I’ve discovered a new Fall decoration, these lovely little colorful wrappers. Magically, they’ve appeared all over my home this morning. Look how the sunlight sparkles off them and how the browns and golds work so well with the wood grains.

Oy.

Love Your Home,
Sue

1998    Morgan’s and Adam’s First Halloween   5 months old

I know, I know, I’m supposed to be in the midst of my Home Organization blog series, but I couldn’t help myself. I just felt like going off-topic to share photos of our Halloween costumes from years gone by. (My Home Page disclaimer: this blog is a hodge podge.)

In our house, my twins, now age 11, start talking about Halloween costumes as early as March or so.  The Halloween costumes talk comes up for discussion every few weeks until October when it then becomes an obsession. This year, it’s something about Japanese anime characters…or whatever…I don’t know.

Anywho, here ya go.  Here are some of our Halloween costumes since 1998. Some years are missing, especially the toddler years; I was just too sleep-deprived to drag out the camera I guess.

Hope you enjoy. Who knows, maybe they will give you some ideas for this year’s Halloween costumes.

2001  age 3

2002  age 4

2003  age 5

2004  age 6

2005  Along came Emily    4 months old
Apparently, I didn’t take pictures of Morgan & Adam that year
bad mommy

2006   ages 8 and 1

2007  age 9  (Morgan was going through a horror film phase)

2007   Emily age 2,
was too afraid of Freddie Kruger to be in the same photo

2008   ages 10 and 3
A Return to the classics:  The Chipmunks: Alvin, Simon & Theodore

Thanks so much for letting me share these photos.  As Halloween approaches, I hope your (and our) search for the perfect Halloween costumes is fun-filled and memorable.

Love Your Home and remember to take tons of pictures of your ghosts and gobblins,
Sue

Ten Things this Home-Aholic will miss about Summer at Home:

1. That luxurious, kidney-shaped, backyard pool (pictured)
2. Sunlight at 6AM
3. Staying in bed past 6AM on a weekday, just because I can
4. Coffee, the paper, my patio, alone, 7AM, 72 degrees
5. Fluffy, green grass that’s perfect for bare feet
6. “Kids, go outside with those popsicles!”
7. Cooking out more than cooking in
8. Homework-free evenings
9. Sunlight ’til 9PM
10. Catching lightning bugs and blogging about it

Love Your Home,
Sue

How cute is this little dude? He sits on my 11-year-old daughter’s nightstand. She wanted him because the blue and green “matched” her room. (Typical tween.) I agreed to buy him for her because I loved his message.

Hopefully our homes, in general, serve as our Worry-Free Zones, our comfort zones, filled with people and things we love. But I think each of us also deserves our own individual Worry-Free Zone.

I have one: a certain chair in my living room with a view of the front yard. It’s private and quiet, mainly because my kids have no interest in anything in that room so they rarely wander in.

I go there to “re-group.” If I’m lucky, it’s a 3-minute break.  If I’m luckier, I stay longer.

After some time in my Worry-Free Zone, I have a bit more energy, focus and calm. I’m ready to put out the next fire without losing my cool. I’m pretty sure if I did some research, I’d find a scientific study or two to back me up on this. But who has time for research? I do know this: it works for me, especially when I follow these simple rules:

Activities Allowed in the Worry-Free Zone:

• Drinking coffee or other beverage.
• Breathing In.
• Exhaling.
• Thinking (optional.)

Activities NOT Allowed in the Worry-Free Zone:

• Watching TV.
• Using a computer.
• Reading a newspaper.
• Talking on the phone.
• Texting.
• Paying bills.
• Reviewing homework.
• Working of any kind.

So there you have it. And I hope you have it, your own Worry-Free Zone, that is. 

Post a comment and tell me about yours.

Love Your Home,
Sue

Yes, this Home-Aholic went away from home and from her computer, which explains the absence of recent blog entries.

Our family vacation this year was my favorite kind: an Exploration-cation. We start with a general sense of an area we want to explore, a few loose lodging reservations and a map. Yes, I said a “map” — a big, paper, hard-to-fold, AAA map. I’m a total techno-nerd who loves our car’s GPS and Googlemaps on the iPhone. But to me, there’s nothing better than spreading out the old map to see the big picture when you’re exploring.   

This year, we chose to explore northwestern PA, western NY’s Chautauqua region, and the Niagara area of Canada. So in just one week we saw two Great Lakes, two countries, two small lakes, two spectacular waterfalls, two universities, two historic monuments, two cheesy tourist traps (a Spongebob movie in 4-D and a wax Museum,) one national forest, one state park and a few terrific restaurants where we all ate way tooooo much! The photo above is of a sign that hangs outside a funky eatery we found in a college town less than an hour from our house: North Country Brewing Co. in Slippery Rock, PA. The little antique sign just struck me as funny and totally blog-a-licious. 

On our travels, we also drove by *sigh* numerous wineries. My husband and I vowed we’d visit them someday when traveling sans kids.  

