Best Laid Plans

So much for the best laid plans! But, I'll get to that later...let's jump over the kitchen and into the dining room today-you'll see why later as well.

Here is the first place you'll see the candy canes I made a few years ago. I don't know why, but I love these things. Actually, I think you saw one tucked into the Santa mailbox and there is another in a small LR arrangement that I didn't show...and you will see more later. Even though I made so many, I'm kind of wishing I had made more because they just look cute tucked into so many different things.

Here is another place I am missing my fresh greenery. I used to have a lot behind the nativity set and more in an urn on the side board. So far I'm coping better than I thought I would. Lol The two stars that you see were both gifts from my cousin-the top wood one is made with buttons found in our Nana's button box and the smaller one by the nativity is felted

I did the side board a little differently this year-I wanted to incorporate some of my silver. Both the bowl and pitcher were wedding gifts and the silver candle sticks were my mom's and the pewter ones are mine purchased many years ago. I haven't used my silver much because I always thought I needed to have it polished-and that was a job I didn't love. Now, I lean much more to the tarnished look-I love that it shows its years-much like me. Lol

If you are REALLY, REALLY observant, you may have already noticed the abundance of candle rings this year even in just these first two rooms I have shown you. I bought some of them to cut up for use as small greenery for other projects when I couldn't find any others that I liked and then, because I still can't seem to squeeze out time for said projects, I became obsessed with using them. Of course, most of them had openings too large for where they were going so I had to get busy and jerry-rig some bases so they would stop sliding down but I think I figured it out!

And, that is the dining room. You may wonder why I skipped over the kitchen to this room but, in full disclosure, I promised you I would show you what I was anticipating my house would look like-and oh boy was I right. This is what it looked like a mere 24 hours ago and here it is now.

And the living room...

After I emptied all of the furniture in the 4 bedrooms, daughter #3 and my grand children ran by to help me move out the heavier pieces of furniture. And then my daughter, the designer says, "Mom, you really should get rid of all of this furniture. Just look how huge the rooms look with it out!". Yeah right...might not be a bad idea but then where is all of this "stuff" supposed to go? I do think I will try to simplify before I put everything back where it came from but honestly, my life seems to go by Murphy's Law. Truly, if I get rid of something that I have had and haven't used for years today, I will fall in love with a new decor or craft idea tomorrow that uses EXACTLY what I just got rid of. I know that statement is hard to believe but I can't tell you how many times it has happened to me!!

The rooms do look huge now...the other 2 aren't completely cleaned out yet because I need to function in them until tomorrow morning!

Of course, once I got this far I realized that the curtains will be a pain and they really could use a refresh as well so I took them down and they're already in the washer. Now I am off to vacuum the rooms and then go around and clean where the carpet meets the wall and all of the baseboards. And so, so much for my best laid plans of giving my aching back a bit of a break today...and one more reason why I am feeling definitely more behind this year than ever-not to mention that my tree delivery has now been changed the fifth time! I just might be decorating like the good old days-on Christmas Eve!

I am hoping that while I am "stuck" in my uncarpeted, safe family room tomorrow while the rest of the house is abuzz, I can maybe get some Christmas cards addressed and a few lists-like cookies, Christmas dinner, and such-put together. I haven't actually bought the first gift this year but now that my grandchildren are all older, cash has become the gift of choice-along with their annual Christmas ornament...so, not a lot of shopping involved. And then, we have started doing a White Elephant with everyone included. That one might be a bit trickier as we go from age 14 to age 76 and I would like it to actually be something that the majority would like/use and won't just be thrown away so I guess I will set off for that little adventure later this week.

So, I am off. Not sure when I'll be back because putting this house back together might involve some effort and then I am off to Eustis and Mt. Dora for a day with daughter #3 and grand daughter #5. A fairly new tradition for us but one that Presley loves so, any time a grandchild wants to spend time with her mom and Nana, we're only too happy to oblige. Stay safe and stay tuned.