We are into October now and what a great time of year. Fall colors decorate the landscape as the weather cools. It is the time of year to enjoy a scenic drive and witness the magnificent foliage as it seems to change before your eyes. Many communities are hosting fall festivals with great food and crafts. Children (and many adults) are excited for all the activities that go along with Halloween. It is just a splendid time of the year. Let’s see what is up in October.
October 3rd is World Habitat Day – The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October every year as World Habitat Day. This year, World Habitat Day will be celebrated on 3 October 2011 and the Global Celebration will be hosted by the Government of Mexico.
World Teachers’ Day is held annually on the fifth of October to celebrate the essential role of teachers in providing quality education at all levels. It also commemorates the anniversary of the 1966 signature of the UNESCO/ILO Recommendation Concerning the Status of Teachers.
October 8th is my Mom’s Birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom. I love you! Also a big Happy Birthday to everyone with an October birthday. Let us know in the comment section if you have a birthday this month so we can wish you a good one.
Columbus Day is on October 10th and it is the celebration of Christopher Columbus’s landing in America in 1492. In the U.S., it is observed on the 2nd Monday in October.
Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October. This year Thanksgiving will fall on Monday, October 10th.
World Food Day, October 16th, is a worldwide event designed to increase awareness, understanding and informed, year-around action to alleviate hunger.
United Nations Day is October 24th and it an occasion to highlight, celebrate and reflect on the work of the United Nations and its family of specialized agencies.
Halloween is October 31st. Have a very spooky holiday!
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.
As always, use this post to discuss what is going on in your life this month and any topic you would like to talk about. Have a great October!
Hi Gals! Happy fall! If you are thinking about starting couponing tomorrow would be the day to do it. There is supposed to be 6 coupon inserts in the major newspapers! Pick the one nearest you with the biggest circulation they have the best coupons!
Thanks Patty! I need to get going on that. I really do. LOL. Hope everyone is having a great weekend and Happy Birthday to all of those October birthdays out there. 😉
Seeing your post on October Road had me humming the James Taylor song “October Road”. That was the name of the cd also. Aptly named it was written during the courtship of his current wife and a bit after they got married and had twins, with him I think in his 60’s. Its a sweet song and a lovely CD. Love me some JT.
Adele, I love James Taylor too. Happy (early) Birthday to Pam’s mom. Hunger and breast cancer awareness and honoring teachers – all excellent causes that deserve attention and reflection.
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By the way, I LOVE the picture in the slider!
Adele,
I love James Taylor and it was his song that inspired me to name this post what I did. I even searched out a YouTube video of him singing it but decided not to post it because I wasn’t sure if other would appreciate it.
/
There was also a TV series that only ran for two short season a few years back called October Road that I was kind of fond of.
Love the picture. We don’t get the pretty colors here in Texas but hope one day to go on a fall foliage tour in New England.
I’m a huge James Taylor fan, too! October Road was one of his best, IMO…
I agree, Judy! Love his songs. And Carly Simon
GeeWhiz,
Where I live in Southern California the leaves change more in December and January and only certain trees. Some can get very vibrant but others just drop. 🙁
That picture is gorgeous, I love fall and miss seeing that.
Where was that picture taken?
CoCoPuff
,
That is a stock photo but I have seen Wisconsin and Minnesota look like that as well as the New England states.
I saw that today is World Habitat Day. Unhabitat.org has a lot of intersting information on their website.
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The days are getting colder and shorter. It’s a good time to reflect on how lucky we all are to have adequate shelter. So many do not. Thanks, Pam for making me aware of this.
Pam,
Ahh, the colors of fall. I see the trees changing everyday as I do my thing in the country. With all the dry weather this year, some leaves are falling that are green, but raking leaves, and cleaning up for winter brings nice smiles to many.
Also Oct. is a good month to donate to food banks in your area. Many are struggling and a few cans will help feed families. They also need personal items, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.
I grew up in Connecticut and it sure is gorgeous in the fall, but if you can’t get to New England the fall foliage in the NC Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway will rival fall foliage in New England about two to three weeks later.
