Company is Coming

My brother and sister in law are coming for a short visit tomorrow. You know how that is. You really start cleaning your house when company is on the way. The beds are stripped and made with fresh linens and every flat surface has been dusted and shined.

I loaded tons of pictures with my fall decor and somehow deleted it last night. Ughh!!! So I had to table that for another day and do it later. See you in a couple of days hopefully with my fall post. 

Linking to:
Coastal Charm
A Stroll Thru Life
Wow Us Wed.

Frugal Fall Gardening

Come fall, I love to perk up my pots on the patio for the cooler lovely months of fall. Our weather is mild so we can grow flowers year round. But, committing to a more frugal walk, I just don't head to the nursery and load up on tons of flowers like I used to. I really like to re-use existing plants if I can and start new plants from cuttings.

These two pots on our patio flag the sides of our fire pit. It is actually the size of a spa I swear. When my dad was building it I came home from work and could not believe how big and high he built it. He said he wanted it safe for the grandkids. No risk of little ones falling into it.

The pots had summer annuals with a mum planted in the middle. I yanked everything but the mum and cut it way back. I plugged in some green trailing plants from the yard and gave the pot a load of time release fertilizer. From the nursery I brought home only three six packs of annuals, zinnias, lobelia and marigolds. 

I love the mix of oranges and purple for the fall. The coleus is from another plant I just snipped off a stem of.

Coleus is a wonderful plant to start from cuttings. At the beginning of summer I buy one plant. As it grows, I continuously snip off stems about 3-4 inches long and stick in other pots to start new plants. One plant this year became five. This was started from a snip at the beginning of summer and look how full it is now. Plus all the snipping of the plants makes them stay nice and full like this one.

There's a little one growing right now. It was started only a few weeks ago.

Here is the big daddy plant. The one and only I bought in June. Told you all the snipping makes them nice and full.

Impatiens love the cooler days of fall and just come alive then. These plants are years old. I just cut them way back every year in the winter and generously feed with time release fertilizer.

Here is the giant fire ring. I cleaned it all out the other day and now it is ready for our fall bonfires with smores of course.

Linking to:
Met Monday
Show Off Your Cottage Monday
Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Sunday Showcase
Funky Junk Interiors
Boogie Board Cottage
The House in the Roses
At Home with K
The Rose Garden in Malevik
Thrifty Decor Chick

Fall - Check

Guess what I did all day? What else. Got the fall boxes down and now the house is ready, glowing with fall color and coziness. I will take lots of pics and share soon but for now the candles are lit and I am enjoying my favorite time of year. Happy Sunday!!

Sewing Table Meets Kitchen

I have been wanting a little table in the kitchen for the end of my counter. I run out of counter when serving dinner and need some extra real estate for needfuls. Yesterday, while straightening the garage, I noticed my mom's old sewing table in the back corner and a light went off in my head. Why not try it in the kitchen. Sadly the top is scratched because a certain someone had a tool chest stored on top.

For now I threw a little rooster towel on it but I think it really needs to be painted. A crisp white would look great. Do you have any ideas on colors that might look good in my kitchen?

This is a great place for our serving items at dinner time. I like to set everything sort of buffet style on the counter and have everyone serve themselves. An old cheese box holds our napkins now and salt and pepper shakers.

When's dinner? Around five usually. We eat early. Tonight it's barbecued hamburgers with sweet potato fries and corn on the cob.

My memories of my mom sewing at this table are sweet. Why didn't she make me learn to sew. I am just dying to learn. I have her old machine. I need to find a place to take lessons that are for super novice beginners.

Update** Okay so I am not sure I like this here. I may sway it out with a butcher block in my service porch.
I see some moving around in my future tomorrow.

Linking to:
Common Ground
Farmhouse Friday
Show and Tell Friday
SNS #100
Seasonal Sundays
Met Monday
Rednesday

Fall - It's Official

It's here folks. Yeah!!! I  have been forcing that fall feeling around our home even though we still have been running our A/C when needed. I am in love with this new candle from Bath & Body. It is a close second to  my all time most favorite candle.

I also baked banana bread much to my daughter's delight. Her sister took her some fresh from the oven and made her morning.

