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 Just another manic Monday! I'm not sure what is happening but my mind is going in a million directions today and I am having a hard time focusing on one thing. Maybe it's because my grand dog headed home last night and, after having him again for so long, I am still kind of on "dog routine". And, I have LOST a week!! I knew I would be heading to daughter #1 for the last week of the month but, I didn't realize that NEXT week starts the last week of the month until I turned my calendar a bit ago!

And that threw me into a spiral because, not only do I love autumn so much and it is going much too quickly but, I have a host of things I need to get done in November before Thanksgiving-more on that later.

If you're up for a "ride", I'm going to get started but I am telling you now that I will probably drag you along a winding path much as my mind is going! Lol

Let's start with the porch that I haven't shown you yet. The other night I actually thought about taking some pictures at night so I could show you the comparison when we finally got here on the tour.

Do you see what I see? The words on the sign appear distorted but, since these were taken at night, they kind of do "time lapse" and I just thought maybe I didn't hold perfectly still and thought no more about it...until this morning when I was out on the porch transplanting mums-more on that later-and decided to take the daytime porch photos...

...and saw this....

Yikes! I guess somewhere over the last year I have manhandled this in some way and the nails have loosened up a bit. It only took a few whacks of a hammer and we're good again but I will definitely need to add some wood glue and maybe some screws when this next comes down.

I know I've told you the story behind this sign before. I found the idea in a Better Homes and Gardens Halloween magazine many, many years ago and so wanted to do it but it actually took me a bit before I decided to tackle it. It was a doozy to do but I'm so glad that I did. I love it so much-except for having to dig that deep hole every year to get it upright! Lol And may I say that that post is HEAVY!

The lawn guy is avoiding cutting around the tombstones but I am fine with that-in the past they have been knocked over and chipped so this is safer and just adds to the spooky feel. Lol

I repainted this metal pumpkin several years ago and I'm starting to think I may need to be doing it again soon. Our Florida sun has no mercy!

I love this silly doorbell I found at Target several years ago. Even though I live here I find myself ringing it every time I walk by. Lol

One of the main reasons I went out to the porch was to transplant some new mums into the old pots and then put the old plants somewhere where I can still "baby" them. And the reason I'm thinking ahead? Daughters #1 and #3 are hosting an engagement party for granddaughter #1 who recently got engaged...at my house. They are planning to have it on the Saturday after Thanksgiving since everyone in our family will be in town. And, since daughter #3 usually hosts the holiday, we thought hosting two big affairs in two days might be more difficult than needed. And, my granddaughter loves this house so she chose it over renting an outside venue...and that makes my heart happy because she sure spent a lot of time here as a child! And so, I'm already thinking about some of the things I might want to get done before the party and having live mums was on top of my list. I might be able to buy them when I return from St. Pete the beginning of November but I am thinking by then, Christmas trees will already be available and that might mean that it will be out with the mums and in with the poinsettias.

In any case, I told you my mind was jumping today. And so, this also happened. 

What in the world you might ask is that!! And I wouldn't fault you at all for that question. You see, I opened the new garland and was thinking about taking apart the family room mantle when I flipped that calendar page and saw that I had lost that week. And then, with my other list growing, I decided that I just didn't have it in me-at least today-and so I found about the only blank spot in the house and hung it there. Lol We shall see how that goes. Lol

And, since my mind has already jumped into November, I saw a turkey image I had printed awhile ago just sitting next to me here in my office and there was also an empty frame nearby so I did this...

...and that sent me to Pinterest to see if there were any turkey pillow ideas where I could use more of my leftover drop cloth and I found this...

I actually really love this and think it will be fun trying to figure it out. As a matter of fact, if I hadn't spent do much time on the other silliness this morning, I would be diving into this right now. But, you know I like to start projects early in the day so this cutie will have to wait until Wednesday-I have a hair appointment tomorrow-and I'm already looking forward to it.

Have I worn you out with my "jumping" around yet? I know I wore myself out so I am off to grab some lunch and then we'll see what trouble I can get into this afternoon. It is so beautiful out there today. I have almost every window in the house open and right before I took this picture, these drapes were billowing! Everything feels and smells so fresh-fingers crossed it will last a bit longer! Stay safe and stay tuned.

Ahhhh Autumn!

We have another touch of autumn back and I am planning on enjoying EVERY minute of it because I remember all too well how quickly our last hint disappeared. And so, I want to show you the sunroom before my furry friend and I head outside to enjoy the cool air!

