Wish List Wednesdays: Fun Finds for National Pumpkin Day

From Wallpaper Safari

Did you know that today, October 26th, is National Pumpkin Day?  In honor of this very apt seasonal celebration, I found a few pumpkin-themed items that would be great for today as well as all through the fall season.  Let's take a look, shall we?

Why not dress for the occasion in this cute and casual Patchwork Pumpkins Top ($39.95-44.95) from Serengeti?  Made of 100% cotton in a heathered oatmeal color, this three-quarter sleeve tee is versatile enough to wear as part of almost any autumnal outfit.

Cooler fall weather means it is time to savor hot beverages and mugs of soup.  What better way to serve them than in the Pumpkin Shaped Stoneware Mugs (clearance at $41.99 for a set of 4) from Pottery Barn?  Microwave and dishwasher safe, these mugs are generously sized at 18 ounces for an ample serving of a warming drink on a chilly morning or evening.

Make breakfast a little more fun in the morning by creating pumpkin-shaped waffles with the Dash Pumpkin Mini Waffle Maker ($12.95) from Crate & Barrel. This small and easy to clean appliance makes a single perfect waffle in just 2.5 minutes, and its size means that very little storage space is  required.  The bright orange color is so autumnal, and I love the extra detail of a green light on top which resembles the stem on top of a real pumpkin!

I enjoy working on jigsaw puzzles and fall is the perfect time to start a new one, so why not a puzzle featuring pumpkins like the Heirloom Pumpkins Puzzle (on sale for $13.98) from Bas Bleu?  This 1,000-piece beauty shows an image of an array of different pumpkin shapes and sizes in shades of green, ivory, pink, yellow, and orange.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of pumpkins?

I just could not resist including this final item - even though they are not technically pumpkins, isn't pumpkin pie one of the best ways to put a pumpkin to good use?  The Handcrafted Pumpkin Pie Earrings ($29.98) from Catalog Favorites just tickle my fancy.  If I had pierced ears I would purchase them in a heartbeat, and I am considering them for a friend of mine with a birthday in November (great to wear to a Thanksgiving family gathering, in my opinion!).

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I know I have been MIA on my blog for most of the month, but I had a good reason - my old dog Ruby, who will be sixteen in a few months, had a couple of health issues, one of them potentially serious, this month.  Luckily she seems to be on the road to recovery, so I will try to post more - even though it is a bit late for Halloween topics, there is still plenty of time for all things fall, which is after all my favorite season!

This 'n That Thursdays: Play Ainar's Colorful Autumn Forest Escape Game

I enjoy playing free online escape games, and I recently played one with such a lovely autumn theme that I just had to share it.  You can play Ainar's Colorful Autumn Forest escape game on the Escape Fan website and enjoy the beautiful fall imagery as you solve the puzzles to collect 30 golden leaves.  If you have never played these types of games before I hope you find this one as relaxing and fun as I did (I have already played this game twice just to explore the colorful forest again!).

Wish List Wednesdays: A Couple of Lovely Tops and Socks for Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year to shop for clothes because I can find so many items in my preferred autumnal colors.  I treated myself to a couple of new tops recently that I just had to share, especially as they both feature animal print patterns, which are also a favorite of mine! Shown above is the Who's Who Sweater ($89.95) from Coldwater Creek in Spice Multi with an allover owl print.  This relaxed lightweight 100% cotton sweater is perfect for early autumn, and the owls are adorable, as you can see in the image below:

I found the Playful Foxes Striped Top ($34.99) shown below on the Serengeti website.  It is a three-quarter sleeve cotton tee with an allover fox print on an off-white background with gold stripes.

The foxes printed on this top are just as cute as the owls on the sweater shown above:

To complement these two new tops I decided I just had to add some new socks as well.  The Spirited Season Socks ($14.95 each) from Coldwater Creek were originally available in three different prints, but now only the fox print is still available (of course I purchased the owl print and the fox print socks!):

We had a lot of rain today, which is wreaking havoc with my internet connection, so I will get this published now while I still can.  I hope you are enjoying fall as much as I am - it is by far my favorite season!

This 'n That Thursdays: My Blog Is Back!

