A Little More Fall

Good Monday morning and come on in Through My Back Door. Oh yes, the coffee is on and I have the mustard cups out. They look so fallish. I love the colors of fall, don't you? In reality I am a winter, but my soul is fall. Remember when we had our colors done and swore that was the only colors we would ever wear?lol Well here are my fall dishes. I love the mustard.

I enjoy them so much. They make me happy.Some other fall around here. I hope you enjoy it.

This is the German Cupboard in the reading nook area of my livingroom, as are all the pictures today.

I always think of my house as being a fall house or a Christmas house. I don't know why, but it seems to put on its happy face during these seasons.

You have seen my pumpkin pinkeep from Deb Peterson. You know how I am addicted to pinkeeps. What you may not know is that Deb is the featured designer in Mercantile Gathering magazine's Fall issue. If you haven't gotten a copy, please do. You will learn how Deb chose her business name. It is a neat story and a neat magazine.
Well, you have made my day, stopping for coffee, Through My Back Door, where life is good.
betty
PS: It is with a heavy heart I think of all those affected by Irene. I pray for each of those affected and they soon can get back to normal. Please remember them when you pray.

Fall Keeps Pushing Its Way In

Hello everybody. come on in Through My Back Door, and I have a confession to make. Of course the coffee is on, but its DD! I bit the bullet. I can never find my Kona at Marshalls or Ross' so I paid the price. Grab a cup and don't hesitate to drink it because your hostess is complaining about the price.lol Lets just enjoy it,okay. I could only think if my Mother knew how much I was paying for coffee! What do you say, since we're talking about fall, we drink out of the redware. Anyway, I am glad you stopped by. I have been home since last Thursday with a summer cold. It knocked me off my feet. I had to go get Dasko food today, he is on a vegetarian food, and I have to go to Oak Ridge to get it. SO I stopped in Clinton at Corner Antiques and brought this home with me. It made me feel better.

It is only 5" high and 7" across. The blue paint is not original, but I really liked the size. Out of all of mine, I didn't have one this size.
The mornings have been so cool here I have been able to have my morning coffee,(I am all about the coffee)lol on my porch.

When I am out here of a morning, see that red cup with the lid, it is never far from me. Tamera, Country at Heart, sent me that in a give away. It is perfect. Bugs can't fly in and it keeps it hot too. Wasn't the color perfect?
I can't stop the fall from coming in. I actually am not trying, I held the door open wide.lol. I'll show you a little bit of fall through my back door. I hope you enjoy.

One end of the living room. See the settle in the fireplace. Kathy Trouts husband,Merle, made it for me and I love it.

On my childs stepback in the kitchen corner.

My husband about wore this whisk broom out. I gave one to Deb.

On top of the entertainment center. I just like to stick a little simple fall here and there.

This is the old box I found on the longest yard sale.

The pillow my friend Sue, from Prim Sues Heart and Home gave me.You want to know a secret? I dress my beds for the seasons. Here is the bed with its fall clothes on.

Remember to have only the things around you and the people that you love. Thanks so much for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS This is nothing to do with prim. If you know me you know I am a big Lady Vol Basketball fan. We have a fantastic womens program at the University of Tennessee, with a wonderful coach, in Pat Summit. She is the all time winningest caoch in college BB history. Men or women.She made the announcement she has been diagnosed with early dementia, Alzheimers. Would you remember her and her son Tyler in your prayers please? My grandson Curt, gave me this autographed ball, as a surprise for Christmas after they won the last national championship. I will treasure it for two reasons now.

This was after the 2008 National Championship.

Fall Is Creeping Through My Back Door

Come on in Through my Back Door where the coffee is on and fall is trying to creep inside! Well lets just say it has made an appearance. I still need some bittersweet and some mums, but that will come. Things have been hopping around here, so get your coffee and lets visit a while. Do you want to?
Last night Andrew came and spent the night. We were up bright and early this morning. He had breakfast,which consisted of 2 peanut butter sandwiches and ice tea.(His parents can do the healthy stuff, here it is what ever he wants) This is what we were doing before 8:30.

After that came this of course.

