Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween! I don't really do much for the Halloween Holiday, I am decorated for fall and do have a jack-o-lantern on my front porch but that is about the extent of my Halloween decorations.

Last night I baked cookies for "Trunk or Treat" at the church (the youth will be handing out candy and goodies in the church parking lot tonight). I wrapped each cookie in a cello bag and attached a Halloween tag to it. I had a few cookies left and put them on a plate in the kitchen and then tied a tag to the lid. So I actually have a tiny bit of Halloween in the kitchen too and fresh cookies!!

Halloween Necklace

Since I work full time now and it is getting dark earlier it is getting harder for me to blog....well the blogging isn't the problem, taking good photos is a problem, no natural light... so bear with me...today's post is a necklace I made a couple weeks ago. This was my first attempt at soldering. After I finished it I reread the instructions and next time I'll do some things differently but for now, this is what I have to show for my attempt. I used microscope glass and cut it in half and slipped a picture between the two pieces and soldered around the edges.

Stitching!!!

After a stressful week at work I decided to spend my weekend with no agenda other than to relax and enjoy it! So I did just that. I made time to do some stitching. I also went through a large stack of paperwork, did some laundry and watched the Penn State game. I finished this little wall hanging and hope to get it on etsy tonight. The only other thing on my list for the weekend is to update the website for my grown up job.

Did you have a good weekend? What do you like to do when you have no agenda and you just want to clear your head?

Sweet Surprise

I had one of those weeks when on Thursday night I crawled into bed and had no idea where the week went. I had meetings every night but Thursday and since it was so completely hectic I decided to go shopping and get groceries. That leaves my weekend completely free to watch football and stitch and just relax and get ready for next week!

The highlight this week was opening my mail and seeing that I got a message on Facebook from former exchange student Julie Wery. We hosted Julie for about 6 months…..probably 10 years ago. Julie graduated from high school in Belgium, when she studied here she repeated her senior year.

Julie was the perfect daughter, she never disobeyed and she understood all the Rotary rules and was a model ambassador for her country of Belgium. Julie is all grown up now and married and has 2 children, a boy and a girl. I’m sure she is a wonderful mother because she was never in a bad mood, always pleasant.

Today's photo is of some Belgium lace that Julie gave me when she lived with us. Belgium is famous for their lace and chocolate. I remember her grandmother would often send a magazine in the mail to her and always inside the magazine would be a couple pieces of Belgium chocolate! Grandma also sent money occasionally! I think Grandma may have sent the money for her prom gown…. I remember searching everywhere for that dress and we finally found the one in a small shop in Lewisburg.

I have many happy memories of the time that Julie spent with us and I’m glad that we have found each other again and I was able to catch up on her life.

Pumpkin Topiary

A couple weeks ago I made a pumpkin topiary and it's just what the front porch needed. I took off all the flowers and plants as well as some of the furniture, so things are looking pretty bare on the porch.... It was probably close to 80 degrees today....unseasonably warm for the middle of October. The warm weather is fine with me... I love warm October days!

No real instructions, I used glue... I was looking for museum wax but couldn't find any so I just looked in my cabinets to see what kind of glue I had that might work. I was afraid if I used a dowel rod the pumpkin would rot to soon. I did use pins to keep the leaves on the pumpkin.

Shopping!!!

I love most anything Rachael Ashwell so I could hardly contain myself waiting for Target to open this week about a half hour from my home. Today I spent my afternoon shopping and my first stop was Target. I was actually disappointed though because the Rachael Ashwell line was only somewhat there, not at all like the State College store (an hour away) so I left disappointed. In State College the shabby chic line is evident even in the pet asile. About all I found in the Shabby Chic line at the new store were a few bedspreads and a shower curtain.... So I'm hoping that maybe since the store opened on Wednesday and I didn't get there till Friday that everyone else was waiting for the line also and they will be restocking... hmmmm. I did come home with a couple pairs of reading glasses that were in the dollar section! One can never have to many pairs of reading glasses. I also found a stuffed squirrel in the pet asile that I had to have. My Stewart sits and barks at squirrels every morning so he was pretty excited to get one of his very own! I also bought a bucket that is sort of oval and my mop will fit in it. So although I was disappointed about the lack of Rachael Ashwell stuff, I did find a few things that made me happy.

