So, not everyone names the “animals” in their kitchen.  We do.  At least we have been lately.  We arrived at the name of Greasy Ann because this little lady sits on our stove.  She is quite the classy little gal.  Even when she needs to be wiped down because I forgot to move her…..before frying something.

Do you have crazy “animals” in your kitchen?  I would love to hear about them.  Maybe you are an elephant famer…so you have an elephant egg timer.  No?  Okay.

Happy Friday Dirt Roaders!  Have a happy and safe holiday.

Greasy Ann in all of her glory.

Okay….okay.  I’m jumping the gun a little.  Fall is actually the twenty-second of September.  The thing is, I luff to decorate for fall.  What is it about fall?  It is soooooooooooo cozy.  It makes me want to eat chili and burn apple scented candles.  It makes me want to make goodie bags for people and pumpkin bread for my neighbors.  (Okay…I don’t always get these things done…just in case my neighbors are reading this.)

I think that this love affair with fall goes back to childhood. Smelling wood smoke in the air, eating good soup at Granny’s house, darkness settling earlier, all these things seem so cozy to me.  Maybe that is why I love to make huge vats of soup for my family.  There is just something about that nip in the air that seems to promise the joy of things to come.  Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Maybe that was it…it was the beginning of things to look forward to.

I hope that I have inspired you.  I hope that you run to your box of fall decor and shamelessly put it out all around you.  I hope that you cruise Pinterest and every favorite blog and look for good ideas.  I have a few up my sleeve that I plan on trying this year.  Remember…the sooner you put it out…the longer you get to enjoy it.  Live, laugh, love and get with it…Dirt Roaders!  😉

Sweet little “not-so-pretty” pumkins and gourds are my favorite.

So I have this friend.  We shall call her M&M to protect her identity.  She may be a celebrity…she may not.  I will never tell.  M&M has this uncanny way of decorating with greenery.  It is inspiring.

When I first went to M&M’s house I was so amazed and impressed.  We are talking class.  Just the right touch here and there.  That is the thing that I love about people.  We are all different.  We can glean things from each other that make us better people.

So M&M…she revived my passion for decorating with greenery.  I do have some live plants and some that are just “pretending.”  She has the most beautiful little olive tree (pretender) that you ever did see.  Anyway, she inspired me so much that I started making my own little “topiaries” here and there and everywhere.  Okay…not everywhere, that would be too much.  Just a few.  The green stuff plus my passion for mercury glass and silver (well-loved) things seem to go good together.  Plus, I am crazy about the greenery with all of my white decor.

M&M is “good people.”  We can trust her Dirt Roaders.  So go…go out and buy some fake plants.  Make topiaries and smile.  😉

Did you know that you can make topiaries by just wrapping greenery around those willow balls? You can. I promise. Cross my little heart. ❤

I know that you have them.  They are either out where you can see them or stashed away to never…ever…ever…in your long-legged life, go into the yard sale (around here we say yard sale or garage sale, garage sale being a little more sophisticated but if you are a little on the hoity-toity side you might want to say tag sale. ;)) Anyway, they are those treasures that you would never part with.  The things that make you smile when you look at them.  They might not even be worth much to anyone else but to you they have so much meaning because of the giver or the place and time that you bought them.  Today I am sharing one of my favorite treasures of all time as far as possessions go.  A very simple thing indeed but a treasure none the less.  What are “a

My mom gave me this right after we built our home. It matches the Russet Rose walls perfectly. I love the little lady on it. The simplicity just makes me smile.

few of your favorite things?”  I would love to hear about them.

Okay Dirt Roaders, I finally took the plunge.  I had been contemplating changing our family room’s color for a while.  It had been Rock Candy, which is a yellow/gold color.  When I first painted it a few years ago I was pleased until a certain time in the afternoon.  Then it took on the beautiful glow of Kraft Singles.  Yes, good ol’ American cheese.  I lived with it though and even grew to like it.  Until I got tired of it.  I do that sometimes.

Enter:  Midwinter Sky

Midwinter Sky is a BHG color, which kind of sold me from the beginning because I love their stuff.  Classy yet homey (yo, can you get down wif dat?)  Sorry…got sidetracked for a minute. 🙂  Anywho…I was really wanting something that looked old-fashioned.  Something with a hint of turquoise (love that color…

A little change…is good.

Thanks Mom for always dressing me in that as a child and now I have a strange addiction to it.) but not too much.  Midwinter Sky had that kinda washed out, antique color that I was going for…that I wanted to use for a neutral.  Yep…you heard that right.  See, I still wanted to use my same stuff.  By the way, there is something about this color that I ADORE with white and mercury glass.  I don’t know…maybe in a few years I will have some issue with it, but for now I love it with my reds and golds and burlap shades.

(btw: I never could find that Ravioli Soup recipe, so I made up my own.  Just a basic chicken and veggie soup with the ravioli thrown in at the last-minute.  The cheese in that particular brand was a tad wangy for me…but if I could find a different kind, it would be a keeper.  I shall be on the lookout. It’s a great way to incorporate pasta into your soup.)

Enjoy your weekend!

I have had a love of Enamel Ware for quite sometime now.  It just seems so “kitchen-y” ya know?  🙂  I am so pleased with the way that our table turned out.  I can’t wait to put a pumpkin ~((()))~ or two (or twelve, no, not really twelve…I’m not into clutter) on it.  Fall is my favorite time of year to decorate.  How about you?

A great place for an owl cookie jar and a .25 bowl from the thrift store. Good job….husband. 😉