November journal pages and a quick catch up :-)

MMMMMM, the perfect cup of brewed tea for a chilly afternoon day. I've been fighting a cough since September and eager to soothe it however I can. Had one round of antibiotics, but may need to go back again and see why it's still lingering on.

I did a quick simple spread in my journal for November. A place to jot down my ideas and important events as our calendar has been filling up quickly. As much as I love creating my own journal pages, it is definitely more time consuming to get them done in time to record important things and makes it less convenient when trying to plan dates further out. But for now I am enjoying it and will see how it goes as I may change it up later with another planner again. :-)

Have you ever read any of John Muir's books about his time spent in nature? I just love his books and quotes..... there is something so healing about being outside and taking in all the natural beauty and wildlife around us.

We celebrated my dad's birthday with him in October and had a good day. Missing my mom a ton though, as I know he does as well. The holidays make it extra hard.... It's like we are all just going through the motions but still not really processing that she's gone. :-(

My dad's good friend since childhood who we call "uncle" Ellis also came down to spend the week with him, so that was really nice. He still lives back up in Maryland and I know my dad misses everyone from back home.

Kathleen and I were hanging out at the bus stop  the other morning and I just had to get a picture of her backpack! I truly think it weighs more then she does! She carries this, her gym bag, lunch bag and clarinet around every day! I worry about her back as she is so super tiny!

Fall is rapidly approaching now.... fresh fallen colored leaves among the ones that have fallen prior litter the ground everywhere.

Flowers were still blooming on my porch though... as we've had a few warm days mixed in with the cold.

I just love this time of year and all the beautiful colors. It also has good memories for me as it is the time of year Jerry and I started dating. October 21st we have been together for 28 years! Hard to believe, it has been a wonderful journey though!! This year we will be married for 25 years! Crazy how fast that time goes by.

Annabelle and Ruby just wanted to say hi, along with our chickens :-) They get so excited when I walk down to their yard with treats and to spend time with them. The chickens have so much personality and they love following Kathleen everywhere. She does a wonderful job helping to take care of them.

If you follow me on my Facebook page you may have seen that I had taken a job teaching 3 and 4 year olds.... but due to unfavorable working conditions which I can't go into too much detail, I ended up not staying there after 2 weeks and 2 days. I could not compromise my ethics or professionalism so I made the choice to leave.

My family has been going through some really tough times, not all I have shared here on my blog....
Initially I thought going back to work would be helpful for some extra money, but as those of you who are raising a family know; sometimes it is best to stay in that role as a stay at home mom as long as necessary. My job at home is important and it helps to allow Jerry to travel and do the things he needs to at work while I take care of things here. It saves money in gas, clothing and supplies, especially as far as all we tend to buy as teachers. So for now I am still focusing on my Perfectly Posh business as I can do that from home, but more importantly I am still here for my girls and whatever they need along with taking care of our animals and our home. Family has always been most important to Jerry and I and we know that this is what is right for our family.

Hope you are all doing well, I'll be catching up on visiting blogs reading all that has been happening with everyone over the next couple days and planning to post more soon. :-)

                                                                           Blessings,
                                                                                Jill

Catching up!

                           Kathleen is still enjoying her running and recently did a local 5 K :-)

She finished in about 26 minutes and won second place for her age group, just seconds behind the first place winner. We are so super proud of her!! She ran this one last year for the first time ever and had come in first :-)

After the race we took her to get a snowball and she was super happy as until recently there were no snowballs stands or places here. We were used to them in Maryland and have been missing them!

             Found this beautiful painting of the wings at our local mall and had to get a picture. :-)

We had a tough 2 weeks with Hayley. She had a ruptured ear drum and 2 serious ear infections. She was in so much pain. Luckily our ENT was able to help get her through it and we hope she never has to experience that kind of pain again. It is so hard as a parent seeing your child suffering and not being able to take the pain away. Daisy spent a lot of time by her side comforting her.

Hurricane Michael seemed to hit us harder than the last one! We had more flooding around the yard and in our basement again.... Kathleen and I walked around and picked up some of the branches that had fallen to give to our goats Annabelle and Ruby. Our yard was like a swamp!

                       It also flooded our pond again... at this point it hadn't yet buried the pier.

We had our first cooler day this past weekend and Kathleen was excited to get back in the kitchen and bake some treats to take over to a friend's house. Of course we got to sample one too, lol and they were so delicious. She made brownie, chocolate chip cupcakes with marshmallow icing from scratch. :-)

She definitely enjoys fall and still takes time to climb trees, though she is a lot taller then when she first started climbing them! Now her feet about touch the ground while in the tree! LOL

My beautiful niece Neve had her first homecoming dance this past weekend! The theme was Wizard of Oz and she looked so beautiful! I can't believe how fast they are growing up. She's a freshman in High School already!

This week at Hayley's high school is meme week. She picked one she found funny and created the Kermit outfit to go with it. As a mom.... it's not my favorite meme, but her outfit creativity was cute so I just had to share!

And I'd thought I'd leave you with a little photo of Jerry trying on Halloween masks in Walmart the other day, lol. Not a bad look ;-)

                                                                        Blessings,
                                                                             Jill

October Journal Update and Some Quick and Easy Meals

Good morning! I love walking outside and seeing the beautiful colors of the sun peeking out from behind the trees. A great way to start the morning as I see Kathleen off to the bus stop and then feed the ducks and check on the goats and chickens. So peaceful this time of day.

