Happy Halloween/Happy Fall

Happy Halloween everyone.
This will be the first year we are not home to answer the door for trick or treaters. I feel bad but we have been invited out to a friend's for dinner. We have a lot of kids in the neighborhood too. I did get candy and I will put it in a basket at the door. I hope the first kids are not greedy and leave some for the others.

The last couple of evenings driving home I have been so in awe of my gorgeous surroundings - it is distracting driving looking at all of the incredible colors of the trees. It is amazing. I took these pictures driving home last night. I wish my pictures could capture the true beauty.




These are taken in my neighborhood - I just can't get enough of this incredible display of color.





Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight!
:-)

A Good Tuesday

I've made it through day 7 and actually came home for 2 days now headache free! Yeah, maybe I'm over the hump! I am feeling better about what I'm doing on the job too - phew!

It was also a good day cause I had 2 sales on Etsy. I "almost" pulled my pumpkins last night thinking no one will buy them now since Halloween is on Saturday but 2 mini pumpkins sold today! The customer lives in a neighboring state so I assume they will arrive by Friday at the latest.

I just added my "Sweet Nothing" stitched owl to the shop. I hooked him last month and forgot all about him.
I need to start hooking - hopefully I can get myself in a groove to start hooking at least an hour every night. I used to be able to work full time and hook enough to have inventory for shows so I know I can do it again! I have a home tour show I'm participating in coming up the first weekend in December yikes - I need to hook!!!

Saratogo Weekend

We're back from our weekend in Saratoga Springs. It was great! I feel relaxed!
We left early Saturday morning to face the 5-hour ride and meet Lori at the appointed restaurant at 12:00. It was a rainy day.

Driving on the PA turnpike enjoying the beautiful colors through the rain.

Just a drizzly mist of rain but beautiful colors as we started going north in NY.

We had a nice lunch and walked around the town with Lori but it was raining so hard we were totally soaked and could not take any pictures :-(
It is such a beautiful historic area in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, famous for it's race track and the beautiful lake making it a wonderful retreat in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the upper classes.

Saratoga Lake around 7:30 AM getting ready for the events for the Head of the Fish Regatta.

This is Katie (pink boots) and her partner in the "Double" carrying their boat to launch. Whether one rows in a single or an Eight, it is the rower(s) who are responsible to get their boat to the water.
This was her first event.
A Double is a sculling (2 oar) event. Katie learned "sculling" in high school but not many are taught to scull. The majority are taught "sweeping", which is using one oar.



Katie's position (she is the one without the hat) in the boat is called bow which means she stears.


Here is Katie with her 2nd event - rowing in an Eight, taking the boat to launch. This is a sweeping event.



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It was a cloudy, gray and chilly day on the lake - we're headed home.

The further south we went the nicer it got and it was a lovely ride home -

I could not resist photographing this beautiful tree at a rest-stop


I feel nice and relaxed - I'm hoping my week will be that way too :-)

TGIF and Fall Foliage

We are peaking in Southeastern PA with our fall foliage. It is a beautiful explosion of color. These are all views out of my bedroom window. Sorry they aren't too clear.





This is our big sugar maple in the back yard that has lost all of it's leaves already. It seems to be one of the first to drop. I love the look of the burning bushes over our neighbor's fence. You may remember I mentioned we lost our tree in the front yard - it was even bigger than this tree. It was so beautiful and I really miss it.

We're driving up to Saratoga Springs NY tomorrow to see our daughter row in the "Head of the Fish" regatta. I think it may have already peaked up that way since it is so much further north. It is also supposed to be raining all day tomorrow. I guess I won't be able to get any pictures - darn - it is such a pretty area.
Katie rows for UMass and this is the only fall regatta we will get to. One of the reasons we make it a point to go to this one is just to be able to go to Saratoga Springs!
I'm also excited to see my good friend Lori Eurto who lives in upstate NY. She is going to drive over to meet us for lunch and stop at one of her favorite bead shops.

Now I can say TGIF! I came home exhausted again today, and with another headache. What's wrong with me? I think probably part of it is the stress of the new job. I need to get back in the groove again. I sure hope I adjust soon.
Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Brain - Fried!

I'm here - just barely!
I've made it through my first 3 days of work - wahooey!
I'm totally brain-fried though. I'm so saturated with information I could burst. It is frustrating too. It is difficult for me not to know what I should be doing. I want to be able to start working and start being a contributing member right away - it is frustrating to me that I feel like I'm not now. I know this is normal but it's been so long since I've had to go through this I have to keep reminding myself.
It is also difficult to learn new ways, the culture of the company, etc.
It will come, I know, but I just want it to all come together now!
Thankfully the people all seem so nice.

