Showing posts with label leaves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leaves. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

October One Day at a Time

I love these day by day posts because finding something to highlight each day helps to make the day more fun somehow.


Since October is my favorite month of the year, I decided to give you a peek at October in my world, one day at a time.


1 - My granddaughter Cassidy plays Fall Ball every year, the only girl on an all boys team. It is a family thing, her Dad coaching and her Mom keeping score. Cassidy is at bat with her neon yellow socks!



2 - My large hardy salmon colored Mum finally bloomed. The rain spread it out but it still looks pretty.



3 - Sadly, last evening we were given the news that our dear friend Fred passed away from a massive stroke. As my daughter put it, "he was one cool old dude". He was a father/grandfather figure for our family. The strangest thing happened on the day he died...October 2nd. Earlier that day my sister texted me to remind me that my natural Father died 49 years ago that day. That evening we heard of Fred's death.



4 - How lazy can a fat cat get? Here is Cyrus, laying down using his paw to pull the dish up to his mouth so he can eat. This cat has personality plus!



5- Wednesday is my day with my grandson JC. He likes to play with all the toys, even the necklaces. Hey, pirates wear them!



6 - Today was Fred's memorial service. It was a celebration of him and the wonderful life he lived till the age of 86. Here are a picture of his sons, Mike and Kevin and my husband Frank. The brothers told my husband that Fred thought of him as a son, which meant the world to Frank.



7 - I found this treasure at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore. It is a mercury glass pumpkin that is pink on the outside. Goes perfect on my parlor mantel and is so pretty lit up at night.



8 - On a weekend away to a Fall festival in Ellicotville, NY, this was a scene we passed by while walking. Kind of Harry Potter-ish.....



 9 - I picked up some leaves while there and brought them home to wax.









10 - My sister Michele was home from Florida for the weekend so we all decided to get together on Columbus Day since the kids were off from school. We went on an apple tasting tour to local farm markets. It was a sunny, crisp and chilly day so we huddled close together to get a selfie while the kids played.


From left to right, my daughter Jena, me, my sister Rosanne,
sister Michele and my daughter Candice
11 - I took a drive to check on my booth today at Ye Olde Schoolhouse Country Store. It was a beautiful sunny, clear day.



 I found a few things were sold and I needed to move some things around. That's always a good thing!




12 - My son does not feed himself lunch so is usually starving by dinner. He wanted something easy to make and mentioned in jest that he should become a real college student by eating Ramen noodles. So, when I was at Aldi's I picked up a pack of them. He loves them and is now an official college student :-) Did you know that the stuff has 900+ mg of salt in it? Bleh.



13 - Every month on the 13th my husband and I celebrate our wedding day with a small gift to each other. His gift, from me, was a homemade apple dumpling with caramel sauce from a local farm market and mine is this t-shirt from the Fringe Fest. Our Community Theatre performed at this anything goes arts festival in downtown Rochester. I have a thing right now for t-shirts (especially gray) with logos on them. This says "The Fringe. Unordinary" with a skyline of Rochester.




14 - Twice a year, Spring and Fall, I look forward to the barn sale on Johnson Rd. in my town. The owners of the antique store on Main St. hold a huge barn sale at their home with extra stuff from their shop. I have gotten some great stuff with really low prices. Today, another gorgeous clear day, was the day for the Fall sale!





15 - My bucket of Bacopa is still blooming, or more like blooming again! The perfect little lavender flowers die off and then appear all at once several times throughout the summer. I was surprised to see them again in mid-October!




16 - It was 75 degrees today so after church we decided to take a ride to Yia Yia's Ice Cream Shoppe for one last Monkey Madness sundae. They close for the season on October 17th. That sundae is so good and so big. It is hot fudge, peanut butter sauce, peanuts, bananas, waffle cone pieces, vanilla ice cream and repeat! Topped off with whipped cream and a cherry. I was so busy digging in that I forgot to take a picture of the sundae!




17 - I finished my Christmas project! I just thought these trees were adorable when I saw a similar project on the internet. I decided to make some of my own to sell in my booth. I had the thread spools, Hymnal book pages and the "snow". I found the cute bottle brush trees on Etsy and the pearl and rhinestone peel and stick embellishments at Michael's. I made 16 in all. They are all just a little different from each other.



