Fall Archives - home is where my story begins...

October

Becca — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 23:00:00 +0000

Well, hello October! Can someone tell me where September went? As much as I love Summer, I really-really-really love Fall. September and October are kind of a toss up on which is my favorite. September is my birthday month and back to school time, but October is when I really break out the Fall decor, it’s my wedding anniversary (20 years on October 6th), and I LOVE being the hot apple cider lady for the trick or treaters.

I’ve been adding a few Fall touches here and there to the house. I usually bring them out all at once, but it’s been feeling a bit rushed this year and the little-by-little approach was all I could handle.

The front porch was the first area to be decked out. Every year I say that I’m going to do something different, and every year the same decorations go up. But I do still think they’re pretty.

The pumpkins were the deal of the season! If you have ever shopped for pumpkins, you know that the big pumpkins are pretty pricey. We were at a funeral, in a small town in Eastern Washington, and noticed that the church was selling pumpkins as a fund raiser for $4 each. I didn’t have any cash on me, but my mother in law came to the rescue and the kids bought 5 pumpkins! (That just reminded me that I need to pay back the money I borrowed!)

The Fall quilts have made their way out. When I graduated with my Master’s Degree in 2000, my friend Christy (a teacher I used to work with) gave me some beautiful Fall fabrics. I love, love, love these fabrics. I didn’t know what to do with them so I took them to the fabric shop that she bought them from and asked the quilt shop owner for suggestions. In about 10 seconds flat she had lined up my fabric and written out a quick and easy pattern for me to follow. To this day, this is one of my go-to quilt patterns when I need a quick and simple quilt to give as a gift.

Oh, mini pumpkins, how I love you! I’m a bit addicted to those little guys but they just brighten up any tablescape.

And any burlap pumpkin can join the party too.

I love all of the jars will with leaves, wheat, and pumpkins on the dining room table.

And finally, we have a little quilty happiness. Camille Roskelley always has a basket filled with rolled quilts in her house. Since I want to be just like her, I shall roll my quilts in a basket too.

Happy October Friends! Thanks for stopping by!

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Sally Blake’s Pumpkin Cake

Becca — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 19:00:00 +0000

Dear Sally Blake,

I’ve never met you before but I eat your pumpkin cake every year. Somewhere along the road of life, you met my sister, fed her some of your yummy pumpkin cake, and she wrote down the recipe. Eventually, I tried that pumpkin cake and thought it was worth adding to my recipe book.

Sally, I made your pumpkin cake for my family last week, like I do every year at about this time, and they fell in love all over again. They tell me I should make it more often, even when it’s not pumpkin season. They tell me it’s the best treat I could make on cold fall evening.

Thanks, Sally Blake, wherever you are.

Happy Fall,
Becca

And here’s Sally Blake’s Pumpkin Cake Recipe:

4 eggs
1 3/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup oil
1 16ox can of pumpkin
2 Cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Combine wet ingredients. Then fold in dry ingredients. Pour into an ungreased 9×13 pan and bake for 30-45 minutes. Sally’s recipe says to bake it for 30 minutes, but I’ve always needed 45 with my oven. Remove from oven when the cake springs back when you touch the middle. Cool completely.

Frosting Recipe:

Combine
3 oz of cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup of butter (softened)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
a tiny bit of milk

Frost the cake with your cream cheese frosting and enjoy! Thanks again, Sally Blake. We love your pumpkin cake!

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Fall Dining Room Decor

Becca — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 15:00:00 +0000

It’s Fall, and I love decorating for Fall! My dining room lends itself very well to fall decor.

With wheat colored walls, warm wood, and now new drapery panels, it’s just a warm and cozy place.

I needed something simple for my dining room table. I’m always frozen with indecision when it comes to table decor. I look online and in catalogs for inspiration. Inspiration for my glass jars came in the form of a Pinterest pin in my Reggio Emilia board, rather than my home decor boards. I love the way the light comes through this room and the transparent jars are just what my table needs. In the spring, I filled these jars with fresh flowers. Now that I’m back to work, I knew I couldn’t keep up with the real stuff. For my fall display I used a few pinecones, some pumpkins, wheat I already had, and some leaves.

My favorite thing about this room is that just about every time you look out my dining room window, you’ll see my hubby and son playing basketball in the driveway. The picture below is a bit dark, but I wanted you to be able to see out the window. That little blur out the right window would be my guys playing 1 on 1. Hard to see, I know.

It’s my furry guy’s favorite room in the house too. He loves keeping watch over his neighborhood. I swear he can tell time because he will sleep all day, but when it’s just about time for the kids to come home from school, he pops up and starts watching out the window.

