It’s Halloween!  Big plans?  Us neither!  Food, drinks, treats…at home…for a party of two (and a cat).  I saw that Jurassic World is available to rent through the cable company, so maybe we’ll dial that up.  Food?  The husband is making gunsmoke chili and cornbread.  We have cider, caramel fleur de sel topping, cinnamon sticks and Malibu Black for hot toddies.  We have Poizin.  And the rest of the cheese ball from the work party earlier this week.  I was going to make some sort of dessert (I was leaning towards cupcakes), but the husband brought these home last night:

Yes.  That is a huge caramel apple.  Made especially for me by a one of the husband’s co-workers.  He got one, too.  We received one last year, but it was the husband’s first year with this employer, so we didn’t realize it was an annual thing.  If we somehow manage to work our way through both of those this evening we have pumpkin ice cream in the freezer.

It’s going to be a bad food evening in a very good way.

It’s also been a pretty quiet day.  It’s raining cats-n-dogs.  Humidity is a ridiculous 67%.  To say it’s damp is putting it lightly. I did start on a project this morning.  One of many.  Actually, I’ve composed a list of interior projects that I would like to accomplish this winter.  The husband told me this afternoon that he doesn’t want to see my entire list, that I should just feed it to him one thing at a time.  Huh.  Well, okay, then.

I’ve been eyeing our light fixtures since last year.  They’re white.  Does that seem outdated to you?  It does to me.

The house was built in 1996, so it’s not horribly out-of-date.  But, there are a few things (like the two-toned gold/crome faucets in the upstairs bathrooms) that I really dislike.  I thought I would have to replace all of the light fixtures as well, but when I started looking at Lowe’s and Home Depot I realized that those that we have are not out-of-date in style, just color. Well, there is one that absolutely must go.  This little jewel hangs in the formal dining room.

Back to color:  like I was saying, the style is okay.  And I discovered that Rustoleum has a “metal” spray paint that you can use to touch up things like fixtures.  I like brushed nickel, so that’s what I bought.  This morning the husband took down one light fixture so I could do a trial run.

The before is up above.  Here is the after:

I must apologize for the lighting.  It’s not good on dark and dreary days, and I still find manual camera mode to be very challenging indoors.  Actually, they’re not as bad as I first expected.  White balance is a challenge inside.  The auto just doesn’t seem to do it, and I still have a hard time figuring out if I should go up or down in Kelvins.

Anyways, I’m not sure what I think.  The white fixtures have a bit of a texture to them, so the brushed nickel definitely doesn’t look like smooth metal.  Up close you can tell that it’s faux.  I’m trying to figure out if it’s the same from a distance. Please, feel free to offer your two cents.  I welcome the opinion of the peanut gallery.  Should I proceed with all of them, or stop while I’m ahead…or behind (depending upon how you look at it).  Pulease…don’t be shy…tell me what you think.

Oh, and the back yard looks like a maple leaf war zone.  Check it out:

The trees have been shaking themselves with some vigor and have carpeted the property.  The husband recently bought himself a brand new high-powered Stihl blower, but the weather has been too wet for him to get out and…blow.  Another day.

The cat also suffered a moment today that had him wondering if being shipped back to the orphanage might be a good option.  This is the orphan face shortly after being sprung from the laundry room, where he found himself tossed after playing with pumpkins on the dining room table.

You heard me right.

I was in the kitchen taking stock of supplies for the husband’s chili list and heard movement to my left.  I looked and, no more than 10 feet away, sat CJ…on the dining room table…playing with one of these:

They are a part of this arrangement:

You’ve already probably established, after reading about the Meow Box..and the cat tent…that the newest addition to our family is spoiled.  Rotten.  As any DIWC (dual income with cat) household tends to be.  However, there are certain behavioral expectations:  cats do not belong on counters.  Any counter.  Kitchen, bathroom or otherwise.  Cats are not allowed on certain furniture.  Cats do not claw things they are not supposed to claw (and cats are provided with plenty of acceptable things to claw).  Cats do not eat plants.  Do you sense some challenges that we’ve faced since Mr. Orange moved in?

He’s a very good boy.  He’s still learning boundaries.

So, when I spotted him on the table the response was swift and sure.  I grabbed him by the scruff (he squeaked…not sure if I grabbed a little too firmly, or if I startled him…I suspect the latter), put my hand on his butt and off to the laundry room he went.  I considered the garage, but he considers the garage to be party central and I was looking to send a message.

He was allowed out about 15 minutes later and moped around a bit before climbing on the couch, which is where I snapped the previous picture.

I’m concerned about the Christmas decorations…and the tree…which is always fresh and usually at least 8 feet tall.  That’s a lot of topple potential.

Since I wasn’t prepared to take down additional fixtures (as I’m still thinking about the faux look) we decided to head into town to check out the brand new Hobby Lobby and the Tractor Supply Store.  Hobby Lobby was to be expected, and will be nice to have so close when I begin to Christmas craft.  The Tractor Supply Store does not sell tractors, but does sell a lot of camo clothing (I told the husband that if he was going to buy me the pink camo sweatshirt for my birthday that I also wanted the matching sock hat) and I was delighted to discover Home Defense magazine in the same rack as Diesel Power.  Actually, they do have some cool stuff in there and we’ll likely return.

We mosied downtown to check out a used furniture store.  Another item on my list for the winter is to put together “the library room,” which I’m not going to take the time to talk about now, but I’m sure it will be a topic for the future.  I’m looking for a couple of barrel-style chairs (I’d like leather, but I don’t know that I want to pay leather prices).  We struck out, but the furniture store was very close to our favorite wine store, so we stopped by for their All Hallow’s Eve wine tasting.  Who can resist wines named “Ghost of 413” and “The Cleaver”?

And, now we’re home.  The husband is in the kitchen cooking, the cat is in his hammock snoozing and I’m “talking” to you. I pulled a bottle of Poizin off the wine rack for consumption with our chili.  I bought it on my chick’s trip to Sonoma last spring, and it seems an appropriate Halloween beverage.

So, to you and yours, Happy Halloween!