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Oct 31, 2014

Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday Justin!


Happy Halloween!!!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday.  We will be
at home handing out candy to the littles in our neighborhood.
It's fun to see what costumes are popular with the little kids.

I'd like to wish my son-in-law, Justin, a very Happy Birthday today.  We
celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago at Benihana's.

Take care and be safe.....watch out for the ghosts and goblins!

Debbie


Oct 30, 2014

Mardi Gras Christmas Tree

 
The tree decorated in Mardi Gras style is in the back bedroom.  This tree is the
only one that has colored lights.  All of the other trees have clear lights.
 I love these fleur de lis ornaments.  They are plastic so you don't have to worry
about dropping and breaking them.  Not that I would do something like that?
Not me!
 You are probably wondering what an ice cream ornament has to do with
Mardi Gras, right?  Nothing.  I had a couple of ornaments that I wanted to display
this year so I chose to hang them on this tree.  The ice cream ornament is from
The Blue Bell Factory in Brenham, TX.
 I added the hand blown ornaments to this tree, too.  They blend in
really well with all of the bright colors.
I slipped in the poinsettia one, too.


 The art work on this wall is a little high, don't you think?  I think we need to lower it.
We play musical art work at this time of the year.  This one normally hangs on the side wall throughout the year but its space has been taken by another piece.


Have you started decorating your home for the holidays?

Take care,

Debbie




Oct 29, 2014

Homemade Christmas Artwork


 Last Christmas my oldest daughter suggested that we do a Christmas project in lieu of our family movie night.  She bought four canvases from Michael's.  One for each of us and one for my mother-in-law Shirley.  She was visiting us for a couple of days before the Christmas holidays.  Tiffani found the idea on Pinterest at  

We had a lot of fun making this tree.  You start with the oldest person's hand at the bottom with the fingers going down.  Then you proceed with the next person until you have the youngest one do the star.  In this case, Mr. W's hand was used for the star and his foot was used for the trunk of the tree.  Isn't it adorable? 

 This year I added some really fine glitter to give it a little sparkle.  I used a very stiff paint brush and carefully spread the glue over the yellow area.  I tried hard not to mess up his original hand print.
I added the glitter to his hand print and on all of the yellow fingerprints throughout the design.

 I really love the way it turned out.
Do you have any art pieces that you create for the holidays?

Take care,

Debbie




Oct 28, 2014

Grilled Boneless Pork Chops

Last Friday I grilled boneless pork chops for dinner.  I knew the hubs would not want to eat out or have take out since he had been on the road all week.  The first thing I want after traveling is a home cooked meal.

I almost feel guilty calling this a home cooked meal because it is one of the easiest meals to prepare.  No kidding.  I wrapped the sweet potato in foil and put it on the grill 30 minutes before I put on the pork chops.  Next I seasoned the pork chops with salt and pepper.  I cooked the chops about 10-15 minutes on each side and they were done.  I served green beans seasoned with bacon bits along with our meal.

He loved it and that's all that matters, right?

Do you have any quick and easy meals to share?

Take care,

Debbie 

Oct 27, 2014

Transformation of Our Yard

We worked really hard in our yard this weekend to bring in the new season.  The front was looking good.  It just needed flowers and mulch.  Lots of mulch. 
 The backyard was a hot mess.  Typically when I am swimming every day I see what needs to be done and take care of it (i.e. trim the rose bushes, plants, etc.).  Well, I have been preoccupied with the inside so I neglected the outside.  You can tell by the overgrowth in the potted plants that the succulent was taking over. 
Some of the flowers were dying and the ground was in desperate need of mulch.  I saved the large begonias and put them into pots for the patio.
 The rose bushes were really overgrown and covering up the plants behind them.
So on Friday, after work, I trimmed all of the rose bushes and the succulents. 
Check out the overgrowth on these succulents.  I like for them to drape over the pots, not take over!
The hedges are really tall in this before shot.
 Here is an after shot of the bed in the backyard where we chose to plant the red Cyclamens.


It looks so much nicer now that everything is all cleaned up and refreshed.
The hedges have been reigned in and squared off.

 I did manage to get in a swim after we were finished.  The water temperature was 76 degrees but that did not keep me from swimming 45 laps!  It felt so good after working in the yard.  Of course, the hubs thought I was crazy!!!
We finally hung up the last curtain for the end pole of the patio.  Now we need to get more supplies to hang up the curtain around the french doors.  (It's always something!)  Right?
I am a bit embarrassed to show the photos of the front of the house but here's to keeping it real!  I have not taken the time to switch out the garland around the door so it looks like I am confused as to what season it is....spring or fall?  :-)  I will get to it tomorrow because I have a 90 minute massage today.  Woot Woot!!!!


