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Finally Thanksgiving

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I’d thought it was about time to share my Thanksgiving with you before we got further along into Christmas. And before we get too wrapped up into, shopping, wrapping, sending, wishing, trimming, decorating, missing holiday linky parties that seem to come all too soon for my taste, and in general trying to simplify the holiday season without actually simplifying it all. *WHEW* Exhausted much?

Anywho, for Thanksgiving the Bubs and I visited my sweet mom. We ate until our jeans screamed out in agony, then we unbuckled our belts and ate some pie. Skinny jeans were totally out of the question with this feast laid out.

Fruit salad, yummy yams (that are so sweet they could rot your teeth), turkey, fresh roll, and over course the corn bread dressing. Turkey is not the main man here, it’s definitely the dressing. Thanksgiving at our house is just not complete without Grandma’s cornbread dressing. And it’s oh so easy to make. If you ever get a hankerin’ for some warm comfort food, here’s the recipe.

Corn Bread Dressing

1/2 cup onion chopped finely

1/2 cup celery diced fine

2/3 cup butter

2 quarts cornbread crumbs (be sure the cornbread is well browned)

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken or Turkey stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and celery in butter. In a large mixing bowl  crumble the cornbread and add the chopped hard-boiled eggs to the cornbread. After eggs and cornbread are mixed, add the sauted onion and celery to cornbread mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and moisten with chicken stock or turkey stock. Turn into a shallow well buttered casserole dish and bake until golden brown on top.

But before feasting on our traditional dressing and pie, I felt compelled to make a pretty table. Why should we eat a delicious dinner at an un-dressed table?

Simple, easy, and not so naked anymore.

It was so easy to dress the table too, my mom has all the fixins’ for a beautiful table. So, everything I used was just around the house. She’s got the prettiest serving dishes too.

And just like me, she likes her home to be festive for the holiday.

I can’t wait to see what she does for Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and aren’t forgetting the Reason for the Season.

Thanksgiving

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“They will celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.” Psalm 145:7

Thank you Lord for bringing me so much to be grateful for. And thank you for giving us this holiday to reflect on all those great and marvelous blessings.

Oh, family and our similarities…thank you.

My Bubba, with his Superman curl and silver hair, which are each named April…thank you.

My dogs who patiently wait for their walks while I try to find matching socks…thank you.

For my home, be it messy and dusty it shelters me from the cold and the rain…thank you.

Have a happy and grateful  Thanksgiving!

Slim and Trim

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Actually, nothing is slim and trim around these parts, except maybe my wallet and the done category of my to-do list. But thankfully,  this past weekend I was able to mark off something from my to-do list, FINALLY! It’s something that’s been festering since I bought the house back in August of 2008 (has it really been that long now?!).

Can you guess what it was?

Probably not, there are a lot of items that still need to be checked off the ol’ to-do list out here. Here’s a hint…

Need some more help? Well, here’s what things have been looking like out here that past 3 years…

And here’s the same view on Sunday…

Yep, I FINALLY painted the trim and porch. I still can’t believe I put it off for so long. It took my entire Saturday, but it was well worth the pride I feel when walking under my porch to enter our humble abode.

Here’s some before and after shots to give you a  better idea of why this little paint job made such a big difference…

The after from the same angle…

She could probably use some caulking to fill in some of the cracks, and a second coat in some spots. But she still looks much better than she did before. It’s amazing what a little lipstick can do for a girl.

The paint is, Wild Sage from Behr (I think), I used a Paint and Primer in one, with a semi-gloss finish. Quite an impressive product, I loved the consistency of the paint, not too runny that it practically drips from your brush or roller before hitting the desired surface but not too thick that it dries out in the tray. (That doesn’t mean that I didn’t end up wearing it.)

I started the process by chipping away the larger and looser chunks of paint. Not too much scrapping though, the wood on my trim is so old it started coming off with the old paint. So, I had to resort to a little bit of sanding to gently remove the debris and chipping paint. Someday we will install new wood trim, but for now the paint makes for a happy but temporary fix.

