So What Happened to all the Bronze & Gold Decorations?

If you had asked me this morning if I would be spending over 5 hours redecorating with the bronze ornaments, I'd have said, "When pigs fly!
I have already wasted 3 hours decorating the two trees."



Well, the pigs are flying around my house.


I had planned to pack the bronze stuff away, but when I started opening boxes of family room decorations, I noticed that the three small trees I used on the entertainment center last year still had bronze & gold balls attached to their limbs. The lightbulb flashed in my brain and suddenly I had a plan for those ornaments.

I went outside and cut down some real greenery.

I like to add a lot of the real stuff so I get the evergreen smell. I let is soak up water while I worked with the fake garland.

Five hours later I had it all competed.
This is just the center of the entertainment center.

This side has all of the real geenery.
And here is the total finished product.


I think it was worth every hour I spent. This little picture really does not show it very well. Give the pic a click and you can see it so much better.

Here it is using a flash


The flash makes the pears look brassy gold, which they are not.

I used the geenery that I usually use around the dining room arch. I think I will enjoy it much more here because I can see it from the kitchen. It was a ton of work, but I am happy that I took the extra time to do it.

Now I am going to order a pizza because I am way too pooped to cook!

Out with the Bronze

That bronze color is just not working for me.

I called DH from work yesterday and asked him to remove the ornaments from one of the trees and throw that tree in the garbage. Yes, he was a little shocked with my request.

But look what a fine job he did. Everything is on the dining room table in neat rows. You 'gotta love a man who will take a tree down like that.

While I was decorating it the limbs kept falling off. I decided I had no desire to work more with it to make it look decent. The poor old thing has held up tons of ornaments for years. Finally it gets to rest in peace. We had a moment of silence as it was tossed on the big garbage truck at 4:15 p.m. Friday.

(It was garbage day so that is why the urgency to have him get it done. I didn't want it sitting around the garage for another week)

Now I am left with only one bronze tree and I don't like it either. I love the bronze color, but it clashes too much with the pink living room. So today I will remove all of it and start fresh with a pink/gold palette.

I loved the 5:00 a.m shopping yesterday. I normally hate to shop, but there was a certain camaraderie as 30 of us (I was #20) stood in the dark outside Joanne Fabric waiting for the doors to open. Just before they opened those doors, I looked at everyone and said, "Now let us all remember that sewers are friendly people." We all chuckled, then dashed through the doors toward our chosen items. Lucky for me nobody wanted a Rowenta iron. There were only 4 of them and I got one. Just about everyone else was racing toward the fleece fabric sale. I wanted to buy the 7ft skinny tree they had as one of their door busters...just $29.99. I couldn't find it. When I asked about it, they didn't have any! She said they may get some in later, but not at that price. I do believe that is against the advertising laws, but I had no time for hassles since I had to get to work. So I have no replacement for the tree I threw away.

I also bought these beauties at JC Penney for 20% less than 1/2 price.

Whoo hooo, I love a bargain. I will be slipping into these in just a few minutes because I have to go into work for an hour or so. I hope they are comfortable. I have similar boots, but this heel looks slightly higher.

I have tons of decorating to do today so I'd better to get work so I can get home and begin.

Poinsettia Tree

Tree #4
My long time readers may remember that I decorate a few trees at work. I used to do 5 or 6, but I am getting very tired of doing them and have dwindled it down to only 2 this year. I've done the same ones for the past 3 years and it's pretty boring, so I won't spend much time talking about them.

This tree has red poinsettias, white ribbon, gold& white balls.

Tree #5 - The Sunflower Christmas Tree

Again this is a third time repeat.........I used to love this one, but I am tired of it now. The one thing worth mentioning on the sunflower tree is this burlap ribbon.
I just bought a few yards of burlap fabric and cut strips. They don't have to be even--just nearly the same width. No sewing required...just let the ends fray. I also used this fabric for the tree skirt.


Yes, I did do them today.... Thanksgiving Day.....
So remember if you like to be off on the holidays, don't work in a hotel.

Actually I had a good day at work. It went by fast (as it always does) and I got a lot of work done because nobody calls me on a holiday and I got to spend time chatting with my work friends. I truly did not mind working at all. It's amazing how all of us have learned to plan our holiday celebrations around our work day.

When I got home today I immediately started on my broccoli cheese dish to take to my mother-in-laws. I had it done in plenty of time.

And I am happy to say that it was pretty tasty.

So I have had a very busy day. I've worked, decorated two Christmas trees, made the broccoli dish, cleaned up the kitchen from that mess, then spent three hours at the family event. Oh, and I ate turkey -- for the sixth day in a row! :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I must get to bed now because I intend to be at JC Penney at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. I see some black pant boots at less than half price. Then I must get to Joanne's at 6:00 a.m. because they have Rowenta irons for 1/2 price. Mine died last week. By the time I get to work at 7:00 a.m. I should have a trunk full of goodies.

So Bronze & Gold it Is

I worked on the two dining room trees last night. They will be bronze and gold. I still have some work to do on them, but here's the direction I am going.

