Monday: Craftily Conquered Quite Fully

I've probably mentioned before that I go to bed early. Like GRANDMA early. I haven't always been like this, but sometime after college my internal clock did a total re-set and now I'm generally snoozing before the news. So nights like tonight when I stay up crafting until 11:30 are fairly rare. That said, I've got not other choice than to stretch my days right now and get as much done as I can!

First, I stopped at Costco to pick up the prints I ordered. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! I'll admit, when I first got our previews I wasn't blown away, but the more I look at these the happier I am. I took them right home and switched them into my large collage frame that sits on the mantle. It's hard to get a good photo of because of the glare off the glass, but suffice to say I am VERY happy. The red & green go perfect with our living room accents, and I think we look adorable and loving in all of the photos. Can I get an "Awwwww!" ?

Also at Costco, I scooped up one of these:

Yup, couldn't resist. My husband called it "cheating," I call it "outsourcing" - this gorgeous pumpkin cheesecake was only $14, I couldn't pass it up. Now I have one less major task to worry about this week, and more time to allocate to everything else! Thanks for all the good recipes, I promise to try them when I have more time and less panic :)

Next I spent a couple hours re-arranging the furniture to fit two banquet tables into our living room, and digging out china and serving pieces for the big meal. I like to get it all ready and set aside early to minimize scrambling when the stress is already out of control. Though, since Hubby is cooking this year, I get to sit downstairs and watch TV, right? :)


I still need to find out where the tablecloths are hiding, but this is my china pattern - "Treetops" by Mikasa. I inherited it from my grandmother, and it's full service for 12, and even has the gravy boat. Very important for occasions which actually involve gravy, such as this week :) Martha would be so proud. I love that I can intermingle green and white serving pieces and it still looks cohesive and classy - plus I'm a sucker for green.

Once most of the Thanksgiving prep was squared away, I headed up to "the witch's tower" and packed away most of the Halloween tubs so I had room to finish up mosaics. This was slightly complicated because I stole one of my craft room tables for Thanksgiving, so there's a bit more mess to maneuver around, but luckily it's all MY mess and I'm okay with it :) My glue still hasn't arrived (d'oh!) so I busied myself polishing, pricing, and bubble wrapping finished frames. Oh man is this a lot of work! I think I only got 10 or so packed up, and have twice that many left. Thank goodness for the short work week!