Silhouettes On The Shades, Or Windows, Or Fireplace . . . .

Last year, 'long about Halloween time,
I decorated our Parlor mantel.

With bats.

 Lots of bats.

  Even sleeping bats.

I found the bat silhouettes at Michaels, all cut out and ready to hang; how easy was that decorating?

This season, if you want to go

silhouette-happy at a bargain basement price,

check out Dollar Tree's Halloween offerings.

Yes, I went silhouette-happy.

Big time.

They are smaller silhouettes than the ones I got at Michael's,

but they are also way cheaper.

So I plan on sticking them -- literally -- everywhere.

In a couple of weeks, you won't be able to look in a mirror or out a window

at That Old House without this looking back at you:

Don't you think these cunning lil' rodents are just the thing

to scamper up and down the conservatory window frames?

Anyway -- just a heads-up because you know how fast the best stuff at Dollar Tree sells out.

Is it odd to use best stuff and Dollar Tree in the same sentence?

That cute little pumpkin with the "Give Thanks" is also a Dollar Tree buckaroo buy.

It is really cute and can stay out till Thanksgiving.   We like multi-tasking.

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Can you believe the North East is getting battered by rain today?

Other parts of the USA need rain but it's the last thing we need right now.

We are not out from under the last storm; there are people in New Jersey still without power,

and many without homes at this point; their flood-damaged places have been condemned or need rebuilding.

Every county in the state has been declared a disaster area (and no cracks about New Jersey and disaster areas!).

And . . . all this rain is bringing down the leaves.  Too soon!

Go away, rain and wind.  Come back in 4 weeks, please.

Leaves on the sunroom roof.  Blargh!

Now I'm putting away my cheapo silhouettes in a safe place . . .

meaning I will look for them in October and not find them until Groundhog Day.

I hope I still have the ones I used last year!

Link Parties!

Marty at A Stroll Through Life hosts Tabletop Tuesday.  Click here!

At Coastal Charm, it's Linda's Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.  Click here!

I'm crazy late with this post -- almost didn't bother but I did want to share the Dollar Tree silhouettes.

Tomorrow?  Tropical Storm Irene and our Beach House  -- Cass

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Falling Out Of Summer

Extreme heat and humidity, bumper crops of weeds,
tomatoes that went nowhere, grapes that are feeding
the local deer . . . then, an earthquake and
a hurricane-turned-tropical-storm . . . .

for the first time I can remember,

I am more than ready to say Scram! to Summer, 

and Hello, Sailor! to Fall.

  

Borrowing from an old post, about a year ago, and linking to Sunday Favorites and Seasonal Sundays.

Links are below!

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If I were an adult-ed art teacher, and I looked at the palette that Mother Nature had picked out for her Autumn scenes, I'd probably tell her to tone it down.  "It's a bit much, dear," I'd say.  "How about fewer brilliant oranges and reds?  Maybe a touch of the neutral here and there, give the eye a rest?"

Thank goodness I am not Mother Nature's art teacher.

She's bold, our Mother Nature, and she ain't afraid of gaudy.
(In fact, I suspect she wears too much jewelry, loves purple,
and teases her hair, but that's material for another post.)

Anyway, Mother Nature sure bids Summer goodbye with sizzle.

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  In the dining room at That Old House,
the table is set for two, for an early Autumn supper.

The expected oranges and golds and reds and yellows are all there;
even some brown to represent the leaves falling outside.

But to give Summer it's due -- after all, it is in the 80s today --
there's the soft blue of summer's water and sky.

There wouldn't be those brilliant hues of Autumn
without, first, the clear blues and greens of Summer.

$1 Aqua blue plates from Dollar Tree,
$1 painted pottery bowls (they have touches of blue-green in their leaves) from the defunct Cost Cutters drugstore chain,
thrift store handblown wineglasses in watery blue,
Dollar Tree tea light birds,
very vintage plaid linen napkins,
my century-old Georgian silverplate flatware,
and my Mom's old pewter S&P shakers,
plus a bargain bin brown poly tablecloth,
an old bittersweet faux wreath, a ceramic pumpkin, some faux fruit, and an old black iron candleholder.

And that's it!

A table that mixes the bright and gaudy colors of Fall with the soft blues of Summer.

Just what I need right now, as I'm not completely ready to let go of those lazy days.

Have a lovely Sunday! -- Cass

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Good News!  My sister and her husband went out to the family beach house this weekend -- and report that all is well following Irene.  The water did breach the bulkhead and surround the house, but didn't get high enough to reach inside.  Except for a couple of slightly off-kilter shingles, and shrubbery and trees burned brown by the wind-driven salt, no damage. We are lucky, and grateful.

Today will be my 5th day of joining with other church members, making and delivering bagged lunches to flooded-out residents in affected neighborhoods who are beginning the long cleanup; we average 400 lunches a day.  On Saturday, Howard and Anne were my "runners," as they will be today, and we made it into a couple of areas previously un-reachable by car, driving through thick mud and dodging the bigger puddles.  It takes awhile for the smell of a flood to leave your nostrils, and the mosquitoes are just beginning to come out in fierce force.  Anyone know a good non toxic mosquito repellant?  If so, let us know!  :-)

Link Parties!

It's Sunday Favorites at Happy To Design.  Click here!

At The Tablescaper, it's Seasonal Sunday.  Click here!

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What's Blue & White & Blue & White & Blue . . . .

So I was talking with my sister-in-law Doris a little while ago,
and she mentioned something from the blog, and I said,
"Gee, I haven't posted anything today.  Eh, so what?"

But it sparked a little idea in my mind.

I decided that this week I am going to post each day.  

