Decking the halls makes me happy

Every year Christmas seems to arrive earlier and earlier, and I've just hopped on that bandwagon. Move over, Thanksgiving - you're just a Thursday pig out roadblock to all things Santa Claus. A couple days after halloween, I packed away all of my fall decor and had the husband haul down my Christmas bins from the attic. This is when our attic lift comes in mighty handy. 

I'm not putting out quite as much as I did last year, even though I'll be on the women's club holiday homes tour again in mid-December. But I am revamping placement of several things. Plus I'm completely reworking our 9' Christmas tree. I thought 1200 lights would be plenty of coverage. Then I ended up having to order 200 more of the warm white twinkle lights I'm using this year. It took me a solid four hours to get the tree out, put it together, fluff every single branch, then string it with fourteen strands. 

Alas, the tree is leaning. Which aggravates me because I purchased it from a well known company that creates beautiful artificial trees. But the stand at the bottom appears to be about as cheap as they come. So I had to put off my tree decorating until my new sturdy stand with wheels arrives. Once the tree is shifted over into it tomorrow and HOPEFULLY stands straight, then I'll get to work putting it together.

Alas, the tree is leaning. Which aggravates me because last year I purchased it from a well known company that creates beautiful artificial trees. Unfortunately for me, the stand included with the tree is disappointingly flimsy. So I had to postpone my tree decorating for a couple days until my sturdy new stand with wheels arrived. Once the tree is shifted over into it tomorrow and HOPEFULLY stands straight, then I'll get to work and finally check that to-do item off my list.

In anticipation of using lots more ribbon this year, I hustled into town to buy some bins so I can get all of my ribbon organized. I know I've got some more spools up in the attic. But as you can see below, I think I can make some of this work just fine with the new items I've been purchasing through the fall.

And, finally, in new house news... our slab has spent the last ten days curing. So that means framing will begin this week. It will be so nice to be able to walk through the house into the skeleton of each of the rooms to see how it flows in reality versus the on-paper version we created over the course of several months with our architect. 

Halloween 2026

I've mentioned before how here in our community they're always looking for any excuse to host a party. Folks love to gather at the club to have a meal, belly up to the bar, visit with friends and neighbors, and dance the night away. But it's an older crowd, so you can cut a rug to your little heart's content until 9:30 or 10:00 before they shut it down. On Friday we were invited to the annual halloween party, and it was really entertaining.

The husband and I opted for some pretty basic outfits. But there were lots of folks who went all out, as you can see below. It became clear we have some pretty competitive neighbors since there were prizes on the line for best costume. Judging was done via the costume parade, so that was a great way to see what everyone was wearing.

Then on Saturday, we volunteered at the Hope & Harvest celebration at our church. I was in charge of the mini midway games. So I gathered up a kid friendly archery set, pumpkin bean bag toss, fish bowl game, velcro darts, candy corn ring toss and guessing game for two big containers, one with Skittles and the other with M&Ms. 

Since I had to wrangle the midway, I set up our trunk for the husband and he passed out candy to all the cute little trick or treaters for me. It was a busy weekend with commitments both days, but definitely the most fun I've had on halloween in a while. 

Swearing in ceremony

The husband and I drove to Dallas last week to watch the younger daughter get sworn in at the Dallas Bar Association's Arts District mansion in downtown. Granted, she had already been hard at work in her Dallas law firm for about a month. But it was still nice to take time out to celebrate the culmination of her three years of hard work to see her officially recognized as an attorney in the state of Texas.

That evening we went out for a celebratory dinner at a local steakhouse called Brass Ram. The service was excellent and the meal was delicious. Opting to spend the night in nearby Rockwall, the husband and I continued our celebration the next morning by spending almost an hour cruising the aisles at our favorite grocery store, HEB. We don't have one where we currently live on the lake, so we treated ourselves to a visit at the Rockwall HEB to stock up on some store brand basics we miss. Truly a win-win 24 hours for us!

Where the Lord leads

This morning I gave my first of five presentations to the women's Bible study group at my church. I wrapped up a trilogy of Old Testament prophets when I talked about Malachi. Then for four Mondays in November, I'll be presenting a series on idols and idolatry. 

This series on idols is something the Lord put on my heart last year. I tried to ignore the pull, but I just kept circling back to it. So when the Monday morning women's Bible study leader asked me to come up with a mini study for November, idols got pushed to the fore. I created the meme below to use next week to kinda break the ice and let the ladies know I understand we'll be rattling the handle on their closet of skeletons where the idols dwell.

I've gotta admit - I spent much of the summer dragging my feet to prep for this little series. Could I really do this? How will it be received? Are you sure, Lord? I checked out books on idols and found four to use as my sources. But one really grabbed me and wouldn't let go, Idols of the Heart by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick. It was peppered with so much of God's truth, using a very practical and relatable approach. And so next Monday I'll be diving into idols with the ladies. I'd appreciate any and all prayers, that everything runs smoothly and God moves hearts with such a personal and "touchy" subject. 

Boathouse construction has begun

This week we're seeing some progress over at the lot. Plumbers finished roughing in all of the things that plumbers do. Then the next set of subs started building the forms for our slab pour in a couple weeks. Also, construction has started on our new boathouse. They puttered this barge beneath both golf course bridges up near our lot and then loaded a big piece of construction equipment onto it. And now they're using it to pound 30 foot cedar beams into the lake bottom that will support the whole shebang. 

Late every afternoon, we wait until workers have knocked off for the day before we toodle over to check out what has been accomplished. Our neighbors like to sit out on their dock next door and watch all of the activity when they've got some free time. We also get updates from them as to what's going on, which is really convenient.

October on the water

The temps continue to be very pleasant as we get further into October. Which means we often see this sort of mist or fog rising from the lake. It's a pretty cool sight. I snapped a few pics of it when I was out for my morning walk a couple days ago. We've also noticed that the ducks who disappeared in the heat of the summer have now returned. They like to paddle around the boathouses on our stretch of the lake, and seem to be in fine fettle. 

False fall dropped in

The first serious cool front arrived in our neck of the Texas woods on Friday, and it has been a delight to go on my morning walks through the neighborhood in temps that require me to throw on a hoodie. It was especially appreciated on Saturday when our women's club hosted a fall festival at the club. As vice president, I was in charge of rounding up craft vendors. In addition to helping with set up and then clean up, I manned the kid's pumpkin and mask painting station all afternoon. My upside to wrangling the mess of paint covered fingers was the fact that I got to enjoy the sounds of the band nearby playing tunes from the 70s.

Before our false fall departs and we're back into the 80s, I decided to whip up a big pot of chili. As the husband so eloquently puts it, around here we enjoy it "carny style". He initially turned up his nose and demanded rice for his chili when we first got married. But now he likes to eat it over corn chips just like I did when I was a kid. And since I made enough to feed a small army, I had the husband take a couple containers over to his parents so they could eat some and freeze the rest to make chili cheese dogs down the road, which they do enjoy. If I happen to make it to 89 or 90 like them, then I plan to eat chili cheese dogs whenever the mood strikes.