Deck The Halls with Susan!

Hello, hello! I'm sooo happy to see all of you here! This meme that Susan at Between Naps on the Porch got me going on decorating for Christmas even though we are still in between projects so thanks a bunch, Susan!

Still no tree though as we're waiting for our eldest to come home from college soon enough and buy a tree that all of us can decorate. Each year, a child has a theme that we build up on. This year, it's the college girl's theme: Poinsettia and Gold. Well... guess what? I don't have much poinsettias! LOL

The fresh ones I got are dying from the yo-yo temp outside that's messing with our temp inside so they are getting a nice soaking right now and could not make any appearances in time for today.

So enjoy and I'll be by yours, gleaning great ideas, soon enough!

Here's the FAMILY ROOM:

Not much going on here since we are training puppies, but at least I have some of my Nativity sets up. This one is 14 years old...


We got this set at Costco as our very first family gift for Christmas. It doesn't come with a star so we try to make the angel look like it's looking down from heaven and the manger all lit up, just like in the story in Luke.
Love the expression on this angel...
While watching the baby Jesus from her heavenly perch.
The manger is only about5-6 years old. We found it in Target during our Clearance raids. LOL I love this diorama scene with the holy family and the little shepherd looking in.
Our mantle is one of my favorite places to decorate and I really went out on this one, but guess what again... I literally ran out of decorations! We've lived in apartments, almost a third smaller of this house, so between no time and no decorations, I'm quite surprised that we were able to pull this off. :-)
Back in 2008, we found a box barely noticeable among all the pickin's, this PEACE stocking holders. Perfect as we have 5 in our family! And to sweeten the deal, it was 75% off! The candles were a find last year at Jo-Ann's. The last five for less than $1 each! I love using big pinecones no matter how elegant or rustic my theme is. It defines the season for me...
Here's the banister leading upstairs. Most of my garlands are older than my youngest, and I'm quite impressed that despite several moves, they've all survived! The lightball on the table, also 14 years old. My hubby and FIL made them together the first Christmas we were married. Yes, the light-strings are that old!
For about three Decembers now, we loan out our little trees and nativity sets to our community Nativity Exhibit so these are one of the last ones to be included in the decor.
Many of my wire ribbons were muted enough to work year after year. So cool!



My village! Finally out after 3 years of being left out from lack of space... This one's in the DR. Nope, not done there yet...
And this is the foyer... I placed a mirror to reflect the front door and give my little amount of decor a bigger impact.
Oh look, poinsettias and gold sprays! LOL I love this Nativity interpretation and the muted colors go well with all the colors we use each year. This is 2 years old.

Sometimes, when inspiration hits, it hits big! The effect was much more than I was expecting! How awesome is that?!

So... what do you think? Did I deck my halls? Thank you and glad to join in! See ya later!

Catching Up!

I again am playing catch up to all of you with all these household business we're attending to right now. So I thought I'd bundle up Halloween and Thanksgiving for you beautiful ladies!

Thanks again to our wonderful hosts, Susan of Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday and Tablescape Thursday, Marty of A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday, Leigh of Tales of Bloggeritaville for Thrifty Thursday and Michael Lee of Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. So glad to be participating this week!

Alright, let's move on to the catching up part... Susan, these transformations certainly fit Met Monday.

Fall came, September 22, and we quickly dressed up our newly painted old door with Halloween and Autumn colors.

The foyer table (for Marty) had a temporary dressing as well...
Eventually after much rummaging, I managed to find my other Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving items from the newly carved out storage, and officially welcomed the season for the second time. This shadow box done back in 2005, cost me a total of $1.50! Pretty thrifty, huh, Leigh?
Halloween this year, since it was on Sunday, meant only giving out candies, and using up our 2009 clearance finds! Still thrifty, Leigh!
Then, Susan, the foyer turned into something more sinister... Boo!
Even the candy table had its own party going on! Two tables for Marty over here! LOL
Then Thanksgiving was in the air and again the same table took on another face-just for Susan and Marty...
I emphasized Harvest time this time around...
Before the actual T-dinner, we also had another dinner we hosted. It wasn't fancy, but we had to make sure that we made the table lovely...
(The leaves, from our trees in the front yard, the floating candles, Garden Ridge, 2008, 50 cents each) Gotta love that, Leigh!
Lovely for both our guests and Susan, of course! I call this table, "A New Fall" since we are in our very own house and we can't be more excited to start the season cozy inside...
On the big day, I made sure that all were taken care of, but not over the top. I was so excited when the hubs pulled out all of my dishes from the storage and I got to see all of my choices for this year's table!

