Meet The Halloween Clan: The Stanley Skellys!

There are a few holidays we like to go all out for. Halloween is one of them and for a variety of reasons. Let me just let you in on a few of them...

1) it's Ty's bday. Duh.

2) it's a great holiday. You get to be anything & nobody will/should judge.

3) it reminds us of New Orleans. Just need some coffee & beignets!

4) & our neighborhood is super into Halloween....

like we get nearly 500 kids treatin' around this hood!

So welcome to our little place!

Come meet our Skellys in person on Halloween or just peek at them below.

There you have it...you've met the Halloween clan:

The Stanley Skellys!

And a little peek on the inside...

Our Nola themed mantel...

photos from Nola at the Saints game, DIY skulls, a DIY framed old newspaper, hand painted S, handmade bats by Ty, and our very own French Quarter sign!

The buffet...photo obviously taken on Ty's bday (hence the set up for food)

If you so wish to join the hundreds of children that come walk the neighborhood for lots of neat treats, let me know. I can direct you to where we like to call home, where Halloween is the big thing around here, and where kids and families feel safe through the dark night!

Happy Haunting this Friday...

and be sure to remember to wish Mr. Stanley a big HBD!

♡T&C

The "Wal-Mart Special" Birthday Bash

Is there a dash between Wal and Mart? I'm not even sure. It didn't look right as a whole word, so I went with the dash. And I could be completely wrong (in fact, I'm pretty sure I am wrong). Probably the first time I've ever been wrong (kidding). However, I've decided I'm going with what looks best rather than what's correct. So no need to correct me because I'm going with it, like it or not.

So the meaning behind the "Walmart Special" birthday bash was this...everybody was required to pick themselves up their best Walmart halloween garb for the party. Whatever was in the halloween section was theirs to ponder. What we ended up with were skeleton shirts, pumpkin shirts, superhero shirts, pajama tops and bottoms, and homemade shirts. Much cheaper and much easier than 

having a costume party!

The Fam in Their Walmart Specials...

Thank goodness for the 10 second setting on Pennie's phone to get us all in!

You can make a homemade shirt for less than 10 bucks...a men's $4 shirt at Walmart plus

iron on letters in Walmart's craft section for 3 bucks. Things got a little crooked, but

I never claimed to be a professional t-shirt maker.

Simple Food Setup...

Cups: we used cling-ons for the faces and they are reusable for the next party (target)

Straws: bright green and black zig-zags (walmart)

Swamp Juice: 2 containers of Simply limeade, 1 bottle of Perrier sparkling water. Add a few drops of green coloring and whole blueberries for the effects. Simple, easy, & tasty. 

Big hit for the kids and adults!

Every year, we've done a chili feed for Ty's birthday. This year it was his favorite paleo bacon & pineapple chili along with Ty's Mom's paleo chicken chili. Both were a hit!

The Spread...

-paleo biscuits...as close as you will get to cornbread!

-baby oranges (to look like pumpkins)

-a lazy susan filled with avocado chunks, cilantro, mozzarella cheese for the primal chili, and

fritos for the non-paleo chili.

-caterpillars...aka grapes on a stick.

Pie box-reused from our wedding

Napkins-assorted varieties, all sold at Target for $1

Dessert...Caramel Apple Bar

Tip: buy mini apples...they are so much easier to work with, easier for kids to eat,

less junk your kids will most likely be able to put on them, and a fun size for all!

The Family...

(missing: my dad, who was out hunting in Eastern Oregon)

Meet Turner...he belongs to Nick & Pennie. He's 2 1/2!

Casey & Bumpa aka Batman aka Mark (Ty's dad)

Debby (very close friend, may as well be Aunt Debby on Ty's side) 

& Kathy (Ty's mom)

Mom & Me

Pennie, Nick, & Turner

Brother & Sister

Brother & Sister

and ALL Of Us In Our Finest Moments...

Mike (our brother-in-law in the red) vs Nick

Bang your caramel apple on the ground, then eat it. I think it's a thing for luck...

And then this happened...

The attempt to put the whole body together via two outfits on two different people.

(yes, I know the tibia & fibula don't belong on the femur, but it's as close as we could get)

The man of the night and the man I love so much...

The BIRFDAY BOI!

 I may be biased, but I think you have the best birthday EVER! Not everybody dresses up on birthdays, not everybody gets buckets of candy on birthdays, and not everybody has a birthday in such a lovely time of year like it is around here. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of good things about all the other months here, but if you're going to have a birthday fall on a holiday....make it happen on Halloween!

Love you everyday, Ty!

♥Cori

The ____ Room: The Room With All Sorts Of Names!

The loo, the rain closet, the shit house, the office the standers & sitters room. It's got all sorts of great names. Call it what you want. That's why I left a blank spot in the title just for you. If you've got any other names for it, we're happy to hear them. We find those sorts of things to be quite funny. We, on the other hand, just call ours the bathroom. It's simple, it's not even funny, and to be honest, it's pretty lame. That may need to change.