This guy had been MIA for a few years before coming back out last year. I found him at one of my favorite spots down in Dade City and he is by a favorite of mine, Bethany Lowe. I love the vintage feel of all of her holiday decor. When my grandchildren were young, they loved running back and forth through this but as they aged and I was ready for a bit of a change, he remained on the top shelf in a closet...until last year when, for whatever reason, I felt the need for him to return. I actually find myself enjoying walking through his streamers. Lol

The autumn sun is super bright even though it might not be as warm so picture taking was touchy-at least for non-professional me! Guess that's why this is the "SUNroom"!

The console still holds the lantern for a nice flicker at night and then two of my grandchildren's crafts. My youngest made me the little witch sign all on her own one day when she was here. She just gathered up supplies and went to town and even though she still shudders every time she sees that I still not only have it but display it, I love it...and her originality on the use of the supplies she found. The two small witch's hats are made by twisting black pipe cleaners into shape. The small candleholder jar was one we made as gifts for family and friends on one of our "weekends at Nana and Papa's" for Halloween.

I still like this simple sign that I made awhile ago as gifts for family.

And, I LOVE this jack-o-lantern painted flower bucket. I found the inspiration at a huge autumn craft show that we used to go to at the Florida Fair Grounds down in Tampa. I bought this one and then copied recreated it for family gifts. This was at the show that my husband always teased me about because we would go and have to pay for parking and entry into the show before we had the "privilege" of spending our money. He always joked about it yet he came with me every year. Lol

And, I still love the pop that those very dark brown leaves bring to this mix.

I think I actually found these pillows made from an old quilt at the same show one year.

SOOO many memories in these pictures!

This jack-o-lantern collage was also painted for me by granddaughter #5. If I remember correctly she did this while spending time with my brother and sister-in-law and used a piece of extra wood from their van conversion for her pallet.

So that is most of the sunroom for this year. Almost all of the windows out there are now open and we are having the coolest temperatures we have had in 179 days!!! I am on my way out there to enjoy it. Stay safe and stay tuned.

It's Fri-YAY Again!

 Happy Fri-YAY again! It has been a week as they say! And, once again, plans go from one thing to another! I don't know why it surprises me anymore, but, somehow, I am always still taken aback.

This change wasn't anywhere as fun as most of my changes usually turn out being. The week had been going along with me pretty much staying on course and making my list for when I finally ventured out. I used to LOVE shopping and constantly being on the go. That is not how I feel any more-I still love shopping but I just don't love getting there! That has a lot to do with the large amount of traffic and crowds that my once sweet, small little city used to have to the mass of people and cars it seems to be these days. The other part of my liking to stay close to home has to do with my car.

Now, this is a LONG story that goes back so many years. I must preface this by saying that I LOVE everything about my car. I know every detail! It is like another child-I know its symptoms and when it is really "sick" or when it is just milking the situation. Lol

I won't bore you with all of the details but, many years ago it started giving me issues with not always starting. At that time, the starter-or something else in that area-was replaced but the mechanic told me it could be a larger electrical problem which would cost a fortune to remedy.

I tended to ignore a lot of things because I didn't want to face the next decision and over the years, things happened that kind of supported that theory-doors locked or unlocked when I hadn't pressed the fob, radio stations changed on their own, the telescoping steering wheel lost one of its functions, etc. And yet, I forged ahead.

Many times the car wouldn't start on the first crank but almost always started on one of the next few...until the other early morning when I was all ready to head out to a day FULL of errands. No matter how many times I tried, it would not start and there were lights flashing and clicking noises coming from every corner of that car!

And, at this point I could keep my head in the sand no longer. Of course, as things always do, this couldn't have happened at a worse time. One daughter was already out of state, the other was flying out soon and my brother and sister-in-law-who seem to bail me out a lot-were soon to head of on their long planned autumn trip.

And so, with no one else to bother, I called one of my sons-in-law and even though he had a full day ahead of him, he came over. His go-to answer is always "the battery" even though my battery was only two years old-but, I didn't argue. He ended up taking my battery to our mechanic rather than just one of those automotive parts stores and left it there when the readings were a bit contradicting.

And I waited....until much later that day when he returned with a new battery and the news that the mechanic said that he couldn't get any charge into the battery. He put the new one in and that car fired up stronger than I think I have ever heard! And the answer for now seems that I just don't drive my car enough and every time I do start it the computer pulls too much charge from the battery and the kind that can't be recovered...and so, I am killing my batteries from underuse. Not only that but the general opinion now seems to be that I have been worrying too much about the electrical failure and the draining of the battery has been the culprit all along. I'm still not 100% sold on that answer because of all of the other weird stuff that has transpired that all seem to point to electric but I headed out yesterday to get those much overdue errands run and my car started up every time with a strength that I haven't felt in awhile. I guess the moral of the story is that I am going to have to do a bit more driving in the future-not a favorite pastime of mine but we shall see.