I re-did my spice cabinet last year as I was not thrilled with the everything falling all over the place system I had before. I decided to contain everything in labeled baskets arranged by category. You can see my system here.

It has worked beautifully and the proof is I am still using it over a year later.

And last in celebration of fall have you seen these. Anything with candy corn is divine to me but white chocolate candy corn M&Ms. Be still my heart. I am on the hunt. Will let you know how they are after I eat the whole bag.

Linking to:
Home Sweet Home
Show and Tell Friday
French Country Cottage
Common Ground
Fireflies and Jellybeans
The Tablescaper

Hard Labor

Today I ordered myself to hard labor. Because hubby is out of town and my oldest just no longer is here to do the lawn mowing, I have sort of taken over this chore. Now if you know me you know I prefer yard work to housework any day. So today at 9:00 am I put on my grubbies and started my outdoor chores. I mowed and edged the front and back lawns. Blew everything off with my blower and let me just say, best yard tool I have ever bought. I then blew out the garage, put away all the summer camping gear, pulled out all the fall bins and then finished with bathing the dog. I was already very gross so I figured what the heck.

After four and a half ours of dirt and sweat, I finally made it in. I think one reason I love yard work and outdoor chores is that the final product tends to stay nicer for a longer period of time. When you do indoor chores you can leave a room and find a brand new mess in the next room. Any amount of cleaning in a home with kids is short-lived. Thankfully two of my bigger girls were home today and could get the house in order while I worked outside.

I don't know if anyone noticed but my oldest daughter left me a comment on my last post. I wanted to share. Her and I are very alike and have always had a very lively relationship. We both say what is on our minds and that can be good or bad depending on the topic. She is house sitting this week and stopped by after a very rough day at the hospital on Tuesday. She needed to cry and then be put back together again. Nursing is such a stressful line of work and I know she will be great but the successes and tragedies are very great when you are working with people's lives. Her ability to do this job garners my up most respect as I could never in a million years do what she is doing. Here is her comment:

You know mom I don't think I ever tell you how awesome you really are. I know we butt heads and argue, but you're my inspiration to work so hard and reading your writing...kind of chokes me up sometimes. Thank you for always trying to teach me to be content and thankful for everything (even nursing school)You are the best. ~Audrey


Now if that doesn't choke me up, then what will. Life is stressful sometimes and around here it has been just that the last couple of weeks. My 3rd daughter had to have some tests to see about a lump she had. I refused to even go to the possibilities in my mind. I just couldn't. I am so very thankful today to tell you all that the doctor called and it was benign but she will have to have it looked at in 6 months just to make sure there are no changes.


Well, I have said enough. Kids bring great joy and also great amounts of worry. I envy the parent that never seems to worry if there is such a creature. I my friends, am not. Thank God for a spouse and family to support me and each other. Blessings for a wonderful weekend everyone.


Linking to:
Fridays Unfolded
Potpourri Fri.

Frugal Challenge-Amish Thoughts on Money

I love to check books out from the library. We visit several times a month. My latest read was very good. I read it in a couple of days, it was that interesting. The title is Money Secrets of the Amish  by Lorilee Craker.
For the most part I found this very informational. The only thing I didn't care for was the author's personal action plans at the end of each chapter. Some were so simplistic that I skipped them. But what really held my interest was the constant focus on simplicity and their constant focus on money. Not in a bad way but how their actions can preserve their money.

My favorite chapter was on using things up, wearing things out, making do and doing without. It really hit home with me. For everything you make last and learn to live without or discover a substitute for, it equates to money in your pocket. Say you break your yard rake, which I have, but then have your husband screw on the handle again and repair it, it is $15 in my pocket. I have been eyeing a new rake at our local hardware store, knowing ours is sort of on its last legs. Well my new philosophy is making the rake last to its dying day. Repair it as long as we can and it is $15 I am ahead. Money still in my pocket.

I also loved their simple take on holiday gifts. They usually consist of useful needed items but I think I am really going to enact some of this in our holiday gift giving. Not only will it simplify things for me, but will cut down on the cost of Christmas. My older kids are so hard to buy for so I think some gift cards and maybe a couple of things to open while Quinn is so young you could wrap some very inexpensive items and she would be thrilled.

