Extra Sprinkles

Have I Been Gone That Long?

2009-06-09T13:06:00.004-05:00

Well, ladies, once again I got sucked into the vortex of real life and have been missing all of you very much. I still owe Linda Jo her birthday prezzy, since May 19 was her birthday and I still have not mailed it. sigh. What happened? Nothing incredibly exciting, just working.

School is out now and both girls are home and working. Grandma is doing better and the doctor took her off of most of her meds now. When we got her home with us last June she was taking about 15 different medications. Now she is taking 3. The doctor who was treating her in Florida has lost his medical license. I was not surprised to hear that news. I can't bear to think about what might have happened had we not gotten her away from him. No one has to tell me why our Medicare system is broken. I know why it is broken. Doctors like him who made little old ladies take blood transfusions they don't need and put them in the hospital 15 times in 3 years when they didn't need to be hospitalized.

I wish I had a photo to post for you but I don't. Or, maybe I do.

Ahhhhhhhh, now don't we all feel just a little bit better now?

I am in total NCIS withdrawal right now. I keep going to surfthechannel.com and watching all the episodes in sequential order over and over again. I'm so afflicted. What a silly thing at this age.

My peonies just bloomed. Life is good.

2009-03-13T21:20:00.002-05:00

I thought celebrity crushes ended somewhere around 17.
I guessed wrong.

2009-03-02T16:16:00.007-06:00

Ice Fishing, Anyone?

hint: Turn off the music on my slide show over on the left of the page so you can enjoy the "down home" tune I chose for this video.

Men will be boys and they are all 14.

I didn't see any women in any of these photos. Did you?

2009-02-26T00:17:00.004-06:00

So Much Has Happened Since Our Last Visit

May I please brag? Just a teensie weensie itsy bitsy bit? Please, oh please, oh pretty please?

(I am such a good whiner)

On Sunday, the day after my birthday and before the post two down that we will never mention again, my baby girl was inducted into the National Honor Society. I know, big deal, right? It is a big deal to me. I never made it into NHS, and, besides, it was the 70s and I was more into, well, other things. (I have pics that you will never see while I am alive but I think that the statute of limitations has run on most of that stuff)

I told my kids that they only had one goal in high school, well two goals actually. Goal #1: Chastity and Goal #2: National Honor Society because it is money in the bank when it comes time for scholarships to be handed out.

Laura is the last of my Mohicans and every single one of our kids got into NHS. Whew!

My work here is done. I can hang up my cattle prod once and for all. Now we can go and visit some colleges over the summer and see what she wants to do. Whatever it is, it will be expensive and I still owe her sister for, well, that thing we are not to mention.

Here are is just one pic from the ceremony. I know....it's about as exciting to read this as watching someone else's vacation slides or looking at pics of someone's new baby. Too bad. Look at it anyway.

2009-02-25T22:08:00.009-06:00

LOOK WHAT LINDA JO DID!!

When I got home from work last Friday there was a package waiting for me from Linda Jo. I wondered why she had asked me for my address. I thought maybe she was sending me an invite to come to Texas to enjoy some warmer weather. I opened the package and look what she made for me!!! Linda Jo, did I tell you it was my birthday?

She even found something that had my name on it!
It's difficult to see, but it's right below the pink rose in the left lower corner of the pic above.

And look at this sweet "Wish" ticket, the velvet leaves and velvet rosebud.

Linda, how did you know!!!!!

And the vintage ledger had the date February 21 on it.
Amazing.

Now, I am going to say this and I don't want to hear anyone go "poor baby" because
this gorgeous birthday card just totally made my birthday.

Linda Jo, this was the only birthday gift I received. I did get a card from Shabby Hubby and I got a card from a girlfriend. Your beautiful and thoughtful gesture meant more to me than any other gift I could have received. So the absence of gifts and cards was not felt because I just keep looking at this with such deep gratitude for your awesome thoughtfulness. It is the bestest, mostest special thing I think I have ever received.

Thank you so much! I could just hug you real hard!!!

I will admit that for my birthday, my girls and I did go to the 11 PM showing of "Taken". Gotta love that Liam Neeson. Good movie for you girls who love "quality kills". Ummmm, that would be me. ;)

"Full Metal Jacket"....one of my all time faves. I never have been a chick flick lover, in spite of my pinktabulous reputation. Unfortunately, I have raised two girls who love this type of movie as well.

Their first choice was to take me to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show but when they found out that I saw it in the 70s, that idea lost it's appeal. They wanted to shock me and have the other moviegoers tease me. When I started spouting off the lines from the movie, the songs and the audience participation lines, they decided that instead of them embarrassing me, I would end up embarrassing them.

