Want to see what I did?

Andy's dad brought me some corn stalks last weekend, so a few days ago I set to work at transforming them into fall decoration for our front door.





I had so much fun on this project!! I'd still like to get some fall potted plants to place out there as well but we'll see if I ever get around to that.

I also went to my storage unit and got my box of Halloween decorations out and decorated the inside of the house.

Decorating for holidays has always been one of my favorite things to do. I think my mom got me on that. Always at the beginning of each month we would get together as a family and get out the holiday decorations for that month. Then we would put everything out in it's usual place. We decorated for every holiday, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Valentines, and on and on.

I still like to go to my mom's house when she decorates for Christmas and help her put everything up. Each item has such a familiarity. It's funny to have such an attachment to those things. Even now, my mom still saves some of the advent calendar for us girls to do when we come home.

It's such a silly thing, but holiday decorations remind me of home and growing up doing crafts with my mom and sisters. Most of our holiday decorations are homemade and I remember lots of fun times working on them as a family.

It's been almost two years since I packed all of my things away and shoved them into the back of a rented storage unit. I thought it would only be a few months and then I'd get everything back. You really don't know how much things as simple as pillow cases and dishes mean to you until you don't have them anymore.

It's that familiarity again-that sense of know that you're 'home.' It's been a long time since I felt that feeling. The last two years I've spent living in someone else's house, using someone else's things, sleeping in someone else's bed. It's not a good feeling to feel like you don't have a place to call your own.

As I pulled my box of Halloween decorations out of my storage unit, I also grabbed a couple of quilts that my mom had made me, some of my dishes, and a few books. Finally being able to use my own things means so much to me.

I come back to the house every day and see my things surrounding me when I walk in the door and it's like I'm finally coming 'home.' It's really a great feeling and one that I will never take for granted again.

Decorating the door was a real treat for me and I can't wait to decorate for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Andy says we can put up a Christmas tree!! It's been a long time since I had my own Christmas tree. I've spent the last two Christmases as a guest in someone else's house, so I'm really looking forward to this.

In the spirit of decorating, Ash decided to get involved and do a little of her own decorating.....all over the back yard.

Yep- that's the remains of a bag of insulation we had in the garage.

Very pretty, Ash, but that's not what I meant by 'tinsel.'