For a number of years now I've thought Halloween/Samhain/Dia de Los Muertos was going to end up being a no family, quiet affair only to have family and visitors and fun all fall into place at the last minute. That happens a lot and I've come to depend on a "wait and see" attitude towards the way I want holidays or events or trips or even just afternoons to progress. Things usually have a way of coming together in the end if I do what I can to nudge things along and keep an open-to-possibilities attitude. Sometimes what comes together is what I wanted all along, sometimes it's something new and wondrous that I couldn't have experienced if I'd tried to plan it because it's not anything I could have thought to plan.

This year, again, it seemed like no one was going to visit and as October progressed I decided to stop fretting and simply enjoy each holiday activity for it's own pleasure, whether I shared that pleasure with others or for myself alone - whether it was the first cup of pumpkin spice tea or a walk under colorful fall foliage - and not worry too far ahead about the holidays themselves. I reminded myself to enjoy the season as it unfolded instead of putting too much emphasis on any one day or event. Ultimately I did enjoy the whole month and the culmination of the holidays were undoubtedly, unexpectedly full with plans, travel, and activities I could never have anticipated. I'm only mildly bummed that I only managed to drag out one box of Halloween decorations and that I only set up a few things.

On to the next holiday season -

The coming winter holidays will be very different for our family this year than from past years. The traditional activities and date markers won't apply, we won't be all together at one time but instead the three of us (myself, hubby, remaining teen) will be hopping from place to place spending separate time with each of our childrren and their families. It will all be new and uncharted territory. Much of it won't happen in my home. I plan on approaching it all with the same "enjoy the season not the day" attitude.

Still, along with the "be open to new possibilities" attitude, there has to be some planning of activities. Looking back on October, I'm happy with it for the most part, but I never truly did the decorating I wanted. I don't know why it didn't happen. Things just got in the way. No one else seemed to care (or help). I think activities and events took priority over decorating, including harvesting and football. Now I'm looking ahead to that stretch from Thanksgiving through New Years and wondering, with no big family gathering planned for our house, how will I approach decorating when it's really all for me?

Well, all for me and Hubby and teen William. But I'm the only one making it happen. I've had enthusiastic drag-out-the-boxes teen sons. William, the one remaining at home kid, is not one of them. I'm not sure if he even cares about decorations. I know Hubby enjoys the decorations - the seeing them part though, not the putting them up part.

So, without a big family to decorate for, what kind of decorating do I want to do? How much? I don't have any little kids, even the grandkids won't be here for the most part, to inspire me or compel me to put up a tree or bake cookies. I don't have a single family gathering to string garlands or clean house for. Since no one else will decorate or even help (unless pressed, grumbling, to do so), how much do I care about decorating, in relation to all the other holiday activities that will vie for my time and attention?

Do I want to decorate with my traditional boxes of stuff or do something different because I can? Since we won't, for the most part, be doing any of the activities we've traditionally done in the past, this is a year where I'm having to reinvent the holidays. This opens up lots of new possibilities but it also doesn't give me the structure that in years past have helped guide me. I could just muddle through or I could take things by the reins and go in a new direction, a direction that could be more meaningful to me than just "taking it as it comes". Although, taking things as they come often work out quite nicely. Hmmm. And sometimes taking things as they come, I end up looking back and wishing I'd taken more control.

It just occurred to me that maybe I worry about the decorating so much because I come from a family of BIG decorators. Obviously it's about activities or gatherings as well. We certainly have our share of family activities and gatherings, but the gathering bit was constantly in flux. Fun, but in flux. The one constant that the holidays revolved around for me was the decorating. Perhaps that's why it matters so much to me. Maybe it's not really about the decorating at all, maybe it's about bigger meanings and smaller rituals, not the ribbons and bows. Maybe it's not about decorating or not decorating that's bothering me at all. Maybe it's about, once again, reinventing the meaning of the holiday season. And maybe I already knew that. Hmmm. Thanks, me, for talking this out with myself (and hehe, with you guys too. Thanks for listening.)

So, first things first. I can't really even consider decorating - how much, what style, how soon, what purpose - until I tackle some serious cleaning and decluttering. AGAIN. I'd made big strides this year but I look around the house now and wonder where those strides disappeared to cuz, the house is obviously out of control once more! (I think because I feel the clock ticking on the last child leaving for college and I'm waiting to do some major rearranging - so everything already feels "temporary" once more).

So sit down. Have a cup of cocoa. And tell me - What sort of holiday decorating strategy (or none) do you use?

