Fall Décor

With stores selling Fall and Halloween decor at the end of August, beginning of September, I went looking to see what they had. I realized that I could also start putting out decorations at the house to get in the mood for Fall. I really wanted to put out my Halloween like some of my friends were doing. But I resisted that impulse and went with just Fall. I got several pumpkins and a few scarecrows. Next time I want to look for other squash and acorn decorations.

After watching several DIY videos, I decided to try my hand at making a few fall flower bouquets. Went to Dollar Store because they are cheap but not too cheap looking. I like how they turned out.

This coming Sunday is October 1st. I am excited because I can bring out all the Halloween decor to add, then when it’s November I’ll switch back to just the Fall and add some thanksgiving things, like turkeys.

In case you haven’t figured it out, I enjoy adding seasonal decorations to the house.

Seasonal Bingo: Fall 2023 Edition

Introducing my Fall Activity Bingo card! Here are few things I hope to do these next few months.

You are welcome to play along and see how many spaces you can cross off by the end of the season.

What are some fall activities (big or small) that you are looking forward to doing?

What other activities would be good for future fall bingo cards?

• Decorate
• Be crafty
• Autumn equinox
• New winery
• hay ride
• Hike
• New state park
• Halloween
• Fall festivals
• Birthday
• Watch a fall holiday movie
• Oktoberfest
• Volunteer
• Corn maze
• New restaurant
• Thanksgiving
• Eat Chili
• All things apple – apple hill trip, apple picking, apple cider, apple pie
• PIZZA MONTH
• New brewery
• All things pumpkin – pumpkin patch, carving
• roast s’mores
• Read a fall holiday book
• Day trip

November Wrap Up / December Plans 2022

NOVEMBER WRAP UP

I feel like I just wrote the wrap up for the end of October. How can this month be already over?

Most of the time it was the daily routine of work, home, grocery shopping, and repeat. I did have a couple of fun weekends. The second weekend of November, I went to Apple Hill (in and around Placerville, California) with a few friends. This is the same place I mentioned going to with my mom last month. We went to get apple fritters and doughnuts, and then wine tastings.

My mom and I had a fun Saturday. We went to the Beyond Van Gogh exhibit. It’s one of those immersive experience art shows that have popped the last couple of years. They create a 360º digital room displaying his art and making parts of it come alive with motion. Like making Van Gogh’s Starry Night more realistic with the stars blinking, and the water moving. They also have an instrumental playlist of music. It really helps you get the feel of the painting a lot more then just seeing it in the museum. Afterwards we went to have lunch. And a bakery was nearby, so we walked over and treated ourselves to pastry and dessert. Trying to decide on what else to do, we ended up going to the movies and watching Black Panther.

And last but not least, we drove 2 hours to my Uncle’s place. Some family was not there because they were sick, but overall it was a pleasant visit. We caught up with each other, played games, and enjoyed way to much yummy food.

On Saturday, a friend and I went to a couple of wineries. That was a tradition that had gotten put on hold the last couple of years. So, it was fun to do that again. We visited a couple of our favorites and then a new place. I once found a site that mentioned there is 200 wineries in and around Sacramento area. I forget the radius, but it was quite a bit, and I can totally guess that might be true. Napa, Sonoma and their surrounding areas has like 900.
We decided to check out Housley’s Century Oak Winery as our new place. It was even more fun to learn it’s family owned and one of them is actress Tamera Mowry-Housley. She wasn’t there, but it was fun to learn about their wineries in Napa and Lodi.

DECEMBER PLANS

Looking forward to December. There will be lots of events and things to do for the holiday. I am hoping to do more Everyday Holidays and winter activities check list. I am even going to try to participate in Blogmas.

What’s something you are looking forward to doing in November?

I’m always open to suggestions for adding to my list of things to do.

October Wrap Up / November Plans 2022

OCTOBER WRAP UP

I play Bunco (a dice game) with friends the 1st Friday of every month. This month’s theme was Halloween. I got a gift bag for the most wins. Inside was a little pumpkin waffle maker. So, I made pumpkin flavored waffles with it over the weekend. That was very yummy.

The second weekend of October had me checking out a haunted castle. I made it through my first haunted house production. Only screamed once, and got startled into jumping a few times. I made my friends go in front of me. Expected to have people lurching out at us, but did not expect people crawling and sliding around on the ground. This was at Preston Castle in Ione, California. It would be fun to go do one of the regular history tours of the place sometime.

That same weekend, my mom and I went to Apple Hill. It’s a must go during the fall and winter. Some places are open year-round and some are seasonal. It’s up near Placerville, California. Lots of pumpkins, apples, and pretty fall colors.

