Journal Entries – Page 46 – Tribute Journal

Fall Favorites!

Fall Favorites!

My summer lovin’ ways have definitely succumbed to the enjoyment of all my fall favorites!

Each season brings with it the colors, tastes and traditions that we so dearly cherish about them!

Fall Colors Are My Favorite!

For me, the richness of all the fall colors are sort of like a big, warm bear hug!

Colorful chrysanthemums and a variety of gourds always welcomes fall so perfectly!

I love to take leisure evening walks or Sunday afternoon drives to see all the beautiful autumn leaves!

Something as simple as putting a small bouquet of fall flowers in a pretty vase is a great way to set the mood for a new season! This unique, gem glass vase is from Anthropologie and is very reasonably priced.

Fall Pillows and Plaids Are My Favorite!

I love to put a few decorative fall pillows here and there to help bring a little touch of fall inside my home! The fun plaid pillow is from Crate and Barrel.

A classic plaid stadium blanket is the perfect thing to use to keep warm this time of year, whether you’re going to a football game or just snuggling up to read a good book. Elliot-HeathDesigns is one of my favorite Etsy Shops that carries a wide assortment of vintage seasonal and holiday pillows.

I love that patterned pants are part of the fall style trend this year–this plaid pair from The Limited are my favorite. I’m probably aging myself a bit when I tell you that these pants and shoes are very similar to ones I wore in high school! I just love it when what was once old becomes new again, then I can tease my daughters and tell them that they are now as cool as I was back in the day! Ha!

Fall Decorations Are My Favorite!

My granddaughters have made putting up Halloween decorations and planning my Grandma’s Halloween Festival some of my very favorite things to do!

I tend to go more for the quirky Halloween decorations, rather than the freaky ones–mainly for MY peace of mind!?

Considering my cute Marli witch, how can all things Halloween NOT be my favorite! More ideas for seasonal house décor is coming soon on a new “Creating Your Home Sweet Home” post.

Fall Flavors Are My Favorite!

I have heard that food is memories…and this is the time of year that the memory flood gates seem to burst wide open!

Whenever I have fresh farmer’s market apple cider and soft glazed donuts, I’m always reminded of the refreshments that were served at my grade school fall carnivals. There are some things that are just meant to go together!

My granddaughters and I discovered these little Candy Corn M&M’s a few years ago–and now we can’t wait to buy a few bags whenever Halloween candy hits the store shelves! These M&M’s are truly a sweet blessing straight from candy heaven!

Speaking of candy…I saw a sign the other day that said, “Halloween scares the diet right out of me!”

Halloween candy www.mytributejournal.com

Bite-sized candy is just so much fun to eat! Don’t you remember dumping out your candy loot after trick or treating and sorting through it to pick out all your favorites.

Peach cobblers, apple crisps, they all say fall eating–but one of my favorite things to make this time of year is my homemade granola recipe.

Honey Nut Granola

4 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats

1 cup sliced almond 1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup raw sunflowers seeds

1/3 cup canola oil

1 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, mix oats, nuts and sunflower seeds together. Stir in oil, honey, vanilla and cinnamon. Spread the mixture on a large cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and stir. Continue baking granola until oats are a light golden brown, about 10 more minutes. Spread warm granola on parchment paper and let cool completely before storing. I like this granola sprinkled on yogurt or in a bowl by itself with fruit on top.

For our family, pumpkin is another favorite fall flavor–pretty much pumpkin anything! In fact, I chuckled when my daughter, Mandi, sent me this picture of her recent grocery shopping excursion…

Looks like a bunch of fall yumminess to me! I’ll be posting our family’s favorite Pumpkin Roll recipe later this week!

I’ll confess that one of my favorite things of fall isn’t my husband’s love of deer hunting.

However, I did humor him recently when I bought these novelty deer plates for us to use when we’re enjoying a favorite fall snack. A big advantage of being down to just the two of us is being able to buy a few extra eclectic dishes since we only have to purchase a couple of them.

My absolute favorite fall favorite is…

…enjoying time spent with loved ones this special time of year!

What defines fall for you? Please share a few things that make the cut for some of your fall favorites.

–Mary

Cinderella Days! Nurturing A Child’s Self-Esteem!

Cinderella Days! Nurturing A Child’s Self-Esteem!

Perhaps even more fun than seeing the individuality of my own children develop while they were growing up, has been watching the neat, unique personalities of my granddaughters evolve so far!

As parents and grandparents, it behooves us to try and follow the advice given in one of my favorite quotes:

“Children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded!” Jess Lair

On a recent Cinderella Day, my granddaughters and I met up with their mom at our local mall for lunch, then the girls rode on some motorized toys for a while. Later, as we were making our way out to my car, the words and geometric heart design on a shirt hanging on the end of a rack caught Makena’s attention. Since she is starting to read now, Makena knew the last word on the shirt said “me”… when I told her that the rest of the words on the top said, “I Believe In Me”, she very candidly replied,

“Well grandma, I think we should all believe in ourselves!”

