Style Scouting, Favorite Things & More

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was enjoyable, even if it wasn’t quite how you celebrated in previous years.

After Ed and I got Covid tested, my older daughter, Kelly and her husband did also. When their tests came back negative, they came to spend the past week with us. Which meant my granddaughter, Zoe was here and I got lots of Mimi time. :-)

Cookie baking with daughter and granddaughter

I enjoyed every minute of having the house come to life with family around.

After they left yesterday, I got the house back in order as much as I could to ready it for the Christmas Holiday House Tour I am part of this week.

I had to leave the piles of sheets, towels, and clothes piled up in the upstairs hallway though until Tuesday since last Tuesday our washing machine decided to stop working. Great timing, right? Being a holiday week, the earliest the repair service could get here was a week!

I realize just how much I take having a washing machine for granted. When it finally gets repaired, I will be so happy and never take a modern appliance for granted again. :-)

Tuesday is also December 1st. A reminder to me to begin to take the time to relax and enjoy listening to Christmas music and the twinkling tree. I feel like if I don’t start enjoying it now – December will slip away. I don’t want that to happen. I want to experience all the comfort and joy of the season as long as I can. Do you feel the same?

It was pretty quiet on the blog this week being that it was Thanksgiving week and had I family staying with us, but I did share one post:

I also got one big blog-related project crossed off my to-do list and just in time. I created a new page on the blog called All Things Christmas.

It is where you can easily find everything I ever posted related to Christmas.

All my Christmas posts, projects and ideas can now be easily found by category – Christmas mantels, trees, garlands, gift-wrapping, table settings and more instead of all just being lumped under Christmas where readers would have to page through all of it to find something specific.

You can find the new page here: All Things Christmas Posts, Projects & Ideas

I wasn’t online much this week, but did come across a few items that inspired me.

These stars are easy to make and can make a big impact when decorating for Christmas.

Gift-tags you don’t throw away.

Creative ideas you can do with your wall calendar when you switch it out with a new one on January 1st.

I enjoy baking Christmas cookies to give to my friends and family and just ordered this new book entitled, Christmas Baking.

On the Netflix scene…

  • I was so happy to find that Season 2 of Virgin River is on. Have you watched it? So good!
  • If you liked and watched The Queen’s Gambit – here is a list of positive takeaways from the series – I especially like #2 and #4.

The online world is all about gift guides this time of year. I love new things as much as anybody and thought I would share a few of my favorite things with you that are helping me to stay cozy at home.

  1. Warm and fuzzy slipper socks are always on my feet. These have a sherpa lining inside – so soft and warm.
  2. Stemless wine glasses are my norm. I have both glass and plastic. I like them because they can’t be easily knocked over, fit in the dishwasher better and I love their casual elegance.
  3. This little house mug is so cute. I like that the lid keeps your hot beverage warm. It also comes with a red or blue roof.
  4. I moved two of these faux fur pillows (similar – I got mine at HomeGoods for a lot less) from one of my guests rooms to the living room to cozy it up for the winter months.
  5. I have a large 8 quart soup pot, but this smaller 5 quart works better when making a smaller quantity of soups or stews.
  6. Silicon mats for baking are the best. No stick, easy clean up and reusable. I use them for everything that goes on a tray in the oven.
  7. This Boos Block Cutting board has been a life changer for me and has helped me to lose 37 pounds over the last few years. (If you would like to know more about this, I am more than happy to share what I have been doing.) The board is heavy and stays in place when cutting on it. It has become a fixture on my kitchen island cart so it is readily available and easy to cut veggies all day long that I need to make healthy plant-based meals.

That’s a wrap for this week.

Coming up this week…On Tuesday, one of the easiest Christmas decorating projects I have ever done and then on Thursday I will be sharing my Christmas Home Tour.

Enjoy today and the week ahead.

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11 Comments

  1. Very nice website. Warm and inviting. I look forward to putting some of your ideas to practice. Thank you.

  2. Kevin Anchukaitis says:

    Thank you for the inspiring article. Please keep the great ideas coming!

  3. Yes, please, to your weight loss info. And I loved thee rest of the post too!
    Your granddaughter is adorable!

  4. Hi Diane!

    We had a quite Thanksgiving! Just my husband and I. We are doing well but didn’t feel comfortable yet getting together. I’m so hoping we’ll be able to get together to celebrate Christmas.

    You’re granddaughter is adorable ! We have a 2 year old grandson. The first and only one so far. He is the love of our lives! They live about 15 minutes away but because of the pandemic we haven’t been able to see him as much as I’d like.

    I can’t wait to see your Christmas Holiday House Tour! Will we be able to see it here?

  5. Home Arise says:

    Great post! Thank you!

  6. I would also love to know how a cutting board helped you loose weight. This is a subject I think all your readers would enjoy. Thanks for a unique blog.

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Hi Nancy – Thanks for letting me know. I will get a post written for the end of December. It will be a good time with Jan 1st not too far away. If it is popular, maybe I will make it a series of posts. Thanks for reading.

  7. I love the All Christmas page! I pinned it.
    I am curious as to how a cutting board helped you lose weight. Inquiring minds want to know!
    Thanks for all of your ideas.

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Hi Naomi –

      Thanks. The page is something I have been wanting to do for a while. So happy to have gotten it done. Now I just need to fix the smaller images in the categories that show up. Always something. :-) thanks for pinning! I really appreciate it! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

  8. So excited to view your new “All Things Christmas” section. I made your Christmas stars filled with money for my grands last year. They loved it! And also had the simple green tree with snowflakes cut out of doilies. It was my favorite! There something so beautiful about simplicity.

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Hi Kathleen – I love hearing that you made the ornaments. :-) Thanks for telling me. The stars are my favorite. I can’t wait to make a few for my granddaughter. She may be too little to understand the concept this year, but when she gets older, I plan to make one each year for her to find on the tree.