Checking In

Hi everyone.  I hope you've had a good week.  I'm personally wondering if there's another country I could move to, because I'm sick, sick of this election coverage.  So, I've been hiding out here -- 

in my beloved Mitford books,

and also here.  This is a fun and pretty cookbook; I recommend it if you don't already have it.

I'm sorry I've been MIA here lately.  I've had so many things that needed my attention -- things that couldn't be put off.  In addition, my husband has been using some of his vacation days, and when he's home, I don't do much blogging.  We got our new gutters installed on the house this week, so now we have new gutters and new windows.  After the new year, we hope to get the trim work and shutters painted.  We spent yesterday running errands, including a repair to my car and inspections for both our cars.  Today, I spent most of the day doing fall yard work.  "I'm about give out," as Dooley Barlowe would say.  ;)

Well, I was finally pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century when I got one of these yesterday--

Yep folks, I was still using a flip phone up until a few days ago, when mine finally died.  My husband tried to convince me to get an iPhone last Christmas, but I declined.  As long as the phone I had was working, I figured we would save our money.  Also, I dreaded having to learn the ins and outs of a new phone, which is kind of silly because I usually pick these things up fairly quickly.  Nothing stands still in this day and age, does it?  We just really have to be adaptable to change because about the time we've gotten familiar with one gadget, it becomes obsolete and it's time to learn a new gadget.  I'm hoping this keeps my brain cells active.  ;)

In other news, we have a new neighbor who wants us to cut down the poplar trees between our house and his because they're dropping too many leaves in his yard.  Seriously???!!!  In the first place, part of the trees are on his property, and in the second place, we could probably add a room on to our house for what it would cost us to have all those trees taken down.  Mr. Forest Manor made it pretty clear to him that we won't be paying to take those trees down anytime soon.  The neighbor knew they were there when he bought the house, just like they were there when we bought our house 20 years ago.

I'm almost finished with our fall porch.  I've planted pansies and ornamental kale, and yes, the squirrel has already gotten into them once.  I'm considering a really small, electric fence to go around my flower pots.  😀 

I enjoyed this Autumn Fern all summer, and my husband planted it in the ground for me today.

My mom and I made another wreath (we made one last Christmas, too).  I bought the grapevine wreath, the ribbon, and the other supplies at Michaels.

My mom made the beautiful bows,

and I glued everything onto the wreath.  I think the white mums make a nice contrast to all the reds, oranges, and yellows in the rest of the wreath.

I already had the pheasant feathers in my "stash."

I bought the berries, and my mom supplied the wheat stalks.

Of course, we had to have some gourds for fall,

and the cute little bird completes the look.

I can't believe Halloween is almost here, can you?  The leaves are turning here, and as you can see from this picture, they're falling from the trees, too.  Our son will be getting them up for us tomorrow.

Well that's about it for now.  I hope you're all having a lovely fall and I look forward to seeing what you've been up to.  :)  Thanks so much for spending some time here and have a glorious weekend.

Hugs,

Denise