There's a price to pay for decorating for the seasons.
So far I've been willing to pay the price and will continue as long as possible.
This means I must start earlier and give myself additional days plus I have narrowed my extensive decorating to Fall and Christmas and using limited things for winter and my beloved sunflowers for the summer.
While I am transitioning things, the house is in disarray and the cats love this!
A wreathe left on the floor looks like a perfect place to sleep!
Louis Dean and I went over to visit Billy and Brenda to make plans for a spur of the moment vacation!!
Louis Dean was such a happy camper!
Brenda noticed how much he enjoyed the music videos on TV at Billy's birthday party....
and she and Billy had been wanting to go to Branson, MO - and were so gracious in inviting us to go with them!
We went on an Alaskan cruise with them and they still love us!
Louis Dean was not a good cruiser - but I loved it!
For them to invite us to spend another vacation with them is such a gift!
We made all our plans, reservations, and selected the shows we wanted to see and then went to Braums to have a quick lunch
Thursday I was working in the living room but we stopped in the early afternoon to go over to Kimmy's.
Sophie is adorable and so sweet!
Louis Dean played some music for us and we all had a good time!
Kimmy gifted us some of June's things and we will treasure them as we recall so many good memories of her.
Dinner on Thursday night!
Louis Dean dearly loves my sweet potato casserole and I made some chicken with noodles and green peas plus a salad and garlic bread.
By Thursday's night end - I called the living room DONE!
All the Santas are gone and I have so many paintings that I can pick and choose from all of them and only hang my favorites!
I have a stack of my 'less' favorites and plan to rework them.
Perhaps they will eventually become new favorites!
Friday 'brunch' was served in the middle of the afternoon on Friday!
I saw the recipe on Facebook - flour tortillas, eggs, cheese, seasonings, chopped tomatoes and onions!
Bake for 20 minutes in the oven in an iron skillet!
Served with a dollop of sour cream and a large spoonful of salsa!
I worked in the den all day!
First comes chaos and then comes order.
I admit it is a whole lot of hard work!
Not only am I changing out the Santa wall and back to the gallery - I also took all the 'debris' down from around the window area here in the den.
Such a mess!
I should have counted the number of Santa paintings I've done.
Storing them away is not an easy chore.
I used to put them under and behind the den couch - but in 2019 the terrible 100 year flood in September while we were up in Canada did considerable damage to the den and furniture AND my paintings!
The next year we stored them up in a storage building - but that didn't work well either!
My rule now is that the must remain inside the house!
The next year they went back to behind the couch - but in white trash bags to protect them if they get wet - which they haven't so far!
Samantha found this huge basket and explored!
This is where I have now stored all my Santa paintings - and then covered the basket with a blanket.
While I was working in the den - Louis Dean has been working on his music!
He is so happy when he's making music!
It is now Saturday night and I have been working on the den all day long!
The window wall has been freed from al the baskets, paintings and other debris in anticipation of the upcoming 'redo' of this area.
All of the Santas are gone and I am enjoying the den wall!
I've been watching lots of good movies and shows while working in the den.....
I'm about to go to bed and am feeling so good about everything!
Louis Dean is happy and has been doing some really good things in the back yard and has made it look like a 'real' yard - for the first time in a long time!
I feel accomplished in taking the very last of Christmas out and cleaned the entire house - more or less!
My next projects are cleaning up the gazebo and changing out my closet to spring and summer.
Then there's gardening and weed pulling and mulching and such!
There's always so much to do and would we have it any other way??
If we had nothing on our 'to do' list - I think I would be be a little sad.....
