Mish Mash Monday....fall fling + vintage charm

Hey, it's Tuesday. That means I missed my Mish Mash Monday post. :) It was soooo nice over the weekend that we totally *unplugged* and spent most of the time outside.

Fall Fling:

We have two gardens....one vegetable garden and one vine garden. We cleared out most of the vegetable garden except for a few Roma tomato plants + jalapeno plants. The vine garden was toast.....the zucchini and cucumbers are done. We had high hopes this year for our beautiful pumpkins and gourds. Alas, the heat and beetles got to our vining pumpkins. We had to pick them early and I'm afraid they'll only a few weeks because they are soft. But the gourds are bumpy (pimply as Jordy says) and beautiful. We harvested them all in their pretty shades of Fall.
I find that I love to decorate lately with more natural items like the pumpkins and gourds rather than store bought decorations. So we put gourds and pumpkins all over the front porch. Here they adorn my old, chippy paint chair. My mail lady can leave goodies in that mailbox. And if my dear husband would just get over putting two simple screws into the siding, it would be hanging above the chippy chair with all it's cuteness.
More gourds and pumpkins on another old, wicker + wood chair. I love the wire basket because you can see what's inside like the gourds....or pine cones,etc. Those long, Freudian looking things? Ha, those are Armenian cucumbers. They grew to about 3' long...crazy!! We let them get overgrown just to get a good laugh.
And a pumpkin neighbor for each of my vintage watering cans. I think these old galvanized watering cans are more pleasing to the eye than the plastic ones. If you can score ones with the spout still on...grab 'em.
More gourds atop rocks in the flower bed. These are nestled in an old headlight casing that Jordan and I found on an old car in my dad's pasture. We scored some hubcaps too.
And my milo crop. These sprouted up from a spilled bird feeder that a raccoon got into one night. I couldn't resist letting them grow right by the house. They'll turn a beautiful burnt orange color a little later in the Fall.

Story: When we were kids, we had to cut shatter cane out of my dad's milo fields. Looks like milo but grew taller and got stuck in the combine head + my dad liked the look of a nice, clean crop of milo. It always coincided with our 2-a-day sports practices which were grueling and hot. While the other kids were home resting in the AC between practices, we had to go home, put on jeans, long sleeves + boots and go out in the fields for a few hours each day. We thought it was torture. Child labor. I hated it. I grew to despise fields of milo. I was never so happy when my dad quit growing it. Heaven on earth. The angels sang. And now I look at my happy little crop of milo and just smile. Those were days. Hard work was good for you. Good memories indeed.
Later on we had an impromptu front porch party with the inlaws. They brought simple hotdogs + brats and we drank iced tea + creme sodas. I gathered up this tray of vintage linens, mason jar glasses, a pretty bouquet + more gourds. Jordan found the vintage, mustard colored table cloth in my linen stash. Perfect.
Jordan watches my crafting very closely. She nabbed a few of my Orange Crush bottles from my Halloween post and made up some quick and easy Fall flower centerpieces. Simply put rubberbands around the bottle necks and tie on ribbon. $5 flower bouquets from the grocery store go a long way.

The weather was beautiful and the night got very chilly. We ended up with sweaters on and Eric lit the chiminea. Jordan ate about 10 roasted marshmallows, we played h-o-r-s-e, Josey got to take the family on a country drive in Grandpa's big truck...life was good this weekend.
Vintage Find:

I got this wonderful parcel in the mail today. This vintage, globe charm from Etsy. I fell in love with it when I first saw it and finally purchased it for myself. To remind me that there is a world full of good out there...so much more to see and do.....to explore. I love it. I have a few similar charms that I'm keeping my eye on for the girls for Christmas presents. Great treasure find!
And now:

I'm enjoying this beautiful weather we're having in Kansas. It was a chilly 46 degrees this morning. A cup of hot coffee never tasted so good. I'm off to work on Christmas + holiday projects in the Craft Dept. Then later on it's volleyball for Josey. Girl can jump for a lil' shorty. Have a great day everyone!

Thought for the day:

(from Pinterest here)

Ohhhh.....and Etsy happenings:

My new Mish Mash Junk Journals will be a regular item in my shop. I've sold out of the first few batches but I'll have more in stock soon. Also, my Fall Mini Album and cards on sale....gotta make room for some brand new items coming to my shop soon.