A Poem for Thanksgiving
Many folks in the U.S. will be celebrating Thanksgiving later this week. Did you know many countries around the world have their own Thanksgiving or harvest festivals? Some of these holidays are due to American influence and others are rooted in a traditional celebration of that year’s harvest and/or its laborers. Whatever the reason we have for celebrating Thanksgiving, I can’t think of one downside to being thankful. I’ll be taking the rest of this week off the blog to spend time with my family. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope you’ll be able to spend time with your loved ones too. In the meantime, here’s a…
Happy List: #279
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List! I hope you are doing well and looking forward to the weekend. Our local high school is hosting a craft fair this weekend and I’m excited to see what folks have been creating. Last year I found some fun ornaments for the kids there. This week on the blog I shared some funny, not funny stories from our recent DIY projects. Things happen and you just have to laugh…or eventually laugh. I also wrote about how our autumn is going because I was feeling reflective. Reflection is a good thing, isn’t it? As always, thank you for continuing to show up here week…
Enjoying The Last Bit of Autumn
Autumn is flying by! I swear the calendar flipped to October and we still felt like it was barely September. That’s how quickly these last few months have gone by for us. Now that we are smack dab in the middle of November, we are enjoying the last bit of autumn before the holiday season starts. Has it been the same for you? Or has time moved by slowly this fall? I’m sitting here sipping my apple cider and noticing that our trees are almost done dropping their leaves, but our neighbors still have a tree that is showing off its glorious fall colors. I hate to see those leaves…
3 Funny Moments From Recent DIY Projects
We’ve been immersed in DIY home projects lately as we rush to get things done before the winter weather comes. We wouldn’t have to rush if we’d started them earlier, but this blog post is about funny moments from recent DIY projects and not about procrastination. I’ll write that one later. I’m calling these funny moments because they are funny now. At the time they were more like “Are you kidding me?” moments. Or maybe “Are we on hidden camera?” moments. If we had our own tv show we would probably need writers because our actual script would seem too implausible. No one would believe the funny moments DIY creates around…
Happy List: #278
Hi! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m glad you are here. Today is Veterans Day in the United States. For those of you who served in the United States Armed Forces, thank you for your service. Did you know that Veterans Day is celebrated on November 11 because it marks the end of World War I? The official end to that war was 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918. So, the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month and it became known as Armistice Day. Armistice Day became Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all veterans and was signed into law by President Eisenhower. (source) Switching…
New Art For Our Navy Sunporch
I finally found art for our navy sunporch. Guess where I found it? In our attic. Hahahaha. I could have saved myself two trips to my creepy attic if I had just moved this art from where it was originally hanging straight to the sunporch. But, alas, I do not decorate this house the easy way. Instead, I take a circuitous route that is often filled with unfortunate mistakes but I usually end up with decorating that makes me happy. This “new” art for our navy sunporch definitely makes me happy. This art print is very large and in charge. The art itself is 2 ft x 4 ft. Add…
In Praise of Pretty Advent Calendars
The holidays are rapidly approaching! If you celebrate Christmas, do you use an advent calendar? We do not have a pretty advent calendar that we reuse year after year. I usually buy the kids a chocolate advent calendar. At no other time during the year do they get to start their day with a piece of chocolate, so those advent calendars are a big hit. I do like the idea of having a pretty advent calendar that doubles as Christmas decor though. Here are some pretty advent calendars that made me stop in my tracks. I think we could DIY a couple of them! Tabletop Advent Calendar | Grandin Road…
Happy List: #277
Hi! Welcome to the Happy List. It’s November! Can you believe it? This week on the blog I shared a Halloween update. I also wrote about the fall wreath I created using a concrete form tube. I like that wreath a lot. As always, thank you for continuing to show up here week after week supporting this little spot on the internet. Your engagement here and on Instagram or Facebook is important to us. Your support truly helps our family, helps restore this old house we live in, and keeps this blog running. Here’s the Happy List! BLANKET WREATH This is a fun idea for fall and winter from Lora Bloomquist to repurpose…
Fall Wreath Using a Concrete Form Tube
Have you heard of a concrete form tube or a building form tube? It is a super rigid, hollow cardboard-ish cylinder. It keeps its shape when concrete is poured into it. We used them to pour deck footings and had a few pieces left over, so let’s talk about my creative use for a concrete form tube. A concrete form tube with a diameter of 12 inches looks an awful lot like a wreath form to me. Can you squint and see it? It’s going to turn out amazing, I promise. If you want to use one of these tubes to make a wreath, here’s the process and what I…
Happy Halloween – How We Are Celebrating and 10 Jokes to Make You Groan
Happy Halloween! It felt weird to have a normal blog post on a Monday when it was Halloween, so we’re just keeping things light-hearted here today. Let’s talk about how we have been celebrating Halloween with older kids. Yes, I said have been. It’s no longer a one-day event in the good ol’ USA. We, as a culture, do not know the meaning of keeping it simple. We could benefit from chilling out a little, don’t you think? We took our youngest child to our town’s Trunk or Treat this weekend. He has pretty much aged out of dressing up and trick-or-treating, but he really likes candy. Can you blame…
