If you had walked into my house before Gerald moved in you would have always seen it decorated inside and out. From the front porch to the back porch. With him living her and him and Debbie knocking my decorations off I haven’t been decorating the way I like.
Because of this I didn’t think about it being Fall and getting my decorations out. Instead I had come to the conclusion I wasn’t going to decorate anymore. Then this week after being in and out of stores and seeing more and more Halloween decorations I decided I needed to decorate for Fall because it seemed like people had forgotten about it.
There is something you should know about me before we get started: I believe in decorating for one holiday at a time. One. Holiday. At. A. Time. I don’t like skipping ahead. I don’t want Halloween decorations mixed in with fall, Thanksgiving showing up before Halloween is over, or Christmas taking over the house while I’m still trying to enjoy Thanksgiving.
So, naturally, what did I do? I went to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet with David looking for a sandwich maker and somehow came home with Halloween decorations. Yep. You read that right.
I had one thing on my mind when we walked into Ollie’s on Denton Highway: I need a sandwich maker. Just a sandwich maker. And I want to make something perfectly clear. I did not want a panini grill. I don’t like panini grills. I wanted a good old-fashioned sandwich maker.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find the sandwich maker I was looking for. But while I was walking through the store, something else started bothering me. I needed fall decorations. Now, how in the world did that happen?
I have decorations for practically every holiday. Usually, when it’s time to decorate, I’m pulling out tote after tote because I have 20 or 30 things waiting to come out. But fall?
Apparently fall decided to skip my house. All of my decorations are packed away, and David doesn’t want to go through the totes looking for them. He’s being a Grinch. Bah humbug, David.
I walked through Ollie’s looking for something that would make my house feel a little more like fall. I kept looking, but nothing really grabbed me. Nothing practically jumped into my cart and said, “Take me home, Glenda!”
Then I spotted it. A garden flag with pumpkins and a little dog sitting inside one of the pumpkins. Now, that felt like fall. And I knew Charlie would like the dog, so that made the decision even easier.
But what was funny I think I have that flag packed away with my Fall decoration’s. Then David walked up to the cart and said did you see the Garden Flag with the Pumpkins. I just looked at David and didn’t say anything. Then he looked in the basket and saw I had already gotten the flag. LOL
I brought it home and changed out the garden flag talking about a garden on my front door. I actually loved the flag that was already there, but I needed something that looked like fall. So at least I have one fall decoration now.
Maybe that’s all I’m supposed to have this year. Who knows? But apparently, while I couldn’t find much fall, Halloween was waiting around the corner. Then David looked at me and said he’d buy me two Halloween things. Two. That’s when things got interesting.
He picked out a Halloween house for me, and then he found these really unique, scary-looking candlesticks. They came as a set, so technically they were one purchase, even though there are two of them. And when you put batteries in them, they light up. They’re actually really cool.
They’re the kind of thing I probably wouldn’t have thought to look for myself, but now that I have them, I can picture them sitting on either side of my Haunted house and looking wonderfully creepy.
Of course, buying Halloween decorations doesn’t mean I don’t still want to find my fall decorations. It just means David is being a pain in my tookus and doesn’t want to dig through the totes.
And somehow, little by little, Halloween has started creeping into my house anyway. I even picked up some ghosts at Aldi, the grocery store. And these weren’t just any ghosts. They looked like girl ghosts.
One of them had a retro pink telephone in her hand, and the other one had a coffee cup. The second I saw them, I thought about Charlie and Suzanne. Now, I need to find boy looking Ghosts to go with them.
Those two always seem to have their phones in their hands, and coffee cups are practically part of the family uniform. It reminded me of my crazy Mimi, too, because those little everyday things—coffee, phones, the things people carry around all the time—can somehow become the things you remember most.
So now these little Halloween ghosts aren’t just Halloween decorations. They’re going to remind me of my family every time I see them. Of course, I made one mistake. I went back and saw another ghost that said “BOO.”
I wanted that one, too. But David said they didn’t have any more. So… Boo to Aldi’s. Because the also didn’t have Fall cup towels they usually carry which I also need for the kitchen. Now I’m still on the hunt for fall.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll convince David to go to Hobby Lobby with me this week when he gets paid. We might also stop at Mardel’s and see what they have. And David has mentioned taking a trip to Denton this week, so who knows what we might find there.
I’m still looking for those scary chairs, too. So apparently my “one holiday at a time” rule has gotten a little complicated. I went looking for fall. I found one fall garden flag. I went looking for a sandwich maker.
I didn’t find the sandwich maker. I came home with Halloween decorations. And now I’m still trying to figure out where all my fall decorations went. Maybe this is just how decorating works when you’re shopping at Ollie’s Bargain Basement.
You go in looking for one thing, and somehow you come home with five other things you never knew you needed. And that may be the real Ollie’s experience: Go in for one thing. Come home with everything but the one thing you went for.
As for me, I’m still looking for fall. So if you know where I can find some unique fall decorations, please tell me! And if you have fall decorations sitting in a closet, attic, storage room, or garage that you’re not using anymore, well…
I might be interested. Just don’t tell my mother-in-law. Actually, never mind. I already asked her. Granny Sherry is usually the woman who has everything you could possibly need, want, or ask for—and will probably give you more than you ever expected.
She doesn’t have any fall decorations either. I already checked. So here we are. One holiday at a time. Except apparently not this year. Fall, where are you? And Halloween? Well… I guess you’re already here.
Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates