And once more: Happy New Year

Frankly, I just cannot believe it has been a year since I last posted here.

Seriously.

A whole year.

Time really does fly.

Life at  this little old house is buzzing along happily amidst bees and chicken and cats and dogs. While 2015 has not been the grandest of years, we were blessed for the most part. Little Man went off to middle school and is now taller than his mom. His mom did a whole lot of other, non-house crafts, and the Best husband got some much needed quality time in lazying about on the weekends reading and smoking a pipe on the porch rather than checking off items on the honey-do list.

After all this time just doing house and house blog stuff, we apparently needed a year off, both from house projects and blogging about it. And looking at my blog reading list we were in good company. Great company even, seeing that YHL pulled the plug on theirs.

Anyways, long story short, a day before Christmas the Best Husband and I whipped together a small project in the kitchen that we'd been stewing over for -years-. It came together great, we love it, and it has made a -huge- difference in how we use our kitchen. You know, the kind of little update that makes you go "Why the heck didn't we do this sooner?!"

So, I guess we got the bug again. There will be projects again. A few, every now and then, and, thanks to a new camera that arrived today, even blog posts with pictures.

I promise you at least DOUBLE what I posted last year.

Make that triple.

Ha!

Much love,

-M.

Halloween - A Recap In Pictures

Little Man and me were on our own this Halloween - usually I hold down the fort and hand out candy to ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties while the husband takes Little Man trick or treating. 

Unfortunately the husband teaches on Thursday nights and we couldn't wait for him to come home since it was a school night, so off we went together, Little Man dressed up as an evil Ninja Assassin Clown and me as evil Minion. 

No matter the holiday, our historical houses pull off any decoration really well. Whether creepy ghosts and rotting zombies, or sweet Christmas bows and twinkling lights - they all wear these adornments with aplomb, style and grace. 

The streets were filled with roaming children, laughing and chattering as they scurried from house to house, parents in tow!

So many houses were lovingly decorated!

 New and long-time neighbors really got into the spirit, and many porch lights stayed on that night!

It seems that Historic Springfield has grown into quite the Halloween destination.

 Instead of hayrides we tried a trunk or treat this year and it worked beautifully (although people are already planning bigger and better and improved for next year - gotta love the spirit).

As night fell, the decorations looked even better! I really loved this house with its spooky blue-lit winged angel on the porch!

So much candy!

Halloween Aftermath

 Will you look at that - Halloween came, and was over in a flash. Or at least that's what it feels like these days where - caught between work, household chores and baseball - time spent at home passes in a wink of an eye ...

I also realized I never posted a picture (or two) or what Halloween looks like at our little old house, so here we go, a day late and a dollar short!

Since I'm not particularly fond of all things gory and grew up not at all allowed to go from door to door asking people for candy (during my youth Halloween wasn't celebrated in Germany, and while we do have one celebration that allows for door to door solicitation of treats - St. Martin - it was in general something frowned upon in my family. Aaaaanyways ... it took me a couple of years to get the hang of "trick or treating' and it was made easy in my lovely neighborhood. More of that later :)

Decorations at the little old house concentrate on the fireplace mantel, the ubiquitous door wreath, and a smattering of ghosts, gravestones and black crows on the outside.

We feel mightily inspired (and ever so slightly intimidated) by one of our awesome neighbors who goes out and creates a themed decoration for her family's house every year and maybe, maybe next year we will have all our planning and decorating skills together and go all out. This year, we kept it simple.

And of course we dressed up the door wreath to go with the season. After Halloween, the 'Boo' comes off and we're ready to roll for Thanksgiving. Ha!

Over the top, I know. Hardcore decorating, right? These days I'm happy when I manage to keep my wits about and my family in clean clothes and fed. Oh, and the menagerie, must not forget the menagerie.

Happy New Year!

Christmas at the Ugly Duckling

 The holidays went by in a whirl: together with my in-laws we celebrated "Pre-Christmas," a week early since due to weird work schedules (my father-in-law is a pastor and my husband a journalist) we weren't able to meet up in the north for a family gathering this year on Christmas. Instead, they came down to see us in bright and sunny Florida. Together we went hunting for a Christmas tree, decorated it, spent lots of time chatting and playing boardgames, and in good old family-tradition nearly an entire day unwrapping Christmas presents.

