Monday Musings, September 23

Happy Day my friends!

If you are reading this Monday morning, I am on my way to my sister-in-law’s house to spend a few days doing a bit of decluttering. Honestly, I know I have areas in my own home that could use a little declutter action, but it’s going to be so much more fun to help her with her declutter! Decluttering can seem overwhelming, but when you have a plan and just start, you can really make progress!

I am actually really excited to drive the 3.5 hours to my SIL’s house; I can indulge my guilty pleasure of listening to True Crime podcasts! Right now, I can’t get enough of Up and Vanished…if you’ve finished the podcast then don’t tell me ANYTHING! But, I am always looking for new suggestions…send them my way!

The weather this week in Eastern North Carolina has been absolutely PERFECT!! Windows open…maybe a sweatshirt in the a.m….tshirt in the afternoon. Ahhh…this is just what I needed to get to the attic to pull out my fall decor.

Some of these links may be affiliate links and I may earn a small commission off of the sale of these products to help defray the costs of operating this site, but the price you are charged is not affected. You can see my full disclosure policy here.

I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen making and canning soup and chili for lunches. It’s the first time I used recipes from start to finish in The All-New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving; I made their Beef Chipotle Chili and Hearty Chicken Stew and they are both very tasty! In the process, I ruined 2 pounds of dried navy beans (it seems you can oversoak dried beans…at which point they start to ferment ?) and overcooked another pound of pinto beans, which I salvaged by making a ‘pinto bean soup’ and, thankfully, is actually pretty good!

I went to have my roots ‘touched up’ this week. My hairdresser is out on maternity leave, so she referred me to a co-worker. In a nutshell, it seems there was a miscommunication and my hair is MUCH darker than it ever has been or that I wanted. She was mortified, so I really can’t be too mad….plus it will eventually grow out. But, she did recommend washing it in Dawn dishwasher soap a few times (followed by a good conditioner). Seems the high sulfate levels in the soap strip the color quicker than it would normally. I’ve done 1 round…maybe a tad lighter, but I was surprised that my hair doesn’t seem any drier…guess that’s good. Just FYI…

These Apple-filled Apple Cider Muffins are a basically Fall in a muffin shape.

Want more Apple Baked Goods? 

I remember when I was younger, my mom and her friends would have ‘coffees’ at each other’s home from time to time. I love that idea and have decided that I want to make an effort to reintroduce this ‘coffee’ idea with small groups of my friends. This Autumn Table Setting keeps with the goal of ‘simple’ yet will still get us in the fall mode.

OK…Seriously? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I mean, do people actually order these? But, heck, they are on sale!!!

Knitting a blanket, throw or washcloth and curious how to resize it?

Now, this is handy! Just put it on my Christmas wish list! My family loves buying me kitchen gadgets for Christmas!

Needle Felted Acorns are an easy first needle-felting project.

Thanks again for spending a few minutes of your busy day with me today. Please know that I welcome each and every comment that comes my way. If you want to make sure you don’t miss future content, pop your email in the beige box up on the right or click here.  I usually send out 1 email a week, so I won’t inundate your inbox…believe me, I’m sensitive to an overflowing email inbox!

Thanks for making my day by SHARING!!