I am very tardy in getting photos of this beauty posted so that you could all see Linda Jo's lovely work.

Thankfully Linda Jo's beautiful gift arrived BEFORE what happened in the post below.

After you look at the post below everyone say together "oh, bless your heart you poor thing".

You may now commence with your feeling sorry for me. It's not my fault that my daughter decided not to continue keeping collision coverage on her insurance.

2009-02-25T12:42:00.002-06:00

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!!!!

DID I MENTION THIS WAS MY DAUGHTER'S CAR?

Lends new meaning to the phrase "I should have just stayed in bed".

My fault.
Her car.
She is still crying.
Not repairable.
I got the ticket.
(cuss word)

You heard me. I said cuss word.

2009-02-12T22:10:00.003-06:00

YEAH, RIGHT......

I was happily, well maybe not so happily, working at my office today when I received a telephone call from college daughter. She called to tell me that she and her roommate had been thinking about something while eating in the dining hall. That is never a good thing. It usually means I am about to write a check.

Anyway, the two of them decided that since daughter is not getting any scheduled hours at Chili's and roomie only makes a few bucks a week working on campus that the two of them will now work for me.

Excuse me? Doing what?

Now, please excuse the language here, but I am going to quote these two "young ladies" in the exact verbage that they used when they called me. "Mom", Katie said, "We want to be your _itches." The missing letter is not a "w".

How do you respond to that? "My what?!!!!" She repeated the exact same words quoted above, omitted letter included in her statement.

Oh my. "Is that how I taught you to speak?"

I had to ask for a specific definition of what she was saying, or asking, I'm not sure which it was.

She informed me that she and Stacy would come to my office and do work for me and they would come to the house and clean it once a week and also help to start reorganizing the basement so that I could get back to my creating.

Sounds good, but when she started to explain what they wanted to do I started daydreaming about me walking down Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago without a care in the world, fur coat flying out behind me in the breeze (I do not own a fur coat) with these two idiots running behind me trying to keep pace with me as they are carrying all of my packages. I mean, isn't that what "_itches" do for their employers?

And where did that title come from anyway?

Back to reality. I don't shop on Michigan Avenue unless there is a sale so forget about that.

"Oh, so what's the catch?"

"You will pay us."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh" (I knew it would involve a redistribution of wealth). sigh.

"How much do I pay you?"

"Well, we need to have a sit-down."

At this point, blogpals, I am losing it. I am laughing so hard that I can't see and I couldn't catch my breath. I had to put the phone down and go to the bathroom or I was going to need to change my clothes. I was literally gasping for air.

So I gather my composure and asked when they would like to have this "sit down". OMG, I can barely keep myself under control while I am waiting for her answer.

"Well, Saturday is Valentine's Day and I might have a date. I have a big exam on Monday so I need to study all weekend, except Saturday of course. Maybe we could get together on Sunday and you could take us to lunch so we could have a break from studying." She went on to tell me that she and Stacy do not have classes on Tuesdays and they could work for me on Tuesdays.

"So you are going to input data into my Excel program and clean the house and do all the other things I need done and get it all done on Tuesdays?"

"No", she says, "When we don't have other things to do on the weekends, we can do work for you because Stacy has track meets on Fridays or Saturdays most weeks."

"I see. So you can only be my _itches at your convenience. I don't think that is very professional, as _itches go. What does it say in the Professional _itch manual?"

THIS IS MY 21 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER!!!!! Have a sit-down so I can buy these two knuckleheads lunch so they can tell me how much they want me to pay them to be my _itches when they feel like being my _itches?!

This is too hysterically funny not to follow through with the sit-down. I have to find out what they are really up to.

Personally, I think they want to go someplace for spring break (over my dead body) and they are trying to figure out how they are going to finance it (again, over my dead body).

Oh, I forgot to mention that Katie told me that part of her "pay" could be my paying her cell phone bill and car insurance (insert "over my dead body" here). Did I ever tell you how much Katie's cell phone bills can be? Her first one ever was $800. No, I haven't paid her cell phone bills in a long time.

So, if I have "_itches", have I finally arrived? Am I finally affluent?

Anyone want to start a pool to see how long this lasts? This is the child who lives in her on campus apartment but has a room here she can't keep clean.

Maybe I should have danced all night.....