Yeah, again, so what?  Hey, it's a goal, and I'm sticking to it.

This ain't gonna be a Pulitzer winner, friends.

However, Howard won't be home from work till nearly midnight, so no dinner to cook. . . .

(Do you cook dinner for yourself when you are home alone? Last night I had a bowl of broccoli for supper).

All right.  Enough palavering.

Here's my post for today, and as my grandmother would have said,

"That's all there is, and what are you goin' to do about it?"

It seems that Blogger is playing fast and loose with the normal rules of posting pictures,

and I'm having a wee bit o'trouble getting them where I want them to go.

Therefore I'm just going to put them all in a bunch, and you sort it out.

No, only kidding ... kind of.  I am just going to post them, and I'll explain at the end.

Welcome to a really cheap blue and white table!

The obligatory stomach's eye view.

And that's all, folks!

From Dollar Tree -- big wine glasses, large white basket weave border dinner plates, little tea light spheres (they are so chubby and cute).  Also the plate stand that is holding the plate.
From Christmas Tree Shops -- those blue and white balls, one buck a pop.
Goodwill -- the cake plate, that I took apart for this setting and stood the plate up, and used the stand part to raise up a blue fishy bowl that I got at a museum store on clearance for $7.  Also the napkins are GW.
Restaurant plates with cobalt and gold borders -- a gift from my Mom.
The hobnail milkglass S&Ps were also my Mom's.
The bowls?   CTS again.  Clearance.
The very old plated flatware, eBay.

Can't remember where I got the Delft pitcher, but it was not a thrift buy.

Tomorrow?  It's a look back at what we did to transform our kitchen to better suit our old house, and the compromises that you just live with, because . . . that's life. See, Doris was telling me about their master bathroom renovation, and the subject of compromises came up.  So, Doris, you are responsible for today and tomorrow's blog posts.  It's all your fault.  -- Cass

Linky Parties

Tablescape Thursday at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch.  Click here!

Leigh of Bloggeritaville's Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

At Coloradolady blog, it's Vintage Thingies Thursday. Click here!

And it's an Open House Party at No Minimalist Here.  Click ... here!

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Get Thee To A Dollar Tree!

Hold the presses.
Dollar Tree needs to be on your
List Of Places To Visit, Soon.

I went yesterday; hadn't been in donkey's years.

Or, maybe, Dion's ears.

Anyway, it was a long time.

I walked in, veered to the right, saw this, and it was in my cart before you could say,

"HeyladygetyourmittsoffthatcauseitisMINE!"

 What is it, you ask?

 It's a wire basket.  According to its tag, it's a wastebasket, and yes, I think it would fulfill

that job description admirably in a bedroom or office.  Can't you just see

crumpled, discarded pages of The Great American Novel spilling out of the top? 

I thought that was a better image than used tissues in the bedroom.

You could also park home dec magazines or naughty novellas in it.

This is my clever way of letting you know how big it is.  So tiresome to write, "11 inches tall."

  It looks like it's made of chicken wire.

Refined, civilized, citified chicken wire.  Because, it is.

 I do believe that in one of those fancy-pants Frenchy-decor stores, it would have a price tag

on it that would be more than ONE STINKIN' AMERICAN DOLLAR!

But wait!  There's more!

It multi-tasks.

It can also serve as a pedestal for one of the other things I got at Dollar Tree.

Perhaps -- not.

 But -- you could weave ribbons through it, or hang fiddly bits of beads or crystals off it for some bling,

or attach big happy buttons with coat thread for your sewing room wastebasket,

or do some poofy lacy swaggy thing around the top with a flopsy bow,

or spray paint it in Schiaparelli Pink or--or--or! in a lovely Autumn orange and add a bit of raffia . . .

You know, this all seems like work, and since I am bone idle I will wait to see what you do with your

Dollar Tree Frenchy Chicken Wire Basket.  

By the way, it also comes in Black.

Tres chic!

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 Meanwhile, at our Dollar Tree, it's already Autumn.

The pumpkins are a-popping out all over the DT store.

I happen to have a lot of faux pumpkins (Le Blog is still in Frenchie mode), and I found

more faux citrouilles when we cleared out our basement for the French drains last month.

I had to Google two things for this post: the spelling of Schiaparelli

and the French word for pumpkins.  I like to look smart, but my computer knows better.

Anyway, I could not resist these chubby lovelies.

 Creamy white, with soft green leaves.  Hmm, how big are they, you ask?

 Ha!  Another graphic demonstration of size, using one of those

dinky wee tissue packets we all keep in our purses.

They're little fellows, but their future is all planned for them.

They are going to replace last year's itty bitty orange raffia pumpkins on Jabba the Hutch,

in our kitchen, when Fall really begins.

 Somewhere near the end of October.  I am a stubborn summer-hanger-on-er.

So, my question for vous today is:

When are you going to get a Dollar Tree Frenchy Wire Basket,

and what are you going to do with it?

And . . .

is it "Frenchy" or "Frenchie" or neither?

Actually that makes two questions.  No, three.  This is why I don't balance the checkbook.

Now, get thee to a Dollar Tree!

Only, not the one near my house.  That one is mine, and I want all the good stuff

and am not above mowing you down with my cart to get it. This is New Jersey, after all. -- Cass

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Time to put your Linky Party hat on!

Join Leigh at Tales from Bloggeritaville for Thifty Thursday.  Click here!

See how Leigh's hubby and kids designed their own family room.  It turned out great!

And at Faded Charm Cottage blog, there are loads of other white wonders to admire.
Visit the White Wednesday Link Party.  Click here!

Yes, I know I'm late for this one.
My excuse?  I was shopping!

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