Someone is Peeking at you!

 

Believe me when I say that! In my house, there are "eyes" everywhere! This mister on the front porch of my sister's home greets visitors with arms wide open and a happy smile! I hope you all are enjoying this Fall seaason and are smiling just as broadly!

When I look around my home, I actually noticed that there are so many birds and wildlife watching me--albeit they are artificial! Okay, so my "real" cats watch my every move as well waiting to eat or to cuddle-- but the many birds and roosters and squirrels in my house, their bodies made of wood or resin or ceramic, all watch me too! My little friends! And I love them so much. I thought I would introduce you to some of them starting with the  little ones who watch me do the dishes--they are fascinated by the scrubbing and seem to say "Oh my! The suds!" Mr. Duck loves to watch the water rise over the plates. It's all I can do to keep him from joining in and paddling around my sink!

Above my sink in my decorative scale, a little friend has made quite a nice comfy home in the straw. Suspended above my head as I do those dishes,  it's a perfect place to see everything going on in my busy kitchen. Plus, she tells me when I've missed a spot!

Hanging from the curtain rod is a lovely green ladle and believe it or not, a little bird has made his nest in it! Isn't it cozy? Why even when I made a new display in the kitchen in my pumpkin basket, a bird made a nest! How do they get in the house to do so?  :)  Perhaps they fly in the open windows on beautiful sunny days. And then, wouldn't you know it, he invited one of his friends to build another nest hanging from the curtain rod! Oh my goodness! I guess there's room for everybody!

And now we move on to other rooms in my home --the bathroom!

Congratulations are in order for a new Mom! Above my light fixture is a nest with two darlings.

Sooo cute but oh soooo noisy!  They chirp all day and they chirp all night!

I have to admit it did take some time for me to get used to my friends in the bathroom. High above my head, two little birds who flew in one day found a comfortable spot to perch! We have a cathedral ceiling in our bathroom and these two perched themselves on the decorative molding on the base of the cathedral. They find the most amazing places! And they get plenty of sun from the skylight! Do you see them? They chatter with my friend Miss Chicken who resides on top of my medicine cabinet next to the washboard and basin. She's quite a nag about the laundry, but I love her anyway.

If I have told my children once, I have told them a hundred times--close the front door!! See, the little squirrels have come in and made their home in my parlor! One mama is even raising her family--see the babies peeking out at her?And her neighbor is another bird family. It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Back to the eating area of my kitchen, there are more residents. At least this one is contributing to our egg supply! She brought along her kids to chirp, chirp, chirp....

The walls will stretch to fit us all, I'm sure! And yet more nests, more squirrels, a couple chipmunks...A man who has friends should count himself lucky! I have both two-legged and four legged, living and artificial and I love them all. 

Moving on to the family room, well my two little ducks are keeping Raggedy Anne company as she does her knitting but sometimes these two brother ducks argue with each other. You see,  our buddy on the ground wants to find a place next to Annie too but our buddy on the bench says "there's no room!" so sometimes we hear some sniping between them but it usually ends rather quickly. Besides, no one wants to disturb Mr. &  Mrs. Birdie who have just made their home in a rusty mailbox and have proclaimed it their "COTTAGE".

 Silly, I am being today ;)  but it sure was fun!

  I hope you enjoyed the introductions.

I have been busy with lots of good things--still decorating, working with my Brownie troop, cooking, Church class and crafts. I unpacked one of my favorite items for Halloween that I have--My Warren Kimble "Pumpkin Dreams" plates and mugs. I treasure these, and I only have four of each. These were bought at such a bargain several years back. I found them after Halloween at Kohls on clearance for $5 for the set of 4 plates, and $5 for the set of 4 mugs. I remember seeing them on the shelf with the big red clearance sticker and being slightly startled and then a little paranoid that someone was behind me just waiting to take them out of my hands....my imagination. They were such a steal and I love them because that black cat reminds me of MY black cat Robin. Now if only I could find the pumpkin dreams flag...