Last week I shopped at Kohl's (also new) and used the $10 gift card they sent me! I found a pair of shoes and I imagine the next time I need some retail therapy I'll go back and get the boots that I saw that were very comfortable. At my age if I wear a pair of shoes with a high heel all day usually by the next morning my hip hurts and I have trouble walking but I like the way boots make me feel, a bit taller and thinner and a bit less like a country hick! So, I imagine I'll have me a pair of Vera Wang boots next time I need some retail therapy!

I also decided to try out the new grocery store in the new shopping center. I had taken a virtual tour a week ago and was really excited to try that place out too.... Ok, so my critique on that is that it is so large that it was almost not enjoyable.... I did expect not to be able to find the stuff on my list since it is a new store but I didn't realize that since the store is so large if you miss an item on your list it is a pain to try to retrace your steps to find it again. They did have an adequate number of cash registers open to accomodate the shoppers and I didn't have to wait in line, but I decided that I might just stick with the Weis store that I am already familair with.

So that was my afternoon!

This Week's Ut Oh!

I think I probably mentioned before that I have been working on a bedroom makeover. My inspiration room is Cindy’s bedroom at A Romantic Home.
Everything about Cindy’s home is beautiful and as an avid reader of her blog she inspired me to want some blue somewhere in my home too. I decided to paint my bedroom blue. The first phase of the project was to paint my furniture white and shabby it a bit, I did that this summer. Phase two is painting the bedroom walls and today was the day.

If you are a reader of Cindy’s blog you know that she can work miracles in a weekend. She makes it look easy. Ok, I bought paint about 3 weeks ago and today is the day I’m devoting to painting… I got up early this morning and was so glad to hear my husband offer his assistance with the project. If I did the edges and cut in, he would roll the walls…..so the project is getting easier by the moment and I am sure we can be finished by the time Penn State kicks off at noon. I’m a very fussy painter and could probably do this job without a drop cloth and dressed in my best clothes but why tempt the fates… I put on a pair of old shorts and a t-shirt and began the project.

As I moved the ladder for the first time it started to collapse (who knew that you have to latch it to keep it open) and the whole gallon of paint fell off the ladder and onto the carpet! Can you believe it! Luckily (yeah right) the paint can landed right side up so only about a half gallon of paint landed on the carpet and drop cloth…. I began scooping up the paint off the drop cloth and putting it back into the can and my husband got wet rags and went to work on the carpet. One of my first reactions was to take a photo but my husband did not think a photo shoot would be a good idea so I waited till he went out into the kitchen and most of the mess had been cleaned up before taking a quick photo of the carpet and paint… we were planning to replace the carpet anyhow but were still in the “thinking about what we want to put in there” stage… This mess has prompted me to call the carpet man who will be here Monday to measure for new carpet!

So, changing the color of the room has once again turned into a major project, so much for anything easy.... We will also change the carpet in the dressing room so that means everything in there will have to come out in order to replace the carpet….we’re talking a major job!



I’ll be working on my bedroom makeover for the next week or two, so stay tuned!!!

New Job....Sort of...

I have been looking for fulltime work for a couple months. We have a daughter in college and money has been tight around here. I also have extra time on my hands since my “mothering” days are not as much in demand as my daughter has moved into her own apartment. Anyhow, I was looking for a job in a nearby town and my husband and I were seriously thinking about the adventure of moving closer to shopping and “take-out”. We even started getting rid of quite a bit of accumulated JUNK anticipating a move!

Well to make a long story short, the job that I am presently working at offered me full time work with benefits. So instead of working 25 hours a week I am now at my office for 8 hrs. a day. And, we will be staying in our home for a few more years.

Since my office is now going to be my home away from home, the first order of business has been to “decorate”. I am an administrative assistant at my church and am the first person to have that job so the office that they gave me was actually a storage room with no heat, air conditioning or window, just pipes and wiring running everywhere… I have made the best of a poor situation and am actually liking the fact that I am downstairs and at the end of a hall and that I can work uninterrupted because no one can find my office! Here are the before and after photos…

Once again while my sister was visiting I drug her down there to help out and she even did the shopping and picked up fabric for my make over… Here is a photo of her hanging fabric to cover the pipes that were everywhere. Thanks Lindy… I still have painting to do. The paint I picked out looks awful on the wall so I’m taking it back to see if they can add some brown to it to tone it down.