New Year's Eve

My sequined shawl looks like it belongs

I know it's the wrong time of year!

I couldn't help myself when these came in the mail

Aren't these snowflake glasses pretty?

You know when you get something new, you have to "play"!  I knew I didn't want to pull out Christmas stuff, so I went the next best thing~~

Happy New Year!!

Rhinestone bangles

I even pulled out some vintage rhinestones to add a touch of "glam"

 

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Roses in the glasses add just the right touch!I

Ooops, where is the bottle of bubbly?

Well let's remember it is only August!!

 

Meet me at:Between Naps On The Front Porch

 

for Tablescape Thursday!!

My Pink Zebra Mugs

You gotta love these cool mugs right?  What's not to love?  They are pink and black and to top it off, they are zebra print!  Well I had to make a tablescape, duh!

Black antique dinner plates that are not marked.  A steal off of ebay for $12 for a set of 8 YAY! (they have soft ivory centers.)  Rose Fiesta-like stoneware salad plates and black bowls from Big Lots.

I was tricked into buying "vintage" black polka dot glasses off of ebay and later found out they were from Target, rrrrgh! Some of the most unique flatware I have seen in sometime, another ebay score for 6 place settings for $ 15.....I about peed when I won the auction!  I believe it was free shipping too!

Aren't the mugs delicious?

My hubby does not think so!

Yep, salt and pepper...ebay! Right out of the art deco period.

Hungry?

Pink Saturday
Link up to the blog party over at
How Sweet The Sound!!

He Is Coming Home!

I wanted to give you a sneak peak into a part of a little love story.  The love story is about my daughter Anika and her boyfriend Erik.

Anika and Erik met when she was a freshman and he was a senior.  At first she thought he was nothing special, really, she thought he was kinda goofy.  She met him at a local grocery store where he bagged groceries.  I was purchasing a little bear for her with the name of her new high school on it.  She was telling the cashier she was a new student in town and they spoke how awful the football team was and in came Erik's opinion about the "best cross country team ever"!  He does not recall this meeting at all, but that is how they met......she was not impressed!

Of course things change.  She joined that cross country team and he wormed his way into her heart.  In fact he touched her hand while she was dating another fella! She was just fourteen, he was 17 and that was a big red flag!!!  Needless to say, Dad wasn't happy.

Well let's just say it took some convincing, but they were allowed to "date" under some pretty strict guidelines.  Chaperoned and under constant surveillance from teachers and well meaning friends.  She wasn't allowed to car date, be alone etc and so on and this silly boy agreed to all of it!

He was head over heals and towed the line on every rule.  She loved the attention  of the mature guy and they got very close.

Well it got rocky, very rocky on occasions....they found ways to make it work.  In my living room.....talking and talking and talking.  His parents are pretty great too and although it's not always easy, I think we all want what is best for these two.

Longs story short (is it to late?)  He had planned to go into the Marines before she had even come along.  The closer it got to him leaving the harder it got for him to leave.  There was talk of him not leaving, but only very briefly because this was his big dream.

We as parents thought it might be better for them to just break up....but they would not hear of it!

Now he is 18 and she is 15 and it is almost a year that they have been together.  They have been apart for 3 months with only letters between them. 

In a very few days......he will be coming home.

So I thought I would share this video.

She was too young to go to the prom, so I made a prom in my back yard for the two of them to share some private time before he left for boot camp.  A professional photographer came and snapped some awesome pics and I made them into a video.

The last pics are of when they first started dating and then when he was realizing time was short and he was having to start saying goodbye to her.

I hope you can understand young love again and how tough it was for the both of them.

Remember that the boys and girls who go off to boot camp leave behind boys and girls to become Men and Women to serve are country and there are so many sacrifices both large and small.

She's 1!!

  Well her party was today......technically she won't be 1 for a couple days, but we celebrated today!

She was sooo pretty and happy, giggled and clapped, but no pictures please!  She's a modest little princess and we vowed to keep her identy a secret!  We don't want any little fellas showing up at her door just yet. ~giggle~

Thanks Mommy for letting me be part of this wonderful day, for letting my set up this delicate, "Faux Paris Party" for your princess.  She truly is an amazing little girl.