A week later, just the three of us here at the Ugly Duckling celebrated Christmas again, going to Midnight Christmas Mass at First UMC downtown, woke up amazed that Santa had come -again- and brought some more presents, and savored family time galore over new boardgames and a long and tasty fondue for dinner. I feel wonderfully re-charged and assured in God's love and his blessings for us. Life cannot get any better than this. I am loved and I am blessed many many times over.

Candy Hangover

I don't know about your munchkins but after yesterday's Halloween fun Little Man had a hard time crawling out of bed this morning. He and husband went on a hayride through our 'hood to go "trick or treat"-ing last night while I stayed home to make sure the puppy wouldn't go insane over the night's happenings and to hand out candy to whoever made it over to my quadrant.

Much to my delight (and the puppy's horror) we had a whooping 46 ghoolies and ghosties (and princesses and ninjas and super heroes and, and, and) stop by the Ugly Duckling! Woot! I had a ball handing out candy to everybody who stopped by and while I don't mind handing out candy to teenagers without costume, I think for next year I'll reward the ones going all out and dressing up with better candy and some fun things (I had tossed in a few funky pencils into the bowl and, boy, those were a HOT item!).

A few days ago, though, I wasn't feeling Halloween-y at all.
Just not in the mood.
Maybe it was the sudden unexpected cold snap that put me into a grumpy, please let me hibernate mood.

We placed just a few Halloween paraphernalia inside the house and stuck mainly to the fireplace mantle, especially after we ended up chasing a cat and a dog running off with plastic fingers. Out of sight, out of mind and reach! I think my favorite were the orange lights on top of the mantle!

     [Little Man as Mini "Bane"]                                [The zombie-fied Husband]

Thanks to Little Man, though, I pulled myself together and wrangled the box of Halloween decorations from the attic so we could spookify the house a bit.

This year we were all about ghosts! They are spooky but not too spooky, especially for those littlest "Trick-or-Treaters" (plus, I don't care for scattered innards, half-rotten carcasses and moldy eyeballs in my front yard either, thank you very much.)

Those plastic pumpkin buckets are still one of my favorite inexpensive Halloween fixes. This year we didn't string them up lantern-style but instead filled them with a handful of sand and stuck a candle in. LOVE IT!

We really enjoyed the fluttering ghost and I'm thinking about running out and picking up a friend or two for him for next year. It ghosted beautifully in front of our house and I'd like to add more.

Florida weather, despite cold snap, is usually not a very healthy climate for carved pumpkins. They grow moldy within days and deteriorate so quickly, it's a shame and a big disappointment. Instead, we paint ours using either acrylic paint or sharpies. They keep much longer that way, you still have the option of using one (or two ..or more) for cooking and once you turn them around, they make pretty harvest and Thanksgiving decoration too. It's  a Twofer! Threefer! Either way, a no-brainer (for us)!

 

And I really loved how everything came together once the sun set

 

Happy Easter!

From me and mine

to you and yours

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kiss me, Cupid!

Our door wreath with the big white "G" has become somewhat of a permanent fixture on our front door, then at the Silver Street apartment and now at the Ugly Duckling, ever since I picked the two items up at a local craft store. Its look changes according to the season, but the wreath and the letter remain the same.

Like here when summer's yellow rubber ducky and flower gave way to gold and yellow leaves and pumpkins announcing that fall had finally made its way to North East Florida.

Or in this post here when I shared a few Christmas decorations with you at the Ugly Duckling, among them the door wreath ... The Wreath (tm) ... in its Christmas finery (allright, so I like it simple and non-frilly).

After Christmas, it looked a bit bare out there while we were in limbo between not-Christmas and not-Easter, so when I spied a roll of ribbon of cute little red felt hearts and a dozen heart hangers I knew what needed to happen.

Not quite $5 later this is what our door wreath looked like. Quick and simple and cute. It's been a busy two weeks - as you can undoubtedly tell from the infrequent posting here on the blog - and a quick DIY fix was just what I needed to set my world straight again.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
from my family
to yours!

I like to move it, move it ...

