Monday Monday

I have the pleasure of my hubby's company today thanks to Columbus Day. We got new tires on one of our cars and laughed at Quinn's ballet class. Exciting stuff. I love extra days off like this. They are rare. We will do a little barbecuing tonight. Marinated kabobs.  The veggies are already done. Still have zucchini from the garden.

A few treasures found on my day out shopping Friday with my sister in law. I thought those little pumpkin candles were darling and had to have the sunset colored sunflowers. I think I will do something with them in one of my tins. The candle, a free gift from my favorite store. Oh, it is so cute in there right now. They had their holiday open house and the Christmas trees are just darling this year. I will have to get the nerve to ask them if I can take pictures.

It is going to be hot here this week. A couple of days should reach a 100. Gives us one last chance to play in the water outside. Quinn's hippy sister made her a cosmo chain for her hair. I loved it. I loaded the picture right onto my blog. That is how bright those flowers are. After Quinn was done with it my oldest (20) wore it in her hair out to lunch. Oh ya, she will be getting married barefoot with flowers in her hair.

Autumn Light

As I am sure you can tell at times, I have the worst house for taking interior photos. My house sits east/west and in the middle of summer I get no light really streaming in my windows on the sides of my home. Just know I am very jealous of you all with good sunny windows.

But this time of year the sun drops down in the sky and I get nice light in my kitchen all day. I love the sun peering in the windows in autumn and winter.

Finally I get light illuminating the glass in my cupboards.

Color reflects so much brighter.

It cheers me to see the sun shining through. There is just something about the light this time of year. I have heard others mention this as well and I am in complete agreement. My poor dining room with no direct windows is still lacking in the warmth of sunlight.

 If you ever wonder why all my photos in there seem yellow, now you know. How do you all overcome dark rooms in your photos? I have yet to conquer this.

Linking to:
Met Monday
The House in the Roses
Dittle Dattle
Coastal Charm
Show and Tell Friday

Finally

I finally found some throw pillows for my funny red couch. Let me tell you it was not easy to find something that would match, at least in the stores around here. I discovered these two yesterday at Home Goods. I wish they had more but only the two were there.

They match perfectly. Now I want to find some cute accent pillows.

Now to replace that ugly old green throw rug. I really doesn't go in here any longer but I am having trouble finding something with the right shade of red in it. We have dogs and kids so it can't be too light in color. Any suggestions?

Linking to:
Masterpiece Monday
Met Monday
The House in the Roses

Calzones

 A family favorite for dinner is fresh from the oven Calzones. I make my own dough and it is simple. I use the dough hook on my mixer and in a few minutes you have dough ready to rise. This dough recipe is perfect for pizza too. The recipe is from allrecipes.com and you can find it here.

Above is the dough after rising for an hour.

Fresh from the oven.

This night we had sausage, pepper and cheese.

Linking to:
Sat. Night Special
Seasonal Sundays
Mingle Mondays
Church Supper
Stonegable

The Weekend

The weekend is here and I am already in my jammies on Friday night. Little one is in bed early and I am catching up on Parenthood episodes.

Love that show. The mom about to have a baby with teens in the house. That was me. College and preschool. I have all bases covered.

I just love this hand soap. Seriously I want to eat it whenever I use it.

Finally polished my silver and moved my crystal back into my china cabinet. Why I ever took it out I don't know but it just looks so much better in here and all clean and shiny. Too bad we never seem to have parties these days to use this stuff. I have 27 champagne glasses. Why? Gifts and inherited I think are where they all came from. We must toast something big someday.

Finally ordered some new black windsor chairs to go with my thrift store red ones. Gone will be the black chippendales and the odds and ends in here. Still won't all be the same but they will at least all be the same style. I like things a little mixed up anyway. 

Halloween Cute

I like to keep Halloween cute and fun inside. My hubby and older girls would not have it so but I give them free reign out front to spookify. Inside though I buy what I like and decorate more for me and the little kids.

Just little goodies picked up over the years. Each coming out for one month of fun each to delight the little trick or treaters in our neighborhood.

When else can you have a string of pumpkins and a witch over your head as you do dishes and it be perfectly acceptable?

Linking to:
Show and Tell Friday
Sat. Night Special
Cherished Treasures

Wonky Little Halloween Village

Welcome to our spooky little Halloween Village.

We have collected some inexpensive little Halloween houses over the years and somehow we manage to make a village out of them. 

The little trees were my addition this year.

The kids love it and the littlest one always wants the lights turned on once it starts to get dark.

