Saturday, October 31, 2015

October One Day at a Time

I haven't written a "one day at a time" post since Spring so I decided to do it for October, my favorite month.

October 1...

The perfect way to start Fall......a barn sale. These are my treasures.

 
October 2
 
My crazy girlfriends and I celebrate each other's birthdays, usually with a day of shopping and lunch. Kim came up with a fun birthday purse to bring to each get together filled with dress up items for the birthday girl. Colleen was all into it and put on almost everything in there! She is silly! Happy Birthday Sweet Colleen!
 
 
 October 3

 
I finally started to decorate for Fall with a little vignette at my front door. I found the fabulous branch/stick in my front yard. Benita, it's because of you that I picked it up!
 
 
October 4
 
It has been 8 days since we adopted Sprite and Cyrus. They are getting along like true kitten buddies and we are having a blast with them! Here they are in one of their more serene moments.
 
 
October 5
 

 We have been pulling out overgrown shrubs and trees from along the south side of the house little by little all summer. I wanted to move my lilac bush over from the shade where it was not blooming. On a whim we decided to cut down the 8' cedar tree by the porch. It looks so much better. Now I need to fill in the ground all around the replanted lilac. I stopped at the garden store today and bought two purple Anise Hyssop plants and two pink Creeping Phlox to plant now. The rest can wait till Spring. That gorgeous mum is the prettiest pink and is a true hardy mum. We will see if it comes back next year after the winter's we usually have!


October 6

Just put the finishing touch on these two sweet stools. The Barn Sweet Barn stool started out brown. Lots of layers of chalk paint, antique wax, finishing wax and elbow grease on these and I think they came out great! They are listed in my Etsy shop.


October 7

Today I took a ride with my daughter Jena, granddaughter Chloe and grandson JC to Naples, NY. It is a quaint town at the end of Canandaigua Lake, known for it's vineyards and wine. We went for the goodies to be found at Joseph's Wayside Market.  I bought gourds, concord grapes, apples and a piece of grape bar, something I always get there. Chloe LOVED the pumpkins!


October 8

Still enjoying my favorite summer lunch....fresh tomato and cucumber sandwiches....on toasted whole grain bread. YUM!!

 
October 9
 
My son still likes the same school lunch he has had since elementary school....he is a senior now! Even today when he is home sick. The sandwich is a pb & j (homemade strawberry!).


October 10

My sweet bloggy friend Benita from Chasing Quaintness sent me this cute pumpkin filled with scented beads as a Fall gift. It is hanging on the cupboard at the entrance of my kitchen, where I can catch a whiff of it each time I go in....and think of her sweet, funny self too. Visit her blog for a fun read each time you visit!


October 11

I am so excited about finally finding a vintage wire egg basket. I found it in Naples on our day out at a cute country store. It was only $12 and when I went to pay for it the lady sighed and said "that would be my husband", implying that he underpriced it!! Yup! I filled it with the giant pinecones my sister in Florida sent me.


October 12

I had to go for my yearly (dreaded) mammogram today. It was in a new facility and the bright spot there were these fabulous decorated bra's on every door! I had to take a picture of them all and show them all to you! They were decorated for a hospital event and now adorn each door.

 
 
 
 
 
 


October 13

On the 13th of every month my husband and I celebrate our wedding day (July 13) with a little gift for each other. This is what I found on the kitchen island this morning....


The note on the candy corn says "Happy Anniversary...some seeds for you" and on the bird seed it says "some seeds for your birdies". He knows me so well!

October 14

My sister Michele is visiting here from Florida so we had a girl's day out with my other sister Rosanne. Eating, shopping and laughing all day. What else do you do with your sisters on a girl's day out? :-)

Oh, take bad selfie photos!



October 15

MMMmmm, yum, yum, breakfast! I'll eat a little from my bowl....

