Category: Home

October vibes come home to a warm welcome, seasonal updates, creature comforts, and hearth and home enchantment.

Friday officially brings October to the table, a perfect time and a perfect month as can be, autumnally speaking.

Chilly sweater weather days and crisp fall evenings will eventually make it down to Louisiana.

Fleeting as it was, we did get a fall preview last week.  Colors on parade outside our dining room windows grabbed my attention inspiring me to grab the camera and snap the above photo.

Two days later the color treat was completely gone.

Nature not only showed up and showed out, it showed me the importance of enjoying every facet of the season I love while it’s here.

Sweet Water Decor Homebody Mug

Cozy, comfortable, cool, and crisp amplifies the fall at home quotient.

Fall autumn days into evenings mark a prime time for a bit of personal downtime spent enjoying the creature comforts of the season we wait for all year long.

If you find the time.

When time affords.

Give yourself permission to give yourself the gift of me time.  Most of us realize it’s a labor of love to nurture, comfort and cozy hearth and home, family and friends.

But what about you?

What better way to recharge the battery we run down during our busy and hectic week than with a good book, a hot beverage and a few creatures of cozy comfort.

Foodiesfeed

Comfort and cozy lives on through the generations.

Although the linen closet is packed with a slew of throws and blankets to choose from, invariably I go for the crocheted afghan my grandmother had made for my mother Christmas circa 1974.

It’s a familiar and familial source of comfort; a tactile touchstone accessory perfect for a fall settle in.

Remember hot spiced tea from Tang?

Talk about bringing back precious and tasty memories.

Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers mixed up gallons of this fall into winter spiced tea, serving it up on chilly afternoons to warm the bones and set the tone.

Hot Spiced Tea

Ingredients

1  1/3 cups TANG

½  cup sugar

½  cup instant tea*

1  teaspoon cinnamon

½  teaspoon cloves

*Or use lemon-flavored unsweetened or sugar-sweetened instant tea

Directions 

Combine ingredients and store in tightly covered jar.  Makes approximately 24 servings.

For 1 individual serving, place 1 teaspoon of spice tea mix in a cup, fill with boiling water and stir until dissolved.

-Hot spice tea from Tang recipe from Recipe Curio.

Domino – Photo by Jessie Cuts

Touches reflecting the season.

Fireside chats.

Cozy Cardigan Candle

Scents of the season floating throughout the house.

Enjoying the comfortable and warm styles of the season.

Fall is an extraordinary time of the year where we seem to embrace the places and spaces in the home a bit more than usual.

I came to realize the silver lining of time at home during the lockdown phase of virus life.

At home times seasoned, shared, and experienced in a haven of warmth and comfort, reassuring and familiar in the very best and coziest of ways, is time well spent.

October vibes come home in comfortable spaces with a fall flavored beverage of choice and a good book.

Finding Home: The Houses of Pursley Dixon 
The Complete Autumn and Winter Cookbook
A Well-Kept Home
2021 Christmas with Southern Living

I put this activity on respite and repeat.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Annual mammograms can detect cancer early when it is most treatable.

The American Cancer Society recommends that women between 40 and 44 have the option to start screening with a mammogram every year.

Women 45 to 54 should get mammograms every year.

Women 55 and older can switch to a mammogram every other year, or they can choose to continue yearly mammograms.  Screening should continue as long as a woman is in good health and is expected to live at least 10 more years.

Early detection through a routine mammogram is one of the attributing factors in my mother’s breast cancer being caught in the early stages which contributed to her survival.

It made a believer out of me, so every October a mammogram it is.

Heartfelt Additions

October vibes come home in seasonal splendor on this gorgeous first day of the month.

Take it in, enjoy the bounty, and have a lovely weekend.

 

 

 

Today’s just a friendly October reminder post inspiration comes from the beloved L. M. Montgomery  Anne of Green Gables quote “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

Most of you know the role music plays in my daily as it is constant company while I write, cook, source, develop- you get the idea.

I posted the following image into the post, being sure to take thoughtful note of the weight and meaning of the words.

Although in a degree of deep thought, the public service announcement caught my ear.

Turning my full attention to the PSA, the subject of the spot made me think of yet another famous quote and how its meaning serves to further the message.

“An Ounce of Prevention Is Worth A Pound of Cure.”
– Ben Franklin

October is National Fire Prevention Month, and the week of October 9 is Fire Prevention Week.

Take the time this month to put safety measures into place to help prevent a fire in your home as well as carbon monoxide poisoning.

