Wednesday, November 29, 2017

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.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

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


Sunday, November 19, 2017

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



Thursday, November 16, 2017

Nighty Night

I'm trying everything to get more
 and better sleep
(on 6 hour timer)



Nighty Night

Friday, November 10, 2017

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

Sunday, November 5, 2017

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

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

John, 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.