Happy Fall decorating!

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Decorating the Front of the House for Fall

Becca — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 02:09:00 +0000

It’s here! It’s here! The time of year has finally arrived for the front door Fall-ification. Sometimes I jump the gun on this and my neighbor, Tammy, comes outside shaking her head at me. This year I waited. Ok, I didn’t really mean to wait. I was just forced to wait because my brother-in-law had our ladder and my fall boxes were up high in the garage.

I didn’t do anything different this year. I keep thinking I’d like to add something “Better Homes and Gardens-ish” but every year I put up the same decor. I still love it though.

My Boo and Eek pillows are back. They have held up pretty well for the past 3 or 4 years. I painted this burlap with fabric paint and embroidered the boo and eek fabric scraps. Just a few weeks ago I noticed that they actually sell burlap fabric that looks exactly like this now! I guess I was ahead of my time.

My front benches have seen better days. They have been refinished more times than I can count and the seats are finally starting to break. It kind of makes me sad to see them go. I bought these in 2000, when I finished my Masters program. I think part or all of the set was given to me as a gift when I graduated. I still feel a sense of accomplishment when I look at them, but they really are looking pretty shabby. The chairs I have always pictured in the front of my house are white Adirondacks. They just look so cottage-like and cute. I can’t decide if I need two chairs, a table, and a two seater bench, or if I should just get 3 or 4 chairs. I would love opinions!!! Either way, the hydrangeas need to be cut back a bit.

I’m kind of thinking I would prefer the same set up with the two chairs and a bench, but maybe it’s just because I’m stuck in my ways.

My hubby bought me a few mums for my birthday and I always love the way they add a fall-feel to the front of the house.

One thing that is missing from the front porch this year is our built-in bench. Unfortunately, it has rotted out and looks like it was starting to take the support beam with it. Rather than replacing it with another bench, which we never actually sit on, I’m thinking we’ll just continue with the railing. It will still have a finished look and be much less expensive.

The rails were not there when we bought the house. We added those on because the great-grandmas on both sides needed a little help getting up the stairs.

Ultimately, I think it would be cool to put a deck off of that side. It would be so fun to put my Adirondack chairs there, surrounded by pots of flowers. I don’t think there is any way of convincing my hubby that a deck would be a good idea. I guess I’ll just have to stick with spindles.

Happy fall decorating!

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Front Door Fall-ification Phase 1

Becca — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 14:53:00 +0000

The outdoor fallification has begun at my house. About a week ago, right around the first day of fall, I put my wreaths, garland, and mums out. My next door neighbor always cringes when I put my fall decorations out. I usually do this way before fall is even in the air, and she says I’m ending our summer way too soon.

This year, I was just ~~procrastinating~~ waiting for the right time. The downpours have started, and the kids are asking for hot cocoa, so I figured it was time. There are a few remnants of summer on the front porch.

(Can I even call it a porch, or is it just a landing? There is a chair and a built in bench, so I’m allowing myself to say I have a front porch.)

I still have the leftover petunias from my home’s summer look. I bought those in the “plant hospital” section at the garden center at the beginning of summer. They looked horrible, so I brought them home, gave them a huge haircut, and started fertilizing. Not bad for a $1 plant! They have lasted all summer, and then some.

The pumpkins will be part of Front Door Fall-ification Phase 2. I can’t jump the gun too soon on that one. Plus, my kids want to spookify the house when we decorate for Halloween. I really dislike spooky Halloween! Pretty fall decorations are great, and spooky is just not fun and inviting. My kids beg to differ and I’m not really looking forward to the battle.

A few years ago I whipped up these little pillows with some burlap I had on hand, fabric paint, fabric scraps, and my embroidery machine. I recovered outdoor pillows I already had, so I didn’t even need to make a trip the craft store! Even though they are Halloween decorations, they made it into the cut for Phase 1 decorating, simple because they are so cute.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and couldn’t resist. This is probably one of my all time favorite projects because it was SO easy, I had a reason to use my embroidery machine, and I love burlap.

They are the perfect outdoor pillows for fall!

Have you starting Fallification at your house yet?

Happy Fall Decorating!

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Fall Pillows

Becca — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 22:00:00 +0000

It’s not officially Fall yet, but the Fall pillows have made a return. Last year, when I broke my foot and couldn’t go the pumpkin patch with my kindergarteners, I was forced to stay home and craft. (I’m really thankful for fabulous teaching partners who jump right in and take over!) I whipped up these little pillows with some burlap I had on hand, fabric paint, fabric scraps, and my embroidery machine. I recovered outdoor pillows I already had, so I didn’t even need to make a trip the craft store!

