October Roared in Like a Lion and Then Bit Me in the Ass. And It is Cold.

October is almost over with and fall is in the air. Well, actually I would like to call it WINTER.  It is freezing here.  For God's sake, B turned on the furnace! Only by one degree, but whatever. Seriously, the man turned the furnace on by one degree.  One morning as he was leaving for work and puzzling about why half my clothes were off and he was freezing (I get hot when I sleep), he announced "I EVEN turned on the furnace." I was shocked. I was even more shocked when I came home and it didn't seem to be any warmer in the house. So I looked at the thermostat: 62 degrees.  Um, not exactly a heatwave.  So I query:

Me: I thought you turned the furnace on.

B: I did!

Me: But it is cold in here.

B: It is on!

Me: But it says it is only 62 degrees in here.

B: Yes, but it WAS 61.

Me: Um, what?

B: It was 61 in here but it was chilly so I turned it up to 62.

Me: Let me get this straight. You turned on the furnace to heat this place up by one degree.

B: Well, it took the chill off.

Me: You are a rebel.

So now it is slightly warmer, but still dang cold for October around here.  Maybe by November we can turn it up to 65. So wild!

In completely different news, Jersey went for her monthly bath. She came home with a very cute bandanna. The bandanna never lasts long because B takes it off. Not Jersey. B.   Something about it being too girly.  Um, bandannas are SO not girly. And this one was seasonal:

How dang cool does she look? COOL not cute.  She can't be girly.  I would reckon to say she looks like a stud:

You know, if she was a boy and all.  Also, that bandanna makes her look fat.  Look at that neck roll. It is the Sharpei in her, I swear.

What else did October bring other than werewolves and getting locked out of houses? Evil Dead the Musical. Twice.  Once just isn't enough. That is not their slogan, but mine. Did you even knew such a thing exists?  It does.  Did you know that you must go see it if given the opportunity? You must.  It will change your life.  You will break out into spontaneous songs singing things like "Do the Necrnomican" and singing "Candarian Demon" while making demon hands and looking at your dog who thinks you have gone nuts.  You will sit in the splatter zone and come home with "blood" in your hair and all over your clothes. 

So I just had to get up to let Jersey out and did the demon hands and she jumped and bit my arm. I may be bleeding for real.

I love Halloween.

It's Like If These Walls Could Take Pictures, But It Was a Person and That Person Was Outside

Remember when I told you that the former owners of our house had a son and he was kind enough to drop off a CD of what the house looked like before the people before us bought it? Well this is the second, and last, part of that series. These are the outside pictures:

Here is our house now:

And this was it then:

Look at that HUGE tree! It takes up most of the house and entirely covers up the dining room window. In fact, if you look closely at the dining room window in this picture, you can see the tree in it.

I told B that I am not sure I would have been able to see past that tree if we were looking at the house back then. Luckily for us, the people before us could and one of the first things they did after moving in was tear out the tree. Thus leaving the dining room window visible:

And, later, after B tore out that bush, we discovered something even more beautiful that should have never been covered up. Look at the side brick work:

It totally matches the brick work around the door. So gorgeous. Much better than a sunblocking, neighbor watching blocking, and HUGE ass tree.

They also did a little more with the back porch than we do:

This is what it looks like now without all of the plants*:

They had plants everywhere:

We just have cats:

So there you have it. Crazy how things change and how different everyone's vision of how their house should look like really is. I love that we were able to see the different ways our house has been used and decorated.

*Okay it really looks better than that. We have grass and it is green. I chose to use an old picture probably right after we moved in and the snow melted. Don't want you to think B doesn't take care of the yard. He does.

Step Two in Party Planning: Presentation is Everything!

This means the outside must look as good as the inside. Lucky for us, this was not a problem. You see, B has been dreaming of owning a home for so long for one main reason. No, not so we no longer had to share a wall with a noisy cougher that would also set things on fire randomly. No, not so we could finally get a dog, and not a brown one. No, not so we could have a lawn that B could cut. Not for a garage for my car. His main reason?

To put up Christmas lights.

Seriously. We would drive around the area we live in now at Christmas because they have the best lights and he would dream about putting up his own and would tell me how he would do it. I think he has always had an exact idea of what he would put up and where, of course, given whatever house we landed in. Then we landed here. Unfortunately, we didn't close until after the new year so no lights for us last year. This year, though? Lights, action and I've got the camera!

