The busy week it was.....

I was able to make a 2nd Thrifting Run and found these treasurers for $12.00 total, a great wicker basket on wheels (perfect shape), a red German made stoneware teapot (have a fun craft idea for this), a Lucite basket shape napkin holder and 1 Christmas plate for another craft project....

After a wonderful sushi and martini party, I got to go shopping with my one of my besties (Home Goods and Steinmart - need I say more?) Found this great textured dark brown popcorn throw to line the basket with and a fab green fern to place inside it. When I moved the living room furniture around it exposed a light socket and cord and that kind of thing makes me crazy so this is a nice way to hide it.....

I got to spend lots of fun quality time with my two boys and lots of plane and crane and construction activities around my house.....don't you love those matching pj's?

Steve struggled with jet lag from his China trip....Brody tucked in his Baby (Mickey) and Dylan covered Gramps with his blanket....isn't that the cutest.....Rocky stayed close to his daddy.....

Adam and Shannon came home from their Rock and Roll Marathon and Vegas trip....my two granddogs were so happy to see their Daddy......

We had a yard sale on Saturday.....I don't mind using my house, the set up or take down but I don't like interacting with the customers.....I hide inside with my boys....

I put out some Valentine decorations to spread some love....My sister got me the Annalee Mouse Valentine doll in this picture - I love that....it sits on 2 of my MaMa Autens Valentine hankies that I have....

I did this little collection of ceramics and candy....my plates and fabric balls in the garden window sill

I found a Valentine kitchen towel at Steinmart that had a red bird in a cage like my red bird in my cage so I got the towel and hung it on my stove...

The mantel and of course the battery operated Valentine Bee and Scooby Doo that is fun for the boys until you have heard it played constantly for 3 hours ;)....

Today is birthday party for Adam....tacos, tamales, chips, salsa and Lemon Cake!!!

Wednesday Thrift Store Finds.....on Monday ;)

I had MLK day off...so I got all mavericky and mixed it up this week - aren't I the wild one - I went Thrifting on MONDAY instead of WEDNESDAY - now don't call me predictable ;) I was lucky enough to have Kristen meet up with me to 'pick' together....for $15.18 I got these wonderful treasurers: Fisher Price 'Sweet Streets Country Farm Home' dollhouse with all the pieces, 2 glass candle sticks for plate holder projects, 2 adorable angels and 6, yes, count them, 6 wonderful perfect turkeys!!! Big score on turkeys this week!!! I mean, can you ever have enough turkeys????

Better pictures of the turkeys, angels, and candlesticks

Brody and I love this piece - it sells on eBay for around 25.00 and I got it for $3.95 -- we love playing with it - family of 3, mom, dad, daughter, dog, cat, table and chairs, couch perfect for couch potato dad, beds and bath and even the little fridge opens up!!! Brody is my little engineer - he loves pieces and things that open and close and airplanes and cars with wheels that you can take off and put on, trains that link together and come apart, track to put together and come apart....

It was a fun day and then I treated Kristen and our good friend for lunch at Saffron...mmmmm...yummy food, 80 degrees and a table outsides....along with a little volunteer work it was a wonderful day.

No surprise - we are having a huge yard sale this weekend to sell off some of our old treasurers - its the cycle of life don't you know.

Don't the angels look nice with my Valentine Plate holders - these are what I use the candle sticks for....

Are you buying and purging this New Year? Which one is winning - the purging or the buying?

Projects - Fun and Fab

....a few favorite finds I have inherited lately....this incredible lucite hanky (hankie - is it hanky or hankie?) holder....pressed and folded my aunties and grandmas hankies to perfectly fill the holder.....hard to see but there is a ballerina on top and these are *rare* pieces.....

...this incredible mirror came to me in pieces....a good friend enlightened me to glazing nails and proper hanging materials for for $6.50 this has a wonderful perfect home over my MaMa Autens dresser in the guest room.....doesn't it look happy there????

Have you put pieces together that love each other like this?

Craft Nite - Part 3

...with a few minutes here and there between major priorities....completion of a few items from craft nite....

Not a very good shot, but a special Valentine for a special Angel Friend.....

My lovebird placed in a wonderful shabby chic half price bird cage

something fun and different....1/2 price styro balls covered in ripped valentine fabric...so simple yet so pleasing to the eye!

Have you created any treasurers this week?