I saw this idea on Pinterest and couldn’t resist.

They are the perfect outdoor pillows for fall!

The leaf pillows have made a return as well. They were made from cheap Wal-Mart placemats that I stuffed with batting and sewing up. I love a simple project!

Happy Fall Decorating!

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Front Porch Fall-ification

Becca — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 01:58:00 +0000

Before I tell you about my front porch fall-ification, I’d like to say thank you for all of your nice comments and emails about my grandma. She has had a very difficult few days. My mom slept on her couch, sitting up, fully dressed, because she was sure the hospital would call in the middle of the night and she wanted to be ready to go. Today, we packed up Nanie’s room in Assisted Living. In the best case scenario, she would go back to Nursing, but we know she is well past that. We were happily surprised today when we visited. She was the most alert we’ve seen her in a week. It was nice to see her try to eat and be able to speak a few words. Thank you so much for your kind words. It really makes a difference.

On a lighter note, I needed a little pick-me-up after one of our days at the hospital. I asked my hubby to get my fall boxes down so I could do a little decorating. The front door was my first stop. I’m trying to add a bit more yellow to the front of my house. I love black-eyed-susans and mums, so those were the obvious pick. I wasn’t quite ready to change to my burlap pillows, but summery stripes just didn’t cut it anymore.

My hanging baskets are still all about summer, but I’ll be changing out a few plants to yellow or orange mums as the petunias start to die.

The leaves are even starting to blow onto the driveway. I love fall, but I’m always sad to see summer slipping away.

I wasn’t feeling very creative this year, so I just went with basic wreaths, garland, and mums. My old milk crate gets to stay, just because I love it.

Fall-ification done.

How about you? Have you started breaking out the fall decor?

Happy Fall-ification!

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Rainbow Birthday Party

Becca — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 03:45:00 +0000

Two weeks of birthday celebrations have finally come to an end for my little girl. Her birthday was in August, but we decided to wait until school started before having a party with her friends. She didn’t really have a strong preference, this year, about decorations or a theme. That was good news for me, because I’ve seen so many cute ideas on Pinterest lately!

We went with a rainbow theme, which thrilled my kids to no end. I’m not a huge fan of dyes and food coloring in my kids’ food, so when my daughter saw the bright colors, her eyes lit up. It was certainly a special birthday treat for her.

We made rainbow cupcakes, with rainbow cupcake toppers.

There were rainbow plates and M&M candies. Boy, I’m glad they sell M&M’s already sorted by color.

My kids were excited to tell everyone that their mom decided to do a plain old white cake this year. The little rainbow bunting was a hint of the surprise to come.

Six layers of rainbow loveliness!

I won’t lie. The cake, cupcakes, and decorations were a lot of work (and dishes), but nothing more than I usually do for my kids’ birthdays. The result and “happy” birthday girl were worth the work!

Happy baking! (And Happy Birthday to my big 8 year old!)

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Food Tastes Better in November

Becca — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:13:00 +0000

I was reading a book to my kindergarten students today. It’s called In November, by Cynthia Rylant. One of the pages in the book talks about how food tastes better in November. Homes smell better. Of course, my mind drifted to my favorite smell of fall. Is there anything yummier than the smell of warm gingerbread cookies coming out of the oven?

The invention of the gingerbread cookie is right up there with the invention chocolate chips, in my book. This is one of those recipes that has been part of the Holidays for as long as I can remember. My mom says the recipe came from a newspaper many, many years ago.

Beat 1 cup of room temperature margarine until light and fluffy.

Add 1 cup of sugar.

Add 1/2 cup molasses and 1 egg.

Mix.

In a separate bowl, sift the following ingredients.

3 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 TBSP cocoa powder

1 TBSP cinnamon

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cloves

Gradually add the sifted ingredients.

Chill dough for at least 3 hours.

On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch.

Cut with cookie cutters. Here’s an important hint: Do not bake gingerbread cookies on a Silpat baking sheet. The Silpat absorbs the the cinnamon, clove, and ginger flavor.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. Let cool and frost.

The kids love to frost their own cookies.

Enjoy! Happy baking!

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11-1-11

Becca — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:58:00 +0000

I saw my son writing the date on his homework tonight. It was the first time I had seen the date written today. With that many 1’s in the date, it seems like it should be a new beginning for something. At the very least, it’s a perfect day to embrace the season.

To hold it in our hand.

And, maybe hold as a treasure.

Just Happy.

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