A Little Fallishness

I finally started to get my fall groove on.  Let me tell ya, it was hard for me to give up summer.  Although, it is still officially summer until this Friday, it's finally started feeling like fall 'round here lately with the cool temps.

Love these "frosty" acorn fillers I grabbed up at JoAnn's.

I guess I just wasn't ready to give up the lazy days of summer.  Or at least the idea of the lazy days of summer.  Which is odd for me, because fall is one of my favorite seasons.  And with fallish accents popping up all over . . . the blogisphere, department stores, magazine covers, etc., I realized I'd better get busy, or before I knew it I'd be digging through the Christmas bins!

Last week I drug down from the attic a plethora of boxes and containers housing all the fall and Halloween decor.  And they sat in the spare bedroom for days.  Well, I finally dug in and drug out the fallish stuff, leaving the Halloweeny for the first of October.  

What a process!  It takes me days to change the seasonal decor around the house.  Is it like that for you?  Am I too picky on creating vignettes?  Am I simply lacking a certain amount of creativity?  Or do I just have too much stuff to work with?  I dunno.  Whatever is my problem, I did finally manage to fallify the decor a bit.  

So, I started in the kitchen.  In the "dead area" of the kitchen peninsula where I usually create my seasonal vignettes, I added some fall color.

 A little mini log cabin quilt I made years ago is a good anchor with it's fall colors.  The wood ~ I think? ~ chargers are from Walmart and the vase was clearance item from JoAnn's ~ $2.97.   A little burlap, jute twine and rusty metal leaves hides an ugly candle label.

I bet some of you recognize the glass hurricane and candle inside below.  Yup.  They're treasures from the Dollar Tree.

 The kitchen table got a new look too.  It was time to change out the sand and shells centerpiece.

The tray matches those charger plates from Walmart.  Another itty bitty quilt, called a "candle pad" was created a long time ago from scraps from another quilt.  Those yellow, bakelight steak knives were given to me by my mother.  I remember using them at dinner time when I was kid.  I love having stuff like that around . . . things that were around the house when I was growing up and were used daily.

A close up of the cute little quilt.  I should make a few more.  It's so darn cute!

More of the frosty acorns.

 Over on the hutch, I have my harvest girl.  She's really the only "Thanksgivingly" accents I have.  I guess that's probably because by the time Halloween's over, I'm gearing up into Christmas mode.

The serving piece below is one I just love.  It was an Ebay find, and it's part of my Stangl Pottery collection {I posted more of my collection here.}.  The colors are perfect for fall.

So sorry for some of the blur, my batteries were wearing down in the camera.

My Pottery Barn knockoff felt leaf garland.  Mmmm, maybe I'll make another one of them too.

Some fall fell into the family room too.  Say that five times fast! LOL

As you can see, I'm really getting good use out of those frosty acorns!

One of my mushy velvet pumpkins from a couple years ago.

And there's a couple more.

One of my favorite little Autumn wall quilts.  I like to use quilting straight pins to hang seasonal quilts on the wall.  They hold the quilts up securely, and know one ever notices those teeny, tiny holes lift by the pins when they come down.

Sadly, we don't have a fireplace, so I try to treat my fabulous, rustic bookcase in the family like a "mantel".

Inexpensive pumpkins from JoAnn's on spray painted Dollar Tree pedestal thingys.  And that clock face back there?  Well, somehow the hands got all bent up and the clock wouldn't work, but I couldn't bare to through it away.  There was something about the face of it I just loved.  It makes a nice backdrop.

Hopefully I'll get some Autumn accents in the living room before it's time for Christmas.  That'll probably take me until the end of the week to accomplish!  How much have y'all done to fallify your homes?

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A Sober Reminder

Today is a sad day for Delaware law enforcement.

Around midnight last night, an officer was killed in the line of duty.  I did not know the officer.  He didn't work for the same agency as my husband.  He was an 18 year veteran of our county police department.  My husband is with the State Police.  Nevertheless, it is a sad, sober reminder of the dangers our loved ones in law enforcement face every day on the job.

The officer was called to a disturbance in a residential neighborhood, and was fatally stabbed several times while trying to take the suspect into custody.

