On My Soapbox Today

I've been down more than I've been up lately—physically, I mean. I mentioned to hubby I've been a bit slow on the uptake when we started running out of undies. He's pretty good about reminding me though. Work has been gnawing at my heels but I've pretty much resisted. Trying to keep house is a real chore but I do manage to at least change the bed linens and vacuum and mop.
*

I read an article that a school, I think in NY, is paying kids $5.25 an hour to attend summer school. Now, why in the world would they do that?! We pay taxes for them to go to school and then they turn around and give them that money to attend? My thinking is they should be glad to go for free to get an education. Education is their future. What's going on with this world? The Japanese kids go to school 6 days a week for longer days than here in the U.S. and are excellent students and have become smarter than most nations. Typical school day in Japan:
8am - 4pm: Classes at school
4pm - 6pm: Clubs and sports at school
6pm - 7pm: Time for a quick dinner
7pm - 10pm: Juku classes—extra classes for entrance to University
11pm: Back at home to do homework.
After midnight: Time for 5 to 6 hours of sleep.

A lot of our kids today are lazy for the most part, but they have so much potential and are just wasting it. I love kids and want them all to succeed. It's a shame. If you don't count yourself among the them, count yourself blessed. Please, please encourage your children. They are the future of our country.

When we've gone to our children's and grand-children's graduations from high school and college, it's been the students from other countries who are the top achievers. That's a sad comment to have to post but it's been accurate. This is in California of course where there is a high percentage of ethnic groups. I wish them all well. I absolutely love seeing kids whose parents have given up much to come here and make fruitful and successful lives for themselves. My daughter-in-law was one of those people. After all, this country of ours, the U.S.A., is the greatest country on earth.

Well, I warned you I'm on my soapbox today! ;-) 
*

Good morning, and yes, you are!

Darling bedroom but I would put some curtains on that window for sure. Look at that teacup floor lamp.

Any chair can be covered in this fashion every day not just celebrations.

Imagine the hours of drawing this gown must have taken the artist.

A place so private you don't need doors, just sheer curtains.

Or a private dining area so secluded.

Vintage collection of dishes in blue and pink.

An exquisite lamp.

Another exquisite one of wood that casts the shadows carved into the lamp.

I love froufrou!

A beautiful brooch.

I was thinking of this kind of sofa/settee, but I don't think we'd like sitting on it as our primary sofa.

Creative homeowner has 3 shower curtains so she can decorate with any colors she wants.

Aaaaaaah, I do love this entrance to this home.

I'll never again look at old used cake pins the same way. ;-)

~*~

Read more »

Beautiful Cakes and a Rant

What is the revolution, or could it be evolution, with themed parties for the last several years? Weddings, children's birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, grooms parties, or any ol' plain party for that matter. I think I've seen them all while searching for cakes.

I'm seeing the most elaborate cakes, decorations and themes I could never even have imagined. Some are just parties for no reason at all with what could only be several hundred dollars spent on the little cherub for whom the party is being given. I'm lucky I can even remember to get a cake for hubs' birthday, if even that! Caroline had a cake on her first birthday but no glittery decorations. Am I missing something here? Is this really for the kid or are the mommies competing to see who can throw the most elaborate Hollywood-type party for a kid who has absolutely no clue what is going on? I'm talking ELABORATE parties, the likes of which I've never seen or truly never even imagined—fantastic cake and cookies and candy and designer lemonades, candy beyond lollipops but handmade gorgeous candies, popcorn in designer holders, pretzels dipped and done up in gorgeous hangers, just beyond my imagination.

In doing a tiny bit of research on the cost of cakes, I found that they can be priced from $17 a slice to $200 a slice! Can you believe paying that much money for one cake? So if you're having 250 people, which I'm guessing is a close to average number for a middle class wedding, you'd maybe be paying $3,400 to $50,000 for a cake? Beyond insane in my book.

For Love Bunny and me, we've stopped going to most weddings and receptions as most of the couples have gotten a divorce within a few years. That's even in the Mormon community. What's up with that? We've gotten invitations to weddings that we've never even met the kids. I think they just scatter the invitations around for gifts. Well, I'm old enough now that I don't have to do anything I don't want to because I don't care what other people think. That's the advantage of obtaining senior status. ;-)

Rant over. Now, on with showing you some gorgeous cakes.

This one is French looking.

Is this chandelier divine or what?

This is actually a tiered cake that looks like it has tiered cakes. Very clever. However, it is not the prettiest of cakes; it looks more like a silo on a farm.

Cute decorated bottles in a very vintage container.

A ruffled cake which is one of my favorites.

Sweet decorations for a luncheon. I'm getting ideas for one I'm having soon.

Cute for a kid's party.

Neat storage idea for bathroom items.

This is a crêpe cake. One of my favorite desserts is crêpes stuffed with blueberries and whipped cream.

