{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 11/25/2019 }

Good morning sweet friends, hope you're all doing well.

It's been a week since I've posted on the blog, things have been insane around here.  Aside from the house stuff, my older brother flew in from South Africa, last Friday, to spend Thanksgiving with us and to surprise my other brother.

They hadn't seen each other in 11 years, so the reunion was so sweet to witness.  I'm blessed to have been able to watch it unfold before my eyes.

On Sunday the 1st of December, my younger brother and his family are also arriving from South Africa, and they will be spending Christmas with us.  For the first time in 11 or 12 years, all four of us sibling will be together in the same place.  So exciting!!!

So yes, lots has been happening here.  House wise, we are on the last stretch, the repairs have yet to be done and we are predicted to close on the house in exactly a week.  I don't know what the seller is thinking, I just hope they get what needs doing, done, within the next few days.

Actually, I know that God is in control and it will all be done and dusted in plenty of time.

Right, let's get going with our day, I have a lot to do.  I will put up a post this week with photos of Thanksgiving, but aside from that I really don't know how much I'll be around.  Apologies for that.

Anyway, enough talking.   

The weather outside is::::

Though it's been pretty chilly, today we are expecting a bit of a warm up.  It also looks like half the week we will have temperatures in the 70's, how weird.  I get so frustrated with the constant change in temperatures, as it just causes health issues and everyone around is sniffling and cold.  Crazy weather!     

Monday - Partly cloudy, 68
Tuesday - Partly cloudy and wind, 77
Wednesday - Mostly cloudy, 52
Thursday - Rain, 48
Friday - Thunderstorms, 71
Saturday - Partly cloudy and win, 63
Sunday - Sunny and wind, 49

On the breakfast plate this morning::::

Just had coffee with Peppermint Creamer.  I'll have some toast later.          

As I look outside my window:::

The sun has risen although it's cloudy outside.  I always enjoy this time of year, early mornings, golden light and frost shining on the grass.   

Right now I am::::

Just said goodbye to my husband, he is off to work.  I am sitting in bed with Marley, and working on this post, while trying to catch up on youtube videos.  I'm about a week behind so have lots to catch up on.          

As I look around the house::::

I need to tidy up a little, with family over there's always a bit more to tidy up.  My kitchen needs some work today, I have dishes from last night's dinner, in the sink just waiting for me.          

On today's to do list::::

Laundry....I have a load of whites to wash, everything else is done.           
Cleaning....Basic every day chores, also want to vacuum the carpets.         
Cooking.....We have leftover Lasagna and Chicken Stroganoff, so that's lunch taken care of.  Dinner will be Chicken Pot Pie and a salad.         

On this week's to do list::::

1. Need to pull the turkey's out of the freezer today, and find some room in the refrigerator for them to thaw. 
2. Cook all the sweet potatoes so they're ready for the casserole and pie. 
3. Make pie dough for Thanksgiving pies.
4. Shell out more pecans for the pie.
5. Pull out the serving tables and get the table ready for Thanksgiving.

On the menu this week::::

Monday - Chicken Pot Pie and Salad
Tuesday - Family Burrito Bake, Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday - Spicy 3 Pepper Fettucine with Italian Sausage
Thursday - Thanksgiving
Friday -  Leftovers
Saturday -
Sunday -

Currently reading::::

Stay by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

On the TV this week::::

Youtube:
Homemaking Vlogs
Hallmark Christmas Movies

Will also be watching some classics for this time of year, like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and some National Lampoons Vacation, Christmas Vacation etc.  

What I am creating at the moment::::

Rozeta CAL from Lilla Bjorn.     

New recipe I tried or want to try this week::::

Nothing new on the meal plan, just sticking to good ol' favorites.   

Favorite photo from the camera:::: 

Prayers, Inspirational Quotes or Devotionals::::

1 Kings 8:56

"Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant."


* The past few weeks I have had to go in and delete links that are NOT related to Happy Homemaker Monday.  Folks, I have asked repeatedly to not add random links to other posts on your blogs, or just a link to your blog in general.  It is a lot of work for me to sit and go through and manually delete them from the linky, and it's also incredibly rude to the other participants who are just looking for the Happy Homemaker Monday posts.  Please be respectful!!!

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - 11/18/2019 }

Good morning friends, hope you're staying warm.

How was your weekend?

Mine was wonderful, aside from the usual homemaking chores, we harvested our pecans and the rest of the weekend was spent relaxing.  I even took a nap on Saturday afternoon which is something I never do.  I'm not a napper, I find that if I do nap during the day, I wake up in a super foul mood lol

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.  We are expecting some small repairs to be done to the house, by the seller, and we're hoping that they get to it sometime this week.

