Halloween Dreaming

I am so enjoying my house with all of its autumn splendor but I am still finding thoughts of all things Halloween slipping into my mind as the stores are loading up on black and orange. Those of you who follow this blog know that there is truly not one more Halloween item that I could possibly need. Yet, every year I seem to find a new treasure or two...and have so much fun on the hunt!

I am also starting to gather my Halloween party ideas once again. I have gotten everyone in the family to agree on a date for one last family Halloween costume party. The older everyone gets, the more and more outside the family commitments they have...like school, jobs, sorority responsibilities, friends, football, dates, etc. Even though this is one of our favorite family traditions, it isn't fun if we can't all be here and sometimes, that is just not possible. And so I decided to broach the subject one more time and see if we couldn't get a date that everyone was free and could get it on their calendars early enough that they could keep it free. And then, I would agree to let this tradition drop. And so, although we have had to make a few compromises to get everyone here and back to their homes safely and on time, we have a date! And, I can hardly stop thinking about it. I know the kids all want to do all of our favorite things but I am also looking for any new ideas that strike my fancy...and, of course, a unique costume. Since we have been doing this so long, there is hardly a new idea out there. But, I am having fun looking and I know I will come up with something that the kids will think is fun!

And, right now, all I can think about is when it will be time to get this beauty on my front door!

But before we get there, let me show you a few of my autumn things I still have to share. The guest bath is ready and I liked that basket hanging from the hook so much that I just left it where it is and swapped the sunflowers for the leaves...and another "permanent" vignette may have been born!

I always like to add a touch of the season or holiday to the master bath as well.

The master bedroom got its fall/winter bedding.

And, although this should have been where I started, I waited to show you the porch until I could find some mums to put in the urns. Sigh!! All is right with the world. There is just something that seeing the first mums appear in garden centers that helps to confirm my belief that summer WILL end and my favorite season is right around the corner!

So that is it for the 2018 autumn decorations...although there is a lot more of autumn to come because it hasn't even officially arrived yet! As much as I am looking forward to that, I caved and went and bought this yesterday! I knew I needed a new one this year but, since it took so long to get the pool finished, I decided it might be best to bite the bullet and wait to buy (and store) this thing until next pool season. But, since this is my very favorite way to spend hours in the pool-usually with a book and cold drink-I just couldn't wait another minute. I had been keeping my eyes open as each store closed out their summer items but it seems like the only place I can still find these-as opposed to any blow ups which I am over!-is at Pinch-A-Penny and, unfortunately, not on sale. But, with the way the heat has been going, I will get in lots of "lounging" before this cutie needs to find its winter home! And, if you need me today, I will be "poolside"! Stay tuned.

"Mum" is the Word!

To me, it does not really feel like autumn is on its way until the fresh mums begin appearing in garden centers! I know I can use other flowers in autumn colors, but somehow it is just not the same! I think it may go back to me remembering the wonderful chrysanthemum corsages with the school letters done in pipe cleaners that we wore to homecoming games...anyone else old enough to remember them? I know I have more but in the thousands and thousands of photos that I have, this is what I could lay my hands on quickly!

My girls are always asking me why I hold on to all of my old stuff...this is why! Just this one picture and the remnants from two of my corsages-the green M for Dan McCarty H.S. in Ft. Pierce, FL and the blue UF from our first homecoming game as students at the University of Florida.

In this picture, I am a bit of a mix-up. It was our high school homecoming in Ft. Pierce-hence the M corsage but we were returning as UF students-hence the orange and blue nod. And yes, that is how we dressed for homecoming games way back when!! Lol

The last time I ran by the garden center, this was the only size and color mum that had come in. I just grabbed one as I am more of a fan of the orange, rust and deep burgundy colors-and they were coming soon- but I am still loving having this in my line of sight as I sit and watch TV in the evenings! As much as I love the black iron PB candle holder that was here, this rusty old urn filled with that just beginning to bloom mum takes my breath away!

You can actually see how much the mum has opened in the picture below that was taken just a day or two later! The thing that I love about the mums I buy this time of year and have either in the house or in planters is that once they have finished their blooming, I can put them in the ground and they will be back again soon! My front garden is still full of plants that have been producing blooms all summer long thanks to our colder than normal winter and wetter than normal summer-I guess??!

I will be out and about tomorrow so I am hoping I will find lots more to fill all of planters waiting as eagerly for fall as I am! Stay tuned.

It's All About the Family....

...the family room that is. Welcome to my favorite room. I don't like to show favoritism because I truly love every square inch of our house, but this is the room where I spend a good bit of my time. It is cozy, warm and comforting. And, even though I was a bit skeptical as to how I would like the re-do now that we are into the "warm" color months, I still love it. In fact, I think everything pops even more. As much as I loved the old color of the barn boards, I really like the freshness that the room now has. It definitely gave it the update it so needed.

