Finishing Up the Tour

The big day is right around the corner so let's get this year's tour in the books. I think a quick peek into the two bathrooms and we will be caught up.

I'm not sure why but this shower curtain still makes me smile every time I look at it!

So that finishes up this year's Halloween decor. As much as I love it all, I will admit to looking back on last year's Thanksgiving decor and I'm looking forward to getting it up next week. I wish I could figure out a way to get it up without the days worth of taking Halloween down...just kind of snap my fingers but.....I do love the less cluttered look that Thanksgiving decor brings back after the weeks of Halloween overload. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Halloween but, since I'm home so much more than I used to be, I get tired of looking at the same things and am ready for a change! 

And, on an entirely different note, my lemon tree is once again blowing my mind. Usually I can't wait long enough for the crop to actually ripen on the tree but, this season, it has produced so many lemons that I am able to pick one a day and still have so many more to go.

These are Meyer lemons and, when I buy them at Publix, they are $1.25 each. I love them so much that I will pay that if I must but, this little beauty has so much more than paid for herself! I think I bought it about 3 years ago. It has produced fruit every year but this year's crop has been the largest so far. I have already picked 13 lemons and there are 22 more to go! That's $43.75 in lemons! And, all I really do to it is spray it with an organic spray to keep bugs away and put in citrus tree fertilizer sticks every few months. As much as I love to garden, I am really not all that good at it. I usually just plant things that tend to tend themselves. So I am in a state of dis-belief that this little gem is doing so well. 

And, look how pretty it looks as the lemons are beginning to turn yellow.

If the weather holds out, I have a busy week planned. I'm hoping to squeeze in a few Halloween adventures before the next big game on Friday night. Fingers crossed that the temperatures co-operate. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Can't Keep Up!!

 Wow! I don't know why but, for some reason, I just can't keep up with the dates on the calendar these days. I guess it is because I don't have many occasions that actually involve me knowing the dates...and so, I am finding myself flipping a calendar page and being blindsided by the numbers looking back at me.

With that being said, I am just now realizing that Halloween is in six days and I haven't finished my decor tour. So, on we go to the sunroom.

This is where my Halloween wood tag ended up. It isn't where it started out but, when grand daughter #5 was here one day, she suggested the change...and she was right. I love how it just pops against that black vase.

As much as I love the TV cabinet that is now in the family room, I still miss having this one in there just for the pictures that it always holds. I can still find a way to get all of my photos out but they are just not as readily visible out here as there were in the family room. I will get used to it but it is taking me longer than I thought it would.

This room is so hard to photograph and I am still getting used to having the different TV cabinet in here. The other end of the room is also decorated a bit but I am avoiding showing it because it is also undergoing a bit of a re-do and things are in piles. I keep telling myself "change is good" but I really don't believe me! It is not my favorite thing to do and, in this case, I really am starting out with a very blurry picture of where I hope to end up...so, we shall see.

And that brings us to my "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" story. That really could be the subtitle for my life. Lol I start so many things that I think are going to be just a "little" project and, somehow, they turn into BIG things before my eyes.

And while we're on the subject of eyes, how many times have I posted about seeing things with "new" eyes. That was what happened here. Something that I have literally been living with for about 22 years, suddenly jumped out at me and I found myself in dis-belief that I had not done anything sooner...and so it began. 

I wish I had a "before" picture for you but I don't because I really thought this would be done in 1-2-3 and never that it would be worth mentioning let alone something I would post about. But, it took forever and, quite frankly, I am pretty proud of myself that I got it accomplished without having to call in the "troops"...although, I thought about calling my very strong grand sons a time or two during the process. Lol

OK. I'm sure I have posted over the years that this area was originally a set of sliders out to a small concrete slab. Little by little over the years, we expended it to a covered porch, then a screened-in porch and eventually to the current sunroom. We swapped the sliders for French doors somewhere along the way and then, when the room was enclosed and air conditioned and heated, we took out the French doors to give me more decorating room.

When that first happened, I did do a little damage control to the door jamb by filling in the areas that once housed the hinges...but, for whatever reason, I never addressed the metal door threshold.

I guess if I had looked closely, I might have noticed that I never addressed it because, when we had the wood floors added, the wood threshold went over the metal one. For some reason, I thought they just butted up to each other and the simple removal of four screws would pretty much do the job.

First of all, it was more than "simple" to remove those screws-but that can be for another day. Once the screws were out, I started pulling...and pulling...and pulling. I had about every tool I own out. If I could have found my chisel, I think I might have been able to cut the metal where it hit the wood but, I lent it to someone and it never came back-another story for another day. Lol

I finally got the metal threshold out and that created my "cookie" story. It had gone up under the wood one, so now that was loose and uneven. Thanks to my hoarding  saving, I had a piece of wood that would fit...after I dragged out the chop saw. But, then, it was loose and I knew the wood threshold would slip the first time it was stepped on. So, once again, thanks to my "saving", I found a bit of left over construction glue-albeit, pretty dried up...but then again.

I can't tell you what all I had to do to get even a bit out of that tube and on to the wood! Yay. So far, so good.

But then I saw this. It is hard to tell but it is the foam insulating strip left from the doors. How has this not bothered me in 22 years!!??? Of course, now it did! Out came a sharp new blade and off that goes!

