What I've Been Making

My granddaughter, her hubby and their girls are here visiting. Of course you know they're the cutest great grandgirls in th' world, right? ;-) But I've been busy just getting things ready for their arrival and departure. I've been de-stashing this house as you may know and a lot of it is going to their new home in Woodinville, Wa.

I've been collecting some Fancy Nancy books for Caroline. Also, I've pulled down from the plant ledge over my kitchen the little cute houses I collected for several years. They are really cutesy so the girls will get 4 each for their bedrooms. The little "C" below also goes to Caroline. Someone from a group I was in many years ago gave it to me and I've had it perched on the top of the archway going from our living room to our dining room. It's time to give it up also.

Then I decided I wanted a pillow for my new living room chair. You'll see it below. I have a lot of that drop cloth left over from other things I've done so I went with that for the pillow.

I have a back pillow for another living room chair but I didn't especially like it so I unzipped it and used the insides for the new pillow, not realizing that the pillow was feathers. When I opened up the covering, I noticed a color beneath the thick fabric and thought it was kapok or shredded foam. It was feathers so I knew I'd have feathers all over the sewing/craft room. I took out about 1/4 to 1/3 of them, sewed it back up and saved the extra feathers in a bag to use some other time. But drop cloths being a very loose weave I have to sew around all the edges to secure them from unraveling. When I finished stuffing the feathers in and was sewing the opening closed I noticed a few areas on the ruffle that could unravel at some point. I simply ran around the ruffle edge with a "sealing" decorative stitch. See the photo below where I show it up close and what it looks like.

These are all the little houses.

This is a closeup on the left.

And this is a closeup on the right. I think th' girls will love them. Caroline is at the age where she wants "glam" everywhere. Can you hear me squealing?! Yessss, I have a froufrou great granddaughter with curly BIG hair!!! I can hardly contain myself.

This is the chair the aforementioned pillow now resides on. I love the look.

A bit different shot.

I attached a pretty ribbon flower on it.

This is our last initial so it's appropriate.

Here is the decorative stitch I mentioned above.

Does it seem like I'm fixated on the laundry room right now? I love my laundry room and it is unique. Not large at all but very accommodating for the two of us. It's a walk-through room to our garage so you know what I mean. I made it pizzazzy!

This is my second all time favorite painting by Susan Rios. I love her art. I discovered it back in the 80s in California. I saw the lithograph in Martin Lawrence gallery in San Jose and immediately bought it. I think at that time it was $500 but well worth it to me. Another lithograph hangs in my living room and that is one of three of my all-time favorites of here. I have small paintings of hers on my living room wall also. They're prints on canvas actually, a very affordable way to have some of your favorites if you can't afford the originals. I can't! They go for tens of thousands of dollars. That's not in my budget, trust me.

I adore these little Green Gate tins. I'd love to have them but I'm just not going to spend the money or shipping charges from Denmark.

Isn't this fireplace screen gorgeous? This mosaic artist has a good eye for detail. Gorgeous!

I love cute mugs but since we don't drink coffee it would be a waste to have too many. Hubby drinks a cup of hot chocolate every night; I drink one every once in a while.

Beautiful and colorful flowers.

No, this is not my bathroom, but it's definitely gorgeous and I'd love to have it.

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Linking up with Pink Saturday.  

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Trip To Washington

 On our recent trip over to Washington state to visit our granddaughter, her hubby and their two girls we had to drive 2 vehicles. We were delivering the sofa with the green and white ticking stripe slipcover I had in our family room to her. Their family room hide-a-bed was trashed by th' cats. So hopefully this one lasts longer. I'm running out of sofas!

Anyway, hubs drove his truck and I drove our Camry. We made it through a small part of Idaho, all of Oregon and just inside the Washington state line the tarp ripped. (Now, let me say here that if hubs had followed my advice on wrapping the sofa in a plastic drop cloth before putting on the heavy blue vinyl drop cloth we wouldn't have spent the better part of a day vacuuming and using a lint remover all over the sofa to get the teeny tiny bits blue stuff off.) Snicker, snicker!