I have a scarecrow sitting on one of the chairs but he seems to have fallen over.  Oh well.
 We always admire the cabbages but this is the first year we plant them.

Now I must confess.  We paid someone to do the mulch, trim the hedges (not the rose bushes), trim the oak tree and plant most of the flowers.  They started at 9 a.m. and were finished by 12:20 p.m.  It would have taken us at least three days!!!

I didn't take any photos of our Christmas decor this weekend because I was in the yard.  However, I will take them this week.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Take care,

Debbie 










Oct 24, 2014

Hey It's Friday!!!


Thank God it's Friday!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  The hubby has been out of town this week and will be
back this afternoon. Woo Hoo!!!

I am so excited to get the last couple of containers back in the attic.  (I'm doing my happy dance!)  I hope to get a few things done like putting up the ceiling medallion, trim the Knockout Roses and, if there is enough time, hang the curtains.  The hubs wants to have mulch brought in so we can plant Pansies next weekend.  Oh how I love Pansies!!!

I like to go with a variety instead of just one color.

I plan on taking lots of photos of the Christmas decorations so I can share them with
you next week.

Do you have any plans for the weekend?  Any movies you want to go see?

Here's a fun throwback to the seventies.  :)


I hope you have  a wonderful weekend doing the things you love
with the ones you love!

Take care,

Debbie

Oct 23, 2014

Cheetah Christmas Tree


 Here's a look at the Cheetah tree I put up in our master bedroom.  I am very
happy with the way it turned out.
I bought the fillers, toppers, ribbon, sparkly balls, and flowers at Decorator's
Warehouse in Arlington, TX.
These fun ornaments came from the Decorator's Warehouse.

These darling boot ornaments came from Hobby Lobby.

 The stylish purse ornaments also came from Hobby Lobby.
Last night I added lights, ornaments and ribbon to the garland that is on top of our entertainment center.  It looks so good.  I was so happy with it when I finished that I squealed with delight!!!  It is so awesome to have a vision in your head become a reality.

Do you decorate your home for the holidays?  If so, when do you begin decorating?

Hope you have a great day!

Take care,

Debbie


Oct 22, 2014

Magic Bands

 

Woo hoo!!!  Our Magic Bands arrived this past Monday!!!  Woo Hoo!!!  This can only mean one thing....our trip is getting closer.  :)  OMG!!!  I am so excited!!!  (Can you tell?)


Here's a closeup of our bands.  Our name is printed on the inside of each of our bands.  The bands are so awesome.  You use them to access your hotel room, enter the parks and pay for anything you buy.  It is so cool.

Funny story.  The hubs and I went to Disney World last December to celebrate our 25th Anniversary.  The bands were new to Disney World and to us so there were some kinks to work out, right?  The first place we went to was Downtown Disney and the hubs went to buy some candy.  He waved his band and the guy told him he had reached his limit for the day!  He was like what?  This is the first time I use it.  Lucky for us we still had money on us so he was able to get his candy.

A not so funny story.  The next day we went to the parks and proceeded to match our band to Mickey and our bands did not show that we had park tickets.  :(  We had to go to Guest Services and wait for them to correct the problem.  Once they fixed the problem it was all good from that point on.

Now if only I could put my Magic Band on, wave my arm and be finished with my decorating!

Have you had any experiences (good and bad) with the Magic Bands?

Hope you have a great day!

Take care,

Debbie


Oct 21, 2014

LSU Christmas Tree


There is so much more going on behind the scenes of what I am going to show you today.  I have finished decorating every tree in the house (seven + a modern one), hung up almost all of the art work (thanks to hubby's help), and laid out the villages (thanks to Brooke for doing the one on the bar!).  However, there are things I need to finish like snow for the villages, rework the garland so it stays together when I pack it up after Christmas, make a decision on what I want to put on the coffee table,  switch out the wreath for the picture of Santa, etc.  Follow me?  :)

Here are the steps I go through to decorate the LSU Christmas tree.  This tree has lots of ornaments of all different sizes and almost all of them are breakable.  The first thing I do is lay them out on the pool table in like groups.  This makes it so much easier to "grab n' hang".



The first thing that goes on the tree is the topper, which in this case, is the helment.  The helment is very heavy so I use the branches to balance it so it stays put.
Next I hang the ornaments that go on the inside of the tree so it has some color and depth when you look into the tree.  The Jester goes up next.  Followed by the special ornaments, etc.  The last thing I add is the filler that goes on the top of the tree and throughout the tree.
Here's a photo of the finished tree.  It took me about three hours to fluff and decorate it.  I did it while I was watching the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers game.  Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled with the outcome of the game.  The Texans lost 30-23.
I know some people say I am crazy.  I like to say that I am crazy for Christmas!

Hope you have a great day!!!

Take care,

Debbie