If poverty is the mother of ingenuity, then giving up shopping is the father of creative decorating.
Did I tell you I love decorating? I love decorating. It's a fun way for me to tap into my creative side and it usually isn't too expensive or painful for the inhabitants of my home although it can mean extra work for a certain someone, namely my husband. He usually helps with my creative brainstorms, sometimes grumbling, but at least it gets done. He is aware of a certain aspect of my personality that is, um, some might say, determined, which causes him a certain amount of anxiety. By this I mean he knows that I may try to do something on my own that I have no business doing. In the end it will cost him more time, money and aggravation than if he just did it for me. So he mows the sliding hill, our trails that we walk on, cuts down the dead trees that aggravate me (although I am still waiting for the stumps to be ground down...) and more.
I have planters that I keep out all year and change the plants or decorations with the seasons. I love to create a welcoming entry into our home. In the summer I fill my planters with plants and strive to keep them alive and looking good. In the fall I use pumpkins, chrysanthemums, leaves and twigs to embellish our home. In the winter I have purchased greenery like Spruce tips to fill the pots and urns until spring finally returns.
Well, I did a lousy job of keeping the Chrysanthemums alive this year. It's not all my fault as one poor plant and planter kept getting abused and knocked about by errant basketballs. In my way of thinking, boys having fun shooting hoops is more important than a perfect looking home, so the basketball hoop stays. However, before you nominate me for Mother of the Year, I confess to moving the basketball hoop to another corner of the driveway in an effort to save my poor flowers. It's a mobile unit, thankfully, and all was well until a giant windstorm came, knocked the blasted thing over and mangled it. We hope it can be salvaged, but I digress. My plants are now safe from basketballs, at least for the time being.
I do not like sickly looking or dead flowers and that is what I was gazing upon a short time ago. Even if I could go on a wild spending spree I would not buy any flowers at this time of year. It's November for crying out loud. I grabbed my pruning shears and snipped a bunch of scrub brush with pretty red leaves and plunked them in the pots that had held the Chrysanthemums. They looked great until all their leaves withered and curled and fell off. I left them in the pots for texture and added some bright (fake) fall leaves I happened to have on hand. It's a win/win. I'm still having fun decorating and it didn't cost anything!
I wanted to try something different with the urns by the front door and while I was out walking with the hounds, I saw the makings of a rustic weed arrangement. I know, it doesn't make sense. I spend a lot of time trying to get rid of weeds in my landscaping and here I am, cutting and dragging a garden cart full of weeds to use to decorate my front porch. Crazy woman or a cheap decorating genius? Depends on who you ask!
I had a great time putting everything together and so far, so good. I'm afraid that a good, brisk wind will scatter the cattail seeds hither and yon, all over the yard, but we don't have a swamp for them to take root in so I think I'm safe.
Fall was easy, I've got abundant materials to work with. Winter will be a little harder. I love my Spruce tips and everyone I know with Spruce trees, including my husband, wouldn't think of letting me denude their tops just for an evergreen arrangement. Hmmmm... Think, think, think, as Winnie the Pooh would say. I've got a little time and I'll let you know what the crazy decorator comes up with. Heh heh heh...
Did I tell you I love decorating? I love decorating. It's a fun way for me to tap into my creative side and it usually isn't too expensive or painful for the inhabitants of my home although it can mean extra work for a certain someone, namely my husband. He usually helps with my creative brainstorms, sometimes grumbling, but at least it gets done. He is aware of a certain aspect of my personality that is, um, some might say, determined, which causes him a certain amount of anxiety. By this I mean he knows that I may try to do something on my own that I have no business doing. In the end it will cost him more time, money and aggravation than if he just did it for me. So he mows the sliding hill, our trails that we walk on, cuts down the dead trees that aggravate me (although I am still waiting for the stumps to be ground down...) and more.
I have planters that I keep out all year and change the plants or decorations with the seasons. I love to create a welcoming entry into our home. In the summer I fill my planters with plants and strive to keep them alive and looking good. In the fall I use pumpkins, chrysanthemums, leaves and twigs to embellish our home. In the winter I have purchased greenery like Spruce tips to fill the pots and urns until spring finally returns.
Well, I did a lousy job of keeping the Chrysanthemums alive this year. It's not all my fault as one poor plant and planter kept getting abused and knocked about by errant basketballs. In my way of thinking, boys having fun shooting hoops is more important than a perfect looking home, so the basketball hoop stays. However, before you nominate me for Mother of the Year, I confess to moving the basketball hoop to another corner of the driveway in an effort to save my poor flowers. It's a mobile unit, thankfully, and all was well until a giant windstorm came, knocked the blasted thing over and mangled it. We hope it can be salvaged, but I digress. My plants are now safe from basketballs, at least for the time being.
I do not like sickly looking or dead flowers and that is what I was gazing upon a short time ago. Even if I could go on a wild spending spree I would not buy any flowers at this time of year. It's November for crying out loud. I grabbed my pruning shears and snipped a bunch of scrub brush with pretty red leaves and plunked them in the pots that had held the Chrysanthemums. They looked great until all their leaves withered and curled and fell off. I left them in the pots for texture and added some bright (fake) fall leaves I happened to have on hand. It's a win/win. I'm still having fun decorating and it didn't cost anything!
I wanted to try something different with the urns by the front door and while I was out walking with the hounds, I saw the makings of a rustic weed arrangement. I know, it doesn't make sense. I spend a lot of time trying to get rid of weeds in my landscaping and here I am, cutting and dragging a garden cart full of weeds to use to decorate my front porch. Crazy woman or a cheap decorating genius? Depends on who you ask!
I had a great time putting everything together and so far, so good. I'm afraid that a good, brisk wind will scatter the cattail seeds hither and yon, all over the yard, but we don't have a swamp for them to take root in so I think I'm safe.
Fall was easy, I've got abundant materials to work with. Winter will be a little harder. I love my Spruce tips and everyone I know with Spruce trees, including my husband, wouldn't think of letting me denude their tops just for an evergreen arrangement. Hmmmm... Think, think, think, as Winnie the Pooh would say. I've got a little time and I'll let you know what the crazy decorator comes up with. Heh heh heh...
4 comments:
Looks good mom. :) I love how you decorate!
I see you have some Cabela's magazines in that pile. GO CABELAS!
thanks for the comments and following!
Mike, I love Cabela's too! In fact we went there on my birthday last year and I picked out my birthday present: a spotting scope for bird watching. :)
Beautiful! :)
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