The Amish thoughts on thrift extend to all areas of their lives and I already implement a lot of these ideas as well but I am always looking for more areas I can improve on and continued motivation on my frugal quest.

Linking to:
What We're Reading Party
Raising Homemakers
Wow Us Wed.
Momma Hens Coop
Transformation Thursdays
Alicias Homemaking
The Charm of Home
Show and Tell Friday
Fridays Unfolded
Thrifty Things Friday

New Beginnings and Saying Goodbye

It has been a sad couple of days. Didn't feel much like blogging about fluff while my girlfriends family said goodbye to their mother and grandmother. So I took a couple of days off and hubby and I attended the viewing and funeral. Yesterday before the funeral though, I had the joy of taking Quinn to her first ballet class.

She was so excited. Now if you have ever seen a class full of three year olds dance you know what I am talking about when I say I laughed until I cried. It was so cute and funny. She loved it and did so many twirls I could see she was getting dizzy. It brought a wonderful joy to an otherwise sad day but that is how life is. Full of lots of real life with some good laughter in between. I tell my kids all the time to understand a few things about life. First, that it isn't fair and the sooner you accept that the better and second, that life is really hard, full of a lot of what you don't want to do sprinkled with a little of what you do like to do. BUT it is how you handle the things you don't want to do that can make or break your outlook on life. If you go through your days thankful for the small things and thankful you are able to take care of the daily tasks then you will be a lot happier. I know from experience. So on with life. I hope you all are enjoying the last days of summer. Fall is almost officially here.

Linking to:
Time Warp Wife

Harvest Blessings

Be still my heart, the fall decor has started to come out. Got my hair done this morning, the gray is hidden until next time and my sister in law, aka hairdresser, drug me to Country General Store to use our $10 coupons. I went kicking and screaming. Now the house is clean and Quinn is taking a wonderfully long nap so I am having my kicks getting some fall decor on.

Picked up the the white gate and prim pumpkins today.

This little owl came home with me too.

I placed him with some flowers in a green firkin.

Linking to:

Met Monday

The Tablescaper

Laurie Anna's

SNS99

Sunday Showcase

Ribbonwood Cottage

Mod Mix Monday

Homework

Coastal Charm

Kirsty Girl

New Nostalgia

BNOTP

Friday Nights are Back!

The temps cooled so much today I knew it was time for the Friday Night Pizza season to begin. Except for summer, we love to make homemade pizzas on Friday nights. Our kids love them, love to make them, love to have their friends help make them. You get the picture. Something about taking some yummy dough and adding gooey cheese and fun toppings is just addicting.

The Western Holly was fired up and I wasn't even breaking a sweat. Oh yes! Fall is surely on its way. Add a salad and dinner is complete.

I am not kidding about the pizza. If you make they will come. I may start in the kitchen alone but if they find I am rolling out pizza dough, the kids start wandering in. Quinn saw a pineapple on the counter and wanted that on her pizza.

Add a chicken sausage pizza with bell peppers from the garden and sliced mushrooms and we are done.

Homemaking

I have friends who do not cook and having cleaning ladies, not many mind you, but a few. My sister in law wants to know how you get that gig? I say they can have it. A cleaning lady might me nice but then I would feel like I had to clean before she came so why bother. Today has been a day to stay home and get 'er done. The washing machine has been going since 7:00am and the dishwasher is already running right after lunch. A cake was baked and bathrooms cleaned. I am getting tired but glad for the ability to check things off my list.

A myriad of doctors and dentists appointments and the constant ferrying of kids to and from is really cutting into my homemaking time. I miss summer. Did you hear me say that? Yep, I miss the freedom to get things done. Yesterday, I pulled out of our driveway six times. I know it is crazy. I will be relieved when daughter #2 gets her license. So I will be stuck without a car, that is so not torture for me. A couple of days stuck at home puttering in the yard or keeping house is a blessing to me for I am cranky and out of sorts when the house gets behind. Quinn likes to make sure I have plenty of work most days.

Soon I will have family to stay. That is always a motivator. My brother and his wife will be coming for few days on their way to a wedding. So things need a good and thorough going over. Dust all the nooks and crannies and a washing of my wood floors is on the list for this weekend. After the summer with dogs in and out and barefoot kids tracking who knows what all over, my floors need a good once over.

