Pumpkin Spice From Tim Hortons #FoodPicFriday

As I mentioned last week, one my favourite things about October is pumpkin spice. I love trying the new treats and bevys that restaurants come up with, as well as making some recipes at home. I recently indulged in some of the pumpkin spice offerings from Tim Hortons and really enjoyed them.

Pumpkin Pie Doughnut - includes pie crust crumble and pumpkin pie filling.

Pumpkin Spice Muffin - includes pumpkin seeds on top and icing in the middle.

This Year is All About Book Deals

I'm currently reading my 30th book of the year and am about 200 pages away from hitting my Goodreads reading challenge goal. There are still a few months left in the year and I'm excited to see how many more books I can read. I love books!

Part of the joy of reading is getting a good book deal, and I got plenty of them this summer/fall. I previously posted about picking up some books at the Elmvale Sales Barn, and I found many more there over the summer. We also went to some used bookstores in Barrie yesterday with the hope of finding some Stephen King so I could complete my Dark Tower collection. We did pretty well too! 

The following is the complete list of used books I've collected over the past four months:

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling, trade paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $5.00

On the Road by Jack Kerouac, paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $1.00

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King, mass market paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $1.66

Flashfire by Richard Stark, paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $0.50

Firebreak by Richard Stark, paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $0.50

Neuromancer by William Gibson, paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $1.00

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, paperback, found at the Sales Barn for $1.00

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, found at the Sales Barn for $1.66

Lightning by Dean Koontz, mass market paperback, found at my friend's bookstore for no charge!

Wizard and Glass by Stephen King, trade paperback, found at the library book sale for $1.00

Song of Susannah by Stephen King, mass market paperback, found at the library book sale, $1.00

Pagan Babies by Elmore Leonard, mass market paperback, found at the library book sale for $1.00

The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Wilson and Shea, paperback, found at Kerry's Bookstore for $7.50

The Dark Tower by Stephen King, trade paperback, found at Rivendell Books for $10.00

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King, mass market paperback, Rivendell Books,$6.00

The Stand by Stephen King, paperback, found at Rivendell Books for $4.00


16 used books found their way into my life since June, purchased for a grand total of $42.82.
Averaged out, each book was: $2.68

I bought Wizard and Glass twice because I couldn't leave the beautiful trade paperback I found at the library book sale, since it was only $1.00.

With the books we got at Rivendell Books yesterday, My Dark Tower series is almost complete. I'm still on the lookout for Wolves of the Calla (book #5).

I already had a copy of HP and the Half Blood Prince, but for $1.66 I got a copy that matched the rest of the books I have in the series. That kind of stuff normally doesn't matter to me, but for $1.66 I thought, what the hell.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this time of year and no matter what is going on in life, there is always so much to be thankful for. I do a lot of celebrating on Thanksgiving weekend (mostly in the form of eating wonderful food) and I have many reasons to celebrate.

This weekend we celebrated with a 7 lb chicken that my brother raised. We feasted yesterday and are having leftovers tonight. Very thankful to be able to cook and enjoy such wonderful food.

We also celebrated our car-niversary this weekend. We've had our little baby car for four years now. She still gets us where we're going and without too much complaining either. Very thankful she is still going strong.

Thanksgiving weekend is also the anniversary of when I met John. So another excuse to have a big dinner and celebrate all we are thankful for. Also a great excuse to bake something. I made some plain butter tarts and we ate them cold from the fridge. Pecan butter tarts are great, but these plain ones were fantastic.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Chicken and Gravy with Home Fries #FoodPicFriday

It's harvest time so there have been some cheap deals on potatoes. I usually get mine for free from my farmer brother, but he decided not to plant them this year. Brothers, eh? (haha!) I already miss his potatoes - 50lbs of his are just perfect for the winter. Luckily I was able to pick some up cheap from the grocery store.

We've actually gone through 20lbs so far and have another 20lbs on deck in the porch. We recently made some into deep fried home fries. They are incredibly delicious and the house always smells like a fair when we're cooking them. We served them with pan fried chicken and gravy and were full and happy for the night.

Chicken and home fries served plain (no gravy):

Chicken and home fries with pan gravy:

Serve with a salad and it's a complete meal!

Let's Go Blue Jays!

I got pretty interested in Major League Baseball this year. My hometown team is The Toronto Blue Jays and I had a lot of fun watching them this season. Even though they didn't make the playoffs, they had a lot of great games and moments and I was happy to be watching. I also got into live-tweeting games (which I'm still doing for the postseason), as it adds an extra element of fun and community to the game.

My awesome friend Bryan is also really into baseball and he recently found some Blue Jays items in his closet that he thought would fit me. It was such a wonderful surprise and I absolutely love them.

Bryan awesomely gave me two jerseys:

And two t-shirts:

Even though the Jays season is over, I'm going to be wearing these all winter long. I already had some Jays talk with a nice old man in a waiting room last week, who looked at my jersey and said "I like your shirt - but what happened?" Our conversation ended with hopes that 2015 will be a postseason year.

A million thanks to Bryan for these awesome additions to my wardrobe!