DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG: October 2022

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Saturday, October 29, 2022

Minerva's New Look & Joe's Pittsburgh Trip

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

ANNOUNCEMENT

I am now posting 3 times a week !!!

I will be posting on TUESDAY, THURSDAY and SATURDAY

With the beginning of Fall, the HOLIDAY SEASON starts for me....

I consider the Holiday Season from September until after Easter as I decorate for all the Holidays and Seasons in between those months....

So I usually have a lot to share....

As always, click on each picture if you would like to enlarge it....

Today will be one of my last posts on this Blog before I start to post over on my Christmas blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas next week.....

Today, I will be sharing Joe's annual Trip to Pittsburgh, more Fall Foliage, our Grand Pups, who are visiting with us for a few days and a new look for my dress form named Minerva!!

In my last post, I shared my dear friend Anne Marie's Halloween Home Tour....

Click HERE if you missed it......

I want to Thank Niki, over at Life as a Leo Wife, for choosing my post, Halloween Front Porch, Harvest Tea and New Buys, as one of her features from last week's Crafty Creators Link Party!!

Thanks so much, Niki!!!

I also want to Thank Bev, over at Eclectic Red Barn, for choosing my post,

Pink and Black Halloween in the Powder Room, as one of her features from last week's Thursday Favorite Things Link Party!!

Thanks again, Bev!!

Please stop by and link up to these lovely parties.....

And now for a few Personal Notes...

Food of the Week

Friday was the last day this Season for the Amish Farmer at the convenience store by us....

I had Joe stock up...

Zucchini to make more zucchini bread as I have given away most of what I made before to family and friends....

Baked goods from the Amish Farmer's wife's Bakery.....

2 apple pies that we enjoy as they are not real sweet....

3 loaves of banana bread that I froze for the Holidays for company.....

Home made cheeses.....

A block of cheddar and a block of pepper cheese.....

2 blocks of bacon cheese......

I froze all of these.....

But I did leave out some bacon cheese for cheeseburgers on the weekend....

And cheese curds.....

I will be making poutine with those cheeseburgers.....

Our Grand Pups are with us for a few days while my son and DIL are on a little vacation......

Azumi and Faye sitting with Joe.....

Azumi

Faye

Faye rolling around on my new Powder Room rugs.....

Azumi playing with a hockey stick toy that Joe bought while in Pittsburgh.....

Faye playing out in the Den while I was working on the computer.....

She then fell asleep almost on top of my feet while I was sitting at the computer....

While Azumi fell asleep on the chair by me....

Thursday was very windy and I think we lost half of the leaves off my lilac tree in the back yard in one afternoon....

Joe went out and raked most of them up on Friday because Azumi kept trying to eat the leaves....

This is what the asters looked like about a week ago.....

And now...... so Joe cut them down.......

More of the Fall Foliage around my house....

On the side of the road.....

The woods on the side of our house.....

The woods from our bedroom window....

Soon, they will all be gone!!

Minerva is what I named a wicker dress form that I bought many years ago......

Minerva has had a few different looks over the years.....

She first lived in the Living Room wear she changed her outfit and accessories for different seasons.........

A Winter look....

A Summer look....

For Valentine's Day....

And for Halloween....

I moved her upstairs to the Sitting Room after Joe said that he felt she was watching him all the time!!

Lol!!

This is how she looked in the Sitting Rom.....

Last year after Christmas, Joe bought a few tree skirts at Big Lot's for 90 % off.....

He bought this one which was originally $26.....

When I saw it, I envisioned a cape instead of a tree skirt.....

With an additional 20 % off coupon, it cost only $2.06!

I figured I would have Minerva wear it for this Winter......

I decided to give Minerva a whole new look for the upcoming Holiday Season!!

When we cleaned out my neighbor Elly's house for her sons when she passed away, they were going to throw out her wedding dress!!!!

I could not let that happen so I took it and it has been hanging on my bedroom door....

I decided that Minerva should wear it as it would be perfect for the many Christmas parties that she gets invited to!!

Elly's wedding picture in the 1940's..

Check out the size of her waist!!!

Here is Minerva in Elly's stunning wedding dress.....

She decided her head piece would be black feathers....

I covered the bodice of the wicker dress form with some black velvet to highlight her jewelry....

She is wearing 2 different vintage necklaces....

I added a venice lace applique to her bodice.....

And a vintage brooch....

She is also wearing a hand crocheted black scarf around her shoulders....

Check out the buttons on the sleeves of the gown.....

These buttons are all the way down the back of the dress too!!

Vintage gloves and a pin that was made by the company Monet.....

The Victorian purse was made by a friend of mine that passed away a few years ago.....

She was an amazing seamstress who did work for local Bridal shops and creator of beautiful Victorian crafts

I embellished the purse with ribbon roses and a venice lace applique.....

For now, she does not want to cover up her party attire so her evening cape is hanging in on the sidelines, waiting to be used in the future......

After Christmas, Minerva may sport her cape for the Winter.....

This is my favorite look for Minerva....

Joe and Joey went on their annual Father/Son Trip to Pittsburgh for a Hockey Game last week....

They stayed at the Cambria Inn, which is right next to the PPG Paints Arena...

Joey insisted on getting the same Suite as other years, which had a separate bedroom for himself...

Joey paid for the suite for 2 nights and Joe paid for the gas, food, parking fee and the tickets for the Hockey game.

The kitchen area when you enter the suite....

The computer desk which you can see Joey used , bringing his lap top.....

The TV on the wall to the left of the computer area is in front of this sofa that can be pulled out to a double bed....

This was Joey's bedroom....

Joey's TV in his bedroom.....

Joe's bedroom area

And his TV!!!

The bathroom....

Joe liked the snapdragons on the shower curtain....

The PPG Paints Arena.....

A lot of these scooters around in Pittsburgh....

The Arena as built right next to a Historic Catholic Church....

You can see the back of the church right by the entrance to the Team Store and the Box Office of the Arena....

You can see the back of the church on the background of this picture of Joe....

For several years now, Joe and Joey have always wanted to see the inside of the church , which was once used as the Cathedral of the Diocese there.....

And as luck would have it, the church was open....

Look at the marble on the walls....

Truly magnificent....

Down a hallway....

A Tree of Life like in our church....

Ours is a lot bigger.....

Joe and Joey said it was the largest church that they have ever been in and they were glad that they got to see the inside of it.....

A lot of construction going on in Pittsburgh....

The separate entrance to the Arena for Hotel Guests only in the Hotel parking lot....

Joe, who is always early, wanted to go to the Game as soon as the doors opened!!

Joe was thrilled to get to see a regular Season game...

And he was thrilled to get to see his favorite, Sidney Crosby, 87, play!!!

This "Blimp" dropped merchandise down to the fans.....

They had plans to tour one of the Carnegie Museums that has a World War II submarine in the river on it's property and the Aviary but President Biden visited Pittsburgh that day and roads were being closed so they decided not to take the chance of getting stuck in traffic and being late to the game....

Hopefully, next year....

I hope you enjoyed seeing Minerva's new look and this amazing Historic Church in Pittsburgh.....

Honestly, I am not sure what I will be sharing in my next post on TUESDAY

But I hope you will stop by to visit again to see!!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, HAPPY!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......