I'm excited that the temps are dropping tonight--by 25 degrees!! We are gonna be chilly here for sure, and I couldn't be happier! I have already put extra blankets on the end of Billy's and Caitlin's beds and added some throw blankets to the family room and basement family room. You never know when you need to curl up with a blanket right? My kids are big snugglers. They've both been suffering with sinus infections, and I made them some hot grits. My kids love hot cereal.  Even us Northerners like grits!

When I opened the cupboard to take out the grits, I saw the Quaker oatmeal box so I made some cookies too. Caitlin threw in some chocolate chips. She's a chocolate lover like me :)  Maybe we will make some more today.

In cool weather, I could cook all day!  I made a big pot of turkey soup on Wednesday. We gave some to a friend from Church whose daughter has been suffering with a bad cold that keeps hanging on and on.  What's better than soup? A homemade remedy!

Finally, sadly our village has been pillaged....or is this a scene from a 1950's Japanese horror movie?

Oh Dutchess, why, why WHY????  You can't live in this neighborhood!  Even the headless horseman tried to evict her by throwing a pumpkin at her but that didn't work.  Within seconds she was fast alseep on top of our candy apple covered bridge and cemetery. We did end up moving the village to safer quarters, and we neglected to send Dutchess a change of address card  :)  but as every cat owner knows, it's just a matter of time till she finds it, sleeps on it, we let her sleep, we pray she won't break anything, and we pack it up for next Halloween.   Us cat lovers are soooo easy.

I hope you have a wonderful Saturday and have time to snuggle too :)

More Fun for Fall

It was a very rainy Friday here yesterday. Over an inch of rain fell. I loved every minute of it because I had a lot to do and as I always say--I'm so productive when it rains! I made a couple of changes in my decorations--I replaced the wooden sign on my electric wood burning stove with a Spell book--actually it's from Hallmark and when you open the lid it holds candy! Then I set up my witch and haunted house in the parlor. I strung orange lights around them and when you stand in my foyer and and gaze through the french doors into the parlor it's MAGICAL! I love how it looks. and of course I love my haunted house. My Dad made that for me :) orange lights are so exciting to me! I have them strung on a shelf in my hallway too, above my ghost trio!

We went to Hicks Nursery last Sunday. It's our family tradition. I have been going since I was little. Otto the ghost is the friendly ghost who tells of his latest adventure  through diaramas that you walk past and read. The story changes every year and we all look forward to going. It just wouldn't be Halloween without Otto. Hicks Nursey is a Long Island landmark! It has been there for over 100 years and the Hicks family is somewhat of a founding family here. Besides being an all purpose nursery, it also has decorations, home decor, bird supplies, everything. I took a photo this "pitcher plant". Isn't it amazing? The blooms are incredible and I very gently felt the "pitcher" and it was quite sturdy! What a great plant!

Here are some of the images of Otto's story. The employees of Hicks construct them. I wish you could all go in person!

 

After we did our walk through of the story, we did some shopping. I fell in love with all these pumpkins--ceramic, terra cotta, and there were some pretty resin ones too. There were also aisles of real ones and gourds. I just love how they set everything up. I could move in there and be happy :) Even the plastic ones put a smile on my house!

 

Have a great Saturday my friends!

Decorations & Mallomars

Good Saturday morning to you all! and what a beautiful Saturday morning it is here! Sunny and cool--just how I like it! Although I do love some overcast and rainy days as I am sooo productive on those type of days :)  but I can't complain because I was quite productive this week with my decorating. I have posted some photos I hope you enjoy......