The greatest thing about this trip was that all of these fun destinations were within 4 1/2 hours from our home in Pittsburgh so we were never in the car for very long between stops.  

In addition to the paper map suggestion, a few tips I’ve found helpful for our family when Exploration-cationing:  

• Pack lightly: one small bag per person plus a shoe bag, a swim bag and a jacket bag.  You’ll wear stuff more than once so one lodging with a laundry facility is not a bad idea.

• Bring bottled water, Capri Suns, Goldfish crackers, licorice and protein bars for the car. They travel well. 

• A DVD player in the car is the best invention of all time. Yeah-yeah, I know, the kids should be taking in the scenery along with you. But the fact is their minds can only take so much scenery. And since they’re strapped in and barely able to shift positions, you need to give them something to keep them occupied when they lose interest in their summer reading material. 

• Know that once you stop the car after driving a bit, the kids are going to need to run around and blow off steam before settling down.

• Take tons of photos that include both family and scenery/attractions.

• Have each kid bring his/her own pillow with a brightly colored pillow case (to distinquish it from white hotel pillows.) Hotel pillows I’ve found are generally too firm for kids.

• Bring a bottle(s) of wine (and a corkscrew) for the hotel/motel/cabin: nothing like being able to unwind once the kids have settled down.

Next time you’re thinking about that far-from-home beach/resort vacation, consider a close-to-home, Exploration-cation. Mind you, they are not without their rough spots including cranky kids, getting lost and nasty restrooms. But the experiences and memories are worth it all.

Love Your Home (but Go Away every so often,)
Sue

Today is August 12th and I realize September is a few weeks away. But I’m just not mentally prepared to give up the notion of Summer. Maybe it’s because we’ve had so many rainy days since the beginning of June.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Fall, especially here in Pittsburgh. The trees explode with gorgeous colors, the school routines are in place, the sky is crisp and blue; and my beloved football is in (and on) the air.    

But yesterday, when I walked into my local craft supply store to pick up a new pair of scissors, this display hit me like a ton of burnt orange bricks. I looked around for support from my fellow shoppers but found that no one else appeared shocked to see that these harvest-y chachkis had replaced the picnic baskets and summer tableware. *sigh*

There’s really no point to this blog entry. Just needed to vent a bit.

I think I’ll make a big pitcher of lemonade, slap on some heavily scented sunscreen and fill up the blow-up pool for the kids (if it ever stops raining today.)

Love Your Home,
Sue

This photo shows us the true meaning of “happy to be home.”

As a Home-Aholic, I can’t stop smiling (and hugging my kids.)

Love Your Home,
Sue

Look at this couple.  How cute are they? I took this photo through the window of my car after leaving a baseball game and I just couldn’t resist sharing it.  (See, I do leave my house on occasion.) 

Here in Pittsburgh we have three major league sports teams. Of the three, the Pirates (how do I put this?) are not the winning-est team out there. However, Pittsburgh is home to the best sports fans in the country. And the Pirates certainly have their loyal and stylish followers.  I mean, I love how these two fabulous fans went crazy with their choice of pants then pulled the look together with traditional matching tees.    

To this couple, whoever you are, I say, “Yinz guys are awesome!”

Love Your Home (and your Hometown,)
Sue 

Photo by beautyredefined

Okay, how awesome is Netflix?  As a Home-Aholic, I say “Bravo” to the person (most likely another Home-Aholic) who came up with this business concept.   You log on to their site, pick the movies you want from their ENORMOUS collection of movies and for a small monthly fee, the DVDs are delivered to your mailbox.  Then (it gets better) no matter how long you keep a DVD, there’s never a late fee.  Finally, when you do put the DVD back in its cute, red, self-addressed, pre-paid envelope and pop it in your mailbox, your next movie arrives within days.   

Any movie you want without leaving your house (well, except for the schlep down to the mailbox.) Again, I say, “Bravo.”   

Love Your Home,
Sue

Photo from Abercrombie

I had my annual mammogram the other day.  When I walked into the exam room, the decorator nerd in me was delighted by the room’s paint colors: a soft tan offset by a wonderfully deep chocolate accent wall directly behind the…whatever it’s called…big squeezing xray machine.   The colors were so bold and unusual for a medical office.  I thought, “Nice touch.”

But as the exam began and I was “attached” (for lack of a better word) to the big squeezing xray machine, the blank chocolate wall I was forced to stare at just wasn’t doing it for me.  I mean, they should at least throw up some scenic artwork to keep your mind off what’s going on.

Then it hit me!  I know the perfect “Wall Decor” for that wall:  one of those 8ft x 8ft photographs of the gorgeous Abercrombie and Fitch models that are plastered all over their store in the mall.    

I mentioned my idea to the technician.  She laughed and promised she’d bring it up at the next staff meeting.  So there ya go.

Bet you were wondering how I was going to justify that photo on a decorating blog…

Love Your Home, (and get your mammogram)
Sue