My Favorite Fall Yard Decorations in Our Neighborhood

 

I like this the best because it's so cheery looking, colorful, cute and not just for Halloween.  Do you put up any fall yard decorations?  All we have is this:

 

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Cleveland Public Square at Christmas

I really like the Christmas lights and decorations on Cleveland Public Square this year and thought I'd share some of them with you.

The lights on the trees were put up in the summer when the square first opened!  They just weren't lit up until now.  The big Christmas tree is on the far left lit up in gold.

Salvation through Jesus Christ is God's greatest gift to us!

I like the fancy stonework in the path.

The tunnel has lights and greenery on it, the picture doesn't do it justice.  Some trees have colored lights.

Oops, forgot to take the skaters on the ice rink--maybe I'll add that later.  They aren't there this early when these were taken.

Our church is having two identical Christmas Eve candlelight services, one at 4:00 and one at 5:30 then just one service on Sunday, Christmas day at 10:00 a.m.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!


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What a Difference Redecorating Makes

After having our house in disarray for almost three weeks due to redecorating, it was so worth it! Sue, a long-time friend and owner of her own business--Sue's Helping Hands, painted and tiled three of our rooms for us and we love how they look now!  We went from dull and drab to bold and colorful. Here are the before and after shots:

Living Room:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After--love the new spot for the girl & dog pic

Dining Room:

Before

After

Kitchen:

After

Before

Before

After

Bathroom:

Before

After

Next step?  Look into window treatments.

Related posts:
So Long Old Linoleum
Choosing Paint Colors
Friday Fragments Already

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So Long Old Linoleum!

Later this week we are finally having Sue's Helping Hands lay down tile in our kitchen, dining room and bathroom.  Although it will take 3-4 days since Sue is working alone (so far her helpers are all busy), it will be worth it.  The linoleum is so old, Gerard can't get it clean anymore which is extremely frustrating for "Mr. Clean."  I never did like the kitchen linoleum but chose to live with it for 17 years.  We will be using the same color tile in all three rooms to provide some continuity.  In the meantime though, our living room will be loaded with all our dining room furniture and perhaps the kitchen table as well. Since we won't be able to walk on the new tile for 8 hours, the kitchen and dining room have to be done in sections so we can get to our front door.  At least one of the days, we will have to go out the front door and in the side door to get to the basement (Gerard's bathroom is down there).  Not looking forward to the obstacle course part.

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Friday Fragments

Friday Fragments is hosted by Half Past Kissin' Time for bloggers to post a list of short things on their minds that aren't really enough for a whole post.

Sadness

Yesterday was a sad day for me. On top of a stressful day at work, I finished reading Merle's Door by Ted Kerasote which made me cry.  A good dog story but the last few chapters when not one, but two dogs die was very sad.

Gerard's brother is still in ICU because he is having trouble breathing and has an infection in his lungs.  He's been in there for a couple weeks now.

Then, I found out that our blogger friend, Sparkle the Designer Cat is very sick.  I read Sparkle's Thank You and Good-bye post last night.  Sparkle gives advice to cats and even wrote a book which we loved:  Dear Sparkle--Advice From One Cat to Another.

Redecorating Progress

I am a bit frustrated with our decorating plans because I found out that the great computer visualizer I wrote about doesn't show how the color actually looks when it's on the wall and neither do those little paint sample things!  So, now I'm getting seven more sample quarts to try out the paint on the walls before deciding what colors to use.  For the living room and dining room, Gerard is leaning toward yellow and me toward green.  Hopefully, once it is actually on the walls and we can see it, we will come to an agreement.  I could go with yellow, it's not like I'm totally opposed to it.  This weekend, I plan to start washing the walls to get them ready for painting later in the week.

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Choosing Paint Colors

After almost 17 years in our home, we are FINALLY going to redecorate the living room, dining room, kitchen and main bathroom!  I got my wish of finding a way to preview how different colors would look in our rooms when I went to Lowe's and looked at a brochure titled "Be a Color Genius."  at Lowes.Olympic.com, you can actually do this!  I was SO excited to find this that I spent three hours playing around with this on Saturday night! 

Right now our living room is blah white with white wallpaper with a light flower print in it on two walls in our living room and one in our dining room.  Our kitchen is a pastel yellow and our bathroom is a very light pink! 

I'm tired of the blah look and old outdated wallpaper.  It's was fun trying different colors and we are narrowing it down and have pretty much decided what we want to go with. You can see our "before" pics and the new looks that we are planning to do here.  If you have any color suggestions you think we should try, let us know in the comments.
I encourage you to give this cool feature a try!