After brushing away tears, I just had to buy the cute shirt for Makena!

Raising True Believers!

I am not a psychologist by any stretch of the imagination, but I was a daughter of caring parents, and then a mother who loved raising her children. Now that I’m a grandma who dearly cherishes my Cinderella Days, and so many other special times with my sweet granddaughter’s, I’m realizing that although each generation faces its own set of challenges, there seems to be a few fundamental concepts that always hold true in helping to nurture a child’s self-esteem so that they can truly believe in themselves!

Be Brave! We have to be a little fearless at times! Like the words from the song “Brave” by Sara Bareilles, with careful guidance by those who love them, kids are better prepared to:

“…show how big your brave is!”

Effort equals success! Win or lose–when we put forth our best effort, we can always be proud to say that we worked hard!

I love that my daughter and son-in-law, along with my cute granddaughters, work together to follow their family motto of:

Love unconditionally! Even when he had to reprimand me, my dad never missed a chance to tell me he loved me! One of my favorite definitions of self-esteem is:

“Feeling capable while feeling loved!”

Imagine your own dreams, but be inspired by others. Makena is learning to play the violin now after watching some older girls play at a recital. (Parental support is integral here.)

Encouragement is key to feeling good self worth. My husband told our kids that their best pep talks should be the ones they give themselves! I like this Chinese proverb:

“Take risks: if you win, much happiness; if you lose, much wisdom!”

Vocalize feelings. My daughter says that instead of asking her girls about specific details of their day, they respond better when asked how they felt doing an activity.

“How did it feel to play your last soccer game, was it fun?”

Everybody has something to offer! Appreciating other’s strengths, as well as our own, helps us work better together… and isn’t that what life should really be about!

What I’m learning now is…

I’m realizing that like many grandparents, I often feel a little more anxious about sheltering my grandchildren from the tough knocks of life, even more so than I did with my own children–go figure!? What I’m learning now is that some of the hard things we “survived” with our own kids were well worth the effort when we eventually get to witness them become such wonderful parents! I sincerely hope that my young granddaughters will always see me as a positive influence in their lives. I look forward to many more years of being able to watch Makena and Marli (and other grandchildren as they come) grow and mature and continue to embrace life with the same exuberance and conviction that they do now!

I am impressed with so many of the young people today; more often than not, they prove their ability to be resilient despite tough odds sometimes! I’d be interested to hear what bits of wisdom you would offer to help better nurture a child’s self-esteem.

–Mary

Everything Is Just Peachy! An Easy Peach Jam Recipe!

Everything Is Just Peachy! An Easy Peach Jam Recipe!

This was the time of year that my mom used to have mason canning jars and lids, along with bushel baskets of various fruits and vegetable scattered around on our kitchen table and counters while we seemingly canned everything in sight–that’s my memory anyway!

Today, most of our gardens aren’t as abundant as those of past generations, but my husband and I, along with our oldest daughter, Malia, still like to try our hand at canning a few things. Fresh canned peaches are our favorite, especially when you eat them with “Mush Cake” ! You can find that recipe here.

This most certainly is not my mother’s canning, but it’s still fun to get together and do a couple dozen bottles or so. As is often the case with most great things in life, just being with each other is the best part–that, and snitching a few bites of the fresh peaches.

My daughter and husband will tell you that although it might be much more convenient to buy canned peaches, there is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from putting up some of your own–and they taste so good!

Easy Peach Jam Recipe

After bottling peaches, there’s often extra peaches left over, or some that were a little bruised or too ripe to bottle–these are perfect for making jam. This peach jam recipe came about when late one night, my mom improvised after she’d run out of pectin, which is typically what’s used to thicken the consistency of the fruit for jam–and instead used a package of Jello! This is the only recipe I use now.

This jam recipe is one of the few I’ve come across where you add less sugar than fruit.

Ordinarily, my mom just used peach flavored Jello, but I’ve made this recipe with strawberry and other fruit flavors too. The Jello makes the jam such a beautiful, vibrant color.

You can blend or puree peaches for jam that has a smoother texture. I like my jam with a few bigger chunks of fruit. Stir jam good every few minutes while it simmers for 20-25 min. then add the Jello, making sure it dissolves completely.

You can put jam in small pint jars that you seal with canning lids, or put it in small, decorative jars for immediate use–this would make a great gift from the garden!

The Jello gives this jam a little more runny consistency that I really like. Nothing like some fresh peach jam with your toast or muffins in the morning–especially when you made it!

Canning is sort of becoming a lost art with our busy schedules–I certainly don’t do even half of what my mom and grandma used to do. Any canning you still do? Do you have a great jam recipe?

–Mary

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