Layered Living: lights, pumpkins, + action

Hello friends! Welcome to my weekly update of all the things happening over here. This week let’s talk about lights, pumpkins, and action!

This past week has been action packed indeed (more about that in a minute).

I think I mentioned last time that my BFF flew home to Michigan with me from California. She lives there, I’m in Michigan, it’s annoying. We met almost 25 years ago when we were living there too. We were neighbors.

But the way that the two of us are when we are together, well, it’s probably better for everyone around us that we are separated most of the time by two-thirds of the nation. Plus, if we were always together, we might die of Diet Coke overdose. That’s a thing, right?

Thoughts for the week

Back in 2001, when we were living in a gated community in Orange County, I met my bestie. You know that stupid show “Real Housewives of Orange County”? Yea, that started around our neighborhood. But that wasn’t us.

I was the one at the bus stop wearing overalls, much to the amusement of the hot, botoxed moms on the block. Bestie looked normal. Like me normal, not them normal. Actually, I guess we were the oddballs there. So like any smart oddballs, we started talking.

First there were conversations about crown moulding. It was fascinating to find someone else like me with tools. I’d call her up and say, “I think there’s extra space behind this wall. Bring a flashlight and hammer and come over!” Next thing I knew, we were expanding my pantry and I was nailing my finger with the nail gun by accident. (There are reasons I keep up on my tetanus shots!)

Then we were talking about fabrics (she is a couture level seamstress and is AH-mazing!), antiquing, collections, and more. We’ve talked religion, all about the crazy people we’ve known, husbands who travel, kids, Diet Coke, crafting, empty nesting, getting our kids married off, more about fabric, more about Diet Coke, and on and on.

When we moved back to Michigan, two years later, I often thought that maybe we had just gone back to California just so I could meet her. And obvi, we’ve stayed friends. You know it’s forever when before she visits me she asks, “so what projects are we doing?” Like music to my ears!

She’s the bestiest best bestie ever there was in a world of besties. Hubby got lucky last week, as he was out of town for work. He texted a few times and was like, “I’m not even gonna ask what you two are doing.” Hahahaha, he knows us.

And it just usually involves him not recognizing the house when he gets home. So needless to say, we had the bestiest bestie week ever! OMG! You’re right, it was the best.

Lights

So when we were planning our week, I made a list of all the things we wanted to do, along with all the projects we could pick from. You know I have a running list at all times!

I always have a few easy things to do that, for whatever reason, can be done in minutes but I have procrastinated about. One such one was these solar lanterns.

We have a circle drive, and there are two stone pillars sitting lonely with no point to them. They once were connected by some random iron fencing that also had no point, which I removed years ago. Now they really were lonely.

So a few years ago, since there was no wiring there, and no easy way to get it there, I bought two solar lanterns. Thinking maybe they could look intentional if there was, in fact, a point to them.

But they needed a few details to be able to install them. So they sat in the garage for a couple years while I was busy doing other crap.

So yea, we put them up, and of course it only took like 15 minutes. Game changer.

Next, since we decided our focus this week would be the outside curb appeal, we began obsessing. The lantern on our porch outside came to life when we changed the light bulbs. Groundbreaking, I tell you.

But oh, it was! Because we exchanged the bulbs for flickering ones. You know, like some romantic gas lantern down south in some charming little town. When I say, RUN…do not walk…or press that little link and get yourself some, I mean like NOW!

Basically, all we wanted to do was hang out outside at dusk staring at the difference of mood it created. $10 investment and we were smitten! Yes please, you light up my life!

Pumpkins

Don’t worry, we had lots of fun between our projects. One day, after a visit to my son’s mini farm for apples, farm fresh eggs, and a tour for bestie of their property, we stopped at the cutest little pumpkin farm on the way home.

We had already been antiquing, through the McDonald’s drive-thru for Diet Cokes, and had a few treasures in the trunk. Then we basically filled the rest of the car with pumpkins for my fall decor. Man, who doesn’t love pumpkin shopping in the country?

