Decking My Halls

Howdy!

I do {still} exist!
I guess life just took over for awhile.
And I'm okay with that.

But, I have a moment,

{and maybe I was harassed about not blogging....Jessica!},

so here we go!

After Thanksgiving 'break', I decided to start decorating my place.

As I was decorating, I quickly realized I was missing

one, if not two, tubs of Christmas decor!

That set me back a bit.  Jeesh!

But lucky for me, 

I feel that I was still able to decorate well with what I did have on hand,

in addition to some 'new' purchases.

{By 'new', I mean junk finds.}

This wreath was new new...
and I LOVE IT!!

On my sofa table, I had a tin container that was full of 'N's, 

so I dumped them out and added a bunch of
found ornaments.

The jumbo clothes pin is something I crafted last year,

and just change out the month flash card every month.

Well, for the most part.
I might have missed October and November.  :)

Next to it sits this...

The blue Ball jar has a chalkboard label on it.
I bought it with the bulbs inside for a great price,

from Rescued Junk a couple years ago.

My ladder mantle.

I kind of love it!

After I took this picture, there have been a few changes to it.

I can't get a new picture now,

because the top lights of the big tree blinked off a few days ago.

Any ideas on how to fix it?

I know I'm a little behind on the bottle brush trees scene,

but now I have 3 of them,

in different sizes.  :)

I like this little guy, hanging out with my little boot.
{They are on the far left side of my ladder mantle.}

This little truck was another junk find.

I believe I first saw the idea of using an

old toy truck for decorating

from Farmgirl Paints.

I'm still on the hunt for a different truck though.

I'd prefer Chevy or Ford, or even an IH.

This truck, I have never heard of the name.  

But at least it looks cute!

To wrap this up,

my obsession with 'fun' socks.

During the month of December,

I have enough Christmas/winter socks

to wear a different pair each day of the month....

and not repeat them!

Hopefully I'll be back in a few days

to share some more pictures from around my living room.

Have you ever lost/misplaced/forgotten

any of your decorations?

Harvest Textures

Here's a look around my living room at my harvest/fall decor.  In addition, I decided to add some fun textures/actions to the photos.  I have no idea if I'm doing it right, but I think they look pretty neat.

Enjoy!

Holiday Weekend Recap

Thanksgiving was an enjoyable time at the farm. Especially with a new little baby there. I don't think Carson was spoiled at all! There was plenty of food, many pictures taken, and a relaxing afternoon of doing nothing.

Friday, Carson and family were at the farm again, as well as the boy that my mom watches. So we all had fun playing together. Friday night, after finding my Christmas decor, I made my way back to my apartment. I started setting some of my decor up then, and tried to clean up as much as I could for my company on Saturday.

I picked up 3 little kiddos (ages 4, 3, 1.5) Saturday morning, and had them for the next 24 hours. I knew their parents from college, and volunteered to watch their kids for the weekend. I think we had a good time. There were a couple of struggles with trying to get 3 kids to sleep at the same time in a 2 bedroom apartment...but it got done. Throughout the day, I was doing a little more decorating and moving things around. At one point, the boys decided to help out with my Scrabble tile letters that I made a saying out of. They decided that all the spaces on the little board needed to be filled. So they filled it up with whatever letters they could. For the most part, our time together went well. But of course, there were a few moments where they boys struggled with playing together or not getting their way, as did their little sister. Come Sunday morning when their parents came to pick them up, they were sure excited to see them. But it was great to also hear them tell them about what we did during the weekend.

I apologize for the lack of pictures. I have plenty of them...I have just be struggling with my camera being read by the computer to upload the pictures.

Today, Monday, I enjoyed the afternoon in Williamsburg, visiting Kinze Manufacturing and the Kinzenbaw private tractor collection. Hopefully I can get the pictures up loaded soon!

Harvest Decor

I thought it was finally time to show some pictures of my harvest decor around my place, since I have had it like this since the beginning of October. For some reason, I am one who would prefer to do a harvest theme, instead of doing Halloween and Thanksgiving. It's probably the farmgirl in me, but I'm okay with that.