2009-02-08T19:47:00.001-06:00

Thrifting was a Bust

Sorry, ladies, I have nothing to show for my day of thrifting. Maybe I am too thrifty.
Poor Tallulah remains without her frock.
The hunt continues.....

2009-02-07T00:20:00.003-06:00

OKAY, NEVER MIND

sigh......I guess I was the only one "back in the day" with Senior Cords. I don't have them anymore and my yearbooks are packed away. They were corduroy skirts for girls and slacks for guys. They were khaki or cream colored and you decorated them to show your school spirit. We wore them during Senior year to all of the sporting events and during special occasions. Sometimes we wore them to school.

Not only did we have Senior Cords in high school, we also had them in college. This must have been an Indiana thing, because I went to high school and college in Indiana. I went online and found a group of kids who have a blog from my alma mater, PURDUE!, wearing their "cords". I'm sure their cups are filled with pop (soda for those of you from out east).

I'm going to have to come up with another little challenge because it has been a long time since I gave anything away on this blog.

Tomorrow is a thrifting day. I still don't have proper attire for Tallulah. She is still naked as a jaybird with only a strand of pearls to keep her warm. Have I told you about Tallulah? If I find any great treasures tomorrow, I'll let you know. I decided not to go up to Lake Geneva tomorrow to see the finished snow sculptures. Thrifting sounds more fun to me right now.

2009-02-05T18:52:00.022-06:00

Isn't She Beautiful?!

My grown-up job took me to Wisconsin today and after I had finished I decided to drive home "the back way", through Lake Geneva. I am so glad I did! As I was coming around the curve to head into downtown Lake Geneva, just look at what greeted me.... A Snow Fairy!

I headed into town and found a place to park. During the summer months finding a parking spot in Lake Geneva is almost impossible. Today I had no trouble. I discovered that this weekend is the annual Lake Geneva Winterfest. I found a parking spot right at the edge of the lake, grabbed my camera and mittens and went for a walk.

I was delighted to discover about 20 snow sculptors busily creating their works of snow art. Lake Geneva is hosting the U.S. National Snow Sculpting Competition as part of this festival. Something tells me I am in for a road trip on Saturday so I can see the finished works.

There was even a team from Alaska

That's a long way to travel just to play with snow. They must be giving away a really nice prize. I don't know about you, but if I lived in Alaska and drove south, I might just keep going until I hit sun and sand instead of snow and ice.

Speaking of ice.........

Yes, that is Lake Geneva, (the lake, not the town) in the background.
There were no less than 10 cars out there driving around as I stood there waiting for the ice to crack and swallow one of them up. I know that people in Minnesota and other areas further north are used to seeing this, but even through I have lived around here for 30 years, I have never gotten used to seeing this.

I prefer driving on the beach at Daytona. I never want to be in my car and hear that unmistakable sound of ice cracking under my car and then experience a sudden "SPLASH!"

Back to the snow sculptures.....

One of the teams from Illinois created this darling fireplace, complete with the fake electric fire. They even accessorized the mantle.

Unfortunately I could not get warm standing next to this. It was in the teens there today.

For once in my life I am going to hope that the temps remain below freezing, at least through the weekend so these folks don't have to worry about their sculptures melting. It is supposed to be warming up tomorrow and maybe get to 50 by Saturday. Maybe now would be a good time for those fisherman and other crazy people to get those cars off the lake.

Until next time.......Stay Warm!

I'm Feeling a Little Nostalgic Tonight

2009-02-03T20:46:00.012-06:00

Sorry for the long post, blogpals, I can't help myself tonight.

First of all, I want to thank Nathalie Thompson for giving me the "Beautiful Blog" award. I checked out the other blogs that she gave the award to and I am humbled to be in such amazingly talented company. What a perk to my day this was! You must check out her blog. You absolutely must!

Okay, back to my melancholy, er, I meant to say nostalgia. sigh.

My baby girl is going to be 17 on Friday. That's Laura, aka "the baby" on the left. Friend on the right.

(insert very heavy sigh here) Where did the years go? I'm still trying to figure out how I got to be this age myself?

Me - First Grade - seems like only last week - love the bangs

You probably can't see it, but there are rhinestone centers in buttons of my blue velvet dress. I LOVED THIS DRESS! I guess I developed my love of everything sparkly and blingy at an early age.

As I was watching Laura work on her art project for school tonight I decided to go "surfing" on YouTube and see if I could find some of the things I remembered from "the olden days" as she refers to my youth. Maybe you remember some of these as well.

This is the first "big girl" doll I remember having. I had the blonde one.