Greeting you, once again in my foyer, are who we refer to in the family as "the ladies"  --to me they are the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus, my favorite movie--Winnie, Mary & Sara. I was lucky enough to find a sign that says "Hocus Pocus Three Witches"  and that just completed the little picture for me :)  When I have visitors to my home at Haloween, they know that when they enter the front door, they will be greeted by their cackling. Being sound activated, they are quite noisy all day, and I LOVE it! I'm sure in past blog posts I have mentioned this but I will say it again for any newer readers--I purchased these three witches from a  clearance shelf in a supermarket about eight years ago for *seriously* under $5 each. I still remember that moment when I saw them---let me get lost in that happy thought for a minute---what a joy.  To me, when the ladies return to their spot in the foyer, my Halloween season has begun. I love traditional decorating. I absolutely despise and reject any scary or horror type--I think it's harmful for the kids to see these displays of murder and horror. That is not what Halloween is! My witches may cackle but they are cackling because they are happy you came to visit! The traditional symbols of Halloween with jack o' lanterns and black cats is what I love---not people swinging from a rope hanging from a tree in their front yard and believe me I see a lot of those disturbing scenes that people think is "Halloween decorating"---NOT. I don't like when people decorate with those plastic body parts or nooses; I think it's truly disturbing.It gives Halloween a bad rap, as they say.
 Anyway.....I also made my farm basket in another corner of the foyer with some of my pumpkins and indian corn. I love that white pumpkin. It is so pretty and matches my foyer so well! I sprayed my pumpkins with a clear coat so that they would have some extra shine.
 I set up my collection of electric and battery operated witches and Dracula that I have collected from friends, flea markets and garage sales. The same company that makes the Christmas animated figures that move also made a line of Halloween ones.  I was lucky enough to pick up a witch in Stormville this past Summer for only $5.
I always loved the graphic of the Salem Witch Museum so I framed the gift bag :)  Love it. It's in the black picture frame....Also in my foyer is my favorite table that I decorate for each season and the grapevine pumpkin my son found for me on one of his bike rides on trash day. People throw out the best stuff in Commack. Sad for their them--happy for me!!

 

My cousin Johanna from Bittersweet Cottage gave me the beautiful Fall painted parchment that I hang on my french doors that go into my parlor. The parlor is the room I am going to work on today. And then we can move in to my eating area where I decorate my big window and then before you get to the family room is another window I love to decorate and my Halloween tree that lights up with votives.  Just a few more random shots--I hope I'm not going on too long for you..My knee hugger witch that was in a carton of vintage cake decorations I bought, plus a witch I love that was actually a McDonalds Happy Meal give away!! My Halloween stuff makes me so happy and I remember where I purchased each and every item or who gave it to me. Everything has a little story of its own. I will photograph the outside of the house and other rooms I have decorated to show you. Oh! I almost forgot the hallway of ghosts!

Stepping aside from Halloween, Billy and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary on the 17th. Uh oh, should I have mentioned that in the first paragraph? Am I a bad wife?  I hope you don't think so! I love my husband with all my heart and I have since I first met him when he was 12 and I was 10. We have had 24 wonderful married years and have enjoyed an abundance of good things sprinkled with some twists and turns in the road we never expected but navigated through them together. "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps."   Absolutely! I am quite lucky--I have a loving, hard-working man who loves his family, and I'm smart enough to know it and appreciate it.

I must confess to you though, there is one "issue" I have been dealing with...My name is Maggie, and I'm addicted to Mallomars"... that feels better. For some reason, our supermarkets always push Mallomars in the Fall (??) Never any other time of the year and they are always advertising them and putting them on sale 2/$5  in the Fall!  I LOVE THEM! I don't buy them in the Spring or Summer. I don't even think about them or put them on my shopping list UNTIL September and October and then it's Mallomars on the mind. So much so, I have a reputation with the neighbors. My neighbor who lives behind me, sends me over a box just because when she sees them in the store, she sees my face! And my other friend who lives around the block-- she recently had some surgery, and I had made her some chicken soup and when she returned the empty soup container, in it was a box of Mallomars--which was gone by the next day :(   okay the kids helped a little but it was me--I admit it.....The first step is admitting you have a problem.  So to remedy this dire situation, I am limiting myself to no more than three boxes from now until October 31st....I need all the support I can get friends. I mean, it is a little odd that when people see a certain food item, they think of only you. They may as well put my face on the box. Oh, and I think I'm also a little too attached to Archway Windmill cookies but that's another post...

Have a great Saturday--I am going to be in the kitchen preparing some apple recipes with the apples we picked last Sunday, and the kids also requested rice krispy treats. My sister brought over a delcious apple pie she made from some of her apples, and she tried a new recipe for the crust--an Amish one. It was a keeper!  Have fun!  :)