Miscellaneous with a great finish!

It was a gorgeous day to hang outside and I did 2 loads of laundry as there is supposed to be rain coming tonight and tomorrow.  I wanted to show you my clothesline that my son Jim built for me.....LOVE!!!  It's right outside my laundry room and no 'tick' trees near it.....nary a tick on my clean clothes!

I've been working hard around the old homestead.......trying to get the porch back in working order although there is still a leak problem.....I should have just torn the whole porch off the side of the house as it has cost me an arm and a leg over the years!  But I am making the best of it.....I washed the west windows and put up some curtains and moved the bookcase back.  I plan on putting my cookbooks on it.  I brought in a few herbs too.

 Yesterday I shampooed the carpet but it is old and it had drywall 'droppings' which I had to scrape first with a knife and then after much shampooing they came out.  I was so happy but when I woke up this morning and went in there it smelled like cat urine!  OMG!  I sprayed some neutralizing spray on it but it didn't help so I put a fan on it and finally it stopped smelling as it dried but my cats have never peed out there so it must have been old?  I'd love to rip up the carpeting and replace the plywood underneath but I can't afford it right now so this will be as good as it gets....for now.  But after all that work and thinking you are cleaning and really you're not.  I did find a spray for neutralizing extreme cat urine smell and you can add it to your rug shampooer.  You can get a 32 oz bottle for $11.00 on Amazon here 
and you use 4 oz in your machine.  

I think I will order some...........have any of you had this problem or used this product or one similar?

I still have the brick to clean and some quarter round to put up.

  There's also painting but I'm not going there right now.

On a lighter and better smelling note.......my grandson Sam sells Yankee Candles every school year and you can order online and he and his school still get the credit which is really nice.  Last year I ordered this pumpkin warmer...... so cute and I have it in my bedroom with pumpkin spice 'melties' in it.

This year I bought this one.....and it's by my front door with Autumn Splendor 'melties'......

When I went to the Dollar store to get dog treats they had these Glade solids on sale for $1.00 each so I loaded up!  Some will be going on the porch for sure! There's a rich pumpkin dream, sparkling spruce and apple cinnamon.  I may have to go back and get more! LOL!

Yesterday when I was a Wally World I spotted these 2 cotton yarns by Peaches and Cream in Halloween colors so I grabbed one of each.

On my Year of Projects post this past week, if you noticed, I did not post anything about my Cozy Memory Blanket....because I had not done my goal of 3 squares per week!  So, since this picture was taken I have finished last week's 3 squares but now need to work on this weeks. 

These are the 3 I did this week...........the top 3 in the picture.

And now for the great finish.........I saw this kit a while back in an Etsy shop but she had sold out.  I asked her if she would notify me if she ever made more kits and she did!  And I bought one!  I always get myself something for Halloween and I thought I would get myself some Halloween colored sock yarn but this is even better!  I ordered the kit this morning!  Isn't he darling?  There is color work involved which I said I wanted to learn this year so I guess I will be learning color work this year! LOL!  But what a motivator The Intrepid Fox is!  I can't wait!  I'm so excited!  Happy Halloween to me!  Elia still has some kits on her site if you're interested and she has an owl too which I will do after Mr. Fox.  I thought it was quite reasonably priced too considering it is coming from the U.K.  including shipping it was $36.00 which includes the pattern and all the hand dyed yarn and buttons to make it.  Here's the link to her Etsy shop
What a talent she is! 

So, that's enough excitement for one day! LOL!  This has been a great week so far!  I hope you're having a great one too!  Happy Trails!

Books, Magazines, and an addiction!

Is it the hibernating mode with the change of seasons? All of a sudden I can't get enough books!  I'm like a squirrel gathering nuts for Winter....only it's books!
Presently I have finished The Railroad Children and I really enjoyed it.  Sometimes I like children's books better than adult.

I'm still listening to this totally hilarious audio tape....and there are 6 of them so it may be awhile.

and I am still reading this magazine...........

 

and this book which is awesome!

 

and I started this one.  I am reading the prologue which is very long and boring.......
I'm hoping it will get better....it has to! LOL!

Then I dug out all my old Halloween and Fall magazines that I've hoarded saved.  Here are just a few......

to say I am in Halloween Heaven would be an understatement!

Do you recognize this woman?  We don't have much in common but we do share a love for Halloween!

Now for the "addiction" part.....I signed up for some emails of ebooks on sale that you can download to your Kindle.  In my case, I have an Android tablet but you can download the Kindle app to almost any tablet or pc.  Last week I subscribed to a wonderful blog that I highly recommend, Modern Mrs. Darcy

Her blog is all about books and she sends me an email each day containing ebooks on sale.    OMG! I kept wondering why people would say they had hundreds of books on their Kindles...now I know why!  These sales are usually only for that day so the pressure is on!  Do you buy it for $.99?   Of course, it's a book I've been wanting, it's a book I've heard good things about, it's a book I've never heard of but what a tale!  Buyer beware....they're not all $.99 either....some are $2.99 or $3.99 or $9.99....okay, so I bought one book for $9.99.  I have not read the email for today about what books are on sale but this is very addicting.  Okay, so now, if you love books.....run over to Mrs. Darcy's blog and sign up for her daily emails.....just be aware that I've warned you! LOL!