Do You Remember These? I have taken to checking eBay to see if I can grab some Liddle Kiddles at a reasonable price. My sister had the Liddle Kiddle's house. :(

Not that anyone will watch the whole thing, but this little blue guy was my favorite cartoon character.

Do you remember Shindig? The world stood still when this show came on.

Hey, Linda Jo, are you out there?????

Slinky, Silly Putty, Old Maid, Dream Date (I usually ended up with the scruffy guy), The Game of Life, White Roller Skates with big pom poms on the front (pink, of course), wearing your best guy's ring and wrapping angora all around it so it fits and then you use a little toothbrush to keep the angora neat and tame. Princess phones, party lines, gas for less than 50 cents a gallon, a large Coke was 10 cents, a DQ Banana Split was 50 cents and Twinkies were 12 cents. A Cherry Coke and Twinkies was the most amazingly delicious combo.

Did you have a pair of Go-Go Boots? I did. They were white patent leather really shiny ones.

45's and record players you could carry around by the handle. Then there were 8-tracks (I owned Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road" album on 8-track). I got it in 8th grade. I was soooooooooo ahead-of-my-time groovy. LOL!

And, last but not least, do you remember "Senior Cords"? Do you even know what they were?

The first person to post a picture of him/her WEARING their Senior Cords will win a fabulous prize, of my choosing of course.

I hope this wasn't just a Midwestern thing, otherwise I am going to be sitting here all alone in the dark with a prize that has no place to go.

Linda Jo???????????????????

Was anyone else besides me a band geek? That topic will be on a much later post.

Much later.....
I have a horrid photo of me in my band uniform......with a shag haircut.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Brady.

POST NOTE: I ADDED THIS LAST VIDEO JUST FOR LINDA JO!!!!

The Snow Owl

2009-01-22T12:35:00.007-06:00

As I was driving home from the office earlier this week, I saw this snow sculpture in front of my favorite gelato place. It was too dark to take a pic at that time, although at night they have this lit up and it's beautiful.

This snow owl is a few days old now and it looks like it is starting to lean forward a bit, but there is still a lot of detail and I thought all of my bloggie friends might enjoy seeing it.

My First Chandelier

2009-01-15T14:50:00.005-06:00

Okay Linda and Nathalie, here it is. My first attempt at breathing some new life into a, dusty, beat up old brass chandelier. I picked this up at a garage sale early last summer and had grand intentions of bringing it back to life long before now. The first problem I encountered was the wiring. I started to try to do it myself and after learning a few new choice words that I will not repeat here, I took it into town and, for $25, my soul was saved because that's all it cost me to have it rewired.

When I got it home I had to figure out how I was going to paint it evenly all the way around with out setting it down. So I rigged up a harness to hang it on a broom handle across some sawhorses that I had put up on a table. Voila! It worked. They say necessity is the mother of invention. For me, desperately trying to get my garage cleared out again is the mother of invention for me. (If you look back at one of my posts from last spring you will see the before and after of my garage clear out. It's worse than before now.)

The woman who had owned the chandelier had most of the original crystals. It takes about 74 and she only had about 65 of them still in decent shape. So off I trotted to my favorite eBay crystal dude and I bought pink crystals and some pink crystal chain. I'm not thrilled about the gold tone on the metal parts, but it's all I could find with the pink. Some day I can find the silver tone metal parts and switch them out. Some day. (yeah, right)

Anyway, I got the old light down from over the kitchen table and hung this one in it's place. I love it. I am going to try my hand at dipping the bulps in silicone to see if I can figure out how to do that. If that doesn't work, I'm going to make some pretty beaded, frou-frou shades for the lights. It's a little naked with just the bare lights, so I will figure something out and show you the updated version in a later post. Probably much later....

Show and Tell Monday - Fairy Birdcage

2009-01-05T11:07:00.008-06:00

I have so many projects that I started and never completed before "it all began" last year. This birdcage was one of those projects. I picked this birdcage and stand up at an auction early last spring and it sat in my garage until sometime in July when I finally painted it. It was originally bright red. After several coats of white paint, I finally got the red covered.

And then it sat. And it sat. And it sat. You get the idea.

Over the weekend I stumbled across it in the garage while looking for something else that I had started and never finished. I stood there, staring at it, trying to remember what it was I was going to do with it. Aha! I remembered!

I dug around for a couple of silk floral vines that I had put someplace. Found them! Then I grabbed a string of Roxie's pink mini lights and arranged those in the bottom of the cage.

Now, I need a bird. Aha! Last year for my birthday my girls bought me two wonderful little birdies in teacups from Cathy. I hung one of my darling little teacup birdies where the little swing would have been, plugged it in and I love it.

