I have a terrific pair of Pottery Barn lanterns that my sister-in-law gifted me a few years ago, and they usually live on the dining room table or on my long dresser. They have been filled with shells and sand we’ve collected on family beach trips.

Since we are transitioning to fall decor, it is time to replace the summery beach treasures with something a little more autumnal.

I had a bag of vase-filler-type autumn stuff that I’d bought a few years ago, but while almost everything in the collection is natural and real, the acorns were plastic. It just felt wrong! So when we were at a friend’s house for a cookout a couple of weeks ago, I was happy that the boys were eager to collect tons of acorns. We brought them home in a red party cup, and I poured them into a glass dish placed in my china cabinet… to come back to when I had time to revisit the matter…

Working with what I had on hand, I put a pumpkin spice pillar candle in each lantern, then started adding my natural fall filler and the acorns the boys had collected (picking out the plastic acorns as I went and setting them aside). As I continued to scoop and fill, our five-year-old walked over and said something like, “there are worms moving in there!”

MUCH to my horror, there were little grub worms all in the bottom of the glass dish.

I die.

acorn grub image courtesy of http://www.chitown-angler.com

You’ll just have to take my word for it and use the image above as a reference.

There would be a personal photo of this discovery, but I’m afraid I was busy having a massive coronary heart attack. And trying to convince myself that my home is not now infested with grubs. And mopping and washing everything that came into contact with this decorating switch-up gone wrong.

And… well, I stopped just short of sticking my hand in a vat of acid to kill any residual potential grubbiness.

Ahem, but I digress.

Once I detoxed, mopped, and performed an exorcism, we continued on.

{Incidentally, I’ve felt itchy now all afternoon… Not a real itchy, but the kind of irrational I-know-the-grubs-are-crawling-in-my-hair itchy.}

Good times at CampClem.

I hope your fall decorating attempts are less eventful than mine, friends.

So, how are you changing up your accessories for fall? And are you managing to do it without any unplanned science experiments??

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