Ahhh….much better. Now, I can ignore all the other things I need to do to the exterior while I bask in the glow of a newly painted trim.

*Note: I have not been comped by Home Depot or Behr for mentioned their products here on the blog. End Note*

Sitting Pretty

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

Since this whole blogging about treasures for 31 days straight has been a massive FAIL, my 31 days series will come to an end at the end of October. And instead of 31 days, it will be a 16 day series. That is, if I can make myself post everyday until Halloween. Again,a massive FAIL on my part when it has come to blogging everyday, including weekends, vacation time, and those all too frequent  uninspired days. So I do apologize to those of you who were looking forward to a full 31 days of treasures. But rest assured, I will share my vintage finds with you here and there. I own and am still finding a lot of great vintage-y treasures, it would almost be a crime not to share!

As I had mentioned in a previous post, I’ve got quite the addiction to milk glass items. Especially when it comes to milk glass vases of various shapes and sizes. My favorite at the moment is a hob nail vase…

She’s sort of short and squatty but I think she’s cute. If I had been smart, I would have bought some flowers or placed a few pens in her to show you the different ways you can use such a vase. However, much like the disorganized bum I am, I wasn’t thinking ahead. But thanks to my addiction to Pinterest I’ve got a few visual examples.

via Pinterest via In This Instance

Here’s my milk glass vase being used as a straw holder. And those paper straws? Super cute, I have my own stash left over from the wedding/house warming party.

via Pinterest via Etsy

I love the green apples in this milk glass piece. I’ve always got a milk glass bowl filled with some sort of fruit on my kitchen table.

via Pinterest via In This Instance

Don’t think that milk glass is only for sitting up on a shelf to look pretty. It can be used for so many other purposes too. Like organizing stationary, quite a clever idea actually.

I may have to take down some of my pieces  from their little shelves and put them to work. No more just sitting pretty for them!

Milky Way Glass

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

Yesterday I talked about all the creative ways others have displayed their vintage camera collections. Apparently I’ve got a theme going this week, because today I’d like to talk about how to display milk glass collections. As you know (and if you don’t you’re about to find out) I have a very extensive collection of milk glass items. It varies from baking pans and mixing bowls to vases and candy dishes. But if it’s milk glass and it’s not in a form of milk glass that I already own, you know I’ll be cradling that item in my arm all the way to the register  like Peyton Manning does with a football running to make a touch down. (Is that football reference correct? It sounded right to me, besides that who doesn’t enjoy a good Manning reference?)

Here is a very small glimpse into my collection of milk glass…

The red bookcase Bubba bought at a yard sale for $5  several years ago. Apparently, the older gentleman he bought it from had made it in an afternoon and didn’t really care for the way it turned out. I liked it enough to use it in my last college apartment, my first career apartment, and finally to display it in my first non-rental home. It wasn’t until a co-worker of mine mentioned using a shelf to display all of my beloved milk glass that I thought to use this little book case on top of my “buffet”. (We call it a buffet, but it’s actually just a spare base cabinet that a previous owner had awkwardly placed in a corner of the kitchen. There are so many things I’d love to change about my little house. But that’s another post for another time.)

The bookcase is really very cute, but it doesn’t hold all of my collection, I’ve got milk glass in all corners of our home. On top of the TV, on all the end tables, the dining table, actually, any flat surface that is clear from the wrath that is Goldie’s tail. Many a vase and other glass collectible has fallen victim to this happy tail.

So, off I went to the interwebs for some further inspiration, here’s what I found…

via Apartment Therapy

via Country Home

via Design Sponge

via Better Homes and Gardens

via 320 Sycamore Blog

I especially love the curtains in that last picture. Oh what I’d give to have a window above my sink! But I do like the idea of displaying milk glass higher to draw the eyes up.

Such grand ideas, but for now my vases will be waiting patiently atop the T.V. or end table or dining table until I can decide where and in which way to display my milky treasures.

Do the shutterbug

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

My 31 days of treasures experiment have accidentally been put on hold the past week due illness and travel with spotty internet service. It’s my fault, I had planned on writing posts ahead of time to automatically post while I was out. But being the great organizer that I am (HAR-HAR) that did not come to fruition.  So here we are, a week after my last post, please accept my sincerest apology as I try to resume our regularly scheduled blogging.