When we talked about Christmas here at the Ugly Duckling, we always kind of envisioned our Christmas tree in the living room in front of the big door with the sidelights. That way we would be able to enjoy from the dining room as well since it's in direct line with the pocket doors.

Ever since we moved in, our living room couch had been sitting angled to line up with the fire place and we liked it. In order to make sure the Christmas tree didn't end up in our back, we had to do some furniture shuffling and pushed the couch back against the wall.


When I took this picture I was standing in the archway between vestibule aka the entry hall and our living room. The pocket doors to the dining room are off to the right (as is the TV) and that's husband's rolltop desk to my left.

Did I mention I love my shiny heart pine floors? Yes, the rug is technically too small but it gives you a nice fluffy spot to dig your toes into while showing off most of the beautiful original floors in our Ugly Duckling.

Now the fireplace is no longer center of attention but other than that the new layout makes the room feel bigger and it's growing on us.

Once the tree was up, we did some decorating. This process took days, with an hour here and an hour there squeezed in between chores and guests and work and life.

Usually I tie bows to the end of the branches but with a red cedar that's pretty difficult. Two other possibilities for ribbon placement had made the rounds on the internet, so we gave both a shot to see which one we liked better (best).

Oh yes, I should have warned you. Our tree is not a color coordinated, monochromatic, cleverly designed, hip, trendy affair. It's bright and colorful with cheesy handmade paper ornaments, sparkly bits and bops and even little wooden wind chime ornaments that jingle quietly.

This year we added a bright red ribbon for more punch. You know, once you get used to twinkling colored lights, going all crazy isn't that hard anymore (says she who grew up in a household with a very chic and stylin' silver and white Christmas tree).

Yep, still need to paint that door frame ...


Husband and I both loved the ribbon streamers best plus the ribbon helped stiffen the tip of our tree for better star tree topper attachment.

And here is our living room in all its Christmas-y glory! Lighted garland and stockings on the mantel, the advent wreath on the table and the crowning glory, the Christmas tree all aglow. I'm very happy how our Christmas decor adds a punch of color without clashing with anything. Needless to say it also works really well with our turquoise dining room.

Three more days - are you all set?

Tree Time!

This past weekend we finally went and got our Christmas tree. We always get a life tree and this is the second year we went and cut our own. This year the winter has been extremely mild and the cut Christmas trees throughout town were looking a sorry lot. Freshly cut will last you a little longer, even if you wait until a week before the big day to put it up like us. Cutting your own Christmas tree in Florida, however, comes with a twist. You see, when you hear "Florida" you don't immediately think "Christmas tree" or "fir tree!". Palm trees and beach party are more like it, right?

Surprisingly, there are a few Christmas tree farms sprinkled throughout the northern part here and there, and there are two in our immediate area. This year we hopped over to Rogers Christmas Tree Farm.

Gorgeous, gorgeous day! Bright, break-your-heart blue skies, a light breeze and balmy 70 degrees. That's my kind of winter :o)

So, here is the twist: Floridian Christmas tree are not fir trees. They don't grow that well down here in the land of sunshine. Sure, you can buy them this time of the year - those Christmas tree tents pop out of the ground like mushrooms after a rain this time of the year - but this close to Christmas they look more dead than alive and are losing needles left, right and center already.

Last year, we discovered the Floridian solution to this problem: pine. Or cedar. So, the Christmas trees you can cut yourself at local Christmas tree farms are shaped liked Christmas trees but they are Sand pines and Leyland pines and maybe Red Cedar. Trust me, they work just fine!

A Winterbird couple from up north were having a hard time trying to wrap their minds around these odd Christmas trees but really, look at them! Don't they look lovely?

All line up in row after row, like tin soldiers waiting for their part in "The Nutcracker". While I have my heart secretly set on a Sand pine, we finally settled on a lovely red Cedar.

Ta-da! Here's Little Man showing off our tree. It was just like ordered: tall but not too tall, a nice point and dense but not too wide at the base.

Under the watchful expert eye of Little Man, husband started cutting the tree. Little Man helped a bit, then moved over to let husband finish.

Our red cedar got a nice shake to get rid of all loose dirt and possible critters, was wrapped into a net for transport and then we strapped it to the roof of my trusted ol' Jeep using our nifty ratcheting straps.

On to the decorating - woo-heee!