Oh, it doesn't take much to get the spring fever going in me. It was an absolutely perfect day here in Middle Tennessee. Low 70s, slight breeze. Mmmmmwaaaa! Loved it. I even moved the fish around to enjoy the beautiful rays coming through the windows. Yes, I also cleaned out their bowls. Poor little guys. Hardly had enough water to swim in. I'm a terrible fish owner for the most part.
When I left this morning, I noticed the daffodils are peeking out from the soil, stretching to greet the sun with as much love as us. Yay. That is definitely a sign of spring just around the corner.
I came around back and threw open mom's door to her yard and let that lovely fresh air through her apartment. It was lovely. Even she enjoyed it. While I was there, I took some snaps of her place with all the sun coming in. It's so pretty down there during the afternoon. So nice and cozy when the sun is shining through. (Why are there cafe curtains on the outside of the door you ask? Well, of course, it's because Frankie the dog sees deer and bunnies and Lord knows what else out there and starts barking which then wakes mom up at ungodly hours. This way, he can't see out! Brilliant, eh?)
Even though she had her PJs on already, I didn't say anything. That's ok. I'd like to wear my PJs all day on some days, ya know what I mean? This is her new wing back chair that seems to do the trick. No more falling asleep and falling out. If she does fall asleep, it cradles her. Sweet.
This is a little nook in the corner where she keeps her brother-in-law's old fishing hat, a vintage bulldog hot pad and an old angel I gave to her when I was young.
Her fridge is full of wonderful magnets from various places everyone has visited over the years and pictures of loved ones.
I had cubbies built on the sides of the fireplace in her living room so she could put all her photos out of the family. And that's just what we did. This is Jim's cubby, his daughter Madeleine when she was a baby and Jim's baby shoes. Jim is the one on the right, Johnny is on the left in the little photos.
This is dad's resting place. (I think if mom knew he was here, she'd throw him out--again! haha) His cowboy boots and belt mark it with his personality. I made these little praying hands in Bible School when I was very young. The photo of the young family in front of our house with snow is probably circa 1959, Mom, dad, Johnny and Jim. I wasn't born yet. Perhaps I was still cooking in mom's tummy when this was shot.
The kids in the hippie days! Oh my. Look at all of our hair! Johnny is in the middle, Jim and I are sitting down. I love this photo. Do you remember when scarves were in style in the 70s? UGly! teheh. That's me in the larger photo, probably when I was about 19 or 20. Jim is in the background looking especially proper. These are Johnny's little boots and his monkey too.
My oldest brother Joe's cubby (which happens to be Mary Jane's ex husband) has all kinds of pictures of their kids growing up. They are just adorable! And several shots of Joe and mom there too. The little Mexican sandals are Joe's. Aren't they precious?
And my family's cubby. The boys at various stages in their lives. Awwww. Me in various stages of my life too. Even one of me and the hub before we were married. Awwwwww. And those are my boots on the side there. The story is my Aunt Ollie bought me a pair of red ones but they didn't fit. So when my mom took them back, they only had black in my size. I preferred the red ones myself--as if I remember! ha.
The living room wall is full of our portraits growing up. The bottom right is the teenager when he was one. I wish I had chosen a different color than blue paper to have it drawn on. Looks kinda out of place, doesn't it? That's Jim and John in the double frame. And look at my profile when I was little. I had a double chin BACK THEN! YUCK. There was no chance for me I guess. Then Johnny in the other two. I need to find the other one of Jim somewhere packed away in mom's stuff.
And, of course, our beloved Capitol from the Grant Memorial where we all spent many hours taking photographs for a living. The teenager bought this for me the first year we moved. I was so homesick. It was a sweet thought.
When I went back out to lock up, the moon was already out trying to coax the sun to set. The sun would have nothing to do with it as our days are finally getting longer. That means mom is staying up longer. She may put her pajamas on at 4 in the afternoon, but she doesn't crawl into bed until after 5. I think her sleeping patterns are a little more regular when we have more daylight. When it's dark early, she thinks it's time to go to bed. So, I'm happy that we're getting more daylight these days.
And a PS. The hub and I are enjoying our little fun Valentine's note maker. I have it on the front door and he has been pasting a new note up each morning.
Oh SNAP! I keep forgetting to put this up. Snap from Tales from Twisty Lane gave me a sweet award--The Marie Antoinette, Real Woman, Real Award! Isn't that sweet? I can't chose seven out of you who deserve this award more than the other, so consider yourself a recipient. YAY! And thank you so much Snap for such a nice award.