The thrift shop down the road from me hangs clothes out on their fence to let people know when they're open. Usually it's something for kids or some old lady type sweatshirt, but yesterday there was an intriguing black and white floral tee flapping in the wind. I stopped to check. I figured the odds were it wouldn't be in good shape or in my size. But it was. So, in a hurry, I dashed in to pay for it. But, on the way in, I spied this hanging over the entrance railing.



Isn't it BEAUTIFUL! Faery ball material, oh yes! It says it's in my size but I have my doubts. The waist is teeny tiny.




No matter. I can cut and snip and do all sorts of Cinderella things to it. Sans helpful mice and birds of course. It's not really the lavender color of the first photo. And it's not really as pink as in this flash photo. It's more of a very dusty rose.



Here it is hanging straight.



It has three layers of tulle - two of rose and one of this greenish gold.

The seam is split (but not ripped) in the back and the dress had spaghetti straps that have been cut in half. So the price for all this voluptuous girly frou frou? TWO dollars.

Tra la la!!!!!

I had the most fantabulous mail day today! No bills, only two pieces of junk mail, and three packages for MOI!

One of my favorite new bloggers is Julie of Mermaiden Creations. I met her during Vanessa's Halloween blog party on the 17th. I didn't even notice that she was having a giveaway (or at least, I didn't remember, that was one WILD party!), but I won. This wee little pendant came today, packaged in this wee bag. Isn't it lovely. Tipped green. I love it. I have a feeling I'll be wearing it a lot this coming year.

It's pretty as a silhouette too. I can hang it in the window when I'm not wearing it.

If that wasn't enough of a surprise, my friend Deirdre sent me this adorable little glass bead witch necklace. Why? I dunno. Just because. (Just because she's a sweet friend to think of me and share the fun.) I put her around my neck right away.

Package #3 was a HUGE box from my witchy Mom. Inside was this scruffy witch's broom. Can you see the handle? It's hard against the black of the fireplace. Very cute. But the best part - there's an on/off switch on the bottom. Turn it on and it dances and hops about like the broom out of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and sings and chants - something tweaked from Shakespeare's Scottish play. (You're not suppose to actually say the name, right?) "Double bubble, boil and flubble.... mwahahaha... Happy Halloween from witches three!!! Hee hee heeeeee!" Okay, I made that up mostly. I was laughing so hard I didn't really hear exactly what it said.

Good mail days make me smile!

A few days ago I was on the way to the library when I came across a... well, not an estate sale. Some relatives clearing out an elderly parent's home. They were moving things into three spots - a rental truck for the stuff they wanted to keep, a large walk in dumpster for the stuff they thought wasn't worth anything to anyone (although there was indeed tons of great stuff in there), and the stuff inbetween they just set out on the lawn with a big sign that said "Free Stuff".

You can bet I did a fast u-turn and stopped. Spent quite a bit of time sorting through boxes and testing old furniture for stability and digging through bags of vintage fabrics and.... well, I left when I had no more room in my Subaru.

Here it all is, dragged in and dumped in, around, and behind the loveseat. I'm not going to show you everything, I don't have time to sort it this week, but I thought I'd show you a few different close ups of the treasures. And while we go through the photos, you can also play the feline version of Where's Waldo. Can you find the felines in this photo? There are three of them.




This one is too easy. That's Nut (pronounced "newt") peeking out beneath a set of four retro tv trays. I used to have some, Hubby loved them, but they were wood and bugs got'em. It was weird. So these will be fun. And bugs don't eat metal. And the colors match my living room. They need to be dusted off but they're in perfect shape.




Got an idea for using that old commercial frame on the top. That's a birdseye maple occasional table. And an old soda bottle box.




Can you find Miranda? The chair is one of the finds. It's sturdy, newly reupholstered, just needs the seat cleaned. I've got a little bookshelf corner that it will fit into perfectly as a reading chair. Those old drawers are painted all sorts of fun chippy colors - gonna use them for making altars/framed assemblage pieces. The yellow bag is full of old frames. The rest is miscellaneous bits and bobs and vintage fabric.




Find Charlie Weasley? More bits and bobs - an covered cake pan, some old metal hardware, lots more vintage clothing and fabric, and lots of things... I can't even remember it all.




An old chippy green children's chair and an old globe. Might make a couple more hanging globe lamps out of it. Or, who knows.




I think that's Nut again. Or maybe Yoda. And Charlie Weasley's ear. A sturdy wooden chair with a carved back, some old shutters that are all connected - I totally wanted to find some of these to use as a bulletin board, more fabric and odd miscellaneous, and a chandelier to spray paint (white or black - hmmmm?) and hang for decorative purposes.