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Who Did It? (Monday Mischief)

Before

With the cats, I just don't put up greenery or a lot of decorations. I did think this fake pointsetta would be okay but I found it at the bottom of the stairs twice!

After

I'm not sure which cat did it, but I'm guessing it was Manny Boy since he likes going on the hallway ledge more than Spunky Doodle.  On the other hand though, Spunky Doodle is the one who likes knocking stuff off.  Oh well, no harm done.

We're not telling

We all wish everyone a very joyous Christmas!

Joining in Monday Mischief.



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Fighting At the Manger Scene (Monday Mischief)

I put up my nativity set over the weekend with Spunky Doodle's help. Then this happened:

I"m helping unwrap the figurines.

Here they are.

Then joined in--All I need is a halo so I could be the angel!

Then here came Manny--I gave him a big whop and he left.   

(sorry, mom deleted the big whop picture because it was all blury.)
Not only that, but then when my mom came to pet me, I stood up on my
hind legs, made my fiercest hiss and punched her.  Yup, I was afraid she
would try getting me to move.

Spunky can be so selfish sometimes, but I came back later, he he.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Do you have a Nativity set?  This one is "home-made" by members of the youth group of 1982 when I was director.  For the post about it:  The Nativity Project of 1982 With Harry's Help.  I didn't set up the stable this year, just because it's so big.  This was originally made for the church to use, but after some pieces turned up M.I.A. and some got broken, I salvaged what was left.  (I had to replace Mary (made by Christi) and the cow (Made by Jeff). 

Linked up to Monday Mischief and Camera Critters and Cats on Tuesday



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Tips on How To Make Your Buffet Table Beautiful

A Thanksgiving Holiday Buffet (Image from Side-by-Side Facebook Page with permission)

First of all, these are all tips I got from Julie, the hospitality workshop speaker at this month's Women of Wonder (W.O.W.) meeting at Parma Heights Baptist Church.

1)  Cover table with 3-5 different pieces of material (big napkins draped, basic white base).

2)  Add boxes to create tiers for bringing food dishes and center piece up higher.
 
3)  Use pretty platters and bowls.
 
4)  Keep cold food cold by using one bowl with crushed ice and set a smaller bowl with the food on top of it.  

5)  Use warming trays to keep the hot food hot, hide cords under material.
 
6)  Add protected candles and put a layer of little colorful Styrofoam balls around the base.
 
7)  Fill in the lower parts of the table with greenery, pine cones and ornaments.
 
8)  Add a string of small lights among the greenery.
 
9)  Label all the food dishes and add a warning if nuts are in it.
 
10)  Set up the drinks/punch bowl at a separate table.
 
11)  Set up a special buffet table for the kids with foods they like.

12)  Martini glasses work well for holding candy and/or nuts.

13)  Wait until the guests all leave before cleaning up--enjoy spending time with your company!  (I really like this one!)
 
14)  Have some music playing softly.

 I asked Julie what she included on the menu for a Christmas buffet and here is what she said:

My menu I had planned for that buffet is:  Turkey and Ham croissants, Holiday Potatoes, sweet potato crunch, Waldorf Salad, Sweet and sour cabbage salad, asst. olives, vegetable tray shaped as a wreath.  For Dessert I planned a heath bar triffle, mini choc mouse cups and mini cherry cheesecakes.  I also had tall martini glasses filled with chocolate mints and kisses.   For the beverage I will have a lime punch, which is a combo of 7-up, limeade and lime sherbert. 

I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of the sample buffet table she had set up but I left my camera in my jacket in the other room.  The greens, ornaments, pine cones and lights really made the table look wonderful!  Hope you can use some of these suggestions for your holiday entertaining.  Thank you, Julie, for doing this fantastic workshop!

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Decorating? Bah Humbug!

I just didn't feel like decorating this year so left it up to Gerard. I just didn't feel like fussing with setting up the tree only to have to take it down again in three or four weeks. Maybe because we hadn't had snow, I just wasn't in the mood. Today we got snow though and I still didn't set up the tree. 

Gerard said he didn't mind. He pulled out some decorations: the Christmassy stuffed animals and the bear runner for the table. He hung up our stockings and I put the small Nativity set on the mantel. So far, that's the extent of our decorating.

I feel old that I don't get excited about decorating anymore. I never was very big on it, but this is really sad. I have the big nativity set I didn't even bring out this year because it's so big, it sort of overpowers our dining room table. I have a nice little village, but don't know where to put it. Spunky liked knocking the little people down when I had it on the mantle other years.  I know she'll miss it. I supposed I could have set it up there again, but then would have to find room for the other stuff we have up there.

There's still time before Christmas so I may change my mind and bring out more stuff.  The cats do enjoy the tree so may set it up for their pleasure.  We'll see.