While perusing the aisles of Goodwill yesterday, I came upon a cute little piece of photography history, a Canon AE-1, with it’s original 50 mm lens. But at 19.99 and with a sticky film trigger (I don’t know the proper terminology for this peice, but essentially it’s a lever you push that snaps back into place. It moves the film from frame to frame right before you hit the shutter button. If you know the right terminology for this piece, please share!), it just didn’t make the cut. Since, I was a dummy and didn’t have a camera with me  I’m having a borrow a picture I found on the interwebs.

via Pinterest via kenrockwell.com


After admiring this camera, it got me to wondering about vintage camera collections. This is something I’ve considered, but with such a small house and so many other collections of my treasures, space is at a premium. But in case I ever do decide to start a vintage camera collection, that is after I’ve “edited” down some of my other collections, I thought it might be fun to share how others are displaying their shutter buggery goodness.

via Pinterest via Design Sponge

This would be cute in an entry way or hallway. Somewhere where it can be fully appreciated.

via Pinterest via Mint Design Blog

Here’s an idea that would certainly be great for sharing the history behind your collectibles. Plus you’d know if someone had moved any of your treasures!

via Pinterest via Design Sponge

Or you could simply place them with other sentimental items.

via Pinterest via Fossil

Honestly, I’m not really loving the idea of hanging these snappy puppies up on the wall. It would be much more fun to be able to handle them and give them a closer look. But it is a good idea if you are low on shelf space and still want to display your vintage cameras.

via Pinterst via Unplugged

After seeing all these great ideas, maybe I should start editing down some of my other collections to start a new collection.



Sir Mix-a-lot

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

Shall I introduce you to Sir Mix-A-Lot?

Sorry to get your hopes up, it’s just a mixer, not the rapper. But it’s a pretty cool mixer if you ask me. Last weekend I purchased the 4200 Dormeyer mixer for $5, with all original parts and the manual, including the milk glass mixing bowls which is what drew me in. It was a deal I could NOT pass up. And it works! I tried it out the other day and didn’t burn down the house! WOO-HOO! A thousand points for not having to meet the fire department yet again!

The only piece that’s missing is the wooden pestle or, the smasher in April terms. I assume it was for the meat grinder, doesn’t the sound yummy?

I loved the settings this puppy has…

Plus, if your clueless in the kitchen like me, it’s got all the measuring conversions…

I really don’t think this has much re-sale value as the brand isn’t all that well known. But I love it and am currently researching how I could get this little gem back into a usable and safe condition. Because really, where can you find a stand mixer for $5 ?

Basket Case

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I am participating in a ” 31 Days of…” series for the month of October. You see a whole bunch of sweet blogger buddies have been getting together the past few years to do 31 posts in 31 days. The topic is always something they have a passion for. This year they have invited all of their readers to post 31 days of their passions. If you are interested in participating in the 31 Days of…series, or you’re just curious about what everyone else is writing about, please visit The Nester, Jen, Melissa, Sandy, Darcy, Emily, and Emily. I hope you enjoy my series on finding treasures both vintage and of the heart. Let’s hope I can overcome my inconsistent blogging habit and share those 31 posts within the next 31 days!

Day 6 of 31 Days of Treasures, I hope you aren’t getting bored by this tour de junk, or report me to “Horaders”.  Call me a basket case if you want, but at least I’ve got my cool baskets to cling to.

A pair of old locker baskets to be exact. These were picked up for $5 each at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I love the metal tags that still plainly read “The Washburn Company, Worchester Mass, Rockford RI” with the locker numbers still readable.

They usually live under my coffee table in the living room. Which is a post in and of itself, it’s no longer dark brown I recently painted this table white so it didn’t blend in with the couch so much.

I temporarily put one of our new/old cookbooks in a basket when I was speed cleaning the house a while back. We have so many of these vintage cookbooks, the Bubba and I have had to dedicate a few shelves on our bookcase just for these guys.