I removed the birds from the aqua/white tree and put them here where they match much better.

Last year I bronzed some faux pears and I have added some of those, too.


I will show more of it when it's complete.

Bronze, Gold and PINK?

Since I didn't use my bronze ornies on the main tree, I am left with a lot of bronze and gold ornaments. I am wondering if I should use them for the two dining room trees. I don't think I will have quite enough, so I am thinking of adding pink. Hmmmmm, I don't know..........


Maybe pink/bronze is not so good together. :) I made a frozen cranberry salad and noticed when I uploaded the pics that it was about the same pink color that I have for ornies.

I might have to engage plan #2...don't know yet what that is, but I will think about at work today.

I still have those 12 big lollipops that I wanted to use. Now that I have done the more formal main tree, the lollies won't match a thing. Dagnabit! Now what will I do with a dozen giant suckers!!##??

Perhaps I can find a way to use them on top of this section of the kitchen cabinets that I have cleared for some sort of decorating. I am planning to go cut down real greenery for this spot. So far that's as far as I've thought it out.

Look! I found a spot to store my pumpkin dishes. I was a little worried about where I could fit them upright in their box. I had forgotten about those Harvest gold plates I put there. They are a good match so next year I will find them both at the same time.

I guess this is my harvest season storage since I have so much of my amber-colored glassware here.

Oh, my, as I am previewing this post, I notice that the amber glasses sure look nice with those bronze poinsiettias.......Hmmmmmmm........perhaps they will be dining table decor?

The Weather Outside is Frightful, But my Tree is so Delightful

Well, maybe not quite yet!

It looks like I had a few too many cocktails before I took this picture, doesn't it?

At this point I stepped back and thought what a splendid mess it was! Oh, how will I ever make this thing look decent?

I never really have it all planned it out. I just bring up boxes and as I open each one, I grab stuff to put on the tree. At this point I was planning on a bronze, gold and white color scheme.


But what would I do with these gorgeous aqua tear drops I bought two weeks ago?
When I bought them I had a general plan to use them on top of the entertainment center trees, but I really, really wanted them in front of a window to reflect the light.
So I stuck one on and thought, oh, my, 32 of these sparkling in the sunlight would be beautiful. I decided right then and there to change the color scheme to aqua and white with just a touch of gold.

Luckily I found this big spool of 25 yards of old ribbon in the basement.
It's so old it's not even wired. I decided to give it a try to introduce more of the aqua color.

I started where most people end -- I made a big bow and plopped it on the top. Well, truth be told, it was not quite that easy. I had to climb that ladder, then bend and stretch until I nearly fell off the darn thing to twist the bow on the top. I climbed down, took a look and thought, yes! That's exactly what I need! So I climbed back up a few more times to add three long aqua streamers. Three hours later it was complete.



I am sure I will still be doing some tweaking. I also need to find something to use for a tree skirt. Last year I bought some bronze fabric, but since I ditched the bronze color scheme, I need to think of any alternate plan.

I think the tree sort of matches these glasses that I just ordered.

My First Thanksgiving Meal is just about an Hour Away

On Thanksgiving day we are having a family meal at my mother-in-law's home. That will be nice, but I always like to cook my own turkey, so today was the day I decided to do that.

The bird is in the oven now. We will have sweet potatoes and stove top dressing ( I hear some of you saying "YUCK!"). My MIL will be making the real stuff, so I see no reason to go to all that work today. I did make my own cranberry sauce. It's incredibly easy to do. I am not making any mashed potatoes either. This is a mini Thanksgiving meal. I really only want the turkey for the leftovers.

Even though it's just me and DH, I still set a nice table early this morning.

The newly-purchased pumpkin plates worked nicely on this table.

There are only two place settings.

The pumpkin plates could be a salad plate, but I am using them as a dessert plate tonight.

In fact I already have the dessert all plated up.

No pumpkin pie tonight either. Again we will have that on Thursday.

Today DH bought a Hershey chocolate Edwards pie.

I squiggled a bit of chocolate sauce on the plate, cut the pie and

voila! Dessert was finished....'ya gotta love convenience.


I think it's just about time to carve that bird.

A Married Man

I am trying to finish another thick novel - 408 pages.

I am on page 213 and the young widow and the married man have yet to consummate their affair. They did make a valiant attempt in the broom closet but it was thwarted when his sister knocked on the door. I have already guessed that the affair will never be consummated, she will suddenly realize that her current friend is the true love of her life.

My dilemma is whether I should spend more time reading the last 200 pages to see if I am correct or just say enough is enough, return the book and begin Christmas decorating.

Speaking of Christmas, I found these gorgeous plates in a holiday catalog I received this week.



Oh, my I do like them. There are four different designs.

I don't need them. I don't have room for them.

What I do have is a $20 off coupon that will make them pretty reasonably priced. Now if only there was free shipping....I like to get a bargain. :) They had free shipping last week, but I am pretty sure it has ended. I think I will wait a few days to see if they have free shipping. If they do, it will be an omen and I will buy them. Otherwise, no go. I have enough plates!

Rosette Wannabes

Some days everything just works out.

