Ideas for enjoying 

the autumnal festivities

Ok, today I am at the end of the first full week of the boys being back at school. We know our routine for the week, when Home Learning will come home and, more importantly, when it needs to be handed in! Friendships have been re-established and all seems well. 

We had great fun yesterday with it being Harry's birthday. I thought American-style pancakes would be a great idea for breakfast and they went down a treat. He just about managed to tear himself away from some new Lego in time for school and for tea we went to Frankie & Benny's for tea with the Gramps. My couponing helped here as I came across one on the internet so the kids got to eat free. That made my yummy pulled pork sandwich and everything else taste even better - though NOT good for my diet! We are headed to the local Strike bowling alley on Sunday with one of Harry's pals from school so that should be fun, too.

Talking of our routines, now the summer hols are over I have got back into my super cleaning schedule.

Even though I am lucky to have a lovely sized family home, I find I don't need to spend hours cleaning every week. This is the schedule I use and you could give it a try, whatever the size of your home, and with a couple of tweaks you are done and dusted (sorry) with time to spare. Give THIS a go and then you can enjoy the coming season!

This morning I stopped by at cupcakemumma2011.blogspot.com.This blog is written by my pen pal friend, Hannah. We are members of my Post Circle I talked about in my last post and Hannah was mentioning her bucket list for family things to do this Autumn. This got me thinking about things like pumpkin carving, which I love to do, though I am no where near a champion at it. Is this something you like to do and what do you do with the pulp? I think I will make pumpkin soup this year as I am not a fan of pumpkin pie, a tad too sweet for me.

Thanks for stopping by and let me know your Autumn plans?

Catch ya later! xx

A Bright Autumnal Hello To Everybody!

A great big hi there and hello from me! I know I've been away a very long time but I am so very happy to be re-connecting with you all, thus the reason for my first, long post in a while!

Autumn is my very favourite time of the year for many reasons. It is the start of a number of  things including my boys going back to school, each excitedly starting a new year in Main School. Of course Autumn brings us rich colours in this wonderful season. I always get very excited about this period of the year as it includes such wonderful things as Halloween, Bonfire Night, a number of family birthdays which means lots of decorating around the house and yummy baking for these occasions. It goes without saying that  the run up to that most wonderful time of the year - Christmas - will start quite soon, too!!  And you all know just how much I LOVE getting ready for the festive season!  

I made a fairly monumental decision just recently. I have deactivated my Facebook account, which also means I no longer have my Paper Craft Junkie(PCJ) page. I made the choice to cut out so much screen time because all my interests seemed to be based on spending an inordinate amount of time on Facebook. Just one day after leaving it well alone I really felt quite liberated, not wondering if a certain person had responded to a certain post of mine. I am gradually getting back to doing some crafting, rather than talking about it and looking at other people's efforts, I have plugged in my sewing machine again and I just feel I am concentrating my efforts on other things. Because I no longer have my PCJ page I am not putting myself out there when it comes to promoting the craft things I make - but I really am not that concerned. I really feel that if somebody is looking to contact me, and they try hard enough, then they will find me through a friend of a friend or another person. I know who to reach and I am more than happy with this arrangement.

(I do have to return to Facebook at some point to retrieve my photographs, but for now they are safe where they are.)

I recently joined a Post Circle with involves corresponding with people using the written word, surprisingly in this day and age, and I am also writing at times to a former Facebook friend.  You cannot get away from the computer because I use Google as much as the next person but I definitely feel better for not being involved in the lives of others for what used to seem every waking moment of my day!

Well, I think I will leave things there just for now. I intend to be back on a much more regular basis so give me this week to get sorted after Harry's 7th, yes 7th, birthday and then I will hopefully regale you with more non-blonde blonde tales of life in the Houghton household and plans for the coming months.

So pleased to be back and I do hope you will stop by again soon and please do tell your friends about Creating and Baking.

Catch ya later, Louise.xxxx