Friends and Findings

I walked into my office this morning and found this sweet pumpkin bundle on my desk. My longtime coworker and good friend Gina had given it to me, a little gift for my Thanksgiving table. Perhaps she remembered that I was debating getting a white pumpkin for my decorating this season, but had not made the commitment. She said it was just a token gift of well wishes. Isn't that a thoughtful gesture?  I do love this little piece, too, and you will see it in my tablescaping.  Speaking of which....

I found my plates for my holiday table!  I had been fussing over what to use for holiday serving this year.  I have a beautiful set of Royal Doulton china, my wedding dishes, but there was a plumbing incident in the wall behind where the dishes are kept. A pipe started leaking and there was water dripping onto the dishes and saturating the shelf they sat on. So while we waited for the men to tear holes in the walls, upstairs and down, to fix the leaking pipe, and waited another few weeks for other men to come patch up and repair walls and shelves, I carefully packed each delicate china piece and put the boxes in my bedroom closet. They finally finished repairs this past Tuesday. Our plan is to sell our condo and move next year, so it made no sense to me to unwrap the china to use over this holiday season. I did want to do something nice for this year.

I have over the past few weeks bought felt placemats shaped like leaves, and a set of gold chargers from BB&B.  I'm trying to get sets of 6, since we will be serving 5, and it doesn't seem right to buy an odd number of placesettings. I have been debating whether to just buy some nice, heavier paper plates, but that just doesn't strike me as looking nice, and would feel silly putting it on my new chargers. Since boxed sets are usually sold in packs of 4, I didn't want to get 2 sets, as I am also doing this on a very low budget.  I saw some plates at the dollar store I'd just about decided to go back and get, when I came across this set at Goodwill.  White, a nice scalloped edge on the border, and already packed up in a stack of 6. The price was right, too, at $5.99. 

So I will be exploring my tablescape, and will document my experiments later.  I would love to find another layer, like a salad bowl or bread dish, but maybe I'm being greedy.  Still, the Goodwill is on my way home from work, and it doesn't hurt to keep looking.

I am linking up with Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday.

November Touches

I had done the most of my Fall/Thanksgiving decorating a few weeks ago, and felt pretty good about it.  I really was behind in a couple of areas, though, I had not yet located and put out our fall tableclothes and placemats. I also had not shared my new look with my friends here on blogland. This first picture is my curio cabinet, it sits in my livingroom, just before you turn the corner to the dining area.

My curio cabinet top gets the nicest makeover.  Much of the decor I have there is the same as last year, which is being used for my current header. I left out the rooster plate this time in favor of the carved pumpkin I recently picked up at Big Lots. It's raised for display on a crystal Mikasa cake stand I got at an after Christmas sale last year. I am looking forward to using that cake stand this year at Christmas time. I also added my primitive patchwork turkey, and of course the raggedy Ann doll I keep there year round, she always looks at home.

I don't put out a lot on my end tables. A couple of main reasons are two furry creatures known as cats, they do have a habit of making a mess of my endeavors. Two other... well, three, actually.... reasons are my family. Living cozy as we do in our small condo, life with a husband and two teen girls means there is always something - or a bunch of somethings - left lying around on any free tabletop or couch, or floor, for that matter. So tho I do put a few things out on my end tables, they are generally joined by other competing items shortly thereafter. I did do cleaning today for the pictures, and felt comfortable sharing my cornucopia vignette on my end table. See that journal?  That's a nice Fall tree on it, isn't it? It's an accidental accent, since DD #1 left it there. In this case it adds to the look. (I moved the purse she also left there.)

My little corner on the kitchen counter holds a colorful display.  I just love how the warm reds and golds of Fall work so well with so many different finishes.

Finally, I actually did get out my Fall tableclothes, and actually found my placemats from last year.  Please disregard that messy desk area behind it.  We should have an armoire to hide our office mess, or even a roll top desk (so very 80s!)  I tried getting it from the other side, but the light reflected badly from that end.  Here, I'll show you.

I worked very hard to try to get a good picture of this carnival glass compote. The white blurry things inside it are glittered pumpkins being excessively glittery.  It sat so nicely on the new table runner I bought a few weeks ago.  Plus, I found a pair of adorable little sherbert cups in the same marigold color.  Okay, I don't know how very authentic these little sherbert cups are.  I have a feeling they're very recent 'faux' pieces, but they're cute, and for the $1.99 each I paid at Goodwill, they make a nice addition to my carnival glass collection. Three being a collection... I'm just starting.

Have a wonderful week!

I am linking up with Cielo with The House in the Roses for Show Off Your Cottage Monday

Also with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Also with Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Thankfully Toasty

This morning when I opened the door to bring in the paper and let out the cats, I encountered a rarity for our Southern Califnrnia area, a chilly (relatively) morning.  I had noticed during the night that our heat came on several times, and wondered about it. It wasn't that I felt cold or uncomfortable, so the dip in temperature was a surprise.

I grew up in Missouri, in a house over 100 years old, with drafts blowing in from every corner, between the bare plank flooring, under doors and any crack it could find. We heated entirely by wood, there was a grate in the floor which at some point had been plumbed for gas heat, but which our parents assured us was 'broken'.  It was eventually sealed over with plywood, to keep vents which should have brought in warm air from being another source of cold drafts.

Wood heating is an iffy thing. Our one wood stove centered in the livingroom was occasionally adequate to heat the overly large room (our home prior us occupying it served as a general store). We'd close the doors, shove rugs under the front door, and hang an old blanket on the kitchen doorway to contain the heat. But there were many bitterly cold mornings when we were miserable, no matter how we stoked and fed paper and kindling, the fire burned low and refused to throw off heat, and our family would gather around the big metal box which was the stove and lay over it, trying to suck up any warmth from it we could.

How appeciative I am to have central heating. How thankful that my family has only to adjust a dial on the wall to maintain a comfortable environment in our home. I was trying to tell my hubby how grateful I am to have this modern luxury, but he didn't get it. He grew up in middle class suburban Southern California, the coldest he has ever been was probably on our camping trip to the Grand Canyon in April, when the nighttime temps dropped into the 40s and he insisted on dragging our cooking stove into the tent to warm it up.

I am sharing some pictures from last year's Thanksgiving tablescapes. I'm inbetween computers right now, my hubby is transferring our old one into my daughter's bedroom, and we've yet to buy a new router for our new one. I'm borrowing my other daughters laptop, which is very awkward for me to use. Looking at these pictures, it occurs to me that I didn't find my patchwork pumpkin. I thought I was missing something!  I guess I'll look for it again. Maybe I'll even find my fall placemats, I can't think why they are lost.

Hoping everyone is staying warm and toasty this November.