That is the best thing about Halloween. Things can be all crooked, unmatched and even a little dusty and it's all good.

Linking to:
Common Ground
Inspiration Friday
Charm of Home
Potpourri Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Fridays Unfolded
Show and Tell Friday
Tatertots and Jello
Seasonal Sundays
Coastal Charm
Design Dazzle

Autumn's Glow

There is just a magic in the colors of autumn and the light reflected from them. This time of year as the days grow shorter and the evening calls for lamps and candles lit, I get such joy out of the golden glow of all my fall goodies around the house. Even the kids comment on how cozy everything is and how nice it is to come home after a long day into a home that feels so welcoming. That is our goal as mothers isn't it? To provide a place of beauty and rest for the family.

Even little spooks seem less spooky in the glow of a candle.

Golden lights reflect a warmth that I want all visitors to feel in my home. I like the kids and their friends and our extended family to feel wrapped in love and safety here. 

Our house is decorated with things found along the road of life. Nothing fancy and much of it free to us.

But we do rejoice in the celebration of all holidays here. Making things special for the kids is one of my biggest joys. Of course I get a kick out of it too so I do it for myself and hubby as well. After all we are the biggest kids around here.

Linking to:
Women Living Well
DIY under $5
Sugar and Spice
Raising Homemakers
Wow Us Wed.
Open House Party
Fall Into Fall Party
Brambleberry Cottage
The Charm of Home
Itz' Festival Time
Fresh Eggs Daily

Concealer Question

Okay, I am a simple gal. I buy most of my makeup at Target so I do not consider myself too high maintenance but I need some help here. My normal under eye concealer just doesn't cut it any longer. You see having been born with dark circles under my eyes, I have always worn concealer but now that I am a bit crackled under the eyes, I just can't seem to find one that doesn't well crackle in the cracks under my eyes. So here is my question. Have any of you found a concealer you love and that magically stays out of the fine lines? I am willing to even go to a department store and spend a little extra but I just hate to spend good money on one that does the same thing so I thought I would see if I could get some recommendations from you all. Please let me know if you have found one you love.

Red White and Black Halloween

Who says Halloween decor has to be orange? Well, I love orange but not in my kitchen so this year I decided to work with what I had and bring in some black and white Halloween decorations to mix up with what was already on my kitchen shelf.

I was really trying to make it easier on myself this year and try to mix in decor and not have to take everything down like I have in previous years.

Love this little black and white pumpkin from Target years ago.

Battery operated candles add a flicker of fun at night. I love to pull up into the driveway at night and see the glow of all my little holiday lights shining through the windows.

This little spook was a gift from a friend. He is smiling over my kitchen.

Not too scary and I didn't have to take down and store all the goodies normally on the shelf. Simplified. Notice kitchen still not painted. Life.

Linking to:
Bowl Full of Lemons
New Nostalgia
Coastal Charm
Giggles Glitz and Glam
Bowl of Lemons
Rednesday
Cutie Pie Cottage
Wow Us Wed.
Open House Party
Fall Into Fall Party
BNOTP
Whatever Wed.
Common Ground

Monday

Blame it on pms or peri-menopause or Monday. I rarely buy these bad boys as I will be tempted to eat them but found my mini van pulling in the lot after the little one's dance class this morning.

Also, I have had a few people complain about my blog not loading and I have been trying to figure out what the problem is. I hope I solved it this morning. Sorry if you have had the problem. I do know Google Chrome works best for me when blog surfing. Thanks for letting me know if you have. I am such a novice that I just find these problems so frustrating.

Sunny Simple Fall

Before all the Halloween spookies comes out I wanted to share our fall decor. Our week with visiting family has been so busy that I just never got a chance to share. It was wonderful though. I miss them already.

I kept my kitchen simple this year as lots of orange would not look good in here.

This are the dining room and front room. For fall I just add a few pumpkins and fall flowers here and there.

This is my child's dry sink. Quinn loves to stash her kitchen toys in here so I regularly have to clear it out. The little autumn banner was picked up on clearance last year. I thought is would be perfect here.

Topped with some prim pumpkins.

I have to keep the table simple because we eat here every night and the table cloth has to come off all the time. I put my little slate in a simple wood tray.

And now that it is October, a sneak of some of the Halloween coming out of the boxes.

Linking to:
BNOTP
Seasonal Sundays
Show Off Your Cottage Monday
DIY Showoff
Making the World Cuter
Mod Mix Monday
Coastal Charm
Tabletop Tuesday
Wow Us Wed.