At the Garden Center ~ Sunflowers

We stopped in at a local garden center the other day.  We hadn't been there in  a long while, and things were definitely thinned out for the end of the summer season.  As we wound around the place looking at clearance items and castoffs, we were rewarded with this beautiful sight...

...a wide swath of sunflowers.

Each one was perfectly beautiful.  We caught them at just the right time!!  I was reminded of the fun that we had growing sunflowers when the kids were little.  Some of them reached past the gutters on our house -- which was BIG FUN for the kids!!

Have a sunny Tuesday!

How Ruuuuude!

Ummmm, excuse me winter.  What you did yesterday?  SO rude!

Clearly, fall wasn't finished yet!

This is what we woke up to yesterday morning -- snow!  -- and much earlier in the season than usual.  It continued on all through the day.  Luckily, it only seemed to accumulate on grassy areas.  It's not often that we see fallen leaves on TOP of the snow!!  But, even after all the snow, we still have lots of leaves on the trees.  Our Cleveland Pear trees have barely started to change colors!

Go figure.

It's not too late to join up with yesterday's Thanksgiving traditions survey!

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for new friendships

* grateful for our vehicles -- especially as we play "musical cars"

* grateful for my sweet sister, and for how like-minded we are when it comes to the important things

* grateful for my sweet hubby, and his many acts of service to me (may I never take them for granted)

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

The Colors of November

Don't forget that tomorrow, you can link up for the Thanksgiving traditions survey!  You'll find the questions HERE.  Hope to see you all at the party!

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for the color pallete that God uses for autumn
* grateful for "fall clearance" at Michael's
* grateful for old friends
* grateful for my hubby's safe arrival on Friday night
* grateful for the father-daughter time spent this weekend (my girl really misses her dad when he's gone!)
* grateful for another Second Sunday

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

Hangers On

Remember THIS POST  and my clearance flowers?  Talk about getting your money's worth!  This beauty arrived with the original clearance collection back in April, and this is what it looked like in Sunday's sunshine. It's hanging on for dear life along with some of the little violas surrounding it.  I have to admit, it makes me smile to look out my kitchen window and see it sticking it's neck out.

Hang in their Pansy!

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for a morning to sleep in (no school today)

* grateful for a productive day at home yesterday

* grateful for sweet blogging friends who always encourage

* grateful to be able to look forward to the holiday season -- specifically Christmas, and all that means to me as a believer in the Christ-child, and his reason for coming to this earth

* grateful for my son, who checked the air in my tires yesterday

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

The Party's Over...

Well, this was Halloween weekend in our neck of the woods, and in true Kelly-fashion, we turned the lights out at our house, and drove north to my sister-in-laws for a nice chili-and-so-much-more dinner before the kids headed out to trick-or-treat in her neighborhood.  Eight of the twelve cousins were there, some even coming from Pennsylvania for the occasion!  They all had a blast together, and you never saw so much candy-trading going on!  Good times.

Our son had a party to go to this weekend too, and he decided to dress as Billy Mays -- you know, the guy most noted for promoting OxyClean?  We couldn't stop laughing at the wig and beard that he found.  Every time he opened his mouth, the mustache snapped down in line with the beard, leaving no room for his mouth.  The rest of the costume was easy: khakis, a blue button down shirt with the OxyClean logo on it, and a round-necked undershirt.  Check out Billy Mays images on-line, and you'll see he was spot-on!  I even had a little bottle of Oxy-Clean to send with him as a prop!  We are not huge on costuming around here.  This may have been one of our prouder moments - LOL!!  [For real, people!]

Anyways, we are partied out, and over-candied... ready for another week!

Happy Monday!!

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for safety for our son when his car broke down

* grateful for loaner tools (to fix the car)from a brother-in-law who is always so much help to us

* grateful for a wonderful weekend with family and lots of new memories made

* grateful for sweet sisters-in-law who mean so much to me

* grateful for Thanksgiving plans beginning to form

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

Note Card Party ~ 10.16

Well, I missed last month, and I confess -- I'm excited to be linking up again with Vee's Note Card Party!  I was happy to have taken enough "fall" photos already this year, that I had some to share!  We've had some beautiful country drives, and a great morning at the apple orchard.  As always, all photos are linked to their original posts -- the last three being from the same post.

I look forward to seeing what all of my "note card friends" have been up to!

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for an evening with girlfriends

* grateful for evening of cookie baking

* grateful for our "daily bread" and the lessons that go along with waiting for God's perfect timing

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

A Visit to Bauman Orchards

One of the things we love to do in the fall is visit nearby orchards and pumpkin patches.  My hubby was up early on Saturday morning, and scouring the morning newspaper as well as the internet.  Somewhere along the way, he found out about Bauman Orchards -- and away we went on our Saturday adventure.

After getting off the highway, we drove through mostly residential streets, and were amazed to practically dead-end into Bauman's!  As we got closer, we could tell that something big was going on.  Cars lined both sides of the street, and wound back into the neighborhood -- and the people just kept coming.  We were lucky to catch the last weekend of their "Fall Festival 2013" -- a great family atmosphere!

One of the first tents that greeted us was the donut-making tent.  These are little cinnamon-sugar dusted gems that shouldn't be missed!  They were offered individually, or boxed by the dozen.

 

We decided to pick our own apples, not sure how much reaching and climbing we'd have to do.  We were given a bag, and a map that guided us to the rows of apples that were ready for picking.

We found out that many of the Bauman trees are of the dwarf or semi-dwarf variety.  They make for some family-friendly pickin'!