Many times throughout the day today as I was puttering around doing some light housework, weeding the gardens, etc., my thoughts would wander thinking about the officer's family and his colleagues.

The world seems to be a little more violent place now then it was when my husband first joined the force.  He's spent most of his career as a detective in various units and in administrative positions.  Not that he's not been, at times, in dangerous positions performing those duties, but a road officer almost never knows how a seemingly routine call can go down.  Sometimes it makes me nervous knowing my middle son, who is 20, has high aspirations of becoming a police officer, and wants to apply to the State Police when he has met the application requirements.

Anytime I hear of an officer any where loosing their life in the line of duty it saddens me, but also makes me grateful my husband's been safe during his 31 years of service.

The SlimCado ~ Have You Tried It?

While grocery shopping  at Walmart the other day, I noticed this . . . 

Always looking to save myself a few calories and fat grams, I thought I'd give a try.  Upon doing a bit of  online research on the "SlimCado", I read quite a bit of mixed reviews.  A lot of people who disliked it described the flavor as being bland and not very "avocadoy" tasting, with a watery textured  flesh.  

The SlimCado is grown in Florida, and marketed by Brooks Tropicals of Homestead.  Brooks has been growing the SlimCado since 1928, and they've been selling the fruit under the "SlimCado" name since 1987.   It has not been genetically altered in any way, according to a Brooks marketing director.  It is a Florida avocado.  The humid Florida climate is what makes it different then a California grown Hass avocado.  

Brooks claims they are not necessarily trying to compete with a Hass avocado.  They admit that they're fruit is better to be sliced on salads or soups, or made into sandwich spreads.  If you're wanting to make a  bowl of creamy, or in my case chunky, guacamole, you would prefer a Hass avocado. 

Wish I'd read that statement yesterday before I attempted to make guacamole.

After making my version of guacamole, I would have to agree with that descriptions I'd read online.  Oh, it's not terrible tasting, but it certainly doesn't have that creamy almost buttery-like texture of a Hass avocado.  

My review of the SlimCado . . . eh . . .  

Let's put it this way, I won't be in a big rush to run out and buy another any time soon.  

Now, here's the strange thing, you notice Brooks' claim on the label up there states 35% fewer calories and 50% less fact then a regular avocado.  I went to Brooks' website, where they list the nutritional info as 1/2 a fruit having 145 calories and 10.5 fat grams. Then I went to the Hass Avocado Board's website called Avocado Central where they're nutritional listing has 1/5 of a medium fruit having 50 calories and 4.5 fat grams.

That would be 290 calories and 21 fat grams for a whole SlimCado, and 

250 calories and 22.5 fat grams for a whole Hass.

Mmmm . . . that all just don't add up, does it?  

So, if all those numbers are correct, I'm definitely sticking with the Hass!

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FREE QUILTING MAGAZINES!!

In an effort to try and reduce the amount of . . . well . . . stuff I have everywhere, I've decided to part with my small library of BH&G's 

American Patchwork and Quilting Magazines

I have a good number of them.  And they are, for the most, part in very good condition, with each issue still containing it's bound pattern sheets.

I absolutely can not put them in the recycling.  I don't want to bother with trying to sell them on Ebay. I could drop them at the Goodwill, but I want to make sure they go to a good home.  I guess I could investigate someplace to donate them ~ library, senior center, etc.  But with my schedule the way it is, I don't want to have to make a bunch of phone calls, or drive here and there to deliver them.

So, I'm giving them away to anyone out there in blogland who would like them.  You can take the lot of 'em, or just certain years.  All I'm asking is for you to pay the postage.  Media Rate (formerly known as Book Rate) is usually pretty reasonable.  I'll be sure to investigate the cheapest postage.

They've lived in a smoke-free home, and pretty much a pet-free home most of their lives.  As I mentioned earlier, they are all in very good condition with a few issues more lovingly worn 

than others ;o)

So, if you are interested in any or all, or know someone who may be interested, please shoot me an email (cosmogirlcarla@gmail.com) and we can work out the details.  

Spread the word!  I want to make sure these fine publications find themselves in the hands of someone who will love and treasure them as much as I have over the years.

Here's the lineup:

Full Years (6 issues per year)

1995

1996

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Partial Years

1994 - 5 issues 

1997 - 2 issues

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