Help me!

My Christmas mantel is a work in progress. I started working on it Saturday, and I still can't get it quite right. John is no help. He can only tell me what doesn't look good. Right now, I know it looks kind of barren on the ends, but I'm not sure what to put there. Tall candles? I intend to hang our stockings at either end (two on each side), since with the way I had to rig my nativity, I won't be able to put stocking holders in the center at all. I need suggestions! Post me a comment if you have a good idea of something I can use to fill in the dead space.

New Window Hanging

For those of you who follow The Nester, you know what a window mistreatment is. For those who don't, you can go hunt around her blog for a definition and wonderful pictures of some of the windows that inspired me. Ever since I worked at Pottery Barn, five years ago, I have had this blue silk curtain panel that I've had no idea what to do with. I bought it on clearance with my discount on top of that, and it was dirt cheap. I couldn't pass it up, but it was only a single panel.

Ever since we moved into this house in April, I've had this naked bathroom window. So when I saw some of the Nester's mistreatments, I decided to try one with that lonesome curtain panel.

I had a hard time getting a good photo of it because this bathroom is so small, but I think it turned out pretty well. (Yes, it's just tacked to the wall, no curtain rod.) Now if I could only find a shower curtain for in there. Maybe I'll mistreat the shower somehow as well.

I couldn't wait...

...any longer to get out my Christmas decorations. I'm not sure why I was so eager this year. I may have Aidan confused. As in, why are we celebrating Thanksgiving with Santa Claus and the baby Jesus out? Oh, well. I've taken a picture of my sideboard in the dining room. It's very festive. It's my favorite little decorated "nook" so far. I haven't figured out exactly what to do with my fireplace mantle yet. I've never had one to actually decorate before. The big bummer is that my nativity is too big! I finally get all the components collected, and now I haven't got a good spot to put it. That figures. I may have to buy a new table especially for putting it out. I've also gotten another rag garland finished. It is also adorning my dining room.

Over and over yesterday, John would say, "I can't believe you're decorating for Christmas already." I told him he's an enabler. I asked him if I was allowed to, and he said it was fine as long as I didn't put anything up outside (where people can see it and think we're weirdos, I guess). He even brought down a couple of boxes from the attic that were too heavy for me to carry. Ergo, he's my enabler.

So Merry Christmas!

Arts & Crafts

I had fun with paints while Aidan was at Mom's Day Out today. I can't wait to hang them up with my Christmas decorations! I'm so ready to decorate. Maybe I'll start tomorrow.

Photo Session

I took the kids for portraits today. Aside from the fact that I thought I might have to build an ark to get them to the car this morning and Neely staying asleep for most of the session, we came away with some really adorable photos. Here are a few.

It works!

Those of you who know my laundry drama of late will understand why I have posted a picture of my WORKING DRYER on my blog. For those who don't, the short version is that over the last six months, we burned out the motor on our old dryer (which wasn't really even that old, actually) by running it on an outlet that was putting out too much voltage. This is the shiny new dryer plugged into the outlet that the electrician fixed this afternoon. It has now run for over 40 minutes, which is twice as long as the old one would go on the crazy voltage. I am now able to dry a load of laundry all at once, rather than at random intervals throughout the day. Hooray! Now I must attack the mountain that has accumulated in the absence of a working dryer. I've never been so excited about doing laundry in my life, nor am I likely to be ever again.

Our Halloween

Another Halloween has come and gone. (and only those who dressed up got to be in our family picture) We had a lot of fun this year. I dressed up as the tooth fairy, Aidan was a handyman, and Neely went as a ballerina. We started celebrating with a party at John's squadron on Thursday night, where they played "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and had a haunted house/trick-or-treating throughout the building. Several of the offices had scary decorations up, and the kids had to go into them, frightened or not, if they wanted candy. Aidan was hilarious for this portion of the evening. He'd see something he was apprehensive about, and he'd talk himself out of being scared. It went kind of like this...if we walked into a room with a cauldron full of fake fire, he'd say, "I'm not scared of fire, Mommy. I'm not scared." It was funny. The most widely feared costume by all children present? You're never going to guess. The squadron mascot is the red devils, so lots of the guys were dressed as the devil, of course. But the costume most of the kids were terrified of was...wait for it...Jesus. Yes, Jesus. It was very strange.

On Halloween, Aidan went to Mom's Day Out, and they had a big party there. Aidan came home from class with more candy than he got actually trick-or-treating. It's nuts.

Aidan actually got to go trick-or-treating for the first time this year. Last year, he refused to put his costume on when it came time to try, so he didn't get to go. We probably went to about six houses before he tripped and fell, spilling all his candy, and he got very upset. I think he was more embarrassed than anything, but he really wasn't into the door to door deal after that. We went home and he got to help pass out candy and go through his bucket, so it turned out to be alright.

We ended up our night by getting on the webcam and being serenaded by Willie Nelson. It was a wonderful Halloween night.