An Ode to Inspired Christmas Decorating

Hola darlings!

I'm pooped!  I had off today.  Today is our office equivalent of "Christmas Eve."  Back to work on Monday and the final push is on to December 31st at midnight, pant pant pant...  In tax and estate planning, this is our busiest time of year, even busier, if that's possible, than income tax season, gasp!

Anyway, I slept in this morning.  Ahhhhhh, the wonder of not having to rise out of bed in the cold and dark! I stayed in bed until 8 a.m.  EEK!  Had a leisurely coffee.  Tuned into a smooth jazz station online and played it loud as I had my coffee and perused some decorating magazines I'd not gotten around to reading for over a year.  Geez, Jan.

Later I decided that the furniture from the living room needs to go into the family room, and the family room furniture needs to go into the living room. But since there is only me here I did not attempt to start shoving and pushing furniture.  First of all, the sofa in the family room is a queen size sleeper sofa and that sucker is HEAVY!  Second of all, this furniture is WIDE.  It would not make it through the passageway from the living room to the kitchen without being tilted.  That means a minimum of two strong men.  So, that means if I want to rearrange my furniture for REAL, I'll have to hire some movers.

Damn.

Well, the thing of it is, I know they'd make short work of it.  The family room stuff would go out the service door into the garage and around to the front door (both doors are wider than the passageway to the kitchen).  The living room stuff would go out the front door into the garage through the service door into the family room.  Voila!  Room swap!

Well, we'll see.  Right now I've got other things on my mind, such as FINISHING UP THE FURNITURE SHOVING AROUND I started in the family room just for the hell of it.  Turned out I was sick of the sofa being where it was (in front of the double window overlooking the backyard) and wanted to move the recliner and the wing chair in front of the window instead.  I thought the sofa might be angled and the sofa table (currently residing in my bedroom with a t.v., a laptop and a desktop computer on it) could fit behind with the upstairs laptop, the desktop could got back into the den where it would be except it got bounced off my home network more than a year ago and I never bothered to try and get it back on (major hassle, let me tell you...) --

Well, the sofa did not work on that angle I wanted, nor on any angle whatsoever.

Damn.

It's now shoved nearly halfway away from "it's" wall into the room but there's plenty of room behind it now for the sofa table to rest and a chair behind that, and it's facing the window, which is important to me.  It's a lovely view, especially in the summer.  The recliner and the wing chair are in their 'new' old positions (I've had the room set up something like this before over the past 21 years) with a convenient table and lamp in-between.  All I have to do is get that desktop computer back on the network but if I can't do it in 10 minutes tomorrow morning the sucker is still going back into the den on it's computer hutch that has been sitting in there useless all this time!  I'll pull out the mile-long telephone cord and hook the sucker up that way if I have to, or chop a hole through the wall to shorten the distance to the telephone outlet and use my 30 foot telephone line instead of the 100 footer.  Hey, I had this house built in 1990 - who knew THEN about internet and home entertainment systems and crap like that?  Not me, that's for sure.  There's one telephone hook-up in the kitchen downstairs, and one telephone hook-up upstairs, in my bedroom.  That's it, baby. 

No cable t.v. or internet service, no satellite, no U-verse.  Just a landline and DSL.  I did buy a cell phone a few months ago through work for a really cheapy price and pay only $8.99 a month for it and hope to never use it.  I have got so far as to remove it from its packaging but I have not read the instructions yet and have no idea what do do with all the "stuff" that came with it.  It is supposed to be for emergencies in case I fall on the ice, for instance, and can't get up.  Hmmm....

Regardless, tomorrow morning the sofa table is coming back down where it belongs - behind the family room sofa!  And my Acer laptop with it.  The printer will be tucked behind the sofa out of sight and the footstool it presently rests upon will once again be put to good use as a footstool!  I took the newly configured room on a test spin earlier this evening by watching the Patrick Stewart version of Scrooge on my now obsolete 27" wide tube t.v.  I've got a converter box for it but who the hell knows how to hook the sucker up to the t.v. - even assuming I could pull it out of the entertainment center by myself (which I cannot, it's too big and too heavy) -- not me!  But the t.v. IS hooked up to my VHS/DVD player and I put it to good use watching movies!  The room works for me, even if it does look a little strange and I've got an antique t.v.

