Happy Fall everyone

Well, Saturday was the first day of fall (Autumn for some of you formal folks), and it is time for all things, harvest, Halloween, and the last holiday, Thanksgiving.

I will not say that I enjoyed my summer, nor do I hate it either.  My summer was so-so.  I cannot say anything about my summer at all, except this.

First of all, my July 4^th was wonderful yet hateful at the same time.  The way I planned my summer was to lay low from June 21^st to July 18^th, travel to Orlando, Florida for all things family reunion and Disney, ending the rest of the summer in this “catch up on my business and revamp where I can” type of summer until the first of September 1^st.   Instead, my parents did not want to travel to Florida, I had not saved for Florida, and neither did my brother, sister, and nephew.  I did not get to see my city’s Red, White, and Boom celebration because my parents and I were in their hometown of Tuscaloosa and Moundville, Alabama.  Mom did well coming and going, but the hotel was not the most promising.  In fact, we ended up changing hotels in the middle of the week.

The first hotel was a hot mess dot com.  We arrived at a less than quality Howard Johnson, at 4808 Skyland Blvd E, Tuscaloosa, AL 35405.  They were in the middle of a room renovation, switching out television sets, peeling walls, worst breakfast in the history of me having the worst breakfast, bad handicap bathrooms (mom needed one) I ever seen, and I have been in some bad hotels.  We stayed there until about Tuesday of that week.  Next hotel was actually a better deal with a nice room, a couch, handicap bathroom on point (except I missed my bathtub) and had to stay in the room with the parents.  The first one, I had my own room. This room was spacious for three of us.  The only things I hated about that room in addition to the shower deal, I was catching an allergy/cold that lasted all summer (last week I finally am starting to feel like myself again) and dad snoring on some nights (He had the c-pap machine, but he did not use it, what was that all about?)

The 4^th was spent at one of my uncles’ house, and he threw down with the food.  We had ribs, chicken, brats, corn on the cob, spaghetti with meat sauce, greens, desert, baked beans, and watermelon. There was Potato salad, macaroni salad, and a few other things that I could not remember.  We visited my aunt in Bessemer, AL, and I had TCBY for dessert one night (that company decided to close up in Central Ohio, it was one of my favorite places to eat Froyo.)   

I took off for August.  I prepared to write posts, but I did not publish anything.  Look for those to come at the end of the month.  I did not vlog anything or create anything. I was preparing for this month, but this month, I did not much either.  So, it is now the time to get back to work full time.

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Fall in love with a forever changing blog….

New in this blog:

Starting October 1^st, I will break this blog into segments.  I have been meaning to do this, but as I was not sure how to do it, especially with it being in Blogger format.  I have been researching other blogs and found that everyone was able to break off their subjects into different segments.  One reason is for an organization and the other is, so I know what keywords to put for my readers to be able to find a post.  The segments are:

-          Motivational Mondays- Encouragement from writing your first post to anything that has to do with you and writing your masterpiece.  The first piece of this newly minted day is on Humility.  Look for it next Monday.

-          Tip Tuesday- Enough said, but it has to do with tips on writing, except on journaling.  I will save those for ….

-          Write it Down Wednesdays- (honestly, there are no days of the week that goes with journaling).  I addressed this one of my posts.  I recently started a series on journaling.  I had so much fun tackling this subject until I want to write about it at least once a week. 

-          Throw Back Thursdays- This is a post that I can update or a subject that I previously posted about and give it a new twist.  No, this is not another chance for me to attack Abby Lee Miller (I wish her well in her cancer treatments), but this is for posts that promote motivation, writing and other stuff related to the current status of my blog.

-          Facebook Fridays – Well, it is for more than just Facebook, it is for all of the social media, at least the big six (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and YouTube). I did a series a couple years ago on social media as I know it, and I recently wrote about Facebook as an updated version of that series.  Again, like the journaling series, I had fun writing it until I want to write on the subject for a while.

-          I will skip Saturday and Sunday, which would be a good time for me to do a Social Media Saturday or Sunday, but I want to spend time with family and friends and to regroup from the week. 

That is it for now.  As for Fall…

·         Embrace all of what fall brings. 

·         This is bonfire weather, pass the popcorn and apple cider while you read a book under a cozy blanket weather. 

·         Leaves are falling, and kids are ready to jump into a pile of them. 

·         Time to find that costume for the end of October.

·         And finally, have a bountiful feast consist of turkey, stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, and Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Pie. Do not forget to give back to those who have to do without.

Be grateful the little things.  Again, Happy Fall/Autumn.  Be safe, warm, and God Bless.

October 7, 2014: Tell us about your favorite autumnal edible treat.

OK, I have not writing in about a week.   The reason is I am was trying to gain some sales for my Longaberger business, and I am not dealing very well with being 50.  I will admit it, but I will save that topic for another time and place (if I feel like talking about it here.) Do not worry, I will get through it.

Today,  I want to talk about my favorite treat for fall. I am going to break it down into 4 categories:  savory, sweet, beverage, and all-time.

First for the savory…I love soups in the fall.  Nothing says warmth by the fire like soup.  I love clams, so my go to soup is a big bowl of New England Clam Chowder Soup.  I used to be a fan of Campbell’s regular NE clam chowder, but it does not have enough substantial pieces of clam for me.  I have gotten spoiled with the Chunky’s Soup line, but now even that does not do it for me.   I started eating Progresso’s NE Clam Chowder Soup, and I will stick to that.  Every time I go out, and the eating place has NE clam chowder for soup of the day, I buy it.  The treat is a big piece of bread, lightly toasted, so I can sop up all the sauce from the soup.

