my christmas mantel

Minimal and easy is my Christmas decorating motto, and I think it gets moreso that way every year. The less to dig out, fool around with, pack back up, the better. I did have fun decorating my mantel this year though. This turned out to be my favorite part of the Christmas decor.

I had a collection of bottle brush trees, most of them purchased the past couple of years from a local shop, Vintage Art & Findings. Last month I was in Target and spied some inexpensive modern trees that I thought would be an interesting mixture with the bottle brush trees.

I picked up this cute JOY banner at Vintage Art & Findings this year. The felt ball garland I bought years ago at Hobby Lobby.

Added some fairy lights among the trees...

The view at night.

Hope everyone has been staying healthy. Covid, flu and RSV are rampant right now. Brian and I have been sick since right after Thanksgiving, but we're both on the mend. Neither of us had been sick in years, not even a cold, so I guess it was our turn. Thankful for strong, healthy immune systems! 

I'll be back soon to show you my other little bits of decor in the living room and kitchen.

💖

mid-march this and that

Hi friends ~ even though technically it's still winter, we're having some beautiful spring teaser days. Today it got up to 67 degrees! I had all the windows open in the house and it was wonderful to hear all the birds chirping and sandhill cranes flying overhead. March in Illinois is fickle. Friday will only be 39 degrees and rainy, with snow mixed in.

Still fluffing my nest for spring, I took the pitchers off the mantel that I had there before and played around with other decor...

I'm liking this look on the mantel much better. 

I have to say, I'm tired of my boho curtains. I've had these for about seven years and I'm wanting to change to something plain, most likely an off-white cotton or linen. 

Clementine is still hanging in there. I took her to the vet last week for a follow-up to have her gums and broken fang looked at, as suggested by the vet dentist. The vet said she has a little bit of inflammation in her gum where the fang broke off, but there isn't any infection yet. That was good news.

Back to thinking about changes in the living room...I'm tired of this rug, too. I got this one from Wayfair a couple of years ago when I used to write sponsored posts for them. This rug hasn't worn well, I think it's too small for the room, and I don't like the white and gray with my white sofa. I'm now thinking of something larger and colorful. 

On a sad note, Brian's father ~ my father-in-law ~ passed away on March 5th. He was 88 years old and had been in a nursing home for a few years with many health problems. We were able to say goodbye to him before he passed and to be with him as he took his last breath. 

(Brian and his dad, 1981)

I did some antiquing recently...

What do you think of the hat ~ is it me?

Or perhaps I should've taken home this lamp?

I passed on the lamp and brought home this pillow instead. Even though not an antique, the shop I was in had other pretty decor mixed in with their antiques. I bought a vintage blue and white tablecloth too, but no photos right now since I don't have it on my table.

I also stopped by one of my favorite independent shops, The Backdrop. This is one of those stores where you can find all kinds of unique gift items...and little things to spoil yourself with, too. The owner of the shop told me that these quilted cats were made by a retired Kindergarten teacher, who uses vintage quilts to make these cuties.

Another find from The Backdrop was this little 1970's snail planter.

It's been such a busy month that I just realized today that St Patrick's Day is tomorrow. Not that we do anything special to celebrate, but I do have a few St Patrick's Day decor items that I usually dig out and display. Oh well, not this year! 🤷 🍀

these strange days ~ and spring things

These days are now like a blur, one running into the next, not even sure what day of the week it is. I went grocery shopping yesterday and it left me feeling disheartened. It was like being in a strange sci-fi movie. People were like zombies. No one was making eye contact or even smiling. There were no sounds of conversation. All I heard was the music over the speakers. I got home, scrubbed my hands, unloaded my groceries, wiped down what items I could with a Clorox wipe, disinfected my countertop, fridge handle and door knobs, and washed my hands again. Then it was off to the vet with Clementine. She needed routine blood tests and a general exam to monitor her kidney disease. Another bizarre sign of the times where the vet tech comes out to the car and takes the pet into the animal clinic while you wait in the car. 

We had beautiful weather last weekend, so we worked in the yard, raking out the garden beds of all the leaves and sticks and dead matter that accumulates over the winter. I cut down all the perennials, too. You can see the lilac bush to the right, starting to sprout green buds.

This is my small herb garden at the back of the house ~ and all the dead stuff I raked out. It's amazing how much accumulates over the winter. Of course, a lot of it was the dead mint stalks, too. The chives and mint and red leaf sorrel come back every year. I think the thyme might be coming back, too ~ I saw some little leaves.

