jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Falling into Fall

October 23, 2009 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

I wandered outside the other day to appreciate the beauty of fall, and to hunt for a lost pair of shoes. I’m so glad I took my camera, because I had no way of knowing that later that day the wind would sweep in and carry most of the leaves off the trees. I love my neighbor’s tree. My children spend much of their time in her yard.
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And the carpet of leaves! What a sight!
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Ah, yes, the shoes!
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My heart sighs. What a season!

Then the children came home from school, the wind picked up and the clouds moved in, and the fun began!
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Rides in wheelbarrows…
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Leaf angels…
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really deep leaf angels…
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Leaping into piles…
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and hurling them to the wind.
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As a mother, I ask this question:
How can I bear to call them in to do their homework?

One comment beauty, life, photography

Free fall decor

October 23, 2009 jennifer Decorating

I was parked in the parking lot at my husband’s office the other day when I noticed some cool weeds in the field behind the lot.
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The thought struck me that I could find something to do with them, so I cut a few and took them home.
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I really like the deep, rich brown of these weeds. It’s so pretty.
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After some thinking, I decided to try filling my urns in the kitchen. I have two linen cabinets that sit on either side of the doors to my husband’s office, behind the kitchen table. I keep my sugar scuttles and an large urn on each of them. Usually these urns are empty, which doesn’t bother me because I think they are beautiful by themselves. A few times I’ve gone hunting for something to fill them, but I haven’t found anything I love for the right price.
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I got out a couple of spools of fall-ish ribbon and tied a length of each around the urns. I decided to add a little ribbon flower to the knots.
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Lastly, I just cut the weeds down and filled each urn. I didn’t want it to look too tailored.
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I placed each urn back in it’s place and ta-da! Fall beauty for free!
Here’s one cabinet:
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And the other:
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I just had to put that picture in to keep things real. I’ll freely admit that I was so excited about my project that I didn’t even notice there was a diaper on the cabinet until AFTER I took the picture. Oh well, such is my life right now. So, we’ll try that again.
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Much better.
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Very pretty, and it will look great at Thanksgiving!
I wonder, what kinds of great weeds will you find near you?

One comment Decorating, thrifty

Halloween decorating

October 23, 2009 jennifer Decorating, Halloween

I must admit that I prefer simple fall decorating to Halloween decorating, but I’ve been hearing things like this from my kids:

“Why is it Halloween at other people’s houses but not at ours?”
And I wonder, since when do you have to have decorations up in order for a holiday to come? Hmmm.
Well, I decided to surprise them and have a few things up when they came home from school. So, Happy Halloween!
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The dining room is where the official Halloween spot is, I guess.
I hung some spiderwebs on the wall, over my pictures.
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The web is actually made of shimmery little beads.
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I also hung one over my silver.
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On the table I used this really cool tablecloth I found a few years ago. It’s spider web lace. A fun twist on table linens.
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Lastly, I pulled out one of my cake platters, some letters and came up with a centerpiece.
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I have to just say that my favorite part of fall is the pumpkin. I love pumpkins!
In fact, I’ve decided that next year I’m growing a pumpkin patch. I have big plans.

Last year I pulled out my vintage crowns and put them on my pumpkins.
I liked it so much that I think it’s my new fall tradition.
It sort of fits the way I feel about pumpkins. I love that fall is when the lowly pumpkin is crowned queen of the season.
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I like that thought, crowning the pumpkin Queen of the Season.
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Well, I guess now it’s Halloween at our house, too. Especially with pumpkins dressed up as queens.