Gearing Up For Fall and Winter

A little fall color and lights have brought some little joys to my home. I owe many thanks to you dear blogging friends for inspiring and encouraging me to decorate my home. I will be addressing my fear of decorating at the end of this post.
This is a big year for me. All four of my children are attending public school rather than homeschool. My sister Sharon gave me this idea to have a folder for each child, with all their school information inside. Since there are three different schools involved this is an absolute must. School phone numbers and calendars, sports schedules all go into the file.
Victoria on school picture day. This is all new to us too and fun. The kids are excited about having student I.D. and official school pictures.
Corn from our garden. I blanched and froze 10 quarts yesterday.
Plumbs are ready. I have been canning them, but now I will make some plumb jelly, and dry a few.
This is my canning log. I keep a record of every pint and quart for each year. Its seen quite a few canning seasons as the water spots on the blue file testify.
Here are a couple sample pages from my canning log.
My daughter Jessica labels the blackberry jam for me.
My son Garrett scrubbed potatoes for me. After this we let them dry for a few hours in the shade on a hot day on the drive way. We then put them into burlap sacks.
We bought a 1/4 beef from our neighbor for the freezer. Jessica helps unload and record what we have. There are some nice steaks and lots of ground beef. I like knowing where the meat came from. Next summer we will have beef from our own cows.
Garrett helps stack it into the freezer for me. The kids are a huge help on the farm.
Okay, time for an evening bike ride. Our son, Harrison left his helmet at a friend's house, but we let him ride anyway. We only had one car pass us. The roads are pretty quiet out here.
Garrett enjoying the ride.
Jessica loves biking too.
My husband on his unique bike, which is great if you have a bad back, which he does not, but likes being able to look around more freely.
Our neighbor and her new Rottweiler puppy. We are going to get one too. All of our neighbors have dogs and most are Rottweilers.
Girls taking a break at another neighbor's house.
Harrison saying hello to their dogs.
I love the scenery out here. It's very peaceful.
Another neighbor's home.
Enjoying the quiet and peaceful surroundings.
It was a fun evening bike ride. Don't send the helmet police please. I could not find my helmet. I had it on my last bike ride; honest; and no cars so pretty safe!
Last but not least, a little fall decorating with orange lights. This is my ugly dark room, soon to be known as the gorgeous bright room . If you knew the real me, you'd know that I have a secret fear of decorating. This is my first attempt at fall decorating; honest, it's the truth. note: The cute kitchen on my header is from a magazine and not my decorating skills. I'm a wanna be.
I got lights and little fake leaves from a craft store and silk flowers and cute little ceramic pumpkins from the Dollar Tree.
I put them above our fireplace. My fear of decorating comes from not doing it, for lack of time; along with fear of failure. I think jumping right in and trying conquers the fear.
As scared as I was to attempt decorating, I was pleasantly surprised at the kids and my husband's reaction. They love it and want me to do more. "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family...She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her task...she is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." selected verses from Proverbs 31 ~ a model for me to look to. Have a pleasant day dear blogging friends. Kathi