wordless wednesday

2 Weeks

I've been checking weather.com religiously the past couple of weeks and just waiting for the inevitable: snow and freezing temperatures. According to the current 10 day forecast, it may snow here by next Tuesday (Nov 30th). I cannot believe it hasn't snowed yet and that the weather has been kind of decent (the temperature jumps around a lot, but it's been in the 40's mostly). I am thankful, but bracing myself for the negative temperatures that are bound to come.

There have been quite a few gloomy, dark days. I could do without those. They have a way of sucking the energy right out of you! I am trying to be aware of how it affects me and I try to correct it the best I can. Although it was a rather "blah" day, I still managed to keep my energy up and get things done. The trees around here look down right pathetic. The poor things have several leaves hanging on for dear life. I took a picture of our tree about 2 weeks ago and another picture yesterday:

November 6th

November 21st

It's amazing how much things change in just 2 weeks. I feel as if I didn't really appreciate my first real Autumn as much as I could have. There is always next time since I have 2 more years here. As I said before, nature around here is looking quite sad, but I'm sure it will look beautiful surrounded by snow.

Living Room Tour

A few of my friends and family members have been asking for pictures of our new house, so I thought this would be the perfect place to post pictures for everyone! I'll start with the living room since it's the only room that I feel is pretty much put together. I put the pictures in order, so this is a counter-clockwise view starting at the front door...


Here's our front door complete with a mini wreath I made last year. I definitely need a bigger wreath, which will probably happen soon since I'll be putting up Christmas decor soon!


This is the view you see once you step inside. The living room is to the immediate left. The kitchen and laundry area are just past the living room. On the left side of the hall: full bathroom & main bedroom. On the right side of the hall: entry to garage, half bathroom, Mike's office, and my craft room.

This hope chest is over 70 years old. I really wish I did not have to mess with the finish, but it definitely needs some TLC. Those cute pumpkin candle holders were given to me by my mom when I had barely any Autumn decor. She always teases me about taking them back because she misses them ;p The picture is from my trip to North Carolina years ago. It fits in perfectly with my holiday theme.

I wasn't too keen on this little window cut out when we first moved in, but I've gotten used to it. It's fun to put little decorations on it. Mike likes it for convenience. Since the kitchen is on the other side, I've passed many drinks to Mike through the little window... lazy bum ;p

Our comfy couch and my FAVORITE picture of all time. I've waited for years for that beaut! I kind of based the whole look of the living room around this picture... that's how much I love it. It's called Singing Butler by Jack Vettriano. I got it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for just over $40 (thank you 20% off coupon)! Oh, and I have to rave about these Dwell Studio Pillows from Target for a second. It was love at first sight when I spotted them online a while ago, but I could never find them (they were previously sold out online as well). I saw 2 of them at my local Target about a month ago and nearly had a heart attack. Needless to say, I snatched them up in a hurry... I may have scared fellow customers with my enthusiasm...

The view directly across from the hope chest and TV (I had to take the flash off so there wouldn't be a glare on the picture). My friend, Susan, gave me 2 of those little wall sconces as a gift. I recently spotted them while shopping and grabbed 2 more. I think they fill in the space around the picture nicely without distracting from the picture.

Close up of the little floral arrangement I made this year (I got the flowers, container, and floral foam from Hobby Lobby for under $15... I love that place). I got those cute little pumpkins at a local craft fair a couple months ago. The table runner is a gift from my aunt (can you tell my family loves the holidays?).

The view of our messy yard (I raked it all yesterday, so it's nice and clean now).

Other side of the living room. I am always rearranging the items on the little entry table.

The entry table's current look. My friends and family may not believe this, but I got that adorable cider sign from... wait for it... Good Will. Yep, you read that correctly. I don't want to say that I am a snob when I shop, but I never pictured myself browsing the aisles of Good Will. I've been putting together a frame collage, so I got the idea to check out Good Will for cheap frames. All I need is a little black spray paint to spruce up the ones that need a little TLC. Anyway, I saw the cider sign hanging out with the frames (ha, no pun intended) and picked it up for a whopping $1.99.