 18 - Every year my sweet friend Bonnie and I celebrate our birthdays together.We go out to lunch and then find a new coffee shop to try.  Today was for Bonnie's special day. This year we found the Glen Edith Coffee Roasters, off Park Ave in Rochester, NY. I forgot to take a picture of the two of us but I did take one of the latte's.....yummy Fall flavors called Oktoberfest and Honey Harvest.




19 - We had comfort food for dinner tonight....White Chili. This stuff is so good with chicken, white beans, green chilies, corn, sour cream and cream. It warms the belly. Don't eat too much or it will fatten the belly!




20 - I live one block from the intersection of the "Four Churches of Palmyra",  a signature site in the town, and three of them had rummage sales today! It was pouring down rain but I made it to all three between dropping my son off at school and getting to work at the shop where I have a booth. This is my haul....not as much as usual but still good. Two things are not shown because I already took them to my booth.



a sunhat made out of twigs, a 1950's ceiling light, a fridge
jar, a wooden Santa, a box of vintage pins, two metal Sexton
antique car wall hangings all on top of a snowman flag


21 -  It is a miserable day with cold, damp rain expected all day. I am not going anywhere so I decided to make another 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Cake. My son will eat it for breakfast and then I will serve it later with coffee when a girlfriend comes over. Love this cake!



22 - In the 44 degree, rainy, damp weather I went to a flea market today. Yup, I am one of those diehard thrifters and yes, we have had non-stop rain for three days!! I found some great stuff, the best of which is this upcycled wooden coke crate, made into a tray table. It can be a mini bar, a planter box or, with a piece of glass or wood, a side table. Actually I bought two of them! One for my booth and one for my Etsy shop.

Available

23 - My husband and I took Chloe and JC to pick pumpkins today at a local farm market. It was so busy there, it was crazy trying to pick pumpkins and keep track of two little ones. We survived and here is Nonno leading the way out of the whirlwind!


24 - I went out on a limb today and bought some Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer at Aldi's. I usually don't go for that kind of stuff because it is way too sweet, but I was in the mood for something pumpkin in my coffee. I tried it in my after dinner decaf. I was cautious not to fill the bottom of my cup with it....I just put little bits in with my usual non-flavored creamer and it is pretty good. Just a light taste of pumpkin spice. Hmmm, if you go by the serving size on the bottle of 1 tablespoon it is not too bad!


25 - The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies are baked and ready for grandkids to decorate tomorrow. I have peanut butter and buttercream for frosting, candy corn, mini chocolate chips, M & M's and sprinkles to decorate with.



26 - Today JC is home sick so it is Chloe and Cassidy decorating cookies. There are no rules and as much as I try to get them to make faces on the pumpkins, this is more fun!


My daughter got in on it too, decorating a few to eat before running off to work.


27 - Woke up to snow this morning...I had to capture it early before it melted....wishful thinking!



28 - We drove the 3 1/2 hours to Toronto, Canada today to see an NBA basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors. We were in the nosebleed section....literally! I felt quite dizzy up there! The Cav's won 94-91.


29 - We had the whole day to spend in Toronto before heading home tomorrow. We went to Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament for a chicken dinner you eat with your hands and a tournament of knights and horses that involved games and jousting. It was a fun, must see event if you are in Toronto.



30 - Today I am the featured guest post for Ms. Toody Goo Shoes Favorite Things feature. I got to pick a few of my favorite things and write about them!



31 - With Halloween comes cute pictures of my grandchildren in their costumes. My daughter Candice (Cassidy's Mom) wore the mouse costume that I made when she was about 2. She is 34! Oh, the memories!

Cassidy - the accident victim

JC & Chloe - cat and mouse
Coming up this Friday, November 4th, my Etsy shop NaNa's Things will be featured on At Home With Jemma. Jemma's Old Fashioned Christmas Shopping feature will highlight a different Etsy shop each Friday. Shopping for Christmas décor and gift items each week will be fun in the comfort of your own home. I will be offering 15% off all items in my shop......there are over 520 great vintage and holiday décor items.  I hope you will stop over and browse my selection of vintage goodies to decorate with or to gift to a vintage lover you know. There's nothing like vintage to warm your home at Christmas!

Hello November!

AnnMarie xoxo

I am sharing with these fun blog parties:




Sunday, October 30, 2016

My Favorite Things....A Guest Post




I am happy to be the guest today over at Amy's blog, Ms. Toody Goo Shoes for her Favorite Things feature.


Click HERE to head over to see what a few of my favorite things are....


Here's a hint....



AnnMarie xoxo

I am linking up to these fun blog parties....


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