I am still trying to figure out how to display my cute metal baskets, here are a few inspirational shots I found on Pinterest.

Locker baskets as shelves.

I could use them in the kitchen to hold my potatoes.

Or they could hold the shelter mags I’m currently reading.

There are so many options for these baskets. How would you use them?

Post One Hundred

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Finally, the 100th post. Most people fall upon this milestone well within their first year of blogdom. However, I must be a late bloomer when it comes to blogging as my  post one hundred is falling 4 months after my first blogiversary. Which by the way, I nearly forgot about, and had to include in one of my monthly wrap ups. Unfortunately, those monthly wrap ups have also fallen to the way side. Consistency is boring don’t you think?

Anywho, to celebrate 100  well written and life altering posts (Har-Har), I thought it would be fun to revisit some of the milestones that occurred here at Casa de Yellow. So let’s revisit those bad photo laden and run on sentence  ridden posts shall we? (Not that you can’t find those in more recent posts.)

Way back in May 2010, this little blog that could was born. My first post extolled the joy that is Polyvore. Within this post I explained my plans for our living room, which at the time was Caribbean Sunset, a nice warm yellow tone. However,  that has recently changed to Oat Straw by Behr. It’s more of a tan with some nice grey undertones. Not as bright or jarring as Caribbean Sunset, but no less smile inducing. Here’s what I had planned for my living room in May 2010. Click the picture to see what I said about the room.

Apparently, my style choices have changed over the past 1 1/2 years.  Those choices now lean more towards neutral walls with pops of bright color here and there instead of bright walls with pops of color everywhere. I have found this change to be much more soothing to my style palette and my little eyes. Although, I still have an appreciation for color, and see nothing wrong with homes that still favor the bright walls. It’s just not for me anymore, or at least for right now. Whose to say that I won’t be repainting my walls yellow within a year?

After sharing the joys of Polyvore,  I finally talked about painting our one and only bathroom. This may not seem like a huge feat to some, but for me and Bubba it was a big deal. Our old bathroom was peach and minty green with hints of mold and water damage. So, after finally getting an exhaust fan installed to eradicate future mold issues, I was able to paint our lone loo, Cincinnatian Hotel, a pretty light blue by Valspar. Here’s what she looked like after I stuck a fork in her and called her done. (Please excuse the poor quality photo, this was taken at night with my simple point and shoot and long before I got my fancy schamancy camera.)

Not much happened in July 2010, just the usual inspiration pictures from the interwebs. I did try my hand at a book review without much ado (Woo-Hoo! Rhyming is fun!). August came, and finally something big and life changing happened…

That’s right, Bubba finally gave in and put a ring on it. Once I was over the stunned shock of being a betrothed woman, the wedding planning frenzy began, and then quickly fizzled. At first I was super excited about having a shin dig all my own. But then the stress started in, dates were set and then changed,  illnesses came and went and then came back.  All of August and September 2010 I was  laid up with a horrible case of bronchitis that caused me to lose my voice. Bubba thought this was hiliarious. Until he realized this meant he would be making all the phone calls to priests, preachers, and dressmakers. (Karma rears her ugly head! MAWHAHAHA)

With wedding planning going on, I really didn’t blog much, except to share some verses that were pretty poignant to me at the time. Actually, I still read through them. It’s like April from a year ago is teaching present day April. Those posts touched on subjects such as timing, waiting, impulsiveness, patience, and constant prayer.  At the time I was struggling with these issues, in fact I still do. So thank you 2010 April! Maybe 2011 April should leave some wise words for 2012 April.

The fall of 2010, marked a very short engagement to Bubba, teeny bit of illness and some wedding plans mixed in for good measure.  Bubs and I toyed with the idea of running off and getting married with just us. We also thought it might be nice to wait until spring had sprung to say our vows. But in the end, a quick engagement is what best suited us. After 7 years of dating bliss it was time to experience martial bliss. So, on December 29th 2010, we became Mr. and Mrs.

