An October This and That

1.) Remember my post where I mentioned switching to things I used to do in our previous town way back in, overall, happier days?

Wow. I took my advice and what a change in my attitude. This has become a more glorious Autumn than usual for me. Color me all shades of lovely Fall colors as I return to my creative self!

More about specific ideas and projects in another post, but here's a hint at one--

                                                       I love the autumnal hues of this.

2.) Unbelievable, but from August of 2025 to August 2026, I bought only 3 books. Yikes. That shows how completely I'd lost my love of reading during those months of treatments and earlier malaise.

So Honey, trust me, I'm making up for those non-ordering-of-fun-things-months now.  ツ

I bought these books:

Looking For Me by Beth Hoffman (began it yesterday, hated to put it down. Great book so far!)

A Place Called Sweet Apple by Celestine Sibley (hasn't arrived yet)

Family Patterns by Kristin Eckhardt (ditto)

Time to Share by Jo Ann Brown (ditto)

Plus, I found others available to read at Open Library.

Oh, and when I buy new physical books, I give away the same number from my collection so not to become buried in them or leave so many for Naomi to sort through after my passing. These past years my personal library has become so 'tight' with only books I (think I) love, that it causes me to become quite honest with myself.  ツ

P.S. Some of you are wondering why I don't just buy Kindle books so to keep my library smallish. The books I love best? Many aren't available on Kindle. Or if they are, they're more expensive than the physical copies I can buy. I do check Open Library first before I purchase any book, but when I do buy one? It's nearly always a book I'll want to read again and again, one which will enhance my own personal library.

So there you go.  ツ

3.)  Speaking of buying things, I bought the nicest tablet for my purse:

I especially love the gilded gold edges. Check it out here.

4.) And oh! While watching a video of a woman's decorated mobile home, I appreciated how she framed a pound cake recipe handwritten by her great-grandmother. Love that idea! I'm sure many of us still have recipes in longhand from relatives long gone which would look lovely framed upon a kitchen wall.

5.) Something else I bought recently? A long-handled Swiffer duster to keep this older gal from standing on a chair while cleaning her ceiling fan (or any other high place). How much better it feels to stand on solid ground rather than an iffy chair at my age!

These are the kinds of changes I'm making these days so both of us will be/feel safer around the house.

6.) Sadly, I lost an old magazine page with a very favorite essay by Nancy Eberle. But! Fortunately, years ago I recorded her words in a blog post (or 2 or 3) here in my blog. 

If you like houses filled with rampant, creative inspiration, you may love this.  (You might have already read it, but hey--to me-- it never grows old.)

7.) You remember Bookfinder, right? It's a website where they do all the searching for you for the cheapest copy of any book you want. They've saved me tons of money. 

(Though ok, sometimes after checking there, I'll zip over to Ebay or Abebooks just to make certain Bookfinder didn't miss a less expensive copy. Super-occasionally I'll find one.) 

Oh! And a favorite diary I used some years in the early 2000's is the Susan Branch one:

Lately I've been rereading my Susan branch diary from 2003, the part about the two-week staycation we took to honor our 25th anniversary. My oh my, all the estate sales, lunches out, movies, country drives and curb-shopping we did! 

(Go packing all that into single days now, well, we'd collapse. What a different season for us back then, indeed.)

Anyway, wanting to return to diary writing (after eons), I purchased a greatly reduced-price SB diary because someone had written a few school test notations here and there. No problem, I just whited them out. (Are you sensing a pattern in this post about my book-buying habits?) シ

 I've already begun writing in the diary--who can wait until January?

8.) And speaking of diaries, have you heard of commonplace books? They're different than diaries and what a cool idea! Check out how to create one yourself, here. (Many other videos with creative instructions are available.)

9.) And this video about the 1950's was just too cool! Bittersweet also, but very unique. If you're a fan of 1950's movies and singers, you're guaranteed to enjoy it.

10.) Living alone and dreading the upcoming winter? Check out this video. It may just change everything for you.

And speaking of winter, here's another fun video about making old-fashioned Christmas gifts.

I really enjoyed both of these videos this morning. And yes, each has a lot of AI, but as I've stated before? To me, if something beautiful is AI, then it's still a beautiful thing.

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I hope you're enjoying a glorious Autumn, my friends!  (And you're stocking-up for winter/whatever may come, right?)  ツ

Oh! And here's a timely bonus video for you: When The Clocks Fall Back, Grandma Did These 8 Things  .

