Celebrate Imperfection

We Remember....

2010-05-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today, we remember those who fought to uphold our freedoms and gave the ultimate gift so we can live in a great country. I am grateful to them and their families for such a sacrifice and also to those who continue to fight so we can be free. God bless each one. Our flag waving on this Memorial Day is a Colonial flag to remind us of the struggles and triumphs of those who have gone before us. Our history tells us of the lives and ideals of our founding fathers and helps us remember what we are capable of achieving as one nation under God. May God bless America!

The Hills Are Alive.....

2010-05-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Spring flowers are appearing in the hills and meadows. I love the flowers of spring. I love flowers, period. A bouquet on my kitchen table brightens my day. After dreary winter days, new green leaves on the trees and budding flowers in the garden are welcome sights. I was feeling a little low one cloudy spring day and couldn't wait for my garden flowers to get big enough to cut so I bought myself a little bouquet. They lifted my spirits immediately. My husband is too practical to buy cut flowers because they " just die and it is a waste. " "If I could just get him to understand how uplifting and happy flowers make me feel", I told a friend one day. Well, she must have gotten him to understand because today he came in from a hike in the hills and pulled this little clump of flowers from his pocket. Amazingly they looked perfect. "They didn't have any stems," he said, "they were just sitting on the ground." It doesn't matter that they don't have stems, they are beautiful. They can't go in a vase since they don't have stems but they go perfect in a saucer. They are sweet and so is my husband.
It's all I have to bring today, This and my heart beside,
This, and my heart, and all the fields, and all the meadows wide.
Emily Dickinson

Crashed Computer

2010-02-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

This is just to notify my blogging followers that I will be temporarily out of commission with my blog until my computer gets fixed. The hard drive is corrupted, whatever that means. I hate to have a corrupt anything but that's where it is right now. Just when I was getting the hang of blogging. Maybe I hit a wrong key and corrupted it myself. At any rate I will try to follow all of you as I have access to a computer and hope to be able to get back to blogging soon.. I will miss you.

The Tale of Two Cookbooks

2010-01-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

Forty-five years ago, some dear soul, I'm not sure who, gave us a Better Homes and Garden cookbook for a wedding present. It was a Godsend because I had no idea how to cook. My mother, bless her heart, taught me everything but that. It wasn't because she wasn't a good cook, she just didn't want me messing up her kitchen. SOooo...I depended completely on my brand spankin' new Better Homes and Garden cookbook to help me prepare every meal. Who knows what my new husband would have had to eat, those first few years of our marriage, had it not been for that thoughtful wedding gift. In that book, I found some honest to goodness recipes and followed them to the letter, over and over, day after day, year after year. As the years went by, other cookbooks and recipes came and went, but there were still the BH&G old time favorites that remained at the forefront of my menus. As the cookbook became tattered and torn from years of much use, some of those recipes became faded and splotched so that they were unable to read,(I did memorize a few ) others totally disappeared as they tore loose from the binder that held them together. Not only pages but the front and back covers were gone. See What I mean?

So when I saw a vintage 1965 BH&G cookbook, just like mine on E-Bay, I knew I had to have it. I asked my son, who is experienced at E-Bay auctions to bid on it for me, he did and he won the bid. THE COOKBOOK WAS MINE!

When it arrived in the mail, I was so excited. It was like being reacquainted with an old friend.

I immediately reintroduced the old stand-bys into my daily meal planning It is so nice now to look up a recipe in the index and know that the page it's on will be there.

But somehow I can't seem to part with the old cover less, food-splattered, page-missing cookbook that taught me all I know about cooking.

Beautiful Blogger Award

2010-01-24T18:53:00.000-08:00

I want to thank Warrior Princess for tagging me with the BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD. I am supposed to list 7 random things about me. In my last blog I listed 10 honest things about myself and since the 7 random things would be similar to those, I am going to refer my readers to the previous blog. You can pick any 7 random things from that list.

I appreciate all who follow me and am sorry I'm not more consistent in posting blogs. Hopefully I will become more proficient at this and post more blogs in the future. I have lots of ideas I want to share. Thank you all for your comments and encouraging words.

HONEST SCRAP

2010-01-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Over three months ago, Surrounded by Boys tagged me with the Honest Scrap Award, and I was thrilled, but I had no idea how to put the tag on my blog and I didn't have nine followers to tag so I put it on the back burner. I am so grateful to Charon for tagging me and even though I still don't have anyone to tag I am happy to finally fulfill my obligation and at least give ten honest scraps about me.

Because it took me so long to blog this, it is obvious that......
Number one, I am a procrastinator
2. I met my husband on a blind date, 46 years ago
3. I get bored easily, one reason why I like four seasons and why I change
things in my house so often. (I have kept the same husband)
4. I wish I weren't so hard headed, so I didn't have to learn some of the hard lessons in life over and over.
5. I like to paint with all mediums, right now I am learning Bob Ross' wet on wet technique in oils.
6. I loved to play with dolls as a little girl and still do.
7. I like simplicity but have a home full of STUFF.
8. I love to read, especially on a cold night, snuggled by the fire.
9. I am a cancer survivor.
10. I love life but am looking forward to heaven.

