Feels Like Home

  It has been over 7 years now since we bought this house and I know we won't be here forever.  Recent events in my life have made me feel more nostalgic about this little house. I have always loved our house and it has always felt like home.  It felt like home to me before we ever ripped up carpet or hung a single picture.  I hope to have that same feeling every place we live.  I am resolving to enjoy what I have more.  Not that I won't continue to improve it but there are so many little things to appreciate like the couch with pillows thrown every which way and a pile of blankets from cuddling on the couch the night before.

How the light streams into the house during the day and changes how the paint colors look. 

 

Having a spot to let things grow.

 The little details that made me fall in love with this house in the first place.

And the satisfaction of looking over the improvements we've made over the years, transforming the space into something we love. But mostly it is really the feeling of home.   

Haunted House

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  I love kids coming to trick-or-treat, going to Halloween parties, and watching classic Halloween movies like Young Frankenstein, Dracula Dead and Loving it and Hocus Pocus.  Its officially November 10th and I'm just getting around to taking the Halloween decorations down.  I used what I have except I bought less than $5 worth of mini pumpkins and gourds at the grocery store (which should transition nicely into Thanksgiving) and some cobwebs from Target.  I think it cost $4 for a huge bag of cobwebs. So without further ado, here is how I decorated for Halloween this year.

 

  I made the blood candles a year or two ago.  (An old Martha Stewart Idea) They are really simple to make.  Just drip red wax from a red candle down the top and sides of another candlestick and presto! bleeding candles! I recommend making the candles over some newspaper or over the sink for quick cleanup.  I got the birdcage at  a garage sale forever ago.  I'm on the hunt for a bird to go in there (maybe a sparkly one).  So if you see one, let me know!

I also used my husband's deer sheds as part of my decorating.  I thought they looked creepy/cool. 

 Maximus (the horse head) all dressed up for Halloween.

 The trees in our front yard have these gnarly looking branches.  I just take two or three branches, stick them in a vase and hang the pumpkin strands and pom pom spiders on it.  I got the garland and the spiders at Tai Pan Trading several years ago but you could make those spiders yourself out of pom poms, pipe cleaners and googly eyes.  They are hung with fishing line that I threaded through them. 

 The gourds and mini pumpkins in the bowl were under $5 total from the grocery store.  The big pumpkins on the porch (below) we grew ourselves. 

Halloween was unusually warm so we sat out on the porch carving our pumpkins while trick-or-treaters stopped by.  Can you guess which pumpkin is mine?