Decorations in Review

Though the holiday season is a thing of the past, I couldn't resist a chance to document our decorations for the blog--and for my own reference--before I took them down last weekend. Each year with the encouragement of our little ones, we keep upping the game. This year, we brought out all our normal favorites and added a few sets of lights as well. We stuck to our candy cane and ornament theme, adding some hand-me-down candy cane ornaments to our crepe myrtle and lighting up our path with little candy canes. Larger candy canes that used to light up but no longer do edge our front garden. We have all-weather large ornaments in a bunch of trees and on our lamppost. Finally, our matching wreathes (along with a matching door wreath that I'd already swapped for our standard winter snowflake) are holding up pretty well too. D went up on the ladder to string up our icicles, making that the most time-consuming part of decorating.

I failed to manage a night picture this year but imagine last year's look but with the addition of three more sets of lights. And because I struggle every year to remember what I bought the previous year, I took a picture of this year's new light (as our holiday collection continues to grow). I'm always surprised how a new set of lights will look totally different despite my best efforts at matching. I'm sure that the same set won't exist next year, but hopefully I'll be able to find something similar if we decide yet again that we want to add more.

Indoors looked much the same as always, though we went for silver rather than red garland on the tree (I know, we are SUCH rebels).

The only thing missing was some winter weather, but there are a couple more months to remedy that. I hope you had a happy everything, whatever your chosen holiday.

"Turn on Christmas"

We have jumped on the "smart" home bandwagon. Is it a bandwagon? I don't know. But we have some smart plugs and some connected speakers (which we will discuss in a future post), thanks to the power of buying stuff.

Why are we risking opening our home to hackers (as they say the "S" in IoT is for security)? Well, because 1. turning on the Christmas tree lights is REALLY REALLY hard and 2. we wanted to have synced music across the house.

Do you see the plug? It's there....

We are an Apple household, so that means we already own an Apple TV. It also can serve as a home automation hub - functionally that means that it serves as a intermediary that puts all of the smart widgets in one application.

What are the smart widgets? We have two Wemo Mini Smart plugs, one powering the Christmas tree and the other powering the dining room sideboard lights. It was a HUGE pain getting these smart plugs recognized by Apple's "Home" app. Apparently contemporary versions of these plugs have a "HomeKit" barcode which you can scan and connect with immediately. I guess our local Target sells these so infrequently that we ended up with a really old version that pre-dates HomeKit compatibility.

I had to install a "Wemo" app, connect to the smart plugs, install a firmware update, wait 12+ hours for someone or something to generate a HomeKit code, then (while my iPhone was on the exact same network as the smart plug) type the HomeKit code into the Apple "Home" app. I wasted a HUGE amount of time initially because I connected the smart plugs to our "guest" network, which is more secure since it doesn't have access to any devices on our home network. But that was a little too secure as the smart plugs couldn't see the Apple TV it needed to sync with. Oops.

Anyways, once I got that all sorted out we could see our two plugs on our Apple "Home" app. I set up a "scene" that automatically turns on "Christmas" (both smart plugs go from "off" to "on") whenever either of us returns home after sunset.

As the smart plugs also supported the Alexa Smart Home system, I also digitally hooked the plugs into our Alexa (fortunately being on one smart home system does not preclude being on another). So we can also activate/deactivate both plugs simultaneously by saying "Alexa, turn on Christmas" and "Alexa, turn off Christmas."

Practically this means that we have the tree and sideboard on MUCH more now, which makes for a much more festive home. (When you have to lean over a wobbly lamp and reach though a scratchy tree covered in precariously placed glass ornaments to turn something on - you don't do it much.)

Merry Everything!

Our decorations this year, by night (because it was night by the time we took the pictures and I'm sure I won't have time to do it tomorrow). Mostly the same as last year, but still worth photographing.  We inherited a few more outdoor ornaments. I think our house looks best at the moment in the daytime. We still haven't quite nailed the lighting, but the candy canes, window wreaths, and hanging ornaments look very festive during the light when they're most visible.