Celebrated my Birthday this month. I always have grand plans that I end up just chilling at home and maybe going to a nice dinner or movie. This year, decided on seeing The Woman King in theater. And pizza for dinner.

Had hoped to do some fun stuff Halloween weekend, but I got a cold. So, binged watched shows and movies all weekend, and lots of soup.

NOVEMBER PLANS

Looking forward to some events in November, especially Thanksgiving with family.

What’s something you are looking forward to doing in November?

I’m always open to suggestions for adding to my list of things to do.

Blogtober 2022: Autumn Activities

Time for a seasonal things to do list. I saw someone create a cute bingo card to check things off, instead of just a list. Now I just have to think up 25 activities. There is some ideas below, that I typically like to do each fall.

Decorate the house
Movies
Books
Haunted house
Pumpkin patch / photo shoot
Carving pumpkins
Fall leaves
Corn maze
Six flags?
Fall festivals?
Apple hill – foods – hayride –
Hike
Do a craft

What else?

September Wrap Up / October Plans 2022

HAPPY HOCUS POCUS 2 DAY!

I am so happy they did make a sequel. And it is available today! This makes a perfect end of September and the start of October. I love October for the Fall colors and festivals, Halloween, it being Pizza month, but most importantly, it’s my Birthday month. I’m looking up lots of things to do.

SEPTEMBER WRAP UP

On September 9th, California celebrated it’s 172nd anniversary of admission into the US and becoming the 31st state. I usually like to shout out a “happy anniversary” and that’s about it. I might do more in the future. Like go to the capital or Sutter’s Fort, or even Coloma where gold was found. And celebrate a little more. The historian inside me loves to read about past stuff.

It had been a while since I did a dish in our instant pot. It was a pasta primerva and you can’t usually go wrong with a pasta recipe. I didn’t have the pressure cooker set right, the air was escaping from the valve. I finally fixed it, and it wasn’t bad, but the pasta did get mushy.

We had a good rain storm, YEAH! A week after having the hottest temps of the year for a few days. I made our annual pumpkin chili & cornbread to welcome fall coming. So yummy!

I volunteered early on a Saturday morning at a children’s back to school shopping spree. We take a bunch of kids from a low income area school and shop with them. They get shoes, clothes, a backpack full of supplies, and a breakfast. It’s always so fun & great to see the smiles on the kids faces when they realize these are brand new clothes for them. No hand me downs.

Didn’t do much else. This last weekend, my mom and I looked up lunch spots out of town & along the river. Settled on Rio Vista, which was only 1 hour drive along the river. I’m hoping to remember to write up the memories of the day and post. We both said it’d be fun to get out of town for a day trip at least once a month.

OCTOBER PLANS

I am hoping to participate in Blogtober. We’ll see.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I have been looking up some things to do this month. And figuring out how I want to celebrate my birthday. I have already purchased tickets to a haunted house at the Preston Castle in Ione, California. I thought it was more a tour of the place, but they make it a haunt house during October. I’m already scared. I easily jump at things I’m not expecting when I see it out of the corner of my eye. But I do want to experience a haunted house at least one time.

What’s something you are looking forward to doing in October?

I’m always open to suggestions for adding to my list of things to do.

Blogtober 2021 – Days 1 – 3

I was reading other bloggers posts about participating in the Blogtober theme this year. This is mainly a challenge to post something everyday for the month. As they all were excited to take on the challenge, it inspired me to give it a try. I was going to just post to instagram, but have decided to also post on here. Even if it’s just a little snippit, why not? I am hoping that this will help me with posting my other stories too. Let me catch you up with the first 3 days:

DAY 1:
Went to Alaro Craft Brewing tonight. Originally it was to get dinner and then try their soft service ice cream flight. My mom and I got an appetizer of Frickles (friend pickles) and then dinner was fish and chips. We also got beer. By the time we were ready to order the ice cream, we were pretty full, so only ordered 1 cup instead of the 3-cup flight. Got their vanilla and chocolate swirl, stout caramel, and sea salt flakes. It was all so tasty and very yummy.

DAY 2:
Brought home a new friend today. He’s happy to stay and greet everyone coming to the house.

DAY 3:
Oh my gourd. In the morning, enjoyed some pumpkin pancakes and ended the day with pumpkin chili.

Working on a pumpkin food & drink hunt.

Are you participating in Blogtober? What things are you looking forward to doing this Autumn season? Are you going to do a pumpkin / apple food & drink hunt?