Fall Fetish

It is amazing how quickly the time is going. It is the middle of October already and Halloween is just around the corner. Because we know how quickly time has been flying by lately, Tim and I started the month of October with a fall weekend--just the two of us.

The weekend began with Friday night and making our own applesauce for the first time. This is an Ulbrich family tradition that Tim vividly remembers from his childhood and he wanted to start making it our family tradition, too. So we went to the store and bought a bushel of apples and set out to make Tim's childhood dream come true. (In Tim's defense, I MADE him wear this apron to protect his clothes. In fairness, I wore one too, but I actually like wearing an apron.)

With a little help from Ava, we were ready to go. (I still fear the day we trip on her and spill a pot of boiling water on her head. Sick, I know. But seriously, I fear for her every time she parks her butt in by the oven.)

It started out great. A pot of boiling water? Easy peasy. Cutting the apples into slices? Thanks to Pampered Chef's apple cutter, no problem. Taking boiled apples and putting them in the applesauce-maker and turning the crank? Yeah, not so much! It was a lot of work and we were getting much results. We were 1/2 a bushel in, so we finished up business and called it a night.


So, we resorted to this.
A glass of 1/2 scotch, 1/2 water. Burned all the way down, but soothed our disappointment and applesauce failure.

On Saturday, we awoke refreshed and started out the day at Cuyahoga Valley National Park for the train ride that goes through the park.


The park is beautiful, but the train ride was so-so. It was very relaxing, though, and it was good to be out and about but not doing it in the rain.


We ended our little outing with a trip to the Winking Lizard in Penisula and then headed back home (with a side detour to the mall for a little retail therapy) to tackle the second half of the bushel of apples. This time with modern technology.

While we were out we bought a blender (neither of us is sure what happened to the blender we had). We peeled all the apples this time, boiled them, and then let the blender take care of the rest. (OK, OK we admit defeat and that we cheated...) And the results were incredible. We tripled our output. And it still tastes delicious.

Success!

To keep the fall feeling going, we've also decorated a bit around the house. Outside we had a fall wreath, a couple of mums (in clearance basket pots from Lowe's), and a monogrammed "U" pumpkin.


I love my white "U" pumpkin courtesy of my mom. All I had to do was tell her what I was thinking and she made it far more fabulous than I could ever imagine. The neighbors are jealous. I can tell. And now they know our last name. Sort of. The Underwoods? The Updykes? The Ullmans? WHO LIVES THERE?!!

And on loan from my mom's house is the orange wreath on the door. It looks great with our orange mums. And until I score my own on clearance after this season, it will be there.


As for the backyard, it kind of decorated itself.


Inside, I bought a white pumpkin and table runner from TJ Maxx in Buffalo.


And to spice it up, I bought some spicy fallish smelling candles at Wal-Mart.


So, fall is in full swing here in Ohio. It'll just be a matter of time before I'm taking it all down and getting ready for Christmas. How are you enjoying fall?