Halloween in the Making

Halloween is right around the corner and I am as giddy as a tramp during Fleet Week in NYC.  (I should not watch Mad Men while updating my blog.  The references are clearly a little racy.)  Back on topic.  If it wasn't clear, I love Halloween.  The goal this Halloween is to be easy and frugal and get the most bang for my buck.  I did just that with my front door decoration by making it for $1.50, but I'm going to make you wait for that one.

First, my favorite store bought decorations this year came from Target.  They have some new vinyl decals that I'm in love with.  They're only $5-10 and make a big impact.  You just peel and stick! The bats are $10, but go a very long way.  The "Happy Halloween" cost only $5.

"Happy Halloween" sign

Dining room wall after:

These are the bats (see, you really do get A LOT for the $10):

Living room after:

Now, for the front door (and front window).  I like the look of silhouettes, but I didn't want to pay the price for them so I opted to make my own.  I simply taped sheets of construction paper together and drew on my design.  If you look closely at the picture you can see the pencil marks on the paper.

I laid it out on the floor and cut out my design and then hung it back up on the screen door.  Isn't she amazing?!  (I guess those art classes this semester are coming in handy.)

In order to give it a good glow I wanted to cover the clear space with orange, but didn't want seems of paper taped together so I spent a whopping 92 cents on a plastic tablecover at Wal-Mart.  It was the perfect solution.  I cut a piece the size I needed and taped it to the door.

I repeated this process with a tree for the picture window.  Here are the after shots once the sun went down last night.  

What do you think?  Worth the $1.50? 

Painting by Numbers

• 5: rooms I have paint for
• 3: weeks I've had the paint
• 2: rooms I've painted so far
• 3: rooms I have left to paint
• 2: minimum coats each room has taken so far
• 875: times I stepped on and off a dining room chair while painting the living room (okay, that may be an exaggeration, but that's how many it felt like the next day)
• 43 (or maybe just 3): coats it will take to get from that horrible wine color in the kitchen to the "Glazed Pear" paint I bought.  (I got the "One" with primer built in, but was warned it may take several coats because of the drastic change.)
• 26: hours I think it will take to do all the cutting in in the kitchen with the 2-3 coats it will take
• 2: weekends I've put off painting the kitchen so far
• 5: paint paw prints I found after putting the living room furniture back in place

Here are some before and after pics of the living room and dining room:

Once I muster up the courage to tackle another room, I'll be sure to post pictures.

The Movers and the Shakers

Being a Navy Brat, I used get the sudden urge to move from time to time just because.  I hope I've outgrown it because I'm getting too damn old for this moving nonsense.  In the last 6 years I've moved from Las Vegas, NV to Mascoutah, IL to Troy, IL to Tulsa, OK and now I've moved again within Tulsa.  I like the tidying up and purging that comes with moving, but I have come to learn that I DO NOT like the act of moving itself. I hope the next time I move it will be with a rich man who can pay for movers to do all the heavy lifting.

Not to be too sappy, but each time I move I've learned who my friends are.  This last go around I learned that Tulsa has been good to me!  Ashley, Jeremy, Laura, Aunt Linda (aka: Aunt Nanny), Uncle Vaughn, Jimmy, Eric, Thomas, Jeff and Jeremy...THANK YOU! THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!