Autumn Decor At The Cottage

It's gloomy here this morning and we're expecting rain, so the light was challenging for some of these photos.

Fall wreath to greet you at the door

Some pillows - 

I found these sweet coppery candle holders at Christmas Tree Shops last week.  I put a string of battery operated lights inside.  I have this one on the black bookcase my the kitchen door and another in the hallway.

This was a fun fall printable I found for free last year on Pinterest.

Fun sign hanging in the hallway by the guest bathroom.

Floral arrangement at the entrance to the hallway.

With these added to our decor yesterday, I'm done with my fall decorating.  If you want to see my ceramic pumpkins you can click on the highlighted words.  When I read through that post I realized it doesn't show all of my pumpkins, so I may need to do another post.

We are still using the a/c off and on to deal with the humidity.  But we've had a taste of fall weather and hopefully with the leaves beginning to turn we will settle in to autumn soon!

Things I Love About Fall

One of these days, I may get to show you some fall decor here, but really other than my ceramic pumpkins, which you've seen, there is not a lot of other decor.  A few pillows, oh and I brought out my Johnson Brothers Friendly Village dishes.

This first week of October has been a doozy, and I thought we could stand to think of some happy things, so here we go....

Changing leaves

Sweaters

Leggings

Boots

Scarves

Flannel Sheets

Apple Pies

Pumpkin Everything

Pumpkins

Apple Cider

Baking

Cool Weather

Crisp Air

Scents Diffusing

Throw Blankets

Extra Pillows

Sleeping with the Window Open

Time Change

Gloves

Being Outside

Knitting

Today was too hot to sit outside (it was humid too) and mid week we are expecting rain again, too.  Its just crazy weather.

I want to leave you with some photos of knit hats I made for Clark and Isla.

How was your weekend?

5 More Things I love About Fall

I wrote "Five Things I love About Fall" in late September.  If you've read here for any length of time you know there would be way more than five things I love about my absolute favorite season!


Apple Cider

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We love apple cider in the fall!  This brand is a Lancaster County brand and is really good.  Our favorite though, is from our local produce stand which is a minute down the road!  Its so good we served it at Emma and Vinnie's wedding!

Pumpkins



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Again our local produce stand is our source for our pumpkins!  It's been so warm, I haven't bought any yet.  Its going to be warm again this weekend and then it'll be more seasonal so maybe we'll get some this coming week.

Candles



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I burn candles year round, but not like I do in the fall or winter.  Our favorite candles are by Good Neighbors Candle Co.  This is my friend Becky's company.  She is also an owner at Pebbles and Lace.  They are soy wax with natural wicks that don't give off toxins.  I highly recommend her hot cocoa, hazelnut cappuccino, country store scented candles!

Boots


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My girls and I love boots!  I have tall boots, booties, ugg style boots.  My girls have tall boots, and combat style boots.  We all also have rain boots, and snow boots.  They look great with dresses,  leggings, or jeans.  You can dress them up or down.  Boots are great!

Knitting

For me this is a seasonal activity and I start back up in the fall.  






I do simple knitting, though I'd love to try knitting a sweater or two or three.  Grandgirlies, you know.


What are five things that you love about fall?

Five Things I Love About Fall

Its warmer than I'd like for Fall, but it's going to cool down this week.  I love Fall so I thought I'd share some of my pins from my Autumn Pinterest board, and talk about five things I love.


I love going down roads with leaves on them.  I love it even more to drive under falling leaves!

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I love Fall road trips.  There is little I like more than a good Fall foliage trip!  I can't get enough of the changing trees!

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Our own property has a lot of beautiful trees on it.  I love to sit outside at this time of year and walk on our property.

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I love decorating our home and property with lights, pumpkins, and candles!

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I love getting out the plaid wool blankets.  When the nights get cool, I love having them available to lay an extra layer on our beds.

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I'm sure you know there will be more than FIVE things I love about autumn, and I'll be sharing those in the days to come!

