Weekend in the Mountains

This weekend we took a very short trip to Blue Ridge. I really wanted to go to the orchard, and after looking at the calendar, this was the only time we could go. We had to wait for Frank to get out of his Saturday class, and had a pretty miserable ride up in the rain, but when we got up Sunday morning, it was sooooooo worth the trip! This is where I wanna live when I grow up!
This is a few of the things we bought at the orchard. TWELVE fried pies (you get a 5 percent discount), cider, apple cinnamon bread (one loaf was for the McCoy's), plus a peck of apples and Christmas gifts for my teacher friends...and some honey, because Frank insisted we needed honey even though I just threw away a jar that had crystallized.

We ate dinner at the Pink Pig...don't waste your time.

Sunday, we slept late, then took the scenic route home from the mountains. We called ourselves looking for an acre of land to park the camper on for vacations, but the one Frank called about was $41,000!!!!!

Ahhh, a nice, though too short, trip to the mountains. Tomorrow I am off to South Carolina for my nephew's boot camp graduation. OoRah! (or something like that!)

Thursday, Oct 15

My friend Sharon drove Paige and me to Atlanta today for Paige's checkup on her knee. (I was prepared to drive us, but Sharon seemed like she needed a day off, so I let her do the driving.) We ate lunch at Bahama Breeze and then went to the dr's appt. Everything looked great on the x-ray, and they think the bit of knee pain she is having is due to her flat feet, so we are getting her some inserts for her shoes. Her knee looked so good in fact, that the dr said if another dr examined her knee, he wouldn't be able to tell she ever had an injury other than the surgical scar! After the dr's appt, we stopped in Conyers and hit the Old Navy clearance racks. We haaaaad to stop, because it was COLD (under 60 degrees) and we were totally unprepared. We stopped again in Madison for coffee. We were all set for Starbucks, but the Starbucks in Madison is closed! We settled for gas station "gourmet" coffee. Not as good, but not as expensive either.

Tonight, Jacob and I watched a program on the Military channel about Marine bootcamp. We see Kevin in just a week, and can't wait to see him! I can't believe that he has made it through all that they have to go through, and am nervous about the crucible. The crucible is a 56 hour training ordeal that they go through at the end where they are sleep and food deprived. They march 40 miles and go through 36 different training events. It is going to be so hard for him, but I keep telling myself that this is what they've been training him to do. When he completes the crucible, he will be a Marine. I can't wait to see our Marine! I hope they have a bumper sticker or magnet that says Proud AUNT of a US Marine!

Channelling My Happy Homemaker Side

I finally made it to Walmart today to get some fabric for my tablescape. In case you aren't as in tune with your happy homemaker side as I am, that is the fancy word for the decorations on your table. There is a blog that has Tablescape Thursday with the most beautifully decorated tables you have ever seen. I am nowhere ready for Tablescape Thursday, but I did want to make a pretty centerpiece using the pumpkins I found at Mama's. We had them for sale at the 2nd yardsale, and now, I am glad they didn't sell. I put those bad boys in my car and voila! Tablescape Tuesday!

Just in case you were not already impressed enough...I cooked tonight! Paula Deen's Chicken with Wine Sauce, minus the white wine (I substituted chicken broth), herbed dressing with cranberries, and green beans. The chicken was very good, and I had to use up the rest of the herbed dressing that didn't go in the recipe. It just so happens that I had some dried cranberries in the cabinet left over from the sinful cranbery coconut bars that I made forever ago. But keeping it real, I cooked all the water out of the green beans and they burned on bottom. I just spooned the unburned ones into a bowl, and no one noticed...I hope my family doesn't read my blog and find out why Mama didn't eat the green beans! ;o)

It's Beginning to Look a Bit Like Fall

I finally got around to doing a little fall decorating. We went to Michael's today, and they had their craft pumpkins 60% off. I wanted to paint my house numbers on them, but I couldn't find a stencil that would work that I was willing to pay what they wanted for it. Cindy found these wooden letters and numbers, and apparently 1's and 0's are very popular, because we couldn't find a set of all 3 I needed. We did find 2 l's and and o, so we made it work. LOL works for us too! I cut and glued and even used chopsticks to anchor the pumpkins together. My OCD tendencies make me want everything to be perfectly symmetrical, but that's pretty impossible using imperfect items. All in all, I think it turned out pretty neat, and I plan on leaving my fall decorations up until I decorate for Christmas. I have some glass pumpkins I found in Mama's stuff, and some things I already had for a tablescape, but I want to get some fall fabric first. I'll hit Walmart tomorrow, and work on that. Frank and the kids don't have school tomorrow, so they are going out on the boat...lucky dogs! I am going to give Paige the project of cleaning up the screened in porch and putting the fall tablecloth out there. Maybe with all this fall decorating, the fall weather will come back!

Fall...could it be?

From my bedroom window I can see the bright red and orange leaves on my dogwood tree, and it looks like fall!

I've been cold all day, and am starting to think about warmer clothes.

I have a desire for warm, hearty beef stew.

I can't wait til this weekend so I can clean my house really good and finally put out my fall decorations!

I want to get three different artificial pumpkins and paint my house numbers on them for my front steps. (Will Milo tote them across the yard?)

I could smell the green peanuts in the fields down in south GA, and I really want a big pot of boiled peanuts!

I sure hope Fall is here to stay, and it's not just playing a big trick on us and will be 90 degrees again this weekend!