Well, let's see what we have going on around blogland, shall we?   

The weather outside is::::

Though it's been pretty chilly, today we are expecting a bit of a warm up.  It also looks like half the week we will have temperatures in the 70's, how weird.  I get so frustrated with the constant change in temperatures, as it just causes health issues and everyone around is sniffling and cold.  Crazy weather!     

Monday - Sunny, 73
Tuesday - Mostly Sunny, 76
Wednesday - PM Rain,70
Thursday - Showers, 62
Friday - AM Showers, 50
Saturday - Sunny, 57
Sunday - Sunny, 65

On the breakfast plate this morning::::

Coffee with Coconut Creme Creamer.  I'm not sure what I'll have for breakfast, just not really feeling like eating anything at the moment.        

As I look outside my window:::

The sun is rising and it's casting the prettiest of orange light all around.  Fall is one of those seasons that make sunrises even more stunning than usual.  I don't know if it's the reflection of the golden light on the frost outside, but it looks absolutely magical. 

Right now I am::::

I just got hubby off to work and while he was driving off, 3 huge deer came running through our property and took off across the road, into the trees.  I always love this time of year because it's when we see a plethora of deer running around.

I am sitting in bed and working on this post, also forwarding some home related emails to my husband, watching a vlog on the tv and thinking about what I need to do today.         

As I look around the house::::

Everything is bathed in an orange glow.  My Autumn tree is lit in the corner of the dining room, making it all look so cozy and warm.        

On today's to do list::::

Laundry....Just have some kitchen towels that need washing.  Although I did all my laundry this weekend, the basket is full again.  What on earth?         
Cleaning....I want to give my carpets a good clean.  It's been a few weeks and with the constant influx of inspectors and different people in and out, they need a good cleaning.       
Cooking.....I'll be making the kids and I some Grilled Cheese sandwiches for lunch.  Dinner will be Portuguese Chicken and Rice.       

On this week's to do list::::

1. Put up the pine garlands on the windows
2. Perimenopause doctor's appointment, this afternoon
3. Clean Carpets
4. Make pie dough for Thanksgiving pies

On the menu this week::::

Monday - Portuguese Chicken and Rice
Tuesday - Sheet Pan Pepperoni Pizza
Wednesday - Bio's Almondegas (Great Grandma's meatballs), Fries
Thursday - Onion and Potato Soup, Sandwiches
Friday -  Easy Chicken Pot Pie, Salad
Saturday - Hot and Spicy Lasagna, Foccacia
Sunday -Brunch (Bacon, Maple Sausages, Eggs, Biscuits and Gravy)

Currently reading::::

Stay by Catherine Ryan Hyde.

On the TV this week::::

Youtube:
Homemaking Vlogs
Hallmark Christmas Movies

Haven't had much time for actual TV watching or catching up on any shows.

What I am creating at the moment::::

Rozeta CAL from Lilla Bjorn.     

>New recipe I tried or want to try this week::::

While meal planning for the next two weeks, I pulled out my Pampered Chef cookbooks and jotted down a few meals or desserts that I wanted to try.  One of those was for a really easy and quick homemade carrot cake.  I made it yesterday and it was divine.
I'll share the recipe sometime today. 

Favorite photo from the camera:::: 

Prayers, Inspirational Quotes or Devotionals::::

♥♥♥ Curt's stepfather is still gaining strength so that he can have his heart surgery.  He did get to go home from rehabilitation on Friday, so that's wonderful news.   
♥♥♥ My mother in law, she is continuing her infusion treatments for breast cancer.
♥♥♥ Our home buying journey.  The inspections went amazingly well.  As you know, we are using a VA loan and have now been conditionally approved.  It basically means, they just needed some more documentation sent in before giving the go ahead to close on the house.
However, there are some minor repairs that the appraiser wants done before closing, basically the whole trim around the house needs to be peeled and repainted.  Our back patio overhang is super old, the paint is peeling and there are some rotten wood planks.  Hubby and I had full intentions of redoing it, but it's not up to us, so the VA wants the seller to replace all that wood and repaint it all.

This all needs to be done within the next two weeks, so we will be on them to get this done as soon as possible.  Thank you all so much for the prayers you continue sending our way.  We are ever so close to owning this home, and it really would be a dream come true. 


* The past few weeks I have had to go in and delete links that are NOT related to Happy Homemaker Monday.  Folks, I have asked repeatedly to not add random links to other posts on your blogs, or just a link to your blog in general.  It is a lot of work for me to sit and go through and manually delete them from the linky, and it's also incredibly rude to the other participants who are just looking for the Happy Homemaker Monday posts.  Please be respectful!!!

