Living Out Loud: October 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Updated! My Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween 2009

The Farmer & His Piggy

Noah: The Farmer

Emmie Kate: The Piggy

The Rear Views:

The Holtzman Family

Looking Back...

Halloween 2008

KU Football Player & Cheerleader

Halloween 2007

Old Fashioned Golfer

Halloween 2006

Bob the Builder

(an unhappy one!)

Halloween 2005

My Sweet Pea

Happy Halloween to you & your Pumpkins!

I Guess the Important Things are Sinking In

I had one of those days today...

the kind that just exhaust you and drain you emotionally and physically.

In the midst of a lot of frustration and exhaustion with Noah, a conversation occurred that was just too cute not to record and remember.

Let me set the stage...

I had just made a fresh pot of macaroni for lunch.

Sweet Sissy is always so willing and ready to share things with her brother. He, on the other hand, not only doesn't share anything with her, but also doesn't accept her offers to "help" and share with him.

So, today Sweet Sissy first got a bowl out and gave it to me, saying "That's Bubby's". I filled it with macaroni. She then handed me a pink bowl for herself and I filled it with macaroni.

Noah, in the state of sassy-ness he was in, walked by the counter, grabbed the bowl off of the counter as he proclaimed in a "not nice at all" tone...

"I don't want that bowl"!

And you can probably guess what happened...

The macaroni went flying all over the floor!

Despite my internal desire to "lose it", I stayed calm and told him that he would have to clean up the mess.

Well, after about 10-15 minutes of crying while cleaning up his mess, noodle by noodle... each with a new square of paper towel, the following exchange took place...

Noah: "I wish I didn't live here."

Me: "Really? Is there another place you would like to live where you would be loved as much as Mommy & Daddy love you?"

Noah: "Yes, there is."

Me: "Ok, well tell me where it is and I'll drop you off there."

Noah: Tears followed by... "But I don't want you to drop me off there."

Me: "But you just told me there was a place you could live where you would be loved as much as Mommy and Daddy love you. Where is that place?"

Noah: More tears, a sad and scared look in his eyes, followed by... "Well, it's Heaven! But I don't want to go there today! I want to wait until I am old."

I couldn't help, but smile!

He was right... Heaven is the only place he could live where he would be loved as much as we love him.

I guess the important stuff is sinking in!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fall Decor and a Few More

Welcome!

Last week, Kelly did a Fall Decor tour and as usual, I had lots of fun seeing the ideas from other people's homes. It inspired me to finish up my fall decorating once and for all!

I am proud to say that I did not buy one new thing for my Fall decor this year!

And...

I didn't even use half of the decor I already have!

This is quite an accomplishment for me because Fall is my absolute favorite season and I usually can't get out of Hobby Lobby without buying something new and putting a pumpkin or a leaf in virtually every nook and cranny in my house!

Anyway, less decorated than it normally is, I thought I'd share what Fall looks like around our house this year...

Enjoy!

The front of the house with a few yellow leaves remaining on the tree

Our front porch

Fall is my favorite time for porch decorating!

Vance loathes the hay bail, but I love it!

I also adore weird and funky pumpkins... the more misshapen and odd, the better!

Our whole porch area

I usually go a bit overboard with my mums in the Fall!

This year, however, due to the pregnancy debilitation I keep referring to, I sent my lovely husband to purchase the mums. He can home with just 2 baskets! Admittedly, they are large baskets, but if I had gone shopping myself, there would be several more baskets of mums!

I love this 3 tiered planter from Southern Living at HOME!

The pansies are fading, but the pumpkins have been there since early September!

PaPa and Noah carved these cute pumpkins.

Unfortunately, they did them a tad early and they are no longer in existence due to the enormous amounts of MOLD that took residence inside of them!

They have been replaced with a Princess & a Pirate that Nonny did with them a few days ago!

More kid pumpkins!

The little ones are the ones that they painted on our (camera-less) trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Bucket in front of the fireplace

Close up of some of the Hearth Room Mantel

I didn't change the decor... just added some accent leaves and berries to it.

I did change out the contents of the hurricane...
at least on this side of the mantel.

The Hearth Room Mantel

Now, on this side of the mantel, I did not change out the contents of the hurricane.

Why?

Because I decorated it as you see it last Fall and never changed it back!