I would call this cake Nutcracker Suite Cake.

Oh, yeah, my idea of a great craft room!

I tried to see if a local bakery would make some like this but they said they would be cost prohibitive. I didn't care about price but they seemed reluctant to take on the job.

Can you even imagine having these in your garage to store items, much less somewhere in your home? Darling idea for a cottage.

Is this a sweet sweet shop or not? I'd love to visit it but I have no clue where it is; however, you can rest assured it isn't in Idaho!

My all-time favorite cake—coconut. Actually, my favorite dessert is coconut pie. Just love coconut!

And this actually is a cake. I don't know how they did it!


And this apple basket cake.

We all are lusting for this look in our cottages.
*

In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.

I'm thinking age is a very high price to pay for maturity now that I've got it. ;-)

~*~

Read more »

Family Room Refurbishing Part 4

Last post for the family room.

This corner here is where I've framed 2 pretty cards and fun-tacked 5 other cards that were sent to me for helping someone with their computer. (Just something I know a bit about and can help with sometimes.) She's a very famous painter and I'm not going to name drop.

You'll notice I am not a bit afraid of painting the mats "wild" colors. I love the vivid green and the caribbean blue I came up with after mixing several different colors with white for the 2 mats in this room. It adds a bit of a tropical feel to it with the little pink starfish on the ladder. I love color and am lavish in its use in my home.

The mantel contains some darling little birdhouse ornaments made by Rhea of sweetnshabbyroses and isn't doing very well physically right now. I added some white garland and bright pink and green balls to the mantel along with a little roses vase on the left and some more cupcakes on a rose plate on the far left. The little ballerina I made out of a matchbox and decorated with papers and garland. I had it for sell but it didn't sell so I get to keep it. I'll be making some more simply because I love having that kind of thing around my home. Beauty!

Here is the faux fireplace screen closer. (Click for a better view.) I added the paper roses, leaves and ribbons along with 2 small decals on the sides after painting the whole thing white.

On the right side I have a most unusual little tree I found at Goodwill but it is quite heavy and is done with wire. I have no clue what it was made for but I bought it home, painted it white and added little fabric covered eggs I bought last year after Easter when they were on sale. The roses in the little tin pot are my foray into coffee filter roses. Those are very labor intensive to do and hard to get them to look right. It wasn't worth the effort although I eventually did get a good looking one that you can see on the left of my sidebar.

On the left side of the mantel I have some more faux plants with little roses stuck in the middle. As I said, I don't care what other people think; I do what I like. I have to live in this house and that's what is important to me—what I and my hubby think of it. He thinks we need more model trains in it but that's beside the point. *Wink*

I made the one quilted ecru roses pillow on the left but the plaid one I got at JCPenney for a steal and the 2 blue toile I got at TJMaxx for $25.00 for the 2 of them and they're feather pillows. Squeeeeeeeal.

~*~

Read more »

Pink Saturday 12/6/08

Welcome to Pink Saturday.

Last week when my daughter and her hubby were visiting she and I took a day and went to the thrift stores. I found a few things and she did also. Howeverrrrrrrr, she paid about $4 for all her stuff. It didn't all fit in their suitcase so she had to mail it home. That cost her $12.50!! Can we say "did ya get a good deal, chickee??!! Nuuuuuu, totally wasted money. THEN when they went to the baggage claim the suitcase was taped with duct tape because it had popped its hinges!! She lost some books I had given her but nothing else. Can't you just see undies all over the S.F. airport? LOL Well, I can laugh; she wasn't! AND hubby and I told her it looked like it was going to pop. Forty-six years old, you would have thought she'd have learned to trust her dad and mom by now!! I am very sorry it happened though. Those books were really a cute read!
~*~

Okay, here's what I got. Three little candle lights. I was going to get pink bulbs but got the white instead because I plan on putting little shabby frou-frou shades on them and use them as window lights. How cute will that be! Can't wait to paint them and decorate them. BUT since the bulbs weren't with them I got one for free! I didn't even know they were supposed to come with the bulbs but I'll take that deal! Now, who in the world would steal little light bulbs out of the Goodwill lamps for heaven's sakes? But it got me one free so whatever........

I spied these big pink balls and almost flattened a lady to get to them. They had my name on them so they were MINE!!! If I hadn't gotten to them my daughter certainly would have intervened for me. She's 5' 11" and I'm 5' 4 3/4" and she's a pistol at getting what she wants even if it is for her motherrrrrr... So I'll cover them with decal roses and then glitter them and they will hang from the ceiling in my craft/sewing room probably.

My visiting teachers from church came wednesday and brought this for me. I love this flower. It always reminds me of Christmas and I've always thought of it as "majestic"! I'm not sure how hard they are to grow but we'll soon find out. I'm planting it in a vase today or tomorrow.