Discuss and devise a fire escape plan with all members of your household.

Around the house tips for preventing a house fire include:

Changing furnace filters regularly will cut down on a buildup of dust and lint that can catch fire.

Inspect space heaters before and after each use, making sure to place heaters a minimum of three feet away from anything combustible.

Never place items close to the heating element or pilot light of a water heater.

Clean out the dryer lint filter after each drying cycle.

Give the area behind and around the dryer a quick check for lint build up or laundry items that have fallen under or behind the dryer.

Kitchens are hot spots for a house fires to originate in.  Never leave anything flammable near the stove or oven or on stovetop.

Be mindful of kitchen towels and oven mitts when using around heating elements.

Lemontree + Co.

Never leave the kitchen area with pots and pans in use on the stovetop.

It’s so easy to become distracted by something else.

I know how easy it is because I did just that a couple of weeks ago and burned up a saucepan.

UPS knocked on the front door, I got into a conversation with the delivery guy, and totally forgot about the brown sugar onions cooking away on the stovetop burner.

Crisp autumn nights tap the shoulder with an October reminder.

When using a fireplace, give the ashes ample time to cool down before disposing of them.

Always place fireplace ash in a metal container used only for this purpose.

Never mix ash with any other trash or product.

Ginger Barber Design

Creosote buildup is the lead cause of chimney fires.

Hiring a professional chimney sweep to clean your chimney at least once a year is the way to go.

Our chimney sweep even wears the traditional outfit and top hat.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, three out of every five home fire deaths result from fires in homes without smoke alarms or with non-working smoke alarms.

Carbon monoxide, better known as the silent killer, is:

• Invisible
• Odorless
• Tasteless
• Flammable
• Deadly

Common household sources of carbon monoxide (CO) include fuel-burning appliances such as:

• HVAC systems boilers
• Water heaters
• Gas and wood fireplaces
• Gas ovens
• Washers and dryers

Carbon monoxide alarms/detectors is the only way to detect carbon monoxide.  

Combination smoke and carbon monoxide alarms equipped with a 10-year battery cover the spectrum of both smoke and carbon monoxide detection.

The Kidde Worry Free 10-Year Sealed battery smoke and carbon monoxide combination detector  with voice alarm is a battery-operated (no hardwire required) smoke detector that comes with a 10-year lithium battery lasting the life of the alarm.

Smart safety and smart home protection is found in the Nest Protect Battery Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detector.

It has an industrial-grade smoke sensor, detects both fast and slow burning fires, can be silenced from your phone, detects carbon monoxide, and lasts for up to 10 years.

A working fire extinguisher is as vital a piece of kitchen equipment as a stove or cookware.

Places In The Home is equipped with both two  recreational fire extinguishers for the washroom and bedroom area and one kitchen fire extinguisher for the kitchen/breakfast room area.

1-A:10-B:C Recreation and 10-BC Kitchen Fire Extinguisher (2-Pack)

Having a working fire extinguisher is one thing.

Knowing how to use one is another.

Remember the acronym PASS when using a fire extinguisher.

Pull the pin on the extinguisher.

Aim the nozzle low toward the base of the fire.

Squeeze  trigger.

Sweep nozzle from side-to-side.

Make time this October to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors throughout your home, and if your home is already equipped with them now is a good time to replace the batteries.

Harvard Medical School

Just a friendly October reminder to roll up your sleeve and get your flu shot.

Getting a flu shot helps to reduce the risk of getting the flu and the complications that come with it.

The one and only time I had the flu it liked to have killed me.  I was down for almost eight weeks, with one week of that spent in the hospital.

No, thank you.

October is breast cancer awareness month.

Annual mammograms can detect cancer early when it is most treatable. The American Cancer Society recommends that women at average risk of breast cancer begin having a yearly mammogram at age 45, and a mammogram every other year beginning at age 55.

Getting your mammogram is a pressing matter in terms of procedure and prevention.

Mammography is a fast procedure (about 20 minutes).

Discomfort is minimal for most women.

The procedure is safe.

Early detection through a routine mammogram is one of the attributing factors in my mother’s breast cancer being caught in the early stages which contributed to her survival.

It made a believer out of me, so every October a mammogram it is.

Housekeeping goes beyond the everyday of all things house that make a home.

Prevention and wellness drives this well-oiled machine we call home and family.

Just a friendly October reminder to embrace the beauty of the season, and to do what it takes to keep you, your family, and your home safe and healthy.