The whole scene, this year with more hanging ornaments (and less snow, sadly):

I so badly wanted to put lights on the tree that's on the right, the one that looks exactly like a Christmas tree. We strung up our white lights that we used to use along our gutters but apparently those don't want to light up anymore. Hopefully I can snag a new set on sale so I can light it up next year. Instead, we put up some candy cane ornaments, so I think it still gets the point across.

Now could it please just snow a little? Really that's the best decoration I can think of.

Happy Holidays!

A little late for many of the December holidays but still in time for New Year! We added to our outdoor decorations this year at the request of the pre-schooler, and Mother Nature contributed to making this a cozy wintery scene. Intentional or not, we ended up with a very candy cane-themed yard, thanks to some hand-me-downs (the hanging candy canes and the large ones nearest the house) and some new purchases (the walk way lights - these were by far the cutest inexpensive choice). Our icicles don't twinkle but they do have a white or a color lights setting. The whites, being cool LEDs, just do not seem festive enough (yes, I know they are "ice" but they still need a warm holiday glow). Plus they were so bright that they shone too brightly in our windows after we put the kids to sleep. So we went with rainbow lights - the first choice of said-pre-schooler anyway.

Because only the front two large candy canes actually still worked, we thought that looked weird also so we unplugged them and added them to the candy cane chain lining our flower beds against the house.

We probably should turn the lamppost bulb so that it doesn't stay lit, as I think it was so bright it distracted from the holiday decor. All the new lights definitely lowered the effect of the red and green laser lights - it's so bright around our house that they are barely visible (can you see them in the picture below shining on the house front?).

And an indoor picture - this year we didn't have a chance to get a shot until Christmas Eve, so here is the decor after Santa already paid us a visit. Good thing we remembered to unlock the child-safe fireplace lock so he could get in and leave us presents:

Happy Holidays!

New decorations this year - window wreaths to match the door wreaths (so thrilled that Pottery Barn got them back in stock!), and one of those red/green laser lights. Of course with a toddler who loves Christmas lights, we had to put out everything. The lights are mismatched and the application is sloppy but hey it's the twinkle that counts.

Indoors, we moved the tree to the fireplace wall (we rotate every once in a while, it seems) and went with silver ribbons instead of red. We got a new star when the old one decided not to turn on. Most exciting - with our family complete, we all got new stockings thus forever christening us as Mommy and Daddy.

Our village inherited an ice rink (we mostly keep it off because it plays music continuously when on) and our thrilled toddler helped me set the whole thing up and requested "more people" (little does she know that this village is just a small subset of the stuff I keep at my parents' house...). The cats aren't thrilled to lose their window seat but have found other places to sleep for the holiday season, fortunately.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays!

Abbreviated decorating this year since we're a little busy with baby. But we couldn't let her first Christmas go by without a tree! Rather than move all the furniture away from the living room corner next to the sofa (see our previous decorating pictures), we decided this year to see if the tree would fit next to the door that we never use that leads out to the breezeway. And it did! This is an amazing discovery - much less effort and just as out of the way. Now we don't have to move a lamp, a table, the sofa, and the coffee table just to put up the tree.

 But the real decor theme for our living room this holiday season is this:

Baby things everywhere! The TV area is loaded up with diapers, wipes, toys, etc. and the Pack 'n Play has set up permanent residence in from of the TV.

Unlike other years, we didn't do the outside or all the other little nooks and crannies in our house, but we did still manage to put together a pretty centerpiece, thanks in part to a beautiful flower arrangement that a friend brought by:

And of course this year we were thrilled to get to hang a new stocking on the mantle for our new little addition to the family!

Very Belated Holiday Wishes

This holiday season has been a rather hectic one for various personal reasons and we had so many home-related updates to share that I never quite got around to putting up a holiday post. I had nearly no time to reflect on the year and our goals for the next one.

I realized this weekend as I took down the Christmas decorations that I hadn't even bothered to photograph them first. We didn't put up a tree this year because I just couldn't face the task of moving all the furniture around and getting glitter everywhere. And since putting up the tree is supposed to be fun - if it wasn't going to be, then it wasn't worth doing (I know I sound like a bit of a Scrooge). But we still decorated the house with lots of ribbon, candles, and greenery. Here's one of the few pictures to come out of the season - our candy cane and ornament centerpiece.