Are ya'll getting ready for Valentine's Day? How can you not with so much of it already in our faces! I think I saw valentines coming out before the Christmas supplies were put away in the local stores. Geesh Louise!
It seems that Valentine's has almost come and gone. So here I am again, a little behind the clock. I hope you all had a wonderful day and all your loved ones treated you with all kinds of goodies.
My valentine was out of town but got home just a short while ago, roses in tow. I added them to my flowers of the month; and I have to admit, they look extremely lovely indeed. For real, tomorrow I am making my lasagna! Post Valentine's dinner, promise.
Mrs. Baking Challenged hit the kitchen today and made cupcakes.
I concentrated and worked really hard to make sure I did everything correctly. Again, I used that stupid big oven which I can't seem to regulate accurately. It throws me fits. After cooking them for 20 minutes, turning them at 10, they were still soupy on the inside; and so I cranked the convection oven on.
And no, they still didn't turn out quite as I had hoped. As usual, they came out looking "wonky," as Queen Vallen would say. But no fear, just cover them with lots of icing.
Even that came out looking rather silly. I tried my hand at piping the icing over the cupcakes in a swirl. They look a little primitive if you ask me. hehe.
I found a whole slew of new shops that opened up in Nashville before Christmas this week. Lord, I have really been out of the loop for way too long. I will NE-VER EV-ER do another remodel as long as I live. Not one that involved, anyway. I truly feel I lost a good six months of my life. As if! Anyhoo, I don't know how I heard about it, but I found out an Anthropologie opened in our little Nashville! This is one of my favorite catalogs; and I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I found there was a shop in Georgetown, (DC) a couple of years ago. But, I really wasn't too impressed with the local one here. DC had a lot more household items. Perhaps it's because the items are dispersed between all the clothing (all of which is way too small for this hefty body) and it just seems that way. Not to say that I didn't enjoy myself, of course I did! There were other shops that caught my fancy, of course. The above heart was in the Whole Foods Market window. First time in that store. DC was just getting them when we moved. Pout.
What about this little number for Valentine's Day? Hehe. Yea right. Not even in my younger days--well, perhaps then. I think I'm more up for the Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. Gawd, my brother Jim would die for this piece! Yep, this is more my speed. Just pack my things, darling, and whisk me away to places unknown. Yes, definately going for the trunk over the corset. This little paper mached dress caught my eye also. Actually, I'm not quite sure if it's paper mache at all. It was fun, just the same.
It was a nice outing. Before I could even get out of my car, there was a knock at my window. I opened the door and it was a gentleman with a video camera. Gawd. "I'm from channel 4 news and am wondering what you are doing for Valentine's Day." Gee whiz (which is exactly what I said), "Isn't that like a couple of weeks away? At least a week, now that I think of it. Still, a pretty long time!" I'm sure I looked like a deer in the headlights. Even so, he still wanted to "interview" me. "What are you planning for Valentine's Day?" "Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't given it much thought. I still have a week, don't I? I normally make something for my husband. Two years ago, I made him a scherenschnitte heart--intricate cutting involved in that one." I really didn't know if I should look at the camera or at him, so I did both. "And what do you want for Valentine's?" Hmmmmmm. "Well, I'm really not one for wanting gifts so I would just say lots of love and attention and having him at home--he travels a lot." The interviewer liked that, which is what he probably tells everyone once they're done. Of course, I never saw any of it because of the tornadoes and then yesterday, our cable was out! Just as well. He sure did have that camera up in my face! F-A-C-E! Lovely. (not)
Today, I found some pretty bulbs at the supermarket and of course had to have them. They are so cheerful. I think daffodils are one of my all-time-favorite spring flowers. I can't wait for the hyacinths to open. I love that smell. I am still enjoying the photos my little point-and-shoot Sony takes. What a difference in the close ups. Love them the most.
After yesterday's fasting, we were mighty hungry tonight. I found a beautiful beef roast and that's just what we had. It was delish.
And, before I forget, the kid found the baby in the King Cake. Check out where it was. It wasn't even baked into the cake. I think that's just not right! I made a mistake as to who found it last year. I thought it was the teenager; but he and his friend reminded me that it was indeed the friend. He tried again this year; but low and behold, it was the kid's turn. Ay-yeeeeee!
Thank Heaven for blogging buds. It must be close to Valentine's! I always enjoy receiving such pretty hand-made items from all my cyber friends.
Connie sent this lovely card to me. So pretty. (Does this mean I better get moving on making some?)
