Happy Halloween House Tour!

As far as holiday decorating goes, Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday and if you saw the number of black & orange totes I have in my basement, you would definitely agree with me.

I actually did a huge purge a couple of years ago because I had inherited a bunch of my mother's decorations and I really need to downsize what I had.

I have both indoor and outdoor decor and some years I mixed it up differently than I did the year before.

This is my outdoor fairy garden.....earlier in the summer I found the cutest Halloween piece at our local farmer's market and I had to buy a few pieces for it.  I couldn't wait to add them to the garden.

I also was excited about turning our purple front door into Frankenstein.  I found the giant googly eyes at the Target Dollar Spot and the rest is made from cheap poster board.  I love the way it turned out and for a whole $3 dollars.

Inside, I like to decorate our den/library and the family room/kitchen area.  I have Halloweeen decorations that I've had for decades.......this is one of them and one of my favorites...

I don't really have set places for my decorations.  I'm constantly changing things up and using our stuff in different rooms and different places....it's whatever "trips my trigger" when I unpack things.

Another favorite piece -

Above is one of two IKEA Expedit bookcases that I've recently turned on their sides and put them against our far wall.  My reasoning is if I don't, I tend to push our furniture against that wall and I don't want it there anymore.  Those bookcases are important as they hold every scrapbook I've done over the last 19 years.  I  also like that they provided me with a whole lot of space that I can play with seasonally yet it's out of direct traffic but you can still see and enjoy the decor.

Below are are couple more of my favorite pieces....the ghost, pumpkin and cat piece in the back is one of the first things I bought after Fred and I were married ad the small front cat piece is by artist Jim Shore, who I adore.

I also decorate the ladder shelf I have on another wall in our family room with some of our other Halloween things that we've collected over the years.

On the bottom shelf is this ceramic piece I made 21 years ago.  Of course my love of all things cat was prevalent then also....I've had to replace the light bulb in it several things over the years, but it's still another favorite hand made piece.

Another Halloween cat decoration we have is a fiber optic cat & pumpkin that I have in our den/library.

 

We have a small bar in our eat-in area of the kitchen and I like to deck it out during the holidays also.

 

I have a fun Doodlebug house on the shelf that I did in Halloween paper and a few other ghost and haunted house things.  I also thought it was the perfect place for something new I bought this year.

It's also the perfect place to put the "Good Witch/Bad Witch" sign I have so that my husband can switch it out whenever he feels the need......  :)

Another new decoration I bought this year is this darling cloche covering a spider over a stack of books.  As soon as I saw the books, I knew I had to have it......

Thanks for joining me on a tour of our Halloween House.   Have fun trick or treating!

The Great Pantry/Chest Freezer Purge

We are fortunate to own a small chest freezer that we keep out in our garage.  It's the perfect size for the size of our family and great to have when things go on sale.   I've been known to buy butter, bread, creamer, cheese when prices are super low and freeze it all in our chest freezer.  I also keep our meat and larger items (such as tubs of ice cream....not mine.....it's the men I live with...lol).

The problem is without an inventory sheet, I would forget what I have in there, so I use a freezer inventory sheet I found on the internet.  Just google "Freezer Inventory Template" and you'll find a gazillion of them.   It's been a lifesaver in regards to knowing what you have in your freezer.

Lately I've been on a purging and organizing mission, starting with my pantry which you can read about HERE, so I've decided to dedicate the next month before the holiday season starts to USE WHAT WE HAVE in both our pantry, refrigerator freezer and chest freezer.  Unless the sale is really too good to pass up, I'm not buying meat or any pantry items until we make a big dent in what we already have.

This is also the week before we leave for Seattle.  It's a work trip for my husband and I'm tagging along because neither of us have been there.....so, even though our son will still be around, I think this is a perfect week to use up some of what we have.  When I did the grocery shopping on Friday morning, I only spent $40 and that was mostly for fresh produce and dairy.


Here's what our menu looks like this week to make the most of what we have and it's a little more convenient because of our schedules -

Sunday

Stuffed Peppers (Pepper bought on sale, ground beef from the freezer)
Garlic Bread (Bread from freezer)
Tossed Salad (Iceberg lettuce bought on sale for 99 cents a head, an English cucumber I picked up from Trader Joe's and tomatoes from our garden)

Monday

Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches (using up the luncheon ham, cheese and garlic bread)
Oven Baked French Fries (Ore-Ida - what can I say?....my family loves them)

Tuesday

Pork Stir-fry (Using boneless pork chops in our freezer, broccoli, onions, cabbage and anything else I find in our crisper)
Brown Rice


Wednesday

(This has to be an easy night for my husband as I'm in class that night)
Turkey Cheddar Sausages
Jalapeno Cheddar Potatoes
French Style Green Beans with Dill

Thursday

Trader Joe's Fish Nuggets
Veggie Quinoa and Rice Dish (my husband may opt for a baked potato....we shall see...)


Friday

BBQ Ribs (from our freezer)
Potato Casserole
Salad (using up as much vegies in the crisper as I can)

Saturday

Saturday, I'm going to be at the Get Inspired 14 scrapbook crop at the Fairgrounds for most of the day and evening, so my family is on what we call a "Fend For Yourself Night" or "FFYN" as it's know around here.  I won't be able to stay at the crop as long as the rest of my friends because we have to be up at 4:00am the next morning to head to the airport, so I'll be heading out after dinner.

