Bye Bye Autumn, Hello Winter!

Bye Bye Autumn, Hello Winter!
It was warm yesterday, almost 60 degrees! We were vacillating about when to put up the outdoor holiday lights, and with a very cold week next week Dave decided it was a good day. The temps this next week are supposed to be in the 20's at night, 30's during the day. The temp is dropping already and it's 12:30! Cold gray skies, I think winter is here! We have a little snow in the forecast, we'll see how much we get. Coop is winterized, garden is put to bed. Dave mowed and raked Friday. I'm putting away my Autumn/Thanksgiving decor today, tossing the pumpkins. I may roast some for the hens. I washed our winter hats, gloves and added snow scrapers and a blanket to each car. We're ready! Our flannel sheets and thick quilt is on our bed, nice and cozy.

We had a blast here with our family potluck for Thanksgiving. My Grandson River was here and eating his first meal in front of us! He just started on homemade, organic baby food recently and he loves it!

What a big boy!

Yum yum sweet potatoes!

I went to Jo Ann's fabrics today to replace some buttons and found these 2 fun items, both to go over my dining table-

A fun snowman, $10.00, I really like it!

Snowflake, about 16" wide, $2.00, I will paint with chalk paint

I may get out a few generic winter things today if time allows. Advent starts today, so I may get that set up if I can find it. My hubby was raised Catholic and he like to celebrate that. So, happy winter!

Winter 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I'm home today prepping for one of my favorite holidays, and happy snow is in the forecast this weekend. Bring on the white stuff! With our kids being grown we now host a potluck. I'm doing the turkey (free from hubby's employer), dressing, gravy, drinks, snacks and a (shh) chocolate almond tart (gluten free). Since our bird was a bit smaller I'm buying a large turkey breast for extras. No pumpkin pie interest this year, go figure. Pumpkin has never been my thing, so it's chocolate this year, and no one else wanted to bother. Works for me! I hope you all have a restful holiday, no black Friday shopping for us, just sleeping in, maybe a movie and RELAX...

U.S. Winter Is Here Forecast, Ocean Themed Baby Shower

U.S. Winter Is Here Forecast-
It's that time of year, leaves are almost completely off the trees here, nights into the 20's and 30's. Brr, baby it's cold outside! From some of the long range forecasts I've read it will be an interesting winter. I read this Accuweather.com and they were right with the early storms in the N.W. We had our first big one last month. More to come I'm sure! Here's what our backyard looked like this morning-

Our huge maple tree is almost bare

Our cold weather gear is out, Today Dave mowed up all the leaves, put the mulch in the compost pile and flower beds, and deep cleaned the coop. Tomorrow we'll run the cord out to the coop to keep the waterer from freezing. Our freezer is full with produce from the garden harvest and our small house is warm and snug. This year I have the day before and after Thanksgiving off work to have a nice family gathering and enjoy our company. Next, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas :)

Crabwiches!

Ocean Themed Baby Shower-

My youngest daughter Angie and her husband Chris are expecting my second grandchild (another boy!) next month. They just moved into their first home and are nesting away. I was too busy last weekend to blog, but took some fun photos! I got the crabwiches idea from Pinterest and everyone loved them! I stuffed them with a real crab meat mixture, very tasty. We had lots of food, including shrimp, a pineapple upside down cake, and more yummy. My daughter Michelle and Angie's friend Katie helped with the living room decorating, with lots of oversized balloons, etc. I brought out my "beach table" things for the dining room table. I did this on a tight budget getting lots of wrappings at the dollar store. We ate, laughed, play Baby Jeopardy and opened gifts. We gifted a new white 4 In One crib and mattress for the baby. Dave had made a solid wood cradle for the girl's before they were born, and now Angie will use it for her son Oliver. Time just circles back sometimes doesn't it?

Lots of foods!

For flowers I bought Eucalyptus and Baby's Breath, reminded me of sea foam

Mr. Turtle

Dave's handmade cradle full of gifts, Jeopardy game board, our crib under fabric.

My daughter Michelle's original art for the nursery, cute!

Easy Faux Tin House Lantern For The Holidays, Removing Odors From Thrifted Clothing

From Easy Faux Tin House Lanterns

Easy Faux Tin House Lantern For The Holidays-

It's autumn and winter will soon be here! My big left wrist cast is coming off tomorrow, then a small hand/thumb splint for five weeks. My thumb is healing up nicely, from surgery. I didn't have a of of joint left for the thumb to rest on, so they removed the bone below and created a stable space for it now. Pain will be gone for good and thumb will seat correctly. Happy dance! The garden is put to bed, and leaves coming down, it's really pretty outside. Still too warm for our heavy comforter, but nice and cold in the morning. So...

I saw this easy project last winter and this rustic metal look goes great with the farm-ish, vintage decor I love. This is a low cost DIY version since real tin houses/lanterns can be really spendy. In the winter I couldn't paint outside, then I forgot over the summer, but had a good day today! It's 62 degrees, unseasonably warm, and a light breeze. The link above shows the project, it's easy peasy. I started with this medium sized $5.99 Hobby Lobby paper mache house. I decided to do one house, and it will be great for a small table display for the holidays.-

Roof comes off!

Using a well-shaken can of Krylon Silver Hammered Paint ($10.00) I painted the inside and outside of the house-

1st coat, looking good!

I will do a 2nd coat later today, but it's looking great! I may paint some other holidays things with this, like ornaments or? Can't get much easier :)

The stinky shirt that kept on giving

Removing Odors From Thrifted Clothing-

Well, I had an educational week with my used eBay Eddie Bauer corduroy blouse! I got this beauty on eBay for $10.00, really pretty colors for fall and nice weight for work. I saw the gorgeous fabric thru the plastic bag and excitedly opened it. The odor coming out of the blouse was unfreaking believable!!! OMG, the smell! It was like really bad perfume/chemicals. I always wash all used clothing before wearing, so I threw it in the washer, no worries. It still smelled coming out, so I washed it two more times, more soap, still stunk. I used cold water and our regular laundry soap. Time to do some research, since I wanted to keep the blouse. I went online and found some great ideas here- Thrift Store Clothing Odor/Stain Removal I tried the hot water/baking soda method and it took out 90% of the odor! Eureka!!! I will wash again today and I think that will do it. I did send an FYI letter to the seller, just stating how bad the odors were and what I had to do to remove it. I'm not sure if they applied something or the previous owner did, but it was the WORST I ever smelled on a used piece of clothing. They did apologize and offered a full refund. I declined and I'm happy I salvaged it.You can learn so much online!