HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everyone!  Hope you all had a fun-filled day.  Did you get a lot of kids knocking at your door tonight?  We prepared for 30-50 kids.

About 11 kids showed up.  I think.  I lost count but I think it was that.  Do you think we have candy left?  This was the worst Halloween turnout we have ever had.  And it wasn't just us.  I looked out the door about 12 times and there was no one around.  Not on the streets anywhere.  You couldn't even hear kids laughing and talking.  Usually we get the teenagers around 7:30 or 8:00 at the latest, but no one showed up.  Think we have a lot of candy left?  We will be sharing the wealth, I think.

We tried another snack from the free ones we got the other day.  This was rice chips with sriracha flavor.

When I first put a chip in my mouth I thought, "Wow, these are wonderful flavors!" And then it hit.  Boy were these hot!  I think it burned my palate.  They were good but I'd have to think twice about whether to buy them or not.  I like hot things, but these were HOT.  So it's a tentative thumbs up for me.  And for Joe a definite thumbs up.

The sunset was so great tonight.  I looked out the window and knew I had to get a picture of it.

The "Fall Harvest" movie I want to tell you about today was called "Autumn Dreams" (2015).  With big plans to leave their small Iowan town, teenage loves Annie (Jill Wagner) and Ben (Colin Egglesfield) elope. Their big city plans are halted, though, when Annie’s parents have the marriage annulled, and Annie stays behind in Iowa to help her family. Fifteen years later, when Annie is engaged in Iowa and Ben is engaged in New York, they discover that their annulment was never finalized. Annie and Ben reunite to make their divorce legal, but find themselves reminiscing about what could have been if they had stayed together. OK, just from the description you know how the movie ends.  But that's OK.  It's just a nice story.






Contrary to popular belief, I do not watch every movie that comes onto the Hallmark Network.  I am picky what I watch.  It's just nice to have clean movies with a nice story.

So Halloween is over and so is October.  I don't know how that happened.  Tomorrow starts (for me) the holiday season.  Just a few more weeks and it will be one year since I retired from work.  What a year it's been!

Until later...

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:29 a.m.

Sunset:  5:58 p.m.

10 hours and 29 minutes of daylight

Temperature:  57*/38* 

REFORMATION SUNDAY

Hope you all have had a good Halloween Eve even though it is almost over.  It was a beautiful day today.  Sunny and almost 80*F (27*C).

Today is Reformation Sunday.  We celebrated it in church this morning.  It's a very special day for me.  It makes me remember how much people in the past went through so I can worship God as I do today.  To me time is a continuous river and what you do now is affected by the past and will affect the future.

Enough of that.  After a wonderful church service Joe and I went to lunch with Pastor Ralph and Carolyn.  We ended up at East Coast Wings.  Even though it is a little pricy the food is so very excellent!  We had such a good time eating and talking.  I think we are clones of each other.  They are so much like Joe and me.  It's almost scary.

Last night I was printing out the bulletin, making up the Wednesday night Bible study handouts and baking a pumpkin dump cake for Fellowship Time.  It was after midnight and I was drinking iced tea to stay awake.  Well it worked only too well.  I got to sleep for less than two hours before I had to get up and go to church.  Needless to say I was really, really tired.

After we got home from lunch I changed my clothes and laid down for "just a little bit".  Six hours later I woke up.  It was dark in the room.  Apparently we had even had a really bad storm that I hadn't heard at all.  I've been up a couple of hours now, got a snack to eat so I could take my medicine, and I am ready to go back to bed.  I'm hoping that if I get a good night's sleep I will be ready to go tomorrow and get a lot done.  There is certainly a lot to do!  

It's Halloween!  It's get the candy out time.  It's make sure everything is ready to go time.  It's clean the yard and house time.  For the first time in many years I will be home (not at work) to see the littles who come around early.  They are the ones I really enjoy.

So before my eyes close I will show you one picture today.  I took this while I was at Wawa yesterday.  It is the first colored tree I have seen this season.

One more day of October and then the holiday season begins in earnest.

Have a good night!

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:28 a.m.

Sunset:  6:00 p.m.

