Cool Weather!

As I type this, I feel the cool breeze and its wonderful! I can't wait till they are here to stay. I know we still have a few days of low 80's coming up but the next few days will be cooler. It's not that I don't like Summer; I don't like humidity. But the weathe ris beautiful and very inspiring.

On YouTube I found a station that plays 11 hours of calming music set to scenes of Fall. It's so nice to do my house cleaning and decorating and cooking to that wonderful music in the background. 

On my country decorating page, I mentioned that I tend to attribute decorating style to seasons. Have you done that? Fall is all Prim/country! So warm and homey! Nesting and "home sweet home" colors. Farmhouse is all whites, grays and reds to me. Its gardens and fresh eggs and warmer weather. Retro/vintage is pinks, ivory, and sage greens so I'm thinking Spring!  it's sun to think about!

One of the two new furniture pieces I bought for my newly repainted family room. The first floor of the house was just freshly painted, and it gave me a new starting point. I needed to reorganize, and I realize the best way to do that was to remove EVERYTHING and start over. 

Planning to get some pumpkins this weekend and my cornstalks and of course more Indian corn. Usually, I remove my summer flowers that are along my front walkway, and I replace with ornamental cabbages and mums but I'm not sure I will this year. My flowers are doing so incredible! It's a wait and see at this point. I will buy mums of course but not sure if we will plant along the walkway. I usually buy a premade basket with cattails, corn stalk, and mums from a  local grower that I love. 

I've been so sad about the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. I've grown up being a lover of all things British. I was lucky enough to visit many years ago and spent three weeks there. My parents visited four times. I was looking at the photo albums just the other day. I kind of feel like she was our Queen too!  May she rest in peace. 

Well, I'm off to make some pepperoni roll ups for later! This easy little recipe has been a big hit for snacking in my house. Something to grab in between meals as everyone is ina nd out! All it is, is crescent rolls separated, add some pepperoni slices, some shredded mozzarella or whatever cheese you have handy, roll it up and bake at 350 till golden in an ungreased pan. You can slso do sliced pepperoni from the deli counter if you don't want to do the mini slices in a package. I've also done salami, but pepperoni was their favorite. You can't get much easier than that, right? you can do ham and swiss...I bet that tastes good!

Have a great day!

We've been working har

All The Fall Feels

Good Morning! Sooooo are you decorating yet? I vbet you are! I can't get enough of those beautiful Fall colors! Although I have cut back a little on my decorating, I still do alot and I love the way it feels to change it up a bit. Some things that I used for years I am giving a break to and added in some new things that I love. It just refreshes the look. 

I'll be adding in some Halloween at the end of the month. 

Next week it will be pumpkins, gourds and cornstalks!

 Goodbye August!

I am so ready for Fall! I started my Fall decorating now that my house is freshly paintd and I'm so happy to take out all my boxes. Halloween will get added in at the end of September. 

Doing a little at a time and just enjoying it! 

Bath & Body Works has amazing Fall candles. I bought a few and they smell heavenly. The three wick big ones!

Visited Hobby Lobby and brought home a friend! Isnt he so cute?  And none of my other scarecrows have a face like his. Hobby Lobby has all Fall items for 50% off! 

Started cleaning out the flower and vegetable gardens that are finished. Sad to see my hanging pots that are done blooming go out for trash, but I still have several going strong. We should be getting our mums and pumpkins within the next two weeks. I picked a huge zucchini the other day. I mean this zucchini was the size of my arm! I didn't see it growing under the big leaves in the position it was in. I kept missing it! What a surprise! I made a zucchini parmigiana out of it! Actually I made two!

In preparation for hurricane season, we had all our trees and hedges trimmed! Over the last ten years we've had very active hurricane and storm seasons and its been a worry with some of the trees on my property.  Another item off our to do list. 

