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 to 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

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 looking to make these days so for both of us to 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 one because someone had written a few school test-day 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.

*****

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

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