{ A very Fall day in the life }

Good morning friends, come on in out of the cold.  It is a mere 50 degrees here this morning, and quite nippy outside.  I have some hot coffee with homemade vanilla syrup, just waiting for you, so grab a cuppa and sit with me for a little.

It's been a while since I've done a proper sit down chat and a day in the life. 



The days are getting shorter, the mornings are still pitch black and we've dipped down in the temperatures.  I think it's safe to say that we are finally in Fall.  There are a few days here and there with some hotter days, but nothing beyond 80 degrees, and that is quite alright with me.



I've had a pretty slow week has contributed immensely to my well being and rested state of mind.  Not having to rush about every day, has recharged my batteries, and given me the opportunity to go back to doing what I love more than anything in this world.  Being a homemaker.



I've pottered around, caught up on projects that needed tending to, fluffed pillows, rearranged and reorganized, enjoyed copious cups of coffee and chai tea, indulged in fat slices of yummy homemade cake, read books, watched documentaries and prepared even more comfort home cooked meals.

In short, I've been thrown back into homemaker heaven.



I'm not quite yet ready to give up my clothes drying outside, so even though it's been a bit cooler, I still make full use of nature and its warm sun. 

I'm loving the new washer, though it's been a bit of a learning curve as it doesn't have the agitator that I'm so used to, but nonetheless the fact that I can wash a king size comforter with no problem, or two queen size comforters at the same time, is well worth the non agitator issue.

Does it wash as well as the older models?  To be honest, I don't think it does, but it may also be the fact that I'm learning how to use it, which settings are best and so on. 



I've been meaning to set up my coffee corner for a while, but never could figure out how to arrange it, what to put where and so forth.  I sat for what seemed like an eternity, although in reality it was 40 minutes, shuffling things back and forth, moving them from one counter to the other, until I could come up with a set up that was functional and pretty too.  Well, pretty is totally subjective to each person isn't it?

Pretty to me, that's better.







In this little basket I have my coffee and tea in the white canisters, in the little green bottle is the sugar which actually works perfectly to pour out either straight onto your coffee, or onto a spoon, and then a little milk jug with my sweet n low.



Next to it are my Keurig pods, the Keurig and the water kettle.  It is so much easier to prepare myself a cup when I have everything in hand, instead of opening cabinets and pulling things out.

In the winter I plan on adding a hot chocolate station too, but don't ask me how or where, I have no clue and no doubt will once again sit staring at the counters for another 40 minutes.



My mother in law asked if I wanted these two old cast iron pans that had been sitting at her old house.  Looking at them you would think that the best decision would be to pop them in the trash, but really, it's not.  They are very easy to bring back to life.  It will take some time and a lot of elbow grease but we will get there.

The first day I left them sitting overnight in a bath of vinegar and baking soda.  It removed quite a bit of the rust and in the morning I was able to use a steel wool pad to scrub off more of the rust and caked on pieces.

I would love to say that it all came out and they are pristine looking, but they're not.  It will take me quite a while longer to fix them, but I did go ahead and rub some coconut oil on, and season them.  I didn't want them sitting around rusting again until I had time to put some more hard work into them.



I've made more homemade vanilla syrup, I do have a recipe over on the food blog if it's something you're interested in trying.

Between all this, I've been working with Nick on homeschooling, and planning Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

We still have our pumpkins to carve and I'm hoping we can go ahead and do that tomorrow, because then Jasmine is back to work on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Although, if not tomorrow we can do it Sunday afternoon once she's home from work.  We will see, I may just carve mine on my own when I get a chance and then let the others do theirs in their own time.

I've been watching a lot of homemaking documentaries, vlogs, reading blogs and so on.

I do miss the old blogging kind of ways, everything has changed so much and it's hard to find as many homemaking blogs as there were back in the day.  Blogs are more commercialized lately, more about business and how to blog (I have never understood these articles, I thought blogging was just about being ourselves and writing about our lives).

We used to share our lives, our homemaking ways, tips and tricks and encourage each other through the blogs, but that seems to be a way of the past and there are very few of us out here still sticking to that kind blogging.

I have been lucky to find quite a few like minded blogs still out there and it's such a joy reading through them.  They not only continue the same style of writing, but even the blog templates and way of blogging is the same as it was when I first started in 2006.

You can find a lot of these blogs on my sidebar, right under my favorite reads and inspiration.  I need to give those lists a quick clean up though, some of the links on there are for blogs no longer updating.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to, enjoying Fall and all my days at home with nowhere to go.

I'll leave you with my plans for the rest of today.  Hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday and thank you, again, for stopping by and sharing a cup of coffee with me.


WHAT I'M COOKING:

I am about to go have some toast with cottage cheese for breakfast.  For lunch I have leftover roasted brussells sprouts and squash that I'm going to warm up, and I also think I may have a sardine sandwich.  I'm pretty sure a bunch of you just crinkled your noses but I love sardine sandwiches, it's something I grew up eating and it always reminds me of home.  For dinner we are having a good ol' Spaghetti with some Salad. 


WHAT I'M WATCHING:

General Hospital
Catherine the Great
Sanditon
Homemaking and Vlogtober vlogs on Youtube



WHAT I'M DOING:

Daily cleaning chores
Making Chelsea Buns
Reorganizing our closet