RomanceClass.com Forums Romance Organizing and Cleaning Fall & Halloween Redecorating

A couple days ago, we did Fall cleaning on the back porch along with re-arranging of the furniture and decorations. And the flags, pennants, mail box cover, and windsocks.

Marge was also redecorating the kitchen, dining room, and living room. And she warned me that this morning would be re-arranging of the living room furniture.

Men are so different than women. To us, when a room is set up the way we like it, there's no need to change it - ever. Unless one wants a larger TV or some other electronic game or maybe a cooler or small fridge so one doesn't have to walk so far to the kitchen fridge.

Joking, mostly, since Marge visited my apartment before we got together and later married. She was impressed with my cleanliness - but NOT my holiday decorating!

We're mostly through, except for some minor accents and tweaking that Marge will do (actually, she never really stops).

To tell the truth, despite the fact that I tease her by my reluctance and my attempts at "negotiation," we are a pretty good team. We didn't measure things since my tape measure is in the "storage" trailer, but we came up with a pretty good basic design plan.

I commented that on Design Star, if the design got too fancy, then there would not be enough time for the glitches which always arise (especially if one or more team leaders are out buying too many ancillary items). And someone has to be in charge.

But I am pretty good at taking Marge's design plan, and suggesting minor changes. And when the glitches arise, as they did, we were able to deal with them fairly easily and in the allotted time.

I felt sorry for Trippi (our tortoise-shell kitty, who knows she is a "Princess"), though. She always vanishes when the vacuum cleaner comes out. And when she sensed that we were about through, she led me into the living room, and plaintively mewed as she saw her usual pattern had changed drastically. The worst, for her, was that her kneading blankie that usually lies on the top of the back of the couch was missing! Marge has it in the washing machine.

Poor thing! She is at my feet now as I type.

I asked Marge if she was happy with the living room. Since she said she was, I made no further suggestions. This is not my first rodeo!

[I thought of putting this in the off-topic for parakeet owners - I have posted there, but I'm not a parakeet owner; and I thought of putting this in the General, Miscellaneous section - but I think it fits in the romance section pretty well. After all, a happy spouse is a good thing. When Marge is happy, I'm happy.]

I cleaned the most disgusting part of the utility room at the weekend. I feel better for it. I think that it has reduced my stress levels.

Carl I think I must be a man by your description. I put my furniture in one place and it never gets moved. (Or does this mean I'm just lazy???) I don't know how much decorating will get done this year as I'm about to be laid up again with the other knee surgery. I don't even know what I will be putting out and up for Christmas as I will probably be relying a lot on my hubby who could care less about holiday decorations. The only saving grace is that our grandchildren live in different cities so we will not be seeing them for some of the holidays.
Then I keep looking at some of my messy rooms and keep thinking I only have 2 more weeks to get most of this stuff done around here. And with all of this going on my hubby has the shower in the basement all torn apart (the floor) could not get off the ceramic tile without breaking them so had to buy something different (I hope it does not look to goofy). They he plans on pulling up carpet in the basement and tileing the floor this will be another project and 1/2. To top it off now he wants to put up more walls. I think he is nuts LOL. I guess he figures he does not have enough to do (this is a person that has tons of stuff to do by the way.).
Oh well have fun decorating when your done please feel free to come up to my house and do mine. LOL.

Is your name Connie, or is Pretty Bird's name Connie?

Anyhow, I see your point. As a "househusband," I know well that people assume that certain tasks and ways of thinking are gender-related, when they're not. So my apologies for talking about men being different than women. I think they are in many ways, but there are probably as many "design stars" who are men as there are women.

And probably many women who see no need for continuous redecorating, either.

I don't think I'll go back and rework the post, but please consider my statement to be:

"I am so different than Marge. To me, when a room is set up the way I like it...."

PS - The redecorating in no way lets me off the hook for all the maintenance, repair, and improvement projects that I know about and Marge will be adding to, on my list.

I certainly don't.
If we don't like the decor, or it's messy, or not working for some reason, then yes, we sort it out ~ but just for the sake of it!?
NO!

Well, don't tell Marge I said this, because I act as if I don't care for the decorating for the season: I think it looks pretty, and Marge is quite creative. Most of it she does for herself, anyway. I insist on helping with the heavy lifting and moving, because of the fatigue she has from ITP, a blood disorder. And I do the outside Christmas lighting because of the climbing involved. A lot of our dialogue is just playful humor between people who love each other and are comfortable together. And we understand each other's humor.