{ Harvesting Pecans }

Typically, we like to get the Pecans harvested as soon as they're ready, which for us could mean middle of October, but usually very beginning of November.

However, with all the craziness happening around here, it is not something we had a chance to do, until yesterday.

We've been blessed with 6 Pecan trees on the property.

When we first moved into this house, I had no clue we had so many, and the first year we didn't even realize there were pecans to harvest.  The second year we had quite a bit to harvest and we got as many as we could.

What we also didn't realize is that Pecan trees don't produce a huge crop, every single year.  So last year we were all set on harvesting and were quite disappointed not to see many at all.

This year however, we have an abundance.  Two of our trees put out a huge crop, enough that last week, my husband went out back to check on the trees and came back after an hour, with a full box.

Yesterday we decided that we needed to take some time and get out there, so we could gather as many as we could before they went bad, and before the squirrels went through them.

As it is, one of the trees was depleted and all that was left were a bunch of shells scattered at it's feet, with half eaten pecans.  Those silly squirrels!

However, there were still plenty to harvest.  We spent, maybe two hours and came back in with boxes full.  I have never seen so many pecans in my life.

The job is far from over, I now need to cure all these pecans.  If you don't cure them, you run the risk of mold growing and the nuts being inedible.

Now that we've harvested them, they will need to be placed in a single layer, on a surface that allows for good ventilation.  They will have to sit like this for about 2 weeks, and then we will shell them, freeze some, make pies, make pecan milk and all sorts of goodies.

These are the kind of chores that some people will turn their noses at, wonder why bother with all this work, just go to the store and buy them.  Absolutely, if you're willing to pay over 6 dollars for a small bag of pecans.  I don't know how much they are where you live, but I've always found pecans to be incredibly expensive, it's almost heartbreaking paying that much for a small bag of crushed pecans.

When you have an abundance that the Lord has blessed you with, you use it.  You make the effort, you harvest and cure and then enjoy the rewards.

For us, it's just part of living in the country, of homesteading so to speak.

It's not easy work, and after harvesting for just a few hours yesterday, my lower back was killing me, but it's work that I do with a smile on my face. 

If we are blessed to stay in this house, Curt and I have so many plans for the property, and I can not wait to take you along.

{ Let's talk }

It is so chilly outside, the grass is filled with sparkling icy drops, the car windows are covered in a white icy film, and our heaters are humming in the background.

I have a feeling that this winter is going to be colder than usual.

But come on in and sit with me a little, let's talk.

I want to start by apologizing for the lack of actual posts.  I have put up a book review pretty much each day, but I don't consider those proper blog posts.  Maybe I'm wrong, but for me, blogging is about sharing our lives, exchanging ideas and recipes, tips and so forth.

And so when I go a few days without doing that, I start getting antsy.  It's a bit unnerving to look at my blog and see only reviews or posts that don't reflect what is going on in my life, at that specific moment.

So I wanted to come in and talk to you real quick.

I'm doing well, my family is doing well, so let's just get that out of the way already.

However, you know what is currently going on behind closed doors, and it's been a flurry of busy, stressful, paperwork coming out of the backside, few weeks.

Outside, completely unaware of our current state of mind, the season continues to do it's thing.  The trees have now either completely lost their leaves, or are in a state of undress.  Bare branches intermingled with branches that have some leaves clinging on for dear life.

There is something so magical about the Fall season, for me, it's especially beautiful when driving by and seeing the changing colors of the trees.  Dark reds, bright oranges and muted yellows, all in a line, as if waiting to be inspected.

But I'm getting off track here, after all I invited you in for a chat, not a lesson on the seasons.

I guess what I want to say is that, right now, my posting will be sporadic.  Not by personal choice, but rather an imposed brief, and I mean VERY brief hiatus of the posts you love reading, and really the ones I most enjoy sharing.

My attention is needed elsewhere.

We have had a ton of inspections, seems like every other day there is a new person walking through my house, and for someone as private as I am (I'm talking about having people in my house, kind of private), it all feels quite unsettling.

Strangers prodding and poking into every corner, invading your space, questioning and inquiring, suggesting and demanding and so on.

Boy it's been a lesson, in many ways......actually, it's been an incredible journey.

The constant barrage of calls and emails, signing of this and that, providing this and that document, having to rely on my memory for things from years prior that frankly, I can no longer remember.  The stress, the uncertainty of it all.

I have told my husband that I feel like I've been holding my breath for weeks, and I'm quite ready to exhale and take in a deep fresh breath of air.

So as much as I wish I could be waking up every morning and just worrying about what I need to clean and cook, or do for homeschool, I feel that I can't concentrate on anything much other than the house buying process.

