Very Merry!

For those of you who are celebrating the end of Hanukkah or the beginning of Christmas Eve, I hope that each of you find time to eat, drink, & be cozy! May you find happiness, love, and laughter in these days and in the upcoming year!

From our family (and "farm") to yours! Cheers!

Winter Break To Do

Today was the first official full day of Winter break! A glorious time in which I have no work responsibilities. (Well, although they aren't all responsibilities I do have things that I need to do. Lesson planning, some grading, writing in plans... You get the idea.) Anyway, two weeks of time to get some things done! The next big break will not be until March. I will be craving Spring by that time and reminiscing on what we have done to our house in the second year of owning it. 

Back to this post. In the past week especially, we have been working on deep cleaning and tidying up some loose ends. Friday evening, we had Z's coworkers and friends over for a holiday celebration. I loved seeing our house filled with people! Our house is looking spectacular being so clean, and I must admit - it is a great feeling of that going into break. 

We did quite a few things to get prepared for the party, in terms of cleaning, and was able to get some tasks marked off my "winter break list." My new strategy to tackle the list is to do at least one thing on it each day that I am working on house things. If I feel motivated, I will do more. But, perhaps with this attitude, I will get more done! Here's what I hope to do:

1. Finish our Christmas Cards - this weekend! (They may arrive a day or two late, but whatever! It makes me happy to receive mail, and I hope it does with these people too!)
2. Organize our kitchen cabinets (mainly just a cabinet or two)
3. Organize our hallway linen closet
4. Organize our bathroom vanity *We purchased organizers from IKEA, so I hope to utilize those more. This one goes well with #3. 
5. Organize roll top desk in dining room.
6. Organize coat closet in entrance hallway.  DONE!

Not an extensive list, but things that I am really hoping to accomplish! I am hoping some tasks I can combine. Do you plan lists when you have time off to accomplish things? I am also hoping to snap some really good photos of our house in its clean state during the upcoming days, especially being decorated for Christmas. That is on the list somewhere, too.

And when not working on my list of things to do.... 

-E

Consistency

As I lay in our new bed, I have decided to attack the stack of magazines on my nightstand. It may look like a hoarding scheme, to be truthful! A enormous, large, splendid stack! Dating back from this month to countless months ago! How and why so? Two reasons, one excuse. I love free. When visiting my hometown I usually have the chance to grab a handful or so that were passed on from one to another after the selling date on the shelves. Secondly, I have only paid for one magazine subscription in the last... ummmm, maybe 3 years? I am fortunate to get many for free. So they pile up and on nights like tonight, I grab a drink and hit the stack. 

Currently browsing Better Homes & Gardens (September '13.) The picture and caption caught my eye. Recently, as in this week, we upgraded our bed size and made changes around in bedrooms bout discussion was focused on picking a new bed frame for us and our guest bedroom. Should we stick with consistency? Should we not? What should be the same? Different in rooms? 

We now have 2 out of 3 bed frames white. (Not original plan, but whatever.) My thought is - what is consistent at your residence? What stays the same throughout?,or does it? If'd love to hear and see your thoughts from you! 

To the next page.....

-E-

Hello, October!

Hello, October and Fall! I suppose we skipped over September entirely and a large portion of August.   House projects have continued during this time, but sadly, the posts have not! There is much to update you all on around our house. (I promise, I'm not pulling a YHL post.... I'm so sad!) The plans keep growing, the ideas run wild! In the meantime, we are prepping our house for Fall. We are slowly building an inventory of holiday decorations. 

For the past three years, we have ventured out to a local pumpkin patch that is like no other! I feel as though I could be a spokesman for this patch because I love it so much. What sets this one apart from patches that I visited as a child is that there is acres filled with a variety of pumpkins still on the vine. It is truly a "pick your own" type of place. It's fantastic! Today we headed out there to make our haul. Oh! And, they charge by the pound! For $0.45 per pound, you can pick pumpkins to your hearts delight. And, boy did we do just that! Here's the 2014 haul... Z thinks it keeps growing each year. (But, I can't resist the perfect pumpkins!)

Last year, we set these around our fire place for the perfect fall decoration. I loved it. We will see how things set up this year with our haul. We will put up some lights throughout the house, but it seems as though we tend to get things on clearance. Best time to pick up a few things that we had been eye balling at a discounted rate. I am already eyeballing this guy at Target. (I have been affectionally referring to him as tinsel mummy.) We will see what we find on November 1st, or on sale in the upcoming weeks. My mummy lights are a must to be hung up! Here's hoping to adding more mummies!

Speaking of holidays, I have been noticing that stores are already introducing Christmas and Winter decorations. I won't go into a long rant about that and how I feel like we should enjoy each holiday independently, except for the statement that yes, I have already bought a decoration. Yes, you may judge at this point. Each year, I debate when is it too early to decorate. With Christmas, I am on the fence this year. I typically wait until after Thanksgiving, but, I am tempted to do it earlier this year for various reasons. Anyway, when I do decorate, we will be adding to our collection this year. Last year, I admired a "holiday tinsel dachshund." With much sadness, they sold out quickly and did not bring them back due to some safety issues. Fast forward to October 2014 - Target is setting our Christmas things and tinsel dachshund 2.0 is back! Yes, I am that crazy person who bought a Christmas decoration this early. But, it's tinsel dachshund! How could I resist, especially after heartbreak last year?! You understand, right!? Yeah, it's ok to judge. :)

Do you have holiday traditions or celebrations that you plan and decorate for at your house? Would love to hear about what you do, or what you would like to do! (I still would LOVE to host a big Halloween party.... someday!)

Privacy Fence

YOU GUYS. I thought my happiness couldn't get any greater after Z jack hammered the concrete obstrocity. Apparently it was possible to get greater! 

Z designed and built a horizontal fence and gate that faced out to the main street where our house faces. Since we are the second house from the street and our neighbors do not have a fence up, we were lacking privacy in our backyard. Each time we were outside, it was not uncommon for someone on the street which our yard faced, to be looking at what we were up to next, or bluntly asking what we were up to. At the same time, they also gave compliments which was very sweet. But, we were craving a bit more privacy in our backyard without feeling like we were on the "Truman Show." 

I was out of town this past weekend, but Z and his mom assembled this part of the fence! It looks SO good. I was so impressed with the work that was put into it! The only thing that I helped out with was gathering lumber at Home Depot and helping to space some wood pieces. Not nearly as much as they did. 

I already am pinning ideas of what I may want to plant next year, picking out some hostas, and looking at ideas now that the fence is up! 

CORNER OF THE FENCE

FENCE BUILT

 

HANGING BRACKETS FOR BASKETS

Although this is the last night of my summer break, I still have a few projects that I hope to accomplish in the upcoming weeks... finishing painting our bed platform, organizing closets, touching up our bedroom and bathroom paint.I was hoping to have finished them over break, but sometimes, you just need some rest and relaxation!