Deluge and Decorating

Friday I tried to finally get a few Halloween decorations up outside. We gave up when the clouds went from spitting to drizzling on us. We were getting wet plus, I tried to pull a big sunflower out that was getting in the way of people walking on the sidewalk and discovered that using my body as leverage to get it out without a back up plan when it gives way is a baaaaad idea. Hey, I thought I'd feel the roots starting to pull free in time to adjust my weight but no, it just suddenly went POP! I went sailing backward into the street. Fortunately I ended up with only bumps, not breaks. Again. If you'll recall, I went flat out on the sidewalk on Main Street at the beginning of the week. Maybe I should take this as a warning that I'm supposed to pay closer attention to how I plant my feet. I'll tell you one thing, even when you come up just bumped and bruised, it hurts. William takes these kind of falls dozens of times every football game. No wonder he's sore all weekend and then some. He still thinks it's fun. I think it's fun to WATCH.

Speaking of football, the storm finally broke loose, wouldn'tcha know it, just as we were leaving for William's game. The rain kept up the entire time.

This is how I watched the game, from underneath a very large umbrella. It was actually a nice way to keep those bright stadium lights out of my eyes, but I did have to be careful not to stick my umbrella in anyone else's eye!

Today was cold but dry and I got a few things put up outside. Gravestones, pumpkin stakes, some garlands on the fence, of course my Halloween arch over the walkway, but that's up all the time, and some cute signs by the front and side door. I still have a little bit more to do around the front door but it'll have to wait until I can get some spider webs at the store tomorrow.

Do you like my peach... er, pumpkin tree?

Joli thought being outside was great fun.

I still want to do a bit of gothic candlework on the mantel and a couple other spots, but the bulk of the decorations are up. It's so pretty, I wish I could have been organized enough to have had it up weeks ago! Oh well, nothing stopping me from keeping it up past Halloween. It doesn't really have to come down until I'm ready to put up Yule decorations!

Just as exciting as getting the house decorated, I also went through my holiday boxes and sorted everything out down to the last little bit. I've got all the craft supplies in one box now instead of strewn at the bottom of different boxes. I dug hopelessly for things I knew I had weeks ago when I was making some gifts. Next year I'll know exactly where to look. I've got little vignettes all grouped together and when I'm ready to pack them all back up, they'll stay together so that next year it will be easy peasy to decorate. I also weeded out things that didn't fit my style any more or didn't have a place to be displayed. Lisa took some of it and the rest went in a box for garage sale.

I finally did something that I've wanted to do for a couple of years now. And not only did I finally manage it, but it ended up being much grander than I'd expected. Here's a peek:

If you'd like to see more, click on over to Laume's Studio.