Pre Thanksgiving Fun Stuff

Tuesday morning bright and early! Almost turkey time! I'm going to be as productive as I can be today preparing for the big day. First on my list is cookies. I'm making three kinds--chocolate chip, chocolate, chocolate chip and peanut butter and I want to do them early, then it's on to my sweet potato casserole! 

In my last post I mentioned that Caitlin and her friend Ashley would be making Christmas ornaments and bowl fillers. Several of you mentioned or emailed me about the recipes I use so here you are:

Cinnamon Scented Salt Dough:  1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup cinnamon, 3/4 cup very warm water. Roll out and make shapes! You do not have to bake this; you can let it air dry overnight but if you want to be able to paint them or decorate them you can bake at 200 degrees for a little bit.
I use the cinnamon scented one as bowl fillers. I do barn stars and mini mittens. They make the house smell wonderful! I use mini cookie cutters for these.

Ashley and Caitlin did both ornaments and bowl fillers. I use a small straw to poke a hole for the string. they made quite a few cause I doubled the recipe but mostly had fun just playing with the dough! Here is the recipe for regular white salt dough:  2 cups flour,1 cup salt, 1 cup water. This little project can keep kids (and us adults!) busy for hours! I had other little things for them to do like paint some plaster ornaments and I had a Christmas movie with puppies...NOPE! They loved just making shapes and creating!

I've been going through some Christmas boxes as I plan to set upsome this weekend...except for my live tree of course. A little sad to see the leaves and pumpkins go in boxes but so much fun to the elves and snowflakes and other  Christmas decorations.
 My son and husband did the last of the leaves in our yard over the weekend...That's the rear of my house and my shed. 63 bags of leaves! And it was the second time they had tackled them. Now it's nice and clean and neat and ready for the snow! We are supposed to get some on Wednesday.

Carol the rooster was walking around supervising to make sure they did a good job. He's such a task master!

Here is my son taking a break. So hard to get a picture of him as he always says no! I got two :) I'm fast!

I let the bunnies out of the coop as well to run around. Even though the coop is large and they have loads of space it's still fun for them to run around outside around the outside of the coop. They like to dig holes and run in the grass. I took one out at a time but the funny thing was as each one had his turn, the others were upset that the other was out and would go crazy trying to see their brother! (They actually are all brothers)--Chestnut, Bandit and Lucky. Below is Bandit (the white one) and Chestnut.  They share the coop with Carol and Frankie and Carol was supervising them as well.

 Carol and Frankie were content just walking around pecking the dirt and watching Dad and Billy! But Carol would chase the bunnies like a shepherd if he thought they were getting a little too frisky!

We received this great box of candy as a gift yesterday for Thanksgiving. Did you ever see such a big box of Whitmans? Caitlin thought it was the greatest thing!

Before I go, just a reminder before the holiday season begins to enjoy it because it goes by so quickly!

But most of all don't lose sight of  the real reason to celebrate and be thankful....

Have a wonderful day!

To Do Lists

Making some lists and checking them twice...nothing to do with naughty or nice...just making lists cause I get forgetful, silly  :)   and I want to make sure I have everything I need for Thanksgiving preparations and a few other things going on. A little sad to see my pumpkins go away for a year but looking forward to Christmas and all the fun that brings. I am thinking it's gonna be a brutal Winter. I send my thoughts and prayers to Buffalo, oh gosh...all that snow. I love snow but that's just too much. Lets hope everyone gets some relief soon.

I photographed some of the things I bought in Lancaster. Here are a few:

Linda, Barbara and I each bought one of these snowman lanterns. We all had the pumpkin /jack o' lantern one so now we got the snowman! I bought the "Dancing Crow" slate for the outside of my  house for the Spring and Summer. I also have a plate in my foyer with the same "Dancing Crow Inn" saying. My husband and I always wanted to own a bed and breakfast so now I can pretend :)

 Linda found this Winter slate outside a bakery we go to in Bird in Hand. She and I each bought one. I loved the tree, the deer, the snowman and the little happy cardinal :)

For our bedroom, Billy and I have collected various sayings that refer to love cause he is and always will be my honey. I have one that says "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" and another that says "Forever and Always and No Matter What" ---you get the idea...now I found this one below. How sweet is that?  and I couldn't pass up this little snowman!

