Happy Halloween...

...sort of.  For the first time in nearly 20 years, there are no Halloween decorations in our house and we're not having a costume party. (As they say in baseball... just wait till next year.)

The construction guys have just finished up the work on one of the upstairs bathrooms. True to the previous owner's talent (or lack thereof) when that bathroom was added to this century-old house, the proper supports were not put underneath the flooring. As a result, that bathroom started to sag and separate from the house. The separation was less than an inch, but still, left the way it was, it would have continued to sag from year to year until it fell into the yard.

True to the commitment from local construction companies (or lack thereof) it took many weeks to get someone to come out here to inspect the problem and come up with a solution.  One company wanted to tear down the entire bathroom and re-build it. I nipped that idea in the bud.... we have three other bathrooms upstairs so we didn't need that fourth one replaced if it couldn't be repaired. If it had to be torn down, then my solution was just to close up the wall and be done with it.  Another company came out here for a look-see and was determined to "save that there cute little room" by jacking it up a bit, adding the proper supports from underneath and setting it down again so it would be correctly supported and level. And lo and behold... they did it. The outside is perfect again because they replaced the wood siding, solid support beams were added underneath the structure, and the inside looks as if it hadn't even been touched by a hammer. (As they say in the south.... Bless their hearts.)

Not only did we have excellent workers here who came on time on the days when they said they'd be here, but one of the carpenters noticed all the maintenance that needed to be done on the exterior of this big old house. One thing led to another... he and my husband had a long talk.... my husband showed him the rooms over our barn... and in two weeks' time, that carpenter and his wife will be moving into the apartment on the second floor of the barn.  In lieu of rent, we will have a live-in handyman who can take care of the relentless to-do list that comes along with this century-old house. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works out to be a long-standing arrangement. One can only hope.

So... not having a Halloween party here.... there's only one thing to do:  decorate the house for Christmas, which is what I've been doing all week.  I typically have Halloween decorations up for all of September and October, then right after Halloween gets packed away, Christmas comes out for November and December.  As the Christmas decorations came out of the boxes, some of them were relegated to boxes to donate to the thrift store, and other things now have price tags on them for my booth at the antique shop. And even with all of that, there are enough Christmas decorations here to do two houses.

Savannah watched me taking out the nutcrackers and Santas, and she barked at some of the larger boxes as I set them around the house. I use decorated gift boxes to hold all the Christmas items, and as I put out the decorations, I remove whatever is on the tables and shelves and pack them in those same decorative boxes. The boxes become part of the Christmas decor as they sit in the corners of the rooms, most often stacked two or three high. This will be Savannah's second Christmas... she was just a puppy last year and managed to restrain herself from touching the decorations.  Every time she got too close to one of the figurines or ornaments last year, I told her 'No Savannah No!' and she backed away. I'm hoping she remembers that for this year, otherwise I'll be sounding out that 'No Savannah No!' from now till the end of December.

But... today is Halloween... and I'm hoping the little kids from down the hill come up in their costumes for Trick-or-Treating. They did last year, and I had little Halloween gifts for them, as well as some sugar-free snacks one of the mothers brought up to us so we wouldn't give out candy. I assured the mothers that I never give out candy for Halloween. I've always had a supply of little toys or gifts or books for the kids on Halloween. I just always figured that kids get enough candy from everyone else, so maybe they'd like a different sort of surprise.  I bought coloring books and crayons for the kids this year, so that will be their Halloween treat.

My own Halloween treat will be to look forward to next year, and then I'll take the Halloween tree out of the closet on Labor Day weekend, along with the pumpkins and witches and black cats. Except for the two big orange metal pumpkins that I put outside by the walkway, The Great Pumpkin will be very disappointed in this house if he happens to come by this evening. But.... just wait till next year, Charlie Brown!