Black Friday

Greetings everyone. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday! Thank you all for your kind Thanksgiving wishes - CJ, Jon, Paranormal John. It's now Black Friday - the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. I never go out on Black Friday because I would much rather keep my own family tradition of putting away all of the autumn decorations and bring out the winter/and Yule décor - save for the tree again this year due to lack of space in our little house. There are still at least 20 large bins of my mom's things I have yet to go through in order to make room for my own stuff. Perhaps the week of Christmas I will be able do something with them when I have a lot more time to do so.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a lovely family dinner with my in-laws. To express my  deep appreciation for everything they have done to help me get through the terrible ordeal with my mother and selling my family's house for her, my hubby and I gave them early Christmas gift baskets from Hickory Farms ...

I can never resist the Petits Fours - expensive, but DELICIOUS! 

The flavors: Almond, Strawberry, Orange, and Mocha.

And, one of my favorite confections - Meltaway Mints also from Hickory Farms ...

A couple of snap shots from yesterday ...

My MIL and my hubby relaxing after dinner ....

Experimenting with holiday colors ....

Chanel colored mascara "Rouge Intense" using L'Oreal White Primer.

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And, just for the fun of it, I combined Chanel colored mascara "Lilas" with Lime Crime's colored mascara "Nebula" to try and get a more pigmented color purple ...

New earrings from "The Mint Leaf" ...

And last but not least, some new pics of how the kitties are getting along with the new kid on the block ...

Charlie and Tabitha.

Charlie with Butterscotch.

Have a great weekend, friends!

Blessed Thanksgiving!

 

Scene from atop Mount Penn on Thanksgiving Eve - "The Pagoda" ~ Reading, PA!!

(Photo courtesy of Charles J. Adams, III)

Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Greetings everyone! Well, it is finally Thanksgiving week and thank God I only have to work until Wednesday. As per usual, we get Thursday and Friday off from work (Thanksgiving day and Black Friday). Our family dinner will be on Thursday and I will be taking one of Chef Jesenia's homemade Pumpkin Spice cheesecakes along for our dessert.

I am planning on staying home on Friday (I never venture out on Black Friday anyhow) and work around the house - switching up my Fall and Halloween decorations with my Yule stuff, and cleaning up the attic. 

On Saturday, my sister Aurora Skye and I are planning on attending The Leesport Christmas Craft Fair. I will most likely be publishing an updated post sometime on Sunday.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday all!

Thanksgiving week

Greetings all! I hope that everyone had a pleasant Thanksgiving holiday (for those of you who celebrate it with their family and friends). Yesterday, we had a very small gathering at my MIL's since many of our elderly family members have already passed on years back.

That being said, we spent a nice day together eating some delicious food and enjoying one another's company ...

We ordered our dinner from a wonderful place located directly across the street from our home called, "Around the Family Table." They cook and bake homemade meals and desserts daily and their holiday dinners are THE BEST since my nana stopped cooking them years ago. We had mashed potatos, stuffing, turkey, ham, green bean casserole with generous pieces of bacon, corn, and fresh buns! And, ALL of that for under $50.00! :) 

My mom chipped in and brought two desserts - the traditional pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice cheescakes! YUMMY GOOD!

👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐👐

Today, I will continue my yearly Black Friday tradition of putting away the fall and Halloween decor and switching up the Halloween tree with Yule/Christmas ornaments - adorning the rest of the house with my winter decorations. While at a local flea market last weekend, I found this set of salt and pepper shakers for only $3.00 - what a bargain! 👍

Well, better get movin' - I have lots to get done today! Take care and have a great Friday, friends!

The dog did it! He knocked over the tree then he ran me down!

Friday odds and ends

Greetings, friends. I hope everyone had a good week! Wednesday evening, I had dinner with my friends Deb and Dave at PJ's and picked up the pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving dinner. 

The homemade pumpkin bread - delicious!