Craft Nite - Part 2

.....so, after days and days of sick babies, internationally traveling husband, chaos at workplace and dealing with contractors on water damage, passing of Auntie and more....here is item 2 from Craft Nite! Isn't she beautiful....note - designer is Kristen and she has a shop on Etsy - I am just the helper bee! Hoping we can get more accomplished this weekend - besides the yard sale, the trophy ceremony, a formal reception and oh yea, laundry, shopping, cooking, babysitting my granddogs....it's all good

Craft Nite - Part 1

Kristen and I decided to have a Craft night.....we talked about it and planned for it all week....we shopped and sorted and envisioned (is that a word?) and loaded up my dining room table with lots of materials to complete many many things!!! We were amped up on Diet Coke (real Coke for her)....we were going to whip all kinds of things out - we had a whole evening dedicated to nothing but uninterrupted crafting!!! Our plans to accomplish were unlimited....

This is Kristen at about 11 p.m......we got off to a good start and made lots of progress but underestimated gluing and painting and the evil actions of some renegade magnets.....sadly, what we thought we could accomplish and what we did accomplish was a different story.....

These are the only finished items - three beautiful valentine treat plates!!! Stay tuned - we are not defeated, we have been humbled and are regrouping and as soon as we finish a few more things I will post!!!

Blog of Christmas Past....Wednesday Thrift Store Finds!!!

So behind on blogging.....the holidays were so wonderful.....our theme for Christmas Eve was 'Elves' and everyone looked adorable in their hats. My two favorite elves decorated giant Gingerbread men as Gramps' wonderful enchiladas cooked away in the oven.....Dylan moved so fast the picture is blurred!!!

Two more very special elves and their reindeer dogs had plenty of christmas spirit.....

....and the official annual family photo.....dogs and all....'we wish you a merry Christmas'

Right after Christmas, my sister and beautiful nieces came down for a few days. We had so much fun - we thrift shopped, had lingering coffee and danish in Little Italy, picnicked at the beach, went to Glen Ivy for a spa day and just hung out and of course had our cooking contest which is getting to be pretty competitive....Steve's entree was TriTip and Mediterranean Salad, Amy's offering was Italian and Kim brought all home with yummy salsa and kick a** dessert. We all got into the kitchen on New Years Eve to make Chinese food and we hosted a fun Bunco party...followed by competitive Yahtzee....lots of laughs and good times for sure.....

Shannie was queen bee with rolling the full houses....Adam was so hot on the roll we wanted to send him to Vegas!
When my sister and nieces left Steve and I worked for days getting the house 'un-decorated' and getting back into the routine. Back to work, back to structure, back to dieting =(

.....and being Wednesday - back to Wednesday Thrift Store Finds!!!! Today I had to have a medical test right near my fave Thrift Shop so after that I headed over for a little shop....I remember when I was little and had to go to the Dr. my mom would always take me to Newberrys and get me a Dr. kit afterwards if I was good - think sugar pills, shots and specticles - I like to keep traditions so what better way than to shop away a medical appt! The pictures are a bit out of order but for $14.00 total I really scored!!! I saw this lady grab right under my nose this primitive shabby chic rocking chair...it was a beauty...I could tell she wasn't really committed to it so I pushed my cart around (hovered) in the area for a bit and found a really fab Federal Chair for $5.95!!! I was so excited and put that in my cart and headed off and found this really cute textured frame (.65 cents) that I thought would be cute painted candy apple red for Valentines day....then found these porcelain turkey S&P ($2.00)that I think I will spray paint turquoise for next Thanksgiving. So as I was shopping around I saw the lady come by without the primitive piece so I bee-lined over to the area she found it in and scooped it up....($5.40)I love all my pieces found today......when I got home I cleaned up my primitive and put it next to my sideboard in the living room and added some seashells....

Here is a better picture of the frame, turkeys and primitive....hard to see the rocking portion....about the size a toddler would sit in....wonderfully built and solid.....

Here is my BEAUTIFUL Federal Chair.....first I thought I would paint it white and shabby it up...but after I put it in my family room I really liked the patina on the black with the gold stencil (sounds ugly but is really beautiful) ...the seat really needs to be redone and I will live with it a bit before I finally decide...but look at the bones this baby has!!! What would you do with this?

So.....being a creature of habit I do love my ritualistic lifestyle, but I really did enjoy the 2 week holiday period and just hanging out with family, going to see the boys Christmas pageant, meeting friends for breakfast, family get-togethers, visiting good friends and taking in meals and gifts, sharing and loving and soaking up each and every wonderful moment.

What all did you do???? What new memories did you make???? Are you happy that life has returned to the normal day to day???