Has Anybody Seen My Tambourine?

Yesterday, I had a wonderful day off. I crammed in as much as I could get done while I had the house to myself and as long as I wasn't called for work. I began my day with a morning walk with Brandy and we enjoyed the Fall air and foliage. When I got home, I made myself a fresh pot of Pumpkin Spice Coffee. This coffee fueled me throughout my day.

I then started my cleaning and washing loads of laundry. I took a break to go to the local thrift store, where I bought some fall window clings for $0.25, some orange fabric napkins for $2.50, and a cookbook for $1.00! I'm holding on to the window clings for November. The cookbook was a book published in 1979, and it was all recipes that were taken from the backs of boxes, labels, and lids. It had some great recipes in there- I love those sort of finds. The napkins, I turned those into a table runner by sewing them together with a simple straight stitch. The runner is what you see under my haunted house.

After all of that excitement, I decided to bring down some of my Halloween decor. I didn't want to overdo it, because it was only the second day of October. However, I brought down a few candy dishes, a motorized witch, and pumpkin head, and my haunted house. I have a lot of decorations for Halloween. I think that I'll bring out a little at a time the ease into things and then in about a week, I'll decorate the outside.

I made that haunted how two Falls back. It is made entirely out of recycled materials. I used old boxes for the frame, and the siding and trim were made from soda can boxes, the windows were made for old milk jugs, and the ghosts were made from old rags and used dryer sheets. I used sugar water and soaked the sheets and fabric in the water before molding them onto foil forms. Obviously I painted the house, made a stained glass window with window paint, and I added some decorations from pictures cut out of store fliers. It took me a few days to complete.

At the end of the day, I decided to make some gingerbread cookies. So, I put on my apron, put the movie "The Worst Witch" into the DVD player, and I made my cookies. I Used cookie cutters that are shaped like acorns, maple leaves, and oak leaves. The whole house smelled like gingerbread- which made it a perfect October afternoon.