You're a good man Carl Chin up..at least it's not 30 below when you're doin the outside Christmas lights! lol

Pretty Bird has cracked me up! I really like: "Oh well have fun decorating when your done please feel free to come up to my house and do mine. LOL."

I would like to get to the point that Carl described as generally a man's view -- "To us, when a room is set up the way we like it, there's no need to change it - ever." In other words, if I could ever finally get all the needed repairs and much-needed upgrades done, I imagine a blissful scene where I just stand there, looking around the house, saying, "Aaaahhhhh!"

I just want the house (and the seasonal decorations) to be ship-shape, but not trendy or "stylin'" -- the mere thought of repainting rooms every five years 'cause you're "bored" makes me crazy!

I just want to know what everything after the word flags is and if kitty has her banky back.

Oh and redecorating is something you do when you move or buy new furniture, for me redecoating is a sassy new spot for my vase after i clean my room.LOL.

ROFL!!

Carl I hope you know that I was trying to be funny.
I actually have a sister-in-law that changes her furniture around all the time. I probably drive her crazy when she sees my stuff in the same place it landed when we moved into the house or like Coco's mom said if you get a new piece of furniture. The only thing is with the new piece of furniture is it is usually replacing the old piece so guess where it goes.
The thing is my hubby is also happy that I'm not moving the furniture around all the time so it works out just fine for us.
However now down in the bird room that was a different story for awhile with moving and building new cages all the time. So instead of driving me and hubby nuts I just drive the birds nuts.
I am probably going to end up feeling guilty not putting stuff out for the holidays but there's not a lot I can do about that this year. I'll make up for it next year.
I do have to tell you guys what I did for trick or treat a few years ago.
We put a bale of straw on our porch and I bought burlap and made a sack and painted a scare crow face on it. I bought a straw hat and put on boots, jeans, a big flannel shirt big gloves with straw sticking out. Put the burlap sack over my head put on the staw hat and then sat slumped on the hale bay. When the little kids came I waved and you should have heard the parents it was so funny (I did not say anything) they made the comments like I wonder how they get it to do that. Well we had 3 boys come they were probably around 11 or 12 years old . They were making the comments about how neat the scare crow was and started walking towards me well I jumped up and you would not believe how fast they took off running. We still laugh about it. All I kept thinking was how they were probably talking the rest of the evening to each other saying were you scared then they would reply no I wasn't were you?

By the way Carl my real name is Connie.
Birds are: Tiki, Zorro, Fez, Cisco, Bam Bam, Tony, Cleo, Poncho, Tweety, Penny, Lymond, Beaker, Peeps (all Parakeets) Then Nacho and Tonto our cockatiels. None bird owners are amazed that I have them all named and know each one but they really do all look different.

OMgosh funny Halloween story, it's my favourite holiday any chance to wear a costume lol.

I can't remember all your birds names so i def. would not be able to tell them apart, but you see them all the time and your a good paraket mama so u know .

Whew! Good to know, Connie! I was afraid I committed a faux pas. I try to be politically correct, but I sometimes seem to insert my foot into my mouth. But I'd rather that my heart is right than my words PC.

CM, as for redecorating and what it means, Marge watches an awful lot of HGTV and the Food Network and .... And she and her artist sister both have good eyes. There may well be a difference between placing a vase (or other accessory) at a certain spot and moving of existing furniture or new furniture.

Yes, Trippi now has her blankie back, and has figured out the new patterns so she can run to her selected spots for tolls (pets) as I go through the living room (either direction, or both).

Connie, that is a funny Halloween story.

But the part that affects me is the moving of furniture and the hanging of flags and the like and pennants.

Oh, yeah, pennants are like sports banners. Windsocks are flags in the shape of a sock or cone that the wind catches and stretches it out. Marge has seasonal covers that velcro close over our mailbox. She only does this for special times, as our mailbox has art painted on it by Marge's sister, Rosanne.

OHHHH I see okay, I have never seen a mailbox cover ever, then.

I think I have seen pennants, but not for sports, some people have a little flag usu. square jutting off the porch or so and often they have Winnie the Pooh or Snowmen at Christmas etc. on them.

I am happy for Trippi, I too had a fav. blanket growing up it was an event for my Mother to wash it :))))

We decorate the house for Christmas.

Also for parties.

