Orange You Glad It's Pumpkin Time?

I spent most of yesterday pulling out my pumpkins! OMG...I have bins and bins of them...and I love each and every one of them! Take that...Mr. Den...who thinks I can part with them...I can tell you where each and every one of them came from...that photo is just one itty bitty area...

Here is another...




And another...




And my wreath...I love this wreath...it's all handmade kitties dressed in Halloween costumes...primitive and quirky...just the way I like it!




And I have some witchy poo's, too!




Spending the day in a football/taco/natcho frenzy. Both the Broncos and the Eagles are playing today! And they are playing each other! Sort of killing two birds with one football...lol...

Finished this...my only complaint with this book is that I had to look up so many words...or I am not as smart as I thought I was...or think I am...
jejune, quartzitic, fungible...and a ton more! My goal this week is to call someone out on being fungible...watch your step, Den!




Reading this...oh so freaky chillingly good!




Happy Reading! Happy Football Sunday!

It's Usually A Saturday When I Miss Her The Most...

Saturday was my mom's day...the day she took just for her. She didn't cook or clean or God Forbid ( her words ) go anywhere on Saturday. My dad wasn't supposed to make a mess in the kitchen or drag in dirt...again...her words. Saturday was all about her hair, her makeup, her outfit, and getting ready for 6 o'clock Mass! She had no time for anything else.

I would look at this day of hers in awe...and be short with her or tease her or remind her that there were hours and hours until 6 o'clock Mass. But she never changed her mind about how she wanted her day to unfold.

The sad thing that I think about now...I rarely went to Mass with her...she was a commentator and read the readings and even gave Communion but I never had the time or inclination to go with her...not even when I was grown. I hated that Saturday Mass as much as she loved it. Sigh!

We would wait for her when Mass was over...and we would have a light supper or order pizza and get a Dairy Queen or sit on the front porch and talk. She was relaxed, comfortable, and herself again...my funny mom, my silly mom...the mom everyone loved.

So...that must be why I miss her the most on Saturday...but I still hate Saturday church!




I think about all of the wonderful times we had with her...I hope she forgives me for that darn church thing...it's mostly her fault for making us wear uniforms and go to Catholic school!

Sorry, Mom!

Mission Accomplished!

Lunch yesterday was yummy!

We shared a flatbread...pear...blue cheese...figgy jam! Thin and crackery crisp!



Then we had salads...these!

Mine was roasted chicken with apples...Den's was salmon...both were outrageous!

Thank you, Harvest!





Plus at the end of lunch the servers bring out these...little shooters of dessert! We said no...sigh!



Den got his shoes...all sized up and perfect...but he could not leave until we all felt where his toe was...sigh!

I got these! Minnetonka booties! Very comfy! I could not choose a color...black or brown...but I chose brown!

These will be my go to booties all season...the ones you can walk in...stomp through leaves in, literally toss on with anything...oh...I went back and got black, too...they are not expensive at all!






I love booties!

Off to read this for a while and then prep the house for the week's end! I could say I am at the good part but every part of this is a good part!



Dinner tonight is prepped...salmon on the grill with roasted veggies...butternut squash, golden potatoes and asparagus...then we want to settle on the sofa and catch up on DVR'd TV...we have so much to watch! Are you watching Broadchurch?

OMG...so good! Luther? Love it! The Blacklist? Interesting!

My bloggie buddy June has convinced us to go see Prisoners with Hugh Jackman. We found a showing at 10:25 Sunday morning. We hope to go then...before football!

Happy Reading!

Shoes! Lunch! Dinner!

I usually buy Den shoes for our anniversary. Shoes that he wouldn't normally buy on his own. This year I bought him two yummy pairs but not in his size. So we are meeting to get new ones, maybe have lunch at Harvest, and then I can zip on to Whole Foods...everything we need is in the same spot. Perfection!

Shoes...


Interesting factoid...lol...Den gets his feet measured every time he gets new shoes! I find that mildly irritating...he has been the same size since college!



Lunch...another mildly interesting factoid...our Harvest used to be our Gap! Way to recycle! It's a really cool place that tries to use local stuff!




Dinner shopping...and a sweet trip to the coffee bar for a simple coffee au lait for me.




Dinner...from Epicurious...charred brussel sprouts with pancetta and oriechette pasta...Whole Foods is supplying me with the hand made pasta...yum!