As you all probably know, I am chomping at the bit to see a fire in that fireplace but, until then, I shall just continue to dream about it! Once the lights are lit on the mantle and all of the candles are glowing, this room just welcomes me in with open arms.

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! When my daughter suggested moving these two chairs from the places they have been for many, many years, I just wasn't too sure. But, we tried it and I LOVE it. Wish I had done it sooner. It not only makes both chairs TV watching friendly now but it is a great arrangement for sitting and gabbing with someone...and, believe me, a lot of sitting and gabbing takes place in this house!

I had to make some changes to my autumn mantle now that I have committed to leaving the two PB lanterns where they are. Since I also wasn't budging on where the sign would go, I really didn't have anywhere the "merchandising" area left that I usually do. Since I love the pumpkin I got down at William's Lunch on Limoge in Dade City many years ago (and paid way too much for so it needs to see some use to justify its cost-lol) and the sign points to the pumpkin patch, it was also a no brainer. I can't say that I'm entirely enamored with the crock of orange berries sitting on the hearth-and they will have to get moved if it ever gets "fire" weather-but I do love the pop of color down there and then around on either side so one's eyes have places to travel.

I don't know if I have ever photographed this side of the room before as it really isn't anything special but it is my haven and my wonderful vantage point to see all of the rest of the room. This chair and a half is huge and, right now, there is really no other place in the room that it can go without totally throwing off the balance. If I ever decide to wall mount the TV over the fireplace, it could be moved but that would mean giving up so much of my decorating real estate so I'm still not sold on that idea. Who knows, maybe some day?! In any case, it is where I curl up to watch TV, read or catch up with friends and it has seen many grand children all squeezed on there with me as we read books, watched a movie or just shared thoughts!

I think I've shown you this pillow before. Grand daughter #1 gave it to me for Christmas. I enjoy playing with the sequins to create designs but, it now seems to have become a little message board to me from any of the grand kids. It seems like every time one of them visits, I have a new message. This time Presley put my initials...and, somehow, neither of her brothers has come behind her to create havoc! It's always fun to see what comes next...and, they are all way more patient than I as flipping those sequins just where you want them is not always an easy task!

So, the kids are back in school and everyone seems happy with how things are going. I got to have dinner at daughter #3's house the other day and do a quick facsimile of our traditional back-to-school parties of years past. It was anything but traditional as the kids and their dad(coach) came in and out and grabbed a bite as they could before heading off to football practices but, I did get a bit of one-on-one time with each of them as their practice times vary so I got to hear all of the scoop!

And, once school is back, can the official start of football season be far behind? We had the Jamboree yesterday and all I can say is thank goodness a storm was working its way in for last night because we did have a constant breeze and the sun at our backs for both games. Of course, we also had a 10 o'clock game and a 3:10 game so a bit of down time in between. Presley came with me and we did some shopping, ate lunch and tried to store up as much A/C as we could before we headed back. As hot as it can get, it is still a lovely way for families to spend a day together!

I'm using today to get caught up on all of those things I left dangling last week. We'll see how far I get before I get thrown off track yet again. Now that I'm retired, I'm getting lots better at saying "well, there's always tomorrow"! Stay tuned.

Ahhhh Autumn

We've seen the living room and kitchen all done up in their autumn splendor. Let's move on to the dining room with a quick peek at the sunroom as well.

Looks like I have "evolved" into a bit of a permanent vignette here in this niche. It has been no secret that, as much as I always wanted shelves added to the niche, once that happened, I had trouble decorating the area. The slatted basket at the top has pretty much stayed on the top shelf all year and just kind of lends itself to something seasonal flowing out of it. The tobacco basket stays on shelf #2. Sometimes it has things on either side but this time it has another of my large PB candles in front of it. The candle begins to flicker at dusk and adds a beautiful glow to this often forgotten corner of the house. And, I am always happy when I can find something to fill my dough bowl and a place for it to happily settle in. This still might not be my favorite place in the house but, I am OK with it right now. I actually thought of draping some soft, light colored greens or hydrangeas out of the bowl from between the pumpkins but ultimately decided to keep it simple...less to dust which is always a good thing!

I am so happy I found a usable home for the old porch balustrade. I always used it in the living room on the bleached chest but once I bought the 2 new lamps, this beauty got displaced. And, because it is so large, it was hard to find another perfect spot for it. This year, I simply left out one of my olive jars and used the piece here as a candle holder. I know it won't be here when Halloween comes out, but I'm hoping it can make a return not only for Thanksgiving but for Christmas as well!