I'm pretty certain this little arrangment is my favorite.

Well, than again, I'm a big fan of this door. As you might notice in this next picture...the lamp shade still has the plastic wrap on it. Believe it or not, to this day, it still does. I'm not sure if I like this shade or not. I'll probably post on this later.
A star wine holder turned magazine holder. My little pumpkin patch.

*The 'harvest' leaf on the door, the 5 wood pumpkins, the little bale, the swag of fall leaves...I got from Hobby Lobby 50% off.

*The real pumpkins are from family and friends.

*The apples are NOT real. I got them at a little shop in my town, in addition to a few of the other things shown.

*The glass pumpkins holding acorns and mini pumpkins (that I got from a kid wrangling job) were from Walmart.

I am eagerly awaiting Nov 27 to arrive, so I can begin listening to Christmas music and decorate my place for the season. I know many people have already put up their trees and began listening to the Christmas tunes a while ago...but I can't do that yet. I like to enjoy one holiday at a time. So once Thanksgiving is through, that means Christmas is 1 month away, and Gina will be coming back in just a few short weeks!

The Painted Porch

Last week, my co-workers and I had the opportunity to run up to Minneapolis with our sister program. We got to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. The show was good, but interesting. On our way home the next morning, we stopped at the Medford Outlet Center for about an hour or so. I might have picked up some cute items for the newest babe of the family.

But across the way, this store was calling my name.

When I opened the door and walked in, I just stopped. I had to take it all in. It was amazing. I think my heart even started beating a little faster. So, after my little pause, I began walking around the store, just looking at all there was. When the kind lady asked me if I needed any help or was looking for something certain, I told her I'd take one of everything. She agreed that there is so much great stuff. (She's not the one that owns the store or finds the stuff....she just works there.) I did walk out of there with a couple of items and many more ideas. The best thing.....she let me take pictures!

So if anyone is needing a reason for a roadtrip or will be driving on I-35 anytime soon, plan on stopping by The Painted Porch and spending some time there. If you need someone to go with you, I'd be happy to assist! Why can't there be stores like this where I live? Does anyone have ideas of stores in the Ames area that are similar to this? If so, please let me know.

Here are some of the pictures I took at the store. Maybe they will get your decorating/creative juices flowing. Or maybe just a need for a quick road trip! :)

I have been wanting a cute bench for years. Here were some cute ones...which I did not get. I thought maybe some day I'd attempt to make them.

My New Place

Just over a month ago, I finally moved to a new apartment. It is actually bigger, smells much better (no smokers), and is cheaper! What's not to love?

Because I actually had big walls in this place, I struggled in deciding what to do with my decor. So my friend Kate and her 4 kids came over one night a couple weeks ago and helped out. We got the living/dining room and kitchen done.

Here's the before of the living room area... (sorry the pic is so dark...didn't have any lights on)
...and the after.The tv before...
(notice the pile of decorations off to the left of the tv)

...the tv wall after.

And this is the corner where the decorations were sitting before. (sorry I don't have a pic of it all together)

And now on to the kitchen. Please pardon the mess.

Before.....

.....after.

So that's a quick tour for now. At another time, I'll highlight some spots around the place.

Have a great day!

Seasonal Decorations

The past few days, I have noticed that many ladies post pictures of their seasonal/holiday decorations. And I love it. Then I got to thinking.....I don't really decorate for any season/holiday other than Christmas! Growing up, mom would always transform the house at every holiday, and it was great.

But for some reason, I don't. Maybe it's because of my lack of storage. Maybe it's because I didn't want to spend money on things that would be out for only a month or so (so I'd spend it on things that would be out much longer). I don't know.

Now that I've made this realization, I'm hoping to find some steals after each of the holidays, to start my collection of holiday items. I'll have to keep it minimal, since I am still lacking space.

The picture is a part of my wall in my living room. It is very springy/summery, and I love it. I have thought about possibly changing the color of the bird...but I'm not sure about that. Someday I hope to have a house to put it all in, where I can paint my walls, and everything won't be so cream/tan colored.

But until then, this is what you get. :)