And I light up a hollowed pumpkin in the porch for Hallowe'en.

i am constantly rearranging stuff. I have to try all possible combinations.

Thankfully i dont do a whole lot of holiday decorating as i dont celebrate the holidays. But I do decorate for the seasons. (pumpkins, leaves, blue snowmen stuff, snow flakes etc..)

I have a mother who is obsessed beyond human understanding with decorations, so she has given me a ton of stuff.

I have it all in a box for each season. MY summer stuff has been put away now and my fall stuff is out. I bought a bag of gourds and small pumpkins at the farmers market to sit on the dining room table along with some nice rust and yellow colored roses.

and i change out the welcome mats LOL and the small carpets through out the house. (hallway runners, kitchen sink and stove and so on)

I do "ramadan" cleaning. I go through the house, re organize things, and get rid of anything ive not used in the last year. I always end up with a bag of clothes and shoes and some other random things and then give it away to the mosque.

I cleaned the laundry room, found tons of socks and a disturbing amount of dryer sheets. (haha)

I re arranged my entire kitchen a few days ago and its much better than it was, has more flow to it now. I got rid of some dishes i dont need or use, and that was so not easy. (im a dish collecter, i think its genetic lol)

I do have a hall closet that hasnt been touched since we moved in. i scared of it.

oh man connie that is too funny !!!!!!!! My mom has one of those blasted door bell things that make horrid noises when you ring the door bell.

her dog literaly ran into a wall tryin to escape the shrill scream.

however, neither of the dogs EVER go to the door now when the door bell rinsg HAHA

The last few years, we would go up to the NorthEast U.S. around September to October to see the Fall Colors (and see family). With money tight, we had to cancel our plans this year. So I don't begrudge Marge's love of beauty.

She (and I - we merged our two households in early 1995) have lots of bric-a-brac and decorations and accessories that can be displayed - too much for any one time.

Colors 2007

ROFL! I feel that way about much of our garage! (It's hubby's turf, but for one small corner for my gardening stuff.) There are far corners of the garage that I've never set foot in and never will!

Carl, your "Colors 2007" photos are lovely. I'm thinking New Hampshire, maybe, or Maine?

Ditto on the pictures. I love the 3 pic on the left it's almost perfect. I would blow that up and frame it.

Oh those are all such pretty photos!

Thanks. Yep. We started at Old Orchard Beach (we stayed there while visiting our grandkids in South Portland) and went on into New Hampshire. Marge had a travel nurse contract in Rochester NH in the Fall of 2002 (and we lived in Dover). We like to go up for the colors, but had to cancel plans to go this year - finance too tight. Not even getting to go to Key West.

Marge takes some good photos! I've been meaning to take some pics of Marge's decorating here at the house.

Sorry, I went back a page, and saw I'd already mentioned having to cancel our Colors trip this year. Memory is the 2nd thing to go for old men. I forget what the first thing was.

Andrea, that's a mighty colorful scene in your avatar! I was stationed in Long Beach in 1966, and again in 1969 (aboard ships).

I personally think that arranging to feed your own soul - and those whom you love - is more important than "decorating" to fit into someone else's sense of style, or what some potential buyer will like. Right now it is your home. You decide. And if it feels right to you, it is beautiful. If it is not to someone else, than maybe they are out of balance.

I remember that the home that Marge and I remodeled and decorated to include both her presence and mine was admired by almost everyone who entered the home. Yet, the realtors all thought it should be different when we wanted to sell.

And of course the designers on the tv shows always think that the colors are wrong! You must take out the bright colors and put in neutral colors. Ha! Yet, on the shows where they are recommending styles for you in a remodel, notice they want to go with bright, cheerful colors. I think it is often like fashion - gotta change every year so someone can make money.

As for your glee watching your hubby and sons searching for cups and cereal and the like, maybe it's good payback. <grin> Marge tells how she would look in the freezer for a tupperware container of cookies and find nothing but crumbs! Or a jug of drink put back in the refrigerator with less than a swallow left. Other examples, but I'm sure you're familiar with the picture.

Well, Halloween is over, and it's coming up on time to replace all the Fall flags & pennants and decorations with Christmas ones. Joy, joy!

Well, anyone who knows me knows that I gripe about it, but I do like the look of it - after the work is done.

Birdie, I know exactly how you feel - I am always rearranging things until I reach that sense of 'rightness' - it's like AHA, this is where something goes! And then there it stays.

It does drive DH nuts.