 Two packages of metal snowflakes!                                           More mittens for the collection!

I still do my mitten theme in the kitchen for Christmas! Now I have more to add and this little plaque too. It says Warm Winter Greetings. I keep the mittens and snowmen up all Winter.

Caitlin and I picked up a few more gingerbread ornaments for the gingerbread tree in the foyer....

I bought tons more candles and melts and potpourri...my addictions. I have to have the house smelling good! My house smells like a gift shop in PA! Seriously. I don't care for flower scents I love fruit scents like blueberry, cranberry, pumpkin, apple pie, sugar cookie, etc.....

I  was only able to photograph these things for now but you get the idea! We had fun!

Caitlin and I started making some clothes pin people. She has been having a ball making them with odds and ends of fabric and trim and cupcake liners. We plan to make some angels too. I love doing simple crafts that she and I can do together.

 Today after school, she and her buddy Ashley are going to make cinnamon bowl fillers and ornaments. I have the dough all ready for them. I need a fresh batch of cinnamon barn star bowl fillers! They can use the cookie cutters to make their shapes and later when they harden, the ornaments can be painted.  That's what my afternoon is looking like today! It's cold and windy out but it's warm inside! Have a great weekend!

Can You Guess Where I Was?

Lancaster County, PA! Saturday, bright and early, my sister-in-laws and I took a trip to Pennsylvania for some shopping and fun. We packed a whole lot into one day but we did it! We left bright early! No traffic too! Linda, Barbara, me and Caitlin--a girls' day in Amish Country. We shopped till we dropped! Caitlin and I did some Christmas shopping and some "us" shopping. :) The farm below was taken on Rte 772, one of my favorite roads. I was standing across the way at the big "Kings" store.

We had lunch at Kitchen Kettle Village then stocked up at the Smokehouse with some cheeses and sausages. My sister-in-law Barbara bought several pounds of bacon too! We're all bacon crazy lately...

We packed the car with great stuff. Linda bought several pictures for her home and Christmas decorations. Barbara bought lots of candles and I know she got a new flag. I'm not sure what else they got cause we go into a store and away we go! See you outside when you're done! Bags and bags and bags. We had such a good time. I loved the gourds that they had at Peaceful Valley Furniture & Gifts!

Aren't they adorable? I didn't get a snowman gourd but I did buy a ceramic snowman lantern that I love. I'll have to take a picture of it! Linda and Barbara each bought one too. Next post I'll show photos of what I bought. I can tell you I stocked up on more candles, wax melts, and I'm such a sucker for any battery operated candle thingy or light up something...I got a couple of signs for my bedroom, and some Christmas stuff...snacks...there's always snacks!

I loved this cute sign! So that's what snowflakes are!!!!!

Going to Amish Country just makes me feel so crafty. I photographed lots of things that I think I can make at home too such as the ladles below:

And these wood sconces. Get the saw ready Billy! You can cut these out one, two, three!

We shopped and ate and took in some lovely scenery and still made it home at a decent hour! Not much traffic at all. But when I got home, someone was quite annoyed that I was gone all day.

Miss Molly Moo was none too pleased that I had vacated the premises for all those hours. She gave me such a "look" as if to say, "and where were you all day, young lady???" All was forgiven after I opened the can of food, I assure you!

Here's What I've Been I've Working On!

So with Halloween packed away except for a few things I keep out cause I love them so much, I've been getting the house back in order. I've also been working on my craft room but I'm not quite done. Is it ever done? I don't think so. Here's where it stands right now:

Still organizing and then it'll be time to decorate. Don't mind the windows with the curtains/wood thingy holding the curtains back...haven't gotten to that part yet. I have to add the "gingerbread" to the room and make it my homey space. Below is just a shelf where I have some things I love and just jars, containers, etc of things still needed to be organized. No rush. It's gonna be a long Winter and besides that it hasn't stopped me from creating!

I made two wreaths this week...one Spider wreath for Halloween next year and a Thanksgiving one that is not quite finished yet. Here's the spider. Hard to see, sadly...but there are gem covered spiders in green, purple and black, some peeking eyes, and the dangling web with clear glass beads.

