Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone reading this is doing well and excited for this day! We've been really busy here as I meant to go on and post several times this month but never had an opportunity. I've been helping a family member move, planning my daughter's Halloween party with her and just busy. I think everyone is this time of year.

It makes me sad to take down the Halloween when it's over! The turkeys go up quickly after Halloween. I've been collecting turkeys and Thanksgiving items alot these past few years. I don't want Thanksgiving to be pushed aside. Even though I've already started Christmas shopping, I won't start decorating till the day after Thanksgiving for Christmas. But the Christmas music listening starts tomorrow! I have picked up some Christmas decorations from Walmart!You have to buy it when you can because then it is gone. I still have to get to Hobby Lobby for some shopping too. I spend two hours in there when I go! LOL

Halloween is such an awesome day. I love giving the candy bags to all the kids and meeting new people who come to the door with their little ones .It just takes me back to my happy days of trick or treating as a little girl. 

I have a tradition on Halloween where I make a Halloween themed buffet of fun foods for my family. I make cocktail weiners, wings, potato skins, dips and lots of desserts. When I finish this post I have to make my Oreo graveyard dessert!

Other things happening...I have a trip to PA coming up soon which I'm excited about. I'm looking for paint colors for my family room and my husband has started the construction on an outdoor cooking area/kitchen for his smoker/bbq. 

Looking forward to the shopping for my Thanksgiving dinner too! The displays in the stores make me excited when i se the baking items!

My daughter and her boyfriend carved the pumpkin above! My son and his girlfriend also did one as well but I didn't get to take a picture. 

I guess that's about it! Enjoy the feeling of Fall and Halloween! Have a wonderful Halloween!

October!

Good Morning! I hope everyone is doing well. I've been busy with a lot of family stuff and decorating! I have a family member moving to the area and I've been helping with cleaning and packing. I've also been decorating! I did a Fall outside tour of my home for my Country Home page and that will be followed up by an indoor house tour for Halloween! I will probably do that on Monday. Plans changed as my dishwasher died and we bought a new one but until my husband connects it, it has taken up residence in my foyer! That's okay!  I know he will be able to find time this weekend! Speaking of my husband, he was recently recognized in our town by one of the county's leading architects for his skill and beautification projects in the area. I'm very proud of him! Our today is many thousands of people so its quite an honor!

So today I plan to make an apple crisp, and also get the rest of my boxes put away. I'm glad that I'm on track since I have been distracted with other things. My decorating is done and now its just about fixing and tweaking. I've also been Christmas shopping like crazy! I usually start early as I have a lot of people to buy for but this year I started even earlier because of the issues with supply and shipping. 

 I am really loving that the heat and humidity are gone! I do not enjoy that! I feel so much more ALIVE in cool weather plus it makes me want to cook and bake! My chickens will get a load of new hay and straw for the cooler temps too. We winterize the coop in early November. If I get a chance today I want to collect all the pinecones my giant pine tree is dropping! There's always something to do with them as well as just using them for decorations. 

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by!

Fall Preparation and Halloween Decorating

Good Afternoon! Alert! This is a picture heavy post! I've been working on my house with my goal being "get it ready COMPLETELY" before October 1st because I want to truly enjoy the Fall decorations and the whole season with everything. I'm actually on track! Yay for me! I try to get all my work done around here without being distracted and then concentrate on decorating. Besides that, someone very close to me just bought a house five minutes away and she will be moving in to her new house in November so I've been busy helping her as well. Alot going on but all good things. 

Billy and I made a trip to our wholesale grower for all our mums and decorative cabbages. The metel signs are all new too. I needed some fresh things for outside. We worked hard but I'm really happy it came out. as we planned. 

 We have Fall like weather this week and the temperatures are dropping even more starting tomorrow. I'm so excited about that. 

My daughter is having a Halloween party so I'm thinking up a menu too. I am ordering a 6ft hero but I still like making alot of extras and Halloween desserts. We have time. Gosh, my husband and I went to Christmas Tree Shop last week and the store was so packed that the line to check out wrapped all the way around the store. I reluctantly left my cart. The wait they told us would be two hours! Luckily my husband took me back Sunday morning and I got what I wanted. I think everyone is so excited for Holidays now because of the pandeimic. We missed socializing so everyone is into decorating and visiting. It was unbelievable to see the amount of people but then again, I was there too so I'm equally guilty! 

Time to go get dinner started! I'll check back in a few days! Don't forget to hit the Follow button and leave me a comment!

In the midst of it all!

 

First Day of School here on Long Island! My daughter started 11th grade today. Exciting yet scary that time is moving on so quickly.  All week Facebook has been sending me photos of years gone by and the first day of school photos. It's amazing that she is 16 and already a Junior!

My kids have always started school with the house decorated for Fall. Once Labor Day comes! In many of our "First Day" photos  you can see my decor in the background. I think they expect me to do it (lol) They love the season too. My daughter wants me to do a coffee bar for Fall; usually i just do one for hot cocoa at Christmas. I'm thinking of it. I need a few more things from Hobby Lobby for some things I'm working on. Believe me, I don't need an excuse to go

This is my nesting time! Preparing for the cooler days and colder months. Many of my flowering baskets have finished or have really out grown their containers and my vegetable garden is just about done though I'm still getting peppers and tomatoes and herbs. Rethinking my whole garden next year..it was not a big success this year and I don't know why. But that's next year!