You can't tell in the daylight pics, but the little pink lights add such a soft glow and it really is lovely. A couple of little fairies are hidden here and there, just for me. You can't see them in the photos. To cover the cord, I wrapped another floral vine around the stand.

Stay tuned. I just finished my first chandelier. Can't wait to show you!

Happy New Year (or I Hated 2008)

2008-12-31T08:42:00.002-06:00

Well, if anyone is still visiting me, it's a miracle indeed. I haven't been here in a long time and sweet Linda has been faithfully checking up on me. Thank you, Linda! Somebody does care!

I don't believe in astrology, but if I did, I would say the stars have definitely not been aligned in my favor. December turned out to be no better than September, October & November. Floods and illness and ice, oh my! As far as 2008 is concerned, I'd prefer to forget about it.

2009 HAS TO BE BETTER!

Whether you care to hear my sad tale of woe or not, I'm going to tell you anyway.

On the 15th of December I had a stroke. Not a giant one. No, my face isn't drooping on one side. Nothing is out of place. It was a teeny, tiny, little nothing of a stroke. The only reason I knew something was wrong was because my left arm and hand felt like they had gone to sleep while I was in the shower. I had already been suffering with pneumonia for the previous 10 days, so what was there to worry about with a little tingling in my arm? No big deal....I thought. But the feeling didn't go away and after a little while I thought to myself, "Christine, admit it, you are over 50, your arm is tingling and feeling a little numb, call the doctor". So I did and, of course, I was sent directly to the emergency room, do not pass go, do not stop for a Krispy Kreme. So, making a long, boring story a little shorter, after a couple of days and thousands of dollars worth of some really fun tests, including blood tests that the tech said he had never heard of, I was told that I had ruptured something somewhere that caused a tear in something that repaired itself but not before I had that teeny, tiny, little nothing of a stroke. So I went home and I was feeling fine. Until...... (yes, it gets even better)

Food poisoning. Lobster Ravioli. I'm still eating jell-o. I may never eat solid food again. ugh.

I've had it with December. I've had it with 2008. To make matters worse, I live in Illinois. 'Nuff said. DON'T GET ME STARTED!

2009 is going to be fantastic. 2009 is going to be fantastic. 2009 is going to be fantastic.

This is my new mantra. Say it with me now, "2009 is going to be fantastic!"

I miss you all very much. I've promised over and over again to get back to blogland, to get back to my projects, to get products up on my website and every time I make a move towards any of that, I get smacked. Not any more, 2009 is going to be fantastic!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! My prayer is that you will all be blessed with prosperity, health, happiness, and all the love your hearts can hold.

Christine

Okay, I'm Finally Almost There

2008-10-19T19:08:00.004-05:00

Hi All,
It seems as though for every step forward I take, I take 3 or 4 backwards. I'm ready to say "Mother may I?" Remember that game? I think it's payback time because when I was "Mother", I always said "No, you may not" and then I smiled my evil little grin. Trust me, I have one of those. ;)

Today I have been working (Finally!) on my ornaments. I started them in August and after I managed to get them painted and glittered, I never had another spare moment to work on them. Even though I had to set myself up in a corner of the house that was not filled with items from the
formerly-flooded-now-under-reconstruction basement, I did manage to get a few finished.

Can you believe I have set up a Christmas tree in this mess I call home? Wait until the workers get back here on Tuesday and see this. They are already wondering why everything in this house is pink.

I have to admit I nearly lost it once today when all of my beads went spilling all over the floor. I really want my house back. We are managing, however, and it should be back to normal, whatever that is, soon enough. At least one of my Christmas trees is already set up.

I hope you like my new blog design. I just love my fairy and her sparkly crown. I forgot to keep a copy of all of your links, so I am off now to try and find a few of you. If you read this and see your link is not there, please email me so I can put you back up there.

Thanks!

Hugs to all,
Christine

Still Moving Slowly

2008-10-16T11:52:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends,

I am still moving very slowly. The new website is finished and the new blog design as well.
With the re-construction of the formerly flooded parts of our home, my progress has been
delayed. I am, determined, however, to keep moving forward in spite of the obstacles.

This too shall pass...........................

Warmest regards to all,
Christine

Slow but Sure

2008-09-08T16:47:00.002-05:00

Well, I thought I would be back in the thick of things here in pinktopia sooner than this but my best laid plans keep getting sidetracked. Ah, but have no fear, dear ones, I'm very close. I know, I have said that before, but I am actually working on stuff!

