Catching Up!

It's been more than a month since my last blog post.

I know!!!

Crazy, huh?   So what have you all been up to? 

We had a great Thanksgiving; 15 at table this year, which is probably about half what we usually have, but it made for a peaceful holiday, and a quicker cleanup!  As always, Howard wore his turkey shirt.  And for the first time ever, I forgot to get a picture of him in it.

Oh well.

At least I got this fellow, wandering the edge of a nearby road on the Sunday

before Thanksgiving.  Making his great escape, I guess.

We've had too much of this:

Anne, clearing ice off my van.

In the spirit of the season, Anne tried decking the dog with antlers.

Dylan decided to eat them instead.

But bigger brains prevailed.

Get that off, Mr. Smartypants.

After more than a year, the local birds discovered our window-hung

bird feeder.  They are not quick studies, our local birds.

Especially since the local squirrels discovered it at about the same time.

Our fresh tree, in the sunroom.

It's a winner this year -- and a species we have never heard of!

Canaan Fir.  It's wonderful.  If you can find one, grab it.

Do you like all the storage boxes and the white plastic around it?  Hahaha . . . we run a classy joint.

 This is me, singing at church.

OK.  That's a fib.

But what isn't a fib is that it has taken me all these weeks to get into 

the spirit of the season . . . and it's coming none too soon,

as our annual Christmas Grab Bag party is tomorrow.

Yikes.  I've got lots to do.  See you on the other side of Saturday!

-- Cass

The TBDBT List, and Too Much of a Good Thing

Now, I am not complaining.

But . . . 
I am getting a little tired of living
in the midst of a roadside flea market. 

This situation is entirely my own fault.

I'm pretty good at finding lovely old bits of furniture and smalls

at auctions, estate sales, thrift shops, and on Craigslist.
Sometimes, too good.

 Oddball, orphaned tables, chairs, chests, rockers, and beds,

along with clocks and china and mirrors and artwork,

are squatting all over the house.  Not even paying rent.

Sofas?  We have three needing new homes!

I'm covered in sadness.

No, I am not.  You catch me fibbing.

I'm covered in thankfulness.

How lucky, how amazing, to have the problem of abundance.

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Although speaking of abundance,
Thanksgiving is a terrifying mere 34 days away.

I can't put a big table full of relatives in the dining room

if I still have it full of these interlopers.

 Time to get serious.

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It's time for the annual T.B.D.B.T. List,

or,

the To Be Done By Thanksgiving List.

I have been making one of these monsters for years.  And years.

"Wishes" about sums up the TBDBT.

My list is probably quite similar to the one penned by the hardy

souls who landed at Plymouth Rock back in 16-something-or-other.

1)  Don't thee die.

2)   Make thee friends with the locals.

3)  Invite thy new friends in for a nice cuppa.

4)  (Should be #2-1/2) Build thee a house to invite them into.

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Okay, so my TBDBT Lists are a little less ambitious than this,

although one year I included "Build A Garage," but crossed it out

before my husband could see it and get his hopes up.

2010 - Howard & Turkey Shirt

2011 - Howard & Turkey Shirt

I am way, way behind this year.

August and September were not my most productive months,

so I have streamlined my list.

Here it is, the slimmed-down 2012

To Be Done By Thanksgiving List.

1.  Send the orphaned furniture on its way, even if that means to a storage unit.

2.  Finish sewing the new draperies for the dining room, with the fabric bought during the TBDBT craze of 2010.  (Not fibbing.)

3.  Install the rest of the matchstick blinds in the Study, which includes trimming 4 of them.  

4.  Call Dave the Plumber and say Yes to a new upstairs bathtub, and also a new powder room faucet.  Ask him if a food disposal is possible in the kitchen.  Or, just outright buy his 4 kids all their Christmas presents, and his wife a nice warm mink.

5.  Touch up paint - kitchen, study, upstairs hall bath.

6.  Relax and realize that Thanksgiving will come, regardless of whether there are new draperies in the dining room, and everyone will be gently stuffed with good food.  Which brings me to my last make-sure-to-do point:

7)  Don't poison anyone.

A beautiful turkey with a cleverly disguised
ICBM strapped to its back.
The Commies will never see this one coming!
(A little joke there for us Cold War kids.)

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Adorable graphics courtesy of Karen, The Graphics Fairy.  Visit her amazing blog here!

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Link Parties!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

Miss Mustard Seed hosts the Furniture Friday Feature.  It's a must visit -- Click here!

We may or may not head East to the beach house.
I'm thinking That Old House is insisting we stay home,
and tend to her needs.  She's such a boss.  -- Cass