October Is Here!

I am only in the first week of October and already it is full of surprises! We were experiencing an unusually warm Fall, in the beginning, but I knew that would be short lived. Now it is super chilly and as if over night, most of the leaves have turned. The hurricane brought a bit of rain and wind and those stormy days tend to be crazy. Last week, I decided to take a crack at my bread machine. I received the machine for Christmas a decade ago and I stored it in my parents attic to use when I moved out. The appliance came with a lovely manual/cookbook. So, using a recipe from the cookbook, I followed the directions and added the ingredients to the pan. Then, I popped myself some popcorn, grabbed a blanket and set off to watch The Omen on Netflix. Just after Damien's nanny performed her party trick, the power went out. It was a stormy day, which would have been perfect for that sort of movie. I went downstairs, after the power returned and check int he bread machine. It seemed to have resumed the baking process, so I returned to the movie. However, after losing the power, I saw it as a sign to not watch the movie and turned on something else, instead. When the bread finished baking, it certainly smelled like bread, but after seeing the dent, I was worried if it would taste like bread. The Mister came home and made corn chowder and sliced my bread for me. To my delight, it tasted like delicious bread. Next time I decide to use the bread machine, I will check my weather app for any storms first.

Earlier in the week, the Mister's parents visited and his father handed me a bag of rhubarb. I love rhubarb, especially in pie. I chopped it up and froze to have on hand. Later, my parents came over for dinner, so I made rhubarb crisp; it was delicious!

The end of the week to an unexpectedly heartbreaking turn when one of the family dogs died. I am grateful to have been home, to hold him as he passed so that he wasn't frightened or lonely. I miss him terribly, he was a wonderful friend. We spent the rest of the weekend staying busy and doing our best to keep our chins up. We decided to go apple picking and that helped tremendously. We picked apples and pumpkins and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful sunshine.

This pumpkin looks like it could make the perfect Jack-O-Lantern! Now, I am looking forward to the rest of October. At some point today, I will need to unearth all of my Martha Stewart October edition magazines and glean some ideas for baking and cooking. I hope to make this October fun, relaxing and make the house feel super cozy. Until next time~ Toodahloo!