As an aside, let me highlight the cool work that went into the glittery pedestal on the right. Mom had a few old brass candlesticks destined for the donation bin. She had read an article about how to spruce them up and we gave it a try on this one - a few hits with a spray primer and then a few with Krylon Glitter Blast in Silver Flash made it a festive piece indeed.

Still, I'm a purist and had a moment of sadness for the loss of the pretty brass color. She gave us a few extra sets to paint various glittery and festive colors, but I lost my nerve and they are still sitting in my drawer in their tarnished brassy glory.

To keep with the Bah-humbug holiday theme we took the easy way out and found that Amazon had an instant video of a crackling fire. But of course it was only a joke - on Christmas day D still built us a beautiful fire in the fireplace and, according to my own tradition, roasted marshmallows.

May your year be a happy one full of fun home projects and no unexpected, expensive repairs!

Days 5 and 6: Walls and a Floor!

Two more days of hard work (8 to 5 every day!) but we're still not to the particularly exciting updates. On Thursday, we came closer to having walls up. They seamed and plastered the water-resistant board for the non-shower walls and cement board for the shower walls. They removed our old insulation and stuffed the exterior wall with new stuff. We noticed that we may have made a misstep here--the old stuff they removed was labeled R-19 and the new stuff they put in was R-13...Hmmm.... Our contract stipulated that they put in the insulation with the highest R-value that would fit appropriately, between R-13 and R-19, so we're going on faith that they know what they're doing. It certainly looks in better shape than the crud they pulled out. But then I guess 60 years behind a wall is bound to result in some wear and tear.

The floors in this picture, from Thursday, is still our original plywood. You can see they've sealed up all the seams in the wall.

Friday we came home to cement board on the floors and, more exciting (because it means we might get a working toilet soon), a new toilet flange.

The flange is the part that seals the toilet in place to the floor and the sewer pipe. We knew our previous one was going to need replacing because it was old and cracked and didn't seal well and because the height of our floor will be a little lower than before.

Photo courtesy of Monkey River Town

Finally, Friday the last of the wall was sealed up. Monday or Tuesday, the tile work begins!

Yesterday I came to to the annoying realization that all our Christmas storage boxes are hidden in the spare room behind the plastic that the contractors put up. So in addition to having a living room cluttered with tile, a vanity, and a toilet and fine layer of grime in the hallway landing, we are going to have Christmas decorations up until the end of the remodel. Bad planning on my part--Oops!

Have a Happy New Year! See you in 2012!

Decorations Montage

Happy Holidays!
(Too busy enjoying some yuletide cheer for a real update. Hope you like the way we decked the halls.)

December? Really?

It's December on the calendar and the leaves have finally fallen. (Remember this post about being done raking? Yeah, that was overly optimistic...we had to rake/mow/mulch twice more after that. But now it's really truly done for the year.) You'd never know from the temperatures though. Even though there has been an occasional frosty morning, days have climbed into the 50s. All those new bulbs have been tricked into thinking it's spring!!!

Even our established camellias, which I think should really know better by now, are sporting tiny buds.

I wish I could warn these little guys to stay in hiding for a few more months! Do you think that this will mess things up come spring by killing them off too soon?

Despite the warmth, it's getting to be that time of year again where I go crazy and decorate everything. If you're a very loyal reader, you may remember that last year, we put lights up outside by tossing them haphazardly in the wild shrubbery.

But that shrubbery is now history, thanks to our new landscaping. So I went a little crazy and decided to outline the house. Thankfully, even though D thinks I've gone totally holiday-bonkers, he agreed to help, since this was a two-man operation.

I'm hoping the little lights stay up until January and don't do any damage. We slid them under the slates, which is where the gutter guards fit in. They seem pretty secure and don't seem to be putting any pressure on the slates. Let's all keep our collective fingers crossed!

Wait, no "after" pictures?

Nope, not yet. That's something I'm saving for my Christmas montage post. Stay tuned!