While Visions of Halloween Dance in my Head!

I have spent the last few days going over all things Halloween. I am so ready! But, alas, it is still August and I am still enjoying my autumn decor so I thought I would finish up my tour of the house before I fall head first into orange and black...and purple and green!

Not much left to show you but let's go.

I managed to get outside for a little while the other day and had some company while I gardened...

These two beauties stayed with me the whole time...as well as few of their friends who flew in for short visits. I can't wait until I can get back to spending hours in the garden again. It is my "happy place"...and with beauty like this, why wouldn't it be?

Dog days of summer are definitely upon us but I am trying hard to ignore all of the obvious signs and march full force into autumn...whenever it may appear! Stay tuned.

Almost Time for a Fire!

I can't say it is exactly cold out yet but I have noticed just the slightest temperature change out there...early in the mornings...so I will remain optimistic! And, if truth be told, I have been known to throw the thermostat way down low and light a fire no matter what the thermometer outside is saying!

So, any way, on to the nice, cozy, toasty family room.

The minute I put these here, I knew some "tweaking" would be in order. The proportions were all off but by the end of several long days, I was ready to be done.

Thank goodness for WalMart and lots and lots of garden mums. I bought a lot to plant and a lot to fill pots in areas that just needed that "little something extra". Proportions are so much better now and I found another spot for the candle and holder.

This is my view from my chair in this room and, except for a roaring fire, I love looking in that direction! And, it is even prettier at night when all of the candles are lit and flickering-ahhhh!

I still love this sign that I made a few years back. Really getting antsy to make another large sign-just don't have any place to put it if I do. Maybe I could use one on the front porch-hmmmm? How about something like this???

Yep, think that might be my next project! Looks easy enough.

I also still love this pumpkin that I found at Williams "Lunch on Limoges" in Dade City. I paid WAAAAYYYY too much for it. But, that being said, I have looked to find one or two more locally and can't find anything that comes close so, I guess you get what you pay for.

So there you have the family room. I have been doing lots of "sitting with feet up" in this room of late to try to get my back in working order once again and I must say, this room is peaceful and calming. I love all of the sights and scents that come with it and autumn...not a bad way to be a "patient" if you must be a patient!

Hope to be back to my old self soon but I am getting lots of recipes and crafts planned for the next few months so I can hit the ground running-hmmm, maybe that's how I took my back out in the first place. Guess for an old lady, I should slow down a bit...but, it's AUTUMN. So much to do, so little time!!

It's All About Halloween...

...well, almost. I think I have shared that I am going to host a Halloween open house for a lot of friends I used to teach with. When I agreed to do this, October seemed sooo far away. But, I am already beginning to get emails asking about how people can help, so I guess this weekend is my chance to sit and decide on the menu-the decorations are the easy part-haha. As luck would have it, I have done waaayyy too much heavy lifting, digging, bending, etc. this week, so I have once again destroyed my lower back. About the only thing that helps is sitting, sooo, I will have lots of time to peruse Pinterest and blogs to find just the right ideas. It is going to be a Halloween packed weekend.

But, at the same time, it is still autumn in our house so let's see one more room.

On to the dining room.

Except for a few more pumpkin spice candles thrown around, this is pretty much it for the sun room this year. I did buy a bunch of live mums yesterday, so I will be finding spots for them soon. I am off to put my feet up and make my plans for the months to come...can't wait...get your brooms and cauldrons ready! Stay tuned.

Up Next

Moving right along from the living room we come to the kitchen area. Really not many changes from last year but since it all worked so well-this is a room of function after all-, I decided to leave it pretty much the same.

I am once again extolling the virtues of a baker's rack. In the past, this rack was at the end of our dining room and pretty much only served as another space for decorations. When we did our major "shake-up" last year, all sorts of things got moved around. I will admit to not being very happy about losing that decorating space-especially since I also "lost" the large hutch in that same room...truly made Halloween decorating a challenge as many, many vignettes were once home on these shelves.