Geez - this is supposed to be an ode to inspired Christmas decorating.  I have to show you this tree - it's just beautiful:

The tree is from Laura Orr's blog, Markham Street Design.  Please check out her
other photos of this tree, including the close-ups!  It's just drop-dead gorgeous.

Laura fell in love with the feathers she put on the tree, and so did I! I had to have them.  I just had to!  Egad, is this what pregnant women go through when they have a craving for something??? 

Now I don't know this for a fact, darlings, but I have been reading blogs for quite a while now and I don't think I've ever seen a comment just come right out and ask someone "where the hell did you buy that?" if the writer has not volunteered that information. I think it must be an unwritten rule or something, you know, like the Ten Commandments of Internet Blog Protocol.  No matter how much I'm sure her readers wanted to know, just like I did, no one asked - where the hell did you get those?  So I posted a comment at Laura Orr's Markham Street Design blog and asked her - where did you get the feathers from?  I was very polite - honest.

GASP!

Guess what?  Laura Orr answered!  And not only that, she also told me how much she PAID for the feathers!

GASP! GASP! 

So now I will be a faithful follower of Laura Orr's blog until I die or get senile, whichever happens first. 

And I have to tell you about this fabulous place where Laura Orr and her gorgeous tree got those feathers from - PAUL MICHAEL HOME.  But it's after 11 p.m. now and I'm breaking curfew.  Plus I'm damn tired, so I'm going to bed.

I have MUCH I want to say about PAUL MICHAEL HOME.  But for now, I highly recommend you check them out - fabulous, darlings, absolutely fabulous! 

Count-down to Christmas!

I confess, darlings, today I piddled around doing this, doing that, and not really "working."  I posted only a few things here, for instance; I did not research at all; I didn't even work on the family tree that is due next week (gasp!)  Instead, I took a lovely walk early this morning, when the sun was still out, with a fresh quarter-inch of snow on the ground, to Walgreens, to pick up a 50% off wreath hanger and a large pack of AA batteries (20 on sale for $5.99).  I needed them because, you see, yesterday, I succumbed to the magic of the season and brought a pre-lit battery-operated 24" wreath for my front door!

Oh Joy!

I'm so happy!  I haven't had a wreath on the front door in years!  Not since 1996 probably.  The last wreath I had was a first-generation plastic model that I purchased at Walgreens eons ago.  It held it's shape perfectly and had glitter and red berries on it.  It was pretty.  But, alas, I gave it away many years ago to a friend who at the time had little money and two young kids and needed a tree, ornaments, decorations - you name it.  I gave her every decoration I had, including "Christmas Around the World" collector ornaments, a nice artificial tree, the wreath, tons of lights, etc. etc.  Happy to say her kids grew up with my contributions, and despite an occasional twinge of loss every now and then, I was happy to do it.  I didn't get another tree in the house until Mr. Don's first visit - whenever the heck that was (1902??? something like that...)

Anyway, I saw this wreath perhaps two weeks ago when I made a foray to purchase some 60% off ornaments (I know, I know, I swore up and down this year I wouldn't do that, but it's Boston Store and they have such lovely ornaments...)  The wreath was then on sale for $19.99, but since I was already loaded down with a dozen large ornaments and had blown my budget (so I thought at the time), I turned my back on it.

Yesterday we received our year-end bonus checks and I was feeling flush with cash, at least temporarily.  So, at lunch I ran to deposit the check and then I ran even faster to Boston Store in the Shoppes at Grand Avenue and headed for the Christmas area.  Sure enough, ornaments on clearance, but not marked down lower than what I'd previously paid for them.  Drat!  Then, I turned and GASP! there was a tower of boxes of those pre-lit wreaths on sale for the unbelievable price of $9.99.  Originally marked $50.  I know, I know!  Well, darlings, how could I resist?  I couldn't.  I plowed through the tower and picked out a likely looking wreath and hustled it to a check-out.  I toted it home last night on the bus in this gigantic red plastic bag (Santa would fit in this bag, I swear) to await installation.