That is not my hand...this photo is from Epicurious!


One last thing...explaining to Lucy that she has to watch Roxie...her look is priceless!



I am going to read this for the next hour...the story is about Lily who is in Brazil accused of murdering her roommate. Her father and sister are there...and her father is at his first meeting with attorneys...who go on and on about all of the incriminating things Lily has done...which really do seem incriminating...I will keep you posted but it is one of those books where I want to eat up every word...it's that good!



Happy Reading!

Thoughts...

Reading this...so so good! I love these family dysfunctional novels with a twist...this one could remind me just a bit of the Amanda Knox trial...the author says it might have been loosely inspired by that but it is so much more...I am incapable of putting it down! It is that good!




These are the days I especially appreciate not teaching...days when I can stop whatever I am doing...toss a kitty or two in the tent on the deck...grab a steamy mug of tea...and sit on the deck and read...and that is just what I will be doing once it gets a tad warmer today...once I finish laundry...and once I walk through the house and put all the pillows and quilts back on beds and sofas. Lucy and Roxie's night time romps are getting wilder and wilder. I am not sure I really want to know what my innocents do after dark!

These faces are not telling me everything! Or actually anything!






Today Den and I decided that we need cake...moist sticky chocolatey cake...for dessert tonight!

This calls for Martha Stewart's Busy Day Chocolate Cake! Yum! Our fam fave!
Just google it...it's simple and fabulous!



Happy Reading!

So Many Amazing Books!

They are all out there just waiting to be read!
This one...suspense ridden...




This one...described at Amazon like this...

Written with the riveting storytelling of authors like Emma Donoghue, Adam Johnson, Ann Patchett, and Curtis Sittenfeld, Cartwheel is a suspenseful and haunting novel of an American foreign exchange student arrested for murder, and a father trying to hold his family together.




This one...I love Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce...




This one...described at Amazon this way...

A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world—and discovers that there’s no going back.




This one...described at Amazon like this...

"This hauntingly evocative tale had me on the edge of my seat as I gasped, cried, and cheered. Set against a barren, post-apocalyptic landscape, Red Hill is a true testament to Jamie McGuire’s skill as a storyteller. You’ll love every heart-pounding minute of it."

(Tracey Garvis Graves, New York Times bestselling author of On the Island and Covet)



I really must read faster!

Happy Reading!

What A Week For Books!

It must be this yummy crispy orangey season but it seems as though there is a vast/ huge/gigantic number of books out there that I want/need/must read! This is why I love football season! I can literally tune out Den and the TV and read an extra book every Sunday! I love it. I think I read Hunger Games during a Bronco game...it was fabulous!

These were both in the NYT Book Review yesterday and I don't think I have seen them around anywhere.

I am taking this description from Amazon and the author Maggie Shipstead...whose work I love.

“Captivating and delicious. A brilliantly imagined and lovingly told story about the wide world beyond the margins and outside the parlors of Pride and Prejudice.”

—Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements.

I really want to read this!




This one, too...this is the description from Amazon...

In Duplex, Kathryn Davis, whom the Chicago Tribune has called “one of the most inventive novelists at work today,” has created a coming-of-age story like no other. Once you enter the duplex—that magical hinge between past and future, human and robot, space and time—there’s no telling where you might come out.

I love books like this one!


Reading this...a werewolf/coffee novella...really yummy!

Off to clean...and tidy and organize...yum!

Happy Reading!

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

Reading...and again...so deliciously good I read through some of the night and will finish today!


Breakfast...I made simple omelets...Den brought home these amazing cinnamon rolls with a yummy cream cheese icing from...here! They were decadent!







The rest of the day is...football/reading/playing with kitties/relaxing! Oh boy! We have these amazing rolls and imported soprasetta and sharp imported provolone cheese and Italian peppers if we want a sandwich later...and a country vegetable soup is ready for dinner. Plus Den...that bad boy...brought home little baby pumpkin cheesecakes from Tallulah's...for dessert after soup if we are hungry.

Sounds like the perfect Sunday plan! Can you tell that we get really excited about food on Sunday? Oh my!

There were some absolutely fabulous new books in the NYT book review this morning...I am checking them out now and will post about them later...

Happy Sunday!

Happy Reading!