Getting married was stressful and if I could there would be things I would have done differently. But the man I chose to marry? I wouldn’t change that for the world. And I got to share our special day with some of my loved ones and lots of his. It really was a blessed day.

January flew by, and before we knew it we were in February. The month of love brought a new furry friend cuddle up with.

Goldie, the lovable yellow lab mix. In this post I talk about having her on a trial basis, but little did I know I’d fall for her loving brown eyes and sweet tail thumps “hello”.  I am proud to say that Goldie is now a permanent fixture in our home.

March blew in and brought with it more cold weather, and the hope of a green lush yard. Bubba and I ripped out our crusher fine in preparation for grass seed. So our yard went from this:

To this:

You can read about the beginning of the yard saga here and here. Sadly, after looking at these photos, I can see that the plants were in better health before any work happened. Wonder if it could be linked to some bad wood chips.

Here is my yard a couple months ago:

The grass that is 50% dead there, is now more like 75%. I’m hoping that by watering a little more and fertilizing it should come back. I may also over seed this fall. Here’s to hoping the dogs don’t completely destroy my efforts!

In April, things were still windy, but that didn’t stop me from celebrating my 30th birthday and taking a quick roadtrip to Arizona. Where I partook in the hype that is In-n-Out Burger. The verdict…meh. I much prefer the local favorite Lotaburger. But I’m not biased.

In May, I finally took the plunge and had our block wall stabilized and extended. In the lower part of this picture you can also see our attempts at grass seed.

June flew by, and I was working too hard to worry about maintaining a silly blog, there was a party to plan for darn it! But I did manage to complain about cheap mulch I paid a pretty penny for. Which still causes me grief when I’m stabbed by mysterious sharp objects every time I weed or clean the yard. Honestly, the stuff gives me the creeps and I fear it may be responsible for my dying established plants. GRRR

After the frustrations of June, July finally arrived! Which meant that it was finally time to party!

A great time was had by all. Even I had boo-hoos of fun! All that work and stress was so very worth it to be able to share my home with friends and loved ones.

After all the work over the summer, I wasn’t really up to much in August and September.  I spent my time trying to catch up on blog posts, general house maintenance and reconnecting with my old friend, Sir Sofa.

That’s my year and 6 month review, lots of big milestones happened over the past year and a half, our lone loo got a small makeover, I went from girlfriend, to fiance, to wife in less than a year, the backyard is slightly more grassy than it was last year, and we have our own little fortress of solitude in the back. Wonder what the 200th post will bring…

Party Pooped

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Finally, the much awaited party post!!! Unfortunately, there aren’t too many pictures of the party itself. As mentioned here Bubba and I were much too busy hosting to snap all those artistic photos I had hoped to capture. You wouldn’t believe the last-minute running around involved in setting up for a little party. Or maybe I’m just an inexperienced hostess with poor time management skills…. Naw, that couldn’t be it!

Anywho,  the photos I plan to share with you will be a mix of  the few photos I was able to snap. But most  have come from my sweet uncle and my Bubba’s brother, who is also very sweet. They did an excellent job of capturing the “essence” of the much planned for party.

It all happened in our little casa’s back yard…

(Wish I had remembered to put my luminarias along the walk way. That would have really dressed things up out there!)

This was the scene before we laid the food out or any of the guests arrived.

All those milk glass vases came from my Goodwill and thrift store collection. I didn’t realize how many I had hoarded collected over the past few months.

I decided to go with a lemon lime theme, so everything was shades of yellow and green citrus-y goodness.

All of the tables had a grouping of my milk glass vases filled with my favorite yellow flowers.  In the background of this picture you can see that we used plastic dinnerware. For the next party, I think I will use real dinnerware if possible. It really classes things up, plus a metal fork won’t fly away in the wind like a plastic one will.  But, it was nice not having to wash a kazillion pieces of cutlery. In hindsight, those table runners really didn’t work in my breezy backyard either. Things to note for next time…if there is a next time, I had no idea how stressful this little event would be!

In the tree we hung tissue paper pom-poms in shades of yellow, green and white. Along with yellow and white lanterns that looked oh so romantic when lit up.