10 hours and 32 minutes

Less and less daylight

Temperature:  78*/45*

 

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE... HOME DEPOT

As I mentioned yesterday after going to pick up our order at Shop Rite we headed next door to Home Depot to get the wrench Joe wanted.  I really wanted to just go home, but went because Joe really needed the wrench.  We parked and went in and that's when it hit me.  Christmas!

The entire front section of the store was Christmas.  Velvet poinsettias. Ornaments.  Decorations.  Trees.  My eyes lit up and I think I must have said, "Oh...!"  Joe told me to just stay there and enjoy myself while he went to get what he needed and he would meet me back there.  That's all I needed to hear.  Oh yes!  I LOVE Christmas!

So I slyly took out my camera and clicked away so I could share it with you, my loyal readers.

I told you we didn't leave with just one thing.  I saw the amaryllis and just had to have one.  There were all red ones and this pretty red and white one.  That's the one I wanted.  It reminds me of peppermint.  Just right for Christmas.  There were paperwhites too, but after my last foray with them, I won't get them again.  You can read about the time I grew them in 2010 right HERE. 

I loved looking at the ornaments and blow ups and trees.  And all the little trinkets.  Oh so lovely.  I know a lot of people would rather wait until later in the year to look at Christmas things, but I could look at them all year long.  I would love working in a Christmas store.

One of my favorite things there was this toy phone.  When you picked it up, Santa started talking to you.  "Hello, this is Santa at the North Pole.  Have you been good this year?"  "Hello, this is Santa at the North Pole.  I'll be seeing you soon."  It was so cute.

 So now it's time for me to get off of here and start dinner.  Stuffed peppers tonight.  Yum.

Until later...

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:27 a.m.

Sunset:  6:01 p.m.

10 hours and 34 minutes of daylight

Temperature:  67*/59* 

I THINK I'M FINISHED DECORATING... AT LEAST FOR NOW.

My friend, Susie, always likes it when I post a Peanuts cartoon so Susie, this is for you!  I love Peanuts too.

I thought that today I would show you the rest of my decorating.  This is it for Halloween.  Some things will change for Thanksgiving, but that's not for another few days.

I  added an orange flicker candle to the table.  It looks gold in this picture, but it's really orange.

I bought this cute little pumpkin broom a long time ago at a craft show.  It was so long ago that I can't even remember.  Maybe 20 years?

This jack-o-lantern is hanging on the front door.

This is a needlepoint I made when I first moved into my house 36 years ago.  I hang it somewhere in the house every year.  This year it is in the front window.

I rearranged my sunflowers.  I think they look better now.

My pumpkin patch is back.  There's some old favorites and some new things.  The painted pumpkin in the back I bought today at Rite Aid.  One of my co-workers gave me the solar pumpkinhead.  The bear I got a few years ago.  He usually lives in my car during the month of October but got to stay in the house this year.  The vase is another 75% off Rite aid sale from two years ago.

My legs and back have been bothering me so I put my food order online and reserved a time to go pick it up this morning.  I love that I can do it this way.  They charge $10 for this service but if I don't have to walk that entire store while I am hurting, it's worth it.  So Joe and I headed over to ShopRite this morning to pick up our order.  We saw that they had given us a free tote bag and thought that was so nice of them.
 

But when we got home and looked into the bag it was full of treats and coupons!
 

All kinds of things.  From hair product samples to tea to Cheerios, candy, a milkshake and various snacks.

 So Joe and I decided that we would try the different items and let you know if it was a thumbs up or thumbs down.  Then you can try it for yourself.  Or not.

The first item was Sour Patch Kids candy.  Thumbs down from me because I do not like sour things.  But as you can see it was a thumbs up from Joe.  He loved them.

You can't see it too well, but I am giving this candy square a thumbs up.  Joe gave it a thumbs up too.  I was dark chocolate, so it was a little bitter for me, but Joe loves dark chocolate.  Otherwise, it was good.
 

 

 

 So that's it for today.  We also went to Home Depot for one thing.  One thing I tell you!  A wrench that Joe needed.  You know we didn't come out with one thing. I'll show you what's going on at Home Depot tomorrow.

Until then...

Kathy

 Sunrise:  7:26 a.m.

Sunset:  6:02 p.m.

10 hours and 36 minutes of daylight

The days are getting shorter quickly!

Temperatures:   55*/39*

It was cold! 

MARIANNE STORIES #42

A great insight from my friend Marianne.
 
July 7
Saw something truly inspiring last evening when I sat in the garden while still light out. I heard a commotion in the sky and looked upwards to see a group of unusual birds flying overheard in their usual V formation. At the end of the line was a little struggling bird trying desperately to keep up but floundering and fluttering. It seemed to bounce up and down, couldn't fly straight, and had been too far behind the others. Suddenly a small contingent flew back and supported this one, flying on either side, flanking it and some bringing up the rear. The little bird seemed to stop struggling and began to fly better. They continued this way until they flew out of sight. If they can support their struggling, weaker ones, why don't we?

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

It's coming!  Only a few days until Halloween.  I enjoy Halloween around here.  When else does the world beat a path to your door?  Joe and I use the opportunity to give out scripture along with the candy.  And we are generous with the candy.  We don't want a lot hanging around because we will eat it.  Believe me!

I put up some more decorations today, but didn't take any pictures.  I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Bible study was so good today.  We are studying the letters to the seven churches in Revelation.  Today was Pergamos.  This church reminds me so much of today's world.  It was full of toleration and compromise.  This is probably my favorite church to teach about because it sounds as if it is coming out of today's newspapers.

It's getting cold. Going down to frost level tonight.  I feel sorry for the poor stray cats around here.  There are three beauties that show up in the yard every evening.  I feed them and give them water and we have a little cat house that they can go into and stay warmer but it's tough for the creatures outside.  If I had the room, I'd have them all in a barn or something to keep them warm and fed.

I was going to have meat loaf for dinner tonight.  It's one of Joe's favorite meals.  But when I went to make it, the meat was still frozen solid.  *sigh*  So I ended up calling out for Chinese food.  I got chicken and broccoli, egg rolls, and egg drop soup.  I am saving the soup for lunch tomorrow, so we are actually getting two meals out of it.  Not bad for under $15.

The Fall Harvest movie today was "A Wish Come True" (2015).  On the night of her 30th birthday, Lindsay Corwin, an unlucky environmentalist with a string of bad relationships, decides to make the ultimate wish: for all of her birthday wishes to come true. When her nearly three decades of wishes, including everything from losing weight to meeting Mr. Right, start magically coming true all at once, Lindsay is awestruck - until she realizes the life and the man, she’s always wished for might not be the one she really wants.  Starring Megan Park and Benjamin Hollingsworth.

I absolutely loved this movie.  It reminded me of the movie "16 Wishes" only on a more mature level.  It was probably my favorite movie so far.

And now I have to get some sleep.  Morning comes early and I have lots to do.  See you all later.

Kathy

Sunrise: 7:22

Sunset:  6:06

10 hours and 44 minutes of daylight

Temperature:   55*/46*

THE DECORATING CONTINUES

And on it goes.  I have decided not to be so hard on myself with my cleaning schedule.  Since I have been sick for such a long time, I have let the house go so now it is difficult to get everything done.  But I am getting a little done at a time and everything I do is that much less I have to do later.  I am doing my best to not let it get messed up again, although the table by the front door is hopeless since that is where the mail gets dumped every day.

Today I worked very hard on a big pile that I had dumped next to the sofa.  I cleaned and moved things around, threw things out and rearranged.  Now I think it looks very nice.  See for yourself.

It took me all day, but now I can move on to other things and I feel such a sense of accomplishment.  I think after Bible study tomorrow I will work on the yard.  I will be careful not to hurt my back, but I will get things done.  My goal is to have the entire first floor and yard done by Christmas. It's good to have a goal.

Here's the run down on another Fall Harvest movie:  "Love on a Limb" (2016).  When the mayor hires a handsome landscaper to cut down a small town’s beloved oak tree, Aimie takes it upon herself to try and save it – by chaining herself to it. As the landscaper attempts to wait her out, the two find that the tree brings them more than they could’ve imagined in life and love. Stars Ashley Williams, Trevor Donovan and Marilu Henner.  I am so enjoying these movies.  And this one wasn't about food!