I made a pilgrim couple with felt heads I had from AC Moore last year and just made them some clothes. I decided to add them as the centerpiece of my Thanksgiving wreath:

I forgot how messy it can be to work with straw wreaths....but still lots of fun. More Thanksgiving decorating too but now I am done. Little Jinxie loves to spy on me in the kitchen crouching on a stool in front of the breakfast bar. He's such a cutie pie. His one eye is bright; the other is blind so his photos always come out looking like that. Makes him look mysterious.  Very playful and mischevious! His favorite room is Caitlin's bedroom where he ventures in to steal various hair ties and ribbons, doll house accessories and anything else he can find and hide.

This particular spying mission was because he smelled cooking. I had made stuffed peppers and a chicken pot pie for dinner that night and he was not leaving the kitchen!

Here's some Thanksgiving! I love to find new Thanksgiving items cause I really do love that holiday!

Last night I went with some friends to Panera Bread and I'm still dreaming of what I had for dinner...squash soup and chicken panini...that soup was AMAZING! I have to find a good recipe for it on the internet only I don't know if my family would like it. They aren't squash lovers whereas I love it. I think I might just ask my husband to go by Panera today just to get me another bowl to go :) If you have a good recipe, please email it to me!

Before I go, here's another shot of Carol and Frankie enjoying the yard. Carol is the gray silkie rooster

and here is my Frankie....Miss Temperamental...when she's moody we call her little Frankie Frankenstein....

It's cold here on Long Island today....out comes the Winter coat!

The Turkeys Are in the Building!

Yes they are! And I am....exhausted! But happy to see them none the less. When I take down my Halloween I always like to do it in one day, all at once, BAM! It's done. Then I clean the windows, dust around and up go the turkeys. This year I did that starting at 6:30 in the morning and finally finished EVERYTHING with just a few little things left to do at 7:00 pm! I was knocked out! Thank goodness it's all down though it made me sad to put it away. I did keep a few things out though for my craft room as inspiration--my pumpkin people, some crafts made by bloggy friends, and a few decorations that I just love and can't put away for a year and not see.

Halloween was so much fun but quite cold. Caitlin wore her coat most of her trick or treating and did so without me even nagging her about it. It was cold!The picture below is with her friend Jackie who was dressed as a nerd but took of her coat for the picture. Caitlin said she was too cozy to take it off :) This was taken in front of Jackie's house and her Mom was not happy that Jackie had shorts on! But it was part of the look I guess.

I took a few shots of them trick or treating. Here they are at my neighbor Ken's house:

Earlier in the day I went out for breakfast with a friend of mine and then we hit Michaels for the Halloween clearance and I scored! I got some wreaths and Halloween ornaments and bags of glittered spiders. Also
miini lights, pom poms, eyes, clips, art supplie, ribbon and lots of great stuff to go into my new craft room! I want to make a spider wreath for next year. Everything was 80 cents up to 2.39 (the wreath)

 A Debbie Mum Fall mini flag which I loved!

And then this cute spider box and skeleton candle holder. 80 cents! I also got some of those cute foam kits for kids where you put them together. They had a a haunted house, a haunted piano, a tree and more. I picked up a few for Caitlin and Jackie. Regular price $8.99 but I got them for $2.

We trick or treated till dinner then came home for our pizza which I ordered early since not only was it Friday so pizza delivery is at its highest but Halloween as well! Cheese and one with mushrooms and pepperoni. I ate three slices.....Shame on me.  All that walking made me really hungry.

The kids got some surprise gifts from my lovely neighbor too. I love how she works with paper and cards and decorated the bag with the haunted house image (which I will keep forever!) And big cookies! Big Yummy cookies!

A great day! My husband Billy took Caitlin to two haunted houses and then more trick or treating. My son was out with his friends and then went to the movies to see Ouija...I was home giving out candy, eating pizza and loving the scent of "witch's brew" from Yankee.....love it!

 Sunday we went to this huge mall in upstate New York on the way home from my son's weekly doctor's appointment. I am so NOT a mall person..too much to see and look at and mostly EXPENSIVE  but the kids needed a bunch of things and we had a great day shopping and ate at the Outback in the mall. They had a really fun time. This mall has a ferris wheel and a carousel and other things and tons of restaurants.

On Sunday while I was taking down my Halloween I had a pot of chicken soup simmering on my stove. Kind of my reward for being so focused on packing and cleaning. It was perfect for the very cold and WINDY day we had!

Enjoy your week!