I've decided that if you spend part of your life in the bathroom, it only makes sense to make it a comfy spot to be in. They don't call it the throne for nothing, right? So why not decorate it, make it feel comfy, and give it a fresh feeling (as fresh as a bathroom could ever feel, right?) Feel me? Finding humor in it all was a must...when you've got a bowel disease, part of your family has various bowel diseases, and you happen to be a nurse, you start to have a sick humor. It happens. Appreciate the humor in some of the decor or don't. I won't care either way. If nothing else, they've made for great conversation pieces.

Scroll down to see how we've begun to make a small-medium sized 1940s bathroom work for us...
our style. our humor. best ways to organize. and it's character.

Our Bathroom:

part redone, part not at all redone. I've decided it's a nice combo. In fact, I like to chalk it up by using the phrase "it gives it character." When in fact, we are nowhere near the ability (time & financially) to redo what's not updated. For all we know, those cabinets were from the 1940s when the house was built. Like I said...Character. Thank goodness for a can of paint to spiff them up real quick...

Baskets:

World Market-$12.99. Walmart-$5.99-$8.99 (size dependent).

I'll let you decide where you want to shop. You can probably guess which one I went with.

Top left basket is for my daily necessities, bottom left basket is for the rare days I ever do my hair, bottom right basket are hair items I use frequently for the days I never do my hair, and 

top right is Ty's side. I figured I should give him a little spot in the bathroom for a few of his things.

How nice of me, right?

Disregard the lovely looking paper on the shelves. Again, it's the home's "character".

One day, some day these will disappear and we will find something more appealing to fix it up with.

Whoever came up with baskets for a cute way to store things was a genious. 

I praise you for that.

If your baskets don't fit in your cabinets, take off the handles. For our large baskets I had to

do this. It's not rocket science, you can figure it out.

Shelves:

Ty's craftiness and homemade ability with a little assistance from his Dad to get them on the wall.

Don't ask how he made them. I saw the beginning of them, then the end of them.

They are due to be stained one day some day by this gal...whenever it is I get around to it.

The Antique Razor & Brush:

this was given to Ty as a gift. It's easy access for Ty when he wants to use it. Otherwise it gets

to sit pretty on the shelf. It fits perfect in its spot on this shelf.

The Pot & Plant:

Ikea. I think everybody has this pot and a succulent from them.

let's get real. I'm pretty sure this pot and plant doesn't fit the theme we've got going. However,

before we got all the decor up and going this was the first thing in the bathroom. Hence

the reason it's still here and will be here until I decide otherwise.

The Urinal:

I wish you were all at the antique store when I found this. You'd think I found gold. And most of you know I'm not kidding. If this doesn't get you, you may die when you find out what else came with this lovely decor piece...a bed pan. A freaking, Metal. Bedpan. Tell me you didn't really die now that I've told you. You better believe I bought both items. They were suppose to go together on the shelf but the bedpan was too big. Trust me, I'll find another purpose for it...like planting flowers in it or something ;-)

Chalkboard Frame:

our wedding. Used at two other weddings.

It just so happened we were playing around with what would go on the shelves and this was thrown up there as a chalkboard frame that would be used. Well it was never updated. Once we thought about what it said and where it was located (in the bathroom)...we decided it needed to stay there in that form. Maybe we'll change it one day. Maybe we won't. Until then, we will laugh at the fact it by chance ended up in here next to the Poopourri.

Poopourri:

St. Vincent Hospital if you want a large selection. Bed Bath & Beyond if you want two option.

All all fabulous and hilarious all in one bottle. Get one, I dare you. 

Basket:

Walmart.

Apothecary Lotion & Bath Salts:

World Market.

I overpaid for these stupid things. I knew I was overpaying when I was overpaying, if that even makes sense. I also knew they were the only things I've found that had the similar style of the bathroom, 

that didn't make me feel sick when I smelled them, and fit well together in the basket. I'm pretty sure I paid more for these things than I paid for everything else combined in the bathroom. Not exactly my

shining moment or the best deal, but apparently I caved into it anyway.

Chalkboard Sign:

Craft Warehouse

I'm a nurse. I hate when patients wipe themselves and don't think to wash their hands afterwards. Or the moment they pass their hands through the running water then dry them off immediately (as though it "counts" as washing). It doesn't count, it never counts. More often than not, they decline which you can guarantee I make my "grossed out" face in my mind. So if you plan on coming to my house and you happen to use the bathroom, plan on washing your hands. If you don't, plan on this sign haunting you the rest of the time you're at my house. 

Fair enough?

The Rock:
found on an adventure in Colorado.
Chris & Courtney, you will always be thought of in our bathroom! ;-)

The Pot & Plant:
Ikea. Duh.
Again, another one of those first items in the bathroom. It may stay, it may go.
I'm kinda feelin' this one so it just may stay put in it's spot.
No judging my combo of antique and succulent decor.

As always, we still have work to do to finish it all up. I apparently like to give updates along the way if you couldn't tell from the rest of the house posts. Why save it to it's completed state when 

you can see how we truly live in it for the time being. You can just live through the posts so you don't have to actually live through the uncompleted process with us. We'll spare you that much!

Here's to partly completed bathrooms, bathrooms with humor, and never ending house projects. 

♥T&C