Opening Day

I used to hate baseball. I'm not going to lie I grew up in a baseball/softball family and I was the lone non-jock. I grew to resent the game because it meant nights without dinner and weekends alone (in high school this became a good thing).
Now, I admit to getting giddy at the first sight of baseball players on a field. I buy baseball t-shirts to support my son's team (Go Angels!) and even bought this awesome bracelet to wear to games:

It is available at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CrazyGirlBoutique?ref=seller_info.


Last year I started the tradition of decorating our front window for Opening Day. I kept up the tradition this year:

 This grass is only one week old. It grew so fast!

 It is really difficult for me to get a good picture of this window because of the glare on the window.

I have sold MANY baseball wreaths and have almost depleted my supply of baseballs. I am on the hunt for more. Let me know if you want to get rid of some.
The season officially starts this weekend, but we played a scrimmage last Saturday. It was  77 degrees and was delightful! I am excited for the season to start. We won't eat dinner until after 8:00, we will be at the fields all of the time and our weekends are devoted to baseball. I am keeping score for my son's team again this year and because he is now moving up to Majors I have to step up my game too. Wow, things have really changed.

New Year's Mantle

 

I admit to taking Christmas down as soon as I wake up on the 26th. When it is over, it is over. This year was no different, but I have been a little less frantic with my clean up. Generally, we go back to school on the 2nd, but this year we go back on the 7th. I think that is why I am not in as much of a hurry.

For a few days I toyed with the idea of hosting a family friendly New Year's Eve party. I decided to decorate our mantle for the event.

 

 

 

 

In hindsight I wish I would have stuck with an all black background. The patterned paper makes it looks uneven.

 

 
I especially like it when all the lights are out.

I don't think we are going to have an actual party at this point. I haven't made phone calls or invites. I imagine we will have a nice dinner with a few people and simply hang out and relax.

I also decided to keep a few of my Christmas decorations out for my front window vignette.

 

 

 I love my trophies!

 

Delia wanted to pose for a picture with her Christmas gift, Pete the cat.

It is really difficult to get a good picture of this window especially at night. I kept getting a reflection of me in it with my Christmas pajamas. No may gusta.

Tomorrow the tree will come down and all 12 bins will go back into storage. The rest of break will be spent cleaning, organizing, looking for deals and hopefully crafting and painting. I have furniture stacking up. I am excited to try out my new mouse sander and buffer Santa brought me. I was a good girl!

Everyone Has A Porch Tree...Right?

We have never had a flocked tree. I remember growing up my grandparents had one that was overly flocked and they decorated it with purple and red lights. The ornaments were all jewel tones. My grandparents were not your typical variety.
I wasn't a fan of flocked trees until I spotted one a few years ago that was partially flocked. It was so natural looking and made me believe it had snowed indoors.
One of my favorite local garden centers sent me an email stating all of their Christmas decor and trees were 50% off including flocked ones. We flocked over to the center and spotted the perfect tree the second we walked in. The first rule of finding the perfect tree is to keep looking just to make sure it is indeed the perfect tree. We kept looking and spotted another one that seemed to be the second best. We told the staff we wanted the one in the front. "No you don't. It doesn't have a water bowl and will dry out quickly. We can sell it to you for $10 though."
We talked. Do we want a dried up tree? Nope. We went with the second best one. It was $45 and was seven feet tall. Sure, I could have gone out into the rainy, muddy fields and cut my own for $20, but it wouldn't be flocked and I was short of time this year.
The kids picked out their yearly ornament. Drexler went with an Oregon State Beaver pennant and Delia picked a Chinese take-out container. She loves herself some Chinese food.

I love the flocking on it. It really helps my Mercury glass ornaments stand out. This tree is in our Living Room and is the center of our holiday decorations. Our family room tree holds the kid's ornaments and ones that were given to use over the years (teachers get a lot of ornaments over time). This is a fake tree and it is going to go bye bye at the end of this season. The good news is I know a place where I can get a fake tree dirt cheap.

 We decided for $10 we could afford to buy a porch tree. Yep. We have a porch tree. Doesn't everyone?

 I really do need want three trees. I used to decorate my parent's tree with a different theme each year. One year it was a rustic garden theme, another year it was toile and ironstone.Sigh. I guess that is what porch trees are for.
This porch tree has rusty garden tools on it. We had a windstorm the other night and it blew many of my hydrangeas away. I still love it!