 

Well, have to go make dinner.  Hamburgers tonight.  One of my neighbors is cooking and it smells so good that it's making me hungry.  Have a good evening everyone!

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:21 a.m.

Sunset:  6:07 p.m.

10 hours and 46 minutes of daylight

Temperature:  64*/43* 

IT'S LOOKING MORE LIKE FALL

I  looked at the calendar today and realized that there is just one more week of October.  Really?  Where did that time go?  Each day seems to just rush by.  I open my eyes to a lovely new day chock full of possibilities and close my eyes thinking, "Where did the day go?  I got nothing done."

It has gotten much colder here.  We have the heat on and I even got a fire going.  I think the warm temperatures are now gone until next year.

I have tried to get some more fall things out and I will have more to show you this coming week.  But here's what I have for you today.

I cleaned up the stove, put out some sunflowers, and lit my Hot Apple Pie candle.
 

 The pumpkin slate now has a jack-o-lantern face.

I had a pumpkin muffin for breakfast.  It was the first one I've had this year and it was so good.

 I got some more cleaning done.  Still a lot to do, but at least I am making progress.

Joe bought me some Halloween candy.  So sweet of him.  He got me all my favorites:  Reese's peanut butter cups, Peeps and candy corn.  The peanut butter cups are in the freezer.  It's best to eat them frozen.  At least I think so.

 
It was a beautiful sunset tonight after a morning of rain and a sunny afternoon.

My back was hurting so I took some pain medication the doctor prescribed and now I am falling asleep.  At least almost all of the pain went away.  So I will end for now.  Hope you all have a great night.  I will see you tomorrow with lots of great pictures of decorations for you.

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:19 a.m.

Sunset:  6:10 p.m.

10 hours and 51 minutes of daylight

Temperatures:  53*/43*

(my how the temperatures have dropped!)

PHOTO FRIDAY AND A FALL HARVEST MOVIE

Don't these ghost pears look so cute?  It looks as if they are covered with white chocolate.  It must be easy to make.

Guess what I did today.  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  The most I did was go to Wawa and get lunch for me and Joe.  That was it.  The rest of the time I watched some TV and slept.  For some reason I was really tired.  As I said before every once in awhile I get a day that I just have to take off and I guess today was it.

I had planned a big dinner, but ended up making fried rice instead.  Joe loves my fried rice so he was happy about that.  It must have been good because there's not one grain of rice left.

So since I watched a couple of movies, let me tell you about one of them.  It's called "October Kiss" (2015).

Poppy Summerall (Ashley Williams) is hired near Halloween as a temporary nanny by Ryan Lawson (Sam Jaeger), a widowed, work-obsessed executive. Through a series of adventures, the eternally optimistic Poppy sets out to teach Ryan and his two young children what’s important in life – unconditional love, family and the joy of everyday occurrences.

Cute movie.  I liked it a lot even though it was kind of predictable.

In two weeks the Countdown to Christmas movies start.  I remember the fun I had watching them last year, so I think it will be even more fun this year when I'm not working.  I can have a matinee each day.

As many of you know, my Photo Friday is used to show people the everyday life I have here in Philadelphia.  Things that I take for granted are new scenes to others.  So here's my shot for today.  It's from 2012.  I was stopped at a red light a few blocks from home and saw all the pretty autumn trees.  Fortunately the light was long enough for me to take a shot.  I hope you like it.

It's not so pretty this year.  Such a hot summer and fall has left the trees still mostly green.

So on to bed.  I will talk to you all tomorrow.

Kathy

Sunrise:  7:18 a.m.

Sunset:  6:11 p.m.

10 hours and 53 minutes of daylight

Temperature:  79*/57* 

MARIANNE STORIES #41

As my friend Marianne found out, some people like yogurt and some people don't.
 
July 3
I didn't have to time this morning to pack my usual lunch, so I grabbed a yogurt and an apricot. I had eaten them on my morning break. By lunch time, I was ravenous--thank you, thyroid and steroids--so I went to the pizza shop to get a slice of pepperoni pizza. I saw one of our miscreants there, Dave, and his father. I chatted with them, then went to the counter to get my order. 