I put it up this afternoon, one of those putsy things I've spent the day doing.  I managed to figure out how to get the battery case apart (it did not come with written directions, but since they would probably be in Chinese anyway...), insert the batteries, and get the case back into it's "rack."  Fortunately, there is an off-on button on the top part of the battery case that is easy to reach but is disguised behind the "foilage."  The lights are LED so they'll last practically forever but they aren't that dreaded greyish dead white but a nice and bright warm light, surprise surprise!

Back to today -- while I was at my second stop of that nice walk -- the Pick 'n Save -- the florists just happened to be putting out these gorgeous big glittery ornaments for a mere $2 each.  Another "I couldn't resist" purchase.  The single ornament I bought is now adorning my new wreath!

Here's a picture I took earlier this evening, sans flash -- can't figure out how to get the flash turned back on and too lazy to dig out the instruction book for the camera, oh well --

Hmmmm, on second thought, perhaps that particular ornament isn't the best selection for a wreath...
well, on the other hand, this is a Goddess-blessed house and the Hieros Gamos - oh, never mind...

It's staying as it is.  In fact, I just re-hung that center phallic symbol ornament so it's more perfectly centered within the wreath.  In future years I may add a few ornaments or thread some ribbon around it (the wreath, not the phallic symbol ornament), but for this season, I swear to you I'm decorated out!

Before I return upstairs to continue my off-and-on cleaning rounds in the bedrooms, here are the latest photos I could not resist taking of the living room. 

I've got a fire going right now and it's so warm and cozy in here, the flameless candles are flickering (LOL!) and earlier today I pulled out my stuffed grizzly bear (it's tiny, not full size, unfortunately), put a bow on him, and he's sitting on the back of the sofa right now.  I didn't take a picture though because he's away from the light and without a flash on the camera you really can't see him.  I'll grab a pic tomorrow when it's light in here or whenever I get the flash turned back on.  He's so cute!  He's so soft, and cuddly and smooshy - this time of year I'll take comfort wherever I can find it, even from a grizzly bear.

But - avast!  Soon the Winter Solstice will be upon us! And then the days will get longer by a few minutes in the morning, and a few minutes in the evening, each day, all the way to the Summer Soltice in June when it doesn't get dark until close to 9:30 p.m.! 

In the meantime, we combat the dark and the cold with our dressed up "Festival of Lights."  We decorate evergreen trees (real and faux), an ancient symbol of eternal life, with glittering ornaments and lights and every good thing we can think of, including cookies, candies and fruits!  We stuff ourselves with rich foods, cuddle and ponder next to fires, make lots of love (it's no coincidence so many babies are born during the summer, you know) under bundles of warm blankets, and drink lots of hot liquered-up nogs and such.  We busy ourselves (especially we femmes) decorating our homely havens and shopping for the holidays to find that just-so-perfect gift for our special somebodies, and we hum age-old carols under our breath as we cook and bake, even those of us who rarely otherwise cook and bake.  Even if it's crappy.  It's the effort that counts, and the critters outside will always eat it, even if I won't! 

Tree with faux-gifts (except for one real one) now arranged underneath the tree.
I'm loving that new tree skirt and my new jerry-rigged traditional star tree-topper.
Those gift bags cover up the "stem" of the tree nicely.  I think next year
I'm going to elevate the tree on some phone books -- an idea I saw this year
(after the fact) on the internet!  It will make it easier to crawl around underneath and
arrange the tree skirt and gifts!

In this photo you can see the "cardinal" framed pics I added on the right side and underneath the tick-tock on the left.
No close-ups of those!  This is the warm cozy glow of my evening/night-time living room.  As the pillow on the
chair by the fireplace says "It's Good to be QUEEN."

Whew! Finished...For Now...