First of all, I want to send a HUGE shout out with hugs to Cathy at Treasured Heirlooms for the amazing feature article about her in Country Victorian Magazine. O-M-G! Have you seen it? Visit Cathy's blog and look at the pictures of her gorgeous home. Cathy, you never cease to totally blow my mind! Your talent and creativity are unmatched.

Secondly, as you no doubt know, I have been away for so long and haven't had time for creating. I haven't put anything new on my website for weeks. Maybe it has been months. I have lost track. To get me off my tush and back into the studio, I decided it was time for a brand new website. I've been thinking about doing this for a long time, but decided now was the time. Everything is still in the design process, but I am really excited about the new look for my website and the new look for my blog.

I have been busy sewing new Christmas pretties and working on my ornaments, frames and mirrors. I'm saving them all for my new website, basically because I'm lazy and don't want to have to list them and then move them later.

It feels so good to have a pair of scissors in my hands again. Now that just didn't sound right, did it? LOL!

M, from O.C. Cottage, I've been thinking about you because I just found some really pretty fabric and I'm hunting for a chair that needs a new seat cover.

Okay, girls, I'm off to start visiting you all again. This feels great!

Hugs to you all!

I'm Still Here

2008-07-25T10:25:00.002-05:00

Hello to all my friends in blogland. I miss you all so much!

Having my dear mother here at home with us has been, shall I say, challenging. Our days our filled with trips to the doctor, the physical therapist and then visits from the respiratory therapist. So between my road trips for work and everything else, Extra Sprinkles has had to take a back seat, at least for the summer.

I haven't gotten my ornaments painted, I haven't gotten my picture frames or mirrors painted, I have several pounds of polymer clay to work and, I haven't sewn a thing. I bought the most gorgeous fabric just before Mom came here and it is still in the shopping bag. Nothing has gotten done.

Our days our filled with trips to the doctor, which is true, I must report that Mom is in much better shape now than she was when we picked her up in Florida. The first visit to the doctor resulted in 5 medications being deleted from her daily routine. FIVE! She was being over-medicated. Now she is clear headed and much more mobile than she was before. I took her out to Home Goods the other day and she didn't even need to bring her oxygen with her. Things are definitely looking up for her and her mood has definitely improved.

Thanks so much to everyone who has left me kind posts and also to those of you who have thought to email me so we could stay connected. You have no idea how much I appreciate all of you. I haven't had time to visit your blogs, but I will soon.

Now that we have gotten into a bit of a routine around here, Shabby Hubby and I are taking a week away to decompress a bit. Our two daughters who are still at home will be taking care of Grandma and Grandma is looking forward to doing some cooking and bonding with the girls.

Dan and I are heading out to Maryland this afternoon to see some friends. We also hope to visit our oldest daughter, Kelley, in Arlington, Virginia and see our grandson, Aiden. We say "hope" because we do plan to see her, but she can be called away at a moment's notice, so nothing is ever written in stone when it comes to her schedule.

I have no pictures to share with you this time, just words of thanks and a promise that I will
be snooping around your blogs again very soon.

Hugs to you all!
Christine

On The Road Again......

2008-06-17T08:40:00.002-05:00

Tonight Shabby Hubby and I will be hitting the road for parts south. Grandma is ready and waiting for us and we will be so happy to get her into the car and get her back home with us.

Katie arrived home last night from her adventures in Florida and now Dad & I are heading right back down there. It would have been nice if she could have stayed and then driven back with us, but she was in a part of Florida further south. It would not have made any sense to go and get her because the plane ticket home cost less than the gas it would have taken to go and get her. She is so bronze and beautiful from spending nearly two weeks on the beach. sigh. I remember those days.

Shabby Hubby and I will take our time and hopefully get to Gainesville by Friday, possibly Saturday. We are looking forward to dinner in Valdosta with Francie from The Scented Cottage as we travel through Georgia.

I am taking my laptop with me so if I come across any decent blog photo-ops, I will post them for all to see. I just love the drive through Tennessee and hope we are able to do that in the daylight.

By this time next week Granny will be home, safe and sound and loved and hopefully she will be telling me where she thinks that picture would look better, and maybe that chair would work better over there, and while she's mentioning it, why don't I do something about that gray in my hair. LOL!
Music to my ears.

XOXO!

Katie Has Finally Called Home

2008-06-12T19:09:00.006-05:00

In an earlier post I mentioned that our daughter, Katie, has gone on her first trip away from home without mom or dad. She is in Melbourne, Florida with her bestest gal pal from high school, Jenny. Jenny attends college in Melbourne, studying marine biology.

