you can't take the sky from me.

( Halloween cards )

Starting on holiday projects already; hey, it's October, so it's time to get in the spirit of Halloween. Also, I'm starting on the Christmas crafts because I'm trying to handmake everything again this year, hopefully with better success than last year (when I swore I was going to hand-make things, and then cracked at the end and wound up buying everything anyway. I really don't want to do that this year). I have some really excellent and totally do-able ideas this year though, so I'm super-psyched to get a head's up on them - I will never be one of those people to have all their Christmas gifting done in mid-July (growing up, a friend's mom was like that; how the hell did she do it?), but maybe I'll have it done before Thanksgiving? That would be refreshing.

I got some important things done today, like the info for updating my address on my state ID, changing my loan billing information, dropping my Euclidean Geometry class, and doing some laundry, but right now I'm wide awake, restless, and itching to move. Why does it always hit me in the middle of the night?

A while back, my husband and I were on the way to see my folks when he suddenly pulled over and jumped out of the car. Given the history of car trouble we have, and the state of the neighborhood we live in, I had a mild heart attack until I saw him heading back to the car carrying a huge canvas. I'm a ridiculous thrift store, dumpster diving, garage sale kind of person, and he had spotted a gem: this huge painting of a seascape at night.

This was weeks ago, so of course I just got around to hanging it Thursday night. Because we all know how on-the-ball and motivated I am at all times.

Anyway, this past Wednesday, we also went thrift shopping, and I found a bric-a-brac shelf in an anchor motif for $7, so of course I had to buy it, too. I want to do a sort of nautical/seascape theme in the living room without erring too far on the wrong side of kitschy, and I think I'm balancing pretty well.

I also finished a scarf I've been working on, and I'm a little dissatisfied because it's tricolor, but I didn't have enough of the third color (and I bought it at a discount store, so there's no way to guarantee I'll ever find it again, and I long ago tossed the label, so I couldn't even tell you the lot number or the brand). Anyway, the first and third segments were supposed to be of equal length with a shorter middle segment, but no, instead, it goes long, short, almost as long as the first segment... but whatever. I'm the only one who is going to wear it, and if it's a little amateur, well, that's part of its charm.

( photos of the decorative finds and the scarf under here )