It started to sprinkle just a bit as we were finishing up our apple picking, and by the time we paid for our apples and our $1 hotdog/cider combos, we were running for the car.

We'll definitely be going back to Bauman's!

Did you have any big "fall adventures" this weekend?

'13 Gratefulness

* grateful for a great Saturday morning adventure at the orchard

* grateful for the smell of home-made applesauce on the stove, and home-made apple-cinnamon bread in the oven

* grateful for rain

* grateful for a cozy home

Feel free to chime in with a comment!  What are you grateful for today?

Fall Decorating

I'm not an over the top seasonal decorator.  Since we try to watch our spending, I am always looking for items that might translate from one season to the next, so that I'm not breaking the bank for each new season.  In addition to that, I have been known to enforce a "no-spending" season.  A few years ago, we were saving up for a big trip, and I decided that I wasn't going to make any fall, winter, or Christmas purchases for our home. Sound extreme?  Well, it was easy on our budget -- helping us save money for the trip, and it also caused me to get creative with things that we already had on-hand.  I've never been one for a new "theme" every Christmas season -- so I was glad to stick with the old favorites.

This year, I did make a few new purchases -- but didn't break the bank.  The other day at the craft store, I bought the grapevine pumpkin (above), a canister of silk leaves (see them in the above photo under the large pumpkin -- and also below, wrapped around the candle.  Oh, right.  The other purchase was a narrow roll of burlap -- great for wrapping around that candle.  I still have a lot left that I'll be able to use down the road sometime. 

When I was a young newlywed, I thought that when people gifted me with nice things, I needed to find a place for them.  I sort of felt like I had to have everything out all the time.  I soon realized that's not realistic.

These family figurines are a perfect example.  I love them, and they represent our family perfectly.  That said, they've been packed away for a long time as new decor items have made their way into our home.  I came across them the other day, and decided it was time for them to see the light of day again.

No, they're not "seasonal" items -- but that's okay.  They are a sweet reminder of the importance of family -- and that's good all year round!

Do you have any non-seasonal decor items that you've added to the autumn mix around your house?

I'm waiting for a sunnier day to take some more pictures around here.  It's been kind of dreary lately with lots of clouds in the sky.  The sun seems to come out only when I'm away from home -- which... is not a complaint, just a statement of fact.

Hopefully, I'll have a few more pictures to share tomorrow.

An Early Fall Drive

Okay.  It's fall.  I confess that I now have my fall decorating done.

Also (if you follow me on Facebook) you may have seen my conversation about skipping right over the frothy pumpkin coffee-drinks, and heading straight towards the all-things-peppermint section of the grocery store. {No, we don't really have one of those -- but how cool would THAT BE?}

We took a drive this weekend, and enjoyed all of the farm-y views.  Most of the trees are still very green around us, but the cornstalks are out-of-this-world beautiful, displaying a wide range of color -- completely breathtaking as we drove over hilltops, and looked down on the farmland.

None of these pictures really do it justice.  In the spots where I could've had a really good vantage point, there was usually too much traffic to pull over for a photo op.  Drat and double drat.

Many of the fields are freshly mowed, and you see giant circular hay bales like this -- or long white wrapped tubes of hay that stretch across the fields.  Do you know the difference between hay and straw?  Hay is food for the farm animals.  Straw on the other hand, has no nutritional value, and can be used as a mulch in the garden. Don't be too impressed.  I'm just a city girl who looked up the answer!

As I was taking this shot (above) my hubby rolled down the window and said something like, "Hey girls -- we'll let you know if this photo makes it into a future blog-post."  <Great.  Now I've got calls to make!>

Did you have a good weekend?

What does fall look like so far in your neck of the woods?

Back To School Shopping

after years of homeschooling  is a funny thing.  When we homeschooled (for 12 years) we never did back-to-school shopping with the rest of the world.  Instead, some time in October when the rest of the world was in school, we would sneak out during the day and get new clothes on clearance.  New shoes in the bargain aisle, and... well, you get the idea.  We didn't buy clothes specially for back to school, because really?  Who were we trying to impress?

Yesterday, while shopping with our daughter, it struck me how "skewed" our view of back-to-school shopping really is.  We came home with lots of school supplies -- some of them very specific items that worked effectively for my girl when she started public school last year as a freshman.

The only clothes that we came home with were shorts and tank tops for a "Personal Training" class my girl will be taking.  She said she's really happy with her clothes otherwise.

So while some girls will be breaking in new shoes and jeans, and keeping new straps and necklines in check, my girl will be in her already broken in comfy stuff.  Who knows?  Maybe in October we'll go find some new things on clearance.

Autumn JOY

On the way to visit my parents, I drove through rain on a dreary morning.  By the time I arrived twenty minutes later, the rain had stopped, but the dreary continued.  However, during my visit, the sun appeared, and when we looked out into the backyard, our eyes met a beautiful sight.  The sun was shining brightly through the golden leaves, and it was nothing short of breathtaking.

I hope that you are taking the time to enjoy this season of God's creation, and making time to put the JOY in each day.  Some days, JOY comes easy... and other days you might have to look harder.  No matter how it comes... make time to find it.  It will change your outlook on the day.

I found JOY in the golden brilliance of God's creation.

Today, I am thankful for:

1. JOY in unexpected places

2. pumpkins of all shapes and sizes

3. blue sky & sunshine

4. several blue jays in the yard

Thought: God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"

~William A. Ward

Starry, Starry Night

Hats off...

My girl has a plan...

She's starstruck...

Wonder what the pumpkin sees?

Being strung along...

Finally, a project complete.

Starry, starry night!

Linking up At the Picket Fence