What was the best thing about this party? Well the birthday girl of course!  The second best thing?  I got to do it with my Wonderful Anika!!

Dealing with a germaphobic mommy is pretty wonderful too~~~since we understand each other so well! Yay, someone who actually washes and uses germX as much as me!!! She is also sweet, kind and generous. (Oh very funny, don't forget that!) Doesn't hurt either that her hubby will work his little butt off and doesn't get mad when I make him was his hands. (Yay,love it!)

OK, so there was a bunch of great stuff happening today.....but this mommy LOVES pink as much as I do!!! How cool is that?  I could use everything in any shade of pink I wanted....woooo hoo!  Does life get any better than that?  We even had pink lemonade, now tell me I haven't died and just gone to heaven ~Giggle~

Happy Pink Saturday

~~Wendy~~

Meet me over at

How Sweet The Sound

Pink Saturday

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party

Tablescape Thursday

Good News!!

Well today a very special thing happened in our family.  We got up early, (earlier than we would have had to being it was the first day of school) and went to town.  We met our lawyer and then headed to the courthouse.

With the strike of Judge Wilson's pen......Anika Hope got the use of her name legally! 

This might not seem like a big deal to some, but it is, a big deal to us.

She is not our child by blood and we have only had her in out home for a little over a year, but she wants to be "ours" so bad and this is a step in the right direction.

I wish I could go into greater detail, but you know some matters have to be private for such BIG reasons.  To put them on a public blog for the whole world to see would only be displaying a part of her life .....I don't want to do that.

So, she got to walk into that high school today, with legal papers in her hand proclaiming...

"I am Anika Hope"  She was so proud and hubby and I  by her side were kinda proud too!

We have been "mom" and "dad" for a long time and she has been our daughter......but today was extra special because she signed into school like our "new born" with a name we gave her and she was excited to get.

:*~:*~:*~:*~::*~:*~:*!~:

Happy new Birthday to you!

Tablescape Thursday

Well my girl is going back to school and I am a little sad I have to tell ya! I don't think it will be as much fun creating tablescapes without her.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) will be her first official day as a sophmore.  It's going to be pretty quiet and lonesome around here for a few days....well until I get used to it.  My hubby is starting a new shift at work too, things are kinda "topsy turvy"! It will straighten out soon and we will find our rythm once again.  Until then Anika and I decided there was still time for one more last minute tablescape......

Okay first of all let me tell you how many sets of flatware we have, well we have PLENTY!~ (Anika do you want to count again?) Look what is on this table AGAIN!  Please people don't laugh at me, but it just seems to follow us where ever we go.  We tried soooo many sets of flatware today and it came back to this crazy JS again!  I swear I am going to hide it from myself so I can't use it for awhile, but it always like so nice. lol~

Sage green plates are from the Kmart botique along with those darn flatware pieces. (love the plates, have very little to say about the flatware other than they are pretty) Pink "Georgian" eggshell Homer Laughlin was an ebay score...very, very cheap because they only had the bowls left....hey, I have nottin against mix and matching!

Pink crinkle tumblers were a yard sale find and I nabbed the juice glasses too....$1 for the whole set. Stems? Good old Dollar Tree!!  Napkins were a clearance at Burke's outlet and as always....tablecloths from linentabloth.com.

My Apothecary jar (which I just adore) was also a yard sale find.  Later I found one at Hobby Lobby for a tidy sum and I paid $5!!  Oh we love filling her up with all kinds of stuff, but my favorite is tea or coffee cups.

After I look over these pics for awhile I decided I kinda sorta didn't like the little faux "baby breath" floral thingy arrangment.  I sent Anika outside to shoot a couple pictures without out it on the table.......I think I like the simple look of this better!

I don't know how many tablescape we will get in this coming fall, between school, cross country, 4-H etc....but we will try.  I know we will be very busy and I may have a limited amount of time in front of my computer.  I know a lot of you are moms of school age children too and I would like to hear how you fit it all in.  I only have the one teenage girl and sometimes she keeps me sooo busy I feel like I can see myself coming and going out the door......can't imagine 2 or 3 children running to different places!!

Oh I will have some of the best news tomarrow if everything goes as planned.  I hope you will join me to find out what it is!!

