I'm still here!Just been incredibly busy with family and other things. My sister-in-law moved to our area due to the death of her husband, someone I considered a brother and bff. Know him since I;m a teen, went to school with him, and loved him so much. His loss devastated us. Truly. Its been an adjustment. Losing my Mom last year and then him has just been alot. But my sister-in-law is settled now and making her new home a wonderful place. 

We've been super busy and also had a few events, etc happening. I hope you're still with me!

After a great trip, I have some new things for my yard and home. We devote alot of time to our gardens. It takes alot  of energy and we work hard to make it special. The only thing I have left to do is get a delivery of mulch. Hoping this summer isn't a wet one like we had last year.

I love Americana and much of my home is decorated with it all year but this time of year I try to step it up a notch! I'm also going through some of my decor and either using or donating. I also give things away to friends and family who decorate as I do. Its not that I'm scaling back; its just that I haven't used some in years. Making room for more and if you know me, you know...there's always MORE! I'm making some water and bird feeders using interior staircase railing poles (I think they;re called ballisters or something like that) as my pole and tin pans. Then I make wooden signs to decorate with. Just some odd little projects. My husband is building an outdoor cooking area to house our new smoker and grill. He's been anxious to start working with the smoker. He's making an outdoor cooking area with a counter. You know I will decorate that too!

Some other things that have happened since I last posted: a couple of trips to PA including this past weekend we had a family trip to Hershey. My son and his girlfriend, my daughter and her boyfriend, my husband and I , and my sister in law all had a great trip. My daughter's boyfriend is preparing to leave for the Marines in July so we have several dates planned with him including his senior prom. My daughter chose a beautiful gown and we are going for fittings. She also got a car! I'm so proud of her. She has been going through some health issues and had two procedures done at the hospital but we have our fingers crossed. We've been spending a good deal of time at doctor's offices. Seeing her happy and excited for the car and the prom has been extra important to me.  My son was promoted at his job and his girlfriend who graduated college last August also has a nice new job! My husband is very busy and business is good so I really have no complaints at this time. I feel blessed. But can we ever not worry about the world we live in? Every day the news is upsetting. I retreat to my own world to avoid it. Here's my Caitlin at her fitting:

Back to the garden! I expanded my vegetable garden yet again. So far so good. I'm not adding to the chicken flock this year as its nice and peaceful in the coop and everyone is getting along. I'm kind of afraid to upset the group in case they don't accept any new friends! We have a ton of bunnies in our yard and two of them live under one of my porches. They have no fear of us! I'm excited about that even though they are chewing on some of my flowers. Strange that they ignore the garden but prefer the flowers!

I hope you have a great day and I will be back much sooner I promise!

Christmas Wishes

Good Morning! Hard to believe that Christmas is so close! I am so happy I started my shopping months ago.I just finished all my decorating so I can concentrate on my baking! So here's what I've been working on:

Here is my retro Christmas tree in my dining area~ Rudolph and old world Santas...just fun old timey stuff! Hobby Lobby and stores in Lancaster were a huge help in adding to my retro collection of ornaments. 

My foyer always houses my gingerbread tree and most of my gingerbread decor but I have to admit it has now spilled into the kitchen and dining area! I try to add every year. This year I just added some more ornaments but I will be receiving more for gifts. 

My decorated breakfront has Christmas Mice! I collect them as well in all shapes and sizes!

And last but not least is my red truck tree! I love red trucks! I've collected so many ornaments and I even made some of my own. 

Thanksgiving seems like it was just here! We had a wonderful quiet day. I'm trying to savor the days until Christmas comes. I want to make the most of it. I've been baking and cleaning, decorating and also making sure I make time to read my Christmas Amish fiction books and even work on several Christmas puzzle books a wonderful friend sent me in the mail! 

My daughter has been an amazing help in the kitchen. She bakes too. She has her own special cookie recipes that have been her signature cookies! I'm so proud! 

Hopefully I will find time to post again near Christmas. I'm going to try! Looking forward to so many things and trying not to le the anniversary of my Mom's passing take me down too low. I have a new great niece being born next week and my great nephew Patrci, whom I ADORE, is soon to be !. Lots to look forward to. PLUS a very close family member just moved to my town! I'm so grateful for the people in my life. 
 

Amish Country

 

Good Morning friends, I just returned from another great time in Lancaster County. It was a wonderful trip as always. As soon as I leave, I start thinking of my next trip. On this one, I did alot of Christmas shopping and also shopping for my own home, of course! They always seem to have things I can't live without! 

Our Fall trip is always different from our Summer trip. In the Summer, I come home loaded with plants, fruits and vegetables. And of course, house stuff! I love that time so much and the plants I bought on our trip during the Summer, I just repotted so I could bring them in for the Winter. I got awesome black elephant ears and others. 

This trip besides the Christmas shopping, I needed some fresh mats, battery candles (now I only buy the timer ones), regular candles, pip berries and all that good stuff. 

I bought these cookies stamps and red and green sugars for my cookies! Aren't they sweet? I bought a tree stamp and a wreath stamp. 

Now I'm planning Thanksgiving. We are a small group (less than 10) but I still do a whole big dinner with a turkey over 20 pounds. I love leftover turkey and sides and I also like sending home a good amount with my gusts so they can enjoy the next day too. Its going to be a tough one though not having my Mom at the table. 

When do you start your Christmas decorating? or did you start already/ I start mine the day after Thanksgiving. But we can't put our real tree up until closer to Christmas because it's real. 

I just got the chicken coop all Winter ready. Also changed some nesting boxes and perches. My girls haven't been laying eggs because they're moulting. It's a weird thing for me to have to actually BUY eggs! They were laying 2 dozen per week during the Spring and Summer!

Here's some more photos I took from our trip! Have a great day!

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! :)