Cable Knit Pillows for $11 and Crate & Barrel Christmas Mugs for .95 Cents!

Hello there! Boy, have I got some deals for you today! I've been wanting some cable knit pillows for my living room for awhile now. I think they're so pretty and cozy and work perfectly as fall and winter pillows. The problem was that I couldn't find any for less than about $40. Most of the ones I found were between $40-$80. Eighty dollars for ONE pillow??? Seriously??? Umm....no. Not gonna happen. 

Then this weekend I noticed that Joann's had some on sale at 50% off for $14.99! They also emailed me a coupon for 25% off my entire order, including sale items!!! That brought the price down to $11 and some change! Yes, please!!

Just look at how pretty they are!!

Even if you don't get their coupons emailed or texted to you, $14.99 is still a whopping good deal. 

Here's a far away shot of them on my loveseat...

And here we are a little closer...

Gosh, I just love them. They also came in red. I bought mine in my store, but you can also order them online. 

I think I have a thing for all things cable knit. Here's a pic of my favorite mug I put on IG. Yes, I actually went into the backyard, clipped some flowers, and had a little photo shoot with it. #overthetop Lol! 

Okay, now for some other shocking news...I'm going to attempt to make pillow covers...WITH A SEWING MACHINE!!! Y'all know I don't know a single thing about sewing and I've mentioned before how I can't even sew on a button. Some of you probably even remember how my hubby does my sewing for me. Sad, but true. Lol! He made the shade for our back door and even made the cornice board for the dining room window. 

Well, I came across a great tutorial online for "envelope pillow covers." Apparently they're made kind of like pillow shams. The fabric in the back kind of overlaps and you just stuff the pillow in. No complicated zippers or anything. I do have my mom's sewing machine right now, and my hubby said he'd try to teach me how to use it. Although...he was starting to explain how to use it and he said something about a "bobbin" and I said "what's a bobbin?" I really wish I could duplicate the horror stricken look on his face. Lol! I guess he has his work cut out for him. I have a feeling I might just "watch" him make them instead of actually making them myself. :)

Anyway, here's the fabric I chose. I wanted to add a little orange for Fall and Thanksgiving. 

You can see the regular sofa pillows in this pic. The other side of the pillow is just like the sofa fabric, and I'll have that side facing out, so I won't have to worry about those grey designs showing through my orange fabric.

And here's a little mock up of the fabric just wrapped around the pillow...(notice my little photo bomber)

I know I really should have added fall pillows back in September, but better late than never. :) I plan on keeping the cable knit pillows on the loveseat all winter long and using the orange ones on the sofa through Thanksgiving. Then when I decorate for Christmas, I'll switch out the orange ones for my solid red ones. I'm loving having a neutral color base for my decor because then I can just add pops of any color for a totally different look!


Okay, enough pillow talk. ;) Now on to my fantastic deal at Crate & Barrel!! Just look at how cute these mugs are!

Source

Aren't they sweet? A friend on Instagram posted about them last night and I went straight to the Crate & Barrel website to order them. They're only .95 cents on their website right now. Shipping is $4.95. I ordered 4 of them for a total of $9.42 with tax and shipping. Now, I do have to tell you that it's a CHILD'S SIZE mug. It's only 3" in diameter and 3" tall and holds 8 ounces, just so you know. That was all fine with me because I mostly plan on using them for decorating purposes. :) I checked right before I posted this and they still had some left, but they're selling out quickly so I suggest you jump on it right now if you want them. :)

 Click HERE to order them on the Crate & Barrel site. 

About an hour after I ordered them, I got an email saying they had already shipped, so they should be here soon. I love when standard shipping works like that. :)

Y'all have a good Wednesday!!

~Lisa

Me Time Priorities

Do y'all take time for yourself on a regular basis? I think it's really important to take care of ourselves and for me, sometimes that means simply doing nothing at all. 

It seems like we're all consumed with things like cleaning, laundry, meal planning, cooking, etc. on a weekly basis. I pretty much have some kind of chores to do every day, Monday through Friday. But...I also have one day a week that I call my "do nothing" days. For me, that's on Tuesday. I LOVE TUESDAYS!!! Ha!

Y'all have no idea how much I look forward to Tuesdays! I don't plan any laundry, errands, cleaning, etc. on those days. Don't get me wrong, I still work out and make dinner on Tuesdays, but for the most part, I just play around all day and let me tell you...it's FANTASTIC!!! 

I posted this pic on Instagram recently of what my Tuesdays look like...

