Lazy Halloween Door Decorations

In these parts I'm known as the Halloween Queen.

From years past hosting a haunted trail in the woods, to some epic parties in the back shed, if I'm gonna do Halloween up, I'm gonna do it up right.

Usually.  But not this year.

Or for that matter not Halloween 2014, '15, or 2016 either.

Hard to believe the door things that you are about to see is the work of the same woman who made these awesome party invites......

Or whose party buffet spread sports glowing fake windows.....

Let Them Eat Cake, From A Mosaic Cake Stand

While other folks are readying their homes for Fall, I'm still winding down from wedding preparations.

I don't really have the desire to decorate anything since I'm still un-decorating from September.

So let's have a chat where I discuss cake, smashed china cake stands, and make no mention whatsoever of pumpkin spice anything.

Daughter #2 wanted a simple wedding cake, she's not a foofy girl, and her request of Amy from Amy's Cupcake Shoppe in Hopkins Minnesota, was for cake with a dark sage green and a touch of gray, sort of earthy to match her rustic outdoor wedding.

Popcorn Cart Stocked With PoppedCorn Gourmet Treats

Over summer our place was like a bee hive.

Worker bees everywhere.

Coming and going, hammering and nailing, flying in and out of the hive with pieces of pallets.....free pallets was our form of honey.

Then just like that in one day it's all over and as they say, all that's left are the memories.

But if you're lucky there are a few bags of popcorn left too!

October Thrifty Style Team Glass Light Globes

It's the October Thrifty Style Team, and I'm going to show you the glass globes I have that keep on going.

Or is that glowing?

Or globe-ing?

Whatever you wanna call 'em I have reused them four different ways -  not too bad for a thrifty find.

Mini Biff, A Good Place To Go

So you know there was a wedding going down around here right?

When something takes almost a year to plan I must have mentioned it at least once or twice, but I admit I don't often yack about the personal side of my family, so if you didn't know that tidbit, I understand why.

The spire tent went up overlooking the lake, which is a quarter mile down our driveway away from any "facilities".

It wasn't going to work to have a couple hundred people walking back up the driveway, especially after dark, with the hope of using our mudroom bathroom, a vision I admittedly wasn't crazy about anyway.

So who 'ya gonna call?

Farm Of Dahlias

This story is really a labor of love.

Really.

With lots of labor.

And lots of love.

It started many years ago when the parents of our good friend Mike went about their life on the farm and planted some flowers in their yard.

Rustic Wedding Pallet Tables

Things here at the ranch are in high production mode at the moment for an end of September shindig and I've got pallets coming outta my....... shed.

There are things to do, and lots of 'em before a tent arrives in a couple weeks.

I would call the wedding of #2 Daughter a true DIY.

She is definitely a hands on bride and thankfully she knows her way around power tools - enough so that she is teaching the groom.

My kids grew up with hammers in their hands, so it's a bit unbelievable for my offspring, but the groom didn't.  Nope, he didn't grow up in a DIY family, no siree.

The groom has said he isn't even sure his dad owned a screw driver.

Hard for my kids to relate to that fact for sure.

Tasting Cake at Amy's Cupcake Shoppe

There are lots of places to visit on the quaint Mainstreet in Hopkins Minnesota.

I have frequented many of the little shops over the years, finding treasures in the Thrift stores, unique handmade items by local artisans, or bits and pieces of vintage memorabilia from the antique booths.

But the frosting on the Mainstreet cake these days, is located at Amy's Cupcake Shoppe.

Mmmmmm mmmmm.

Thrifty Style Team Trash To Treasure

You know the saying.

I really don't have to repeat it, but I will anyway......

One mans trash is another mans treasure.

For this months Thrifty Style Team, I will be decorating with someone's trash, and I tell 'ya, it is totally a treasure as far as I'm concerned.

In this case it was truly worth hopping in that dumpster.

Hyde Tools and Colorado To The Rescue

The dog days of summer are coming and at the ranch we are still picking away at projects that we hoped to have accomplished two months ago.

After last summers weather blew through with three storms of destruction, it has taken us this long to clean up and get a vision for putting things back together.

One of those visions is going to take more time than we have right now but a new and improved playground is in the design stage with input from the short people that use it.

And with the help of some complimentary tools from Hyde Tools we are making things presentable for this summer.

But let me tell you those short people have some definite ideas about how it should look!