Our Porch Pumpkins for Halloween through Thanksgiving

Do you skip Thanksgiving decor? I know a lot of people who put their Christmas decorations up on November 1st, but around here we wait until at least the day after Thanksgiving. Every year I like to get pumpkins that we do not carve and leave them out on the porch into November to serve as Thanksgiving decor, too.

That is the PLAN anyway. Sometimes (like now) it is too hot (scorching) and the pumpkins go bad. But our porch directly faces north, so it is not usually a problem. I have a new theory that if I stop talking about how hot it is that it will stop being hot. Hopefully telling you about my theory doesn’t mean I just talked about it being so hot.

I recently saw some posts on Instagram of people commenting that all of the porch pumpkins people are posting must’ve cost hundreds of dollars. Let me tell you, this did not. If you’ve been around for a while then you know that I like to decorate, but I like to save money while doing so. All of the small white pumpkins came from grocery stores and cost only $1.00 each. The total cost of these pumpkins was $45. I absolutely love supporting local farms, but sometimes they aren’t the cheapest place to get a pumpkin. Shop around!

The stool is something that Ken and I picked up at an estate sale years ago. It was in the back of a garage and I paid less than $5 for it, I have used it for decor all over the house. I picked up the brown crates at other estate sales. I can’t remember how much I paid for them, but they are not a big brand crate.

I really wanted some white mums, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. I picked this yellow one up at Aldi for $2.99!

I wanted to include this photo because it shows my two sidekicks – Anniebelle and Beauregard, our dogs.

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A Little Fall Decor

Fall officially starts in just a couple of weeks. But you really wouldn’t know it if you stepped outside in Georgia right now. Today we are setting a record with temperatures in the mid-90s. I’m a little worried that we’ll be skipping fall and going straight to winter with the way things are looking. Please, don’t let it be so!

The heat hasn’t stopped me from adding just a little fall decor around our house, though. I like to wait until October 1st to put out Halloween decorations, but right after Labor Day I always get in the mood for my first Pumpkin Spice anything of the season and some fall decorations.

Do you decorate your house for fall? A lot of people I’ve talked to fall into one of two groups: They either decorate right after Labor Day like I do, or they wait until it is officially fall on the calendar before putting anything out.

Even though the air doesn’t feel cool, the leaves are starting to change and fall from the trees. Today I was thinking about autumn and how we can really relate this to life in general. Each one of us is going through changing seasons of lfie. The next seasons of life are coming whether it feels like it or not.

It reminds me that we all need to cheer for each other in life, even if we’re not in the same season. Some people are changing careers or moving to a new city. Some people are dealing with aging senior parents and changing roles with them. Some people are trying to make changes in weight or health. People are working on changing their lives in all sorts of ways. Our seasons are changing whether we want them to or not.

Friend, Whatever changes are happening in this season of your life, I just want you to know that I’m cheering for you.

Happy fall, y’all!

“You don’t have to understand someone’s dream in order to cheer them on.”

Belle Antiquarian

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Buffalo Check Table Settings

I am excited to share today’s blog post! Hobby Lobby has some really cute black and white buffalo check decor for fall. However, I want to show you that it’s not just for fall! The table runner and napkins that I picked up can actually be used for a lot of different themes and seasons. Here is a picture of how I used the black and white buffalo check decor for Halloween, but it can also be used with September Sunflowers, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Now here’s the really exciting part: I am giving away a table runner, set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. Find out how to enter at the bottom of this post!

Buffalo Check decor at Halloween

Here are my black and white buffalo check table runner and napkins on our table for Halloween. The black and white are easy to mix with Halloween decorations. If Halloween is a busy night for you with trick-or-treaters, just pick up some basic orange paper plates to go with these, and clean up will be a snap.

Several other people have done a fantastic job of setting their tables with black and white buffalo check decor. I want to share a few of theirs with you so that you can see how versatile this pattern is.

First up is this sunflower table setting with buffalo checks from Driven by Decor. To me, this table setting is perfect for that time at the end of summer/beginning of fall when it’s still hot, but summer is over. Kris over on Driven by Decor did a beautiful job showing that fall decor can be more than just pumpkins!

Here’s an example from My Creative Happy on how you can use black and white buffalo check for Thanksgiving. She paired it with touches of brass, which brings up a great point. You can pair it with golden or silver tones, wood or metal. This pattern is very versatile to your tastes.

And for the fourth look today, here is a Christmas table setting using black and white buffalo check. This one is from Make a Joyful Home, and Tammy uses red accents with hers. But you could totally add green, or just silver, and it would still look Christmas-y.

Now for the exciting part! Here is a picture of what you can win: a table runner, a set of 4 napkins, a garland of black and white wooden beads, and a garland of orange and white wooden beads. To enter, simply hop on over to my Instagram, follow me on Instagram, like the contest post with the same picture as below, and tag a friend in the comments. Contest ends on Friday, September 13, 2019. You must live in the continental US to win.

Good luck!

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Guy’s Dorm Room Decor

We moved our son to college for the first time yesterday. Moms of boys will tell you that decorating their dorm rooms is very different than it is for girls. Most boys don’t care what their room looks like as long as they have what they need. Boys just want the basics. And getting boys to communicate with each other to coordinate anything is darn near impossible. Girls, on the other hand, are even having custom headboards built for their beds. I guess we have that to look forward to in 4 years when Samantha goes to college.

Our son, Jackson, left it up to me to pick out his bedding and decor. He did want to approve everything before the purchase was finalized, but he liked everything I picked out, so we went with it. You can find most of these exact items HERE on my LiketoKnow.it commissionable links.

If you read my previous post on How to Save on Dorm Room decor, you know that I was purchasing items well before move-in day. A few of our favorite dorm room essentials can be found on this commissionable link HERE.

We used storage bins underneath the bed to hold everything from paper towels to medicine to cleaning supplies. If you missed my printable laundry tips (instructions) for college kids, check it out HERE.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to set up the floor plan the way we wanted because his roommate had already moved in, but we improvised and found a way to make his TV viewable by turning his bookshelf sideways. You just do what you can to make things work! We got Jackson’s rug from Target, but I think they added a different one after we left.

We used a shoe organizer (linked HERE) in the closet to store snacks. The closets in his dorm lock, so he is able to keep his suitemates from over-indulging when he’s not around.

Do you have any dorm storage hacks? Let me know in the comments!

Guy's Dorm Room decor basics
You can click HERE (or click the picture above) to find these exact items on my commissionable links.

Below are a few of my favorite items to pack into a college student’s care package. I like to pick one snack, one fun thing (game to share with roomies), & something handy that may be needed (like a dorm room air freshener). It’s easy to add them to your Amazon cart, and then ship it directly to them at school. Click the photo below or HERE for these exact items on Amazon.

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