CELEBRATING OCTOBER

It took me a while to haul the decorations in from the garage but I finally got to it today. One of the benefits of growing older is that you accumulate "stuff". . . only a benefit if it is "good stuff" that can be enjoyed for many years and is added to. I will confess to having too much of just plain stuff and it is a downfall of mine! When it comes to holiday decorations I've always been a huge fan of buying the sales after the event. . . more bang for my buck. And what would I do without my R.S. Enrichment and MTN projects that bless this home. Here's my October "stuff" and trying to convince myself on this 94* day that it is fall. Much will stay "up" and the truly Halloween goodies will be traded out with Thanksgiving goodies. So many other accessories have been trotted upstairs for a good hibernation and won't come out until 2008.

I'm well aware of so much WalMart bashing but I'm still a big fan for many items there and will say so. My fall berry garland is one of them and I have them on windows and mirror. Plus my Wally's is clean, big, well stocked, has a great return policy. I've always had thee nicest customer service reps. Soapbox! The ghost and witch on the piano have glow in the dark eyes. Fun.

I love my little yellow, lt. & dk. orange leaves taped to the inside of my lamp shades. In years passed - or is that past - I've put bats for Oct. and the leaves for Nov. but now I'm just sticking with leaves for two months. This was a MTN idea from years ago. Thanks.

I use tape every year and have never harmed my lamp shades.

A couple shots of my pumpkin patch watched over by the pumpkin angel (different camera settings). I've accumulated the "glitter" pumpkins over the years from Big Lot's.

Wasn't looking for flowers but found the autumnal colored hydrangeas at Michael's a few years ago and put them in this basket that I'd been storing the the garage a.k.a. the black hole. No candy . . . yet, in the leaf dish but Hershey's anything in those rich fall colors looks so good. I have to keep it empty a while longer due to my exceptionally weak will for chocolate.

Left, my new craft made with MTN and on right my watercolor bird by Linz.

I'm such a procrastinator and haven't yet painted this freebie chair black; it will look so sharp when painted. Flesh has never been on my top ten list of favorite colors.

See the little squirrel. You should see Kirby go after our real little squirrel trying to set up house on our property. He corners it in the "wood pile" and it yips at him. I'm afraid of him getting bit or scratched by said cute, furry critter so I run to the rescue. My strange life with dog.

Family room mantel with my black cat collection. I think I can keep collecting black cats which I rather fancy. The wreath was formerly on the front door but SLK was concerned it was scratching the door so I found my extra spool of wide green ribbon and put it here. I really like this but my front doors (metal) look soooo naked.

Those little orange wooden pumpkins originated in Jody's barn as well as the black cats 1 & 3 from the left. Thanks you nifty woodworking girl. The orange votives actually have a web and spider design on them but you can't see from here. I got them at Ikea's after the holiday's about 3 years ago for about 10 cents each. Steal.

My little collection of Halloween stamps, see that cute little candy corn....yum. Just ignore the other treasures in the background that may or may not hibernate upstairs.

The pitcher that I'm using as a vase is a reproduction from the Plymouth Plantation in Old Mass. Looks so good with fall tone flowers I think. This is my "new" family room sofa table that I bought from KMS's garage sale. She's moved a few blocks away into a pretty new home and is single handedly (is that really a word) laying new wood floors. She makes me feel sooo lazy. Hope the glass top and the glass witch globe don't crash together.

Well, that's my little tour. Let me know if you want to come over and I'll bake something appropriate for the season only cool and we'll have a good time. I'm waiting. Ignore Kirby when you ring the bell and it sounds like he's going to take your leg off. Come on over.