Little Dave sauntered over and asked me why I was getting food when I usually brought my own. (They all know this because I always talk about home cooking with them). I told Dave I was getting pizza because I didn't have time to get my lunch together. He said, "Ms. B, you didn't have no time for your lunch, but you had time to get your money? When I don't have no time, I don't have nothin'.:" 

"Well, Dave, I always have a few dollars, not much, just for an emergency. Good thing, too, today, because I am hungry. I brought a yogurt and an apricot, but I ate them already 2 hours ago." 

"Ms. B, you said Yogurt? Yuck! No wonder you gettin' somethin' good like pizza!" LOL

A ROCKWELL WEDNESDAY -- THE CORRECT TIME (1945)

Inspired by two massive timepieces located on the Loop in Chicago, Rockwell captures a moment when a repairman must climb a ladder and manually set the time, using his own pocket watch.  Usually, the clocks are corrected automatically every half hour by a master clock.  However, after a power failure they must be manually reset.  To this day, the extraordinary clocks are glanced at by people on the street below.

-------------------------
I have not done a Rockwell Wednesday in a long time.  I have a few more to show you, so hopefully I will be all caught up by the end of the year.

Another busy day today.  I had trouble sleeping last night, so I kept dozing off during the day.  But I got a lot done.  Always more to do, though.

It was really hot today.  It got up to 86*F (30*C).  I wasn't out all that much although I should have been.  I must get out in the yard soon and clean things up for the winter.  Where to start though?  So much to get done.  With all this warm weather my geranium is about to bloom again.  It has gotten huge and I so hope I can keep it over the winter.

More Christmas gifts arrive in the mail each week.  I got Joe's and when I opened it and looked at it, I was so happy with it.  You know I can't say what it is since he reads this all the time.  But he's going to love it.  Got something for my sister too.  And my brother.  I've got to get going on some knitting projects for others in my family.  Time is getting short.  It sometimes takes me six weeks to finish something and I don't have much more than nine weeks to do another two projects.   

I have to go because I am falling asleep.  Literally.  Hope you all have a good night.

  Kathy

Sunrise: 7:16 a.m.

Sunset:  6:14 p.m.

10 hours and 58 minutes of daylight

Temperatures:  86*/61* 

  

THE HEART OF FALL MOVIE: A TASTE OF ROMANCE (2012)

I found this picture on facebook and had to copy it.  I just love this fall wagon.  I wish I had room in my yard to put something like this.  It's so pretty.

It was another beautiful day today -- up in the 80s.  I know that tomorrow is the last day for this kind of weather, but I am enjoying it immensely while it is here.  Sort of a last hurrah before the winter sets in.  Don't get me wrong, I love fall and even winter has its charm.  Sitting by the kitchen window with a mug of hot chocolate watching the snow fall is lovely if I don't have anywhere to go.  But sitting around in shorts and a t-shirt with bare feet and sipping iced tea is lovely too.  And it's so seldom we can do this in October.

Bible study was awesome today.  We are studying the seven churches of Revelation and today was Smyrna -- the persecuted church.  We talked about how Christians around the world are persecuted for their faith and it made us realize just how good God is to us Christians in the USA.  I don't know about the others, but I got a lot out of it.  I think when you teach you always get a lot out of the lesson because you really have to know it.

Cherdecor asked me about the winter pansies and ornamental kale that I showed pictures of at the farm on Saturday.  I answered her, but thought I would post it here too in case any of you are wondering.  I have not had kale in many years so I really don't remember how it holds up, but I know it was OK until well into the winter.  The pansies are called winter pansies because they like the cold.  I have had some that bloomed through most of the winter and only gave up when snow covered them.  But they came back in the spring and bloomed until the heat finally did them in.  They do not like summer at all.  Other varieties of pansies do, though, so I guess you could change them out with the seasons.  Hope that helps all of you.
 
I made Joe's favorite dinner tonight -- lamb chops and a big salad.  It was yummy.  We don't have lamb chops all that often so when we do it's a real treat.

