Christmas Interrupted

Mister calls me at work to inform me that the Christmas tree feel over, there were causalties, but on the bright side I'll get to re-decorate the tree.

I failed to see the bright side. I am not sure if he knocked it over trying to water it or plugging it in but I could tell the way he dodged my "how'd that happen questions" that the animals weren't the guilty party.

(pretend you don't see the cord hanging off the mantle)

Battle with the Christmas Lights

And I am losing. Every year I put you a few artifical trees - Lolly's room, my room, and the dining room this year. This holds us over until we can get a real tree for the great room. Usually I have no problems but this year every day it seems like there's another string of lights out. It's driving me crazy! Maybe I should invest in some trees with the ltd lights already on them. I heard they are easier and brighter.

Do you prefer fake or real trees? Do you have any with the light already on them?

photo credit

Almost Complete

You might remember that I started to work on our office a few weeks ago. I've made some progress. I had grand ideas of shelves on the wall but scrapped that (only after buying the selves and having to return them) thinking there really wasn't space. It's a small room, even for a small room.
The desk and all those cords are still a work in progress.

My favorite find was the that galvanized shelf we found on sale at IKEA. I got for $11.20. Seriously. They had about 5 and I wanted 3 to use in the garage or storage area but knew I couldn't fit all of them in the Rolla so I only got 2. But in the end I could only fit 1 in the car. On the way home I could have kicked myself because I think I figured out how I could have fit 2 in the car after all but after 3 hrs of IKEA Lolly and I were no longer able to think outside the box. So when I scrapped the wall shelves idea I decided to use the galvanized unit in the office.

My old desk had shelves and instead of using baskets I used these galvanized pots to hold paper clips, pens, pencils, post-its etc. I just bunched them on this "cd holder" until I can figure something better. Since most all of my "desk work" is done on line I guess it's not real important to have paperclips and such at my finger tips.

The wall opposite of the desk holds the tv stand below. I am not showing you the tv because it's so old it's not even vcr/dvd adaptable. We were using it in the dogs room but pulled it into the office to statisfy our need to be within inches of a tv at all times. I don't know what's more of an issue, our dependence on tv or that we've allowed our dogs to take over the guest bedroom.

Next to the tv stand is a file cabinet waiting to be spray painted black. That's Mister's job but I think I'll do it next non-rainy weekend. If not it could stay beige until the next re-do of the office.

I am on the hunt for a small chair to fit in the corner next to the galvanized shelves so I can sit in here and read and/or watch tv. Right now I usually do that in bedroom and it puts me to sleep and I have yet to finish a book this year.

Mardi Gras Season

Today while the cable guy was here to check out the cable box in the office, it struck me that my “holiday” decorations may have caught him by surprise. The House of Fowler goes straight from Christmas (the day after Thanksgiving to the Epiphany) right into Mardi Gras season (the Epiphany to Fat Tuesday). The closer we get to Fat Tuesday, the more festive the house becomes. It’s still early. I have yet to break out the feathered masks.
The beads at the bottom right are from my collection I acquired on Bourbon Street and that’s all I'll say about that. You may notice the vacuum cleaner in the background. The battle of vacuum continues...

Work In Progress

This is our back bedroom previous known as Santa's workshop during the holidays. It use to be the office, the first time around that we lived in this particular house. When we upsized we had a bigger office which I never really got around to completely decorating before we decided we had been three kinds of crazy to move from our original home and take on an upsized house payment.

Since returning to the original House of Fowler I've just used it for storing what use to be in the office and my gift closet from the bigger house. In my effort to declutter, my first project is to turn the office back in to the office and clear out the unused stuff. Amazing how many office supplies I have that I never, ever use. During one of my lunch breaks this week I headed to Ikea and happened upon this

Which after 2 hours turned into this

As with most pictures I post - much cuter in real life. If I had had a phillips head screw driver worth a flip I could have easily finished in less than 2 years. I love Ikea and cheap inexpensive furniture. I was lucky to find it on sale for $79.99 and it works perfect with this

The black leather parson's chair I got at Target last year for $35! Lolly and I are headed back to Ikea tomorrow morning for inspiration and possibly some shelves.

Lost In Translation

I told Mister I wanted Lolly's bathroom in the old/new house to look like her current bathroom - meaning the same color. This is what I arrived to find...

A little off, no? Mind you that Mister passes Lolly's current bathroom everyday. In fact if he didn't veer to the left at the end of the hallway to go downstairs he'd walk right into it. After seeing it for 4 years, you'd think he'd come a little closer?

Look what the UPS man brought today

Could these be any cuter?

I found them on ebay. I plan to use them to decorate the walk way for Lolly's upcoming birthday party. Once the guest arrive I'll move them indoors as decoration.

Time of the Season

I love this time of the year. It starts the offical Fall decorating season. 1st Halloween, then Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas. The house always feels so homey this time of the year. The decorating has begun ...

Oh and another thing I love about this time of year...

my incentive for packing Lolly's lunch box for tomorrow ~ something I usually put off so long I start to dread it....