I also got a chance to wear my new holiday dress from "Plato's Closet" to dinner. They just opened up a store near me about a month ago. This dress was only $12.00.

A little pic of J.J. enjoying his new baby blanket! Thank you so much for sending me this pic Deb! :)

Today, I put away the rest of my fall decorations and began adorning my house with Yule and winter decor. I am not finished yet, but I did get to finish the Pittsburgh Steelers scarf as a gift for Aurora Skye's hubby ... I hope he likes it.

(front)

(back)

I had to cut out the diamond symbols as best I could by hand because I could not find anything else to use as a cut-out. I used colored felt and then hand sewed them on the scarf. I also used a new type of yarn called macaroon. It is a large skein with different color cakes all in one bundle. This was the closest thing I could get to the Steelers colors.

Tomorrow, I plan to finish up my decorating. Have a good weekend all.

A little holiday humor ...

Holiday Eve quick post ... from Merlin

Merlin here posting for mommy today. She has been pretty busy lately (I keep her going all the time!) so she asked me to write a quick post for her. BTW, don't I look cute playing wit my toys in the catio?

Anyway, mommy had a special request this week from her friend Deb to crochet a baby blanket for her grandson J.J. She will be giving it to her tonight when she goes to dinner wit her to pick up the homemade pumpkin bread for tomorrow (hope she gives me some of that bread) ...

She says she is also working on a special scarf as a gift for Auntie Aurora Skye's husband. Since he loves the Pittsburgh Steelers football team, she is making him a decorative scarf for Yule. She will post a pic of it after she is finished wit it.

From me and my kitty siblings (and momma too, of course) here is wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving Day for those who celebrate it wit their family and friends!

~  Luv Merlin 
😽😽😽

Monday this and that ...

Good morning dear friends and welcome to another Monday. Since this is a holiday week and Thursday is Thanksgiving, I will not be around much. My mom and I were invited to a family dinner at a relatives house and we will be going there this year. I also have a lot of running around to do this week so I will be fairly busy. I have decided to take a break from FB as well. I just need to get away from it for a little while, but for now I will still be blogging until further notice.  

To be honest, my heart is just not into the holidays very much this year, but I am trying hard to raise my spirits and push on. Usually decorating helps make me feel a lot better so we shall see. As my wise dad used to always say whenever I would ask him how he managed to get through the really hard times in his life, "Well, I just try to remember that there is always someone out there in this world who has worse troubles than me." And alas, he was right of course.

I will be picking up some homemade pumpkin bread on Wednesday from my friend Deb to take along with me for Thanksgiving dinner. I do not like to show up at someones house and not show my appreciation by not bringing a gift or something.

Have a great and blessed week everyone!

The day after ... otherwise known as Black Friday

Happy Friday ... "Black Friday", that is, and as is my personal tradition I never go out of the house on the day after Thanksgiving. Instead, I prefer the use this day to take down all of my fall and Samhain decorations. I switch up the "Halloween Tree" ornaments with the Yule and winter solstice ones and throughout the day I also clean my house.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I hope that everyone had a lovely holiday spent with family and friends. I spent mine with extended family and enjoying a wonderful homemade traditional dinner of turkey, ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and filling, corn, gravy, and a whole slue of delicious pies and desserts. 

Here are a few little pics I took from yesterday's gathering.

My mom and her fur baby, her poodle Brandi

My cousin's beautiful offspring, Weston and his sister Ava ~ really awesome kids .. and growing up so fast!

Ava with my cousin's house kitty, Jack

After dinner, the kids and I decided to play with Jack downstairs ..

Peek a boo!!!

Relaxing in the living room chatting it up while watching some movies.

It was a typical gorgeous fall day, brisk but the sun was shining and the weather could not have been more beautiful. Now, it is time to get to work and decorate the house for Yule ... and it looks like it is going to be yet another lovely fall day today.

Enjoy your weekend, my friends!