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Where's She's Rebuilding Her Life (And a Few Movies, Books and Videos for You)

"... weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."   --- Psalm 30:5

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Remember when I slept on the red couch for 8 months? 

Oh my, hardest months of my life--not because of the couch part, well kinda--but because satan kept saying (and saying), "The best days of your life are over. Nothing will ever be the same for you."

And yes, I knew those were lies, but during cancer treatment months, you tend to feel oh-so-weak, foggy-headed and exhausted, making it hard to shoot holes through non-truths and blow them away, even while using the name of Jesus.

Man oh man, what I didn't tell you! 

Like, how much of what I experienced felt like satanic attacks, mental ones coming through loved ones, strangers and odd happenings. Scary stuff. And from November through June, it's like I fell way back to the starting line and lost all of what makes me unique (like you reading this are unique. You know, that part.).

But Jesus reminded me how much He'd invested in me for decades.

And this time He pulled me through that mess, encouraged me via His Holy Spirit and through friends and memories of how He's grown me up these past 30 years, especially. All that effort (and patience) on His part!

And now? Over on the other side? Slowly, gratitude has energized and restored my mind, strength, and my everyday hours. No longer is my mind consumed with problems and medical issues and how to fix them. Whew.

And I am loving rebuilding this life:

My quiet morning times. Reading under my sunlamp in silence. Praying and thinking.

The painting touch-ups inside our house. The garden harvesting.

Overseeing workmen out in our yard with the pruning of huge trees, the placement of sidewalk and the new dirt poured beside them, the awning placed over our trash cans, the railings and grab bars inside, etc.

The cleaning of our upstairs which sat empty all those months and the reorganization up here.

The getting out and about more often.

The stocking-up on food and supplies for winter.

The watering of the new grass seed along the sidewalks.

The purchasing of some creativity supplies and the sending of some surprises in the mail to friends.

Oh, how good to feel restored! To care again. To rebuild one's life from what once felt like ashes. And if you had a part in my return to Life as God designed for me? I do profusely thank you. 

Your encouragement means far more than you'll ever realize.

Truly, these past couple months have felt like starting over from scratch. I'm trying to think of them as rebuilding something better than before.

An example of how weird things were around here during my 'off months': for one whole week straight, the only show we watched on our tv was Blue Bloods. Anytime morning or super bleary-eyed late at night, it was only reruns of Blue Bloods. Yikes.

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In my last post I didn't mention how, after dropping off the old paint and cleaners, we stopped at Salvation Army so I could look through their books since I'd not done that in perhaps 2 years, maybe?

Yet in those hundreds of books(!) I found nothing, only heard this old song playing in my mind, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through." So many books I never wish to read. And it was ok.

(Besides, I can go book shopping anytime via Pinterest or alongside Youtube creators and that's more lovely for me these days.)

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The books I'm reading during my morning quiet times?

The Bible

How to Age Without Growing Older by Joyce Meyer. I'm using those little color tabs-with-removable-tape with all these books and this one has the most so far, followed by this one--

The Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard. Go here to read it online.

Simple Abundance by Sarah ban Breathnach

Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Forever, Erma by Erma Bombeck. Read it here.

And I just finished the short middle grade book called The Sod House by Elizabeth Coatsworth. You can read this one online at Open Library here. If you enjoy The Little House books, you'll like this one.

The reading tabs I'm using are basic ones like these, below, on the left. For me, they make reading more fun.  ジ

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Does anyone know what's happened to Mitzi from Mitzi Reads and Writes at Youtube? She's been missing many months. I miss her. Hmm, just now thought I've not checked with her over at Instagram.

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For months I'd searched for books with a similar feel to Winterbound by Margery Williams Bianco and I finally found some! They're the Jean Craig series which you can find on Kindle for just $2 here. I enjoyed the first one so much that, halfway through, I bought a reasonably-priced copy online so I could hold it in my hands.  ツ

(Jean Craig Grows Up is the first in the series, unlike the way Amazon has it listed.)

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Movies we've enjoyed lately--

The Runner

Donovan's Echo (2nd watch)

Accidental Texan (also 2nd watch)

Legal Action

Rocky Road (fun one to watch)

The Sandlot

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Have I shared any of the Rudan Brothers videos with you? They're the nicest workers, ever. They go around their area of Canada and replace peoples' gutters and roofs for free. Go here.

