Fall Holiday Fun

Wow, time has sure got away from me this last month! I am so far behind in blogging and visits. I just do not have the time for it that I used to have, so please don't think I am singling you out if I haven't come for a visit lately!

Anyhow, this last Thursday, my children and I got together in my home for a Thanksgiving dinner. My brother also joined us. This is the family picture that will be going on our Christmas cards.

From left to right, oldest son Sean holding Jake the dummy dog, daughter Tara and her husband Mike, myself, and youngest son Jared.

Here is another pic without the dog.


The table was all set for dinner with lots of yummy food...


...including these yummy pies that my daughter made!



My brother Dave carved the turkey.


During dinner, Sean looks at me with suspicion as Jared chows down. I set the table with lovely dishes, but he still prefers those old plastic Tupperware plates!


Dave looks all amused here. I don't know why his face is so red.

Actually, I think this is after my daughter played some silly ring tones on her new phone. There was one song I was completely unfamiliar with, and as I listened, I said, "Why are they singing about Vag-o-cream?" This, of course, brought out gales of laughter when my daughter told me what was really being said!

Here is Tara and Mike. This is not the best picture of her.


Guess that's why she took her own pic!


Anyhow, dinner was over much too soon. What does one do after such a filling meal? Snooze of course! Mike and Jake catch a few Z's.


Prior to Thanksgiving, there was Halloween! Yes! I am actually posting this a month late, lol. I haven't participated in Halloween for a great many years. This year, however, a friend invited me to a party, and I decided to go as a vampire. I am all caught up in the Twilight craze, and now in a series of books called the House of Night novels by P.C. and Kristin Cast. The first is called Marked, and I am wearing the crescent moon tattoo that all vamps have in that book.


I am so authentic as a vampire, that if you look closely, you can see real batwings on my upper arms!


Here I am with my friend Stacy who invited me. I love her eyes in this! She went as a dark fairy, complete with pointy ears and big copper colored velvety wings.


Her sweetie Brian is a wizard.


Here is Stacy with Angel, the spider woman! Her face makeup was really cool.


I also ran into an old friend Mickie with her beau Jason. He was a G-man and she was his moll.

It was great fun, probably the most fun I've had in a long time! I'll have to do this again next year.

Two more big holidays are yet to come! I can't believe the months are flying by so quickly.

Tablescape Thursday/Thanksgiving Table

The house is mostly clean, dinner is already made (by the supermarket-I just have to heat it), and the table is set. I'm all ready for Thanksgiving...except that its still Wednesday! I still have to go in to work tonight, so I can't make any blog visits, but I hope to catch up and do some visiting with all of you this weekend!

This is my table setting for Thanksgiving, and yes, we are going to eat off of it just like this.

I searched for a golden-y yellow tablecloth, and walked into Walmart, and there they had them up front for only $5! Hooray!

I couldn't afford to get place mats, although I saw many beautiful ones on sale in the local stores. I figured that I would just use the green ones that I've had for years, but when I was searching for them, I found these large napkins that I purchased last year at Goodwill! I had forgotten all about them. I mixed them with the green since I didn't have enough.

The white dishes are from Gibson, and I added paper dessert plates and paper napkins for convenience.

Here is the same setting but with the green placemats. They didn't look too bad mixed with the patterned mats.


Since it's Thanksgiving, I needed pilgrims! I had these from last year.


Here are the boy and girl ones up close. They have little pumpkin and cinammon stick candles from Yankee Candles. I bought them half price years ago, then lost them, then found them when I moved, then lost them again, but found them this year. Hooray again!



For the back of the table, I used my urn from my Halloween tablescape, but set a gourd with foliage in it. This was an arrangement I found at Joann Fabric. I purchased it new at full price, but justified it by being able to get an additional item for free! You've seen the floral spray at the bottom before in another tablescape



I hurried back to Dollar Tree to get a full set of six of these beautiful glasses. I think they are perfect for Thanksgiving because they say Family, Friends, Home, on them.


While browsing through Goodwill for things I could use for my Thanksgiving table, I found this fabric basket. It originally held napkins, which were no longer with it when I found the basket, but I figured it would be perfect for biscuits. Right now it holds a square Anchor Hocking dish in amber, but I can remove that if I need it for something else. It's a perfect match with the placemats. The basket was only $2, and the dish was $3.


I also found this amber colored pitcher for $3. Forgot to take a close up of the amber colored bowl, also $3 which is presently holding some green apples.


I got this glass pumpkin last year and filled it with pumpkin scented potpourri.


My table already looks and smells good. I can't wait to put it to good use tomorrow when I am surrounded by my children!

To check out more tablescapes on Tablescape Thursday, head on over for a visit to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch." Speaking of naps, I'm heading off to take a quick one before I go into work tonight!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving filled with love!

Tablescape Thursday...on Friday/Harvest table

Yes, here it is a Friday already and I am just now posting this week's Tablescape Thursday.


I swear, working third shift gets me all messed up. I thought it was the day before, and I was going to be late posting as is. I thought about posting next week, but I want to post a Thanksgiving Tablescape then. So I don't know if my confusion is just from working third, not enough sleep, or menopause. "Pause my brain," they should call it!


So finally here is my harvest tablescape. I used a light green sheet as a tablecloth. I added autumn and harvest related items to the table.


If you're on my Facebook, you may have already seen this. I used my white Gibson dinner plate and added a pear shaped plastic dish from Dollar Tree.


Here it is up close. I thought it was so cute. I added a golden colored Dollar Tree dish towel as a placemat. The leaf on it matches the leaf napkins. This is the third time in a row I have used them in a setting. A silk flower takes a turn as a napkin ring.


I fell in love with the "family" glass that I also found at Dollar Tree. I plan to get a few more of these for my Thanksgiving table.


Since I am including birdhouses in the tablescape, I needed a little birdie! I've had her for a couple years now, purchased at a local gift shop.


I found this basket filled with autumn flowers at Goodwill for only $3. It is going to be sitting in my outside arrangement soon since the frost killed my mums. I've had the stars for a little while now, also from Goodwill at two bucks a piece.


I collect birdhouses, and found this one at a garage sale for a dollar. I added a fresh apple from the local farmer's market. After all, I had to add something that had been harvested! I loved the colors in this apple.


I also bought this red birdhouse at the same garage sale last year, also for a dollar.


Since this was an outside tablescape, I thought it would be fun to add leaves for extra color. These were from trees in the yard.


I especially love these red leaves. They came from the maple out front that was spectacular this year.


Here was the tree on Halloween...isn't it beautiful? The leaves fell last week and I was so sad to see them come down.


It's almost three weeks since Halloween, and I still haven't posted pics. I may yet do it. I was a vampiress and went to a party and had a blast.

I'm now working 40 hours per week. I also leave late every morning and factor in an hour of driving each day. I feel great, but it does take a huge toll on my spare time. I haven't even been on blogger in about a week. I have neglected Facebook as well. I just can't be on here as often as I used to, so I hope everyone understands. I will come visit as I can.

Maybe someone can help me with this...I have lately been receiving a lot of anonymous spam comments on old posts. Can anyone tell me how to delete those comments without deleting all the rest of the comments left on the post? Thanks in advance to anyone who can give me some advice.

Please go to Between Naps on the Porch for a list of other Tablescape Thursday participants. You'll be glad you did!