We'll be there a full week and once we are back home, I think we'll be eating out of our freezer and panty at least up until Thanksgiving and the money saved will help pay for holiday food.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Den/Library Re-Do

When we found this house ten years ago, the first thing we said when we saw the front dining room space was "that will be our den/library".  We don't formally entertain so a formal dining room didn't suit our needs.  We have a big eat in area in our large kitchen and most of time when we do entertain family and/or friends, it's either buffet style, out on our deck or we are eating in front of the television while watching some sporting event....Go Hawkeyes!  :)

This was the first room that I painted and at the time I wanted it warm and cozy so I went with a Sherwin Williams paint in their Soft Suede line of paints in the color Chianti.  The finished walls look like suede and the application wasn't hard at all.  I had it done in a weekend.  It's had to be touched up over the years and I finally ran out of the paint and then Sherwin Williams discontinued the line, so I knew I was eventually going to have to re-paint it something else.

See that small slipper chair in the room?.....it serves as a cat scratching post.......

These picture were taken not long before I re-painted.  The suede paint was finally looking pretty tired and it was time for a change.  Since painting it with the suede paint, we had purchased the black bookcases and computer station,  re-carpeted and moved Connor's computer desk to his room.  I also refinished an antique dresser that I found on Craigslist to use as a printer stand/storage in the room.

This is what the room looks like now painted in "Beach House" by Sherwin Williams.....I think it brightened up the room quite a bit.   I also sprung for some new cellular shades for the bay window as the old ones had seen better days.

The room also is where we hang some of our art and where part of our permanent book collection resides.  There are P. Buckley Moss and Charles Wysocki on the walls and even a Terry Redlin that was my mother's that brings back memories every time I look at it.

Slipper chair/cat post is still there. :)

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and seeing how I spend some of my time.......

Stay tuned for more.

I'm a Boomer

The reason I changed up my blog to say "A Boomer's Guide to the Retirement Galaxy" is because I think there is an audience out there of younger retirees that are healthy, active and finally made the decision to leave the rat race behind.

I'm a baby boomer....that generation that's been alive since before the Kennedy assassination yet were post WWII and there is a WHOLE LOT of us coming up on our retirement years.

I was fortunate to have a job that afforded me after 27 years to leave a few years earlier than I thought I would.  I also have a husband who is an excellent provider with no desire to retire right now.  He's in a second career that he loves and wants to continue to do what he does and that's alright by me.   I really thinks he likes having me home because there is a whole bunch of house cleaning he no longer has to do.....lol

It does take some sacrifice.....but I'm also finding that with not working,  you need need as much money.  I'm only having to fill my car up every 10 days rather than every week, my grocery trips last longer and there isn't any need to buy clothes or expensive purses....I have plenty of those.  I also have to budget now.....I'm fortunate that money isn't tight, but I can't spend willy-nilly and I don't really want to, the trade-off is better and that's being able to do my own thing.

I'm hoping to find an audience for my retirement ramblings and promise to try and keep you entertained with what I post.

For those that don't know....I've been married to my spouse for 27 years, we have an almost 19 year old son who lives with us while attending our local community college and working part time at a local restaurant.  He's also an amateur film-maker and you can find his production company's You Tube channel HERE.

If you do know me, you'll know I'm extremely organized, bordering on OCD, creative, an idea gal and my passions are scrapbooking, crafts, home decorating, gardening, books and movies in no particular order.....most of which I will be sharing at one time or another with you.

I'm going into my fifth week of not working and it's going swimmingly.......my days go by fast.  I either have projects around the house, that may or may not include house cleaning, homework for the business class I'm taking at our local community college (yes, I'm going to the same school as our son, but not the same class and not at the same time.....he'd die), working out at the gym, getting together with friends for outings and right now, working on getting the yard ready for winter.

Here's a photo of me and two of my dearest friends.  I've known these ladies since I was 20 years old....that's 37 years of friendship and I'm so glad that we were able to get together for lunch at a favorite local restaurant when one of them was in town for a visit.

Last week my goal was to work in my craft room, but the only thing I got done was put together supplies for a crop I was going to Friday night....and now, that stuff is on the floor of the room ready to be put away....oy vey.......I

This week I have to get our family room ready for the new sofa and oversized chair and ottoman that is coming in a couple of weeks......so.....can't sit still Sally that I am....I started Sunday evening at 8:00pm....within an hour, I had ran my husband out of the room to our bedroom to watch his football game and I was deep into re-arranging.

I've been wanting to do something completely different with the two IKEA Expedit bookshelves I use in the room AND I'm tired of having the sofa pushed up against the wall, so I'm trying something different.  I've turned them on their long side an placed them next to each other on the wall that will be behind the sofa.

As you can see, I've done a lot of scrapbooks.

This brown sectional is leaving.....YAY!  We've had it four years and within six months I hated it, but we had just bought it so I had to live with it.  I knew it was time when we were having to put plywood boards under the cushions because sitting on it was hurting my back.  It will be perfect in my sister's finished basement for my niece and her friends to hang out on.  I had my son and one of his friends take the chaise lounge piece of the sectional out to the garage so that I could move the rest of the sectional forward so I would have enough room for the IKEA shelves.   THAT was a lot of work....and of course, since I was moving them, I got the cleaning supplies out and cleaned them too.....

One last thing to share......is this pillow stinking adorable or what?  It was a retirement gift from my Aunt who has such great taste in things.  It's needlepoint and I love it.

Have a great week!