I still adore the water colored pillows I got from PB a few years ago. I keep hoping they will bring back more but this year's fall, indoor collection is mostly all  appliqued or gilded-or, outdoor pillows and not pillow covered. It is not impossible to take these pillows apart and make them into covers but it is a chore and not one I'm ready to happily do right now. And so, I will survive with the ones that I have.
 

This is the shelving above the "fireplace" in my dining room. This is the fireplace I bought many, many years ago to put in our living room before we added the family room with real fireplace. It uses canned fuel so it burns with real flame but, since I have the real one now, this is really just used for show and decorating purposes. It fills this wall in the ding room perfectly and I'm not sure what would work there instead-but, I might be close to finding out! This spot is impossible for me to decorate. The shelves are increasingly narrower in depth as they go up so I am very limited on what I can put where...and, somehow it never looks balanced to me. I just might have to get a designer's perspective on this-know any good ones? Lol In any case, here is where I am...definitely not a favorite. I feel like maybe some leaves stuck in and around might help but again, I am going for "less" these days so we shall see!

I only took pictures of this end of the sunroom because, honestly, except for some orange striped pillows on the couch, the rest of the room was pretty much left alone. Don't know if I ran out of time or energy first!

My spot awaits and my coffee is getting cold so I am off to do a bit more magazine perusing before I am off for an appointment and then dinner at daughter #3's house. This has been a busy week but I am still making time to get in the pool each afternoon. After it was out of use for so long, I feel like I need to enjoy it as much as I can before summer (the summer that I have been wishing away but have now made an ammendment-lol) really is gone. Summer outside-autumn inside. I truly do have the best of both worlds! Stay tuned.

I Smell Pumpkin!

Everything pumpkin is beginning to arrive in stores. I am looking forward to getting into the stores this week and giving myself time to just walk up and down the aisles and see what there is to see...and smell. Right now the kitchen just smells of the Autumn Leaves candles from Yankee Candle, but I'm hoping to remedy that soon. One of my autumn "must dos" every year are the baked pumpkin doughnut holes. They are so simple and really fill the house with the wonderful aroma of fall!

While I'm thinking of all things autumn edible, let's head into the kitchen. Looking at those little bowls and the pumpkin tureen makes me think that I need to make some soup soon also!

I still love the fingerprint tree made by our 3 youngest grand children and the autumn tree collage made by another.

Seeing the sandwich plates in this picture reminds me that I need to add WalMart to my list of stores to peruse. Each year Better Homes and Gardens puts out autumn dinnerware-a little different each year-and reminiscent of PB designs. As much as I love PB, I would rather spent my budget there on decor pieces that I can possibly even use all year. The BH&G plates are sturdy and user friendly. Since I have even more of the salad plate size in my cupboard that I use for sandwiches every day, I think I might look for a few dinner plate size this year as well. I have service for 12 of the solid orange plates and can mix & match the salads so I am good for company but think I might want a few with the autumn designs to use every day for dinner-I hope I like this year's pattern! 

Still loving my pumpkin enamelware pot. That too was a Wal-Mart find from the Ree Drummond collection. Very similar to a LeCruset but SO much less expensive...sorry Williams Sonoma. Sometimes I will go for the higher priced item because I need quality and know you often get what you pay for but, in this case, I really don't cook in this pot. I use my All-Clad to cook because I have much larger pots and can make a huge batch of whatever and then I transfer into this so it is mostly just for serving-hence, at least to me, not worth the BIG bucks!

I found a number of battery orange candles at HL and grabbed them up. Although they aren't the flicker flame that I have come to love so much, they do glow from within and I've started putting them in small areas to add a nice glow at night. I love it when I turn a corner and see a glimmer of light where I least expect to see it. That being said, this is the time of year that the orange flicker flame candles may show up so I am still looking as I am truly in love with them. To me, they look very realistic! I love that I can put them where I can't easily reach to light a traditional candle-and that I don't have to worry about remembering to blow them out every night! You can be sure that if I spot them, they will be coming home with me!

I'm going over to daughter #3's for dinner tonight. I'm anxious to hear all about the first week of school, football practice and Presley's trip to Orlando with one of her best friends for a joint birthday celebration this past weekend. They had a wonderful time-can you guess why-and she came home with some extra "bling" on her ears that I can't wait to see!

Since I cleaned gutters this weekend-which requires at LEAST a million trips up and down the ladder (or at least that's how it feels today)-and did a bunch more weeding and trimming, I am walking kind of slowly today so I am off to look through all of my autumn magazines and catalogues and maybe I will even come up with a few more ideas. If not, there's still lots to see so stayed tuned.