Time to Downsize

 I didn't want to start decorating for Halloween/Fall until I gave the house a good cleaning from top to bottom. Soooo I put the little girls to work today. They do have a flair for cleaning and dressing don't you think? Next time I am in goodwill I need to check out the hats, I am getting a little tired of the toboggans! Ha

 A neighbor dropped by today to give us a TON of fresh eucalyptus from her back yard. I put together 3 large vases full and still have a nice pile to work with on the deck. Well while I was at it hubby and I cleaned the kitchen windows then began pulling out the linens and Fall dishes.

 After lots and lots of moving of glassware.

 The hutch in the kitchen is ready for some Halloween/Fall fun. The plates, cups and such on this side of the cabinet is for adults. The Halloween dishes are from when our DD's were little girls. We always had chili on Halloween night which they ate in the large mugs, the plates and tea pot were used almost daily for tea parties and hot chocolate nights, such sweet memories. If I can find the time this year I want to let the embroidery machine loose on the napkins.

 But on the other side the grands have the middle shelf that is all theirs. Can we say cute plastic!

 The bottom shelf is mostly Fall/Thanksgiving dinnerware other than the Frankenstein tea pot. We have a place setting for 14 fall dinner and desert plates. I sent the desert plates home with DD #1 who has more empty cabenits than I have total cabinets in our home. Must be nice!!

 It is impossible to get a good photo of the kitchen hutch. The back is all mirrors, it sits directly across from the kitchen bay window. With the dishware and linens pulled out and the kitchen in OK shape we moved on to the attic.

 I now remember why I hate getting out decorations!! I have the pleasure of digging around to find it all in the attic then handing it down to hubby. I know it must have been 100 degrees up there even at 7:00PM. 

Here is one side of the upstairs hall.

And here is the other side. This is an outrageous amount of decorations!!!! It is time to DOWNSIZE!!!!

I am not an any mood to begin the process of sorting all of the Halloween/Fall decorations and fluffing our nest. Maybe after Tyler's T Ball game tomorrow I will be more in the mood. Hubby and I both agree we need to let go of some things, this is all just tooooo much. However each time hubby says that he gets all sentimental on me and wants to keep it all. NO MORE, I will be waiting to do the majority of the decorating next week while he is up North. Once our big girls go through what I no longer want/need the rest will be headed to Goodwill just in time to make another family happy. Hubby did agree that climbing the attic stairs and dragging it all down needs to stop so he will be installing additional shelves in the garage. Where in the world he will find the room is beyond me!!

I don't have the house in nearly the shape I want it in to start this project but I will take it one room at a time one day at a time until I get back on top of things. I have forewarned the big girls to keep their "Mom can you do" wish list to themselves for the next week so I can get my own "To Do' list completed. I still have to do more sitting than I like to due to my foot but I know just where to sit and keep myself busy. Sew baby, sew!!!

Have you started your fall decorating yet? Do you still deck the Fall hall's the way you use to? Sometimes I wish I had a room with floor to ceiling shelves for storage, then I realize how crazy that is. We are so BLESSED to have all that we do have.