Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Folks! 

Well the day has arrived! Happy Halloween to all those that celebrate the spooky fun today. My kiddos have school ....and even though my teenager feels too old to dress up anymore, my daughter wore her costume to school today. I'll share it in pics at the end of this post. 

Hope you all had a great weekend! We had a fun one around here. Of course doing Halloween prep: putting out spooky decorations, grabbing final costume necessities, and finally carving our pumpkins. But I especially had fun Saturday night as Hubby and I got to get out for a date night. We don't do that enough and it was fun to just be a couple for the night and not "mom and dad". We did some shopping, went to a movie and grabbed a late night dinner. A winner in my book!  

The week ahead looks relatively calm after today. We always host Halloween fun at our house for several of our friends and family - so lots of action tonight and I'm busy finishing preparations today. But less appointments and crazy things going on this week...so I'm looking forward to catching up on blog time and visiting you wonderful friends a bit more! 

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Cloudy and unfortunately they say chances of rain later today.  No bueno for trick-or-treating. But temps should be in 50's - which is really mild for the northwoods.  Plus, looks like mild upper 50's weather all week. And maybe even 60's this weekend! Crazy for the northwoods in November!!

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Coffee and a yogurt (chobani peach yogurt with bits of dark chocolate and pistachios - good stuff)

  AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I see a giant spider on a web covering my office window - eek!! I also see some ghosty things we put in the trees waving and bobbing in the breeze - pretty creepy! Here's a pic:

See the giant spider and some of the ghosts out there?? Yikes! Send help!!

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to some Praise and Worship to help balance out all of the creepy of today. Plus, drinking lots of water to combat all the sugar!! Lol ;) 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Still more clean up and prep to be done for party. Some final cleaning. Of course the endless laundry chores. And need to set up my haunted snack station and get myself ready later. I got myself and jaunty little headband hat with a skeleton and some skeletal jewelry to wear with my black sweater....and I'll do up my eyeliner a bit. Gotta look the part to hand out candy, right?  BOO!!

ON TODAY'S TO DO LIST:

Finish house chores and cleaning. Prep snacks. Order pizzas later and get hot cider going on the stove. I have to-go cups for the cider -  for those friends of ours that need to combat the chill when taking their little trick-or-treaters out. I do an adult version with butterscotch schnapps and whipped cream with cinnamon sprinkle. Caramel apple cider anyone? 

Later today when I pick up kiddos from school we'll pop by the facility where my MIL is so Annie can show off her costume. I think my FIL will be there too. She'll make the rounds so all her grandparents can see her. ;)  

 

CURRENTLY READING:

Lots of magazines right now.

ON THE TV TODAY:

A lot of the usuals I mentioned before. Except, I don't watch The Good Place anymore. That new one wasn't doing if for me. But I started watching American Housewife which is pretty funny.  I'm looking forward to Halloween DWTS tonight!!

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: pizzas delivered, cockroach veggie tray, caramel apple nachos with worms, spider infested crackers and cheese, lizard chips, hot apple cider, mummy drink boxes and other various drinks, haunted house brownie

TUESDAY:  leftovers from the pizza and chicken almondine from the weekend

WEDNESDAY:  tomato and alfredo sauce pasta bake, toasted rosemary bread with roasted garlic spread, caesar salad

THURSDAY: sausage and cheese breakfast crescents, fruit

FRIDAY: grilled cheese and grilled cheddar and apple sandwiches with creamy tomato soup

** I promise I'm finally going to bake the chocolate chip potato chip cookies this week and will share the recipe!

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT:

Scrapbook catch up. Some holiday projects.

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

I will share the cookies this week. I will share the chicken almondine recipe soon too! Good comfort food. ;) 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Couldn't resist - thought this was hilarious! ;) 

FROM THE CAMERA:

Loving cozy nights with my Ruby. And a shameless selfie from my instagram that I took before heading out for date night.

Creepy crawlies, ghouls, a haunted house brownie, jack-o-lanterns and mummy drink boxes ready to go.

Before school today. Rocker Chick with green hair, nose ring and face tattoo. Not to mention the "attitude". Please tell me this isn't what teenage life with her is going to be?? Aaaackk!!

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

A Lovely Autumn Walk

I know I'm so late with this post, but I still wanted to share some lovely walks I shared with Ruby on a couple of fine Autumn days not too long ago. However, it seems like overnight around here a lot of the leaves have fallen....so it's not quite as pretty anymore. ::sigh:: The signal of the end of another Fall season that I will miss so much.....until next year!! ;)

ONE

Of course we start out in our backyard where we tell Ruby to quit chasing the squirrels up the trees and that it's time to get her collar on and get ready for our walk! She knows the word "walk" and comes running immediately and gets so excited she bounces around like a bunny until I get her collar on her.

TWO

And then we walk along several different roads around our neighborhood and down along the bay itself. I love crunching the leaves and pine needles under my feet. Such a satisfying sound! These photos were over 2 different walks. One was a walk that was earlier in the day and a brighter day in general. The other walk was around sunset time and a darker day - that's why the brightness and trees may look different in each photo. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful area with lovely parks and streets to stroll with my Ruby.

THREE

And of course right along the bay itself. There's one road that has such a perfect lookout spot, and so of course it's my favorite place to grab a photo opportunity!! You can just barely see our dock way off in the distance and in more upper right of this photo.

FOUR

There are many lovely and very charming homes in my neighborhood. And I love the driveway in these last 2 pics. They always dress up their mailbox, the little area along their driveway, and then they have lamposts up their lane that they hang flowers from in the summer and leaf baskets in the Fall. 

 FIVE

And of course there's no place like home! After a lovely walk I always love to walk up our own long driveway lined with big pine trees (sorry forgot to take a photo from there). And then you come up to our address sign (I discreetly covered our address with the "leaves").  Please excuse our driveway - my hubby recently repaired some rough spots with tar until they can come and redo it next Spring. We also have landscapers coming next Spring to plant and decorate around our address sign. I think it will be pretty cute!  And of course I'm keeping it real with kiddos' bikes and hockey net out. Just daily life her folks. ;) 

Now this weekend we're getting ready to hang up our spooky Halloween decorations and put out our jack-o-lanterns and have them glow. I can't believe Halloween is Monday already!! Have a wonderfully cozy late Autumn weekend my Friends. Thank you for joining me on my walks around the neighborhood. ;) 

I'm linking with Amy of Love Made My Home for Five on Friday.