Are you doing any new crafts for Fall? I'm looking for something new to stitch. My eyes can't do counted cross stitch anymore. I couldn't finish my last one. Not sure if I want to stitch or do another afghan. I'm just in such a nesting mood. I always make crumb cakes and coffee cakes cause we enjoy them after dinner with our evening coffee and I usually make them from scratch. Well, last week I didn't have time so I bought the Krusteaz brand of Cinnamon Swirl coffee cake mix.  It was so good! Everyone loved it. I bouught a few more boxes of it to keep in the house in case I get company last minute for coffee. So good! Try it! 

I'm excited that I will be a great aunt for the third time shortly! A new baby is arriving in a few days! I love having the little ones around again. I'm  making up some Halloween gift bags for them. 

Enjoy your day! Time for me to make dinner!

 Vacation & House Work!

Our family just returned from a beautiful vacation in Williamsburg, VA and Virginia Beach! 

We spent the week at Busch Gardens (3 days) and at a beautiful hotel on the beach in Virginia Beach (3 days). 

We packed alot into that week! Busch Gardens was wonderful! We had very little wait for the rides. We enjoyed the different countries they showcased. I especially was happy to see the show Celtic Fyre! I'm a huge Irish stepdance/Riverdance fan. So that was awesome! 

Went to Cracker Barrel where I bought the sunflower fountain below! 

We ate at amazing restaurants for Seafood! Catch 31 was great, a Beatles themed pub called Abbey Road but I'm a simple girl and my favorite was a breakfast place in Williamsburgh called Colonial Pancake! It reminded me of a place we loved to eat breakfast in when we visit Salem called Tammany Hall. Its been closed for many years but it was our favorite. 

A great family trip. We brought my son's girlfriend with us too. that is them below. Up above is my daughter Caitlin with Viera in the pool.

Before we left, we had started some work in our home. We had the the first floor repainted, new area rug and some new furniture for our family room. I had a pod to store everything and that made it easier for the painters. Now that I'm home, the work continues, and I will post photos once everything is done. Here's a sneak peek at one of my new pieces!

Saturday I got to Hobby Lobby just as the doors were opening. I'm completely over Summer!!! Bring on Autumn PLEASE! I bought a few things and will definitely be back but I wanted to wait to see what I have and what I need. Truth is I actually need nothing but we all know thats not gonna happen and I will be buying! 

I'm just excited for the new season! Its been great refreshing my house and although I originally dreaded loading up the pod, I needed to pack up everything in order to motivate me for the redo!And it surely did.  I'm glad it'll be done just in time for me to decorate for Fall. 

Have a great day!

Catching Up!

 Wow! Summer is just speeding by! It seems like I was just shopping for 4th of July. My flowers have done really well this year too. The ones you see along the front walkway are just exploding with color. I always have mixed emotions when I have to remove them in the Fall when we replace them with ornamental cabbages. My vegetable garden has also produced quite a bit. I don't know how I got lucky! 

Yesterday, I cleaned up my craft room in anticipation of Fall crafts. I need a clean workspace or I get distracted so while we have painters working on the first floor, I thought it would be a good time to do that task. I just finished this morning. I realize I am guilty of alot of" works in progress." Next year I need to make that one of my New Year's resolutions to finish what I start!

My husband built a grilling area for his smoker and our new bbq but we can't seem to get the countertop concrete yet It's been backordered for months but we still can use it.That was his Summer project. It worked out so well on the 4th of July as I could put all the food on the counter and everyone could serve themselves. He made grat storage behind it as well. 

I'm starting to see Fall decor in the stores. Makes my heart happy! My favorite time of year.  I love Fall recipes and have been looking through the internet but then I realized that I still love cookbooks and my old Taste of Home magazines and pulled all them out.There's some good stuff in them   The days before the internet! 

Some more flower pictures In September, we will dig up the bulbs of our cannas and elephant ears to save for next year. When we come back from our vacation, I will be pretty busy. the only thing I don't do that i wish I did was can. I don't have a garden thats big enough to produce enough to can  I did make stewed tomatoes in jars though. i add them to soups and when I make pot roast. It adds alot of flavor and texture to the gravy. I have done freezer jams too but I didn't this year. 

I hope you have a great day! Drop a comment if you like;   And if you blog as well!

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 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.