Back at It . . .

Well, heeeeeeeellllllllllooooooooo there! Miss me? I missed you all!! The past six weeks have just been a pain-in-my-neck, and I totally mean that literally!

Apparently I pinched a nerve in my neck, between the C2 and C3 vertebrae. My neck muscles did not like it and started spasming like no one's business. I honest-to-God thought I was having contractions in my neck (thank goodness no baby came out because, even though I love them, I do not want another one of those!). When they started, I really thought I would go to the Doctor, get some meds, maybe a shot, and after a weekend of rest, I would be good to go. I won't give you all the gory details but after 12 physical therapy sessions, 11 prescriptions (some really good ones too!), six doctors appointments, three weeks laying on my left side on the couch, two ER visits, two deep tissue massages, one pregnancy test (no worries there) and countless (and I mean countless) ice packs later, I am back to about 90%! Neck is still a bit stiff but very manageable so no complaints here! So that's where I have been and I freaking missed my favorite month of the entire year.

We did manage to pull off a few holiday traditions but since I was looking at them sideways, I will just get you all a little caught up and then we will take it from there.

So here's to Halloween 2012 -

This is seriously how my house looked for most of October. Every time I would walk by this table, I would pick one thing off it and then stick it somewhere. My family also helped (a little) and would let me lay on the couch and tell them where to put the Halloween decoration (I do think I told my husband where to "put it" more than once this past month!). 

I think we managed to pull off some cute decorations. I love the eyeball salt and pepper shakers 

(from Cracker Barrel last year, I think) under glass.

Here's my ode to Edgar Allen Poe - spooky.

I did love how my mantel turned out. The electric candelabras have the flicker light bulbs.
I got those at Target in September. You have to buy holiday stuff when you see it or
it might not be there when you go back (right, mom?)!

These are the shelves in the guest bath. My oldest put the toilet paper in the hand and I just love it. The mercury glass jars were bought this year at Home Goods. I love their bright colors and the birds (being that Ravn is my maiden name, and yes, that is spelled correctly).

Entryway of our house. I like the witch vignette. One of these years, I am going to get a witch cape and shoes. The two set of spell books was a gift from my mom and dad for my birthday. Only I can be really happy to receive Halloween gifts in June!

At the end of the October, we always host my family for a Halloween get together and party. This year was not as fancy (we usually do a sit down dinner for the adults and everyone dresses up). Here are a few photos from that night -

I needed an easy and cheap costume so Rich and I were Forrest Gump and a box of chocolates. This costume did not cost us 1 penny! We were going to buy the Bubba Gump hat but decided to just print off the logo and I stapled it! My oldest is a football player and my youngest is Harry Styles from the boy band One Direction. We had ordered her a costume but it ended up going on back order and never arrived. She was such a good sport and she just grabbed stuff we had (note: the wig is from my husband's Richard Simmons costume from last year!).

See Richard Simmons right in the center? Halloween 2011

This is the whole gang. The camera was on a timer and it took us about 15 minutes to get it to work. If you are wondering about the man with Saran Wrap (yes, really wrapped and no air holes!), that is my uncle dressed like Bruce Jenner (hysterical!) and my aunt is Kris Jenner. My one sister is a Raven (yes, homage to our maiden name), her daughter is the prisoner in orange. My youngest sister and her husband were gender-reversed Publisher Clearinghouse winners. Their kids were a beautiful, tiny princess, a bat and a ninja. My parents were Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. I think EVERYONE outdid themselves. The costumes were great and we all had a blast even though my oldest niece and her dad couldn't make it, hopefully next year.

My first outing (other than medically related) in almost a month!
We went to out to dinner and then hit our local pumpkin patch.

We encouraged the girls to go BIG on their pumpkins because they were 50% off! They went home and carved them that night but I don't think we ever got a picture of the finished product!

That is a super quick recap of October. November has been a blur and I am trying desperately to get caught up on everything. The girls have all next week off and I couldn't be more excited for some down time. Then we are planning a four day trip to NYC for some holiday fun and a big concert but that is for another post!

Happy Halloween . . .

Ok, so I can't believe today is Halloween and I haven't even finished the tour of my spooky home! So here it is - enjoy!

My ode to Edgar Allen Poe and The Raven.