I must have a good list of projects written down and out of my head. When I don't write things down I tend to get overwhelmed with all that I am trying to remember. Lists and a big calendar function as my second brain. That and the help of hubby and the kids reminding me of where I put things or set things down. I think mothers have to juggle so much that our brains literally get so full they can't hold anymore information. Here's to marking some things off our lists.

Linking:
French Country Cottage
Common Ground
My Romantic Home
At the Picket Fence
The Charm of Home
2805
BNOTP
Trash to Treasure-Friend Friday
Home and Family Friday
Life as Mom
Tidymom
SNS 99
BNOTP
Cottage Monday

Mowing On

Okay, I am back to normal. I got out there and mowed our back lawn. Sweat and the smell of fresh cut lawn is like a tonic to me. Not the sweat part really but the mowing YES! I will occasionally mow our back lawn as it is small and hubs works a lot so I will do it and I love it more than housework for sure. It is a good workout. I don't mow the front lawn. Too big. I would probably strain something.
But it was good. That and the big hug that enveloped me when hubby got home made me right as rain. Besides my mom would kick my fanny if she knew I was moping after all this time. She would want me on with life. She was a very practical woman.

Then I headed in and made the den cozy with my new Autumn candle and some mood lighting. I feel better. Thanks to everyone for so many nice words of encouragement. You all were like a big hug to me to and it was much appreciated. I am heading to my girlfriends with some flowers and open arms. We need to see each other and know we have both been there.

Linking to:
Simple Pleasures

The Loss of One's Mom

My best friend since three years old, lost her mother yesterday. She had hip surgery and  passed away a couple weeks later rather suddenly. My daughter who is studying to be an RN told me this is not uncommon and that one in three people with hip fractures later dies from blood clots. Anyway this is the first of my friends to lose a parent since I lost both of mine nine years ago. I was not prepared for the flood of emotions this would churn up in me.

My heart is broken for my friend and she is reeling from the loss. I hate to see her feel such sorrow as I know how the loss of one's mother is like someone chopping of an arm or a leg. It just leaves you unsteady, floundering for your balance. If you are lucky to have a wonderful mother like I had that is not only your mom but your very best friend, than who do you go to? They are both gone. I am dreading the service. Of course I will be there and support my friend and her family, but I hate the lump I am feeling in my throat as it brings back in a rush, the feelings I have for the loss of my own mother. Plain and simple I am missing her so much right now I can barely keep from crying. But this is good. I am letting it out as I type and pulling myself together so I can be the support my friend needs for I have truly been there.

I cooked today. The support I can think of giving her right now. I meal for her family as she spends the day making the arrangements. It meant a great deal to me when others gave us meals to tide us over in the tough days. I have not had a chance to just put my arms around her yet. Tomorrow hopefully I can see her and give her some hugs from her oldest friend. We have known one another for 41 years growing up two houses away from one another. I do not want to make anyone sad today for this is usually a happy blog but today I am a little melancholy. The pain I feel for my friend is the sign of the gift my mother gave me. A mother's love that knew no bounds. It means I was one of the lucky ones. I hope my girls feel the same about me someday.

Looking Back and Forward

Looking forward to my mums opening up. My clay pumpkin has made it out to the front porch.

Gone will be all the fresh berries of summer.

But oh how I love that I can bake cookies again and serve them with a pot of hot tea.

It will soon be time to take down the summer decor. I believe the fall boxes will come down this weekend.

Oh how I love cool evenings and rainy days to snuggle with a favorite blanket.

And if you grow anything in your garden next year, plan on some cucumbers. A fresh picked cucumber tastes so wonderful. You will never want a store bought one again. I plant a couple of vines a year and plug in some new seeds around mid summer and I pick around two to three a week.

How random is that? Ending with cucumbers.

Linking to:
Wow Us Wed.
Bowl Full of Lemons
Raising Homemakers
Women Living Well
Good Life Wed.
Decore to Adore
Time Travel Thurs.
Under $100 Linky Party
Open House Party
Home Sweet Home
feature-yourself-friday
At the Picket Fence
My Romantic Home
Common Ground