I've never been a huge decorator for Halloween. It's fun, but the best I could do was put out a few pumpkins on the front porch, and that was only after I was sure it'd stay cool enough not to turn the pumpkins into mush.
In blogland, there are so many great ideas for Halloween decorating that I've been inspired. I don't have a lot of time to shop, but I suppose I have enough time to pull together a few things. One of the blogs that has inspired me is "Just a Girl." She hit the dollar store and bought some of these:
To make this (from Martha Stewart.com):
I thought easy enough, but there are two dollar stores not even all that close to me, and the first one just had the skeleton bones and hands -- no skulls. I just don't think that glitter skull thing is going to have anywhere near the impact of Martha's with just hands and bones. I'll try the second store tomorrow, but I'm not going to get too optimistic. Maybe everyone in Austin's reading the Just a Girl blog and buying out the dollar stores close to me.
I'm trying to clean out my refrigerator this week and decided to cook some hotdogs on the grill tonight. I'm not a huge fan of hotdogs, but if I must eat them, they must be grilled. My husband bought one of those huge smoker/cooker/grill things after we moved into this house. I agree that everything's better cooked on this grill, but it requires good ol' charcoal and a lighter to get it going. I started that thing as soon as I got home tonight, and it took over an hour to get the coals good and hot. Oh, I got them lit, but for some reason, the coals just didn't get hot as fast as I would've thought. I hate eating late on a weeknight.
Finally, I've been trying to come up with an idea to cover the bay window in the front room-turned guest room. It has a ledge, and for some reason, it's been a real bear to figure out how to treat. Finally, I decided to hang bamboo blinds in front of the window (I'll show pics when it's done) and flank them with sheets as curtains. I need blinds at least 84" long, and wouldn't you know it? World Market has quit carrying their bamboo blinds. Home Depot, Target, WalMart and Lowe's don't carry the long ones. Hmmm...
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, so I'm going to use some 48" bamboo blinds I already have and bring the curtains in a bit to camouflage the fact that the blinds don't go all the way across. Because of the ledge, it shouldn't be noticeable from outside, unless you're right there, peering in. I'll let you know how it goes.
Oh, and I burned those hot dogs. At least one side of them. How do you suppose they'll look all glittered up with a few skeleton bones?
11 comments:
Hey Sandra~
Hope you all are doing OK post-Ike and turmoil.
I missed Martha's cool skulls under glass. Fun!
When I did my bay window like yours, I used blinds inside on each window, mounted from the top of the ceiling inside the bay which is wood. My rod goes across the top of the outside on the wall, and the drapes are on each side of the window. I'm not sure which room you are decorating, but just in case you want blinds and drapery.
Donna
I think the dollar stores should pay for all the advertising they get on decorating blogs! There are four within 10 minutes of me, and they were all out of the ceramic pumpkins everyone has been blogging about!
Don't worry about the hot dogs, that's one food that tastes better when it's burnt!
(((Sandra))) Eh! I say wrap those hot dogs in the sheets and call 'em done!
Welcome to my world! :-)
Seriously, I know this window has been bugging you-let's see it!
p.s. Is there anyone else that has a hard time with some of the word verification characters? :-P
This is a very cute idea, Sandra! Hope you are able to find all the components. I'm another one who has looked in all the $ stores for those ceramic pumpkins with no luck!
I'm looking forward to seeing your bay window solution.
Burnt hotdogs are the best way to eat hotdogs!
I just saw Suzette's comment. I think many have had problems with word verification. I had it activated for about a month, due to the robot thing. It was more trouble than it was worth, so I took it off. No problem with robots since, but did have trouble with a couple of strange comments, that verification wouldn't have helped anyway.
Forget word verification. Try using Google's Chrome browser. They keep changing stuff, so right now I'm posting in a 1" wide box x 2" long. Weird. Sandra, I can't really picture what you're thinking with that window, so I guess we'll wait for the pictures! And I hate to blab it around, but I saw those skeleton parts at my Big Lots a while back. You may want to give them a try if you have 'em in Austin.
Yeah...I can't really picture it either. need pix too. wink.
Burned dogs? Whateva'...they do taste best burned.
The verification thigy. HATE them. Some are REALLY horrendous...sometimes when it kicks me off to try again, I just say screw it.
This was funny! I actually got lucky with the skull. I've been to three stores, and it's the only one I found. Bummer. Good luck in your search!
Thank you all for your comments. Sorry about that word verification deal. I've disabled that feature.
As for the window, I do need to take pics. It's just not the typical bay window. Once I get the blinds and curtains hung, I really think it'll look fine.
Sharon, thanks for the heads up on Big Lots. I may run over there in a bit.
Sandra, I'd be happy to check mine, I now know where the three closest DT's are to my home thanks to blogland. I have also been there way too many times in the past 2 weeks. :-p
I know mine had the hands & the bones, I bough the bones. Also found some cool wine bottle labels that said stuff like, rat posion, blood, etc. They were like 8 for $1.
Hey, we love burnt hot dogs at our house! We are off to the mountains to forget all about our upcoming move for a few days. Have a wonderful weekend!
Lee
Oooh, y'all are PROFESSIONAL grill people. :-) Man, that's a lot of trouble for a hot dog. ;-) Stick those weinies in the microwave next time, will ya?
(Personally, I like to cook mine in a cast iron skillet on the stove right before I chop them up and put them in my Kraft Mac and Cheese. :-) )
(((Sandra)))
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