The ladies of the Investment Club have come and gone.  The meal was successful and my holiday decorating was a big hit!  The ornament wreath, fully-loaded Christmas tree, mantle decoration and simple but elegant trick of branches in a tall glass holder elicited satisfying oooohhhs and aaaahhhs! The French Ribbon on the tree elicited many questions about how I did it, as did the ornament wreath.

This morning at the crack of dawn I was outside clipping more branches, this time for an arrangement for the dinette table - the only dining area in my home.

I love it!  These branches have more barberries and are the perfect tie-in to the ruby-colored that Mr. Don brought from Montreal for me some years ago (you'll see them in the second photo):

And a final photo of the finished product on the living room mantle:

The ornaments are not that large!  It must be the upward titled angle that I took the photo at that makes them look so big!  What an interesting illusion...

So, the dishes are done, no leftovers!  Angie made mimosas (yum!) and we had a lovely toast.  After breakfast we had our gift exchange, Sue distributed the presents from under the tree.  She's decorating her tree tonight and she said she's going to steal lots of my ideas, including decorating from the inside of the tree outward, which is a better way, I think, to fill in the inevitable holes that appear whether you have a real tree or an artificial one. 

The Pack is playing the late (3:15 p.m.) game and so I'm going to work on my latest "project."  Last night I cut out several color print-outs of photographs of cardinals in winter settings that I scooched from the internet.  I have some empty frames I'm going to put them in for the season.  They'll add color and seasonal interest.

Living Room Nearly Done!

This morning I put the finishing touches on the Christmas tree.  Then I had to clean up!  There was glitter over everything!  I vacuumed (again), and dusted (again), and put away unused ornaments.  I practiced a bit of restraint this year, darlings :)  I did, however, add a few wine and maroon colored ornaments to the tree, to fill in some perceived "bare" spots.  They add just a wee touch of color. 

I took a new photograph of the hand-made (I made it myself!) ornament wreath, too, in the natural daylight:

You can see peeks of color where I used "filler" ornaments when I ran out of the Family Dollar ornaments (60 of them!) to make the wreath.  It looks pretty good in the daylight, I must say, and right now, in the soft glow of the lights from the Christmas tree and candle light, it looks downright decadently delicious!

Then I puttered around doing this and that and - where the hell does the time go?  About 3 p.m. I realized that I had totally FORGOT (how???) that I have to produce a breakfast casserole, bacon and sausages for tomorrow's investment club Christmas get-together and gift exchange!  EEK!  But it was too cold and windy for me to go anywhere today, and I was in the middle of putting together the branch arrangement for the top of the mantle.

That means I'll be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow to get to the Pick 'n' Save for the necessary fixings and get everything ready to go.  As long as I have it all ready, I'll be fine, as the other ladies are each bringing something to share, including a coffee pot and coffee.  Since on regular days I only have one cup of coffee first thing in the morning, I use Taster's Choice instant.  After my last coffee maker broke I didn't replace it.  So, we'll have fresh-brewed coffee for the ladies who drink coffee like I drink wine.  Ahem.  Tonight I'm finishing up cleaning downstairs.  I don't know how it happens -- I think it breeds while I'm at the office -- the dinette table is loaded with papers, magazines, unopened mail and receipts, also Christmas cards.  Oy!  So, that has to be cleaned up, the floor mopped, Christmas decorations hung from the light fixture over the table, Christmas table cloth put on, etc. etc. 

I confess I've been dinking around the past 4 hours, puttering doing this and that. The local PBS stations are in fund-raising mode right now and so there have been excellent shows on all day - like "One Pot Cooking" -- love it!  And then not one, but two films about that man who moved up to remote Alaska in 1968 and lived there for 30 years -- all by himself.  Incredible scenery and incredibly compelling.  And now, a Celtic Woman special is on.  Well, slowly things are getting done, but what I wouldn't give for a concerted burst of energy right now like the White Tornado to get the kitchen and dinette done in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours! 

And, guess what!  Oh, you'll never guess so I'll tell you.  I have hired a cleaning person!  Yes, and I can't believe I did it.  But I was thinking the other day during lunch with an old friend that I've been living in this house 21 years now and I've never cleaned the kitchen cabinets in all that time.