I had an extra five minutes before I needed to leave for work today so I ran down to the basement to search for more of the turquoise fabric I need for the valances. I found it right where it should be -- in the blue fabric bin.

When I got home this afternoon I set about cutting and sewing the tubes I need. Here you see 28 feet all sewn & ready to turn right side out.

Now that's a scary thought--turning 28 feet of these tubes right side out!

Lucky for me I have this.

I know it doesn't look like much. . . just a cheap piece of plastic. But if you stick it through the tube of fabric and attach it with a big pin through the eye at the end like this you can gently pull it right on through and in less than 60 seconds a 15-inch piece of fabric is turned right side out.
It's a joy to behold!

In less than half an hour I had all 28 feet turned right side out.


The last step is to hand stitch and gather them all. That will wait for another day because I am not in the mood right now.

I need to call my mother and see what she's doing for Thanksgiving. We are going to my inlaws, but I also plan to cook a turkey myself, maybe this Saturday. I need to stop sewing and start thinking about what I will be serving. It won't be anything too elaborate, probably just the typical turkey day meal.

Spontaneous Overnight Trip

I never did get any baking done.

Saturday morning DH and I decided to take an overnight trip to the upper peninsula. Look at the ominous clouds over the Mackinac Bridge when we came home today.

We love to get away for the weekend, but we will be doing it less with snowy weather like this beginning.

It was pretty, but not the safest driving conditions. We already have hotel reservations for 3 days the first weekend in December. Last year we had reservations on the same weekend and had to cancel because of a big storm. I hope we get to go this year as it's my birthday weekend. How often does a girl turn 39? Hee hee. . . I guess this will be about the 14th year for me!


We were home by noon today and I worked on my kitchen valances. I finished all of the panels and then started to think about what embellishment I would add between each burgundy triangle. I wanted to introduce some turquoise color because I have it in the family room.

Recently I found a new blog called Sparkle Jars. She posted a how to for rosettes that she used on a table runner. They inspired me to try something similar on my valances. I think I am really liking these. My original intention was to put a burgundy fabric covered button in the center. But now I think this may be enough. I need to make about 30 of these, which will be plenty of work without having to cover 30 big buttons also. I don't even know if I have any more of this fabric. I will have to do some detective work in the basement to see if I can find more of it. It seems like I saw some down there last week, but I am not sure.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Disregard the Broken Modem Post Below

After spending a good hour earlier in the day talking to my DSL provider, crawling on the floor to hook this into that and all sorts of other things they had me doing, they determined that there was a problem in the line and they needed to send a tech out on Monday.

Oh no!

Sheer Panic!

A tech has to come into my computer/sewing room! I spent three hours hauling box after box of fabric down to the basement, I vacuumed, & I cleaned the closet shelves so I could put all of my quilting books up there.

At 7:00 p.m. I finally stopped for a break. I sat at the computer and began doing a little clean up of files. Then I thought I would delete all of my temporary internet files. I deleted passwords and everything.

Voila! I looked down and my DSL light was no longer flashing. I seem to have fixed it myself. Perhaps it's a mere coincidence, but I am choosing to take all of the credit and thought I deserved a nice glass of White Zinfandel to celebrate.

Remember that fabric I bought a few weeks ago that I was wondering what I would do with? No? Does this jog your memory?

I have been working all week on turning it into valances for two large windows in my family room.

These are not really crooked. They are just stuck up there to give me an idea of what they will look like.

Here is the second window. I have two of those Burgundy chairs. The second one is just out of the camera on the right.
I am liking the valances. Now I have to make 8 more panels for the kitchen windows because the kitchen and family room are one big space. I think I am going to luck out and have just enough fabric for all 4 of the windows. How often does that happen? I am totally thrilled that I don't have to think up something else that would work for the kitchen.

I knew that I needed that fabric. I just didn't know at the time it would be for valances.
I love when everything just seems to work out. . . the DSL and now the fabric for the valances...perhaps I should buy one of the multi -million dollar lottery tickets this weekend.

Singing the Modem Blues

It appears that my modem has died. I will probably have to spend hours on the phone tonight trying to get a new one sent.

It may be days before I am back on line.

Just wanted to let my few regular readers know why I have disappeared.

Hope to be back soon. What will I do all weekend without internet????? That's a scary thought. Maybe I will spend some time in the kitchen baking.

The Worst Christmas Issue I Have Ever Read

Hands down, the award would have to go to the Nov./Dec. issue of Midwest Living.

As soon as I removed it from the plastic, I thought what a dull cover it was for a holiday issue. If their goal was to match the boring cover with their content, they did one fine job.

This is about it for decking the halls in seasonal splendor. They call it "Easy Decor Ideas with Felt."

In my humble opinion, it is one sad issue. Has anyone else read it?

Since there was nothing worth reading in my magazine, I did a little surfing and I found these candlesticks that were auctioned off in the past year. I own a set that is quite similar to the Vaseline (yellow) ones below. You may remember seeing them in the cloche post.


It's always fun to find that something you have is more valuable than you thought.

No, Mother, you cannot have them back! :)