A bench for all seasons...

Adding to my growing collection of bench photos, I snapped this one when we were out and about the other day. What caught my attention was the row of cute jack-o-lanterns sitting there as we drove past; Lew quick turned around so I could get a picture.


I didn't notice the bonus kitty in the window until I was focusing to take the shot. What an appropriate Halloween decoration the furry little beastie makes... too bad it's not black! I wonder if it sat there and watched the trick-or-treaters??

Out to lunch...

After an early afternoon doctor's appointment yesterday, we decided to try someplace new for a bite of lunch so we moseyed on over to Fredericktown's Creekside to see what we could find.



We discovered a neat Italian coffee cafe, La Dolce Vita, that offered not only coffee, latte, and cappuccino...


but an assortment of paninis, croissant sandwiches, and soups, along with an enticing array of cakes and pastries.

I was freezing my butt off, so we decided to forego the charm of eating outdoors and instead opted for the warmth and ambiance ... well, warmth anyway... of the indoors.


I decided on a cheddar turkey melt croissant, which was quite good, and a good-sized cup of homemade tomato basil bisque, which was also very good. Hearty, slightly smoky and a bit spicy. Since it's been eons since I've had a decent cup of it, I couldn't resist the lure of an autumn-themed cinnamon caramel cappuccino and oh, my goodness -- was it yummy! Not too sweet, no bitterness at all, just nice and creamy and frothy. (As you'll note, all of this deliciousness was served on the very finest of Italian china!) ;)


Okay, okay, so the place wasn't overflowing with rustic Tuscan atmosphere, but the food was good and we had a fun afternoon of it. We've added it to our list of return-tos.

Something new every day...

Wow, wonder of all wonders! I couldn't believe my eyes. I just saw a street sweeper truck come up the road, sweeping!

In all the years I've lived here, I've never, no never, seen a street sweeper. Hell, I've never seen one in town, let alone out here in the burbs. Amazing!

And, he didn't go by just once, he went by twice! Woof!!

... doesn't take much to make my day, does it?? ;)

A penny saved...

... turns into dollars! Yeah buddy, I am loving saving me some money!

So, I've been doing a bit of holiday gift shopping online and have scored me some great deals with searching, sales, and promotion codes. Can't say what the items are... the internet has eyes, ya know? ... but I got a $75 item for $61 and change at Amazon, plus free shipping.

At another place (which must remain unnamed) I got a $175(!) item for $67 and change (good thing too, else it would have stayed in the store!) plus free shipping!!

At a well-known ladies shop, I got $30 knocked off my total, plus free shipping - got to stack two promo codes! Can you stand it?!

Shoof, not only am I having fun, but I'm about half-way done! Wheee! :D

Colors of the season...

Used to be I didn't get all that excited about fall, let alone fall decorating. Oh, I'd put out a jack-o-lantern or a witch or some other ghostly things to tickle the little Halloween munchkins, but for the most part, I saved my decorating energies for Christmas.

Well, in the past couple of years, and especially since I have a mantle to play with again, I've been having fun adding a few decorative touches here, there, and everywhere! Well, not the bedrooms and bathrooms, that'd be a bit much, but the rest of the house is looking very autumn-ish and colorful.

family room mantle showing off its autumn colors...

bundle of leafiness

charming and demure witchy

whimsical look-alike of the real critters in the yard

to cast a warm glow

Frills for fall...

Not much going on in my neck of the woods, just our normal everyday doings. Since the temperatures have turned beyond nippy (dipping down into the low 40's) for this time of year, the heating system has been checked and turned on, the chimney sweep has declared the fireplace clean and good to go, and the beds are dressed in their annual flannel finery. I have my trusty little heater oscillating beside me at the computer, so even though the frost isn't quite on the pumpkin yet, we are ready for whatever chill Mother Nature decides to throw our way.

Speaking of pumpkins, we've also prettified the front porch and patio by adding some color and whimsy with seasonal flowers, gourds and other stuff.

Another pot of yellow mums sits atop an
out of view table on the right...

Remembering our pumpkin poacher episode from last season, we
put our doofy dude on the patio for our own, safer viewing pleasure.

A few finishing touches indoors and we'll be all set for fall, decorating-wise. I don't even want to think about that holiday in December ... yet!

Turning in the wind...

One of the pretties we picked up at Oktoberfest was this different wind spinner. It's ever so pretty as is, but glows and glitters like a jewel when the sun hits it at certain angles. Mesmerizing...






The tail with the amber ball creates an optical illusion when the whole thing continuously spins; the ball looks like it's moving up and down the spiral - very cool!!

It's that time again...

Flu shot season is here and we got ours last week.

Most people winterize their cars and homes; we winterize our lungs! heh, heh. Our doctor is pretty adamant about us getting added protection every year, so flu shots are just another one of those annual things we do.

We had to go twice since they ran out of doses on our regular visit, but we finally got stuck the next day. Now I guess we just wait and see what happens with the availability of swine flu shots in MD or if we even need them.

If you're a believer, did y'all get yours?

Oktoberfest

Fredericktowne held it's annual Oktoberfest at the fairgrounds this weekend, so we decided to mosey on over and check it out yesterday. The weather was perfect, crisp and clear with sunny, blue skies so we looked forward to a good day.

There were various vendors selling their wares, including one place with cute alpacas and alpaca products. We sampled the German beer, some traditional foods, and enjoyed some oom-pah music. We chatted with a bunch of friendly folks, contributed to the benefiting charities by spending more than we should on cute or pretty, and we had fun!

This year's logo

one of the fleecy alpacas

cute scarecrow decor

deep fried and slathered with sour cream... to die for!!

costumed fraus

buttery, flaky apple streudel - delicious!

Items carved with a chainsaw, then decorated.
See that doofy dude on the far right?
He now resides on my front porch for the fall season! ;)

Speaking of annoying...

Lew made arrangements with our lawn service last week to aerate and overseed the lawn. They were supposed to show up today at 2:00 pm. So Monday evening the dude calls and says he'll be here Tuesday at 2:00. No, sez my guy, I already told your people that Tuesday wouldn't work (we had a doctor appointment.) Oh, okay sez the dude, I'll be there Wednesday. Well duh! That's when you were supposed to be here anyway, you clod!


You see it coming, right?




Wait for it...




Do I have to tell you that this putz showed up at 7:40ish this AM with his malfunctioning aerating machine?? Lew, who is the early bird of our house, wasn't even up yet!

The miserable machine, with its most annoying grinding noise, would run for less than a minute, then cut off. Then said putz would spend another 20 seconds or so trying to start it up again. Then it would run for less than a minute and stop again. This went on and on... and on ... for about half an hour or so before I finally gave up and rolled my frazzled body out of bed.

Now those of you who know me, know that I do not react well to being rudely jarred awake. I react even less kindly when I'm rudely jarred awake at the bleepin' crack of dawn!! Grrrr!

Our lawn service has shot its way up to the top of my s**t list.

How annoying...

I got a call from my credit card company last evening, notifying me that my card had been flagged as possibly compromised and they would be canceling that number immediately. Erggg!

It's the only card I use online so at least I don't have to worry about other cards, and it's nice to know they're on their toes monitoring card activity to catch potential misuse, but jeez, what a bother! You know how long it took me to memorize that damn number and how many places I have to notify??

So now I have to wait 3-5 days to get the new one, but in the meantime, before I even had a chance to notify them, I've already recieved an email from Blockbuster requesting a payment information update!! And so it begins. *sigh*