Seasonably Witchy...

In four days my favorite month will come to an end. Are you sad? I am... I've already seen advertisements for Christmas, stores with their Christmas decorations displayed, and received emails about "early holiday specials". Never mind Facebook where some friend or two has consistently posted how many more Fridays until Christmas or just a big clock with a countdown timer displaying the exact amount of time down to the very second until Santa arrives! But today and for the next four days I just want to bask in the happiness of October while I still can! And this is how I'm doing it...

...with Halloween candy! This year is really no different than any other year except I got smart and took advantage of the grocery store special that was going on...spend $50 or more on groceries, get 1/2 off all Halloween candy and decor. BOOM! So last week Bill and I set out to do our favorite weekly grocery shopping (it is for me, but not for him lol). I told him about the special and before you know it we had a bag of 184 pieces of different chocolates, a bag of 130 different pieces of other chocolates, and a ginormous bag of Tootsie Rolls and Dots. Mind you we only get about 25 kids at our door...maybe 30 if the weather is nice! In a kid's fantasy world that boils down to each trick or treater getting approximately 17 pieces of candy! Considering that's a bit unconventional, we opt to keep the candy we like the most. Even then that's still hard to do because we bought 3 huge bags of everything we like. So I have taken the task of eliminating some of the decision by eating some now... and yesterday...and the day before... No one should lose sleep trying to decide what candy should be handed out first...😁

In the past, I always made cupcakes with decorative cupcake holders and put them in little Halloween treat bags, stuffed in some candy, and slid in a little Frisch's Restaurant coupon. Only the immediate neighboring kids would get these beauties! My kids would get just as excited giving them to the neighbors as I did making them. There were 3 years where I didn't get to do that because we lived in a community where we didn't have trick or treaters visit, but when we moved to this house the tradition started again. Although our kids have grown, I STILL have to make the treat bags, but now I've come to the realization we don't even have neighboring little ones. Ahhh, but that hasn't stopped me! My daughter babysits during the week so guess who's getting special treat bags!?! That will be my Sunday night project 😉 And tonight I hope to...

have another wonderful bonfire. The temps have dropped drastically and you won't hear one complaint from this lady! This past week Bill has tidied up the yard quite a bit cleaning up the summer's died off flower stalks, cutting back pampas grasses, blowing leaves in piles, giving trees a good autumn pruning, and pulling the last of the tomatoes from the garden. This year we are trying our hand at growing our own garlic so before the first frost, Bill planted a few rows so we can have some of our own next summer.

He also helped me out by climbing his ladder and allowing his wife to keep both feet planted on the good earth while I pointed to all the rose hips I have been wanting to collect for years but never remembered to do so. We have several roses planted throughout the yard, but two specific roses had rose hips all over! So this is my little collection of them. I hope to either dry them out for potpourri or possibly make rose hip tea or jelly. I'm told it has a slight "apple" flavor. hmmmm

Right now I just want to hang out in my kitchen. By the time Bill gets home from work, the skies have darkened and the sun has all but left us with cool breezes and wet leaves. The house always smells good with all the candles I burn on a daily basis, but nothing smells better than food cooking. Just yesterday I had the cutest of visitors which gave me the opportunity to make a delicious Chicken Pot Pie for lunch. At the same time, I had a Pot Roast (my favorite!) going in the crock pot with LOTS OF GARLIC! There was a little Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin going in the background and the only thing missing was a fire in the fire place. It wasn't that cold yet so we opted for candles on the mantel. And do you remember my trip in September to see the cutest baby ever? Well here he is, getting so big and growing like no other. Look at the lips! And dimples! A real heartbreaker in the making...runs in the family I must say!

And look at the pumpkin outfit!! I'm in love! He is such a happy jack-o-lantern! Lunch went well, dinner was amazing-also made some homemade baked Mac-n-Cheese, so you can imagine how warm and cozy the dinner table was. Oh, and can't forget, we topped it off with coffee and a Fried Pie from Amishland! (A-may-za-zing!)

Which meant I need to find a way to burn it all off...(why does everything wonderful have to end with a sad story?) I went to the doctor today-just a normal visit. I was asked if I exercise and how much. Well first I thought the question was a set up...to just ask if I exercise😂 but then to add salt to an open wound and ask how much...well, Happy Friday to You too! (someone was seasonably witchy...) I did feel good saying that I walk though 😊 Then I was asked, "everyday?". 😑 Okay, that was mean. So I said, "no, just a few times during the week". Well, I guess I was too chipper for her because she then asked "how long do you walk?". 😖 Really???? Evidently I wasn't going to win so I said, "I don't really exercise, I stroll. I like to trot like an old horse along with my 1940s music blaring through my earbuds and take pictures of trees...and cows...and airplanes". I don't think she believed me so I offered to show her these, but she just gave me a "bless your heart (no wonder you're overweight) smile" and stopped asking me questions. Game over...

Hopefully you'll be able to get out there and enjoy the next four days of October🎃 as well as the little goblins that may be visiting your homes👻. I just remembered...I haven't carved my jack-o-lantern yet!😳

#halloween #bonfire #garlic #nephew #doctorappointment #walk