Now for the sweet… my mom’s Sweet Potato Pie.  I love it.  I do not like pumpkin pie, so this is my orange-colored pie, which is a great substitute.   What make her pies special?  It is a recipe that was handed down from my grandmother.  I do not know what all goes in other SP pies, but with my mother, there is brown sugar, nutmeg, clove, all-spice, evaporated milk, and butter, all mashed up in the sweet potato.   Next month is the month for it.

My beverage of choice is anything that I make in my Keurig Coffee machine.  I recently started back drinking Starbucks, but only when I travel, but nothing better than standing at the counter, sticking a k-cup in the machine, and hitting the start button.  While I am waiting (which does not take that long), I put in my cup some sweet cream, chocolate powder or syrup, and if I am good, and little bit of whipped cream (which has no calories, ladies, and only in moderation, my doctor says).  I stop putting granulated sugar in it. 

My all-time favorite fall food is…..Mac and Cheese.  There is nothing like melted cheese over a plate of noodles.  I am not talking about the box kind.  OH, NO!  I am talking about the kind where you make a white sauce and melt cheese in it.  While it is melting, boil the macaroni, don’t forget to salt the water, and cook it Al Dente.  Fold the mac into the cheese sauce, and you have loving in a bowl.   Now, I hate to admit this….bbbbuuuttt, my mom does not make that kind of Mac and Cheese.  She makes the kind that my grandmother (same grandmother who taught her how to make the pie), which is custard style.   I eat it, but it is not the same.  What I like about the cheese sauce kind, is you can throw in anything with the cheese sauce.  On The Kitchen, a show on The Food Network, I saw four kinds of Mac and Cheese being made, yummers!!   

Oh, I am going to the grocery store today, all this talk is making me go buy my favorites and have a theme dinner for tonight.

      

Tell us about your favorite autumnal sound.

Hello, and welcome to October.  I have not officially welcomed anyone to September and the fall yet, so consider it late.  September was one of those months that rather not revisit at all. I have been in so of a depressive mood all month because of the different situations in my life, including the death of a couple of people, who I really had hoped would pull through, but God had other plans for them, and for one of them, I am still trying to wrap my finger on why she entered the world the way she did, and died just that quickly (yes, I am talking about a baby bared a day old).  I was hoping I would get to know her as she went through babyhood, into toddler, going to school, and I had hoped that I would get to see her get married and have a kid of her own, but again, God had other plans. 

I went through other things to during the month of September, and I realized that the world does not stop because a friend of yours lost a baby, a person you know collapses into a coma and dies a week later, or that you feel like you are stuck.  For that reason alone, I still needed to make my sales goals for the month (I was pulling a Hail Mary move at 2:30pm yesterday, a move I have not done since the 2012-13 selling season); The house needs cleaning (I will tackle that Friday); and finally I need to clean out my closet, put away the spring/summer wardrobe, pull out the fall/ winter stuff, and give or throw away the stuff I no longer can fit.  I also need to do a final spraying of the weeds on my patio so they will not come up, pull out the fall décor, and find some fall bedding. 

Despite everything that has happened last month, I need to do some things in the second bedroom to make it more livable (currently masquerading as a junk room), I want to talk to you about my favorite autumn sound.  It goes along with my favorite smell, Pumpkin.  That sound is sounds from the apple orchard.  It is people looking for that perfect apple and it depends on who is making that sound.  The sound could be, “mommy pick this apple”, “we can get 4 more to fit in this bag”, to no sound at all, just studying on how to get the apple.  I want to take my niece and nephews apple picking, but to be honest, I do not know where I want to go for this?  There is one, maybe two I can go, but I am not sure, since I have not been since my parents took me years ago.  While we are at it, we can pick that perfect pumpkin to go on the porch on my sister’s house.

Happy Fall

Fall colours (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whatever you call it, Fall or Autumn, it is here.  Summer 2012 is a thing of the past and in the history books. How did you survive?  I told you in my last post what I did for the summer, and so things (and truths) I learned during this time.   I learned:

1. Heat and hot flashes do not mix.
2. Heat rises to second floor and stays there even when you are asleep.  Best to keep the air on all night.
3. Save your own money so you do not have to share a hotel room with your parents.
4. Ipads and smartphones make the time go a lot quicker while riding in a car.
5. Military bases do not have WiFi, and will not have any in the near foreseeable future.  Best bring your own.
6. Stretch a lot before walking uphill.
7. Bring lots of money to Canada.
8. Pack like you are staying for a month.
9. Plan ahead and have a plan b,c, and d.
10. Did I mention Heat and hot flashes do not mix.

I love curling up with a blanket and a pillow and just read.  Fall is made for that type of thing.   Summer is too hot for it, and winter is too cold.  Spring does not do it at all for me.  It is not a curling up season.  I ready to shed off layers by then.

Leaves, I used to love to jump in a pile of leaves.  I think it is a kid thing.  It's soft and messy.  You can track in the leaves and make parents mad because you do not have to clean it up.  Now that I am the adult, it is no fun anymore.  Finally, Thanksgiving and harvest (I am not a big fan of Halloween), you get ready for the next to last holiday of the year,  and each year, the turkey steals the show.  I love my mom's dressing, and I do not make it as good as she does each year.  This year, I will have to ask her if I can make it, with her guiding me.  I know someday I will have to make it without her help.   

I love everything that the season brings to the table, and for Fall 2012, I hope it is a good season.

Be blessed everyday.

  

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