Of course, we had to curate the whole ‘pumpkin scheme’ thing for the porch. Let me tell you, it would be easy to get carried away! So I set myself a budget, and we piled them all in the car, along with a mum or two.

This was my haul for the day (hahaha, smaller wagons obvi).

Action

Our action packed week started with a stop at my daughter’s for a quick visit so bestie could meet the newest adorable grandbaby addition. What’s better than a baby snuggle, even a quick one? I’ll tell you, nothing is better. So it was a good start.

We headed home to watch a couple episodes of Project Runway (Law Roach, image architect extraordinaire, is so b*tchy this season, and I love that Heidi Klum is back!!!)

The next day we did a bit of planning, so the second that hubby left for a work trip, we could “go-go gadget!” Here’s what we got done:

• Added lights to the stone pillars near the driveway
• Took multiple trips to Menards (just to peruse their wood aisles and later shop) along with Home Depot too many times
• Directed the dude who came to cut some trees down that were helping squirrels party on my roof. Pruned some bushes back so we can see the whole house
• Purchased and installed cedar wood shingles to two roof peak areas in the front of my house, after several creepy drive-bys to a house in town that had some that looked really good. This took two and a half days, and I still have a small area to finish. But I managed to not fall off a very tall ladder, bestie cut everything while I was perched up on the roof, and it was only a ‘one Band-aid’ job. Winning!
• Stopped into Hobby Lobby, Kirkland, and Home Goods, just for funsies
• Shopped at my two favorite antique malls and hit an estate sale that we talked about the rest of the day because it was so lame (not the stuff, just the people running it who wanted to sell grandma’s crusty, moldy stuff for over retail prices. People were walking away.)
• Removed our six-panel, solid wood, heavy as crap front door, and stripped it. Which required us having to put it back on, and then remove it AGAIN the next day to finish. UGH!
• Switched the lightbulbs on the front porch lanterns
• Ordered stuff from Amazon like it was my J-O-B
• Transformed our two garage doors
• Styled out the front porch with furniture and pumpkins (more on that another time)
• Dragged home the cutest hutch top I bought while we were antiquing, and restyled my little quilt/blanket collection mini room
• Moved some furniture around in the house to envision some changes for later so I could daydream about it and we can obsessively talk about it in the future
• Removed all the shutters on the exterior of the house, since I will be making new ones next week to complete the whole outdoor restyle
• Drove through for Diet Cokes multiple times and treated ourselves to a few meals out, since we didn’t have to cook for anyone but ourselves
• Built side rails for a full-size headboard/footboard for my oldest granddaughter as a surprise. Delivered, set up, and styled it for her to discover when she came home from school!
• Visited my son’s funny farm a second time, and enjoyed hot, fresh sourdough my daughter-in-law was making! Of course, she and bestie talked breadmaking for awhile
• Took a late night trip to Walmart to check out some influencer picks. Bought some cute pants
• Picked up hundreds of walnut balls (the size of tennis balls) that fall out of the trees in the front of my house, since we couldn’t even walk without tripping over some. Got pelted by some falling nut debris from the squirrels having a party in the trees
• Talked and laughed, and stayed up late watching design shows and movies on Netflix

I’m probably forgetting something, but we had a full week! It all gave me the momentum to finish up a few things that we didn’t get to, but we are getting rain a bit this week so that will slow me down. We had perfect weather all week for our projects, and a few days were downright hot!

The best part was being together, to talk and discuss all the things we like to obsess over. Now I need a nap, and I’m sure she needs a vacation after her “vacation”!

Weekly finds

I bought these amazing address numbers and letters to make a large address board that now hangs above our door. I loved the sample shown (see below) with the street name spelled out and so I bought all the letters to spell out the name in 3 inch and bought 5 inch numbers.

This month, REARRANGE has turned into REdo, REstyle, and a whole bunch more. I have been on a roll.

Have you taken any action and rearranged anything this month? Tell me in the comments.

Until next week

Well, thanks for spending some time with me this week. I am going to keep my good things going, but take it a bit easier this coming week. Last week was a fun whirlwind!

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