Katie called to tell me that they have been spending every evening, late into the night, at the beach watching for the leatherback turtles and finally they got to see one. This picture is of Jenny taking her picture of the turtle. Look at how huge this thing is! Its face reminds me of the face on the turtles in "Finding Nemo". Am I seeing freckles?

This next picture is one Katie took of the sunset while they were setting up to wait for the turtles. Boy, do I wish I was on that beach, swinging in a hammock and sipping some kind of fruity rum drink with an umbrella in it. That place just looks so peaceful. sigh.

The Pink Sofa Has Landed!

2008-06-09T10:21:00.004-05:00

Happy Monday!

While I am preparing for my mother to come and live with us, I'm also continuing my re-do of several rooms in my house. This re-do is on a budget. By "budget" I mean I am doing everything on the cheap. I've spent thousands over the years on custom furniture and I've never been happy with any of it for very long. So this time I decided I was going to have what I wanted, in the colors I wanted and I am determined that I am not going to spend a lot to have it.

I was browsing through the Ikea store one day with my youngest daughter, Laura. Laura is so unlike me when it comes to decorating. She loves that contemporary, industrial look (yuck!). I allow my girls to decorate their spaces the way that they like. I figure as long as I can close the door so I don't have to look at it, they can have their rooms pretty much the way they want them to be.

As Laura and I were snooping around Ikea I found something I would have never thought to look for in that store: a pink sofa. Well, the slipcover they have is pink. Last Thursday I went back to the store and I bought the sofa and the pink slipcover. Being the cheapie that I am, I did not rent a truck. Believe it or not I got this thing into my Ford Explorer. I had to move both of the front seats up as far as they would go. That meant I was driving with the steering wheel almost touching my body. I prayed all the way home that the air bag would not go off. I'm sure the way I was driving was somehow illegal, but I was home in about 45 minutes and I was willing to do anything to get that pink sofa. I love it and can't wait to go back and get the comfy chair with the pink slipcover to match.

For an inexpensive sofa, this thing is pretty comfortable. The slipcover is 100% cotton, so it can be washed over and over. I am a happy little camper. Shabby Hubby likes it too. It is convenient that he likes it, however, at this point, I really don't care. I wanted this sofa whether anyone else likes it or not.

I have the walls painted a Benjamin Moore color, Frosted Toffee. I've got my lace sheers that came from the Simply Shabby Chic line at Target. My garage sale mirror is hanging over the cabinet I bought from Tickle Me Pink Boutique. The whole place is a work in progress, but I think it is coming along nicely.

So, if you want a pink sofa and don't want to spend a lot (less than $500 with the slipcover!), head on over to Ikea and if you are resourceful, you can save on delivery by shoving your body so close to the steering wheel that you can get it home for free.

Now I just need to find a coffee table that I can transform and a pretty rug to put in front of the sofa. Oh, and I need to make a pretty throw pillow or two. And maybe a crocheted pink and white afghan or something like that, if I can remember how to crochet.

Achoo!

2008-06-04T10:44:00.002-05:00

Oh, my nose was so red and my throat was so sore and the coughing just never ceased. I'm much, much better now but still a little bit of asthma hanging on. I missed all of you so much and every day I thought I would get back to my silly little blog and then my grown-up job would interfere.

Not much has been happening on my little website since I got sick because I just haven't had the energy to think about making anything, let alone actually create anything. But I feel the creative juices beginning to pulse through my veins once again and I will be back in full swing very soon, I pray.

On the family front there has been a lot going on. Katie is home from college and she is leaving on a little adventure today. She is traveling with her best friend from high school down to Florida where her friend goes to college. She plans to stay a week but she is thinking of snooping around to see if there is a school down there that would suit her studies a little better than the one she is at. On the one hand, I am thrilled that my baby girl, who has avoided change all of her life, is willing to take this adventure and, for the first time, actually go someplace where mom is more than a half an hour away. On the other hand, snif, I just got her home after a long and grueling school year full of sciences and math and phone calls home full of tears and I don't want her to go.

In addition to Katie leaving and not knowing exactly when she will come home, we have decided to go to Florida and bring my tiny little mother home to live with us. It's a long and unpleasant story that I won't publish here for the entire world to read. Let's just call this an intervention because my mother was not being cared for the way she should and deserves to be cared for and we are bringing her here to love her and care for her and make her comfortable. I do not know when exactly I am going to get my mother, but it will be in the next two or three weeks. I would ask any of you who pray to please pray for me that this transition will go smoothly and when I get to where my mother is currently living that I can get her out of there without any complications.