Anyway, I was lead car keeping him in my rear view mirror at all times. We would have forgotten to do the same, trust me. When I didn't see him in my rear view mirror I called him on my cell and asked where he was. I was pulled over to the side when I did this. He told me what had happened and tied it again and then caught up with me. He took the lead for a while then.

Soon it started to rip completely off. We finally got to a WM store in Yakima, WA, and I went in and bought another tarp. He tied it even tighter and we made it to their home. Remember, it was raining and a bit of snow in the Blue Mountains so we had to have a cover for it. But let me tell you, that blue polypropylene is a bugger to get out of sofa fabric.

Then it became dark—foggy—as we came within about 50 miles of granddaughter's house. I turned on my lights but they didn't light up on my dashboard. I panicked, phoned hubs in back of me and told him to get in front and see if he could tell if they were on. He said, "They're faint, but on." I made him stay in front so I could see his tail lights. It gets pretty dark on the back woodsy roads of Washington when we got off the freeway. But the lights did come on just before we got there. I think it's a sensor in there that won't turn on until it gets to a certain degree of darkness but let me tell you I was panicking. I don't drive much at night at all so I wasn't really familiar with the lights. But I always fret when we travel. I like being home in my own house. But granddaughter and her family came over several weeks after that so we got to see them again.
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I just thought these pretty blues would delight you.

Though I didn't make this mosaic, I thought it beautiful enough to show you.

I have a pair of cowgirl boots broken in to where I love wearing them. They're slouchy now with a true cowboy heel, which is my favorite type of heel and I love them. I wear them with long dresses to church.

Another place to dream.

We all wish for a place to have inside for our gardening or snow days or just puttering, but few have one as nice as this.

Eye candy.

Yes! A beautiful pink house.

Fruit with flowers always makes a pretty table setting. I once used artichokes as a table setting.

A good way to keep your Popsicle when it's really hot out.

Cute wall sconce.

A place for gardening. Heck, I'd like it for my living room.

Wonder if it's all edible.

Little box covered with sea shells.

I loved the lace cover on this vintage table.

This looks like a showroom, but that bed is really stunning.

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Tidbit:
A Cinnabon study found that the scent of cinnamon causes mall shoppers to be more polite.
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More Memories Of San Diego

Just in case you've missed my Pinterest page, you might want to go there and see over 8,100 photos posted there, just click here. And also, I'm only posting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now on unless something extraordinary comes up. I'm leaving weekends free.
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Our granddaughter, her hubby and their 2 girls have been here for eleven days and we have loved having them here. Do I even need to say how tired this ol' lady is having 2 great-granddaughters in the house? One is 3 1/2 months old, one is almost 3 years old. Caroline is a pistol and keeps us hopping.

She also loves perfume!

When she saw the perfume she had to smell every single bottle. Her favorite is Cabriole, which is close to her name so we call it Caroline. She runs around with bottles in her hands most of the time. Hubs was afraid it would spill but I've tightened the caps and tried to retrieve them when she was loosing interest in them and put them back.

Then the other day I caught her in there. She had moved the chair in our bedroom over to my dresser and got up. A few days later, we went in there and she wanted to see the perfumes—on a wicker tray—and I told her she'd seen them enough. Well, that little chick got the little pink ladder I had sitting in my bedroom over to the dresser and climbed up it herself. I cannot believe her problem-solving skills! This will serve her well later in life. She's really, really smart, but we all think that of our progeny. Right? This kid is something else though. You tell her something and she does NOT forget. We've had to hide things from her because of that.

Then there was the melt-down at Michaels. She loves craft stores. But she cheated herself out of some craft items by melting down so we had to leave the basket of items behind while we took her home to bed. Then she saw Target and told her mummy to go to Target. We asked her why and she replied, "Just trust me. Go to Target, mummy." We didn't! 

They're leaving tomorrow so we're going out to Jack in the Box tonight for salads or whatever they want. I love those kids!
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We lived in a house on West Mountain View Drive in San Diego during the mid-1960s and loved it there. The family across the street was also a Marine family we knew. I introduced them to baked beans and they introduced me to...well, let me explain.

