Decking the Halls

I do love to decorate for Christmas. It is, by far, my FAVE holiday. There is nothing like it. It gets a little frustrating pulling out the "pre-lit trees". I mean, they only worked the first year that we had them. UGH! I can't stand all of those strands of lights that do not work on my tree. How do I get them off? They are wrapped around so perfectly and tightly, I can't remove them........well, I could, but it would take away from the actual decorating time. We got 3 trees up this afternooon....one strand works on the upside down tree, one strand on the "big" tree and 4 branches on the dining room tree. I know, it's kinda obnoxious to have that many trees. I have 3 more....upstairs. One in each of the kids rooms and one in the upstairs hallway....it's in a window and I love it! It's flocked with big, bright lights and fun candy-like ornaments!! I can't wait to get up there and get it out.

So, I did take some pictures of my Christmas closet. Yes, I have a Christmas closet. It is on the main level and it was a "must" for this house. That and a laundry shoot! I sacrificed having a pantry for this closet! My builder thought I was crazy. Maybe so, but at this time of year and when it all has to come down...I am VERY thankful to have this closet so conveniently located. It's not big enough for Halloween, Easter, 4th of July, or birthday stuff, but it holds ALL of my christmas rubbermaids and 3 of the trees....wait...not ALL, there is a closet and attic upstairs that holds the upstairs decorations! I guess you know what I will be doing for the next few days.

After John Connor's Thanksgiving program tomorrow morning and hanging out with some of my fave peeps (hint: we will be working on Wrapper's Delight Version 2.0), and a meeting....I will work on my Christmas decor. Wednesday, I have a triathlon that morning and then, if I survive, I will "hopefully" finish getting it all together! Thursday, we eat ALL day. Friday, boot camp and heading south to Destin!! I can't wait. Can someone work on some really nice weather for me? I would greatly appreciate it!

oopsie!

Ok, well.....didn't work out to well on the Fall Cleaning! hehe. I did flip my mattress the other day!! Have you done that lately? It will make a difference! My house is a complete mess. I guess I will be cleaning today!
I did take some very fun pictures at Aldridge Gardens on Wednesday!

Have a great Sunday! It looks like it will be a beautiful one!

Fall Cleaning!

Testing....Testing.......1.2.3.

Ok, I have a reason to blog....I guess. It's so sad how Facebook totally took over all of my updating the world....haha!

My mom has been very upset and wonders why I never "send" her pictures anymore. I don't think these will be pictures she is interested in. Well, maybe she will. She is always trying to get me to clean out my junk.

Several girls I know are doing this thing called, "Fall Cleaning". It's been pretty inspiring!

I didn't do any cleaning yesterday....well, a little laundry, but I don't think that counts. What DID I do yesterday? Ok, so today, it was raining really hard all day and I was pretty bored! I was feeling a little inspired to do some crafting, but was very, very afraid to walk into my studio/crafty room!! Then, it hit me! I could clean something out up there! hehe I walk into the room and my closet door was open.....WOW.... that place is a mess. Who knows what is even in there! So, here I go...........


Before side one.
Yikes! Did I just throw everything in here and walk away? Who knows what goodness I will find!

This is the other side....fabric anyone?

This just makes me want to sigh with relief! It wasn't that hard....Just a little straightening and throwing some things away and putting things in their place! Still lots of junk.....Lots of new ideas for projects for sure!
I had to fold and fold and fold for this to look neat! It was so fun though. I love fabric and some of it was from clothes I made for Emma when she was a tiny little thing and would wear what I wanted her to! Some is fabric for window treatments that never got made or were made and I bought too much fabric! Oh, and I found some fabulous trim that I can't wait to play with....I think I feel the need to sew!

Here's what they are doing: (I hope to do more....we'll see!) If you join in....maybe I will!))

• make a plan each day to be for each room or cleaning/decluttering project.
• take before & after pics and post 'em on your blog each night, along with which room you are doing the next day.
• come back to my blog and post your blog entry to a linky thing (this way you can check out everyone elses' progress to keep ya motivated too!)
• join in, even if you can only do something for 15 min. (EVERYONE can spare 15 minutes of straightening, throwing out something, cleaning up something, etc. and you'll feel so much better for it!)
• keep in mind- this is not a competition. this is not going to earn your righteousness or give you the "woman (or man!) of the year award"! this is just a chance to tackle a few projects around home with the encouragement of friends.
  
• BEWARE: don't get sucked into the deadly disease of Magazine Cover-itis! ;)

If you want to play along just post a link to your blog in the comments!!