This one is called, "Thanksgiving, In and Out" because our gratitude extends to the wonderful property we purchased. Despite the wear&tear happenings, it is ours to change, update and upgrade!

To save money, I simply used flowers to dress the table and didn't fuss over the vases either, whatever was around did the trick.
I think it worked out beautifully, don't you, Susan, Leigh, Marty? How about you ladies?
We started with this beautiful Autumn soup made with butternut squash, potatoes, leek and coconut milk. It was divine! I think a Foodie like Michael Lee can appreciate this, right?

Plates-Embossed Leaves (Linens & Things, 2005, 75% off); Harvest Cinnamon (Harvest Home, Kroger, 2009, 50 cents each); Earthenware Bowl (Ikea, 2010, 79 cents each)

Utensils-Oneida-Katrina (Sears, 1995) / Napkins- Linen Beige (Kroger, 2010-80 cents each) / Drinkware-Anchor Smoke (Target, 2009)

We also dressed the naturally overwhelming wall of mirrors in the dining room to look like a panoramic window seeing the tumbled leaves falling...
This year so far, we were blessed with momentous occasions: Great New Year, Valentine's was spent looking for a house, March was spent buying and closing on this house, April & May were spent on moving in, organizing and settling in, June was a double graduation time, July & August were spent on planning out college life and more renovations, and September was well, spent in Hawaii and with friends staying with us. We are blessed, happy and grateful...

Hope you all have been having a great year, or at least a great Fall season. We all have much to be thankful for and it's not even December yet!

TABLESCAPING IDEAS: (Brain is very happy with herself) No money for a centerpiece, use what's around you. Just like I did, I gathered leaves with varying colors and floated them in an oval roaster with my floating candles. I used more of the same leaves to cover the above big serving tray that only held a few things. (Ooooppps... I left the candlestick I used to light the round ones, lol) It filled up the tray and it looks like a deliberate choice! Didn't cost me a thing!

Thanks for peeking! Now I'm off to see yours!

House Adventures #1: Master Disaster

Hosted by Susan of Between Naps on the Porch

Hello everyone! Happy Spring! Can't believe April's almost done!

So sorry haven't been posting for a while. As you know, we moved and so being new homeowners, we are delving into completely new territory. Hence my post today...

This is my new Master Bedroom; spacious, raised ceiling, two separate walk-ins, plush carpeting and huge windows and a bay. Lovely, lovely, lovely...

I was sold on this room. So of course, I took this picture. Making sure I get to show off the raised ceiling housing the original ceiling fan. It works, so no hurry to change it on our part.

Well... The day after we got the keys, we met with our ceiling retexturing guy (popcorn gotta go!), we all went up to the master to talk options. Mr. Man noticed that one of the blades were tilted down so he went up to it. Before he can touch it, it broke! And fell just barely missing his head! (I guess the poor fan couldn't handle another decade of use (LOL). Actually, I was secretly hoping to change all the old ones ASAP, so talk about great coinkidink!)
So 5 becomes 4, but since it broke at the arm, it became instantly unusable... *mad face*
(closer look of the damage. broken blade on the carpet)

What to do? (or should I say... What Now?) :-) No problem. I had one I owned in Arizona, in the storage. So off we go there to fix this dilemma. We get there ready only to realize that it's buried way back and don't know exactly where! Nice...

What Now? ("Brain" says, That's ok, I can wait. Summer's not for a few months away and the weather's been cool. We'll just open all the windows. Then my mom calls while we were dining out with the whole family with some good news!)

