Merry and Howie

Getting close now

Counting the days until kiddos

AND

Happy Birthday Howie.

Here is why we fell in love 12 years ago.

Favorites #5

Little Bits Here and There

Tidbits- that floral booklet tucked in there my daughter made for me 

of my yard photographs.

The letter you see tacked to wall? My grandma and young father

 sent sweaters to Europe during the war.

This a letter thanking them and the Mom mentions

 hoping her children can return from the countryside soon -

 families terrified of the bombings, sent their kids to safety .

Notice the address?

Venetia, PA USA America.

That's all it took back then.

Tree in first guest room

Guest Room

Stairway

Top of Stairs

Fences decked out for Christmas

Stairway

Tree in second guest room

I think the elephant is my favorite

but oh this tail!

On Studio wall

Love these elves and deer

If there is a knob...

One of my prized possessions. 

My dad gave me my grandfathers red plaid flannel robe,

and I wore it through college and well into marriage. 

When it was so threadbare parts were really just threads, 

I cut up what remained and made two bears. One for my dad and one for me. 

***

Counting the days till kiddos.

Packages for cheese making keep arriving on my porch

 via Amazon.

Ben is making cheese I gather. Woot! 

Z

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

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