Happy, Happy Halloween!

We had our trick-or-treating last night, but I want to wish all the ghouls and goblins venturing out tonight a festive and safe Halloweeen!

I love my old McDonald Halloween buckets, and I'm really hoping to find a few more so I can make a lighted tower display to put out next year.  I made the pumpkin that the skeleton on the door is holding this year with a foam "Funkin" from JoAnn's that I cut in half and decorated using mod podge and some glitter.  

And of course the duckies like to get festive as well!

Our House and the New Granite Countertops

Richard and Matthias dismantling the old kitchen cabinets.  We had planned to hang the old cabinets on the back wall of the garage for storage, but in truth they were too far gone so Richard has been cutting them up to dispose of them slowly.  And if you look real close you can see the peeling paint that was the bane of my existence for far too long.

Here's the kitchen after we'd installed all of the new cabinets the night before the granite guys came to install the countertop.

Now with brand new granite couptertops!  Not exactly Martha Stewart's kitchen, and not quite as organized as I'd like yet but it's a wonderful and welcome change from before.

Wicket approves.

A close-up of the countertop - the color is called "Mountain green" and is a really light mix of white, gray, and black with just a tinge of green.

Weekend scores

We wandered out yesterday afternoon in between the Packers and Brewers games to run some errands and see if we couldn't find some fun Halloween decorations for our new house.  While we struck out on the Halloween decoration front except for some cute jack-o-lantern dish towels we managed to have great luck in other endeavors.

We found one of the pet gates that has a door in it on a clearance end cap at Target.  It's original price tag was $50 but was marked As-Is for just $3.  So we took that $3 gamble, and boy did it sure pay off!  Turns out the only thing that was damaged was the box, so now the stairs to the basement are secure and we don't have to worry about Wicket wandering down and getting into trouble.

We also found a much needed rug for the office on sale.  Now all we need for the office is a second chair for Richard's desk, since his last one went kaput prior to the move.

By the looks of it every photo I take around the house now has to include Wicket whether I like it or not.  Thankfully, I'm more than happy about it!

Lazy Sunday

It's sure has been a busy, busy week and I'm glad it's Sunday.  We're taking a while to relax (and for Richard to watch football) before we head out to get some new decorations to get in the spirit for Halloween.

Last night we hosted the first party in our new house.  We invited Richard's colleagues from school and had a grand ol' time.  Lots of food, drink, and good conversation.  Bechu came over early to help make the food, of which we made too much, but at least I don't have to worry about making dinner for the next week.

At the end of the night we were exhausted... but no one quite as much as Wicket who spent most of the evening playing with Figment and Buddy, the four-legged party goers.  She didn't even wait for us to take her leash off after we came in from the fire in the back yard - just curled right up ready for a nap.  So with that I'll return to our lazy Sunday and put off future party planning for another day.

Rivers + Wicket

My sister Rivers is coming into town this weekend for a brief break from college, and we're planning to have a movie and sleepover night.  Richard is being banished to a friend's house so it's just us girls.  I guess the only thing left to do is pick out a movie and remember to buy some popcorn.

Here's Rivers the last time she was here helping Wicket try on Daisy's old winter coat.  The coat was a bit big, so we may have to find a new one just for Wicket.