Fall Home Tour 2017

I've been enjoying several fall home blog tours, and so I thought I'd share my fall decor in our living room/kitchen space.

I have seasonal decor up over my kitchen cabinets, too, but that is hard to photograph.  If I get decent photos, I'll post them.

My pumpkin pillows are both from Christmas Tree Shops, but from last year.  My local store doesn't have as many as the online store has!  I also think I got my embroidered pillow on sale.  Amazon has a lot of great pillows/pillow covers, too!

The feather is from one of our chickens.  She kindly left it on our kitchen steps for me.  It fits in beautifully with our fall decor.

Tomorrow is the first official day of fall, but I'm sure you've decorated your home already, bringing in fall touches.  What is your favorite fall item you use in your home?  Mine are my glass pumpkins.

More Clothes Talk

I've spent sometime this weekend pinning more clothing that I like.  Do you ever look at clothes on Pinterest?  I put fashion over 40 into the search bar and up come all kinds of interesting stuff!

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Here's the link to my fashion pinterest  board if you want to see more.  As a disclaimer I want to say that I might not have pinned each pin because I like the whole outfit.  I may have just liked the way something was put together with accessories, or the color of something.

Do you have fashion boards on pinterest?  Will you share the links with us?  I'd love to see what your pinning! 

Something To Bridge The Seasons

Our farmhouse table that Tim built years ago, is in need of some attention.  He is going to refinish the top, and use a different sealer for it.  In the meantime, I've been using tablecloths on it and I was looking for something not too fallish (I have those) and not too summery since we are nearly half way through August already!

Christmas Tree Shops came through for me again!  Its a perfectly nice plaid - just right for this in between the seasons time!  That along with a few Black Eyed Susan's from the garden, make a lovely late summer table.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Pumpkin Bread

I have been trying to keep to my grocery budget and not overspend.  My husband gets paid every two weeks so I get cash out and shop for two weeks worth of meals, snacks, dog food, toiletries etc...

I often have a bit of cash left for the 'in between' week, which I use for milk, fresh produce and eggs.

This past week, I decided to not go to the store for pantry items or other foods if I did not have the cash. This has lead to me having to really use my creativity, and stock in the pantry.  It also lead to me realizing that the pantry items had been being used but not replaced.  

And all of this leads to Pumpkin Bread.  I don't usually make it in August - it's always more of a fall item around here, but I wanted to have something other than oatmeal or toast available for breakfast or to have as a snack.

I looked in my upstairs pantry and my pantry shelves in the basement and came up with canned pumpkin.  I had all the other necessary ingredients, so yesterday morning before heading into our shoppe I whipped up my grandma's pumpkin bread recipe.

Grandma Lily's Pumpkin Bread

3 cups of Sugar

1 cup of vegetable oil

1lb pumpkin

4 eggs

3 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

2/3 water

Mix all the ingredients together and add raisins and nuts, if you like.  This makes 2 loaves.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  It may require more time.

Also yesterday I did one tsp of salt and it tastes just fine.  I also only used cinnamon as I am not a nutmeg or cloves fan so I don't use those spices. I have added chocolate chips to this instead of raisins before.  Yummy!

 The lovely weather we have been having and all the fall buying for the shoppe have me in the Autumn mood.  What things say Autumn to you?

August Note Card Party

Joining in the fun once again with Vee's Note Card Party!   

After a very hot and humid summer, and I'm certain we're not done yet, we have enjoyed a few days that felt like a preview of Autumn.

This made me search for my Autumn photos and here were some I really liked.

 

Autumn is my favorite season, and I wish that we could have a long one for a change.  After all we have long winters, and long hot summers, why can't we have a long Autumn once in a while.  Those beautifully warm days and cool nights eventually easing to cool days too.  Cider, hot chocolate, bonfires, s'mores, sweaters, scarves, local fairs.

It won't be long now.  I can hardly wait!