They say we’re supposed to {eat the rainbow} in fruits & veggies, right?
So why not read it, too…
There is a big landing at the top of our stairs. We have this little bookshelf, some baskets of toys and a 13″ tv/dvd player that sits atop a small chest of drawers that houses puzzles and games.
The book situation was KILLING ME lately and I had to do something. I’ve seen the rainbow look all over the internet {most recently reminded of it here} and in magazines and have been meaning to sit down and sort red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black & white!
Today was the day and I LOVE how it looks. So pleasing to the eye. I feel like a librarian!
I had a little chat with the two children that will be reading this rainbow and said,
“You see how nice Mommy made your books look?”
“Doesn’t it look pretty?”
“We’re not going to sit and take out ALL the books, are we?”
“Mommy spent a lot of time organizing these.”
“If you take a book from the yellow section, it goes back in the yellow section when you’re done.”
“Do you understand?”
Am I cah-ray-zee to think that this rainbow is not going to explode?
Between watching an episode of “Hoarders” the other night and revisiting this blog, I knew I needed to do a sweep of the casa and TOSS stuff today!
*****
I don’t really know what my design style is. I do know that I like collecting pieces from here and there and {hoping} that they all {fit}. I love the fact that we have some old family pieces, some free hand-me-downs and some furniture that Jay and I very carefully chose ourselves.
I DO love how Michelle thrifts and then gets all DIY on it. I have high hopes of sanding, priming and painting a couple things, but have yet to start. I LOOOOOVE the thought of taking an old, cheap end table from Goodwill and taking a can of glossy spray paint to it, giving it new life and making it {chic}.
We live in a cookie cutter California home. I don’t mind it one bit, but I would like to eventually, little by little, make a tract home “custom” on the inside….again, like Michelle does BEAUTIFULLY!
We’re also renting right now so my hands really are tied. I hate not being able to put my own permanent touches on the place, but at the same time, right now I like not feeling the pressure to do so.
I am doing my best to make it HOME, but with the bare minimum and without spending a ton of cash.
I’ve learned that I am OK living with just what we need or use, but it’s hard when you have kiddos and all the Polly Pockets and Legos that come along with them. I don’t mind the toys, but if they’re being mistreated and are always on the floor, they’re either going in the trash or being donated.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want to have a place for everything where it can go and be out-of-sight when it’s not in use. I don’t mind all the McDonald’s Happy Meal toys as long as I {or the kids!} can toss them away at the end of the day and we can go to bed knowing that the place is semi picked up.
Basically, I want the house to be as neat and tidy for US {most} days as we scurry and make it for our guests.
Make sense?
With that said, I made many trips to the garage this morning to both the recycle bin and the trash bin. I cleaned out the pantry and straightened up the backyard after the littles tore it up over the gorgeous 3-day weekend.
I guess you could say I’m a little ahead on the Spring cleaning! {or WAY late on last year’s!}
Now off to pick up one kindergartner, mail Popsi’s {late} birthday goodies and stop at Golden Spoon for a little afternoon snack before homework kicks in.
*****
I will {leaf} you with another cute picture from our hike:
**Update: I have become mildly obsessed with my not-so-Scentsy wax warmer! Last night during another trip to Wal-mart I picked up {Crisp Linens & Black Raspberry Vanilla} waxes….I used the candy cane one yesterday and the whole house smelled so pepperminty fresh ~ not overpowering at all. Loving my new purchase. Check out all the yumminess here!**
I walked into my friend Hollie’s house the other day and it smelled like Christmas! She had, what I thought was a Scentsy, burner going and her place felt so festive and warm. Come to find out it’s the same thing as Scentsy, but she got it at Wal-mart of all places.
I decided, while I was strolling through the aisles of Wally World this weekend that I was going to treat the household {read: me} to one. Afterall, we’re having several guests here for Christmas and I need the house to feel welcoming. I chose one that I thought could stay out year round ~ lime{ish} green. Get this, the burners are $15 and the wax cubes are only $2! I got gingerbread, oatmeal cookie and candy cane….mmmmm.
As I’ve mentioned many times before, we get our tree at Home Depot every year.
A 4-5 ft. Noble Fir.
On a table.
Done.
Somewhere along the line we got a couple strands of red lights and it has become tradition, however, next year I would like to use the small multi colored ones.
I am a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas trees. I like a non-flocked tree with a collection of ornaments from over the years. I do not use garlands or icicles. Just clean and simple. We have a star that has yet to be placed on top, but will make it’s way there in the next 8 days! It requires {someone} to get a chair, clip a little off the top and put it into place….apparently we have been too busy to do that.
But I am happy with our tree this year. It is well shaped and the perfect size for our tabletop.
Here’s just a handful of our special ornaments:
{Glass pineapple from the Newport Mansions in Newport, RI}
{Mouth-blown glass garlic bulb from our days in Gilroy at the famous Garlic Festival}
{The red cup from Starbucks}
{Ornament from our honeymoon in the USVI…miraculously made it home in one piece}
{Gorgeous paper ornament handmade by women in Africa}
{Handmade gingerbread man my Mom made when I was a young girl}
{Raggedy Ann ~ another handmade by my Mom from the 70s}
Each year, since 2002, we’ve been adding personalized ornaments to our collection. My long time high school friends Denise & Niki were the ones that turned me onto this tradition. They’ve been doing it for years and I always remember thinking that it was such a neat idea.
It’s fun to see the progression…from Jay, Amy & Sunny {the cat} to Jay, Amy, Sunny, Riggs & Rascal…then the addition of a little Elliott a couple years later and then the final addition to the family, Holden, in 2007.
