Snuggling in for Fall

I'm noticing a theme in the blogging world this year that I don't recall seeing before, but which fits nicely with my personal mindset: actively snugging up one's home to prepare physically and mentally for the cold of winter.

Some of my favorite finds so far are homemade door snakes (on my to-do list this week), homemade hot cocoa mix, celebrations of a good canning season, and some frugal seasonal decorating ideas from Melissa over at The Inspired Room as part of her 31 Days of Autumn Bliss series.

I've been doing a few things to snug up the apartment before winter. Arthas helped me measure and sew some fleece curtains to cover the drafty windows in the living room - as you can see, he had the very important job of keeping the fleece in place while I measured. :0)

We also dug the pile of extra blankets out of the closet so that there are plenty of warm throws draped over the chairs and soda, readily available.

I was delighted to get two bags of free quilting fabric from a lady nearby compliments of the "free" page on Craigslist, and some of the prints are going to be perfect for the beautiful quilt pattern I found online! I look forward to getting started on that as soon as I finish reading the incredible book I will regretfully have to return to the library in short order - Eat Fat, Lose Fat by the brilliant Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon (authors of Nourishing Traditions). For all the reading I've done about food, I'm finding lots of new material here and strongly recommend it - especially if you are (or know someone who is) a fan of the South Beach, Atkins, or low-fat diets.

Speaking of diets, I'm glad that I don't feel the need to have a Martha Stewart approved kitchen - it would never happen. My counter seems to be forever hosting at least one bowl of something soaking or rising. I currently have three different bowls sitting out: one with sourdough bread, in the midst of a four hour rising process, one with dough the is going to become yummy breakfast cereal, and a third with rice, being soaked as per the process explained here to improve its nutritional value before it goes into a new recipe I'm trying for Hibachi style fried rice. Sorry for the lack of fun new recipes to post - I'll start cooking again one of these days when the AF gives my husband back!

PS - Just a public service reminder that Thanksgiving (the best holiday ever, of all time) is coming up next month! If you want an organic, pastured turkey now is the time to start looking! Check out the Weston A. Price Foundation homepage or your local natural foods store for a farmer near you. :0)