 
.....and a little from her bowl....and a little from my bowl....and a little from her bowl....and a
 


October 16

Today I treated my friend Bonnie to lunch for her birthday. She picked the restaurant and the shops to browse and it was a nice day. She bought yarn to make socks for her daughter at the yarn shop, we both bought cute socks at the boutique and we ate at a bakery café that has fabulous coffee and sandwiches on homemade bread. And of course, a stop at Trader Joe's pumpkin aisle. I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE!! I can show you the cute socks I bought and the gift I gave her.....



 
October 17
 
I went to a movie and dinner today with three of my most favorite people to hang out with....my husband Frank, 4 year old granddaughter Chloe and son Michael.
 
 
Chloe was keeping us entertained.....when I told her to hold her horses because she was bugging me for something she said "I don't have any horses!". At the end of the meal I asked her if she wanted an ice cream sundae and she said "No, I want it today!" Ba dum bum ;-)


 October 18

We had our first snow today! I have plants waiting to be planted! It's too early!


October 19

No words needed....okay, maybe one...PRECIOUS!


(On a side note but exciting for me....I hit 1,000 sales in my Etsy shop today!!)

 October 20

I like to change the top of my old dining room cupboard with the seasons. This is how Fall inspired me this year....

 October 21

Time flies when you're a Grandma! JC is now 13 months and big enough to play with the block table. It was my son's favorite toy (now 17) and then Cassidy's (now 10) and then Chloe's (now 4).



One thing I look forward to in the Fall.....a wall of burning bushes dressed in their Fall red surrounding my front porch.



October 23

Today my son had the day off from school so we planned a Mom and Michael Day. We went for lunch at  Joe's Brooklyn pizza, where we ate the best Sicilian pizza I have ever had. Then off to Power's Farm Market where they have these cool, huge teepee's made of corn stalks, with a surprise inside.

They are huge! See the girl at the bottom of the picture?




There are hand carved, lit pumpkins on shelves all around and all the way up to the tip of the teepee. There were even some hanging down the middle.

We picked out a great pumpkin for Michael to carve. He is 17 and it will be his first. We do not participate in Halloween so he never had the interest until now. He picked out a design and created this...

 

 
October 24
 
Our community theatre group The In Your Face Players performed at Artisan Works, a renovated factory building that houses many facets of art. Incredible is the word that describes this place!
 
 
There is literally wall to wall art in there, and lots on the ceiling too!
 



October 25
 
It was a full moon tonight......pretty eerie looking too...
 

 

 October 26

Been craving some kind of candy bark and since I have a bunch of candy corn around I decided to make Candy Corn Oreo Bark.  I needed something to blog about too. The recipe is in a post here.



October 27

I had a very productive day today. I baked two things (one made two), glued three things and painted one thing.

Apple Crisp and Pumpkin Cranberry Chocolate Chip bread
October 28

Wednesday is my day with Chloe and JC. Chloe is in school now mornings while JC takes his nap. They come to NaNa's for lunch and play time. I am the referee!


 October 29

I went on an adventure today with just me, myself and I. It was rainy this morning but the weather cleared and the sun came out as I made my way to Naples. The drive is just gorgeous and I wanted to visit some antique shops, get some apples and see the pretty leaves again. This is the scenery on the way down....




 
and these are my treasures....
 


October 30

I started a Fall tradition with Cassidy about six years ago decorating homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Last year Chloe joined in. In a few years JC will also come over to NaNa's to decorate the cookies with peanut butter or buttercream frosting, candy corn, mini M&M's, raisins, chocolate chips and sprinkles. They take home the ones they decorate.  I eat the rest.

 
 
October 31
 

The only thing we have around the house that's a little bit Halloween is our Black Burmese kitty Cyrus. He looks like the typical black cat you see in vintage Halloween ads. We adopted him and Sprite 5 weeks ago and they have grown so much! They are very naughty but we love them!
 
 

 That's my October....one day at a time!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

Best of the Weekend
Amaze Me Monday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
Home and Garden Thursday
Share Your Cup Thursday
Pink Saturday