What's Missing?

Do you see what's missing in this picture of our tree this year? Yes, lights, but that is not what I'm going for here. There's something else.

Here is a hint:

Spunky just loved laying on that tree skirt so much that I didn't have the heart to take it from under her and decided in the spirit of Christmas to just let her have it. No one sees it anyway when the packages are all on top of it.

Speaking of the spirit of Christmas, take a look at the Blog, Bid, Hope auction items over at Mama's Losin' it today. All proceeds will benefit The Liz Logelin Foundation and Anissa Mayhew, a blogging mother of three who collapsed after a massive stroke. You can read more about her at Blog, Bid, Hope. Bids start at $10, auction ends December 11 at 5 p.m.

Spunky's Post about this: Here Is Proof That I Still Rule

4 Things I Learned This Week-Part 20

Choosing Colors for Decorating

At Freaky FrugaliteI found a great site that helps you choose colors for your rooms that reflect your personality or the moods you want to create in your home by answering a few questions. I tried it a couple different times using different answers just to see what it would recommend. It's www.prattandlambert.com.

Driving

I learned I wasn't up on driving rules as much as I thought after getting only one right out of six on the short driving quiz in the Cleveland PLAIN DEALER on Thursday. I was floored by this so went over to www.gmacinsurance.com/SafeDriving to take the complete quiz. Apparently, they picked out the hardest questions because now I got them right and scored 100%. I felt better. Take the quiz to review some driving rules and see how you do (not state specific).

Computer Tips

Finally, I found instructions for password protecting files in Windows XP at Bloody Computer. I've been wanting to do this since I got my home computer. Right click on file, send to zip folder, right click zip folder, select "explore" and choose add password from the file menu. UPDATED: 5/24/09: When I tried to do this, I didn't get the option to make a zip file so still don't know how I can do this.

IE Problem

I discovered my blogspot blogs wouldn't open in IE and in reading Beaded Tail's comment on Health Nut Wannabee Mom if found that she had the same problem that was fixed once she removed her followers gadget. So, that is what I did too and the problem is now fixed, but my followers gadget is gone. I hope this issue gets corrected and when it does, I'll re-instate my followers gadget.

9 Things I Learned in Week 8 of 2009

Fitness

I learned a couple new things at Fitness 19. My trainer showed me a new shoulder exercise called iron cross that I didn't know before. It's good because it works your whole shoulder and varies the movement enough that I don't get so tired.


You weigh about three pounds heavier after you work out than when you start. It's crazy!

Help Available--Virtual Assistant

At Dwayne Dot Com I found out about a virtual assistant. I wish I had found this before I wrote "My Funny Dad, Harry" so am listing it here for anyone who may be interested in getting a virtual assistant to help with writing, proofreading, research, planning events, marketing, etc. (yes, I am going to contact her about helping me market my book online). You can visit her website at www.girlfridayservicesofmaine.com.

Twitter

I learned more about how to use Twitter and some tools that are available from My Tweet Plan of 2009 at Karlana's World. I learned you can schedule tweets and create some auto-welcome messages using www.tweetlater.com. Another cool tool that was mentioned in a link in this post was www.peoplebrowsr.com where you can search for a word and it lists a bunch of tweets that have that word and you can reply or follow right from there. UPDATED 4/17/09:I think www.search.twitter is easier. Whoa, there is so much to learn!

Decorating

I learned about a great decorating idea for rec rooms and at the same time making good use of games with missing pieces at Your Fun Family. Just use velcro and hang the game boards on the wall around the room.

Blogging

In Entrecard's general chat forum, I learned from Selcom60 from What's On My Mind that even if you spend 30 minutes reading a blog, unless you click on something while you are there, it counts as a bounce. Now I don't feel so bad if I just drop my Entrecard and move on.

Cat Facts

From Daisy, the Curly Cat I learned cats have pockets! the slit on their ear is called a "Henrey's Pocket."

From my cat calendar I learned that Persian cats don't like to jump or climb but prefer to stay close to the ground instead. I found that to be interesting.

In The News

A sauce pan can be an effective weapon for protection. She should have locked her doors though! She'll tell you all about it on this video and you can also read about it at www.cleveland.com/plaindealer

Judge's wife serves up justice

Spunky Doodle Enjoys My Christmas Village

This is actually something new I learned this week but I have so many things that I decided to make this one a separate post. I recently installed the update of my Kodak Share Software on my computer and found one new feature they added is the ability to write text on a picture. I found it to be much easier than using the "paint" feature listed under accessories.







You can see Spunky in action in this video (it's darker than I'd like though, sorry about that):