Home Updates

It's that time of year again... Today is the last day of November. Where has the month gone?By the way, have you seen my house lately? We've been decorating up a storm. Even though we are going to DC for Christmas, I knew that it would be incredibly depressing to arrive back in sunny Phoenix without a shred of Christmas cheer to welcome us home. So I went to work. Here's a picture of from our recent Christmas decorating... I still have a few more projects, like stockings for Travis and myself for over the fireplace and I am finishing my drapes in the dining room. But we decided to set out a festive table by the fireplace to make it homey and festive. Maybe it will help sell the house...

The decorating story begins with an early morning Saturday. All the other stores were quiet. They hadn't even begun their preparation for post-Thanksgiving madness. Their inventory was quietly awaiting normal Saturday morning shoppers strolling casually through their lanes.
I was not.
I was at Goodwill's 50% off Saturday Sale. People line up at 6:30 in the morning for a store opening at 7:00. Now, we're not talking regular shoppers. We're talking a different clientele. What would draw me you might ask? 50% off all the Christmas decorations. But I also found a couple hidden treasures like a replica of another Van Gogh that I reframed and appointed to the middle bathroom with the other Van Gogh's. I just need one more print to complete the collection.

I am a new home-dweller (not quite an owner) and this being my first holiday preparation season away from the resources my parents and I had gathered for years, I needed some supplies. What better than to get fake greenery for $1.00 here and .50 cents there? I brought all my treasures home along with a new filing cabinet for Travis for, get this, $26 dollars. That's what my brother, Peter, would call "chump change". I agree.

Can you find the hidden picture within a picture?