Getting myself back to a schedule where I can have the time to catch up on blogging is something I need to tackle. I know most of you work full time and still manage to find time to blog, and daily. Geez, how do you do it? I need to get myself in a groove.
LOL - as an Executive Assistant I used to pride myself on time-management. Hope I slip back into that groove again FAST!

I was asked to join a local chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen too (I'm honored) and participate in a 2-day home tour of the chapter members the first week in December. I'm excited to have an opportunity to do a "show" again but, yikes, I need to get some inventory by then. When will I have time?

I'm sorry I've been neglecting you all with my reading and comments, but, most importantly, THANK YOU ALL FOR THINKING OF ME AND ALL OF YOUR WISHES FOR ME ON MONDAY!
Love ya all!

TGIF

This picture was taken Wednesday when the weather was nice. Yesterday and today have been cold (40 degrees) and lots of rain. This weather is too cold for this time of year.

I say TGIF for you all in the working world, and I'm almost there with you! Can't believe I start on Monday!
As much as I have wanted this it will be a difficult transition. I worked at the same company for 27 years. It is not going to be easy to start somewhere else - 27 years with the same company, and then 8 1/2 month of the stress of unemployment.
I'm ready though, and know it will be an adjustment, but I also know I will do just fine.
Yesterday I was actually invited to lunch at my new company - isn't that nice??? I don't think that I mentioned that I am an Executive Assistant and will be supporting the SVP of Sales and Marketing. He asked 2 other Assistants to have lunch with me to help make the transition a little easier. They were nice as could be and I know this is right. I got to see where my desk/workstation is too.
I really am getting excited - a little nervous, but a lot excited, and READY!

Oh get this - I got a call from a recruiter about another job today! HA! I got to say, sorry, I've accepted another offer!

I got together with my creative friends last night. I wish I had a picture of my favorite creation with the glass slipper but I'll try to describe it to you - it was a Cinderella theme creation. She took a "Golden Years" Cinderella book (remember those little Golden Years books) drilled a hole in the center and put a clock onto it (hands in the front and workings in the back). She put the clock numbers (1-12) in silver glitter obviously on the front and then hung 2 glass slippers, which she covered with glitter, from ribbons from the back for a pendulum effect. It was adorable - a Cinderella pendulum clock made out of a Golden Years book! I think it was a fabulous piece. I want to know how she got 2 slippers and I only got one - LOL! Why didn't I think to put glitter on my shoe in my shadow box too? Oh well!
Of course, all of the other projects were great too but I just loved that clock!

TGIF - To all of you lucky working people out there I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Glass Slippers and Old Jewelry

I've mentioned before that I am part of a group, we call Creative Friends. We get together once a month and socialize and present our project to the group. Each month we are each given the same item and we all use our own creative drives to create something with it.
This month we were each given a (plastic) glass slipper. I decided to put my slipper in a shadow box. My original thought was to do it with a Cinderella theme but as I started to look for words in magazines I changed from Cinderella to celebrating dressy, fun heels.
Here's my completed project for our get together tomorrow night!

It says -
Bring on the bubbly
wear something glamorous and high enough to be stylish

I just came home from a "Sell Your Old Jewelry" party. It was an amazing thing. I don't know if any of you have been to one but, wow! They pay cash on the spot for your old gold and silver jewelry. People were walking away with more than $500! I had actually sold my unwanted older gold jewelry a while ago but took some old silver jewelry and walked away with $126!!!!
If you have any jewelry you have not worn in ages or don't want, sell it - you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Happy Monday - Last of the Hooked Pumpkins!

It's Monday night and the day has almost slipped away from me without blogging since Friday! I don't have much to say but wanted to check in anyway.


I've posted my last hooked jack-o-lantern into my Etsy shop. I figured at this point in October the Halloween sales are going to slack off.
He is a cutie - one of my favorites!

Happy Columbus Day too! If you had the day off I hope it was a good one.

Cheers!

How fantastic - one of my neighbors stopped over to congratulate me with a bottle of champagne! How sweet is that?!
I wish I could share it with you all!

I'm working at the shop tomorrow.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Cheers!

Sugar Maples and My New Bargain Chair

The Sugar Maple next to our house is looking beautiful!
There is also another one behind it which you can't see.