Of course, that now exposes a bit of the wood frame that was never stained...and so this had to happen.

When all of that painting and staining was done, I addressed the concrete step. The old color looked horrible so I tried gray.

I wasn't feeling the gray so I came back with some other colors and just haphazardly brushed them on trying to mimic the natural slate floor. I think I may have over "thunk" it because if you look at the colors on the slate, there is no rhyme or reason.

In any case, now that you know way more than I'm sure you really want to, the "mouse has gotten the cookie" and I'm calling it a day.

This is still bothering me so I might be going back a bit more...any bets?

 We had two football games this weekend and I am so proud of each of my grandsons. My oldest recovered a fumble and had picture perfect snaps all game for a win in Lakeland and my youngest ended up having to quarterback when that has never been his position. His team has been plagued with injuries all season. He did so well and completed almost every pass. Even though they lost 24/6, he passed for their scoring touchdown and was feeling pretty good about himself. 

I'm off to have some lunch and then see what the afternoon brings. Stay safe and stay tuned.

 

Moving Right Along

 I am in the middle of a little project that turned into a BIG project! I thought that would be my post today but, I am so far from being able to show you yet that I decided to just "walk away" and take you to my Halloween family room instead.

I had big plans to change up the mantle this year. I wanted to bring in the "Salem Broom Co." sign from the living room and kind of make this my "witching" area. But, as good an idea as that may have been, when the sign turned out to be way too tall, plans had to change again. This is when I decided to take down the cascading garland that I have used here for a good many years and move it into the living room. That gave me the chance to use the broom, witch's shoes and "Black Hat Society" sign on the mirror . Then, I could concentrate on my two largest witches and my haunted clock. I got the clock a few years back from Grandin Road. It comes to life from noise activation and lights up and strikes "13"! I have to remember to turn it off because, in this house, there is almost always something going on that will set it off and, it either scares or annoys the people around it! Lol

I also used this opportunity to take off some of the other things that used to live on the mantle and move them into the the TV unit shelves. Those shelves are so large that it takes a lot to decorate them and I was very happy that I could find a way to fill them without having to buy more "stuff" And, I think the mantle looks nice being a little simpler...so, a win/win!

I still love this wreath that I knocked off from one I saw in the Grandin Road catalog. If I remember correctly it was almost $300...and I didn't like it quite that much! Lol I just found an inexpensive grape vine wreath, wrapped it in black boas, used some of my loose skeleton bones and embellished with ribbons and glittery picks. I cut the hat off of a Halloween headband and embellished it with a jeweled spider that was meant to be used on a candle. The sign he is holding was a blank wood plaque that I found at WalMart. All in all, he may have cost about $35-$40. Woo-hoo!

I will admit there might just be a bit of candle "overkill" in the house right now. I have out almost every orange battery operated candles that I own and a good bit of my white ones as well. At night, when they all pop on, you might feel like you are in the bowels of a haunted house...but, that's where you want to be at this time of the year, right? I absolutely love it but I do sometimes wonder what my neighbors might be thinking when they see the house aglow from their vantage points.

They're hardly visible here but I finally used my two left over pieces of 4X4 that I cut way back when. I thought I might need something else for these shelves so I simply painted them orange, drilled in some holes and added some large "stems" and then tied a Halloween tag on to one of them. Nothing special but it helps fill one of those over sized shelves. These shelves are so deep and tall that small items simply get lost without some "back-up".

So that is the family room for this year. I'm off to see if I can't get another step in my "little" project done so I can share it all soon. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Next Please!

It's a bit of a dreary day here so I am staying indoors and thought it might be the perfect time to move along to the dining room. I don't know what there is about this console table but, it still makes me happy every time I look at it. Maybe because, in some small way, it makes me think I'm in the Italian country side. Lol

I also still love the flickering attic light that I got from Grandin Road. I think it is just so appropriate casting its shadows on the "dearly departed".

So that is the dining room. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will be able to fill that table with family...and pretty place settings...very soon.

I'm off to tackle a few little projects that have been on "the list" for awhile but I'll be back soon. Stay safe and stay tuned.
 

 

"Brewing" Up Some Fun

So it's time to go into the kitchen. I changed up a little in here..see if you can tell where.

For the last number of years, I have had the laboratory set up here with the large beaker set I got from PB. For some reason, I just wasn't into that anymore. In fact, I really didn't even want to use all of these potion bottles either but, I didn't have any other brilliant ideas without going out and buying a lot of new stuff, so...

The lab stuff from PB was kind of expensive-hence the reason I used it for so long I think-but, it has found a new home. My four oldest grand daughters-who all have their own apartments now-were going through the things I didn't put out this year and grand daughter #1 scooped the chemistry set up quickly! I know it will find a place of honor in her home for many years to come.

So that is the kitchen this year. Even though I'm not getting out a lot these days, I have had a bunch of company and that makes me so happy. I love using all of my holiday dinnerware and setting the table for guests. Honestly, I use all of my holiday stuff even if it is just me and I am eating alone. I figure if I have it, I might as well enjoy it. 

We are finally having another break in our temperature today and I have another 20 bags of mulch waiting to be spread, so off I go...but, I will be back. Stay safe and stay tuned.