Halloween House

  Along with posting updated pictures of our house because we got more done a couple months ago since the last time I showed off house updates in July. There aren't any of Michael's makeup room in this post because that's 90% the same. He did get a sewing table, which he put against the opposite wall. I'm also showing off Halloween decorations like I did in California. You can see what decorations are the same and which are a little newer. It's been fun getting to buy more decorations to make our house look all cool for the holidays, especially since I think Halloween is Michael's favorite holiday. That is something I should know about my husband though. I really like Christmas the best.

  We're having a Halloween party on Sunday night, the 30th, so I bought some extra floofy decorations to hang a few days before that. And I've made a list of fun foods we can make, but it might be Michael mostly making the food since I work that weekend and the party starts 15 minutes after I'll get home from work!! I'm really hoping we can dress up at work that day, so I'll be ready once I arrive.

 As I have mentioned before, Michael built those two white shelves by hand. I helped paint them. Then he stained the wood behind the TV to match a picture he saw on Pinterest. // You can see more of these pictures below (as a refresher) here - Red Riding Hood *I added more today* - and during our trip to Universal Hollywood in California (where we met Frankenstein) here.

 Eventually Michael will build a high top table that seats two people, for having breakfast together. That's why we keep the bar chairs there, semi awkwardly. However, the next project on his mind is to make a stone patio with fire pit and buy a half-moon couch for outdoor seating. (Expensive!) We still have not painted the future baby room yet, which is currently serving as the dinky guest bedroom. I did not take any pictures of that room either. It is the smallest of the four bedrooms. Our bedroom is the biggest:

   Fun fact, in order to make this photo a tad more creative, I purposely waited until 10:31 (Halloween!) to take the picture.  Michael's bathroom is not decorated, but he does have a framed mirror, which looks nicer than how mirrors normally are. Below is the hallway area on the other side of the house (we like the split floor plan). My cousin Abby sent us the Harry Potter sign: Wizards Welcome, Muggles Tolerated. I told Michael that I would like him to by some little gold hooks to go under the sign so I can place my wand across it. A super special only-one-like-it wand that my dad made for me many years ago!

 This bathroom is hard to tell what color it is with the various lighting. It was a very light lavender color when we moved in (how the previous owners had it), then we bought a purple color that was too dark, even for Michael's taste. After after painting half of the room, we found this medium purple Serenade (?) color instead. I recently bought that cow/sheep/chicken hand towel since Michael didn't like it for the kitchen. But I had been eye-balling it for quite sometime.

 And finally, on to my scrapbook room!! My favorite room in the house, obviously, especially now that I organized it again and you can see the floor.

 This is supposed to be my "museum" wall. It is not turning out exactly how I have seen in other pictures of organized studios or polished along the wall up a flight of stairs. But it's pretty good for starting out. Maybe the goal is to have 20 pictures ready to hang up before beginning the project. I have been putting up little pieces here are there, including the water color map, below the picture of my autographed Emma Watson photo that Michael got me for my 25th (?) birthday.

 If you look closely, you will see three gold star stickers that I placed on the map after printing it out. Each one represents the "orphans" that we sponsor. (I always put orphans in quotes because they do have parents and families.) I first began sponsoring Mikaella in the Phillipines through Unbound in March 2012. She turned 14 in August. The most recent picture I have of her family is below. When we moved back to Orlando in July, I began sponsoring 11 year old Bashir in Uganda through Amazima Ministries (with the help of my friends Mia, Sharanya, and Lindsey for the first few months while Michael and I started working again). Our most recent sponsored child is Jose in Guatemala, who I began sponsoring in September of last year, also through Unbound, two days before his 7th birthday. So he just turned eight.

  So those are the beautiful updates on our house! Michael is still working on the main attraction for our front yard: a dead pirate to hang from one of the trees. The skeleton is all done to look like a decomposing corpse fresh off the set of Bones, but he has to rip up the outfit we got from Good Will and dress him up. Of course I will also post pictures of that when it is all done. He says he might be able to put it up tonight.