships all over and many of the stores in Lancaster sell her candles too.  I bought a bunch of candles and also bought several prim crow decorations and bowl fillers, a beautiful set of indian corn made of wax, and more. 

Sweet Ricky's General Store is only two years old but he is doing well! I bought Several items from him again (last time I bought a beautiful lamp!) One of them is in the picture below (the shutter) I always leave with several bags from his store! 

We began to winterize our property and house. My husband brought in any palms and tropical plants to save for next year. I brought in my hibiscus plants and a few others. next up is the bulbs for our cannas and elephant ears. They will be stored and replanted next year! The chicken coop has been cleaned out and refreshed with new hay. Our landscaper will do our Fall cleanup probably close to thanksgiving.  Usually by then the bulk of the leaves have fallen. 

Look at the smores I made the other night when we were watching Hocus Pocus! My family loved them. Ridiculously simple! Buy the graham cracker cups, break up hershey bars in o them and cover with mini marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees for a short time till marshmallows get golden and the chocolate melts!

I hope you  have a great day! As I'm typing this, I'm hearing on the radio that we may have a n'oreaster over the weekend  Ugh~ I hope it shifts and goes out to sea!  oh well,..I'mgonna go bake some banana muffins!

October!

Good Morning! After the storms we had, it certainly is nice to be able to enjoy this beautiful weather. And next week its going to be downright chilly! Bring it on! 

The chilly weather is my favorite. I do have to say I do love a rainy day too! I'm very productive on rainy days...I know not everyone shares that opinion! So below is my little gang of scarecrows. Not even all of them....I guess you can say it's an obsession. I can't resist their cute faces or unique outfits. I'm so sad Christmas Tree Shoppes closed because I always found new ones there. Thank heavens I still have my Hobby Lobby. I haven't gotten to Michaels yet this year. 

 My kids have been obsessed with TJ Maxx and I kind of avoided that store because in the past I always thought it was messy and I like organization! Consider me a convert! I do like their home decor and lots more. One of the many things I've bought recently were these mugs! The handles spell out BOO...I couldn't walk past those. My daughter surprised me with the espresso cups for Halloween too (I'll look for a photo) We also came home with Halloween to go cups in a big pack. Very necessary :)

I think this is my favorite spot this Fall. I love this little space. I found the Halloween sign at Dollar Tree. Its very old fashioned. Yup, this is my favorite spot!

So here's a simple dessert I brought to a get together last week. Just a few ladies for coffee/tea and we play Rummy 5000! It takes several get togethers to reach 5000 but the winner is taken out to lunch at the restaurant of her choice and its paid for by the losers! Lots of fun. Anyway, we all bring goodies to snack on during the game and I brought these:

All you do is buy a roll or two of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls. In the compartment of a muffin pan, shape 1 roll into a little crust and make a "well" inside it   Fill with apple pie filling and bake! When they are done, drizzle the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls on top! Yummy! Everyone enjoyed them! 

I also made a broccoli quiche this week! I had a visitor for lunch and quiche is probably one of my go to lunch items to prepare for a guest. Alongside a nice salad and a few other sides, its wonderful.  

I think that about catches me up for right now. I appreciate all the comments and anyone who reads my little blog! I'll post lots of photos when I return from Lancaster!