A Happy Halloween and a Very Big Giveaway

This post is an Oreck sponsored post. I was provided the Oreck Magnesium RS Power Team to review and one set to share in a #PROJECTdecor contest held on Instagram, but all writing, ideas and opinions are mine. Thankfully,I love a super clean home and Oreck is all about that! See Oreck for more details on their vacuum cleaners, like them on Facebook for their great Tuesday cleaning tips, or see all their inspiration on Pinterest.

Yesterday evening our house was full of friends we love, too many sweets and simmering crockpots while blasting music poured out of our open patio doors and swept up the street as an impromptu dance party took the temperature, and the volume, up a few more notches.

It was a holiday, and in the eyes of this holiday loving mama, it was good.

To me, the preparation for any kind of food and friend filled occasion is as much a ritual as the actual party is just the icing on a cake of a good festivity. Planning is fun. Carving the pumpkins is a party in itself and saving the seeds to bake is an exciting ordeal. Shopping for the right kind of caramels for the caramel apple station and spray painting a dead tree limb black before covering in fake spider webbing to hang over our kitchen counters, well, that's just fun too.


And the cleaning? What can I say... it's needed. The process usually begins the day before and spreads itself like melting butter into the crevices of free time until the moment the party doors swing open.

By far, vacuuming has always been my favorite part of cleaning... and it happens somewhere around our house almost once a day. And now with my lightweight Oreck, I look forward to making those pretty little straight lines across my carpet, especially since it actually looks cleaner than it has in a long time. There's a lot of vacuuming power packed into this lightweight vacuum.

Here I am as Katniss Everdeen prepping my rugs for the party. 


Another bonus is this easy-to-use QuickSwitch in the handle that allows me to turn it on and off and change power levels quickly as I move from carpet to bare floors. 

With the SlimSwive design of the Magnesium RS, I can easily maneuver around furniture and it lies virtually flat to get under couches and beds.

I found that the thing I missed the most (really the only thing) about my last vacuum was the fact I could pull out a handheld attachment at any moment, even though that one clogged all the time. Oreck solved this by offering the Power Team, and now I have a powerful handheld with a HEPA filter that may daughter even likes to use, and looks for ways to help. Car rugs? Cleaned. Sliding door tracks? Vacuumed out.



With the house cleaned, the table set and the scent of Autumn breezing through our house, we were ready to welcome guests. Party doors opened.

Make-your-own caramel apple station. Baked pumpkin seeds: clean and lay flat on baking sheet. Add salt and bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes.
The "man-down" scene as trick-or-treaters walked up to the house. Luckily we didn't leave any man down on our way through the neighborhood... Aliyah running up ahead with her friends, not needing a mama hand to hold and Brayden trailing behind with me, trading hand holding for running to catch up while grabbing his little clock and saying, "Mom, my clock says I'm too late, Mom!" and back to hand holding again in our place at the back of the pack. His little legs just weren't as fast as the others.

Our holiday was grand. The weather is cooling. We're making fires in the fireplace and settling into Fall and the rest of the holiday season that is upon us.

And for now? I'm off to kiss my kids and get in a couple more cuddles before I'm scheduled to be on a plane tonight... and right now there are loads of laundry waiting for me and a suitcase that needs to be packed.


PS. If you haven't entered yourself in the random drawing that's about to happen for that second Oreck Power Team, then get on Instagram and share a few pics of your favorite space in your home or a DIY project you love. Tag the pics with #PROJECTdecor! We'll be announcing the winner soon!