OHMYGODDESS! 

She's the ex-sister-in-law of my friend and she's coming Tuesday and will spend the entire day ticking off a long list of "Things To Be Cleaned" while I'm at the office.  Oh, the joy, the joy!  She actually enjoys cleaning out kitchen cabinets.  Imagine!  And she uses only totally green products (besides a vacuum cleaner, that is) -- baking soda and vinegar are her tools-in-trade! 

Naturally I have to clean the house before she gets here Tuesday morning...  This first round of cleaning will be limited to the downstairs.  There's probably a month's worth of work to be done, wonder how much she'll get done in eight hours...

I have to say that I was very pleased with how to oh-so-easy branch "centerpiece" I added to the mantle turned out.  This afternoon I ran outside and clipped some branches, and had the happy thought to cut a branch from the barberry out front - still with some red berries clinging to it!  Then I added some icicles and it's beautiful.  And so simple!  I love simple when it comes to decorating.  What's best is that it isn't overtly "Christmasy" and I'll be able to leave it in place all season. 

I have only to hang the two stockings I bought (one for me and one for Mr. Don) -- although I tore my junk drawers apart today I could not locate two screw-in cup hooks, so unless I remember to buy some tomorrow morning at the Pick 'n' Save the ladies of the Investment Club won't see those stocking hung by the mantle with care. 

All in all, I am very happy with how things turned out this year with these new adventures in holiday decorating.  Some other images from the living room:

The tree by daylight.  I know, the French ribbon looks a little funky right now but in person, it looks much prettier with the light shining through it, and right now, in the dark, with the tree lit, it's magical.

A view toward the fireplace - before the new branch arrangement was in place.  I am amazed at the difference putting it on the mantle in place of my "red lady" made.

The corner table.  The decorative plate with the cardinal is new ($3.99 at TJMaxx), everything else was already owned or free:  cardinal greeting card (saved from last year because I thought it was so pretty) is inserted into an old frame; my mom sent me a greeting card a few days ago with a pair of cardinals on it - now sitting on the table.  Cranberry votive holder from Avon is OLD, baby!  For the holidays a red light bulb holds down this corner - I've had that light bulb (along with the green and blue bulbs I also use in the room) for at least 10 years!

Tree close-up.

Another tree close-up.

Christmas Decoration Update - Work in Progress

Pant, pant, pant...

Still hard at it.  Tonight I stopped procrastinating and dived in, starting putting ornaments on the innermost part of the tree.  That got me going.  Then I placed my gold pointsettias, then my pearl ornaments.  I love those four pearl starbursts and four large beaded drops -- haven't been able to find anything online even close since I bought them in 2006 in Chicago at Marshall Fields/Macy's (it will forever be Marshall Fields to me).  I added a few more ornaments, and then started applying the French ribbon.  Buying the sheer patterned French ribbon was a smart move! 

Here's a pic:

A looonnnggg way to go yet, but I feel now that I've sort of got things under control.  And now I'm going to apply the second five yards of French ribbon :)

Update 9:30 p.m.:

Already applied the second roll of French ribbon; since I was doing the lower part of the tree it didn't take as many turns around the tree to use up the entire roll, plus I think I've got the hang of twisting the ribbon this way and that to make the ribbon lay just so.  I am loving it right now!  Now I've just got a ton of ornaments to apply...

To Quote Billy Joel...

You may be right, I may be crazy...

I am soooo glad tomorrow is Friday!  I have a ton of work to do around here, and I just haven't been getting it done when I get home from the office at night.  Well, last night, I did get one project nearly finished -- I made an ornament wreath of my very own!!!  Here are two photographs of my final results.  To fully appreciate this wreath, please read my partial account of my construction trials and tribulations below:

My ornament wreath.  Lopsided, really really bad bow(s) and beads
that are not actually covering up any of its flaws -- but, what the hell.