Do you want to see the books I got on my tablet?  Of course you do!

 Okay, this is the one I payed $9.99 for and actually if you go to her blog most of the content is there probably.

 But it is very well written and I am reading it now and I'm on Chapter 4 already.....it's good!  Lots of pictures too!

 This takes place in Minnesota, I think, and I am always pulled to any book that takes place in the Midwest.

 This book is written by one of the authors of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I adored!

 I've heard about this book for a long time.............

 ahhh....just what I need.......

You're not going to believe this one...a 4 year old girl is abandoned in the Columbian jungle and lives with a tribe of monkeys and survives to write this book......yes, you've got it right... this is a true story!!!!!  Now, come on......who could resist this book?  Really? 

This one also came highly rated on amazon (I check before buying).........

It's the "one-click" on Amazon that makes it SO EASY...........but truth be told these are all really good books according to the reviews.  I also got a bunch for free but this post is already way too long and I am hungry for dinner!  And I've got to go check my email to see what ebooks are on sale today That is also why I did not put in a synopsis of the books as you can get those on Amazon.  Most of these are still on sale but maybe not for $.99.  Enjoy your reading this week....I know I will!  Happy Trails!

YOP Week #16

Better late than never as the saying goes!  My son, Benjamin went to the Chicago Bear's game yesterday in Chicago and lucky for me I was able to listen to it on Free Football Radio .  He called me several times from the game and he and his friends were having a great time!  The weather was great too.  They had driven in from Iowa so it was nice that they had good weather and the Bears ALMOST won.....they lost by 1 point to the Jacksonville Jaguars after being in the lead for most of the game.  BTW the Iowa Hawkeyes won their game against Purdue on Saturday just in case you wanted to know! LOL!
 It is a wonderful but busy time of year.  It's hard trying to squeeze in all the wonderful activities and tasks associated with Fall!  But I am forging ahead and here's what I've been doing on the handwork front this week.

Mostly I've been trying to make some progress on my socks...........I have finished the foot on sock #1 and am now working on the foot of sock #2.  This is Cherry Heart's (Sandra Paul) tutorial for a first pair of socks but to tell the truth, if it was really my first pair of socks, I'm not sure I would have become a sock knitter!  You need a flow chart to follow her instructions as she tells you to do things and then repeat 3 times and then go back to somewhere else and then return and it can get very confusing and I have knit socks before!  I was a little surprised that she had a patterned sock for a first time sock knitter too.  I love Sandra and all her designs and patterns and color choices but I would not recommend this pattern for a first time sock knitter....sorry, Sandra.

I had to tear out a round of my Giant Granny blanket as I ran out of yarn just before the end of the round and I've started it again but have only made it back to where I was, so in other words, no real progress.  No yarn for Maybelle yet either but I did find out that Lilies of the Valley are called Maybelle flowers in nordic countries. 

I found a new blog I like, My 1929 Charmer  and she had the cutest knitted pumpkins she had made but she didn't reference the pattern.  I found it though on Ravelry
It is a pay for pattern and mine looks like the beginnings of a sock but it's not.  I'm using some leftover Noro Kureyon... (I think).  It's a great way to use up scraps and I do like to make something new each year for the current holiday.  I'm hoping to make a 'pumpkin patch' full! LOL!  Very easy so far.

 I managed to get the outdoor Halloween decorations up outside and my ceramic pumpkin that my Aunt Alice made (she's gone now so I cherish her ceramics that I have).

These ghosts hung in the trees on the farm when my children were growing up.....they have lasted many years!  They have tin cans weighting them down and when the wind blows the cans clang against each other.  I love the fact that at night when people drive down that other street and turn onto my street their car lights illuminate the ghosts and hopefully give them a 'fright'! LOL!

This morning when I got up I saw this in the sky..........strange clouds?  No, it's the fuel trails from the fighter jets that fly over from the Little Rock Air Force Base.  It is 3 hours away by car but not for them! 

And what is this?  The moon?  Nope..........it's a very bad picture of the space station flying over.  The local news tells us what time and where to look and when the grands were here this past Summer they got to see it and were really excited.  I just happened to look up the other evening and there it was going over.  It moves fast too!  Times like that I wish I had a better camera.

Well, that's all folks!  I'll try and get around to everyone today and see what you're up to.  This week is busy again; bi-annual doctor appointment in Mountain Home, grocery shopping, bill paying, painting outside...still!  But it has been beautiful and the leaves are turning and starting to fall here.  I hope you are enjoying good weather, good health and the simple beauty of nature where you are.  Happy Trails!