From Cookie Bouquets

Much to my relief, access to my blog has finally been returned to me!  For some reason the spam algorithm that Google uses erroneously decided that my blog was spam, but after several requests from me to re-evaluate, Google came to the conclusion that I am an actual person so my blog was restored.  Even though I have not been blogging as much lately, I still depend on this blog to find recipes that I have posted, and many of my posts are of great personal importance to me, such as the ones remembering pets that I have lost, so I am so happy that I can access my posts again.  I plan to try to post more often, especially in the month of October when I love to post about Halloween-related topics.  See you all next month - it is good to be back!

Wish List Wednesdays: OXO Good Grips Little Salad & Herb Spinner

I have been wanting to replace our old, oversized, difficult to use salad spinner which we never use with one that was smaller and better designed for a while now, and I finally did it.  I decided to purchase the OXO Good Grips Little Salad and Herb Spinner ($24.99) and could not be happier with with my choice!  It just arrived yesterday and I have already used it to dry salad greens as well as blueberries - it worked perfectly for both.  The pump-style spinner is so much easier to use than the handle we had to turn on our old one.  The bottom has a sturdy nonslip surface that keeps the spinner firmly in place while in use.  I like the fact that the bowl is attractive enough to be used for serving, and the basket can be removed and used as a colander.  It even has a brake button to stop the spinning as well as a lock that holds the pump button down and out of the way until needed.  This salad spinner is easy to clean and the smaller size is so much more convenient to use and store.  I don't know why it took me so long to replace our old salad spinner, but this new one will definitely be getting a lot of use!

Wish List Wednesdays: L.L. Bean Women's Sunwashed Shorts

I have been looking to add some new shorts to my wardrobe that are comfortable and casual but nice enough to wear into town if necessary.  The L.L. Bean Women's Sunwashed Shorts ($39.95, in denim or canvas) check off all of these boxes and even come in colors that I prefer (I am trying to slowly increase the number of apparel items in rust-colored and light to medium denim shades in my wardrobe, as I find these colors to be more flattering to my coloring now).

The canvas shorts shown above are in a color called Copper Brown, while the denim shorts below are the Medium Wash color.  Both canvas and denim are super soft and a comfortable relaxed fit, especially the pre-washed denim.  These shorts sit as the waist rather than slightly below, which is better for me as I am long-waisted.  I would love to see the canvas shorts become available in an olive hue, which is another color that suits my complexion, and I will probably buy the Coastal Tan color as well.  That should be more than enough pairs of shorts to get me through the summer!

This 'n That Thursdays: 2022 Online Reading Challenge Update #3

The vintage girl's novel I chose to read for the month of May was Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present Time by Fanny Fern.  As I had never heard of either the novel or the author before, I looked forward to finding out more about both.  As a girl's novel this title fit the category only marginally, as the main character's youthful years are covered rather quickly.  The story focuses mainly on her young adult life, especially after the death of her husband when she must struggle to find a way to earn a living for herself and her two young daughters.  I did enjoy reading this semi-autobiographical work which incorporates many of the author's same difficulties in life during a time when women were not expected or encouraged to earn a living.

The author became a successful writer first as a newspaper columnist, at one time being the highest-paid columnist in the United States.  Ruth Hall is her most successful novel, and was very popular when it came out, although it is less well known now.  While the novel starts out strong and the story is well written and cohesive throughout the middle portion, I found the last portion of the novel a bit weak.  After her heroine achieves financial success, the succeeding chapters seem a bit more haphazardly thrown together, almost as if the author had a few more bits from her own life she wanted to include in her novel whether they enhanced the narrative or not.  For example, Ruth Hall and her daughters spend some time in a seaside hotel before moving to their new home.  While they are there, a fire starts in the hotel which they just barely manage to flee with their lives.  This may add an exciting tough to the story, but it just seems to have been thrown in to the story for no particular reason.  While the novel's conclusion is not as strong as it could have been, the book is still a worthwhile read for the character descriptions as well as an insight into how difficult life was at the time for a woman with children who had no husband (sadly, it seems that not much has changed for a lot of women even now).

The reading challenge for June is to read a classic novel by an African-American author.  I have decided to read Beloved, the 1987 novel by Toni Morrison.  This is a genre that I have yet to experience, and it is high time I changed that.  Unlike the older classics I have read thus far, this newer book is not available free online, so I will have to buy or borrow a paper copy.