But first things first. 1. Sort. 2. Find someplace to stick it all until I get back from yet another adventure this week. 3. Return and start making stuff!

Today, some dolls.




One of my purchases at Halloween and Vine was this adorable wee goth girl balancing atop an "L" block. "L" for Laume of course! She's got a little skelly doll and a pumpkin, striped stockings, dressed in black, looks like she hasn't bothered with a comb in awhile. I think she's perfect, just like me. Heehehee. Overnight my hair can look like that.

She was created by Kerry Howard-Schmidt of Paper Moon Gallery. She used to have a website but it looks like it's down. Here is her Etsy site.




Don't know if these really qualify as art. Kitsch maybe. I've had Johnny up there on the bookshelf for awhile and so I was excited to find a crew member for him at the thrift shop last week.



This guy in the middle is Ice Bat. He's an Ugly Doll. I love Ugly dolls. Look here, I didn't know they had such a cool website. Ice Bat sleeps with me every night. I've thought of getting more Ugly dolls but I was a bit worried that Ice Bat wouldn't appreciate a sibling. He's seemed like an only child sort of guy. Sure, he shares the bed with Hubby, Hubby's monkeys, the cats, obviously Rosie, and an occasional grandchild. But I didn't want another ugly doll.

Until I saw Fang. For some reason I thought Ice Bat and Fang would get along. Fang isn't an Ugly Doll. He was handmade by my friend Mermie. She has more dolls up on her etsy shop, Mermaid Laughing.

Then, on this last trip, we stumbled upon Poe, a tiny Ugly Doll. He came home with us too. He was going to be my "travel doll", but I couldn't bare the thought of him having to sleep alone in my suitcase between trips so he's in bed with us now too.

As you can see, Ice Bat has taken both the little newcomers under his wing. Turns out he's made a very good big brother.

I just finished reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. Shudder. Scary! What a great book. It always amazes me how we think we know references to cultural stories and references, but we really don't, until we go to the source. (uhm, don't even get me started on how often I am startled to find I know more about Biblical references than most Christians who quote it to me - but that's another post for another time. Or not.) So, what was I ... oh yes, Dracula. I'd never even watched any of the Dracula movies from start to finish. So I read the book expecting... nothing. I always forget, between dips into the past literature, how much I enjoy a good gothic read. Or a new gothic read (Have any of you read The Thirteenth Tale?)



One of the surprises in the book, to me anyway, is how little of the story actually takes place at Dracula's castle. Most of the time the plot unfolds in England!

Unlike most literary or film vampires of contemporary times, who seem to be misunderstood and are often "Bite me!" sexy, Dracula was evil, scary, NOT someone you'd ever want to invite over the threshold. Unlike Edward or Spike or Eric or (insert vampire of your choice), Dracula was not a potential boyfriend or even someone you'd consider having a one-bite-stand with some impulsive evening.

But if the vamp himself was unappealing, the whole Gothic presentation of the book was very appealing indeed. Made me want to remake my living room into a Victorian library or sitting room and start wearing corsets and consider taking up fainting as a seduction technique. Well, maybe not the fainting.




Just recently someone on my Twitter feed posted this link for coffin couches. I liked this one, as well as the black one with green trim in the site's gallery of images. Classic black. Or do you prefer one of the more cheerful colored ones?




Of course, feeling sort of under the weather (like Lucy or Mina were, although mine was caused not by blood loss but by a nasty little cold bug), I had time to surf the net for all manner of coffin inspired decor. Coffin cabinets, coffin coffee tables, coffin beds, even coffin pool tables!

And then branch out and search "goth decor", or "gothic decor", or "vampire design", and so on, until your eyes turn red with staring at the computer screen. There's so much out there it's practically become mainstream!

I totally lied about not getting any studio time in yesterday. Sorta. Although it's true I didn't get into the studio (except to grab a scarf for my night time walk), I did find time to work on a long abandoned knitting project. I finished off the first of a pair and started on the second. Yay me. If I can whip out the rest of the project then I can use my needles to start on a new project that I'm going to have to create a pattern to make.

I keep forgetting to show you the little faery Hubby surprised me with on our Faerieworlds trip in August. It's a storage box inside the tree stump. It's one of Jasmine Becket-Griffith's faery Gothlings. Love these wee moody creatures. I have Gothling bank checks and I always get so many compliments on them. This one is mass produced but it's well crafted and painted with fine detail that doesn't show well in this photo. I think she needs a name. Any suggestions?