Beautiful Week of Indian Summer

Well, everything kind of caught up to me.  This seems to happen to me every year during this season.  I think a combination of change of weather and trying to do too much.  Now I have a cold or small bug of some sort.  Nothing major, just enough to not feel myself and have very little energy. I'm on the other side of it now, though, thank goodness.

After I got back from the kids' house last Friday I decided to take it easy over the weekend and on Sunday I just watched Lifetime Movies all day while I knit. That was such a luxury and something I really should do more often!  I haven't done anything like that for a long time.

This is where my little Fergie lays while I knit.

This is where I sit and knit.  Ellie Mae is usually laying on my lap.  You can see the purple baby sweater on the foot stool that I almost have finished for a friend's daughter's baby shower this Saturday.

Now on Wednesday, I'm starting to feel a little better.  This is a beautiful, warm and sunny Indian summer day here in Pennsylvania.

 Look at this beautiful view on this sunny day off my back deck.  I don't have the skills or the camera to capture how pretty it really is.  The sun is so bright that the lake water is just sparkling.  Can you see the ducks out there swimming?  There are a lot of geese out there in the early mornings.  They look pretty, but they come up into the back yard and make a real poopy mess.  The neighbor has staked up wire to try to keep them out.

So I think the rest and the sunshine is now encouraging me to get up off my butt, get a shower, and do something.  

Two weeks ago was the Grand Opening of the new Wal-Mart Superstore in our small town, which was a really big deal for us.  I was getting groceries there for the first time and came across this packaged soup.  It looked good so I thought I'd try it.  

It was delicious!  and 0g. Trans Fat to beat.  I didn't leave it at that, though. I wanted to doctor it up a bit so  I added my own potatoes and then topped off the bowls with sour cream, shredded cheese and bacon bits.  

It was really good! During this weekly Wal-Mart trip, I decided to get the Tortilla Soup.  That's what I'm making for dinner.  It's simmering on the stove right now and it smells like an Autumn Indian Summer day inside the house.  

I got out a few Thanksgiving decorations.  I do more Autumn than specific Thanksgiving decorating, but on my front foyer table I do set out these little ceramic Pilgrims and turkey that I believe my mother made years ago.  I also have to have a couple little bowls of candy corn sitting around or it just doesn't feel like Autumn.

Probably next week I'll be starting some of my winter and early Christmas decorating.  I do so much that if I don't start early it won't get done in time for me to sit back and enjoy it. My Spokane kids are coming home for Christmas and I want to have everything done before they get here.  

They just sent me this updated picture of my little two month old Heath.

I haven't seen him since he was 1-1/2 weeks old so I can't wait to hold him again and his 18 month old sister, Riley.

I love this time of year, but I need to feel good and not be stressed, pressured or rushed so that I can enjoy the season and not just work at getting through it!

Ready, Set, Boys

We picked up Logan and Landen yesterday for another weekend here at Bob and Nina’s house.   They call us by our first names because when they were little they just weren’t able to say Grandma and Grandpa.  And since they were the first grandchildren, all they ever heard us called were Bob and Nina.  I enjoy being called Grandma, but Bob and Nina stuck. 

As soon as Logan hits our door, he’s running up to their room to hook up his Game Cube that he brought with him.  Austin and Melissa lock this up during the week and he’s allowed to get on it from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. 

We still limit his time on it because he won’t even stop to eat and pee if we don’t. 

Today was a fairly nice day, so we decided to take the boys to Cooper’s Farm Market.  Their Fall Festival weekends were over, but they still had a few things going on.  Logan really didn’t want to leave his Game Cube, but once we were there he had a great time.  Landen wasn’t feeling very well, so he was a little quiet and laid back today. 

Logan picked out two pumpkins for them so they could carve Jack-O-Lanterns tomorrow with their mother.

Second cousin Kyle, as the two boys have lovingly come to call him, joined in the fun with them.

Kyle is 6’4”, so Landen was thrilled to be up so high while walking through the corn maze.

They also had a smaller hay bale maze that was great for the smaller kids to just run around in.

Logan had a great time trying to catch this rooster.  But there was no way!

On the way home we had to stop at the Harley Davidson shop per  Bob’s desire.  Bob has been threatening to buy a Harley for the last 31 years!  He had a Harley when he was about 21 years old and maybe he hopes to re-capture some of those young and wild days. 

This was the first bike greeting us as we walked into the store.

It’s a real buffalo hide hanging on a motorcycle.

Landen also wanted to try on a helmet.

I think he has a way to go to grow into it.  And I think it was heavier than he is!

We ended our afternoon out with ice cream cones.  This if the kind of weekend and times I enjoy with my grandchildren.  Logan was even glad that he took a break from Game Cube. 

Now we’re back home and Landen is taking a nap and Logan is --- you guessed it!--- back in his room on Game Cube! 

It feels like a grilled cheese and tomato soup dinner night.  I love Fall!

Hurry - Quick - Too Much Going On

O.K. this is going to be a quick one. I don't know how I got so busy. I don't have kids in school, but I guess just the change of season has brought things to my attention that I need to do. And the Labor Day Weekend. So before I run out of time, I hope everyone has a great End of Summer, Four Day, Labor Day Weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful here. We're going to Buffalo on Sunday for a family reunion, maybe stop at American Niagara Falls on Monday morning, then head home. Austin and the two grandsons, Mom and Dad, and My Bob and I are going. Austin's wife isn't going. She didn't really want to, and they have recently decided they need to move closer to Austin's Recruiting office over an hour away, so she's going to look at rentals. They own their house (used to be my grandparent's house) here and they don't want to get rid of it so they are going to rent it out. Long story I don't have time to get into. More on that later.
I've been doing my Fall decorating all week. I love fall. Even though the weather is warm it still feels like fall in the air. I'm ready. And you know how one thing leads to another! So I ended up cleaning as I changed out summer "things" for fall "things". Then I got into window cleaning, which I hate. Then I couldn't just leave one window clean because the one next to it looked even dirtier, and so on and so on.
We have my cousin and family coming into town tomorrow . They always stay at our house, which I look forward to. They're not going to the family reunion because they want to spend the free weekend visiting with my grandparents in the nursing home.
I'm hoping to fit in a quick trip to the monthly summers only flea market. I haven't been to one yet and this is my last chance.
Well, it's Friday night and I try to reserve Friday nights for My Bob. He feels I don't pay enough attention to him. I don't know why he thinks that!! So I better get off this computer real quick. There's the rambling update and I hope I have more time next week. My grandson baby sitting won't start until the following week now.
Oops, he's coming downstairs, gotta g----.