Fall on Repeat

It seems that fall is just the time that I start feeling all overwhelmed and in need of a good purging. Of the clutter, not the colon. Eww... Unlike the spring cleaning when I just want to open windows and beat cushions and start digging in the dirt, a fall cleaning is all about making my home cozy and welcoming and ready for the holidays.

Last year about this time I wrote a blog post about spending a day cleaning out my garage and getting some projects started. Barely. This year, I'm in the same place - except for the actually-getting-it-done part. I'm feeling the need to clean out and organize and get my shit together... so to speak. (Again with the colon references??) I am working on getting a storage unit for my Craft Show display Stuff, and my Projects in Limbo Stuff, and it will give me a place to hide stuff from my husband store treasures before they go into my flea market booth.

I've got a lot on top of me this year, some things I had last year, like a grand-daughter and her mama living with us, and a full-time job, and too many hobbies, and a grade-school-aged son ('nuf said, right??). But I also have been working hard to meet my personal challenge of writing more (yay me!), which takes a lot of time that could otherwise be used to clean the garage (boohoo!), and I have a husband with health issues. Well, I had the same husband last year, but was blissfully unconcerned about what he ate every day.

Besides the storage unit, which is going to help me free up a lot of space and more efficiently process the treasures I'm bringing home in the back of my jeep all the time, I've also made the positive move of hiring a housekeeper. This is a seriously important effort that will lead to the following seriously important results:

1. Help me enjoy my home more;
2. Help me feel comfortable having friends over more often;
3. Help me find more time for the hobbies I'm trying expand into careers;
4. Help me not become homicidal. (my family appreciates this one, especially.)

I'm paying for the service out of my freelance writing income, so it's also going to be an incentive to keep that coming in. Let me tell you, I walked in the door yesterday and took in a big deep breath of those non-organic Pine-Sol fumes, and got giddy as I ran around looking at all the clean. My neighbors may have heard me shriek about my shower door that I could actually SEE through again.

It's the little things... 

Here's an update of the chair I showed you in that link from last year... turned out pretty cute, don't you think??

Jack-O-Lantern Envy

When my siblings and I were kids (a long, long time ago) we looked forward to Halloween as one of our favorite holidays of the year. We didn't go all out decorating the outside of our house, but we took the costume creation veeerrryyy seriously. We loved thrift stores, and are artsy-fartsy, so we could always be counted on to pull out some fun ones.

One of our favorite parts of the celebration, though, was the carving of the pumpkin. That's right - ONE pumpkin. Singular. There were three of us for many years, until our baby sister was born, and we all had to share a lone pumpkin. My mom and step-dad created a competition between the three of us to come up with a design for the annual jack-o-lantern. They would pick one. 

For the only pumpkin. 

You get what I'm hinting at here, right? How much does a freaking pumpkin cost??? I saw them for $7.98 today at Wal-Mart... and of course they'll be cheaper in a week. Would it have killed them to buy THREE pumpkins so that we could each have our own??? It wasn't something I thought of until I was buying pumpkins for my own kids... then I discovered I was annoyed. I have no problem buying one for EACH of my three kids. 

Call me Mrs. Moneybags.

But you know, I'm a mature adult. I've moved on. ;-)

Creating jack-o-lanterns are one of my kids' favorite parts of the weeks leading up to Halloween as well. We pick out pumpkins at local pumpkin patches, cover the kitchen island with newspaper, and commence hacking. Some are scary, some are funny... fat... tall... we are equal-opportunity hackers. 

What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions? Home-made costumes? Haunted houses? Bobbing for apples at the block party? Do tell!

I'm linking this post on day two of the Arkansas Women Bloggers' BLOGtober Fest here. 

Go check out the rest of the awesome posts!

Pedophile Art

This week we're starting another weekly feature - Freaky Friday. It's October, so it seems an appropriate time to debut, right? We'll share weird things, odd things, and things that make us do a double take and make a "wth??" face while we're on our treasure hunts, at thrift stores, or - occasionally, when we're creating something ourselves. Hopefully more of the former and less of the latter.

I'm almost sorry to share this one, as it's got the potential to make you uncomfortable. But that's what "freaky" is all about, so here you go:

Now, I'm no prude (just ask my sister) but I think we're all on the same page here... so let's just put it out there - this has to be intended for the walls of some pedophile's powder room, don't you think? I mean, ewww. It's just wrong in so many ways.

I see art in thrift stores sometimes that makes me wonder how people could have parted with it, but I'm guessing they couldn't get these two out of grandma's house fast enough when she moved to the old folks home.

Happy weekend y'all!!

And the winner is...

 

I wish I could have given you ALL a free pair of boots!!! I'm just thrilled that I had so many comments on this blog, so to find out that 49 people actually entered the contest was pretty exciting. :)

The winner, chosen by a number generator at www.random.org is....

lorie5534@yahoo.com 

Yay Lorie5534!!! I have no idea who you are, but I'll be sending you an email to get all the fancy info! As soon as I find out who she is, I'll also let you all know. And if she'll tell us her favorite pair of boots, I'll share that too... we all love to live vicariously, right?

Thanks to everyone who entered, and who shared their favorite cowboys in my comments. There are several I hadn't thought of, and a few that I'm going to look up. Can't have too many cowboy crushes. :)

Don't forget to "like" the Country Outfitter facebook page - they've been giving away boots willy-nilly over there, and you still need a free pair. Or two. Or six. Since you did give them your email address, you'll see an occasional email newsletter in your box, but not often. If you choose to unsubscribe, they're okay with that - but then you'll miss all the fun. ;)