We played, watched cartoons, and had a picnic outside. All of this before 12:00! What fun I had. He is the light of my life, as he thinks I am a cool great grandma. You will have to ignore the mop bucket and the step stool. The stool was out for him to stand on, while he stirred the cookie dough. Now on to that other visitor. Fall decorations. While we were at the gathering lots of fall decorations were shown and sort of got me in the mood to decorate. So I did put a little fall out. I will give you a peek. (That is probably all you want as I have been told I am rushing the season)

I am trying to keep it simple.

This stove board makes me think of prim friends. Angela gave me the candle and Sue gave me the dish towel.

I love the little pin keep Marla gave me. I won't make you look at any more decorating for fall, But I do want to share some of the books that come out for fall here, Through My Back Door. I am an avid reader and love to decorate with books. (I have pushed books on all my grandchildren.) I like to display certain books during the various seasons. Here are some of the fall favorites.

Susan Branch books make me want  to snuggle in with a cup of something hot,(usually coffee) have soft  music and candle light. They make me want to enjoy home and bring out my nesting instincts. They are just warm fuzzies.

I also like the GooseBerry Creek books too.Lots of easy recipes.

Of course, next to Gladys Tabor, this is my favorite. Tasha Tudor. Her illustrations are so pure. I love everything she has written. Pumpkin Moonshine, has to be out until after Halloween.

This, of course is not seasonal but don't you love the fall colors? You will always find seasonal books when you come Through My Back Door, where life is good.
betty
ps: I just have to once again say thank you for reading my ramblings and sharing my coffee. It is wonderful to read your comments and know you have been here.

More Gathering Pictures

Good Tuesday morning everyone and come on in Through My Back Door. The coffee is on, I have almost drunk a pot myself. This morning it is Kona. Can't make up my mind on Sam's Choice. The dishwasher has been emptied,lol so just go to the cupboard and get you a cup. I want to share more Gathering pictures with you. I hope you can tell what a good time we had. If you have never participated in one of these and have the opportunity, Go For It!lol Honestly, I don't know when I have had so much fun. I laughed so hard my sides hurt. Laughter is such good medicine, I should feel good for a long time!lol

Tammy doing some serious thinking! Tammy is a sign maker and makes the most wonderful signs. She brought each of us one and then I won one as a door prize. If you are interested in her signs, e-mail me and I will forward it to her. You will not be disappointed.

This is on the shelf above my chair in my reading nook. It is where I do all my blog posts and spend my computer time. Is it not perfect?

This is the one I won. It is on my front porch. I will tell you this. Pictures don't do them justice.

Have no idea what Jody is doing! Her husband came and helped us so much. 4 other husbands came too and I know they enjoyed it as much as we did. They were ready to carry in, carry out, move chairs, whatever needed doing they were there.

We don't have a clue what we were picture taking,unless it was Kathy opening her scrapbook we gave her. Jody and her sister put together the most wonderful memorabilia with a letter from each of us for Kathy.

This is Toni. She was the biggest surprise to us.(I don't mean in size either) She didn't have her picture in her avatar and we didn't know what she looked like. Her name had granny in it so we expected someone older. She is certainly not granny looking!

Marla and I doing the middle school thing of taking a picture of us taking a
 picture!

The whole group. Now for some more goodies. We were not supposed to bring gifts but Tammy and Linda did. We were so happy they did!lol I showed you the sign, but this is what Linda gave each of us. It is wonderful!

It has a real stem! she also brought chocolate! Yummy

Marla made me this wonderful pin keep. It is only the second thing I have with crows and the only thing with my name. I love it as you all know I adore pin keeps! I will keep this out all the time. Thank you so much Marla. The pumpkin and the acorns I bought from Linda. I also bought a wonderful cement bee skep from Toni and an apple box. I am making my display then I will post pictures of them.She also gave me the most wonderful Christmas sampler, which you will see Christmas. It is wonderful.
I think you see what a good time we all had. We already have the dates and place for next year. It will be a different kind of gathering. But so was this one. Most of us never left the hotel to go shopping. We just talked and visited all evening Friday, all day Sat, and until we left on Sun. We all went over to Kathys and her home is awesome! What a decorating touch. Her husband Merle made me this wonderful settle. I will treasure it forever. I absolutely love it.

