SHORTER DAYS AND A FALL MANTEL

Well, I believe I am finally done with all of the tomatoes and my tomato escapades.  The Husband went up to the lake alone this past weekend and I was so afraid he'd come back with more of them.  I made the Chicken Avocado and Tomato Pizza from the Pioneer Woman website and I was a little disappointed.  That's okay, each time you try something new, you come away with a different experience.  On my part, I never should have used a store bought crust.  It was awful.  It was terribly hard to work with, became very soggy with the juice from the veggies, and it really tasted bland and doughy.  I thought with all the other preparation, that I would opt out for taking a shortcut here...never again.  The website does give a pizza crust recipe.  That said, the rest of the pizza was rather bland.  All of the ingredients were great and I would even had guessed they'd work well together, but it was just one of those things.  Very tasteless and boring.  Nothing complimenting anything.  The only "bite" was the red onion.  But don't let me stop you from making this...maybe it was just my own little taste buds!

In addition to the pizza, I made fresh salsa for the party I was going to on Sunday.  This is something you can really play around with.  I just skimmed over some recipes on the Food Network and picked out some key ingredients and then used what I had on hand; yellow onions, green pepper, black beans, tomatoes and cilantro.  I seasoned it with chopped fresh garlic, S&P, red pepper flakes and some cumin.  My daughter makes it very similarly and adds some avocado and a jalapeno as well.  I think it went over well.  I don't know about you but I find chopping to be so relaxing.  Maybe that's why I like to make soups and stews in the winter (and that's not too far off! ;-) So other then a few gallon freezer bags tucked away for another time...there are no more tomatoes lurking under newspaper on my kitchen counters!

Saturday was my daughter in law, Mary Clare's sister, Katie's baby shower.  I found out the night before that over fifty people were coming.  I nearly packed a bag and went to the lake with The Husband.  I'm not a big fan of large groups and although I had met a few of MC's aunts, I really wouldn't know anyone.  But I soldiered on...it was the right thing to do.  I ended up having a  ball of course.  I sat with two ladies I didn't know and we talked the afternoon away.  Tents were set up in the backyard and the food was catered; little chicken wraps and salads and fruit.  

 

Here is MC holding up a little jacket I bought the baby.  See the little sparkles?  I always loved buying little girl clothes.  MC will find out the sex of their baby in another week.  I'm so excited!

There were a lot of cute ideas.  The color scheme was a pretty minty green and coral.  I'm not sure if that's how Katie has the nursery done up.  This is the mimosa bar.  It was very sweet.

There was a clothesline filled with white onesies and bibs for guests to decorate.  Letter stencils were out along with little animal stencils and paint.  

Now you know why I don't craft.  Thank goodness I didn't have to put my name on it.  Emily saw this picture and nearly gagged.  "First of all, mom...it's 'Quiet as a mouse', and 'Cute as a button'.  And that does not look like a mouse at all so it would read, 'Cute as a rat!'"  Well, what do you expect after a few peach mimosa's?

The following day was a birthday party for my nephew who turned the big "5".  Yay!  It was a fun family backyard barbecue.  Can you tell we've been having gorgeous weather?  Mid seventies!  The days are getting shorter and hazier.  Here is a little group of us, clockwise from the top:  Daughter Emily, DIL Mary Clare, Moi, and SIL Karen.  

Yesterday morning it felt good to be on my own again and I decided to change the mantel a little.  I normally wouldn't start to get into fall so soon but I had a real beachy theme going on here all summer long and it really looked out of place.  So I just removed all the blue ocean hues and starfish and gathered up some things with deep colors.

It's not hard to find old books around here, that's all The Husband reads.  

I love this sign.  It's from one of those flash sale deals.  I'm not always crazy about them but I have gotten a few really unique pieces from Antique Farmhouse.  

I've been spending an hour or two out in my yard each day, just pulling weeds and doing a lot of pruning.  Slowly making room in the shed that went all willy nilly during the summer when I rummaged for things.  I actually had some flower pots that didn't drain well and the flowers drowned from all the rain we had.  I'm going to have to drill extra holes in them for next year.  This weekend I hope to get back to the nursery at the lake and see how things are marked down at this point in time.  I have plenty of room here for more perennials, the only new things I planted this summer were day lilies.  This is the Sedum that I've had forever.  With the trees being trimmed up so drastically last summer, these plants just multiplied in size.  I have them in vases everywhere.  No water...they last for weeks before they start to fade. 

For the past few weeks I have been reluctantly blogging in my family room because I have a better connection being closer to the modem.  I rarely spend time back here, it looks out over the backyard and for some reason I always preferred to be at the other end of the house near the front door, kitchen and living room.  Well, I am really enjoying being in this room with the windows wide open and the breeze blowing in.  I grab a huge mug of coffee so I don't have to keep winding my way down 2 hallways to the kitchen for more.  The kids know to come to the back door to find me.    Layla has a comfy nest on the sofa pillows and Milo likes to curl up right here at my feet.  This is the only room in our house that has carpet and as of tomorrow morning, this will be gone.  Believe me, this is one small area that is not terribly worn.  I came home from the gym this morning and carted off a few boxes of accessories and some lamps and such to the den, and then tonight my sons will come to help The Husband move furniture.  I'm very excited.  

Gosh, I wish I had something to complain or lament about!  Just life as usual here.  This weekend we will be back to our regularly scheduled program at the lake, which I believe will be one big chill party! :)

Jane xx

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