Basement Bargain Treasures

My father has a thing for houses, he seems to collect them like I do chairs, only mind don't pay rent.

In his latest conquest he came upon some vintage ornaments in the basement.

Knowing how much of a Christmas freak I am, he called to see if I wanted them.

Well of course I do!

I think the pink bells are my favorite.

These gold pinecones would look great on the basement tree.

Some of the pink ornaments will go on my daughter's tree.

Just look at this indented one with the Santa inside.

In fact, I saw a repros being sold of this one.

The box is just full of vintage ornaments.

I can't wait to fill a bowl of them.

Thanks Pop!

Messing With His Head

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

The kids and I did some Christmas shopping.

Watched a new Christmas movie to get them in the spirit.

Put up a tree or two.

This morning the kids helped me take the Christmas storage buckets out of the attic so I could start decorating.

But!

I kind of wanted to wait and see if I could talk Mr. M. into putting in the wood floors in the living room.

So..................

I called him this morning, he has been out of town for the last 4 days.

I wanted to let the kids talk to him before school.

After they were done talking.  I nonchalantly asked him, "so, how mad would you be if I started taking up the carpeting?"  You see, he knows I want to put in wood floors in the living room and study.

"Why?  What have you done?  Where are you working?"

"Oh, I was just kind of wondering.  I hope you have a great day love, miss you."

hehehehehe

He knows.

I think in the back of his mind, he wonders.

WHAT IS SHE GOING TO DO WHILE I AM GONE!

Maybe I have done things in the past while he is gone.

Maybe or maybe not.

I left the conversation like that.

He called back a couple of hours later.

"So, what are you doing?"  "Nothing, why?"  "Have you really started taking up the carpet?"

"Only a little."

"Where?"

"The office."  "Why there, the carpet looks the best in that room?"

You see, I have the next three days off, work Friday and then the weekend off again.

I want to get the floors finished so I can do my Christmas decorating.

I kind of have it in my head to get this done before the holidays and once the idea is there, I will get obsessed with it until it is done.

I can see it from his point of view too.

You see, we also are working on the master bedroom/garage addition.

But, in my defense, we have been working on that for the past 4 years and we probably are not going to work on it much over the winter.

BECAUSE IT IS SO STINKING COLD IN THOSE ROOMS!

Why not work on a room that we can finish in a week or two.

It really is that simple.

In my mind.

Oh, I know there is work, school, home work, pies and Christmas decorating and shopping.

But can't that wait for just one long week?

Pine floors against white walls.

Beautiful.

It all started here.

You see, I showed him this view of the basement last week.

It is my favorite room right now.

I know our living room can look just as beautiful.

I think I might just call him back and ask.

"On a scale of 1 - 10 how mad would you be?"

I know, bad, so bad.

He will be home tonight, but that might make him get home a little quicker.

This might just put me on Santa's naughty list.

What would you do?

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like..........

Early?

No, come on, not in this house.

Never too early.

Yes, I started putting up trees.

You have to start early when you have 10, 11, 12....

The number seems to grow each year.

This year I started with the tree in the basement family room.

I am thinking of going with a cream gold and red color theme.

I tried to use colored lights.

Really, I did.

Ask my daughter.

I had the tree all lit up in colored lights, just to try it out.

NOPE!

My daughter went down to check it out the next morning.

"MOM, why did you take off the colored lights?  You said you would try."

Oh, I did, for one night.

They can have all the colored lights they want on the trees in their rooms, but for the rest of the trees.

White lights only!

Over the long weekend the kids and I are doing some Christmas shopping, going out for lunch and craft shopping.

We all love to do a fun holiday craft.

I am making some paper Santa ornaments and sewing some sweater pillows.

How about you?

Any trees yet?

Are you even in the mood yet?

I even found Christmas carols on the radio.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas all through the house.

A BOOtiful Party

The kid's Halloween party was a success.

YEAH!

Fun had by all.

My three having fun with the mummy wrap.

Don't you love the chandelier.

Every garage should have one.