In any case, I do have a list a mile long of little things I need to do today so I thought I would just give you a quick peek at the primary bedroom for this year. There is a bit more decoration in here than usual but that is just because of my photo overload for Halloween. I just have to display them somewhere and this is prime real estate. lol

The bed is now dressed in its autumn/winter finest. I used to have four seasonal changes but I gave in on that and just kept my two favorites. They were all Ralph Lauren as his patterns have just always spoken to me so it was really hard to weed out two others but I did. sigh

The nightstand to the left holds some of the pictures of my favorite costumes that my husband and I wore-although upon reflection, this group is missing our Miss Piggy/Kermit collaboration that I absolutely loved. 

And I couldn't bear to put away those beautiful "coffee" tulips so I just placed them on top of the jewelry armoire that sits in the corner. That picture above is a painting that our girls had done for us on one of our anniversaries.

And while we are here, I thought I would show you a few of my purchases from yesterday. One of my stops was Walmart. There were two Christmas pictures that I am still looking for and I was able to find one. I'm hoping I will find the other when the Halloween stuff is finally cleared out and maybe more Christmas will be loaded except that the one I can't find is a "My Texas House" and looks like it might already be sold out everywhere.

I love the arched frame on this one. My new Christmas stash is starting to grow but I really don't need even one more thing so I need to start to rein it in! Lol

And then I did something I really shouldn't have. LOL I think I told you that the black garland out front is really showing its wear and I have already put my new hanging black garland on the family room mantle-and, those of you who have been around know that I seem to always have trouble getting garlands just as I want them on that mantle. And, once I finally got that FR mantle just as I wanted, I realized that it really doesn't show up as much as I would have wanted. And so, I thought of swapping the two hanging garlands to the outside and then just getting one more to put in the FR with maybe just some creepy cloth. And, I discussed that idea with my sister-in-law the last time she was here and we both decided that to swap all of that out would be more than needed for this year-especially since I'm not even going to be here the last week of so of the month And, I was good with that until I saw just one more of these left on the bottom shelf at Walmart:

My "fear of losing out" took over and I had to bring it home with me...and, of course, now that I have, I'm having a hard time not tearing everything apart. At this moment, I'm not sure how this will play out but I guess you will know when I show you the family room in a few days. Lol

So that is it for me. I'm off to get those little things done before the weekend gets here. And, I need to spend some time with this guy who has been very patient watching over me as I write this.

I'll be back soon if I can find any time between driving my car around hither and yon and filling said car up with gas from driving around hither and yon! Life just got so much more complicated. LOL Stay safe and stay tuned.

Moving On!

 According to the weatherman, today might be the last rainy day we have for awhile. We have had a VERY wet week so not much got done outside. I'm hoping for some sunny days ahead so I can maintain everything I've got going out there right now. The yard is kind of like the house-if you slack at all, it can quickly get ahead of you. But, since today still needs to be an inside day, I thought we could head into the dining room.

This is the room where I really thought I was going to change things up this year but, once again, September was gone and it was time to decorate for Halloween and I hadn't thought ahead. Since I always have trouble with the shelves in the niche, I definitely would have needed some "thinking ahead" which just didn't happen so, not much change here since last year. Let's take a peek anyway.

I got this table runner from Bombay Co. so many years ago and I still love it every time I bring it out.

I moved this sign here last year. I made this knock-off from a very expensive one I saw in the Grandin Road catalog. For many years it was on the console at the front door. Last year I found that witch sign and wanted it there instead so this cutie had to find a new home. My plan had been to use it on the FR mantle but it is so tall that it wouldn't fit-and it wouldn't fit anywhere else either so it landed here. And, this year it is joined by the mirror that I bought from Grandin Road and used to hang in the living room. Now that the tree is there instead of the corner cabinet, it too had to find a new home.

I was really thinking I wouldn't do my "attic" vignette this year but these shelves take a bit of thinking and once again, it just didn't happen so...

Both the bottle holder tree and the spider lamp were also from Bombay. I really miss that store. 

Here is where the drop cloth pillow landed next to a pillow that was a gift from daughter #3-funny how the witch has red hair. She kind of reminds me of someone. Lol

So that is the dining room for this year. Looks like it will be another quiet afternoon-just me and my grand dog catching up on some TV and hoping that tomorrow brings the sun so we can hit the ground running.

Stay safe and stay tuned.