I love October! The leaves don’t change colors so much here (though they still fall and have to be swept up!), but I love the brisker air and all of the great holidays coming up. It can be hard to adjust to the shorter days and darkness, but other than that fall is my favorite season.
Is it time to get spooky yet? We are doing some decorating this weekend. I think we will go ahead and carve our pumpkins too. If they rot, we can do some more. Last year, we got so busy that we didn’t carve until after Halloween. We tried trunk-or-treating last year in addition to some other fun stuff. My daughter really liked the trunk-or-treat. So different from what we did as kids, we will be doing it again.
People are getting spooky, Lily. LOL
What is trunk-or-treating?
Pam, Trunk-or-Treating was fun, the one we went to last year had a hayride, cider, and a bouncy. All the grownups park their cars in the lot and hand out candy from their trunks as the kids go around in their costumes. Safe and fun.
Just got back from the Farmer’s Market w/our pumpkins, and some other good stuff. Yum, green tomatoes to fry up for dinner. 🙂 I was out of Butter Flavored Crisco. These things are about the only thing I fry and that makes them good. However, I am frying in lard for the first time ever (from an organic farm). It was right there in front of me and saved me a trip to the grocery store. There is going to be so much left over. The woman was telling me there were actually some health benefits as long as the pig was fed properly. Isn’t it supposed to be awful for you?
Fall is definitely feeling good. We are doing just a little bit of decorating today. Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.
Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients:
1 Bag (12 oz) cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup apple juice
1 apple – cored, peeled, and chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1 slice of lemon
In a large saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, apple juice, vinegar, and cinnamon stick. Push cloves into lemon and add to saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer about 20 min.
The recipe for cranberry sauce sounds wonderful. I’m going to try it on Monday and I’ll let you know how it turns out; I can’t wait!!!
Thank you so much!
CdnGayle
Happy Birthday to the lovely and young at heart, Pam@IW’s mom!!! Thank you for having such a wonderful daughter!
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Thanks for the recipe, PP. We are going to try that for sure.
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Lily, let us know how all your activities with you little one went!
Ok…October will always be a reminder to me of the month when MENOPA– — USE kicked in! Holy Smokes!!!!! IN the last 3 days I have cried over frozen lettuce, messing up my eyeliner and my dog wagging his tail at me! When I’m not crying I want to punch someone in the face! Whewwwww this is not for the weak, I’m tellin ya!
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Lily the Trunk or Treating sounds like a lot of fun. My kids are too old to trick or treat, but I sure get a kick out of the little ones!
Kmom2,
Been there and done that. It ain’t pretty at times, LOL. I had a heck of a time with insomnia for awhile. Are you taking any supplements?
Snickers,
Sorry I didnt get new pics. I have been beyond sick. Oh Well too late now.
Lynn,
Hope you are feeling better! I’m glad the garden season is over and have been working in the fields doing harvest. I am ready for some down time. 🙂
Kmom2
Have you tried a soy supplement? Other than sticking your head in the freezer, keep a cool cloth close. 🙂 Hot flashes are something else.
Pam and Snickers: My mom told me to get some Black Cohosh and she did say a good soy supplement would help with the sypmtoms as well. I am open to try ANYTHING if y’all have other suggestions. Thanks!
Kmom2 – there is nothing like going to a good OB/GYN – female, who has already survived ‘hot flashes’. That doesn’t necessarily mean hormone replacement therapy…but it was a short cut for many a friend who spent big bucks for supplements/special diets that did absolutely nothing in the form of RELIEF!
Good luck!
Thanks HB! I appreciate all suggestions!
My OB/GYN did place me on low dose hormone replacement therapy. It brought back my periods with a vengeance (actually thought I was going to bleed to death at one point) and I said to heck with this. So I used nothing.
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I think I did not experience symptoms as bad as some did but I did have the sleeplessness and some night sweats and hot flashes. However, I do remember working with women who had horrible hot flashes. I am sure I was probably moody at times but my husband said I was not when I asked him last night.
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I went through menopause in my early 40s and was in peri-menopause in my late 30s. As a result of that I now have osteoporosis but because I was diagnosed at 50 with a bone density scan, I have reversed it with medication and exercise.
