Thankful Brunch

Last week we hosted a "cousins brunch" - a good time to get together and be thankful for family.  

I had put away all of the Halloween decorations and pulled out the Thanksgiving items...and we found a Sunday where John's team - the EAGLES - had a bye. It was a great day.

I like to make the entry welcoming and I am grateful to 

Ann at On Sutton Place for the great printables she shares for each season!

If you remember "Aunt Mamie's Ghost" from the Halloween post, she also made this turkey for us.

Kept the same display on our coffee table...just added a pumpkin, a turkey, and some corn.

A little bit of Thanksgiving at the wine rack...

and in the corner of the kitchen, too.

We love to entertain, and the peninsula in our apartment makes a great set up.  On the end near the wine rack I set up a bar...some mimosa drinks, some sparkling apple cider, and water. 

I set the table, but since there were 9 of us we put the dinner plates on the buffet and had people fill plates before sitting down as it was a tight table.  I put in the leaf for our dining table and we are glad we can accommodate up to 10 people comfortably. 

I made pumpkin nut muffins a week before and froze them...they freeze very well.  You can find the recipe here -

Pumpkin Muffins

I changed my scone recipe - and used craisins instead of apricots.  They turned out great.

I like to post a chalkboard menu so everyone knows what is being served, just in case there are an allergies.

Some candy always makes a nice touch.  The cornucopia belonged to my mother-in-law.  Originally it was an purple color, but I used brown paint and it looks great.

I made a great crab quiche - but forgot to take photos of the process - will do that next time I make it.  French Toast Casserole is always a hit and the recipe is linked here - 

French Toast Casserole

I had a little basket of treats to take home...filled little bags with a muffin and some fall themed chocolate kisses.

Tied with some orange raffia and a little tag that reads "Thankful for You!"...also from On Sutton Place.

It was a great day - one cousin brought her parents old photo albums, we pulled out all of our old family photos and it was so much fun to see childhood pictures and the faces of those who have passed away.  Several people saw photos of their parents when they were younger...and some never saw those photos.  Thankful for my printer/copier/scanner so I could make copies for them to have and cherish.

Wishing you all a great Thanksgiving!  Hope whatever your day holds you enjoy.  Many, many things to be thankful for, but wanted you to know I am thankful for all the bloggers I have met.  Please leave a comment below - I am thankful and it makes my day!

What are you planning for Thanksgiving ???

Thanks for visiting Our New Vista !

 

Life Lately

Still wrapping my head around the fact that it is November already!  The pic above was shared on a Jimmy Buffett site - we are big Parrotheads and still sad about his passing.  This is a lyric from one of his songs "according to my watch, the time is now" - which is a wonderful way to look at life.  I used this photo to change the face of my FitBit.  Love it!

So...been doing some shopping online and in person these past few weeks and thought I would share my finds.

I am a Dollar Tree fan...there are several near me and I like to stop in each one when doing errands to see what I can find.  Saw these LA Colors items - the brow pencil is really good.  The liner is very smooth, too.  

Finally tried Temu and found a few good items.  Needed some more dryer balls and these were a great price. The prices on things have changed since I ordered, but Temu seems to always be a good deal!

This was my favorite find...they are little covers - like mini shower caps - for your ears so when you color your hair you don't get the color all over on your skin.  I have a short pixie cut and I always had trouble keeping the dye off of my ears! I use Nice and Easy by Clairol and it works great on my hair...used these yesterday and it was amazing how it protected my skin!

Cord wranglers for my appliances...have not tried them yet.

Ordered a pack of microfiber wipes...going to go through all my old rags and upgrade to microfiber.

Just looked on Temu and will be ordering again...plus Rakuten is giving 18% cash back, so time to order some new things.

Is anybody using Temptations products?  They are always on QVC - we had a QVC outlet here in Lancaster and I got a deal on a baker set a few years ago.  I really like them.  The outlet here just closed down and everything was 50% off of the outlet price.   Even though my other pieces are blue, I spied these at a really good price.

I have used them for soup and sandwich meals and they are great.  The ceramic product keeps the soup hot...and I love the little lids.  

Sale price on this cute set was under 5 bucks...

There was just one set there, but I set this out and used the plate for snacks.

Amazon order....got a new paddle for my mixer as the old one got funky after I put it through the dishwasher.  Great price on the Yankee Candle, and also got ski covers that I did not order, do not ski!

Called them up and they said just donate them...Amazon really does make life easy.

Have been using my Shark robot vacuum ( We call her Rosie, like the maid in the Jetsons!) for about 2 months now and LOVING IT!  We run it a few times a week when we are out for the day and I love the way it seems to get up lots of dust.  We notice our hardwood is much shinier.  A great purchase...and within the 30 days of purchasing it at Costco the price went down 30 dollars so we got a credit.  Life is good !

This is the television we purchased when we moved into our apartment at Willow Valley 6 years ago.  First time having the tv over the fireplace, and love it, but not the black screen when not watching it.  Kept saying when we get a new set I want the Samsung that shows art when not in use.   Then I found this video on YouTube that explains how to make your television into art...

How to turn your TV into Art | A tutorial along with tips and tricks

Loving it !  The scene changes every 10 minutes or so...I am using Fall mode now, but winter/holiday and so many others are available.  Had guests for dinner and it was so nice while having cocktails to have art on the screen....

That's it from Our New Vista....busy days here.  I got some kind of rash that won't go away ( bug bite? poison ivy? allergy?) and am on second course of steroids.  Yep, can't stop cleaning/organizing/purging...rash is getting better and I am getting a lot of projects on my list accomplished!

What has your life been like lately ?  Please leave a comment below - I love hearing from you!

Enjoy this wonderful November..."according to my watch, the time is now!"