My F&MIL's were over for two weeks to help us move (LOVE THEM) and they agreed we can wait until we can grab the fan out of the storage. But we were all so happy when we realized Mr. Man and I didn't have to wait at all! Off to Western Union!

So... Presto-chang-0! With my mom's housewarming gift, we were off to the nearest Lowe's to pick out a new ceiling fan! I followed my Mama's instructions: "Get exactly the one I want." (Listen to your moms, they know what they're talking about. LOL) And with my mom in-law helping to make sure Mr. Man got to see what he's doing and that he didn't fall (I was the photographer) while Mr. Man's gladly installed it, we now enjoy a new ceiling fan! Yay!!!

It's the one we both fell in love with the last time we were at Lowe's.
He assembled the whole fan on the floor and installed it as one piece. It was heavy because of the separate motors for the fan and light. And as a surprise gift to me, hubby sprung for a remote control! He's a keeper!
There's my wonderful MIL. She's such a great lady. (Glad my ILs came and helped us pack, move, pack... Good thing, we moved only 2 minutes away from our old apartment.)
And here's my new fan! (see the antenna for the remote peeking?) I love those blades!

And there you have it... Master Disaster and how we "morphed" a problem into a solution!

Susan, our lovely host; thank you once again for letting us have fun "changing" our lives one project at a time.

Heart to all of you who stopped by!

TABLESCAPING IDEAS: (Brain is so happy with her new house!) Need candles for your next tablescape? Candle too used but scent is just your fave? No problem! Cut the used portion part and shape your newly carved candles and incorporate them into an eclectic and chic new table for the "piece de resistance"!

My Take on Independence Day

Hosted by "Susan, Sally & Rhoda"
Hello everyone, sorry I haven't visited much of you, but I'm finally getting the hang of our new schedule. Plus, I'm learning how to bake, so that's part of what's keeping me from blogging lately.

Well... for today's triple post, I'd like to share how our dining area that now normally looks like this...

To something like this! I'm sure Susan can appreciate the Met in this one. LOL

THEME:
"A Salute to America"
INSPIRATION:
Dollar Tree finds
My hubs was supposed to come home Sunday afternoons, but his new Chicago crew gets the 4th off every year, so he came home yesterday afternoon instead! Yay! And since I had no plans to do anything for the actual Independence Day, that also changed!

We all of a sudden needed to put together a table and menu worthy of America's most important day of the year! Where did we turn to to pull this off? Why, Dollar Tree of course! See this candle, isn't just so cute?

Sally, are you seeing all the blue? LOL

Rhoda, my true treasure today are those wavy blue stemmed martini glasses! Only $1 each from DT! I found the last good six at that particular store. Yay me!
How do you like my placesetting? The placemats, glasses, candles and star bowls are all DT finds. The Libbey "Star" bowls are for potpourri, but since I don't do potpourris, I used them as our ice cream bowls! The red Canopy "Cranberry" plates (Walmart- $1 ea), I used as chargers for our shallow salad bowl, "Classic White" by Corelle (2005). The flatware, they're my everyday Hampton "Lace". See them perfectly balanced on top of the bowls? Mr. Man (my dear hubs) said it reminded him of fireworks sparks! How cool is that?!
We hit Albertson's for the menu and I found that the red Gatorade G2 "Fruit Punch" was the perfect complimentary shade! Those blue napkins (Anna's Linens- .99 ea) were from my Memorial Day table.
The other cute thing I found at DT were these three different looking hanging twister sticks I hung on our pendant chandy. Talk about a tall centerpiece! Gotta love that! And see the star banner on the drapes, that was the last one there and I knew it would be perfect with the table.
Instead of a full on flag theme, I let the candles show off our pride for the ol' "red, white and blue"! The "Two Bubble" glass candlesticks (Hobby Lobby- 80% off) looked great with the glasses.

The hubs said, "Wow" when all was lit and the gatorade was added. So cool!

What do you think? Did I do our country proud with this table? I got three YES votes from three full pledged citizens! LOL

Thanks a bunch to our hosts today and to all of you who came by to visit. Thank you all!