Guess Miss Diva has other things on her mind as she is just about ready to give birth! Ooooof! Of course, that didn't hinder my shopping though, as I said, I really needed some as this burst of frigid air in Tennessee is doing harm to my lovely milky skin (lol). Lordy, look at all I got! I have Magnolia & Jojoba (which I am preparing to use), Honeysuckle, Peace, Simply Soap, and Herbal Garden. The extra special person Peggy is, she even threw in a bar of Sandalwood for the boys and a bubble scrubber (she felt my skin's pain) and a soap caddy! Now, how's that for customer service! She has an Etsy shop here, if you're interested. And, yes, you should be. I swear by this soap. If you could smell the study right now, you'd be clicking on that link and ordering some.
Our postal service has run amuck lately. We don't get our mail until after 4 p.m. on most days, sometimes after 5! This past Saturday, we didn't even get any delivery. Of course, Monday was a holiday. You can imagine how full the box was yesterday.
Along with all the normal junk mail came two wonderful parcels from my buddies. From near, or kinda near--St. Louis-- came a sweet little package from Connie. It was a RAK (random act of kindness). For no reason at all, except she is so sweet, she hand made a little pillow scented with rose buds and adorned with a beautiful vintage pin. She didn't stop there, oh no. She then went on to make a lovely card for me. Is she just not the best? Thank you Connie. I put the pillow by my bed and it smells so good! We kept the door open to the deck and the breeze blew the fresh rose smell and lulled me to sleep last night. Sigh.
Then, from afar, came my swap packed that Ms. Robyn had set up. My partner was non-other than Mrs. Nesbitt. She sent scrumptious fabrics of roses and hearts, a beautiful hand-made card and lots of bits and bobs. Look at how sweet the pinks and reds are! Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt! I can't wait to get my artsy mo jo back and get to using these wonderful materials!
In going back to yesterday and the paint job, you know how I was having second thoughts on how light it was? Well guess what? It was. You couldn't even see the white trim molding I have everywhere. What's the point, right? So, I called the lady last night and she gave me a suggestion for another color that would look pretty. They had to put a second coat on today, so it all worked out fine. Phew! It looks lovely. It's the more yellow version above. You can see how white the other is now compared with the new color. Live and learn. I guess I was just so bent on getting rid of that ugly tan, I went a little too far. I'm going to really like this, I know.
Today is mommason's 83rd birthday. I was going to take her out to breakfast since I had to be out early this morning, but it was only 17˚ƒ. I don't want to risk her getting phnumonia. I did, however, pick up two birthday cakes for her while I was out. I was told about a new mom & pop bakery in Brentwood, so I headed over there and picked up this little vanilla number. It smells so good. Then I had second thoughts that it looked a little puny. (Don't want mamma to think I'm being stingy! hehe) So I ran down the
street to the big bakery, The Puffy Muffin, and picked up the strawberry one (the larger of the two). I think I have it all covered now. That along with my brother's February chocolate-of-the-month--heart shaped gelato truffles--should do the trick.
Today, I also picked up a sample of my new kitchen cabinetry. I'm doing a two-tone color in simple off whites. I think it's going to look gorgeous. I'm still deciding on my farm-house sink. I had chosen to do it in soapstone (the large piece on the bottom--not oiled); but I may be going another direction after having to choose the countertops. I'm not sure if I'm going dark or light there. All I know is, I want the feel of soapstone, no gloss on the stone at all. I prefer the more natural warmth of the matte stone counters. Decisions decisions. But, we are a step closer. Now comes the price of the cabinets. Now that I have agreed I like this look, the pricing comes next. Ka-ching. I don't want to know. And I certainly don't want the hub to know. Hmmmm. Wonder how I could manage that?
Yesterday, I met up with Beth. It was her birthday; and we met at an art store half way between us. They have these gorgeous hand-made Italian papers that we have fallen in love with. And, since they knew Bethy so well, they gave us half off! Way to go, gf! We settled in at Buck's (as in Starbucks) and chatted for hours. It is so refreshing to have a new friend that seems like a persone I have known forever. We just talked about everything under the sun and felt so comfortable. That sure is a rarity, and I am counting my blessings that blogging brought us together.
The hub came in with these sweet valentine presents last night. I told him not to get me anything; but the sweet hub he is, he bought me a book on love poems and a journal. So sweet.
Hope you all have your valentines signed and sealed with a kiss. Mine is ready to give to the hub in the morning. Shhhhh.
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