And the winners are..................

We had a three way tie for the pumpkin contest. Connor Grant from Utah (he is one of my past piano students in Brea) bid 51#'s, Aaron Cuadro from California (Janelle's good friend) bid 51#'s and Cathy from New Jersey, bid 52#'s. The actual weight was 51.5 pounds!!!!! So all three of these contestants WIN!!!!!!!!!! We had over 35 entries this year which made it really exciting. Bids from 24.5 pounds to 215#'s. Oh how I wish I could have grown a 215 pounder. Maybe next year. Everyone have a Happy Halloween!!!! Your prizes will be in the mail shortly!!!

Painter Drop Cloth Curtains

Last year the Frugones in our ward had a flood in their home which caused a lot of damage to their first floor. We had great fun helping them paint and get things back to normal. One of the things Megan let me do was to try one of the ideas I had seen on a blog. It was making things out of painter drop cloths. One of the ideas was curtains. So we purchased two painters drop cloths at 9 dollars each and then I topped them with a clearance shower curtain from Target to add a little pizzaz and color along the top. We used the rod she already had and I think they turned out fabulous. Now we need to take the old curtains that got stained on the bottom, cut them down and we are going to repurpose them in the boys room. Megan is such a great sport for letting me try all these cool things I find on blogs. Don't you think my adopted grandkids are cute too. They have been so much fun. Gio made me a halloween decoration today and then they sent me a Grandparents day card last month, flowers for mothers day and I even got invited to their Halloween party. Being a grandma is so much fun.

2nd Annual Pumpkin Weight Contest

The time has come, the time is here. Send in your guesses for the 2nd Annual "Guess the Weight of the Pumpkin" contest.

Send in your guesses on the largest pumpkin. The one closest to the actual weight will win fabulous Mars products.

This picture was taken in August, so more growing took place.

Here it is the day it was harvested.

It snowed two days last week and we have had frost the past few mornings. I covered the pumpkin up at nights to keep it from freezing, but when the snow started again last saturday, I said, "OK, time to harvest the pumpkin."

Harvesting the great pumpkin!

Here we are on the scales. So send in those guesses and remember, just the weight of the pumpkin!!!

We will end the contest on October 28 at midnight and the fabulous prize of Mars candy will be sent soon thereafter.

Good Luck!!!

Visitors from Washington State and Washington DC

Ron and Karen Maxfield from Tri-Cities Washington came for a visit on October 6 th-8th. Mick took wednesday off from work and we went to Gettysburg. We drove up and back in one day. We had a super visit and great fun. It is amazing how much I learn each time I go.

Saturday we went into NYC to meet with them for a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lunch at Tavern on the Green. I have to say that Tavern on the Green is very over rated. It was a great atmosphere and the landscaping is beautiful, but the food was disappointing for the price. We strolled through Central Park and had a great adventure watching the roller bladers who fenced off a portion of the walk and were rocking out.

This is Jamie's roomate from freshman year in the center, Abbey Rich. She came last sunday night with two Washington DC intern friends Rachel and Melissa. It was fun having college kids in the house with us. They even played games with me!!!

I Love Fall in New Jersey

I love this time of year living in New Jersey. The trees are near their peak they say. Some of my favorite things to do is to drive through a leaf storm. This is when the leaves are falling so heavy it is like driving through rain, but it is leaves. I love watching the leaves flutter behind the car. I love riding my bike in the neighborhood and crunching through the dry leaves on the side of the road.

This is the scenery I observe whenever I get in the car. Isn't it spectacular? I keep thinking I'm going to get pulled over for swerving on the road trying to take it all in.

The pumpkins are getting ready for harvest. I have three large ones this year and about 25 jack be littles.

Watch for the post on the "Guess the pumpkin Weight" contest. It will be happening next week because we have already woken up to a light frost here in Jersey. Once again the prize will be candy. We even have a box of Twixxels that never was released. I love them, but the mid-east test market, said no go.

I love decorating with the few things I have for fall. Another of my favorite things is homemade pumpkin pie.

...and don't forget the famous holiday tree!! Why do we still have the tree up you ask?

As you can see, our family room is huge and we have very little furniture in there. I love my mantle all decorated for fall.

So Mick thought it would be great to leave it up all year to help fill the space. I must admit, I have enjoyed the lights on in the evening. Plus decorating for the different seasons has been fun.

It isn't too late to book that flight and come see us. The leaves will still be here for a couple more weeks.