So I thought I'd tell you about another of the Heart of Fall movies that I watched on Hallmark.  I have recorded a lot of them and watch them when I have spare time.  But I need to catch up!  Today's movie was called "A Taste of Romance".  It's about two restaurant owners who open restaurants next door to each other.  I'm beginning to see a trend in my movie watching.  A lot of them seem to have something to do with food!  Anyway, here's the review of the movie:

Uptight French chef Sara Westbrook (Teri Polo) gets fired up when her upscale café, Chez Varenne, is suddenly overshadowed by a new restaurant moving in next door run by a group of rowdy firemen. Led by handsome former fire fighter Gill Callahan (James Patrick Stuart) and his friend Danny (Rockmond Dunbar), The Five Alarm Grill is soon a big success while Sara and Patsy (Romy Rosemont), her pastry chef, struggle to bring in customers. 

Sara suddenly softens when she meets Gill's ten-year-old daughter Hannah (Bailee Madison) who she can't help but take under her wing when she learns Hannah is growing up without a mom. Ignoring the obvious tension between her dad and Sara, Hannah is soon playing matchmaker. As Gill and Sara slowly begin to stir up romance, their relationship is tested once again when a local food critic gets in the mix.

 

Again, it was a really cute movie and one I would recommend if you are looking for something to watch.  I like the Hallmark movies because there is nothing dirty in them or even questionable.  Such a pleasure to have a nice family movie to watch in today's world.

So now it's on to finishing the wash and dishes and getting myself ready for bed.  Nothing I have to do in the morning so I can sleep in.  That's nice.

Hope you all have a good night.

Kathy

 Sunrise:  7:14 a.m.

Sunset:  6:15 p.m.

11 hours and 1 minute of daylight

Temperature:  82*/66*

A DAY FOR RUNNING ERRANDS

Did you all see the Harvest Super Moon last night?  I was able to get a few pictures of it.

I slept in today and it felt good except that it pushed me back on all I had planned to do.  I still got a lot done, but no wash or cleaning.  But...

Joe got up and said he'd like to go out to lunch.  So we did.  We ended up at Sonic.  He got a burger and I got chicken strips.  Mine had less than half the calories his did.  Still trying to lose that extra weight.  I got a cranberry slush.  I told you it was my drink of choice for the fall.  So very good!

It was a lovely day today.  Sunny and up to 82*.  Can you imagine that temperature in October?  But when it is warm like this I have very little pain and can walk around and even move my arms well.  So I was loving it.

After we ate we headed over to the new One Dollar Zone store so I could show it to Joe.  He loved it.  It is like an upscale Dollar Tree and things in there are so nice.  We ended up buying about $10 worth of stuff.  Joe got some bread that he usually can't afford and some lunchmeat and cream cheese.  I got some autumn decorations for the Fellowship Time tables at church and a Thanksgiving cling for the front window of my house.  A few other little things too.

After that we headed to Target to get ink for our printer.  I looked around the dollar part but got only file folders.  I like the fancy ones.  We also got all of our Halloween candy so we are all set now.

Then it was off to Shop Rite.  I had not gotten a few veggies that I wanted to use this week, so I did that.  I was also able to finally find the deodorant I have been looking for.  It's Secret pH balanced.  I have heard such great things about it that I wanted to try it.  I'll let you know if it is as good as I've heard it is.

Finally we ended up at Rite Aid to get paper for the printer.  I buy it there because I have a 20% off card for Rite Aid so that makes it cheaper than anywhere else.

When we finally got home we were both so tired that we took naps.  Oh my, I know I am getting old.

I made zucchini spaghetti with meatballs and tomato sauce for dinner.  It was really good.

And I put on my October nail polish -- Katya by Julep.  It is a dark grape color although it looks black in the picture.

Now I have to get myself together and get some sleep so I can wake up in time for Bible study tomorrow.  I still have to print out the lesson, but I have read it through and I think it will be a good study.

So until tomorrow...

Kathy 

Sunrise:  7:13 a.m.

Sunrise:  6:17 p.m.

11 hours and 4 minutes of daylight

Temperature:  82*/61*