I am not a craftsy person.  While I have developed a pretty good eye over the years for color coordination, furniture arrangements, styling, and decorating in general, that 'talent' (if it is a talent) doesn't extend to doing crafts or furniture rehab projects (you known, turn a $10 Goodwill broken down table into a priceless antique kind of thing)!  But lately - I must be going through a second menopause or something, like a roosting chicken? - I've been obsessed first with visiting sewing blogs and now with visiting decorating blogs by regular people.  Regular in the sense that they are not, for the most part, trained interior designers, but are women (haven't come across this type of blog by a dude, yet) who have families and are working with limited budgets.  Some of the things they come up with are ingenious, and I just love reading their stories about and looking at their photographs of how they have turned drab blah rooms into comfortable inviting spaces that anyone would love to be in. 

For the past few weeks I've been visiting blog after blog looking for inexpensive Christmas decorating ideas.  I blogged about the ornament wreath last night.

So - I started constructing it last night after I got home.  Drat - wouldn't you know it.  First, I couldn't get the damn hanger untwisted!  Then, once I attacked the thing with plyers and my fangs (okay, kidding about the fangs) and finally got it untwisted, I couldn't get a satisfactory bend to form a reasonable circle to save my life.  So, my resultant wreath is lopsided.  Argggghhhhh!

And then, I ran out of ornaments!  Yes, I had 60 ornaments; I broke one silver one, and the other 59 went on that not quite round-shape metal clothes hanger!  How could I possibly have run out?  Every set of instructions I read said I would use 40 to 50 ornaments, at the most!  Yeah, right.  What size ornaments were those women using?  Three inchers? 

Since I do not want to buy another box or ornaments (I've spent more than enough over the past week!), this evening when I settled in for another bought of decoratitis,  I closed the gap with some larger size multi-colored ornaments that I normally use to "fill in" the inside of my tree - they're not very pretty ornaments so I put them where they fulfill a vital function of filling in "holes' in the interior of the tree but aren't really "seen."

Fortunately, because of the way the ornament wreath is constructed, these filler ornaments are tucked away at the very top of the wreath and are now mostly hidden by my "bows" - more on that fiasco below.  I used three red, two green, and two gold that blend with the other gold and silver ornaments used to construct the other 98% of the wreath.  When I declared myself satisfied (I was tired of putzing around with the damn thing), I closed the hanger circle with the plyers and brute strength and measured ribbon to hang the wreath on the empty wall of the lower staircase that overlooks the living room. 

I got that done.  I cut the French ribbon long enough!  It is holding the wreath up and the "bow" holding the two pieces of ribbon together around the bottom of the ballister from which the wreath is slung on the wall directly below is holding fast!  Goody! 

But, staring at me was an ugly top of the hanger that has the hanging ribbon through it!  It's not covered up by the ornaments.  I could probably add 50 more ornaments and that sucker wouldn't be covered and in any event that hanger won't hold 50 more ornaments, it would explode for sure and I would probably die from a million cuts from exploding ornaments.  So, time to make a bow.

Now, darlings, I have to tell you.  I have never been any good at bow-making.  My sister, Debbie, she is a wiz at making any kind of bow you'd ever want.  She also has an absolute talent for turning out beautifully wrapped and decorated presents, so pretty you don't even want to open then -- now that's pretty!  But me - nah.  I make bows like I play chess - and that's not very funny, come to think about it...

Well, I tried.  A few days ago I actually watched a You-Tube tutorial on how to make bows with French ribbon.  I'm not kidding.  I actually did that.  Now, granted, I did NOT pile up three different kinds of sheer French ribbon to make my bow, so I didn't have to alternate them back to back and then face up again.  I didn't understand why that was necessary until after I pinched my bow together in the middle, twisted it tight with a twisty tie, and started to "fluff" out the bow.  Half the bow is on the "wrong" side of the ribbon.  For ordinary ribbon it probably wouldn't make much difference, but for this particular bow I used a French ribbon that is not sheer and only had glitter heavily pasted on ONE SIDE. 

Duh.  The result is a right side of the bow that is gorgeously glittery, and the left side of the bow is dull. All the glitter is on the inside curves of that portion of the bow, and can't really be seen!