All of that being said, I am just loving the baker's rack being used in the way it was intended-sort of. I guess its name tells us it was meant to be used to store all sorts of baking supplies to keep them right at hand, but I think any serving things that are handy are just as good a purpose. For years, when I decorated for holidays, I would pretty much empty all of my cupboards of "regular" china and serving pieces and replace them with ones themed for the holiday. Believe me, that was a LOT of work! But, I did it because, well, you know me, I love my holidays.

 But, when this rack had no where else to go but to the end of the kitchen-and, my decorator daughter insisted strongly suggested that I not simply fill it with holiday STUFF again, I decided to use it for its original purpose...and, I love it! I no longer have to empty cupboards as I store all of our dishware of the season here as well as most of the serving pieces that I have. This way, I seem to use all of these things so much more frequently as they are so easy to access. Don't you tend to use things more frequently that are easier to get to? Proof in point:

I snatched this tray off of the bottom shelf just to hold the pumpkin donuts for their VERY short life span as our grand children were invited over for an after school snack and that was that for the donuts!  Probably would have just put them on a regular plate if I had had to go digging over and under things in the cupboards!

So that is pretty much it for autumn in the kitchen but there is more to come. Wish I could say our weather is catching up with my decorating, but I am ever hopeful that will happen soon! Stay tuned.

Wafting Scents of Pumpkin!

O.K. So once my house is decorated for autumn, it IS autumn-no matter what the calendar says. And so must follow the scent, sight and TASTE of all things pumpkin! I awoke this morning, turned on all of the autumn lights, lit all of the pumpkin scented candles and headed to the kitchen where I knew before the day was over, I would be baking something "pumpkin". Since the cupboards were relatively "bare", I went with an old stand-by, baked pumpkin donut holes, since they are pretty much made up of staples that are always on hand. And, as luck would have it, I had a can of pumpkin left from last year. Don't know what's in that stuff but the "use by" date assured me I had until June 2016, so use it I did!

These things are pure pumpkin yumminess-pumpkin batter baked in mini-muffin tins, rolled in melted butter and then rolled in cinnamon sugar...I'm just saying! I did make a three bean quinoa salad to eat for lunch so I didn't feel quite so guilty eating these for dessert! I also invited daughter #3 and kids to run by on the way home from school today so I could send some home with them and not feel the need to consume them all myself before they get "stale"-as if any baked good was ever around long enough to get stale in this house.

Super, super busy day tomorrow but I hope to be back with more autumn on Wednesday. Stay tuned.

"Ahhh-tumn" is FINALLY Here....

...at least in our house!

I am so excited and breathing so much easier now that the scent of pumpkin is once again in our house and autumn leaves, acorns and pumpkins are at every turn! I love autumn...and everything that comes with it! I know it is just a tad early to be decorating for the season since it doesn't officially arrive for another month. But, since it takes me so long to get our Halloween up that I usually start that about the third week of September, we would have no time to enjoy autumn decor if I strictly adhered to the calendar. Since it is such hard work, I like to enjoy it as long as I can. If I were queen, I would move the autumn holidays and season further apart so we could enjoy them all a little longer-lol.  So let the tour begin. I changed around a few things and left others alone.

I am going to be on the look-out for more copper mercury glass. I find I just can't get enough of it. Right now, these are the only two pieces I have and I have been using them ever since I bought them.

I still love the old sugar mold that I have filled with candles-just wish I had more places I could actually use it. The two old jugs I have had for so many years...got them back when I was all about "country" and they are but a few of the things I found back then that have still survived "the cut".

I put my papier mache' pumpkin on this candle holder this year-not sure it will stay there but I am giving it a shot.

I actually think I might be over the velvet pumpkins also. They were quite the rage a few years ago and I enjoyed making them, but probably going to be saying good-bye to them after this year.

So that is the living room as it stands for this year-changes may be in store but we shall see. Don't know if you noticed, but I brought back in our original rug. The colors are just too perfect not to be in here. If course, that means no rug in the family room but I will cross that bridge when I get to it! Stay tuned.