It's sad how often folks tell them, "No, we don't want free gutters. No one does anything for free these days. Sorry, but we can't trust you." And then close the door. 

Again, how disappointing that we live in a world where trust is rare. Often the Rudans stop by 15 - 20 houses before a homeowner will accept their offer of free gutters.

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This Swedish Bakery is Hidden in the Forest  A very cozy video, indeed. I love best the scenes of the lovely dining room.

Why Introverts Buy Books They Will Never Read. Interesting.

Quiet Backroads, Barns and Bridges

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And such wonderful news!

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."   --- Ephesians 6:12

Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 *** 

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Where She's Fixing Her Life By Looking Backward (?!)

“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."   --- Jeremiah 6:16

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So this gorgeous, color-filled-and-blue-sky weekend we drove over to our former town, the one with Autumn Cottage. 

We'd signed up for the big drop-off-your-old-paint-and-cleaners open air event and wow! We didn't even have to step out of the car, for they removed our items for us. How organized and nice the folks acted.

And you know? While driving around that vintage-looking town, I recalled my myriad days of just plain happiness, almost a giddy kind, those nearly 15 years.

And that bothered me. 

Why aren't I that happy now here in the town next-door where, frankly, we've got it better? I mean ok, I'm 18 years older than when we moved away. I've experienced cancer, covid (twice), fibroid, thyroid and walking issues and various non-ailment, emotional stuff, but still.

When I recall our 15 years here at Hobbit Cottage, they're not heavily frosted with an equal amount of joy.

And what's up with that?

Well, later that afternoon at home I wrote a list called, Ways I Lived Differently In ________ (our former town) and oh my. Seventeen+ items popped onto that list! Gee, that's quite a lot. Just a few of those? --

We went to movie theaters more often.

I was waay more creative.

I took far more walks through old, picturesque neighborhoods.

We did lots more countryside drives and estate sales.

I spoke to many folks while out and about.

I read more books.

I often drove to the river's edge, read, and drank decaf while looking at the water.

There's more, but you get it.

And then I remembered; years ago, Joyce Meyer said something like, "If your life now feels wrong, go back in your mind to when things felt right. Recall what you were doing at that time, then do it and move forward."

Good, hopeful advice.

Now, am I meant to do all 17+ things on my list? Nah, not all of them, for changes do happen (as they should). But some, yes. These past few days I've returned to a handful and wow! Already I'm noticing a difference in my attitude and you gotta love that.

And well, to start checking things off the list, we actually, after 5 whole years(!) drove to our local movie theater. No stairs anywhere so Tom easily used his rollator, we got a senior discount, we shared a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup pack, just the two of us sat in the theater so we chatted freely, half the previews appeared promising and oh yeah, Tom said it was the best dog movie he'd ever seen which is saying something since he's watched them all.  ツ

(More about the movie, below.)

Anyway, we returned home energized. Felt different mind-atmosphere-wise, thankful our legs held out ok, and glad we'd made that decision to get out amongst our fellow townsfolk. 

For as Jesus would have us all remember, 

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."   --- Matthew 5:14, 15

And it's important to Him that we recall the lost ones and get out and spread that Light so they can live bright, joyful lives, as well.

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And the movie at the theater?

We saw Heart of the Beast and I'll always feel grateful we did (such gorgeous Alaskan scenery!), but I'm not sure I can recommend it due to 'language' (perhaps 5 - 7 instances?) and many scary parts, like the one with the obviously-CGI-wild-wolves (kinda horror film level, that scene).  But the one great thing? Not a spoiler, but in the first minute of the film you see the dog standing in the road kinda 'flagging down help.' 

Then the movie goes back to how things started.

And that was reassuring right off the bat because Honey, I can't stand movies where you get oh so attached to the dog, then he goes and dies. Heh.  😕

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This kept taking my breath away with its autumnal decor beauty, both outside and in. Wow, reminded me how I hope my heavenly home was built in the Autumn section. Lovely music, also.

Gorgeous, old-fashioned decor. Peaceful, too.

If you've ever wanted to visit Hobbiton, go here.

The cutest tiny (tiny-tiny!) house I've ever seen.

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And in returning to some of my old creative ways, I purchased this along with some pastel paint pens and colored pencils, as well:

Completed one page yesterday and enjoyed the calming peacefulness of it!

Don't you just love Autumn?

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 *** 

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15