Pink Christmas Porch...

I always wait until Thanksgiving is over before I start decorating for Christmas. This is probably the worst part of decorating a home. Packing and unpacking. First I had to put away all my fall stuff. I pack everything up into bins and hall it up into the attic. Then I start unloading the Christmas stuff. This will take a few days. First I take out all the outdoor stuff. Today was such a beautiful day, sunny and 50. Great day to put things up out side.

These deer I actually keep stored in the garage. Great garbage find years ago. I just added a wreath around their necks with a pink bow. They are staked into the ground.

Another great find, a wreath to hang on the fence that hides my garden hose.

My milk cans get some greens and a pink bow.

Under my window - garland of pink and white poinsettias and some pearls.

My front door gets a small wreath.

And the front of the house gets a large wreath. Another great find in the trash! Oh, I have to paint that cord to match the house so you can't see it. I hate dangling cords!

Oh and of course a Christmas tree.

( another free find!)

Even the mail box is filled with pink poinsettias.

 Wow, that was a lot of work. But doesn't it look great! I always love when I can step back and see the finished product. The front is the only part I do in pink, it actually works well with my porch furniture.

Now, on to the side of the house!

More pictures to come...

Thanksgiving...

Because my children go to public schools, I try to be faithful in teaching them the true meanings of Holidays which they will not here in school or in the media. Before we move so quickly into Christmas, let us pause and be grateful. This truely is a time to give thanks. But not to your family or  friends or to your teachers, (although that is always a nice thing to do), but let us give thanks to the Lord God. For He is truely good and His love endures forever!

I am reading this wonderful book with my children by Barbara Rainey called Thanksgiving-A time to Remember. It reminds us of the very first Thanksgiving and how the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for all His provisions. I hope we can all do the same, for even though we have troubles and hardships, and at times things seem very uncertain, we truely are a blessed country and we should be grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Recovering bar stools...

So, the other day I finally was in the mood to recover those bar stools that I had bought material for about a year ago. I had done them in dark green but they were looking a bit worn.

The color on my camera doesn't do justice to my pictures.

I had bought some gorgeous deep red upholstery fabric from JoAnn's a while back that I used. First, I removed the old decorative tacks. I don't bother removing the old fabric.As long as it's in good condition you can cover right over it. Then I measured enough to cover the top and fold under to staple to the back.

You have to flip the whole thing upside down and work from the bottom.

I could have stopped here but I like a more finished look with a trim. I cut enough fabric to go all the way around the stool and about 4 inches wide. I used my handy glue gun to hem it, you could sew it.

Once the trim was finished I glued it all around the stool about halfway down.

Again, I could have stopped here but I wanted to add some decorative upholstery tacks.

I had these stashed away in my tool box.

Just measure equal distance and hammer 6 in around seat just below top of trim. Make sure they get into wood or else they will eventually pop out, I've learned that from experience.

I really like the way they turned out, although the picture doesn't show the true color.

The red is warmer and darker. What do you think?

Just a little side note - I should have changed the date on my camera.

Oh well.

Pumpkin Rolling...

Well, we had fun!

Pumpkins this year were quit large...

but I have STRONG boys.

Ready , Set, Go...

How far did it go?!

Or maybe we should try the Slides...

A slide for each pumpkin...

There they go... 40 Pumpkins get rolled quickly!

Time for a fire...

and we can't forget the S'MORES!

Don't get too close...

What a nice way to enjoy the end of the fall season.

We had such a nice weekend.

Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather and family and friends.

Pumpkin pick 'n...

Well, I almost forgot to share one of my most favorite family traditions! It started about 10 years ago. Since we live in an area where there are a lot of deer; and since we have a big hill in our back yard; we decided to not throw away our pumpkins after Halloween but to roll them down our hill for the deer to eat. Well that was just so much fun that we had to do it with more than one pumpkin...

And so it Began.....

I started going around the neighborhood and gathering up all the pumpkins people were throwing away. (This isn't new for me because I always love finding treasures in the trash!)

Well I don't pick up just one pumpkin...

and I don't just get two pumpkins...

but I get about 40 pumpkins!

It may sound crazy, but what fun we have! And don't forget I have 3 boys that are always game for wild and crazy fun. What we do is invite a few friends over. Start a fire. Get out the s'mores and hot dogs and of course apple cider. The boys stand at that top of the hill with one pumpkin each and then let 'em roll! The pumpkins go flying down the hill, crashing into trees and bouncing around. We try to see whose pumpkin will go the farthest. It's so much fun! This weekend is going to be in the 60's, perfect weather. I'll take lots of pics and share them with you next time.

Until then....

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

I hope everyone had fun and got lots of candy. I'll start taking everything down and leave just the fall stuff up for a few weeks and then it's time to start thinking about CHRISTMAS!