Looking through my recipes and  I know my neighbor gave me her great recipe for pumpkin bars. Sadly, I'm the only one in the whole house who loves pumpkin flavor! I still make pumpkin things anyway but I wish they loved it like I do. So many great baking recipes for Pumpkin! I love the butternut  squash soup from Panera! That's my Fall favorite. But my family does love apple cider donuts! 

Visiting  with my brother and his family recently and  I wanted to photograph his backyard shed that my nephew painted. I love it. Since we live on Long Island and there is the Montauk Light house, the shed is a nautical theme!

Well, time to go get dinner started. I am making alfredo pasta with chicken and veggies tonight. My son likes to eat when he gets home from work so I better get rolling! :)  

Hello September!

 

I wake up really, really early every morning! I just do. BUT TODAY!! Well, the excitement for the unofficial beginning of Fall is what woke me up long before the sun was rising!  Maybe because the weather was not really good this Summer...rain, extreme humidity...BYE!!! I'm so glad to welcome Fall!

My decorating is in full swing. My leaves are up on the windows, I've taken out most of my stuff except Halloween which will stay in storage a while longer. 

What's new with everyone? It's been pretty quiet. We did have an engagement party for our friends' daughter which was very nice and we went to see a show in the town near us called Northport (I've mentioned it many times before)....We have some plans with family on Labor Day too.  I asked my husband when he wanted to go and get the ornamental cabbages and mums for the house!! He said SOON! I'm really relieved we weren't t affected by Hurricane Henri but my heaart goes out to all those in Louisiana How scary and sad.

Well, just wanted to stop in and wish you happy decorating! Happy Fall!

Sunshine After the Storm

 

Good Morning!

I hope everyone is well!

Luckily,  Long Island was spared Hurricane Henri for the most part. Several areas were flooded and some lost power. Usually we get hit pretty hard!  I'm very grateful that this time we did not suffer much more than a soaked and soggy backyard and an abundance of wet leaves all over the garden beds and lawns. Let the sunshine in! I'm looking forward to the cooler weather and Fall. I also keep an eye on the weather though because of hurricane season! 

I had some of my Fall decor handy and began my decorating. I made several new Fall arrangements which I will show you when I know I am really finished with them  I keep tweaking them. I did work on my end counter where i display faux food. I both make i and buy it! I just love how it looks. So cozy! The mugs are candles that I purchased at Jake's Country Trading Post last trip to Lancaster. I also bought the candle peach pie.  The other items are homemade and purchased from talented crafters from my Country Home decorating page on Facebook. There is so much talent out there! People are so creative in their home businesses, and I try to make many purchases. 

More Fall decor and the cute little mice you see were also purchased from a creative home business!

School starts September 9th here. My daughter is entering 11th grade. So hard to believe! My son's girlfriend graduated college with  a marketing and business degree and we are so proud. We happily celebrated with her family at a lovely graduation party bbq last week. Happy to be celebrating some good things since this year has been sad with the losses we have had of close family members. More good things to look forward to in September is my 33rd wedding anniversary! Always looking for the positives! We have to! 

Have a beautiful day! 

 Good Morning! I hope everyone who is reading this is having a good Summer. I hope you got to enjoy some beautiful weather, spent time with family and friends, sat outside in the evenings or even got to the shore. 

 Honestly, its been a strange Summer for us. It had a combination of good things (Sweet 16 party, vacation, new patio) and then sadness with the loss of another close family member. Whereas I hate dwelling on sadness, this loss really hit us hard. I keep my spirits up by immersing myself in my hobbies and family. I have to value all that I have. I am blessed. Life is beautiful. Life is hard. Loss is devastating. Losing relationships is devastating. Ultimately, life is still beautiful. 

I'm really excited for Fall! I promised my husband I wont start decorating till September 1st but I have started some crafts. I'm currently working on some new Fall arrangements and I sewed some fabric pumpkins that I am stuffing. I'm making a Fall sunflower wreath but I need some more supplies. Keeping busy keeps me calm and happy. Its also a way for me to process the loss of both my Mom and this other family member. I bought a few signs from dollar tree that are elongated. Rather than hang them, I'm mounting them on stakes to make signs. As long as they don't get wet,  they will be fine so I will probably add them into outside displays that are under my covered porches.  I had cleaned and organized my craft room which had been a mess since Caitlin's Sweet 16 party so now I am committed to keeping it neat!

My garden is another story. Peppers did great. Zucchini...everyone gets ton of zucchini but not us. I got only one! And I have ten plants with lots of zucchini flowers but no zucchini to pick! Tomatoes were slow coming and rotting on the vine. My husband is currently investigating WHY. Herbs, celery and cabbage did okay. I think next year we need to change up our gardens. New plans. Disappointing but still fun to work on. Now that my husband finished our patio in June, he is currently making an outdoor kitchen area with a counter/stools. An area for our smoker and BBQ and an outdoor fridge. He is always filled with awesome ideas. I wish he had more time to enjoy all the great things he does for us. But it's Fall I'm waiting for!

Fall fills me with inspiration and excitement. I want to bake! I want to get cozy! I want fluffy blankets out and Fall scented candles burning! I like to plan ahead for my trick or treaters and make my pumpkin people and dressed crows! We have two trails in mind for our bike rides. Hopefully we will get in apple picking. We will do our pumpkin picking and we have a trip to PA planned again.  All good things and I am grateful  I know God is in charge.