To add insult to injury, once I got the bow fluffed out as best I could (which isn't very good), I had a hell of a time getting it tied to the hanger with a twist tie, and it ended up crooked.  The story of my life :)  And, unfortunately, while my bow did start out with two equal length "tails", I ended up wrapping one tail sort of behind the bow to cover the rest of the hanger.  While successfully covering the hanger, it added even more to the lopsided effect of the bow, that has a short but gracefully curved "tail" on its right side and NOTHING on the left side.

What to do?  I do not have a second 30 feet of that particular style of French ribbon and I don't particularly want to dish out another $5.99 at TJMaxx for a second spool of the ribbon, even assuming they still have some of it in stock.  They only had a few rolls of that ribbon when I purchased it on Monday. 

I thought about redoing the bow and getting yet more glitter all over me and my living room (everthing in the room and my teeth  are sort of gleaming right now, it's rather eery).  Okay, I won't go on and on any further, darlings - I opened up a different spool of French ribbon that I had bought specifically to tuck into the tree.  I gut about two feet of it, twisted and turned it around and just sort of stuffed it on the left side of the ornament wreath.  It doesn't match.  Not that I'm a stickler for matchy-matchy but the stuff I added is sheer, whereas the original bow is quite opaque.  Sigh.

Regardless, after having two ornaments "pop" off their hangers no matter how gently I was putzing aorund with the wreath, I decided to give it a rest.  It's not perfect, but it's 100% me.  TA DA!  Just to make it even more in your face I twisted a couple ropes of gold plastic beads around it.  Added bling.  All that's missing is some neon lights and the kitchen sink.

That sucker is DEEP!  At least five inches!  It's amazing, absolutely amazing.  And now I understand the instructions in a few of the blogs I read that advised (wisely, it turns out) to hot glue the ornaments to their hangers before beginning construction of the wreath!

Well, live and learn.  Live and learn.  All tolled, I am rather proud of my lopsided, crooked creation :) And from the angle at which I'm viewing it from my desk from below, it certainly is glittery and lush looking with the silly mis-matched "bows" and those after-thought beads in the light from the Christmas tree and the green light (for the Packers) cast by the green bulb in my desk lamp. 

I sure do hope I'm not awakened at 4 a.m. by a loud crashing noise as the ribbon holding the entire contraption up decides to give way...

Does it look any better from this angle?  LOL!  Maybe it needs
fifty more strands of beads...

Getting Ready For Christmas

Me and everybody else, it seems.  Reporting from my usual archaeological sources is down right now, hmmmm, wonder why...

My house is torn apart, busy decorating, cleaning, 10,000 things that have to be done!  No time to get them all done, of course!  And what do I do, I'm taking on more projects.  I was thinking today, out of the blue, about years ago (and I do mean years, darlings) when I was in Girl Scouts and we made toilet paper "carnation" wreaths on hangers! 

Well, I actually found a website that shows how to make those toilet paper carnations (I couldn't remember, it was like 50 years ago!), but nothing about making wreaths out of them.  However, I got another idea for a wreath, and so instead of spending $19.99 to get a pre-lit battery operated artificial greenery wreath from Boston Store (on sale), I am going to try my hand at making an ornament wreath!  I saw them at lots of decorating blogs over the past few days -- I've been spending some time looking at how various clever women are decorating the interiors of their homes this holiday season and it's just overwhelming how many creative, talented and ENERGETIC women are out there! 

A dollar store ornament wreath.  I won't be adding ribbon to this model -
but I have another idea for another type of wreath that I can also
make with materials on hand...

So, tonight I stopped at the Family Dollar and picked up 40 shiny gold and 20 shiny silver ornaments (total cost: $10.00) and am going to try my hand at "crafting."  LOL! 

Meanwhile, I also picked up a great idea for a knock-out (I hope) centerpiece for the mantle -- I just have to have daylight to scooch around the backyard cutting some bare branches; tonight at the Family Dollar I picked up a box of mini-ornaments to hang from the branches, all I've got to do is artfully arrange them in a tall glass vase or hurricane lamp  and stick the ornaments on.