So, that's the living room. While I love those little lamps with the red shades (a gift from my mom), they are pretty dim and that is our only source of light. We need to get a standing lamp or add a light to the ceiling fan. Other than that, I just need to refinish the hope chest and entry table; add a little something to the wall that is perpendicular to the painting; and I would love a new coffee table (I hate having a glass top table). My ideal table would be a big, chunky chest with lots of storage for dvds! Hopefully I will have updated pictures in a few months!

P.S. This is the first time we've lived somewhere that A) allowed us to paint & B) we would be there long enough for all the work of painting to be worth while. I surprised myself with my color selection. I picked Torchlight from Sherwin-Williams. I am definitely not afraid of color, but this one is pretty bright. My reasoning is that it will cheer me up in the gloomy winter months.

Burn, Baby, Burn!

In trying to find positive things about living in Illinois, I found that I was quite taken by the changing of the seasons. Autumn here is nothing short of spectacular. Driving down long stretches of tree lined roads fuels my love for the season. From the deepest of reds to the brightest of yellows, the variation of color is amazing. Seeing leaf after leaf gracefully sway to and fro as they fell from the big oak tree in my yard made me smile… that is, until I realized that I was responsible for cleaning up said leaves.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for a little bit of yard work, but the task feels beyond daunting when a thick blanket of leaves has taken over what was once my yard. Granted, this would not have happened if Mike and I had been more proactive about the leaf situation instead of letting it get to this point. By “Mike and I”, I mean Mike because I did my part (which was telling him that something needed to be done about the leaves). I did “my part” numerous times this week, last week, the week before… you get the idea. All right, I admit the job should not be Mike’s responsibility alone. The man works hard all day and he wakes up at 4:30am for crying out loud!

Here’s the thing… I do not trust myself with large piles of leaves and fire. I have zero experience burning leaves and am not about to dive into it all by my lonesome. With daylight savings time, Mike doesn’t get home from work until it’s close to or after dark. Weekends are out of the question because… well… we are downright LAZY on the weekends. I have no issue with raking the leaves during the day and burning them as soon as Mike gets home, but it’s pointless due to the wind blowing them all over.

Imagine this x 1,000... ugh, they are EVERYWHERE!!!

Upon arriving home from the gym today, I realized we were THAT house. All of our neighbors seem to be seasoned leaf burners since their yards look nice and tidy. Our yard? Not so much! I’m not great with analogies, but it looks as if our tree had a night of drunken debauchery and upchucked leaves EVERYWHERE. I told you… I’m not great with analogies, but you get the idea. Did I mention that our tree happens to be massive (and possibly the biggest in our neighborhood)?

So, what’s a girl to do? I’ll tell you what… grab the jumbo box of trash bags and start stuffing leaves into them. Sure, it’s not the best solution, but anything that takes away our title as “Neighborhood Slobs” is okay in my book. Instead, it’s possible that I am now known as “that crazy lady who madly shoves leaves into trash bags”. It probably doesn’t help that I continued doing this well after dark (thank goodness for streetlamps and porch lights). An hour and 10 full to the brim trash bags later, I decided to call it a night. There is still the entire yard to finish, but at least the area between our fence and the street is clear and I’ve got a collection of leaves ready to burn. I think Mike got the message too. He has the day off tomorrow (yay Veterans Day) and said he would take care of the leaves after a celebratory breakfast he is attending. I must sound like a horrible wife making him work on his special day, but I promise he was actually looking forward to burning stuff and I intend to help him.

Hiding the evidence until it's time to burn it!

Yep, I just wrote a full 5 paragraphs about leaves. That is how much they are driving me insane. Congratulations to you if you made it all the way to the end. I’m impressed ;)