Thanksgiving roundup

Pretty soon, everyone around here will start putting up their decorations for Halloween.  I'm always amazed on how elaborate some of them are.  I've noticed some homes, with their overabundance of orange and black lights, blow-up monsters, and other scarey, evil looking creatures, leave them up FOREVER.  (Don't get me started!) Now, I will admit, when our children were little, we also decorated , usually a day or two before the official trick or treat night.  At that time, there were no orange and black lights. We usually hung some of that fake cobweb stuff with spiders and bats and for a few years we had a door mat that spewed screams and weird noises when you stepped on it.  Usually, the decos came down with in the week (unlike my Christmas ones that my husband would like left up until spring, I think I made it to Valentines Day one year -NOT KIDDING).  My point is...these spooky, scarey decorations get left up right until time for the Christmas ones to go up.  Where did Thanksgiving go?  Have you noticed in the stores we skip right from swim suits to Halloween to Christmas?  No Thanksgiving, unless you count a few paper mache pumpkins and silk maple leaves.  

So, in honor of Thanksgiving, here's a little round up....it's more than turkey!!!!!

A wreath made of natural things....go scrounge in your yard or take a walk in the country and pick up stuff.  Lots more great Thanksgiving ideas here.

Love this!!!! Find more great suggestions on this web site.

Something to think about........... I found that on a blog called spilledmilkshake.com.

And who can think of Thanksgiving without thinking of this?  For more Thanksgiving thoughts check out this blog.

And this........yum !!  If you're into frugal living then check this out.  (btw, my turkey never looks like this)

The BHG never fails if you're looking for decorating ideas!  I love these wreaths. So pretty!

Personally, I would love to skip over Halloween and go right to Thanksgiving.  What does your family do for Thanksgiving?  We get as many of us as possible together for the day and have the traditional turkey with all the fixin's meal.  My daughter makes the pies because she makes the best pie crust ever!  For those of us who can't be together, there's always a few phone calls. At some point around that time many of us pile into cars and meet up at my parents house.  Thanksgiving Day also marks a very important day in our house..... it's the official, Mom approved, first day of Christmas music!  We listen to it as we cook, as we drive.......all other cd's are tucked away, the record player is dusted off and the LP's come out of hiding.  And....the cheesey Christmas movies!! Can't wait!!

It's coming!!! Yea! 

But first, let's remember to be thankful, for the good and the bad (wow, that's hard).  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28 NIV

The Harvest of Grace Book Review

The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall, is the third book of the Ada’s House series.  I had read the first two quite a while ago but had forgotten the characters and plots.  Fortunately, Woodsmall introduces this book with a ‘the story so far’ prelude which refreshed my memory.  While the characters from the first two books are involved in this one, the story line revolves around a lesser character from a previous book, Aaron, and a new character, Sylvia.

Sylvia, the oldest of 8 daughters, loves farming. Her father has let her work the farm but when it comes to decisions, he leaves her out of the process. She falls in love with a young Amish man but when he asks to marry her, she hesitates because she has overheard her father discussing his plans to turn the farm over to him after he and Sylvia marry. Because of her indecision, he ends up marring someone else, her sister. A few years later she has an incident with him that shames her, so she asks to leave the family farm. While her father knows nothing of the shameful incident that occurred, he agrees to allow her to work for an older couple, the Blanks, whose daughter has died a year ago and whose son is off at rehab for drinking. She becomes like a daughter to them and is slowly making their farm profitable.  However, when the son, Aaron comes home, all that changes. He has come home to try to convince his father to sell the farm. Sylvia and Aaron end up having to work together and they soon find themselves attracted to each other. They each have different goals for the farm. She hopes to make it profitable so the Blanks can continue to live there. Aaron, on the other hand, wants to make it just profitable enough to pay off the debts and sell it.  While Aaron continues to fight his addiction and the contentious relationship with his father, he and Sylvia find forgiveness, acceptance and love.

There a several sub-plots based on characters from the previous two books in the series which add another layer of intrigue and emotion.  This third book brings all the characters and stories from all three books to a pleasing and satisfying concusion.  It is a wonderful, uplifting book, a loving portrayal of Old Order Amish life.

The author provides an added bonus with a list of characters and a glossary.
To read the first chapter click on the link below:
The Harvest of Grace by Cindy Woodsmall (ch. 1 excerpt)

I received a complimentary advance reading copy of this book from Blogging for Books and WaterBrook Press  through their book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed above are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

A bit of this....a bit of that.....

So.....I don't have a book review ready , no contest, no insightful ponderings. I'm just going to show you what I've been up to lately.

We had some cooler days last week so I spent some time on my front porch watching these little beauties:

See him there on the phone line?

As far as I can tell, I have four regular feeders (?), feedees(?), feedists (?). Anyway, there are four that come and eat. One is a bully and doesn't like it when the others are there. If he weren't so cute, I'd get mad at him.

I've also made a new hat pattern and posted the hat in my Etsy shop.

Now your little 'punkin' can look like a little pumpkin!

And, because I apparently had nothing better to do.......

I made something from these:

This is what I came up with.................

TA DA!!!!!!  My first, and probably last attempt at garden art:

And remenber when I showed you my front yard garden earlier?

Well, I told you then that the green and white ground cover would all come back, and boy did it!  Along with a bunch of other stuff, like clover and crabgrass.  So here's what it looks like today...

Note to self......do not plant trailing nasturtium next year. I thought they would just crawl around and blossom throughout, but there were/are very few blossoms and lots of long, leggy stems.  Also, I'm gonna have to transplant alot of those hostas.  And can you even see my cute little shrubs in all that foliage?  Trust me, they're there.

Now, I just have decide how I'm going to decorate that area for Christmas

since I don't have the humongous bush there.

Any ideas?

I'm linked HERE: