cautiously optimistic

I was sad to see October go. It's one of my favorite months.

Just seemed weird to turn the calendar to November yesterday.

Already? How can that be?

Though the weather did grace us with a 70F degree day and tons of sunshine. Who could ask for better than that on November 1st?

I'm glad I photographed The Maple Tree just a couple of days ago. 

I knew in a matter of days, all those red leaves would be on the ground.

Sure enough, here's The Tree today. It's been raining all day, which really accelerates the leaf-dropping process. 

You all know that I don't frequent Goodwill too much anymore. Instead, I'm working more on decluttering and donating my stuff to resale shops instead of buying. However, I still run in once in awhile when dropping off a donation. I found that Target is still donating brand-new items to Goodwill. A woman walking out of the store had a gorgeous lamp that I commented on. She said it was new from Target and that she really got a deal. I didn't find anymore lamps, but I did find these two brand-new pillows. If you're familiar with the prices of new decorative pillows ~ usually $25 - $30 each ~ then you know I scored a deal for $5 each!

I also found these like-new suede loafers from The Walking Company. You can barely tell that these are worn. (The only way I will buy used shoes.)

Speaking of good deals, have you been to an Aldi lately? I haven't shopped there regularly in years, due to eating a clean diet and buying mostly organic foods. Well, Aldi is jumping on the organic bandwagon and now carries an amazing variety of organic and healthy foods. I got organic carrots, tomatoes, salad greens, ground beef, bread, olive oil, and canned pumpkin all for much less than at traditional grocery stores. I also found a healthy frozen spelt and veggie mix, spaghetti squash, jarred pasta sauce (for when I don't have my own on-hand...I got a regular marinara sauce and a specialty tomato butternut squash sauce, both with clean ingredients...always read the labels on food; a lot of pasta sauces have nasty ingredients in them, including soybean oil), pecans and even Kerrygold cheese! If you're not familiar with Kerrygold butter or cheese, they're from Ireland and are made from hormone-free, grass-fed cows. We don't eat much butter, but when we do, we use Kerrygold. There is nothing like it! The taste is so much better than the conventional butter we have here in the States.

Today's headline in the Chicago Tribune. We are nervously excited for this last game tonight! As I mentioned in a previous post, Brian's been a Cubs fan since he was a little boy. The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908. I can't even fathom the excitement for Cubs fans and the city of Chicago tonight if when the Cubs win! Too bad my maternal grandpa isn't still around to be watching these games. He was a huge Cubs fan, too. He passed away three years ago at the age of 97. My mom posted on Facebook today, "I think if the Cubs win tonight, my Dad will rise from the grave." ha ha

I've got a vegetable lasagna in the oven, beers chilling for the guys, and wine for me. Bring on the game!