We have had lots of struggles and challenges in our lives, but we've had even more blessings!

Friday, November 2, 2012

Fall 'stuff' ~

    Well hello there :-D  How ya been? How ya gonna be?  Us? Oh, our ever eventful life continues on. As usual, I have many things to share with you. And now that I have the all clear to go ahead, or is that back to?, I will again be sharing things with you. (Don't ask.)
    Seeings how I just finished down loading a slew of pictures off our camera, I decided I should start right up with the blogging. But instead of immediately going back and playing catch-up, I want to share a couple of more recent things with you first.

    First off - our front door on Halloween
     Pict. #519

    I get ever so tired of hearing the doorbell, or pounding on the door, so I put up this type of a sign every year. "Don't Knock.  Don't ring doorbell.  HOLLAR 'Trick or Treat'!"  It is amazing to me how many kids do not 'get' why they are suppose to hollar that! [Come on parents!] Some kids enjoy proving just how loud they can hollar and I'm okay with that. It's all part of their fun on Halloween!

    If you look close, you will see that there is no window or screen in the top part of our screen door. We do that on purpose! That way, it is real easy to just lean out and put treats in kids bags, without missing any kids, or bumping any of them with the door, etc.. The next day, the screen that had been in there, gets replaced with the storm window. After all, the heat is already on in the house anyways.

   We had decided to do Kayla's B-day dinner one Sunday afternoon and chose to do so at the lodge. Yes, it costs a little bit of money. But seeings how we belong to the church, it's really not that much. Besides, we just love the place. The dogs can run around (so can the grand kids when they are here). We can build a fire in the fire place. The adult kids set video games up on the big screen. And yet the place is cozy and nice.
   Seeings how our Kayla is a girlie girl who likes 'special touches', I wanted to decorate the place just a little for fall. But I ran into a challenge, seeings how I had just loaned her most all of my fall stuff, for her brother to use at his wedding. Hummm... I thought and I thought, and I walked around the house thinking, and I scrolled through my fall boards on Pinterest, and came up with 'a plan'.
    I had Amy (remember my 'chauffeur/neighbor' Amy?) take me to the store, where I tried to buy dried beans, etc.. The problem became, they were out of some of the ones I wanted, as was the second store we stopped at. Amy checked a different store a couple of days later and hit the jack pot. THANKS Amy! :->
    The lodge has a old 'side board' that you see the minute you enter the front door. So I wanted to put decoration on there. This is what it looked like -
    pict. # 183
   close up's -     #189 + 190


    For the record, the brown 'cloth' is actually one of Elliot's baby blankets and the multi colored cloths are linen napkins. I had picked up the tall red 'flowers' to use on a wreath, but they just didn't fit. Sure glad they didn't!

    We put two of the white 8 ft. tables side by side to create one large square dining table. The burgundy 'cloth'  bottom layer, is actually a twin size sheet. The top cloth I picked up at Goodwill while I was out with Amy.
       Pict. #184
     close up - #186
    The lodge has neat old plates, which I used for colorful place settings -
    #187
    I had carried all of the beans and some of the other stuff to the lodge, in a picnic basket. I then used that in an arrangement on a small side table.
      #188

    While the red flowers didn't work on the wreath, the rest of the stuff I had picked up for it did! I ended up taking a picture of it out on Benson's car, because the house just had too many shadows that day!  The wreath was the wedding present Brent and Kayla gave her brother and wife as a wedding present. They in turn are doing a certain task for me, that is driving me crazy, but still to much for this 'Ms. Vertigo' to tackle. Double win right there!

      #514

    Speaking of Brent and Kayla, this is a picture of them taken at the lodge that day -
      #398

    It's been good to chat at you again :->