It's Christmas Time With the Dickeys

I do not shop on Black Friday. Part of the reason is because I disagree with crazy consumerism, but the biggest reason is I wouldn't deal with the crowds very well. Black Friday=PANIC ATTACK. The day after Thanksgiving for me should be called Deck The Halls Day.
Back when my kids were little I would load them in the car and take them to the babysitter for the day. I would grab my Starbucks on the way home and I would spend six hours beautifying the house for the Holidays. When I was done I would pick them up and bring them home to a transformed magical place. Now, my kids don't have a babysitter (just our live in Nanny Nana) and I have to decorate around them.I started at nine in the morning and threw in the towel at ten at night (it took forever because my kids still need me!)I still have my trees to put up (yes we have at least two trees every year), but I generally wait a week or two for them.

Here is this year's mantle. I went with a "natural" theme. I like the white and silver.

My brother literally picked this skull/rack/? up at his wife's family ranch in Heppner, Oregon. Do you think it is a bit too much?

 I tried selling this banner last year, but have decided it should stay with me instead. I am trying to sell it on Etsy however. Check out my shop at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DickeysDecor

I picked up these "putz" houses last year at Marshall's after Christmas. I LOVE them.

Our leg lamp is famous in the neighborhood. You can see it clearly from the street. It is fageelay.

This is the fireplace downstairs. I have big plans to build a mantle for it after the holidays. This banner is also on Etsy! http://www.etsy.com/shop/DickeysDecor

Can't forget the top of the television.

I have a few things I need to finish up for our outside decorations this weekend. I also need to hang my AWESOME new vintage poster I picked up. I will share pictures of of that soon. Next week I will be busy gearing up for a big event at my children's school and the only bazaar I am doing this season. Whew.

Thanksgiving Decorations

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Growing up we spent Thanksgiving raking leaves at my Grandma's in Central Oregon. My parents would clean her yard, my Grandma would cook and the kids would run amok. Late in the afternoon we sat down to a delicious meal. This picture is vivid in my mind.
Drexler was born a week before Thanksgiving. Throughout my pregnancy I craved Thanksgiving dinner. After my C-section I was told to take it easy, but alas Thanksgiving dinner won out. Mr.Dickey and I headed out the door with Drexler and planned on spending the day showing him off. Major mistake.
To make a long story short I had a nursing melt down and wound up at the hospital hooked up to an industrial "milker". The next month is fuzzy, but all I can say is my stress got the best me. Stressed breast feeder +  lazy nurser = Not fun.
I eventually got things down (with lots of support from my friends and husband) and Drexler nursed for an entire year. However, the following Thanksgiving we decided we would have the  dinner at our house to avoid chaos (real smart huh?).
Over the last ten years I have come to accept I am a control freak when it comes to Thanksgiving. We open our home to anyone who wants to come. Sometimes my family pops in, but usually it is my husband's family. I have a hard time making food assignments because I want things my way. I smoke my turkey, make the potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and other dishes. Our guests bring appetizers, pies, and salads. I enjoy prepping and cooking all day with my coffee and later on, wine. A few years ago I had another meltdown. This time I was upset that my family was never all together for Thanksgiving. We started the tradition that every two years the Altig's (my maiden name) would go somewhere for Thanksgiving with just the immediate family. This includes: my parents, my three siblings and their spouses and five nieces and nephews. I love these years. Next year our plan is to head to the beach. I CAN'T WAIT.

With all of that being said I also love to decorate for Thanksgiving:

I may, or may not, get to creating a few more Thanksgiving projects. Enjoy this time of year...I will.

Basketball Widow

My husband is a HUGE Portland Trailblazer fan. My Blazer basement is a testament to this. Once the NBA season starts I become a Basketball Widow. The older Drexler gets (yes he was named after Clyde "The Glide" Drexler) he wants to go to most of the games. This leaves Delia and I home alone and left to our own devices.
To celebrate our first night of freedom we busted out the glue guns and got to work. I finished up a few projects.

I made this on Sunday afternoon with some friends. We were produced more pumpkins than the patch down the street. I admit to scavenging stems from my local grocery store (shhh don't tell). I don't actually pull stems off, but rather look on the ground for decapitated stems.



I should have fluffed the side out a bit more...looks uneven here.

Target had some great stickers to add to cups for Halloween parties. They are awesome! I had a few empty glass jars hanging around and made some potions.

 A few years ago I bought some wooden coffins and never got around to finishing them. I spray painted them black and that was the end of it. Last night Delia embellished a coffin and I found this picture from Graphic Fairy I had printed off just because I liked it. I decided to put it on the front of the coffin with decoupage. I embellished the sides with vintage tinsel garland. I added some words and some old lace to finish it off. I have a few more I may play around with, after all the season has just begun.