This is the one in the back yard.
We used to have a gi-normous Sugar Maple in the front yard but sadly we lost it about 15 months ago. It killed me to lose that tree - I fell in love with the tree before I even looked at the house when we were purchasing it 19 years ago! Our neighbor across the street lost 2 Sugar Maples in the last couple of years too. When the kids were little there were such huge piles of leaves for them to jump in - no fun to rake but sure fun to play in. I guess we should be thankful we have less to rake, but I do miss them.

As you can see by the blue sky it was a beautiful day here - really windy (wind gusts up to 52 mph) but lovely! Surprised there are any leaves left on the trees!

Here's my bargain wicker chair. I love it!


I can't wait to get started on the room. Hopefully George will get the paint and we can get started on it this weekend, however I am working in the local shop Saturday so less man-power! The chair is sitting in our living room right now (rather than moving it up and having to move more furniture to paint). The carpet in the room is brown and the cushion will be perfect. I just happened to have the throw pillow which coordinates perfectly.

Thank You and More Pumpkins

Wow!
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all! I know your comments about my good news were from the heart. I commented to another blogger the other day I'm generally a quiet and private person but blogging has opened up a whole new world for me and one chock-full of friends who genuinely care about me.
You're all special and you all have wonderful talents. I admire each and everyone of you. You're an unending source of inspiration in my life. I'm honored to be part of your lives. I thank you for that and for all of your support to me over these last months.
It's so weird to say I'm stress free right now!

Thanks for the concern that I won't be blogging much when I go back to work - I'm sure gonna try.
And, don't worry, my hooking will not go away. I actually used to hook more when I was working - always did it at night to unwind.

I went to get my drug test this morning (supposed to within 48 hours of the offer). That was a different experience coming from one who has never had one! For a moment there, I thought the technician was going to stay with me in the toilet!

I decided to treat myself to a little bit of shopping on the way home. I stopped at Pier One and found a lovely white wicker chair. It was marked down from $249 to $48! I could not pass it up, especially since Brian moved out and I want to redecorate his room. Darn - I forgot to take a picture of it and its too dark now.

From there I went to Nordstroms Rack and found a pair of black slacks and a turquoise wrap sweater both marked down, with an additional 75% off. I got both for under $15! Could it be that evil eye again, finding those bargains for me?!

Since I was so excited yesterday I only blogged about my job, I did not show my latest creations. I did get my hooking done Sunday evening and Monday morning I made the hooked pieces into pillows.
This cute little mini Jack was added to my shop -

I'll add this Rusty Jack tomorrow -

Guess What - I Got a Job!!!!!

It happened! I did it! I got an offer and I accepted it!
Wow!
I received a phone call after 7 PM Friday night with an offer - I was so dumbstruck I could not accept on the spot (although I knew it was right) so I said I would call today. Needless to say, I called today and gladly accepted.

I will be working for U.S. Liability Insurance Group (a Berkshire Hathaway Company). A new industry for me. They really seemed impressed with ME from the start and they moved quickly. The entire process from application, through interviews, to the offer was less than 2 weeks. The entire time I was thinking, Wow, they are impressed with ME and are moving quickly. I guess it is just fate. It was meant to be!
I start in 2 weeks (10/19).

Oh these last 8 months! You have no idea how relieved I am to have this is all behind me - I don't have to feel bad about myself anymore, don't have to second guess myself, and can get on with my life. Oh you have no idea...........
Popped the champagne this evening.
Cheers!
(thank you all for your months of listening and your unending support - love ya all!)

P.S I came across this quotation which really captures my feelings. It was in an Etsy shop, cathycullis - What a talented artist. Her words spoke to me and I hope she does not mind me sharing them here -

October spell'

today my hopelessness
no longer a burden
a pleasure in the taste
of fire as I walk
through leaves
this October spell
holds my heart

Indian Summer!

It is a gorgeous day here in Southeastern Pennsylvania! It is sunny and in the 70s. A beautiful Indian Summer day.
We always say why can't it be like this every day, but then one would not be able to enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature and all of her seasons.

George took out some of the old summer flowers today that we dying back but we brought these Zinnias in to enjoy. They are so pretty. Zinnias are one of those flowers that never fails to disappoint.

I was busy hooking last night - trying to get more pumpkins ready for the shop since they seem to be selling. I'm too distracted today with the nice weather to hook - maybe tonight! It was so nice we even washed my car this morning. Just a perfect day to be outside.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday.

Yesterday's Accomplishments

I got a lot done yesterday - I put this jack-o-lantern together (did the hooking last week), and I did two little Sweet Nothing stitchings!
I think they are sweet!




It was nice to do some stitching again after a lot of hooking recently.