As you can tell the Mummy Wrap game can be a bit messy.

My son gets ready to Pumpkin Bowl.

I wish I had been able to take more pictures of the garage as it looked, before the kids arrived.

BUT, I was up to my bloody eyeballs getting everything ready.

THERE WERE 17 of them.

They outnumbered the adults.

We survived!

It was awesome, so I was told by my children.

I will never forget, one little girl kept saying that none of it scared her.  

She wasn't scared of anything.

Then she came out of the bathroom.

YOU HAVE BATS HANGING FROM YOUR CEILING.

That freaked her out.

The kids paraded around showing off their costumes to the parents. 

Even Mr. M. and I dressed up. 

We were Mr. and Mrs. Vampire, of course, I being the picture taker did not get one of myself.

At one point in the night I was worried because the kids had managed to whip through most of our games and there was still over an hour left in the night.  Mr. M. said relax and turned the music up.

The kids loved playing freeze dance to spooky music.

The party was a success to be talked about for the following week at school.

We asked what was their favorite part of the night.

CANDY!

No, really they said pumpkin bowling and the mummy wrap.

I was told I was the best Halloween party planner mom.

Let's do that again.

How about you?

Did you have a Bootiful weekend?

Only Two Days Until the SPOOKTACULAR DAY!

My absolute favorite Halloween decoration.

So cute, just ready to trick or treat.

I'm not ready!

The kids are out of their minds excited for the Halloween party we are giving for them and their friends.

So far the list is up to 17 kids and about 8 adults and the list could still grow!

I think I am crazy.

You see, I have to tell you a secret.  

I have never given a kids party before!

Oh, I have done parties, lots of them, even birthday parties for my kids.

BUT, I have never done one that was geared towards kids.

I am not in my element.

I am planning, oh, lots of planning.

In fact, if you ask my sisters, they will tell you I have turned into

THE PARTY NATZIE!

I am dictating all that needs to be done.

I am up to my neck in lists.

Lists for food.

Lists for things that need to be bought.

Lists for things that need to be made.

Lists for things that need to be cleaned....moved......chopped....cooked.....it never stops.

But, that's ok.

Because, I know when my guests arrive, I stop, put down that last minute thing I was doing and I have fun.

I am mostly ready in the living room.

Mostly.

I am just loving the white and black with pops of orange. 

Eyeballs, eeeww.

I love the eyeballs on the plates.

Each year I just get out the glue gun and re-glue them on.

Then pop them off at the end of the season.

Such pearly whites!

Doesn't it look like the bird is picking his nose.

Hahahahahahaha

The two pumpkin heads on the cabinet are new this year.

Little miss witch has to be up high.

The poor girl has been with me right from the start.

Both of her teeth have rotted off, and one of her legs has to be fixed each year.

But, I love her.

I actually managed to finish several pillows from shirts and sweaters that were last years undone project.

More little pumpkin heads hanging around.

There are five.

Mini skeletons, there is always something fun you can do with them.

Thanks for stopping by to visit my spooky living room.

So, I have to ask, do you do kids parties?

What is one tip you have learned that you could pass on to me.

I am also partying over at Common Ground, My Romantic Home and French Country Cottage.

Day at the Pumpkin Farm

We made our annual visit to The Great Pumpkin Farm on Sunday.

You couldn't ask for a better day.

The weather was warm for a late fall day.

The colors of the trees in the Northeast are just amazing.

I wish I had remembered my camera, I was able to take these with my husbands phone.

There is so much to do and see.

Hayrides and carnival rides, yummy food, haunted houses, petting farm, BBQ contests,

pie eating contests, games for the kids.

A huge barn filled with Halloween decorations to buy.

A bakery and vintage candy shop.

You can spend the whole day there and still not see it all.

The pictures above were all from the Boo Barn.

The graphics here are just spectacular and they are all over on the barns.

I plan on going next week and getting myself a large pumpkin sign for my home.

I may find a few other sales if I am lucky.

How about you?

  Do you have an unusual place to visit with the kids for picking pumpkins?