The perfect spot for a wicked cocktail.

My little witch vignette. Sorry the picture is so dark.

I love staining cheesecloth and hanging it everywhere.
This one, the girls and I ripped holes that had ghostly faces.

I love my mantel!

Last year, I bought a lot of old, generic frames from Goodwill, painted them black and pulled out the Cricut. The frames with the photos are those that change from a normal photo to a ghoulish creature. I got those this year at Michaels.

Here's some close-ups:

This is the Pottery Barn Skeleton Drink Holder.
When not serving drinks out of it, I put this cute Jack-o-Lantern in.

This is where I hang my broom!
I plan on making a cape one year to hang here.

So that's my spooky house. Here's hoping the rain passes so we will have a nice, dry evening for trick-or-treating! Happy Halloween!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year . . .

Ok, so it's not Christmas (but it will be here before we know it!!), it's Halloween and I just LURVE it! I have been so busy spookifying my house, I have forgotten to blog about it! Such a rookie mistake!

So all my beautiful Fall decs come down,

This is how it begins . . .

. . .  then we go to this!!

The goal is for us to get all of fall packed up and put away before bringing out Halloween. My daughters asked such a silly question the other day, "mom, how come you don't leave up the fall and then mix in some Halloween?"  I think at last count, I have 12 boxes of Halloween goodies. No room for fall to still be out. Now mind you, that does not include all the stuff I bought during the course of the year. Yes, I buy Halloween year round. If you don't buy it when you see it, it's gone like a pecan (doesn't work if you say pee-can). 

So here's Part One of our Spooky Halloween House (please make sure to admire how hard I worked to make our spiderwebs look so authentic, you would never guess I just haven't dusted in 6 months!!).

 I printed my very first subway art as you can see on the top shelf. I found it on Pinterest and you can find in on my Pinterest account if you want to use it too. My mom made the banner a couple of year's ago. I think it looks great hanging there. Thanks Mom! I bought the glittered spiders at Wal-Mart for $1.00 each. I like how they add a touch of color. I put the purple one on top of the subway art; the green one on the orange skull (also purchased at Wal-Mart) and a black one hanging from a lampshade.

Sorry they are a little dark but wanted to give you a closer view.
Still working on learning the camera!!

I like how this is what you look at from my couch (in addition to the TV) so I get to look at all the cute faces looking back at me.

My husband inherited the above Lawyer's Bookcase from his Grandfather. For Halloween this year, it has a collection of our handmade pumpkin votive holders (as well as, real candy pumpkins which for some reason, has not been eaten by my family - or me!) The sign above is a new purchase from Home Good (or as I call it - the Mothership!). It has batteries in it and lights up. I liked it because I am one of three sisters and one of three girls in my house, so I can relate to the three witches dancing on it!

This hutch is in my breakfast nook. It is very utilitarian. I use it to hold "some" of my Halloween plates, bowls and serving pieces. I put "some" in quotes because I have several sets of Halloween plates. I also have solid black, white and orange plates that I mix with the Halloween plates. 

Another craft my mommy made for me. She has a lot of great ideas and I appreciate all my goodies from her - keep 'em coming!

This is a little vignette over my fridge.The sequin skull was bought for me from Pottery Barn by one of my girlfriends who supports my obsession! The piece on the right is also from Pottery Barn. It has three metal, skeleton hands supporting glass bowls. We use it all the time with condiments, different dips, munchies, you name it. I also have the drink dispenser because, if it's not obvious to you, I am a more-is-more person!!

I think I may have overwhelmed you, so that's it for today. Hope you enjoy the tour and there's more to come but that will be for another post!

I Am Feeling Spooky. . .

Ok, we are all sad to see Fall get put away, especially since it is still in the 90s here but it is time to move on. My husband is starting to pull all our Halloween decorations out. My oldest daughter asked me if I could leave Fall up and add Halloween to it. I explained to her that only normal people did that! We have SO much Halloween, I need every space available!! We won't put our decorations outside yet, but it takes me at least one week to put up the inside. Plus, I need to know where I have gaps and what I can make to fill them!! Time to warm up the Cricut, crank down the air and get spooky!

My mantel from Halloween 2010.

I will keep you posted!