Actually this first shot was taken with B's camera. It is a bit blurry, but you get the picture. Ha! Get it? I am cheesy.

First, B put up the lights on the shrubs and on the tree. Then he put the icicle lights over the door and to be honest, I wasn't a fan. They are just so white compared to the other lights. B tells me that is BECAUSE THEY ARE ICICLES. I said it would probably look better when there were more. And it did. And it does. It will also probably look better with s-n-o-w, but I don't really want any of that. Since I spelled it out and didn't say it (type it?), we surely won't get any now.

Oh, and here is a brighter picture.

See that lit up room to the left? That is my office. I would venture a guess that I was up there at the exact moment this picture was being taking. Probably reading blogs. Probably not writing posts. I am horrible about that.

And, then, on the night of our party, B added the bagged candles a/k/a lit candles in a paper bag to light our guests' way. My brother, being the newest firefighter graduate, pondered "Lit candles in a PAPER bag? Is THAT a good idea?" We told him we felt confident knowing we had him around. And he did his job well.

Thanks for going out and re-lighting those candles every 20 minutes, bro! You will be happy to know that at the end of the night *ahem* morning, when everyone left, there were still three candles burning.

You will probably not be happy to note that B threw all of the candle holders and paper bags into our Christmas storage trunk without completely emptying the holders of water.

I know I wasn't.

The First Step in Holiday Party Planning: Get Thee a Tree!

I wish I could say that I have wonderful pictures of B and I picking out our tree, but I think you know better. First, it was dark. Second, it was COLD. Third, I didn't even think about bringing a camera. I am truly a deficient blogger.

After a relatively short time on the lot we found our tree. Well, as B calls it "YOUR tree." That is because it apparently wasn't the straightest tree on the lot. How was I supposed to know? I am not a tree/plant specialist. I didn't study horticulture. I know someone that did though. *Ahem*.

Anyway, the tree is nice and full even if it does cop a slight lean. Although we had originally planned to put it in the center of our main living room window, the tree was just too large. It does fit nicely in the corner though:

Awww...pretty tree.

Pretty tree with a slight curve to it.

Looking good!

What is the next step in this process? Why, taking blurry pictures of your husband hanging lights on said tree.

I will master this camera one day. In the meantime, I liked how the lights looked with those unintentional special effects.

B was multitasking - tree lighting and football watching. And, finally, with all of the decorations on the tree, the stockings* hung, and a little village placed in the nook above our fireplace with a fire roaring, we were done:

I also like this warm effect on my camera. It captures what the room looked like but even warmer.

What a beautiful room! Good job on the lights and village B. I will take credit for decorating the tree.**

*I have two stockings*** and B has none. At first he only put my two out there. Finally I found a stocking for him. It doesn't have his name on it so he is crying "no fair."

**I suspect B moved some bulbs and ornaments around after I was done.****

***Everyone asks why I have two stockings and I say "because my parents love me THAT much." Actually the one on the right is from 1977 that my Dad decorated. I am not sure abut the one on the left. B's stocking from childhood is still at his parents' house. I would also like you all to know, it was B that hung these up, not me. Oh, and thanks former owners for leaving us those hooks. Curtains on the windows would have also been nice and contractually mandated, but thanks for those hooks. Really.

****We can all think Lil' B a/k/a Brad the Cat for undecorating the tree. So far the casualty count is 4.

Fall Has Finally Come and the Colors Are Gorgeous!

Last year we did not have much in the way of fall. It was summer one day and 12 hours later winter had blown in and had taken all of the leaves from the trees with it. This year is different though. With the up and down temperatures, we actually have some color. Friday as I was driving home, I realized how much had changed over night and snapped a few photos.

I love the little red bush in the corner of their front yard:

The view from our porch:

And the other side:

Down our street:

The corner of our house and the trees behind us:

The tree in front of our house and our neighbor's trees:

Down the other side of the street:

Same view, my camera just colored it differently:

And a wider view:

Again, the camera colored it differently. This one is my favorite as it feels like fall:

Upstairs view of the backyard and trees behind us:

And the other side and the trees you caught a glimpse of when looking at the corner of our house:

Do you have any fall colors where you are? I cannot get enough of this!