Each year the kids get one and then the family gets one. When the kids go out on their own {waaaay down the road, thank goodness!} I will pack each of their personalized ornaments in a keepsake box for them to add to their trees each year.
However….
I am getting more and more annoyed with the ornament selection each year.
At first, we were able to find beautiful dough ornaments like this one…
Handmade. Real pebbles in the fireplace. Tiny sticks for the logs. Lacquered. Attention to detail on the penmanship.
Then all of a sudden all I could find are cheap plastic{ish} ones that are borderline corny. Now keep in mind that I get these off those mall kiosks and some of them are cute, but you also have to make sure that you get someone that has nice penmanship…that has been my challenge for the past few years. I have not been happy with the printing. Why would someone with crappy handwriting be hired to do these ornaments? They aren’t cheap….
This year I shopped for them in San Diego and was irritated because the girl HOVERED over me as I panned the, again, not-so-impressive selection. Seriously, she was all up in my business the whole time I was browsing…like I’m going to bolt out of a busy Westfield shopping mall with a 5-finger discount on some not-so-fabulous holiday ornaments. Hellloooo, I want to stay on Santa’s NICE list!
I ended up getting Elliott a little school bus to celebrate her starting kindergarten this year and Holden a green John Deere{esque} tractor because….well, because I thought it was cute!
I really liked this one for the family:
But they didn’t have a foursome.
Maybe next year…
So, I decided on this one:
I love little Holdy peeking out of the “O”.
The penmanship was fine, BUT hovering girl smeared the names and I didn’t notice ’til I got home!
{Anal retentive much? :-)}
Ugh!
If it’s not one thing it’s another. I know this is a petty thing to be {complaining} about, but I am tired of spending good money on less than quality items from nasty, no-personality-havin’ girls at mall kiosks. Perhaps I need to find a holiday boutique with some handmade ornaments from here on out.
This is a tradition that I love and I hate to have such a bad taste in my mouth in the end.
Not to mention Holden dropped his new one as we were trimming the tree last night and the tractor lost a wheel.
As I am here putting certain things away and exchanging them for all things Christmas, I am noticing that I am extremely traditional when it comes to our holiday decor.
Lots and lots of red and green. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I do notice that I also LOVE holiday decor that steps out of the box…a themed tree, choosing a non-traditional color scheme and carrying that throughout the house, simplicity when it comes to decorating or completely over the top.
I am attracted to it all ~ tastefully speaking, of course!
But, our home is traditional…and I wouldn’t change it at all. A lot of our things have been passed down from generations, special gifts from family or friends or things that I have carefully chosen or kept throughout the years to bedazzle our nest during this magical time.
This is not to say that maybe when the kids are older and I have a little more time {and money}, I most likely will step out and dabble in something new. Maybe our traditional tree in the living room and a special themed tree elsewhere…choosing yellow, orange or lime green and building our decor from there.
There are literally a gazillion magazine spreads that I adore ~ here are just a few:
Yesterday was the day when I ventured into the garage, rearranged some stuff and pulled out the Christmas boxes.
Time to put away the pumpkins, turkeys and pilgrims and get out the snowmen, candy canes, wreaths, lights and ornaments.
We ran to Home Depot, where we get our tree every year, after school and picked out a 5 ft Noble Fir. We stick our tree on a little table to keep it off the floor and reduce temptation for our four-legged family members and one questionable 3.75 year old. Hopefully next year we can {try} a normal sized tree. But our “table top tree” has sort of become tradition….although we have lots more ornaments than we do branches to hang them on.
*****
As I decked the halls, I thought it’d be nice to have a roast in the crock pot so that’s what was for dinner:
I added lots of veggies to mine…halved baby carrots, sliced onion, cubed potato {from the start} and frozen peas and cut green beans {at about the last 30-45 minutes}.
I served with one of my favorite bagged salads from Costco…The Grand Parisian. Comes in a salad kit with cranberries, feta, frosted almonds and this dressing:
Turkey & cranberries, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes & marshmallows, green beans & fried onions and apple crumb pie & whipped cream have all been consumed.
Sat in front of the fireplace sipping coffee and admiring the holiday decor in this month’s Coastal Living {drool} and jotting down oodles of festive recipes and beverages.
Annual family ornaments have been purchased.
And, yes, Santa has been visited……TWICE!
We’ve already had SO much fun and it’s all just started.
It truly is the most wonderful time of the year.
*****
I’ve learned that if you don’t scurry, take it all in early and enjoy EVERY minute, it’s gone.
I JUST discovered this {supercute} printable this morning! Darn it…would’ve looked darling framed and propped up on my mantel.
I love all things cranberry…
Today {and everyday} I am thankful for SO many things: Family, Friends, Health, Roof Over Our Heads, Food In Our ‘Fridge & Cupboards, Clothes On Our Bodies, Cars In Our Garage, Heater When It Gets Cold.
These are all no-brainers, obviously.
But this year I am thankful for so much more ~ I am grateful for {CHALLENGE}.
Life is so much richer when you challenge yourself…go further than you {thought} you could. Get out of your “comfort zone” and push yourself to do something that you thought you could/would never do.
*****
We’ll be giving our THANKS and celebrating tomorrow. Mother Nature redirected Popsi’s flight out of Seattle and he won’t get in until late this evening.
But that’s OK, we need to give thanks everyday…so we’ll be filling up on all the {good stuff} tomorrow.
I hope you ALL have the happiest of Thanksgivings this year and have LOTS to be thankful for.
KEEP CALM and Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes w/ Marshmallows, Green Bean Casserole, Gravy, Pie, Cobbler & Cranberry ON!