We were going to have a BBQ one weekend and I said I'd bring the baked beans. This family was Hawaiian so she said they'd bring teriyaki chicken. It was absolutely fantastic and that's how I make it to this day. Chicken marinated for hours in soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Then put it on the grill. That's it. Better than any bottled sauce ever.

She said her kids didn't like baked beans. I made them anyway thinking they can at least try them if they want. They did and loved them. I had to give her my recipe for baked beans then.

Then one day while my kids were playing with hers I sat and talked with her in the kitchen while she was making something for their dinner. As she prepared it, she gave me a piece to eat. It was fishy tuna fish with some vegetables and rice wrapped in seaweed. I gagged. Luckily, I had a napkin to wipe my face and surreptitiously wiped my mouth and discarded the food into the napkin. I thought it was horrible but I'd never say that to someone. I then excused myself to go home and throw it out. Quite embarrassing actually. I love fish but this was very fishy-tasting tuna. I can't stand it if it has a strong fish taste. That's why I'm not eager to taste something from someone's kitchen anymore. I just say no, thanks, I'm not hungry and let it go at that.

This couple had 4 kids and she became pregnant with her 5th. When I asked her what she was naming it, she said, "Zelda, because it's our last one." I thought she was kidding; she wasn't. ;-) Lovely family.
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Love this little living room. Just cozy enough for me.

One of the most darling wreaths I've ever seen created! Oh my.

One of my ideal patios to have.

Who makes these gorgeous cookies? Stunning bows, roses and flowers.

Sigh...

These can't be real cupcakes. How did they make the pearl centers?!

I'd consider this one of my favorite kitchen tables.

A darling handbag.

Frilly pink gloves.

Gypsy, BoHo or Magnolia Pearl? Beautiful!

Another adorable kitchen...for people who like to cook. Not me!

I've done a similar thing to my entry into the family room, but I'm thinking of doing it to the living room into the dining area now. It just needs something more.

Another gorgeous living room I love.

Just too cute for words.

I thought you'd like to see this picture frame. Isn't it cute and unique?

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It would take a jumbo jet about 120 million years to fly across the Milky Way galaxy.
~*~ 
Linking up with NMH Open House Party.

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A New Clothing Trend?

Sittin' around again just thinking. This is starting to become a habit. I probably need to spend more time doing something other than reading, which usually gets me thinking more than usual.

Anyway, I was searching the internet for beautiful gowns to post on my Pinterest. What in the world is the fashion industry doing to clothing?! I saw high-end clothing that was sheer enough to be almost invisible. Beautiful suits, dresses, gowns, blouses, etc. All showing the full glory of a woman's body. I could not believe it! No sane upscale woman would wear something like that and certainly no woman over the age of 35 without a boob job. And please pardon me for being so frank, but it's getting ridiculous. Okay, okay, maybe the Hollywood-types...no, wait a moment, they definitely would wear that type of clothing. But I just cannot see making clothing so sheer your underwear shows. And, yes, that is the case in a lot of those designs. No professional business woman would wear what the designers are coming out with today. I think they're doing it to shock women. No husband would want his wife wearing something like they're designing. I'm sorry but I'm not going to post any of those dresses, blouses or gowns on here. If you want to see some, you'll have to find them yourself.

Then—and this is the most bizarre thing—they're designing clothing for the head. Yes, they're making sure they're following the politically correct designs for the countries that want their women's heads covered. Some look like anyone wearing it would be smothering. Is this what designers really think women want? Are they catering to some other country's idea of what women should wear? Puhhhleeeze, cut this out; it's disgusting. Some of the "headwear" even had the look of an iron mask. Some were so disgusting to even be mentioned here. What is this world coming to? Enough!
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Another mosaic I made. I loooove eye candy, don't you?

Cute entry way.

Gauze curtains surrounding a patio area.

Pale green and pink roses.

This looks like a delightful store!

Pretty packaged gifts.

Another pretty living room.

Chocolate dipped Rice Krispie bars. Yuuuummmm...

Bejeweled fabric.

Prettily painted chest of drawers.

A dining room in an attic. How lovely and clever.

Beautiful dining area.

Cute idea.

Just flowers.

Lovely wicker basket packed with pretties.

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Tidbits:
English-speaking kids read more novels and fewer comics than kids of other language groups.
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