Halloween in a Small Rural Area
Happy Halloween! Ready for all those trick-or-treaters? Did you eat your stash of Halloween candy and have to run buy more? Twice. No? Yeah…that didn’t happen to me either. How would you like me to treat you to some pictures of autumn and Halloween in a small, rural area to get you in the mood for tonight’s festivities? “YES!” Oh good. There really was only one correct answer. I’m glad you said that! These are some pictures I took about ten days ago in a small town called Hope, New Jersey. Before you mention it, let me tell you it was still QUITE green then. We had a seemingly endless…
Halloween Mantel That Will Transition Into Thanksgiving
Last week I briefly explained that I enjoy the festivities of Halloween, but I’m not super into decorating for the holiday. However, I do a little to keep my kids happy. I do like decorating with pumpkins, mums and other items that give me all the fall feelings and a big bang for the buck by easily transitioning from Halloween into Thanksgiving. This fireplace is in our piano room and it’s hard to tell from the pictures, but it is a big one! The mantel is about 5-feet off the ground. The piano is directly to the right of the fireplace. I used black card stock – again – on my…
Happy List: #92
Welcome! I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad it’s Friday. I’m just a bundle of cheer today. It could be because this week I wrote about a super fun trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Or it could be because I shared all the card stock bats and mice taking up residence in my home. Who knows? Let’s roll with it and see what’s on the Happy List! ZUPPA TOSCANA SOUP It’s soup season! HURRAY!!! This Zuppa Toscana Soup by This Mess Is Ours looks so warm and filling. It has Italian sausage, potatoes, bacon, cream… Did I mention bacon already? (image: This Mess Is Ours) YOU BELONG BY RACHEL PLATTEN If you…
Travel: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Are you a chocolate fan? Would it be blasphemy to say if you offered me a piece of chocolate or a gummy bear I’d probably take the gummy bear? Yes? Then I won’t say that. I’ll just tell you we visited Hershey, Pennsylvania. Do you know what’s located in Hershey, Pennsylvania? You do?!?! Was the clue in the name? Did I give it away? I did. I knew it. That’s right. Hershey is the home to The Hershey Company, which is known for its chocolate treats like Hershey Bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. It is also home to several tourist attractions and since they all have the name “Hershey”…
Black Card Stock Halloween Decor
I’ve decided black card stock is the unsung hero of Halloween decor. Especially for those of us who would rather decorate with pumpkins than all the scary things. I cut out bat and mice shapes from a few pieces of black card stock and then randomly added them around my home in places that gave me amusement. Sounds like solid decorating advice, right? Do you remember my junky dumpster find that I turned into a 4th of July wreath and a rope mirror? Well, now that junky treasure is a fall wreath with a little black card stock bat attached. As soon as Halloween is over, the bat will be hibernating…
Happy List: #91
Hey Everyone! Does it feel like autumn in your part of the world? It finally does in mine. Temperatures have dropped and the leaves are finally starting to turn colors. (I think all the rain on the East Coast this summer slowed them down.) I’ll probably be over the cold temps way before short sleeve weather comes back though. Grass is always greener in a different season! On Monday I shared what I’m doing with the souvenir pennies my son is collecting. On Wednesday I shared a story about a broken pitcher, a headache and how I ended up on the kitchen floor thinking about empathy. My life sure sounds…
What a Broken Pitcher Taught Me About Empathy
On Sunday I was bustling around the kitchen making bread and granola. In the middle of that chaos the humans in my house wanted lunch, so I had a lot of different food projects going on at once. I pulled open the vegetable drawer in my refrigerator to get some carrots and thought it was odd that the drawer had liquid sloshing around in it. That’s never a good sign. Maybe the water in the bag of baby carrots had leaked? I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like a good time to clean that drawer out. And while I was at it, I might as well clean the other vegetable…
Souvenir Penny Magnets
My son collects souvenir pennies when we visit tourist attractions. Souvenir pennies are small, inexpensive and apparently not illegal to make, so I feel like we are winning on all fronts. Much like the playing cards that I collect, a souvenir penny is a neat reminder of a visit to a specific place. Plus, this is something my son can collect his entire life. I’m not knocking the souvenir stuffed animal with this comment either. Okay, maybe a little, but we have more stuffed animals than Noah and his ark and at some point kids outgrow stuffed animals. Right?!?! Now, the problem with 8-year-olds and teeny tiny souvenirs is that…
Happy List: #90
Hello, again! My kids had Monday off in observance of Columbus Day. Do you know what they asked me on Tuesday? When is our next day off of school? Of course they did. I kid you not, they have only had one full week of school this entire school year. On Monday I shared how I am bringing rattan swivel chairs back into the mainstream. Although, in fairness, I’m not sure the mainstream knows I’m doing this. Or cares. On Wednesday I wrote about a recent thrifting trip to Antiques on Broadway in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. I can’t stop thinking about my visit to this neat town! Also, if you…
Happy Thrifting: Antiques on Broadway
I had the opportunity last weekend to visit the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. You might be thinking “why is a town called Jim Thorpe?” I thought the same thing. Jim Thorpe was the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States. He won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon in the 1912 Olympics. The town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, was renamed Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, because Jim Thorpe is buried there. I’m glossing over a lot of history – some of it controversial and very heated – so if you are interested, I recommend reading more about the town’s name change here. Let’s fast…