Sooo, mantle is not quite done.  I have a great spot for the ornament wreath - the bare wall by the stairs!  And another idea for a different style of wreath entirely...  But, here's another ornament wreath that was for offered at $81.00.  Hmmmm, $10.00 versus $81.00...

This fun wreath measures 16" in diameter. It is made with about 100 ball ornaments covered in silver glitter. The balls are reproductions of vintage glass ornaments. They are actually plastic, so they are less breakable. The balls measure 3/4" - 1 1/2".  mfg:  Cody Foster & Co.  $90.00 -- on sale $81.00

Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't have...

attempted to decorate the fireplace mantle for the first time since the fireplace was installed in - 2002???  Whenever...

I intend to add strands of draped gold beads but I need to purchase some removable clippy-things to hold them up.  Not sure how it will turn out, and I will remove them if I don't like how the beads look.

I like the candles, I added gold pinecones and ornaments to the plant to dress it up a little (there was no other suitable window to move it to for the holiday season so it stays, too).  I'm not sure about the French ribbon, I sort of like the ornaments hanging from the ribbon. 

This is a working mantle - the television and aerial will not be moved!  A day or two before Christmas I'll cut some juniper boughs from my gigantic juniper in the backyard to add some natural greenery and fresh scent.

The room is a mess right now - boxes of ornaments all over the place.  I used one of my already-owned hurricane glass columns to build an ornament stack with already-owned ornaments and I like how it looks!  Got the idea from a decorating blog I came across while looking for instructions of how to add French ribbon to a Christmas tree!  Not sure I'll keep it caged inside the candlabra (center of table in photo, below).  You can't see them very well, but the topiaries have also been pulled out of storage and are on either side of the hearth, dressed with their own special red ribbons (not matching). 

These photos were taken only with the ambient light from the Christmas tree!  I told you itm throws off a lot of light!  No flash used.   I took several photos but because of the long exposure delay most of them turned out too blurred to use.  My hands shake after a limited period of time, no way around that, I'm not a tripod person!  On the other hand, I do like the slightly blurred effect and glow that the light gives to the room...

I have special looks planned for the dinette table too, using currently owned ornaments and a couple of tall aluminum candlesticks and candle shades long stashed away in one of the kitchen cabinets, but I have to get the right size candles tomorrow to fit tightly in the candlesticks, else it won't work!

I've already broken my vow not to buy a single thing for Christmas add-ons this year - oh, foolish me:

(1)  Gold frosted pinecone picks tonight after work - they were added to the plant on the mantle
(2)  Roll of gold French ribbon from TJMaxx today during lunch hour
(3)  Gold ruffled tree skirt from TJMaxx today during lunch hour.  I've been shopping for a tree skirt forever, darlings, and this was the very first time that I not only found a skirt I really like, it was also at a price that I liked!  I just had to buy it
(4)  Decorative Christmas design plate with greenery and cardinal (not yet displayed) from TJMaxx today during lunch hour
(5)  Box of four large white and gold ornaments from TJMax today during lunch hour.  Actually, I am thinking I'm going to need more ornaments, a lot more ornaments...
(6)  Christmas PJs (they were so cute, and so soft and cuddly, I couldn't resist - from TJMaxx today during lunch hour
(7)  Set of three wax flameless candles (cha ching) - purchased from one of the honorary Crazy Cougars Rock during some sort of candle party she held (definitely not Walgreens candles), and a package of mulberry-scented tea lights
(8)  Two rolls of gold patterned French ribbon from Walgreens
(9)  Two large gold stars to form a "tree topper" from Walgreens

Well, I have to say -- even though I haven't started decorating the tree, with its bright white lights off for the night and the red, blue and green bulbs turned on in my three living room lamps, with the flameless candles flickering on the mantle, I am loving the look of my living room right now.  Way past my bedtime and I've just started cooking a casserole.  No wonder people are so stressed out during the holiday season - they don't get enought sleep!  Got to wash up, casserole is calling my name...