As you can see, I have all my "needs" taken care of: my phone, (which was being used to take this pic) a cup of tea, the remote, a good book to read, a cozy throw, and my iPad. :) Most Tuesdays you can find me browsing blogs and IG, watching a movie, or reading. 

So tell me, do y'all carve out some "me time" each week? What do you do to unwind and relax? 

Oh, and I just had to share this pic of the bald cypress tree in our backyard. I love the beautiful blues and greens in this pic. We have the prettiest blue skies in the Fall. 

I also wanted to let you know what our Halloween looked like last night...

Want a closer look???

Nice, right? ;) This is my youngest. He was a zombie survivor. They got to wear their costumes to school yesterday and I'm quite certain the teachers didn't get a lot accomplished with everyone dressed up. Lol! He really is making those "wounds" a little too realistic for my taste. :)

Okay, that's it for now. Hope y'all have a lovely week!

~Lisa

A Gold Urchin, Peanut Butter Cup Recipe, and Stained Glass

Hi everyone! Have you noticed the pretty gold decorative urchins in everyone's decor lately? Target used to carry them and I've been stalking their store and website for months to no avail. Then while in Hobby Lobby recently, I came across this little gem and couldn't pass it up! And it was 50% off! Score! (I know you're not supposed to start a sentence with "and" but I write like I talk on here, so please forgive me) :)

I love it! Here's a closer look...

I posted this knock off version of Reese's Peanut Butter cups on Instagram the other day and thought I'd share them here too. My boys LOVE when I make these. (p.s. aren't those Dollar Tree napkins just darling?)

You can see the recipe I used from Our Best Bites HERE

I also got a few requests on IG to post a close up pic of the stained glass my hubby made for above our front door. Then I realized I don't think I've ever shown a good pic of it here either, so here it is...

It was inspired by this photo my sister in law sent us of beautiful tulip fields near their home in Oregon...

My hubby always wanted to try his hand at stained glass, so he checked out a couple of books from the library and looked at some tutorials online and basically taught himself how to do it. I think it turned out pretty well! Are y'all on Instagram yet? You can find me @texasdecor

Well, that's it for now. Y'all have a great day!

~Lisa

Cotton Stems and Last Minute Halloween Decor

Hi everyone! Have y'all been to Michael's lately? I love all their new stuff. I saw these cotton stems there a few weeks ago, but I was in a hurry and didn't get them. I finally made it back recently and they only had three stems left! I ended up bringing two back home with me.  

Aren't they pretty? Now I just need y'all to tell me what to do with them. :) The only thing I can think of is to put them in a vase or something. See that crown sign above? I also picked that up at Michael's for .60 cents!! Not sure what I'm going to do with it either, but couldn't pass it up at that price. Oh, I also picked up those disposable travel coffee/tea cups with lids at Target's dollar spot. They came in a 4 pack for just $1! 

So, when I first brought out my Fall/Halloween decor, there were a lot of things that didn't make the cut this year. Then I started feeling sorry for them, so I brought them out at the last minute. Lol!

Love this "Boo!" sign and those cute Halloween boxes, and who can resist a glittery pumpkin? 

These have brought a smile to my face these last couple of days. Love the topiary style pumpkins on the right... 

Oh, one more thing...Did y'all see these burlap table runners in the Walmart ad this weekend for $5.97?? That seems like a really good price and they're one foot wide by ten feet long! I haven't seen them in person yet, so y'all let me know if you get a look at them. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!

~Lisa

Past Halloween Fun, Pumpkins, and Treats

Hello! I was going through some old photo albums the other day and came across a couple of pics of the boys dressed up for Halloween. I thought I'd share them here today...

Below is my now 20 year old, circa 1995. When your dad is a fire fighter, you pretty much HAVE to dress up as a dalmation at least once (and don't worry, he was also a fire fighter later on) Please notice the paci in his mouth. Ha! He was a little over a year old in this pic. Such a sweet dalmation! :)

And this is my now 15 year old at the pumpkin patch when he was one year old, circa 2000. He went around hugging all the pumpkins. :)

This is that same boy the next year when he was 2. He was big stuff lugging around all those heavy pumpkins. Love that expression! We visited the same pumpkin patch every year for many, many years.

Speaking of pumpkins, Miss Holly just HAD to check out our pumpkin this year. Nothing gets by her...she notices every new item that makes its way into the house. 

I brought out a few more Halloween decorations and made up a batch of pumpkin cookies. I love when the the stores start carrying the Pillsbury holiday cookies. 

