Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I've been listening to Martha Stewart radio all week long and am learning about how to brine a turkey, and the correct wine to serve, even games to play following dinner.....somehow I think if I make it through dinner and clean up, I'll hardly be in the mood for games, but you know Martha, she covers all the bases! 

Tonight I purchased an actual roasting pan....I've been roasting a turkey for many years without the proper equipment.  I may be making turkey for the next 20 years and now I'm prepared.  If anyone in my family wants to take over the Thanksgiving dinner preparations they can gladly have my pan!  I also got a new crock pot tonight, broke my old one the last time I used it.  

I did some grocery shopping today and tomorrow I'll do some cleaning.  I hope to have time to organize so I can decide if I have all I need to pull off the meal. 

I'm also looking forward to Christmas decorating and if I don't do Black Friday shopping, I may just stay home and decorate!

Happy Fall!

I do love fall, and if I could just erase the fact that winter is on the way, it could be my favorite season of the year. Anyhow, we have had some really beautiful days here in Central Pennsylvania. In fact, I don’t ever remember an October being this warm and beautiful. Today was warm and windy, I watched the leaves blow to the neighbor’s yard! Unfortunately the neighbors to the West have lots of leaves that blew into our yard so we’ll be raking afterall.

This year instead of carving a pumpkin I put a “P” on mine so that it will last into November (maybe until it’s time for Christmas decorations)

Week 2 project

This is the project that I did this week for my online class.  So far I am enjoying the class and understanding better the progression.  I see lovely silk ribbon embroidery and have no idea where to start.  So I'm slowly figuring it out.  I hope to soon progress to something wearable....  stay tuned!

I am looking forward to the weekend.  I have been really busy at work lately and I'm looking forward to some time to relax and not have to think.

Another Project This Week...

Friday was a very productive day.  I wanted to get everything done so I could play on Saturday, and play I did!  I finished a star ornament.  It is about 7.5 inches long.  The worst part was stuffing it.  I think I'll try a  heart next (easier to stuff).  I'd love to spend the day stitching tomorrow and watch football all afternoon, but I have committed to go to a Tastefully Simple party.... 

I cleaned off the front porch today, everything but the furniture, Mr. Kay says he will take care of that next weekend.   I'm sure he will need a reminder....  I also made taco salad and did a mountain of laundry. 

Planning to do some stitching this week, I've got stitching for my online class and I'm expecting my round robin block in the mail that will have to be worked on so I'm glad I don't have meetings every night this week.... 

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!!!!

Cleaning Day!!!

This weekend I have scheduled time to clean, cook and do laundry! I put my first load of laundry in the dryer before I left for work this morning and even took the time to read Sunday's paper..... I've had a couple weeks that were really busy and the house just was not a priority. This weekend that changes and I am looking forward to restoring order to the house. The plan is to spend the afternoon on Friday cleaning. I do not function well in a house that is cluttered with piles of paper or even dishes in the sink or on the counter. I like everything put away before starting a new project.

Also, I want to find time to stitch and I've got to silence the voice that keeps playing in my mind telling me I have to finish the "work" part of my life before I can "play". You would think by now that "voice" would have been silenced but apparently not.....

So, off I go with my cleaning supplies...

Current projects

I’m taking an online class to learn silk ribbon embroidery, so for the next 6 weeks I’ll be working on projects.  I completed an easy one this week, next week’s looks like a challenge…. 

The white block is for a round robin that I’m involved in.  Each month for the next 4 months I’ll be working on a different block and then I send it on to the next person.  I was the first one to work on this block.  I’ll be sending it off later this week.

Beaver Fair Week

I live quite close to the Beaver Fair so all this week there will be lots of activity around my house.  Yesterday I decided I better add a bit of fall to my front porch so that all the people walking by think that I am somewhat on the ball and have decorated for fall. 

I had some orange colored lights that I wanted to put around the door and I’m sure I had a garland of some sort around the lights last year but I couldn’t find it and I broke two of the bulbs on the string of lights and if ya break one, none of them light so instead of enjoying the Penn State game, I went to Michael’s and purchased the necessary items to give a somewhat fallish flair to my front porch.  

The orange lights may be a bit over the top.  I turned them on last night and I definitely think it is not close enough to Halloween to actually plug them in.  But if I keep the porch lights on, it may not be quite so glaringly orange…  Yeah, I’m going with that.

Treasurers!!!

Last week when my sister was here we went to an antique show and flea market. There were all kinds of interesting things there. I bought a few and Lindy bought a few and some we just enjoyed looking at and walked on by. I’m at the point in my life where I have to remind myself that if I don’t have a place to put it, it is best to leave it. I sure would have loved to have the very old shabby white doll bed, but I have no grandchildren so really….what was I going to do with that!  Don't ya just love it?

I attached a photo of some of the things I purchased…. A couple old Bobbsey Twins books with colors that excite me….I love to stack old books, a lovely pitcher with roses on it, (I don’t really have a place to put it, right now it is on my mantle) it was pretty enough that I’m sure I’ll find a place for it. I like old metal flower frogs so I added one of those to the collection (I guess three makes a collection, right?). When I took this photo last week I had forgoten to put the shabby picture frame I purchased with the rest of the stuff that I bought. It was made from the trim of an old house. I don’t have anything in it yet but I’m looking for just the right photo to complete it.

Pantry Progress

I have been dligently working in the pantry for two days now and I'm finally finished with it.  I took everything out of it and cleaned it well and removed a lot of items that were either expired or were in the pantry because it is a "catch all".  I have cleaned and organized a couple other cupboards today as well.   I wish I had stock in the Sterilite Corporation... I invested in quite a few containers to get myself organizzed.  Here is the before and after photos.

New Mixer

  I bought this lovely KitchenAid Mixer last week to make some cupcakes, my old mixer I have had for all the 25 years of my marriage. So for no other reason than the old mixer was (gasp) avocado green, I needed a new one.  Trouble is, it is bigger than the old mixer and doesn't fit into the space that the old mixer fit so....I have decided that this weekend (and possibly into my holiday on Monday) I will be reorganizing and cleaning the kitchen and even the dreaded pantry!  I will find a place for the new mixer and even get the old one ready for a yard sale that we have decided will take place the first weekend in October.  I'm sure I will be able to find a lot of treasures that will be yard sale worthy as I go through the cupboards and drawers. 

The pantry, if I do muster the energy to clean it out and reorganize it, will be a post of its own...stay tuned!