As the commercial says, "priceless."
Thank you for allowing me to relive my Gathering week end. It was so much fun and to quote one of the husbands, who will remain nameless, "there wasn't an ax murder among us!"lol That was a joke all weekend. Who is the ax murder? We were just kidding as you know.
Thanks for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
ps: I want to tell you about the girls at the Pantry. They laugh with you and at you. They pray with you and for you. They are sincere and truly caring people, who have become good friends. We truly missed the girls who couldn't come and hope more come next year.

Home From A Wonderful Gathering

Come on in Through My Back Door and let me tell you about my week end! Actually I just came in Through My Back Door a little while ago myself. Made a pot of coffee, it is a new blend today, Sam's Choice, and the jury is still out! I love DD but when its almost 9.00 a lb, I have to think about it. Decided to try this. I'll certainly let you know. You let me know too. Grab a red ware mug because the others are in the dishwasher. I CANNOT wait to tell you about my week end. Most of you know I belong to the Primitive Pantry Forum. Well we had a "Gathering" in Lexington, Ky this week end. It started on Friday afternoon at 2:00 and ended today at noon. What fun!
I don't think I have ever laughed so hard! There was 12 of us and 5 husbands came. I think they had as  much fun as we did, but don't know if they would admit it or not. The reason we had it in Lexington, Kathy Trout who founded TPP lives there. We had people attend from 7 states. Deb and I had met Kathy and Carla. I had also met Libbie, Rusty Shed Prims. The rest of us had never met nor had they met each other. One of the girls, Angie lives in Indiana and was coming through  Tammy's hometown, so she picked her up and they rode together. They had never met. Well with the world like it is today, we had all kinds of comments from family and friends. Ex: you're spending the week end with people you met on the INTERNET! lol Well Tammy's husband wanted to make sure Angie was who she said she was, so he wrote her license number down! We laughed so hard. But thought Oh what a sweet thing to do.

This is Tammy and Angie! They are so cute and I don't know about you but I love the fact these young girls like to decorate their homes like we do. They were the youngest there and we all loved having them. Know what? They have formed a friendship that will last a long time. They have a lot in common.
We had a lot of Door Prizes and everybody won a couple. It was so much fun listening to people comment about their wins. some people brought things to sell. Linda brought a lot of wonderful things she made. She is a wonderful crafter as well as Jody, Marla and a lot of others.

This is just a partial picture of the sale tables. Libby, from Rusty Shed Prims makes the best scents anywhere.

This is her husband and what is left of a full table. Later almost everything she had sold. We went out for dinner on Friday night and you know how it is in a restaurant, you can only visit with the people right next to you. So Carla and Deb came up with ordering pizza in the next night. That is what we did and everyone enjoyed it so much. We could all visit and eat too.

This is Deb counting all the money!

This is some of the pizza's. One even had anchovies!

This looks like a serious discussion! Sandi, Deb, and Carla.

Kathy Trout waving at someone. I am not going to show you any goodies today. That will be for the next post. There were lots of goodies, let me tell you.

I am not going to post anymore pictures today, but I have lots to post. Would you believe only a couple of people went shopping? The rest of us stayed and talked and talked and talked. We talked and laughed until midnight every night. Then Sandi, Deb, and I went to our rooms and laughed and talked some more.
We stayed at a perfect place for this and they gave us a meeting room. We could stay in it as long as we wanted, when we went to bed at night they locked it and unlocked it for us the next morning. The Homewood Suites is a wonderful place to stay. I would recommend it to anyone.
We all had so much fun and when we were leaving one of the husbands said, Do you think you all can wait a year? I thought that summed it up!
The attendees were Toni, Linda, Marla, Carla, Sandi, Jody,Kathy, Angie, Tammy, Libby, Deb and myself.
I will be back soon with pictures of some wonderful goodies and more pictures of the girls.
Thanks for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
ps: This is what happens when you have spent 2 days with 12 women!

See his hair! It didn't look like that when they came!