These were made by the little cutie at the pumpkin patch. He used Pillsbury croissants, spread pumpkin butter on them, sprinkled on brown sugar and cinnamon, rolled them up and baked them. They were really good!

We had a hard time finding pumpkin butter, but finally came across this one at Target...

I think it's pretty much like apple butter, but with pumpkin. It's really good and tastes like pumpkin pie. 

These were made by my little dalmation above. :) This is one of his specialties. Sausage and cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon with garlic red potatoes. So good!!

I love it when my boys cook for me! It's nice to get a little break from the dinner routine. :)

Are y'all ready for Halloween? My boys are too old for trick or treating, but the youngest is dressing up as a zombie survivor for a party. Oh my.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed week!

~Lisa

Two Favorite Things and Fall Garden Pics

Hello everyone! Do y'all know about the catalog called "Through The Country Door?" It's one of my new favorite things. Here's a link to their online site:

Through The Country Door

One of my IG friends was talking about it and I just had to stop right then and there and order a free catalog. Their prices seem to be pretty reasonable and they have lots of fun categories...Home Decor, Furniture, Seasonal, Gifts, Bed and Bath, etc. Let me know if you've ordered from them before. I can't believe I just now found out about it. :)

Now for my second favorite thing. My HEB grocery store carries this Orange Spice tea. 

I'm sure other grocery stores carry their own version too. It's really good and smells divine. I spent the other afternoon sipping it while browsing through some catalogs and magazines. And of course I had to have a few tea biscuits with it. :) 

Now on to the garden. I was puttering around in the backyard the other day and decided to take a few pics to share with y'all. Even though it's technically fall, I still have a few things blooming, and of course we're still mowing the grass weekly. And when I say "we" I mean my hubby and two sons. ;)

These zinnias were grown from seed. It only took about three weeks for them to get this tall. I also added a couple of fall pics to one of the pots. 

This Lantana pretty much just sat there all summer and didn't hardly bloom at all. Now all of a sudden, it's taken over this bed and decided to start blooming. I think it did the same thing last year.

The Blue Plumbago keeps growing up into the knock out rose.  

Speaking of the knock outs, they're still doing pretty well. Getting a little scraggly, but still have a few blooms. 

Okay, time for another fern update! Y'all might remember this sad looking pic below. This is what my fern looked like in March (after our cold winter)...

And just look at her now!

I really need to remember to bring her inside or at least cover her up if we get a freeze this year. :) 

I planted a couple of Gomphrena flowers in my window box. I'm not sure how long they'll last now that it's fall, but they sure are pretty. 

Below is a close up of the Blue Plumbago...

and a close up of the Bottle Brush... 

That's it for now! How are your gardens doing? Are you getting ready to batten down the hatches in preparation for Winter?

~Lisa 

Daily Life

Hello all! Hope you had a good weekend. We had a pretty relaxing one. We celebrated Holly's 2nd birthday, which was fun. :) 

I thought I'd share a few more phone pics with y'all. Looking through my phone pics pretty much sums up everything we've been up to lately. :)

I bought my Halloween candy early...I know better, but I do it every year. Wonder how many more times I'll have to buy it? ;)

Still tweaking the mantel...

I made jumbo soft pretzels for the first time the other day. They were just okay. I didn't think they had a lot of flavor. I should have coated them in something else besides salt. Maybe some Parmesan cheese would have been good. At least I got to use my cute ruffle bowl though. :)

I love Chick-fil-A. We made these copy cat Chick-fil-A nuggets again. They're SO good! I think the powdered sugar is what makes them so delicious! You can click HERE to see the recipe we used.

Holly was driving me crazy the other day wanting me to pull her ribbon around for her, so I tried a distraction technique...

I built that little "cat fort" for her. She was enthralled with it! She stepped inside and took a 5 hour nap!

And speaking of Miss Holly, she turned two on Saturday!

She got a new ribbon toy and lots of attention. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. :)

Okay, I just had to take a pic of this. It's a Kroger ad. Would you just look at all the pumpkin flavored things??? Let me list them for you:

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin creamer, pumpkin latte, pumpkin egg nog, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin shaped Reese's, pumpkin Oreos, pumpkin jello, pumpkin pop tarts, actual pumpkin, pumpkin sparkling juice, and pumpkin beer. 

Whew! That's a lot of pumpkin products! I bet the pumpkin industry is happy. :)

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone has a fantastic week! I'll be back soon with a Fall garden update. Still plenty of things blooming around here. :) 

~Lisa