In keeping with last week’s post, I thought it might be fun to do some planning of our Thanksgiving Day menu. I have a couple of dishes in mind, because there are certain tastes that my family expects on Thanksgiving. However, I will do some searching for a surprise or two. It’s always fun to try a new recipe. Who knows maybe it will become next year’s tradition.

That’s what happened last year. I made Jiffy Corn Casserole for the first time. It will definitely be on our table again this year. This makes a perfect dish if you find yourself serving any vegetarians. For the meat eaters we will have turkey and stuffing. I make a low fat stuffing that we love!! Read entire post

Because we’ve moved around quite a bit, we tend to celebrate our holidays without the luxury extended family. I really miss that sense of community. I close my eyes and imagine guests lingering beyond the meal, reminiscing over past holidays, perhaps a little gossip here or there, and lavishing the hostess with compliments about the turkey. {sigh}

But that doesn’t stop me from making a big turkey and our favorite side dishes. I put on my favorite Pottery Barn Compilation CD, pour a glass of wine, light some candles and treat my family to a wonderful dinner.

It may not make sense to spend so much time in the kitchen cooking, then witness our little family of four be done eating in about 15 minutes. But it’s still special, and we end up with more leftovers!

Actually, we do have one Thanksgiving tradition…we watch the movie “Home for the Holiday’s” with Holly Hunter and Robert Downey Jr. That says it all!

It’s November and that means the countdown to the holidays is on. It seems a little crazy to be talking turkey left-overs before the bird is even in the oven, but  this critical tip for organizing your left-overs would come days too late should I not share it in advance.

I’ll be honest that I don’t do the whole holiday meal thing myself. My sister is the hostess and cook for all the holiday occasions in our family and we all really appreciate it. (Did I mention we REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!?) She does the traditional turkey and all the fixin’s and so I share with you HER great organizational tip for handling left-overs: Read entire post

The bewitching hour is near (and maybe past where you live). But, better late than never.

I wanted to post my pumpkin earlier, but he was feeling a bit under-the-weather. It seems he caught the dreaded Swine Flu and the stomach flu as well (poor thing), but he still wanted to greet all those little goblins no matter what. I hope they won’t be too grossed out, worse yet, catch what he has (eeeeeuuuuu). I hope the cool weather will bring down his fever a bit with that candle inside. We will hope for the best and wish him a speedy recovery if he makes it through the night.

Have a great Halloween and stay well!!!

(Click on picture to see the gory details)

Do you love the holidays, or does the thought of all of the extra work cause your anxiety level to soar? Notice I didn’t say stressless, but stress less. I am realistic!  I am hoping that with some planning and organization I will be able to relax and enjoy more. In order to take the stress off the days just prior to Thanksgiving, I am making a list of things to start doing now. 

1. Check serving dishes, china, and crystal - Do you have everything you need? Do you need to add a piece or two to accommodate all of your guests. Remember it isn’t imperative that everything matches, but having them coordinate adds to the loveliness of your table. Read entire post

One of the most unused, inherited valuables I find in people’s homes is the silver tea set.  Gone are the days (for most of us) when a formal tea is served in our homes. So what to do with this family heirloom?

I’ve come across a few neat ideas for re-purposing your silver tea set so that it can be enjoyed on a daily basis.  Over at Goodhousekeeping I came across this idea of using a small tea set in the bathroom to store make-up and other toiletries.

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 I’m back with part 2 of my previous post “No Sew Drapes On A Dime”. In that post I showed how I used sheets to make inexpensive drapery for my big window. I also had a smaller window that needed some attention, but the same long drapery would not have worked well because of lack of wall space.  So, I decided to make a simple Roman style valance to repeat the feel of the drapery and not block needed light, air and view.

I used the same sheets as the drapery, but I doubled them to add some weight and body to the valance.

Here’s what I did …

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I mentioned a few weeks ago that we were making some changes around our home. A trip to Colonial Williamsburg providing our inspiration, we began in our Master Bedroom. If you look over my posts since the beginning of  HG Openhouse, you will notice that I like to redecorate our bedroom almost as often as I change my hairstyle.

We are especially excited about the results this time. Beauty and function have become my mantra for decor from this time forward. I am focused on minimizing clutter. We are only keeping things that we absolutely love and/or those that serve a purpose.

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