Trees, Part 2, 2009

Big (10') tree in yard (couldn't get a very good shot of this)




snowman tree in front bathroom




small lavender tree in back bathroom




laundry room tree (red lights)




small white (with purple, lighted) tree in back hall




peppermint tree in den




tiny ceramic "Suess" trees on kitchen shelf




small kitchen tree




small lime green tree in dining room




black tree with red lights, silver ornaments, dining room




two pin-and-bead nightlight trees




tiny feather tree in dining room window




mardi gras tree in dining room




big (main "family") tree in dining room

Trees, Part 1, 2009

my special silver tinsel tree (made for me) on divider wall




tiny black (with silver decorations) and glass nativity on divider wall




tiny gold wire tree on room divider




pink tree (lighted) in "girl cave"




tiny tree on speaker in "girl cave"



fabric tree in sewing room




small blue (lighted) tree in guest room




tree in guest room




fiber-optic tree on stair landing




small tree (unlighted) on living room desk




small (lighted) tree on living room desk




tiny tree, left end of mantle, living room




tiny tree, right end of mantle, living room




tiny tree beside mantle in living room




blue, white and silver tree, living room




tiny natural tree on table in hall corner




"natural" tree in front bedroom (no lights)

Week TwentyOne, November 2009: The Season Begins

Last night I had company over for dinner, and then we went to the local light show. Now, while I still have decorating to do, the main stuff is done. I will finish in between other things, but now it's time to *try* to enjoy the season!
Here's what I have so far:
Outside ... candy canes line the driveway, and then curve around the front of the house. In front of a triangular shaped garden there is a "break" in the line of canes for a metal arch. Then the canes continue to the front door, where there is a wire arch built over the front door. Running lights go along the whole length of the candy canes and the metal arch. The are blue and white icycle lights on the arch of the front door. There are white net lights on the shrubs on either side of the front door, a small tree in a pot to the right after the net lights, and then some icycle lights (on the shrubs) to the corner of the house. At night, it's a long stretch of lights, and looks very pretty! The front door has a big wreath.
In the back (actually the side, going on down the rest of the driveway), there's another corner garden. The eaves surrounding that have blue icycle lights. At the corner of the porch is a tiny green lit tree, and also a small lighted reindeer (sort of cartoon character looking). There's a 5' tree on the porch with multi colored lights that blink on and off. The far end of the porch has a lattice wall. Along the outside top of the wall are swag lights; and on the side of the wall that's inside the porch are snowflake lights. Across the criveway from the porch, on the side of the pumphouse that faces the street, is a pretty wreath with blue & white lights. A few feet in front on that, standing in front of the yard light pole (the tall kind that belong to the power company), is a 10' tree, with lights and a few large scale ornaments. Farther on down is a white angel (bedsheet, 3-arm lamp, tinsel, lots of duct tape!), and in a small raised bed is a pair of (unlit) candy canes.
If anyone is keeping count, that's 4 trees outside!
I'll describe some of the inside in another post, and will also - sometime today I hope - post some pictures.

Week Twenty, November 2009

I know I never finished updating last week. I'm really tired! LOL! I will try to post later, but here are some progress pcitures.

Week Nineteen, November 2009

I'm not as far along with decorating as I had hoped to be by now; but a quick trip to visit my parents was important. At least I am reasonably well organized at this point. I don't know if I'll have help today or not, but plenty to get done either way. I still have evenings after work, and next weekend. My goal, of course, is to be completely done by the weekend before Thanksgiving. (my one "concession" to that is that if necessary, I can finish the outdoor stuff that Sunday ... but it's chancy on the weather).
I will try to post tonight about what I get done today, hopefully some more pictures, and a timeline for getting the rest done!

Week Eighteen Day 6 November 2009

Today was another long busy day. It was bright and sunny out, though coolish, but great for working. We got candy canes lined up down the (long) driveway, then curving around in front of the house, with a "break" for an arch in front of a corner garden. All the canes and the arch have the lights strung.
The only things left to do outside now are the lights on the arch over the front door, the angel (from an old lamp), the big tree (the biggest project ... has to be decorated in stages before we can put it up), lights strung around the eves of the two walls around my fish pond and garden; and then just placing a few things.
The front took all day, but we're very happy with the results.

This is looking down the driveway towards the back of the house.

Week Eighteen, Day 5, November 2009

I'm tired, and running behind on updating. Yesterday was very busy. I got an early start, ran some errands, then picked up Andrea. We got trees down from upstairs and brought in from the barn. We got 4 trees completely fluffed, placed, and lit; and one of them is decorated (sparsely, but that will change gradually). The kitchen shelves are partly done. Several smaller trees are in place and lit. We also decided on lighting for the staircase (even though the upstairs room is only storage due to no heat or a/c, the staircase is in the living room). We sorted through a lot of the lighting and decided what will go where. I think there was more, but I can't remember! :)
The pictures are of a tree I got last year on Freecycle. First is how it started out looking on the porch; second is tweaked and fluffed; and 3rd is in place and decorated.

Week Eighteen Day 4 November 2009

I didn't get as much done today as I hoped; but any progress is, after all, progress.
I slept late, and dawdled too much this morning. The only things I got done were some dishes (polished more silver). I picked up Andrea and took her to a dentist appointment. After that we went to Dollar Tree for some supplies, and a trip to Wal-Mart for groceries (OK, I admit - also got some very small silver ornaments to put on the tiny black tree!).
When we got here we had lunch, and then went outside. After days and days of gray drizzle, today was gorgeous! Today the pump for the coy pond got totally cleaned and the filter replaced ... Yay! Fountain again! We went out to the barn and got all the new (still boxed) trees, and some other decor stuff ... only thing left in the barn (Christmas) is the super big tree and the tree for on the porch. Hopefully by Thursday we can tackle those.
We got the boxes of lights from upstairs and started sorting those. What fun that was! I had bought a lot of new lights last year at after Christmas sales, and had forgotten what I had. With what lights we have in mind, we came up with a plan for outside. We also visited briefly with my neighbor, and enlisted his tentative help for Thursday to get the outside lights put up.
I took Andrea home to fix dinner for her guys tonight. I have a load of laundry in the dryer, some boxes all ready to go to the post office in the morning, and am now settled in for a couple of my favorite shows! :)

Pictures, Week Eighteen, Day 3, November 2009

Here are a few "in-progress" pictures: The floral spray over the opening between dining and living room; close up of detail on mantel (ting-tings in garland); Andrea working on mantle.

Pictures, Week Eighteen Day 2 November 2009

I have tried to upload some pictures of my "blank" surfaces. All I can see is gibberish; but when I hit preview, the pictures are there. So, I'm hoping when I hit "publish" there will be actual pictures! LOL! (If I remember right) pictures are 3 views of the living room; an empty corner in the dining room; and a shelf in the kitchen before it was emptied.