My Mom's heart stopped this morning, she is on life support. She is only 53. We have been estranged for over a year, and have had a strained abusive relationship my whole life. This is incredibly difficult.

I'm leaving in the morning. any prayers or good thoughts would be so appreciated. I'm just numb right now and have a long journey ahead.

What I want to be Doing VS. What I have to Do

Isn't that tree darling?!?! I saw Laurie Davis the Glitter Fairy show Martha Stewart how to make it on her show and have been obsessing over it ever since. You can watch the segment on Martha's website in the link above. I went out and bought the wire and have been formulating my plan. I decided on black wire instead of copper so I hope I can make it work. I can't wait to show you!

For the last three days I've been doing the "have to do" instead of the "want to do" projects. We finally found a furniture piece for our TV that fit perfectly into the TV nook. I have been searching for 4 years! So I'm jazzed to finally be able to paint the nook and get it all put together. I ended up with a sideboard instead of a entertainment center. It just seemed more practical as quickly as technology changes and TVs become obsolete. I wanted something that would work other places in the house, and certainly didn't want to be stuck with a $4000.00 entertainment center that wouldn't fit new components in 5 years. Been there done that.
Here is a little peek of the sideboard and my painting project. I'll update tomorrow with the finished nook and hopefully my finished wire tree!

Objectionable Pretend Plants

Hop on over to the Nesting Place to see what all the hub bub is about! It's a party, you know you want to...

Here is a sampling of my (Fall) Objectionable Pretend Plants.

A urn of fall leaves/abandoned nest in the dining room.


If I still lived in California where produce and flowers are plentiful and cheap. I probably wouldn't do fakes. Paying $3.99 for one pomegranate, $1.99 for a lemon or ten bucks for a small bunch of sunflowers about kills me when I think back to my childhood. I grew up in a town where we could walk out the kitchen door to gather lemons and eucalyptus for an arrangement. I miss that.

A little fall arrangement on the book shelf in the family room.


Here in the mountains it's different. Lots of pine cones, bark and rocks, which I do use in a lot of my displays and arrangements. I love to add found items to my decor. Especially stuff brought home to me by my boys. It just makes the room extra special and cozy.

I do have a few rules for the fakes that I pick, and I happen change and redo the fake flowers a lot. Pretty much instead of dusting them I rework, toss or redo. I guess it works out to be every couple of months or so. Another rule I have is to not have them on every surface, or make them to big. I don't like them to be a focal point of the room. Just a textured accent.



So there you have it! My fabulous excuses for using faux flowers and plants. Don't forget to go to the Nesting Place and join the party!

Different Door Hanging

I decided the porch was on fake fall foliage overload with the addition of the pumpkin topiary earlier this week. I still wanted something for the door because it just seemed naked without a little something. I went shopping (you all know how much I hate shopping, Hobby Lobby especially *hee*) for a welcome sign and couldn't find one I liked.

I did however find a metal initial that I thought would be perfect with some ribbon, raffia, beaded twigs and a little nest. It turned out really sweet! I like that it's something maybe a little unexpected. You may even have an initial laying around your house just waiting to be re purposed as a door hanging.

Mr. Hobby Lobby is Loving Me This Week.

Yes he is...



I've been in there everyday this week. I went to two different ones on Wednesday. I need an intervention.


When you need some fall stuff you need some fall stuff. What can I say? I did take inventory of my fall decor stock before I went so I wouldn't over do it. The ceramic pumpkins are all I purchased new for this foyer table. Hubby dropped the box of years past pumpkins when we were bringing them out of storage. Every single one broke, I was so sad and he felt horrible.
It was nice that they all had been purchased for 90% off two years before so it wasn't a huge loss. But it's still sad when innocent ceramic pumpkins go to waste.

I'll probably regret this but, I have to brag on the 58 degree sweater weather we are having today! I even turned on the heater *gasp* this morning. Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Fall



Hi everyone!!!! Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. Getting three teenage boys back into the swing of school, homework, and waking up at 6:00am has proven to be a bit more than I could handle. Anyone have a xanax?



It feels like Fall! I've caught the fall decorating bug and am buzzing around changing everything for the coming season. I wanted to share my recycled Pumpkin Topiary with you all. It's been around for 3 Autumns and I think this may be it's last. The excessive use of hot glue is finally showing. I fluffed it up with a few new fall picks, a bit more moss and gave it a go. We will see if it will weather the Fall wind storms. I may be chasing after it in my bunny slippers at 6:30 in the morning. The neighbors can only hope.



I hope everyone is enjoying the new school year and hopefully you can feel the promise of Fall in the tiny bit of crispness in the air.