Forgive me, we have but 2 more weeks of this and then I can move on and go right back to homemaking full time. 

The blogging will be kind of sporadic,  but at least you will know why.  It might not make sense, or have any rhyme or reason, and I hate doing that because I'm quite an organized and methodical person, so trust me when I say that I'm counting down the days until this is all done and dusted.

You may see some random posts here and there.  I'll actually have a post for you tomorrow, as this afternoon we are gathering all the pecans from the yard, and I'll also be making my Christmas fruit cakes (poor things should have been made weeks ago, but it's yet another thing that took backseat).

It is 8:30am and I'm still sitting in bed.  I've had coffee and I've had toast but I haven't had the energy or motivation, to get up, get dressed and get started with the day.

I've allowed myself to go slow this morning, everyone needs a break now and again, right?

Anyway, in brief, I know I'm a little MIA from the blog and not exactly putting out the content I want to, but it's temporary and before you know it, I'll be back.

Have a wonderful weekend friends, relax and enjoy time with your family.

Blessings!

{ November Road by Lou Berney - TLC Book Tours }

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (October 22, 2019)

“When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can’t put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional.” –Stephen King, New York Times bestselling author
Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly • Washington Post • AARP • Newsweek 

• Dallas Morning News • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • Crime Reads
Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone.


Frank Guidry’s luck has finally run out.

A loyal street lieutenant to New Orleans’ mob boss Carlos Marcello, Guidry has learned that everybody is expendable. But now it’s his turn—he knows too much about the crime of the century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Within hours of JFK’s murder, everyone with ties to Marcello is turning up dead, and Guidry suspects he’s next: he was in Dallas on an errand for the boss less than two weeks before the president was shot. With few good options, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas, to see an old associate—a dangerous man who hates Marcello enough to help Guidry vanish.

Guidry knows that the first rule of running is “don’t stop,” but when he sees a beautiful housewife on the side of the road with a broken-down car, two little daughters and a dog in the back seat, he sees the perfect disguise to cover his tracks from the hit men on his tail. Posing as an insurance man, Guidry offers to help Charlotte reach her destination, California. If she accompanies him to Vegas, he can help her get a new car.

For her, it’s more than a car— it’s an escape. She’s on the run too, from a stifling existence in small-town Oklahoma and a kindly husband who’s a hopeless drunk.
It’s an American story: two strangers meet to share the open road west, a dream, a hope—and find each other on the way.

Charlotte sees that he’s strong and kind; Guidry discovers that she’s smart and funny. He learns that’s she determined to give herself and her kids a new life; she can’t know that he’s desperate to leave his old one behind.

Another rule—fugitives shouldn’t fall in love, especially with each other. A road isn’t just a road, it’s a trail, and Guidry’s ruthless and relentless hunters are closing in on him. But now Guidry doesn’t want to just survive, he wants to really live, maybe for the first time.

Everyone’s expendable, or they should be, but now Guidry just can’t throw away the woman he’s come to love.
And it might get them both killed.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

© Brandon Michael Smith

About Lou Berney

Lou Berney is the author of three previous novels, Gutshot Straight, Whiplash River, and multiple prize-winning The Long and Faraway Gone. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. He lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Find out more about Lou at his website, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.


My Thoughts:
 President Kennedy's assassination will forever be remembered.

It is the catapult to the story that takes place within this novel.  It is NOT what the story is focused on, but rather the setting and era that brings to light a mafia character on the run, and a mother and her children caught in this crossfire.

I am not a fan of anything to do with the mafia, so I wouldn't say that I loved this book, but credit has to be given where it's due, and Lou Berney is a fantastic writer that seamlessly transports us to a world that we are completely oblivious to.

Charlotte and her two children are on the run, all she wants as a mother, is to protect her children and get as far as possible from her alcoholic husband.  She doesn't realize that joining forces with Frank, who can facilitate her journey to California, may just be too much to handle.

Frank is a lieutenant for the mob boss in New Orleans, and he knows far too much about what is happening in Dallas.  He also knows what happens to those that know too much, and he is not ready to be disposed of as easily.  Going on the run is the only thing he can think of, and as a mob member he knows that will probably mean, running for the rest of his life.

When he comes upon Charlotte and her daughters, broken down on the side of the road, he realizes that they could be the best coverup, pretending to be a happy family traveling across the country may just throw his hit men off.

I'm pretty sure you know what comes next, a love story blossoming in the middle of blood, violence and the mob.

If you like historical fiction, which I do, and find the whole mob thing interesting, this may just be the book for you.

Thank you to TLC Tours and the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.