Pot Pie, A Little Fall Decorating, and Looking Forward to November

Can you believe this is the end of October? I can't complain, we have had such a beautiful Autumn. We are at peak color and still have a lot of leaves on the trees.  The weather has been warm enough that my geranium hanging baskets are still blooming!

I spent yesterday all day in my sun filled kitchen cooking and baking up a storm.  October is Pastor appreciation month and I managed to get some appreciation to them before the end of the month this year ;>) We have three pastoral families who work very hard and are the dearest people you would ever want to meet. Our main Pastor just returned from a two week mission trip last night and I thought it would be a great idea to make them dinner so they could just get home from the airport, sit down and enjoy his homecoming. And if I'm cooking for one I might as well cook for all at the same time. The menu was chicken pot pie, fresh bread, a quart of home made cider, Earl's fabulous brownies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I also tucked some apple butter and wild crab apple jelly into the baskets. I wish I could share a recipe for the pot pie, but I just throw them together willy nilly. They are super easy, just carrots, potatoes, corn, peas, onion and celery in proportions that please you, chop up a roast chicken and make gravy to hold it all together. Pop it in a home made crust and bake. It always turns out great. If you need help look up chicken pot pie in your favorite basic cookbook and go from there.

  As usual, I'm late to the game for showing a little bit of the "fall decorating". I did more this year than I have in a while, now that I'm blissfully unemployed I have a little more time. But I'm not all into fluffing every corner and truth be told this little cottage is small enough that it doesn't take much to clutter it. So I popped a hanging basket on the front door...

 Threw a few decorative things into a 50 cent garage sale tray on the roadside buffet in the dining room...

 and filled an old enamelware pan I scored at a garage sale this fall with rusty gold mums and a set a farmers market pumpkin with personality beside it at the back door. 

As of a month ago, I am counting the days, the hours, the moments until my girl and her sweet husband join us for three weeks. They will be here through Thanksgiving! Just over a week and I'll be hugging the stuffing out of both of them. I didn't lose a daughter, I gained a son and I couldn't be happier to see them both. Christmas is coming early this year!

The adorableness is overwhelming:>)

What does November hold for you?

 

P.S. I've marked down the fall pillow covers in the shop, clearing them out for Christmas. Stop over and take a peek!