If you want to join the blog party for Tablescape Thursday? Just follow the link Below.

Between Naps On The Front Porch

Ooooh I have to share!

OOOH I just had to share this wonderful Idea! for no slip dish towels!!Fancy Frugal Life posted this wonderful little tidbit and now I want to pass it on too!

Besides you must check Lina's blog, it's quite :*~:*~:*~:*Amazing:*~:*~:*~

She makes these sound easy.....looks easy....so maybe it IS easy!

We will see, I am going to try a few and see what happens!

Thanks Lina for the easy directions, something even I can understand ~giggle~

~~Wendy

A TEST?

Well I have been thinking about this for awhile now and I have reached a silly conclusion.

What if I had a "get to know the blogger" kinda test and made it a little give-a-way?

Hmmmm, I would have to come up with some questions from the blog when I first sat down a few months back and post the test right here for you all to take!  Some easy questions that could be found right here on the blog, that would be fun right?

Okay I know there have been some Awesome give-a-ways here in blogland....what is the bestest gifts to get?  I mean everyone does like the same thing right?  I don't think so! So a car would really be out of the question, I mean we could never decide on what kind of car to give away!!  A trip? Nah, we would all fight over the destination....warm tropical or cool northern, it would never work!!!  So what does work?

Maybe a gift card?

But what kind of gift card Hmmmmm?

Then How do you make it fair?

Since some of my home town people are on the blog, do I disqualify them all in the name of fairness? (I don't want anyone to think I cheated when the winner is chosen) I know my family can't win!!!  (Sorry guys, that would be just wrong....so if I consider you family, you are voted OUT!).

So I put the "test" up for everyone, give you a week or two to look it over and email me the correct answers.  If your answers are correct I put you in the running for the gift card?  If your answers are wrong? You are discarded, but I will let you know and you may try again?  And then, from all the winning "tests" a lucky winner is drawn.......???

Okay, tell me what you think of this idea.  I feel like having a little fun and thought this would be exciting!!

Anika and I will come up with the questions and I will see what we can all come up with.

Please feel free to comment away on any ideas you may have!

I don't think I have officially introduced you to my grandchildren~  This is "Smooch" and Carrie!  I have yet to put a nickname on this grandbaby yet, it will come to me I know it will.  I am obsessed with nicknames for some odd reason......We could just call her perfect and leave it at that!   

Just wanna hug you guys!!!

Favorite Things

In one little corner of my living room I have this little vignette.  It consisits of everything I find "foo~foo~licious"

Wooden candlesticks painted creamy pink dripping with faux pearls, organza roses and pink curling ribbon.  (I adore curling ribbon, you will see it in a lot of my tablescapes)

A vintage pink thumbprint footed glass, (which I have no clue of the pattern, darn it) inside tucked vintage tatted items such as a doiley and a embroidered handkerchief.  Another lovely  rose covered hanky tucked behind the other treasures.

My large iron candleabra in the background, painted creamy white adorned with pink tulle. This was a .99 cent ebay buy (few years ago of course) and I had to pay a whole $6.00 to ship it!

What happened to those days huh?

I was going to skip this Pink Saturday, but after going through some of the posts.......I had to jump right in!  Some very beautiful pinks this week

so JOIN ME HERE...

PINK SATURDAY Blog Party

Getting ready for the fair!

We have been hanging

 out at the Fairgrounds before the actual fair starts up this coming week. 

It was sooo much fun today watching the judges as they tried all the baked  goods!  Some of the faces were priceless, some were comical and some I just cannot show, but it made me laugh.

I wish I could show you more, but I don't wanna hurt any feelings.

Wanted to share some of the beautiful quilts with you too:

Well you know what we have been up to.

Anika and I have our interests and our hobbies and she has her extra fun stuff she likes keeping up with.....4-H is one of those things.  So You can usually find me donating my  time right along side of her for the most part and generally it is a lot of fun!!!  Today was pretty great because it was all in the expo hall which has an awesome air conditioner!  Some 4-H events?  We are not so lucky.

I will meet you at the blog party!!

Seasonal Sunday~The Tablescaper

Playing Catch up with Ketchup

What a busy day!  There was so much to do.  I had prescriptions to call in......OK, raise your hand if you have a mail order pharmacy and want to scream every time you need a refill?  I am the only one?  Sniff sniff sniff.......Then you don't understand? I am crushed because it's a unique experience and I needed a shoulder to cry on!