With everything else that has been going on, Miss Tammy Faye has been nagging me for a photo shoot as well as an adventure. She is with me today at my grown-up job and she finds it quite boring. Since she is a trendy, glamorous jet-setter, sitting around with me all day leaves her yawning. So I will have to get with her and find out exactly she wants to do. She told me she wants to go to Florida with Katie, but Katie would not be able to keep up with her. Stay tuned for the adventures (misadventures) of Miss Tammy Faye.

Thank you all for your emails and kind posts. It warms my heart to know you missed me. I will be visiting all of your blogs to let you know I'm still kicking.

XOXO!

What's In A Name - Part Deux

2008-05-19T09:59:00.002-05:00

I promised to post the winning name by today and I am keeping my promise. There were lots of great entries, however, since my cute little pink poodle does not seem to have a multiple personality, we can only have one name.

And that name is......(imagine you can hear the drum roll...)

Tammy Faye!

I was leaning toward the French themed names, but I kept coming back to this one and so did my girls.

The name just fits her, especially with those eyelashes. And her namesake, the real Tammy Faye, was really quite fashionable, so it just fits.

The winning name was submitted by Terisa of Running With Scissors.

Thank you, Terisa! Your magic wand will soon be in your hands. :)

Today is a busy day for me at my "grown up" job and I can't post any pics right now. Stay tuned because as soon as I have a free minute or two, I will be back!

What's In A Name?

2008-05-08T16:51:00.017-05:00

I was outside this morning, praising God out loud for the fact that there is FINALLY some color in my yard. My gorgeous pink crabapple tree finally exploded overnight. I thought it would never bloom and those tight little buds would just stay tightly closed, stubbornly refusing to share their sweet fragrance and stunning colors.

As I was standing on my deck, looking at the tree, I noticed that there were more shades of pink in the tree than I recalled from last year. Upon closer inspection, the mystery was solved. Somehow, this little stray poodle found her way up into my tree. It must have been the coyotes who patrol our neighborhood every night. How clever she was to hide herself among the pink blooms of my crabapple tree.

She is as sweet as can be and completely house broken. She follows me everywhere. There is only one problem; we do not know what to call the new puppy. We've had a family confab and nothing seems to fit so I've decided to have a Pink Poodle naming contest. The name should be feminine, I mean, just look at those eyelashes! And maybe a bit French-ie, but it doesn't have to be.

And just to make it interesting and worth your while to help us name her, the person who submits the winning name will receive the following: (Imagine you are now hearing the voice of Don Pardo announcing the lovely prize)

"Thank, you, Christine. One lucky winner will receive this gorgeous, hand-made magic wand designed and created by Jillian Haupt! Just imagine it all, ladies, the havoc you can wreak upon your noisy children, snoring husband, barking dog, meddling mother-in-law, crummy boss and nosy neighbors. With just one swoosh, all of the day's irritation can be banished from your existence. Comes complete with a lifetime supply of magic. Some restrictions do apply. Void where prohibited by law. Check your local ordinances. Back to you, Christine."

Thank you, Don! If only the Lovely Carol Merrill were here to help me demonstrate it's usefulness. :) Yes, ladies, with just one "swoosh" of this magic wand, all of those little irritations can be banished from your presence. To me, that's certainly worth a shot at submitting a name for this darling little pink doggie.

And, speaking of life's little irritations, and color combinations that make your eyes bleed, please enjoy the view I had as I came into the kitchen this morning.

There is nothing I can even say that could describe my reaction in socially acceptable terms. Needless to say, that jacket and shirt did not leave the house on his body a second time today. 10 years of therapy will not be able to undo the psychological damage that outfit caused me this morning. sigh.

Back to the contest:

1. Starting today, you can submit as many entries as you want.
2. Entries must be posted on my blog, in response to this post. No email entries, please.
3. The contest ends on Friday, May 16, at 6 pm.
4. I will announce the winner no later than the following Monday so that my daughters will be able to help me review all the entries. The winner's name will be announced on my blog, so be sure to check back. I will also send the winner an email and if the winner has a blog, I will post a winning notification on their blog.

I just know that with the creative talent you all have, someone can come up with a lovely, feminine name for my new little girl.

Jillian, if you win, I will have to think of a different prize for you. I'll come up with something good!

Thanks everyone! Put your thinking caps on and send me some good names!

Hugs to all!
Christine