In my Garden.

There is only kale still growing and I have few flowers but the rest is either gone or indoors. Now my windows are really full, I moved my tin flowers to bigger pots and planted two in each so I could fit them all. 

 

Reading.

Last week I started reading a book by Gretchen Rubin called The Happiness Project and I'm loving it. Its basically her journey to find happiness in life, she has monthly projects focusing on different things like parenting, love and friends. I'm just starting on April which is focusing on parenting and everything she writes about is more less what I have been doing. This book for me is like a validation of all the thing I'm trying to do in my own life to be more happy and to make my family happy, from eliminating clutter, going to bed earlier, not nagging to enjoying the fun and failure. Its a really good read.

My first step in improving my life was stepping back and looking at all the thing that we accumulated over the years, with two kids, my business and hobbies and my husband who loves movies and photography its very easy to have massive amount of stuff. Every Spring and Fall I look thru my kids cloths just because they are growing and donate everything that doesn't fit anymore, but things like books, movies and crafty stuff can be easily overlook. So first I set some rules, anything that has been seating on the shelves for a year or more with the intention of being used, worked on or wear and never been touched is out the door. We are almost done and I have to say that my home looks so much better, the cleaning is so much easier now and life is simpler which is the main point of all this.
Another rule that was very important was to think twice before making any purchases, going thru little list like:
- is this something that I want or need, 
- can I function without it, 
- am I going to be O.K if I don't have it, 
- and last one that I always try to explain to my kids, if we would not see it you wouldn't want it, you might not even know it exists so there for you will survive without it. 
I also tell them to make a list of things that they really like and when Christmas and birthdays come I will pick something from it for their present. 
I am very happy with the results and progress we made, live without clutter is so much happier, better and simpler.

Bowl covers.

I was planing to do bowl covers for some time and finally I found a moment to make them. They are super easy, just measure the bowl, add few inches, stitch, put in the elastic and done. And now I will use less plastic wrap = less trash. 
One of my sides end up strait for some reason but the end effect is the same. 

 

Basil.

Last weekend we had frost over night so I made sure to bring in all my herbs. For some of my basil I couldn't find any more room so I cut it all and this is my last drying bunch.
I also found few beans. 

 

Dessert.

Traditional dessert for Thanksgiving is pumpkin pie but we don't really like it so I usually make apple pie but this year I decided to make blueberry and it was delicious.  

 

Dinner.

Thanksgiving dinner is always delicious, we make roasted chicken instead of turkey with mushed potatoes, cranberry sauce and roasted veggies. 

 

Breakfast.

Today is Thanksgiving so we start the day with pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.

Ingredients:
- 200g pure pumpkin,
- 2 eggs,
- 2 tbsp oil,
- 2 tbsp sugar,
- 1 1/3 cup flour,
- 2 tsp baking powder.
- 3 tbsp natural yogurt

Mix pumpkin pure, eggs and oil then add sugar, flour and baking powder. Mix it well then add the yogurt.

 

In my Garden.

Last week I cleaned my balcony, made it ready for cold weather. I moved some plants indoor because nights are really cold so now my window is full of plants.

Outside there is still plenty of kale and some herbs.

 

Tomatoes.

This weekend was spend with tomatoes, I made some freezer tomato sauce. 

Puzzle.

I love puzzles, they relax me no matter how big and complicated they are. My kids on the other hand don't share my passion but with my latest purchase they were more than happy to help me. It took few days to finish but we had lovely time together. Nothing is better than working together and seeing the finished product. I'm pretty sure I will do this puzzle again. 550 pieces.