Rocking Fall

 Leaves are almost gone

Crocheted cozy leg warmers for the winter. I followed this pattern. 

Rake and Stage + Veteran's Day

My parents' house is on the market, and has been now for a little bit. They found out Monday morning there was interest in an afternoon showing. Since they both worked on Veteran's Day, my mom asked me to rake and clean up. 

I know my mom's concerned about staying on top of all of the raking. She thinks a yard full of leaves could scare people away. But the longer I was out there, the more I noticed how many varieties of trees they have on their property. Some still had beautiful leaves hanging, so I clipped a few to bring inside.  

Well, Trader Joe's is on the way to their house, so I stopped and got a couple of things that I would want to walk in and see at a house showing. 

This bouquet from Trader Joe's has eucalyptus in it. Instead of having a candle lit during the showing, I was hoping the plants would make the house smell nice. 

Also on the way to my parent's house is my Grandpa's house. G is a WWII veteran and our normal tradition is to hang out on Veteran's Day, usually we go to lunch. This year, though, he already had plans which involved seeing Thor (sorry, G, I love ya, but I have to draw the line somewhere). Since I knew he was going to be out of the house, I made him some muffins and also bought him a goodie at Trader Joe's. Then I broke in to leave him his treat.

These muffins are so good! I make them every week for an in-between-smoothie-and-lunch snack. The glass pitcher behind them is also amazing. I mix everything right in the bowl and then just pour the batter into the muffin tins. 

Thanks for your service, Gpa, and to all the other vets :) 

Room Freshener Repurposed

I bought this Glade room freshener a while ago. It's run its scent-life and I'm no longer interested in having leaky chemicals mask the smell of my bedroom. The perfumed goo can go, but I'll keep the glass! 

I discarded the remaining gel but kept the plastic insert frame. 

 I have a tub of old crayons in my basement, so I picked a few shades of red and melted them down. I'll have to find a better way of doing this, because the glass container cracked in the process. Oopsie. I then poured the wax into a heart-shaped cookie cutter and let it cool for about a minute. 

 While the wax was still warm, I gently pressed it out of the cookie cutter. Using natural wax paper as a backdrop, I taped the heart onto the paper in the plastic insert and then slid it back into the glass. 

I guess my next step is to (slowly) ween myself off of scented candles (why?- check out this article). That will be much harder than ditching the air freshener. One step at a time. 

Recent Events

Fall is in full swing. Perfect cool temps for a hot cider at the Public Market and Ryan chomping on a breakfast sandwich with fresh bread! We bought a loaf and fresh flowers to take to Ryan's sister and brother-in-law as a housewarming gift. 

Cold and rainy, but the birds still came out for food.

 Putting in weekend hours for school is much more enjoyable with teacher friends and food. Nilda brought me my favorite fall flower for hosting :)

 Thanks to YouTube, I am in the process of learning how to crochet. I finished my first scarf and am so happy with how it turned out!