I have to admit though, using nuts is one of my favorite, inexpensive ways to decorate for Fall (or maybe even year round!)

Little side table in the Hearth Room

Kitchen Table tray

Another way to use my aforementioned love of nuts during the Fall!

OK, so I forgot.

I did buy one new thing this year...

I love these pomegranates from Pottery Barn.

I don't think I will technically count them as a Fall decor purchase though because I think I will leave them out year round... the color matches my decor perfectly!

The Dining Room Buffet

I love using the candlesticks as pedestals for the funky pumpkins.

I also change out the "filler" for my glass dome depending on the season. The gourds and fun shaped pumpkins are a perfect "filler" for the Fall.

Everything else is just accented with leaves and a few small pumpkins.

The Dining Room Table

I purchased those ceramic pumpkins several years ago after Halloween when they were 75% off at Hobby Lobby! I love them!

The little pumpkin filler in the hurricanes is from at least 3 years ago! It is still one of my favorite hurricane fillers though!

My Chandelier Accents

We just added these cute little Firefly Lanterns to the Southern Living at HOME line and they are so much fun! I decided to try hanging them from the chandelier in the Dining Room to spruce it up a bit... now I just need to add 2 more of them!

The Thrifty Decor Chick always takes great pictures with her candles actually lit!

So I thought I'd give it a try too!

And now for a Few More...

My two little pumpkins admiring their baby pumpkins from the patch

Can you tell Emmie is NOT a fan of looking at the camera?!

An almost perfect shot!

Gorgeous Fall color... even in Emmie's outfit!

I love the wonder children find in the simple things!

And one last cute grin to leave you with!

Happy Fall!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Green with Delight!

Back in the summer days...

the days when I was productive and not taking daily naps...

I had a lot of fun looking through people's homes on Kelly's Home Tour. After posting pictures of my own office, I realized how drab and blah it looked compared to some of the more vibrant home offices I saw on the home tour.

So...

I embarked on a project to give my home office a face lift... with ideas completely inspired by other people's blogs!

And here are the results.

I have to say, I love the way it turned out... I'm simply Green with Delight!

Before shot looking in to the office nook

After shot!

As you can see, I painted the walls a fun, perky, bright green!
I love the way the green pops against the black furniture.

Another after shot looking in to the nook

Before shot of the library shelves

(Boy, I wish I were as handy as the Thrifty Decor Chick! She did a post on how to make these shelves on your own. I, unfortunately, actually bought the Ballard ones. But she shows you how to get the same look for a quarter of the cost! Check it out here")

After shot of the library shelves

I have always loved black and white toile, so I decided to add in more accessories in black/white toile with a few green accessories to give it a pop!

So much more fun!

Before shot of the shelves and ledge accessories

After shot of the same location

I rearranged what I was already using and added more green accessories.

Before shot of the desk and window area

After shot of the same area

Isn't that so much better?!

I moved the lamp from the ledge to the desk and added some tassels to the bottom of it.

I made the valence/garland to dress up the window (more on that later).

Everything else, other than a few rearranged green accessories, is the same. But for some reason, I just think it is so much more fun!

Before shot of the window... BORING!

After shot of the window!

The Nester makes these fun garlands and has displayed them in all kinds of places in her home. I saw that she once used one to hang in front of her kitchen window and I thought it looked so cute! So I decided to give it a try!

The best part about this project is that it involved absolutely NO sewing (which I absolutely have no idea how to do!).

I chose a bunch of black/white fabrics, ribbons, trims, etc. and just started cutting and tying. It was easy and only took a few hours once I had all the fabric cut. I love the way it turned out! I added the green/black wall plaques at the top because my swag ended up being a little longer than I had planned. I actually love this "garland" concept so much, I made one as a runner for a table in the basement too!

As a matter of fact, my mom and her friend (who find it odd that I read blogs about people I don't know) have both made similar garlands for rooms in their home! Give it a try!

Before shot of the bulletin board wall

After shot of the same area

This mirror was about to go in a garage sale, but I found a perfect home for it on the tiny wall adjacent to the bulletin board wall. It works perfectly with a few green accents from Hobby Lobby!

A few more green accessories

And all of this makes me...

Green with Delight!

Now, if only it would inspire me to actually get my work done on a more timely basis!