On to the butterfly garden. I raked all this out and cut down the phlox, purple coneflower and black-eyed Susan. See how there's a border in the front of the garden with holes in the ground? That's where we had buried colored wine bottles, neck down to make a pretty border many years ago. Then we had filled in the border area with small landscaping rocks around the wine bottles. Over the years, the rocks have found their way out of the border and wood chips and moss have moved in.

I pulled out all the wine bottles and we soaked them in a tub of soapy water and scrubbed the dirt off. Brian will dig up the border area and we'll start all over with the wine bottles. We don't want to fill in the area around the bottles  with rocks again though. Not sure what we'll do.

 Another spring project we got done last weekend was cleaning off the patio and setting up the patio furniture that had been covered up all winter. We didn't unbox the cushions for the seating yet though because the weather is still too rainy. And Brian will eventually power wash the patio, too. The patio looks so bare with just the furniture sitting there and no plants and flowers, but hopefully soon!

 I love seeing all the perennials coming back to life...

 the tangled mess of clematis...

lilac buds that remind me of miniature grape hyacinth...

hostas that first look like asparagus...

rhubarb (can't wait to make a rhubarb-strawberry crisp!)...

and how cool is this reviving peony?

I'm still taking my daily walks down to the lake, though I've missed a couple of days here and there due to either rain or laziness. A few evenings ago when Brian and I were walking, the sky was still that perfect blue and the almost-full moon was like a beacon.

So peaceful at the lake.

Indoors, not much has changed for spring except the mantel. 

I love the combination of pussy willows and daffodils in this blue and white pitcher.

That's about it around here. Hope you all are safe and well and hanging in there. These are trying times ~ physically and mentally ~ for many. 

first and foremost ~ and a lighter touch

Tim flew in last week for a short visit. It was so good to see him again! He moved to California right after Thanksgiving last year. I've really missed my boy. 

 I know technically it's still winter, but once March rolls around, I think spring. We've even had a few nice days already too, with temperatures in the 50's and lots of sunshine. We have daffodils and chives poking out of the ground, and I saw a few robins a couple of weeks ago! I think that's the earliest I've ever seen them. They say we're going to have a warmer-than-usual March, so maybe that's why.

 I've been taking down some heavier looking decor and adding lighter colors and textures.

I always have a hard time with decorating the mantel. I'm not totally satisfied with this look, so it might change again. Half the fun is in the puttering process.

Sunshine streaming into my home makes me happy!

What does the beginning of March look like where you live?

the yin and yang of fall

 We've had just a few sunny days in-between a ton of gloomy, rainy ones. On one of those rare, sunny days we took a hike in the nearby State Park.

The one thing we forgot is that the mosquitoes have been extra bad this year. We have a contract service that sprays for mosquitoes around our property every three weeks, so it was easy to forget that they'd be in abundance in the park. We had to walk with our shirts up around our necks to avoid the blood suckers. Other people passing us had their hoodies up over their heads, though with the sun beating down, it was hot. We were a sweaty mess by the time we got back to our car.

 This might've been a better idea to keep the skeeters off our heads.

I'm not big into mums, but I do buy one big bunch every fall for my front porch. I think they look pretty in this galvanized tub. I just plopped the entire pot down in there; I didn't replant them in the tub.

This big summer pot of annuals is still somehow going strong on my porch, too. Must be the combination of morning sun and all the rain we've had.

Otherwise, this is what the patio side of the house looks like right now: a tad dismal. We haven't been able to keep the patio furniture cushions out because of all the rain. Will we ever get to use the patio again before it's too cold? 🙁 It's been buried in wet leaves, too. This was after I used the leaf blower to clear off the patio and the furniture.

As I do every fall, I've been taking photos of the neighbor's glorious maple tree. A few days ago when we had a little bit of sun, the colors of the sky and tree were absolute perfection.

The gray, gloomy mornings call for candlelight on the mantel...

And little touches of fall around the house...I added some fall cheer to the small china cabinet in my kitchen by putting scrapbook paper on the back of the middle shelf.

I needed a new pillow for the living room couch. A trip to HomeGoods yielded this beauty. A saleslady who saw me looking at this pillow said it was her favorite - and the last one left. I love the colors and textures.

And it's reversible!

Homemade soups are back in my cooking repertoire again. A simple vegetable soup with a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan cheese hits the spot on cool days.

It's rainy here (surprise, surprise), so we went to the movies today to see A Star is Born. It was phenomenal. I can't say enough good things about this movie. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga blew me away. We were going to go to a fall fest tomorrow, but with all the rain, I'm sure it'll be cancelled. We need to do things like look for new eye glasses for Brian and check out washing machines and dishwashers (yes, we need both at once - ugh) at Home Depot.

Have a great weekend!