As the guests walked into my urban oasis, they were greeted by the Wedding Tree, one of my first Etsy finds!

Instead of going with my original plan of the thumb print tree, I decided having the guests sign their names on a leaf would be much less messy than sticking their thumbs onto an ink pad. Plus it saved everyone from worrying about getting finger prints on their pretty clothes. And I still have a sweet memento to hang on my wall and enjoy everyday.

Going with my lemon and lime theme, I found a sweet seller on Etsy to design a tree in yellow and green. Can you believe I ordered the Wedding Tree the morning before the party, and that evening the PDF file was waiting for me in my inbox?! After I was over my shock of such quick service, I planned on popping into Staples the next morning to have our tree printed. And print they did. If I ever need any type of graphics work done, I’ll be sure to contact that Etsy seller again and have it printed at Staples!

The green bowl you see  is one of Bubba’s Goodwill finds, the pen holder is a crystal vase my mother gave me for Christmas. And the verse in the frame…

Is my father’s favorite verse:

“But they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”  Isaiah 43:31

And above that, I hung an airplane from Dad’s collection. Since my father passed away several years ago, it was so very important to me to have an element of Dad incorporated into the celebration.

After everyone had signed the tree and oohed and ahhed over my flower arrangements and pom-poms (not really)  it was time to eat!

On the menu was smoked pork loin, potato salad, pasta salad, and bbq’ed beans. And for dessert, cupcakes in three flavors: chocolate, carrot, and vanilla. Along with oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip and lemon cookies. I also threw in some brownies for good measure. You can’t have a party without some cavity inducing sweets!

(If I had thought to take some shots of the food, you would find those photos here. Instead I’ll share shots of everyone enjoying the festive feast.)

All of the sides and desserts I picked up at the grocery store, but  not after visiting two different grocery stores the morning of the party. Being the scatter brained little party planner I am, I had forgotten which store I’d ordered the cupcakes from! Thankfully, the sweet ladies at the first grocery store were ever so helpful and called each Albertson’s in the area until we located the right store. That saved me so much time and frustration!

Unfortunately, that was not the only sweat inducing obstacle of the day. But I plan on dedicating an entire post to that story. Let’s just say it involved law enforcement, the fire department, and a very sleepy April.

All in all, the party was a success. Both Bubba and I enjoyed sharing our home with friends and family. Our guests enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. My fears of cops coming in and breaking up the party, or angry neighbors calling said cops to break up the party were all unfounded. Everyone enjoyed themselves, there was lots of good food, and lots of good company. That’s really what a party is all about anyways right?

Both Bubba and I are so very thankful for the guests and all those sweet people that helped out. Those that helped in the set up and those that helped us take it all down, and for those who simply graced us with their presence. I know a lot of our guests traveled from far and near and sacrificed money and time to be in attendance. Not only am I thankful for our sweet guests, I’m also thankful for local law enforcement who saved our house from being burnt down (again, that’s for another post), and for the sweet ladies at Albertson’s that saved me time that I didn’t have.

Before I sound like an actress tearfully accepting an award and thanking all those that ever “spared a square”  (thousand points to anyone who can guess which television show that’s from!), let’s share some advice.  To all of you who are planning a backyard party or any type of event at your home, if someone offers to help, take them up on it. Yes, you can do it yourself, but do you really have time? The answer is a loud and resounding NO.

Between landscaping the yard, scrubbing the kitchen, and pulling Bubba’s dirty socks out from underneath the couch I had no time. There was hardly enough time to buy the food and other party supplies, design and mail the invitations (which by the way were not mailed until 3 weeks before the party!), plan on the decor (I forgot to put lighting up, instead of the cozy romantic evening I had planned on, we ended up with a dark and spooky evening), or have an impeccably clean or at least moderately clean  home (There were parts of my home that were used to stash clutter and other I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with items while in my mad frantic rush to clean two hours before the party. I just know some of my guests saw what horrid conditions my washer and dryer live in!). Aside from those things, relax , enjoy your guests and all of your hard work! And remember, cupcakes can be tracked down, fires can be put out, but memories cannot be remade.