Display this, decorate that...

For the past two days, I've either been working on the displays for the shop or working on the Halloween decorations in the house. Lots of work for both, but also lots of fun. And it was so blasted hot outside this afternoon that being inside with the decorations wasn't such a bad thing.

I found yards of lace at one of the thrift shops, and I had fabric remnants from last year's pillow-making adventure...... so I used both to cover and 'soften-up' the look of the wood display shelves in the space at the shop. The shelves, which started out as bare wood and very country-barn-looking, now look shabby-chic and I've been filling each with books, porcelains, decorative items and collectibles. The display shelves are going to hold more items than I originally thought, which isn't a bad thing...... it will just take a little more time to fill them up, but that's part of the fun.

As for the Halloween decorations... I knew that I would have some older decorations that I could sell in the shop, so I got those boxes out of the storage closet earlier than planned..... and while they were out, it just made sense to put up the decorations. I usually get busy with Halloween right after Labor Day, so I'm not really all that early. The house is festive and almost party-ready..... I will put up the larger decorations as it gets closer to the holiday.

One thing about living out here in the hills... we don't get trick-or-treaters..... and I miss that part of Halloween. The kids in our old neighborhood had so much fun with that, and because Houston had a curfew for trick-or-treating, the holiday was safer for the kids and less stressful for the parents because their costumed kids weren't allowed to be on the streets at all hours of the day and night.

We've told just a few of our friends here that we'll be having a Halloween party (with costumes, if they'd like)..... and the rest of our neighbors will be surprised when they find their party invitations in their mail boxes at the beginning of next month. We're hoping that everyone will get into the spirit of Halloween and decide to come in costumes.


The parakeets..... Houdini and Bluebell continue to be content in their cage.... they were grooming one another yesterday and the day before. (Bad-feather days for the birds?) I've noticed that Bluebell is not such a neat bird-- he spits out the seeds he doesn't like-- spits them out of the cage, not back into the seed dish. Houdini, on the other hand, is very neat and tidy. In "The Odd Couple" fashion of the parakeet world, Bluebell would be Oscar and Houdini would be Felix. But they're happy...... and I guess they like watching me sweep the floor around their cage three times a day.