Started my day off right with some scrambled eggs fresh from our chicken house :-) Also had a little greek yogurt with blueberries on top and some nice hot chai and green tea.

Kathleen has a long busy day ahead of her today and this morning she took a moment to stop and grab her wishes :-)

Hayley, I have at home for a second day with a ruptured eardrum :-( Lots of antibiotics, etc. to try to make her feel better as it heals. She has been in a lot of pain and as a momma that is so hard to see; especially knowing you can't take the pain away.

I've been working on my new pages for my October journal and having fun creating some cute characters :-) I added in the use of watercolor pencils and some washi tape. Each month I will change it up and do different things.

My fun little owl..... this one I had to do on another sheet of paper and then I added it in with the washi tape to hold it in place. I have noticed with this bullet journal the pages are a bit thin and the marker does tend to show through the other side, therefore making it necessary to skip a couple pages...

My calendar page with my little witch and her cat, with a spider web eye and a little stitch added onto her face for Halloween!

I did the column rows again for my daily lists and added a quote I liked. May add another graphic but not sure yet. I know October is going to be a very busy month!

A quick little meal that is healthy and so easy to do is a little chicken stir fry. The day before I made a roast chicken in the crockpot. After it cooled down I cut it up into pieces and placed it in a container. I also chopped up several different vegetables such as zucchini, red, yellow and orange peppers, and mushrooms. Then when I was ready to make dinner I heated up some oil added the veggies and a little sesame oil and salt and once cooked I then added mushrooms and chicken to heat through. Delicious, filling, simple and healthy. Great to prep ahead especially when you have a busy night!

                                                                          Yummy!

Also the winter catalog was launched with Perfectly Posh last night and there are so many great products available while supplies last. These make wonderful gift baskets for the upcoming holiday season. If you'd like to check them out and see all the ingredients and benefits for your skin you can do so by clicking here If you have any questions, let me know or if you would like to try a sample of something I'd be happy to mail it out to you. :-)

                                                               Have a wonderful day!!!!

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all"                                                                   Stanley Horowitz

                                                                       Blessings,
                                                                            Jill

Decorating for Autumn and a Walk Around the Yard to See the Changes of the Season

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns"   George Eliot

As September begins to fade and we welcome October.... we have started to decorate around our home. Kathleen began the decorating first and I added some things as well. She placed our fall wreath upon the front door to welcome our family and friends. :-)

           We of course each year have to bring out the glowing, spooky Halloween pumpkin :-)

Kathleen hung her treat bag up on the closet door handle, I'm pretty sure she's ready to go gather some treats!

                       Our window area received some delightful cats and pumpkins to enjoy!

After decorating our fireplace area ( adding some touches to what Kathleen had already set out), I thought I'd share a few of the magazines I am currently looking through for this month. These are a couple of my favorites.

                   Our hall bathroom has some Halloween touches to add a little fun!

                 These little ghosts watch over the kitchen as they sit perched in the window :-)

This blow up pumpkin and cat have been in our decor since the girls were little. Actually Kathleen blew this up herself this year! It is not an easy task! It was cute, when our dog Daisy came through the hallway she stopped and real carefully walked up to sniff it and check it out, lol. She didn't know what to make of it!

Mirabelle was following me around most of the morning and had to be sure she made it into one of my pictures, lol.

                       Kathleen has her Switch Witch all set up and ready to go for  Halloween!

                 Some more decorations through the house.... you never know what you may find!

I get a lot of compliments and where did you get that comments on these spiders we have that hold tea light candles. I actually bought them years ago at the Dollar Tree and bring them out to decorate every year now. The girls always loved them!

We even manage to tuck some decorations into the corners of our home. Adding a little fun along the way. Growing up my mom always decorated for every holiday and it was such a warm, cozy feeling. I like to do the same for my girls and it brings back so many great memories of my mom.

Let's take a little walk around the yard to see if autumn has arrived yet. :-)

This is our dogwood tree and now you can see the small berries popping out everywhere.

                      Butterfly bush is still going strong and currently has a bumblebee on it. :-)

If you look carefully you will see why these leaves are hanging in mid air! A very large spider is creating his intricate web and has added some leaves as a focal point. At least it keeps us from walking through the web, which actually happens a lot around here. ;-) In the background you will notice not all is still green.... there are quite a few leaves falling from the trees!

Here's a better close up.... scared the heck out of me. I appreciate nature but spiders and snakes certainly aren't my favorites, lol! I'll be posting a little video of him on Instagram soon.

       I just love the beauty of the colors of the changing leaves.... so many reasons to love fall.

Same flower taken moments apart,  but the lighting is slightly different so I thought I'd share them both. Love the blue color in it.

                             Green to yellow, to red to brown...... falling leaves all around!

It's a sunny day, yet when I turned to photograph the pond and my mom's memorial bench it seemed to darken....almost like rain was coming.... her birthday was the 23rd..... another hard day.... I can't believe she's been gone just over a year.... I miss talking to her so much.... I miss everything about her :-(

                                          Lots of leaves falling down in our garden area....

                                                       

"I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew life was a gift."  Dodinsky

Despite the falling leaves my flowers in my plant stand by our front walkway are still blooming really pretty. :-)

                                                         Thanks for stopping by today :-)

                                                                            Blessings,
                                                                                 Jill