My emotional symptoms have been much more difficult to deal with than the physical ones. I don’t have hot flashes per se, but I am just generally warmer than anyone else around me seems to be….lol lol I am much much better at controlling the anger than I am the tears. My sister teased me and said I have always been a “bawl-baby”. I am 46 so I guess this is perimenopause, but I will find out from my doctor next week although I don’t really think it matters much whichever “menopause” state I am in, it was really really ugly last weekend! LOL
I have been taking calcium supplements for over 8 years now as my mom had the exact same situation as you Pam. She also reversed it with meds and exercise. So I am good friends with Citrical D! LOL
OK, who is the lucky poll taker who has cleaning help? I am seriously thinking about getting some help here until the older kids move out (and take their stuff with them!)
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Also, does anyone have a good recipe for sugared nuts?
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AND that video of the dog rescuing the other dog by nudging it across the street was just remarkable. How in the world to people ever have the foresight to breed the very best character traits that we desire in ourselves into our pets?
Kmom2 I can sympathize with you. I was perimenapausal in my early forties and fully into menapause in my mid-forties.
I have always been very responsible and even-tempered all my life. Suddenly I was telling my boss off and quitting my job just as all the pieces were falling into place for a life changing move. Boy oh boy, it was hard to go back and grovel for my job back to give me that cushion I needed to make that move.
I did it and all worked out well in the end with no hard feelings, but I have first hand knowledge of being unable to control what was coming out of my mouth.
Ann,
What kind of nuts are you talking about?? Burnt Peanuts is a simple thing to do.
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
i teaspoon red food coloring (optional
2 cups raw spanish peanuts with skins
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, water, food coloring. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stir in peanuts. Cook, stir occasionally, for 12 minutes or until peanuts are coated and no syrup remains. Spread peanuts into a ungreased 15x10x1 baking pan, (large cookie sheet), separate with fork.
Bake 300 for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool completely. Store in container at room temperature. This yeilds 4 cups.
I think you could use this simple syrupt for any kind of nuts. May add cinn, or any flavor you would want.
Thank you, snickers!
I am hoping that some of you will participate in our Giveaway.
https://imperfectwomen.com/halloweenfall-decor-target-gift-card-giveaway/
Off topic.
Lisa Ling is having a special on Polgamist Marriage on Sun night on the OWN station. Check your listings in your area for the time.
Polygamist (sorry) mis-typed
Here we are almost to the end of October, life is good for my family right now, kids are good, business is good. We are halfway through the youth soccer season, high school basketball started this week.
Halloween costumes have been purchased, spiderman & spidergirl this year. I almost had my 8 yr old convinced to be Little Bo Peep (dogs could be her sheep) but at the last minute she changed her mind.
I’ve started Christmas shopping a little and we have 2 November birthdays here, I’m almost finished shopping for those.
Thanks Snickers, I will try and catch that.
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stxmom, Christmas shopping! You are amazing.
Pam, I have to have everything purchased and wrapped before school gets for Christmas break, this year they get out December 16 at noon.
I want to do the human slingshot like in the video of the day. That looks so fun. I did the one they have at amusement parks where they shoot you straight up. That was pretty fun.
Lily, Maybe 20 years ago for me. Looks like fun
I showed the slingshot video to my husband. We both got a kick out of it. I laughed and pointed out to him that of course all the participant were quite young. We had a giggle remembering our “sand skiing” adventures when we were roughly that same age.
Adele, I have never heard of sand skiing. I had to look it up. Fun! That looks better to me than being out in the cold and snow.
My family has hit the busiest time of the year for us, high school basketball starts scrimmages tomorrow and my younger kids still have 4 or 5 more weeks of soccer.
There are many reasons why I love my husband but yesterday morning at breakfast hubby was sitting with my 8 yr old talking about her othro. consultation that day, she said she was scared then said “Daddy can you come too?”, I knew he had a meeting scheduled for the same time, he sort of brushed the question off without giving her an answer, we went on with our morning, I picked her up from school around 10:30 am, we went right to the ortho’s office, signed in and sat down, my husband walked in the door just minutes before they called her back. He rescheduled his meeting just to be there for her. After her appointment we ate lunch together then Daddy took her back to school.