I am still having a hard time getting the hang of blogging and thinking maybe I should get another past time. Is there a book out about blogging for dummies?

Grand ,Glorious Sun

2009-12-28T17:37:00.003-08:00

After days of low pressure and dreary clouds,

we woke to a day of glorious sunshine

and trees arrayed in dazzling costumes

Christmas Memories

2009-12-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

Come on in and share some Christmas joy, from our house to yours

Sit a spell

My new fascination with cardboard houses

Time to eat

The stockings were hung...

Time to open presents

The princess is absorbed in one of her favorite presents, "The Dangerous Book for Boys".

Almost to tired to play with his new toys
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The reason we celebrate Christmas.....Hope you all had a good Christmas. I wish you a healthy and blessed year in 2010.

2009-11-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

THANKSGIVING IS OVER, THE LAST PUMPKIN PIE EATEN AND NOW IT IS TIME TO PUT AWAY THE FALL DECORATIONS AND THE PUMPKINS. I LOVE THE SPLENDOR AND UNIQUENESS OF EACH PUMPKIN THAT IS SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE.....

BUT NOW THEY MUST GO, TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE PINE CONES AND HOLLY

A BEAR IN A CHAIR WITH APUMPKIN

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PUMPKINS BY CANDLE LIGHT

TEA FOR TWO

A LONELY LITTLE PUMPKIN IN A.....CHAIR

The SPLENDOR of PUMPKINS

2009-11-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

NEXT WEEK PINECONES AND HOLLY

THAT'S A HOOT!

2009-11-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

JUST AS I WAS GETTING READY TO MAKE THESE OWL CUPCAKES, MY SON CAME IN WITH SOME PICTURES OF MR HOOT HIMSELF. HE CAUGHT HIM SITTING IN THE BIG ELM TREE IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE. MAYBE HE WANTED TO MAKE SURE I GOT IT RIGHT.
I DON'T THINK HE HAD A GOOD VIEW INTO MY KITCHEN....
BUT HE DOESN'T LOOK TOO HAPPY! BTW HE SAT IN THIS TREE ALL DAY.

CORN CHIPS AND COOKIE CRUMBS

2009-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today, my husband came in for lunch and grabbed his usual fare of corn chips and cookies, a handful of each in each hand. He then proceeded to make his way to the living room to watch football, leaving a trail of crumbs behind him. Without thinking, I did what any wife, who just cleaned the house would have done, started yelling. Then my poor husband did what any husband, who didn't want to hear his wife yelling, would do, he turned and went out the same way he came in----never to return---until he needed another handful of chips.

Tending the cottage

2009-09-25T20:23:00.001-07:00

Today, I cleaned house, and I mean cleaned. I washed windows, scrubbed floors, wiped down the woodwork, and 0iled the wood pieces. Every muscle in my body aches but it was worth it for the clean-house feeling I have.

I used almond scented Liquid Gold to oil the wood and it reminded me of the hand lotion my mother used to use. I always knew she was close by when I smelled that smell. So besides the good clean-house feeling, I also have the comfort-of-a-mother-close-by feeling. Nothing could be a better reward for cleaning house.

2009-09-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

Seasons

2009-09-21T11:43:00.001-07:00

The other day on my way to the mailbox, a little glistening up in the big pine tree caught my eye. On a closer look, I realized it was an abandoned bird's nest. This beautifully designed nest perfectly housed a little robin family in the spring. I remembered I had watched an adult robin sit patiently on that nest through hot, cold, windy and calm days. Then after what seemed like forever, tiny heads popped up over the top of the nest and chirped loudly until their mother appeared with breakfast in her beak. In a couple of days the babies had left their nest and were hopping around the yard behind their parents, still being fed, learning how to pluck a worm from the dirt or grab a bug from a blade of grass. Then all of a sudden they were gone. As fall is fast approaching, many of the birds that entertained us all summer have gone to warmer climates. I really don't know where robins go in the winter but I know they'll be back. And what joy and excitement we experience when we see the first robin of spring.
So as the seasons change, now from summer to fall, I'm not abandoning my nest, (not that I wouldn't like to go to a warmer climate) just changing the decor of it. The summer flowers and birds' nests have been replaced with fall flowers, leaves,and pumpkins. The crisp fall air signals that we will soon be reading by the fire, making soup and putting an extra quilt on the bed. Before we know it we will be getting ready for winter...and then spring, when the robins will be back.
So go the seasons of life.

English garden

2009-08-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

My english garden...

at the beginning of summer

Welcome

2009-08-17T22:28:00.000-07:00

A home is not just a place to get in out of the rain, it is an extension of who we are. An intriquing combination of whimsy and romance, with a generous dose of peculiarity, a work in progress, ever changing. Decorating my home is how I like to express my creative side, but the real and true process of creating a home is with the unpredictable and the unspoken, in the stories, the memories and love that fills each room. There is no such thing as a perfectly designed room. Rooms that are truly lived in are part of our hearts and souls----collages of our lives.