Then I had to Call the docotor's office to make two appointments cuz dearest hubby slept through his lab work appointment, yep his appointment with the nice lady who makes bruises on his arm and can't find a vein anywhere.  Well it wasn't soooo bad, so I won't complain about that one.

It's really not fair now that I have a blog and some of the town knows it.....I can't complain too much or word can get back.  I could get into BIG trouble.

The library was great, but were out of the book Anika needed for her summer reading project.  The kids who have the book checked out?  Don't think they need to return them for others to read I guess....Can you tell at this point my day wasn't going all that well? 

I  needed to go to the post office and pick up a parcel that the mailman was supposed to deliver. I guess he decided it was more convenient for me to drive into town to get it.

My checkbook, out of checks.  I didn't order any either, suppose I thought I didn't need them? 

The list is endless of today's ups and downs, actually it's been a week of ups and downs.  I wanted to pull the car over and cry, but instead I pulled into......

A couple of thrift stores!

Well I saw a wonderful post about vintage brass candlesticks this week, but I cannot remember where, (I will and update this post) They were so very inticate and I loved them so that when I saw this.....I had to have it!!

Okay, now I remember it was at Fabby's Living
where I fell in love with the awesome candlesticks!!
You will have to check them out!!  candlesticks
Of course no brass polish was to be found (that would be TOO EASY right?) but then the light bulb went off.  Ketchup!!  Yep, years ago someone told me to use ketchup to polish my brass.  I never tried it, I always had "Brasso" around, but it works.  Okay it's not as great, but it got my new treasure shiny enough for my wedgwood plate to make a statement!

Whew, How was your day?

Anika's room

She's ready for school to start, so she is "nesting" I guess.  She starting earlier today and she has been cleaning all day.  Going through drawers and the closet, picking through clothes and shoes.  I saw a trash bag get filled up and head to the trunk of my car, clothes I hope!  She has enough for a couple of girls her age!  People always comment she never wears the same outfit or dress twice, they just don't know that we are very good shoppers and know how to mix and match very well! 
She is not allowed to wear t-shirts to school (go ahead and shoot me now!!) last year I let her wear one the last day of school and I even let her wear tennis shoes!! I just think she is a young lady and needs to have a little "sass and class" about  her.....hey, she doesn't complain much as long as mom and dad are keeping the the clothes coming!!  Don't feel sorry for the princess, she really doesn't mind!
Well since all the cleaning was going on I figured I'd take this chance to take some shots of her room......won't be long before it looks like a bomb went off in there again!

Yep that's a little marine bear

Her favorite color is purple, but knowing my whole house is pink.......well come on! She LOVED all the Paris themed stuff at "Hobby Lobby" so we ran with it!  

AAAAaa you see the "B" on the wall?  That would stand for "Barbie" ummm that's her knickname, her dad calls her Barbie all the time!  We run on knicknames around here, maybe I will tell you what they all are some day!

Yeah, my camera really stinks!  Or maybe it's the person taking the pics?

I noticed at one time today I was taking shots in Macro.

This is her Motto!  Although we have never had to wait on her to be ready, it sure can take her a LOOOONG time.  She has waken up 2 hours before school to "do her thing"!

We used to tuck her in every single night, yep she is 15!  We had to give this nighttime routine up though cuz she would talk and talk and talk and talk and talk.........and talk......then she would get up cuz she forgot something and we would have to start the process all over again!

(Nobody reads this blog honey, it will be ok shhhhh)

If you look close you can see her boyfriend in the background.

He is a great young man and we can't wait to see him again!

This looks a little more like a teenager huh?

Her waiting on her man mirror.

Counting down the days till Erik gets hom from boot camp.

Young love.....he is a good boy from an awesome family that we couldn't be more proud of.  We gave him the knickname "Foo", We all miss him soooo very much, but not as much as her.  He must adore the ground she walks on too for he has put up with all the rules of dating a girl who can never car date or go anywhere unchaperoned.

Well how did you like our little tour.....Yep, I need a new camera or a better photographer!

~~Wendy