Living Room Progress

Most of the presents are now wrapped.

I still need to add some greens to them. 

Of course they are all larger than normal 

and don't fit in the space this year. 

I didn't think that through.

I don't do much "cute" but these guys

make me happy, so of course they appear each year,

and a little nod to the holidays on top of the spices.

I've now lost track of the time, so let's call it.

Suffice to say, because of the way I store, 

and the way I decorate it's all fast and easy.

I'd rather rest and enjoy.

Favorite Things #4

Floral Picks

  

So I decided that I did not want to go

with the House of Hatten after all,

so I pulled the red picks I had used

 and replaced with these brown velvet ones

 and added some carved

 grey, green and ivory ornaments.

I added these same elements to my memory bowl.

 Pinecones, stars and birds appear in every vignette

in every room, even though

 they are all a little different.

Repetition is another favorite thing.

These changes and additions to the family room

 took about 30 minutes, so I'm at 2 hours and 15.

How are you coming along?

Z

First Tree for 2017

This tree has three sections but was too full at the bottom

for the space so I only used two tiers. Never thought

to do that before now. It worked just fine.

Then I boosted it up a bit by placing it on a small bench.

New size and I tried a different spot.

24 years in this house and trees, real and fake,

small and giant have been 

everywhere but here.

 Those glittered black stars at the top

 were Halloween decorations,

I believe Wendy Addison's. I don't decorate 

for Halloween anymore so I ripped

off the spooky fronts and replaced with pewter snowflakes.

Lots of my homemade pinwheels on the tree.

You can almost pick out one of the glittered moons

that received the same treatment as the stars.

The tree took about an hour start to finish.

Add in about 15 minutes as I figured out the 

stars and moons.

So we're at 1 hour and 45 minutes.

and no mess.

Tonight I wrap the gifts I have so far.

After nagging my daughter to remember

 to thaw her bird, (and yes I had nagged)

I almost forgot mine Saturday!

Kiddos having a friendsgiving in CA.

I was asked to come down,

but since they'll be home soon, I'm 

waiting until January to visit. I can stay longer

and avoid the horrible traffic

 that happens between CA and Vegas during holidays.

Also they're already having nine with additional dogs,

but that meal with Ben in charge will be amazing!

I'll be doing my deep fried turkey again this year.

CANNOT wait.

See here for the story.

Z

Favorite Things #3

This Bowl

Spring /Summer

Autumn

Winter

I spent another 5 minutes

removing the fall foliage

 and putting it into the tub 

that contained the other seasons.

Then very unceremoniously plunked

winter in. I see I need to adjust a hanging pine cone.

I truly do mean plunk, and it seems 

to all come out OK in the end. 

If you look closely you can see that spring/summer

 shares a lot of the same foliage as the autumn.

That switch is even easier.

The burlap bags for the chair backs

 are stored as is, and 

so are the cones for the hutch.

These are not used every year,

but are ready to go when I do a burlap

black and cream plaid living room,

as I am for 2017.

I have a box marked mixed greens,

so I headed to the porch and 

plunked.

Think I'll add a ribbon here later.

The stars and vintage ornaments

were in 1 of a box of 2 marked "Misc Christmas".

I can just open those two small boxes

 and pull accent pieces to add to greens as I go along.

So let's see - bowl switch, and removing

bags/cones from bin

 and hanging them in Dining Room, then 

more plunking on porch maybe another 20 minutes?

So currently at 30 minutes total.

How am I doing?

Z

Nighty Night

I'm trying everything to get more

 and better sleep

(on 6 hour timer)

Nighty Night

My Favorite Things #2

This old tote has been used in more ways

 and more places than I can remember.

Up until a few minutes ago it held a bunch of 

dried materials in a small display.

This is five minutes of effort,

  which entailed me shoving all the dried pods

 into ziplocks,

and then plunking these greens down into the tote.

One of my House of Hatten figures peeks 

out from the far side.

So far I've invested 10 minutes total.

BTW the ziplocks go in the box where the greens 

came from so I can easily plunk them right back into 

the tote post holiday.

Of course all of this is made uber 

easy with my box system in the garage. 

I don't have to dig through dozens of

 mixed bins and boxes of holiday decor. 

A printer's box or a single bin

holding decor for a specific area,

or specific greens,

comes into the house

and then goes right back out in it's place.

no muss no fuss

Totes- one of my favorite things

A Few Of My Favorite Things #1

Christmas done easy with my

favorite things.

I always say that I just "plunk " 

more often than not in decorating.

I'm going to prove it this holiday.

Decorating done the Z way

Take what's already there and embellish a bit.

I remove the naturals that are 

in these jars most of the year and 

replace with winter themed items.

I also have shells and sands for a summer look. 

I store swap outs in ziplocks 

in the cabinet right below.

The whole thing takes about 5 minutes,

unless it's time for a good cleaning 

of the vintage jars.

These jars are not reproductions

and are a few of my favorite things.

Z

John, Margaret and Helen

Margaret and Helen

I highly recommend - once again

Because I've been struggling with 

health stuff I've resorted to politically related 

info that is comedy based.

The heavy stuff was too much for me right now.

John Oliver, Margaret Schmechtman, and Helen Philpot

are getting me through.

Also made donations to the Guardian 

and my local PBS this week.

Positive action feels good.