Fall Decor

 The fall decor has been up for a while.  Halloween decor has been added for about a month, and will be coming down again next week.  Between helping family and friends who are going through health issues, helping at the school (I'm room mom this year), the kids, the hubby, and the house, I have been a tad busy.  Normally by now, I would have Christmas plans starting.  I'm not even there yet.  I'm still trying to find Marshmallow Peep Ghosts for next weeks class party. LOL.  I have to coordinate the party with the room mom for the other class and we just met last week to iron out what we were going to do.  That's fine, but according to the stores, Halloween is over and it's Christmas now.  I will have to plan better from the class Christmas party.  I did buy our Thanksgiving turkeys today.  So I'm ahead on that.  The grocery has turkeys on sell for 79 cents per pound or turkey breasts on sale for 99 cents a pound.  I bought one of each since we usually bake the big turkey (just under 20 pounds) and we fry a small one.  There weren't any small ones for 79 cents per pound.  They were all 18-20 pounds and our turkey fryer won't handle one that big.  The hubby likes to keep them around 8 pounds and 10 pounds at the max.  So I did pick up the 8 pound turkey breast.  If I find a smaller turkey, I will buy that too and save the turkey breast for a later date.  So they are both in my freezer waiting for next month.

Speaking of the freezer, It's loaded.  I keep stock piling things, but I think now is the time to start using some of it.  I got those turkeys in there, but not well.  And I'd like to start buying the fish we use for Christmas Eve (It's not because of supply chain issues.  It's just better to spread the cost out over a few weeks so it's not just one big hit at one time).  It's really just the calamari and the smelts so they don't take up too much room, but I'm afraid things are going to get lost in there and then I'll have to throw them out due to being in there too long.  I have a little experience with that and it's a terrible feeling to throw out food because it's freezer burned.  

I shopped for next week already, not realizing how much is already in the freezer, so I'll start shopping my freezer after that.  

The Halloween mantle 

The Halloween tree

Outside decorations

The squash borer moth killed most of our zucchini and pumpkins, but there two survived

He's a pug for Halloween

Family weekend at the boys college

Trunk or Treat at the little guys school

A trip to the Cleveland aquarium on a day off from school

Mother Nature decorating for fall

The color of the outside leaves with the colors of the inside tree

Trying Times and Just Trying To Get Through

It's officially Autumn.  This is one of my favorite seasons.  I love the beautiful fall colors.  This year is different for many reasons.  

Thanks to Covid, there aren't any fall festivals this year.  Obviously I understand why, but it's still a bit sad.  And even if they weren't cancelled, we would not attend during this time anyway.

This is also our first year in 4 years without high school football.  I thought I would miss it more than I do.  I do miss seeing my son in his uniform, but I am glad to have my Friday nights back.

And speaking of that son, he is now at Miami University and I miss him terribly.  They went back late due to Covid so while I do miss him, I am also happy that he is there and able to get on with his life.  It's hard on the kids to have so much put on hold.  I worry about his health, but so far he has been tested for Covid twice and has been fine.  Much prayers going up that things stay that way.

The other boys are still in school.  I wasn't sure how long the schools would stay open, but we have not had a significant surge in Covid cases so far, so they are plodding along.  I pray that it stays this way also.

All of my fall decorations are up.  Now if I could just get this house in order.  I was on a good track, but got sidelined by not feeling well (not Covid) so I'm back to square one.  Next week looks to be very busy, and then I have jury duty the last 2 weeks in October.  I am not looking forward to that.  But I was able to get out of it the last two times I was put on jury duty so this time I'm all in.  

I hesitate to even mention the election.  All I'm going to say that I'm praying fervently every day for our country.  And no matter what happens, I know that God is still in control.

Happy October 1st

It's fall y'all!!  I love October.  I love the weather, the colors, the smells.  I love all of it.  I'm so excited for October and I hope that I can enjoy every minute of it.

I have the house decorated for Halloween.  Even the older boys love it.  I need some more decoration for outside, but it's fine for now.

The weather was cooler last week so I menu planned several soups and a beef stew.  But it looks like this week is actually going to be warmer (70's-80's) so I think I may have to revamp my menu.  Beef stew on an 80 degree day does not sound too appealing.

Due to the oldest boy getting a concussion at last weeks game, we had no football this Friday or Saturday.  I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice to have some free time.  I was able to make it to the little guys soccer game, then we decided to head to Amish country on Saturday.  This gave the older boys some quiet time at home to get school work done and so that the boy with concussion could get some rest.

The plan for Saturday was to visit the antique stores in Amish country, but we found out that there was The Ohio Swiss Festival going on.  Being that the 6 year old wasn't going to be too thrilled with antiquing, we decided to change plans and spend the better part of the afternoon at the festival.  The little guy loved the rides and he had fun catching candy at the parade.  It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon and it was fun just spending it outside.  Hopefully the husband and I can go back soon, sans the 6 year old, and actually do some antiquing.

So Happy October!  Please keep the oldest in your prayers for a complete and quick healing from the concussion.  And I'm praying that everyone has a blessed and happy October.

Don't forget that October is the Month of The Most Holy Rosary.  You can find daily prayers, daily readings, and Saint of the day here.

Instruction for praying the rosary can be found here.

Why pray the rosary?

Month of the Holy Rosary

Feeling Autumn

Leave it to Ohio to have a 40 degree temperature differential in one week.  Last week it was 95 degrees and we were at the Cleveland Indians game with family.  I took a seat in the sun so that the smaller children and those more advanced in age could be in the shade.  At one point I thought I might be getting heat stroke and had to spend the majority of the game in the clubhouse sitting in the air conditioning.  Forward to this weekend and it's 57 degrees and rainy.  Late summer is a roller coaster ride here in Ohio.  It's supposed to get back up into the 80's at the end of this week.  I don't mind this at all.  It gives me the best of both worlds.  I love summer but I love Autumn even a little more.  There's nothing like a cool, sunny day or sitting by the fire in the evening wearing a cozy sweater and sipping a hot cup of tea.

The cooler temperatures of the last few days have propelled me into the mood for a little autumn.  It's cooler, yet rainy, so doing anything outside does not sound appealing to me.  While I'm not completely ready to say good bye to summer, I am ready to start welcoming autumn. 

I've started transitioning the house from the red, white, and blue that I love in summer time to the beautiful yellow, orange, and red of fall. 

I've been lighting candles again!  I love candles and I'm really not home enough during the week to light them so on the weekends, I try to light them first thing in the morning and let them go until evening.  I had a big stash of my favorite candles, but I went through most of them last year.  I need to get some replacements, but I've been checking some new (to me) brands and trying so see what scents will take us through fall and winter.

I still have my red, white, and blue garland around my front door, but I did change out my wreath.

I also took down my patriotic door decorations and put up ones that are more for fall.

My foyer table vignette is starting to transition also.

Some of my mums came back this year, but not all.  When it's sunny and warmer later in the week, I'm hoping to have time to get to the local farm so I can start planting more.

I think the tree in the back feels a little like I do.  It's still very green but there are signs of red starting to show up.

Many of the trees in the woods behind our house have started to yellow.  They tend to lose their leaves early.

Thanks to the rain, I'm not sure that the steaks I had been planning on putting on the grill today will happen.  I'm now wishing I would have planned some chili.  But if not today, then tomorrow.  It's a good thing that I menu plan every week so that I have back up meals available.  But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my tea, the cozy day in doors, a little football, and catch up on my reading.

Happy Sunday!!