*Sigh*........my nemisis - cake plates. I pack really well, I truly do. Even the buyers say they are packed well, but I've had 2 cake plates on pedestals break on me. My daughter has shown me the key though this past week and we'll see how the next one makes it. I buy vintage plates so sometimes they are not replaceable. BUT I always make good on my sales to people. Sooooo I had to go find another plate and another unique pedestal to put on it. I had a vintage little sugar bowl and it was darling, but couldn't find another one so used something else for the base. But I did frou-frou it up with netting, ribbon and paper roses. She says that will do just fine - the buyer. I couldn't stand it if I didn't replace something someone has bought from me. Those roses are silk and do not come exactly cheap either. Oh well, I'll feel good knowing I made it good for the lady.

~*~


Now, for a little surprise if you've gotten this far in reading my posts. I've wanted to do a giveaway for a while and was thinking of doing it for my 500th post but decided in the spirit of this season I'll do it now with this little camera bag. Yessssssss, my little cherubs, a giveaway. This is a quilted camera bag with a single rose on it. It is velcro-ed to close it. I've used a similar one for my camera for about 2 years and it works well for me. Uuuuhhhhh, of course, no guarantee comes with it!! DUHHHH!!! But I have a Canon Powershot and it fits nicely in there along with the instruction booklet, charger, 2 extra batteries, an extra disk and the connection cord for camera to computer. It measures 7" wide x 9 1/2" long. I could even get a wallet in there. It can go over your head for carrying as I find that most convenient and don't worry about dropping it or getting it stolen. Hey, this is FREE!! Why am I extolling its virtues when I'm giving it away to some lucky person. I'll draw a name from a bowl on monday afternoon. All you have to do is comment on this post right here. Just leave me your email so I can get in touch with you if you are the winner. If you can't follow directions and do that then there isn't much hope for ya, chickees, so get to it!! ;-) LOL

Read more »

Greenhurst Nursery #15

I was telling Love Bunny last night that if I ever mention doing a series of posts with 335 photos again that he can just shoot me right then and there!! But I had to share this special place. However, I doubt very seriously that I'll do something for posting with this many photos again. It's taken an enormous amount of time to take them, edit them, decide which ones were worthy of showing, uploading them, writing text for most of them and then scheduling them all for future dates. This has to tell you how much I love blogging, chicks! It is another "passion" of mine.

An aside here:
My blog will always be a happy place - a place where it is safe to come and read, not much controversy as I see it, no ill feelings towards anyone, just a relaxing, calm, serene place to come. If you want things other than that I'd invite you to visit them on the internet where they certainly have them! But for me and this blog I want to lift people up and hope they have a joyous time reading what I write. I want it to show love and humor and happiness. That's my goal.

I also thank the nursery for allowing me to take the pix. They looked at me as if I was a bit nutty but they agreed. I had no control over lighting, it was what it was and there was nothing to be done about it but for the most part it was certainly adequate. I worked around the staff and customers, who were kind and gracious when noticing I was "shooting" pictures. But you might see a head in some of the pictures. I think it just adds to the festiveness of the whole shebang! They always got out of the way without me even commenting to them. That's how people generally are around here: kind, loving and gracious. That's why I love Idaho so much.

Cup of hot chocolate anyone? Nuuuuu, not real. Since this place sells candy it was sprinkled around the little kitchen area of the nursery. You could tell what was fake and what was real because the "real" candy had cellophane on it with an "ingredients" sticker on it. Most of the stuff was faux though. :-)

Cookie Jar and some "real" sweets!

Oh, be still my heeeartttt!! Chocolate cheesecake - my most favorite dessert of all desserts in all the whole world.....faux though. Hah

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.......(singing in my most melodious tones!) and cookies baking in the vintage oven.

Sparkly balls on stems.

Who would have ever thought of a "chocolate" tree?!??! Yesssssssss!!!

I showed these cupcakes to my ebay group and they asked me what they were made of. I don't know; I didn't pick them up. But they sure looked real and delish, chicks!!

Little tarts........uhhhh, the desserts, not you, my little cherubs! And little chocolate and red sparkly "peppermint" drops.......

Okay okay, so you've seen the snowman apron in another post, adjust and live with it! This is just a close up of his sweet face and mitten-hand pockets.

Ice cream cone hanging ornies, ribbon candy, banana splits, tarts and candy garlands! More to coooooooome!! Hehehe and hohohoho.......

Frosty gum drops..........

I want this clock more than you can ever imagine. It may be mine when we go back there this weekend.

Ice cream sundae hanging ornies........

Ummmmm.......wonder if this would fit around hubs' neck and I could bite it every once in a while. LOL Yep, it's a real one - cellophane and ingredient sticker, remember???? ;-)

Looks like a peppermint sweet candy but it's a pedestal cake plate.

Another pedestal cake plate, just a tad different from one above. And some bon-bons, faux, under a cloche.

Dive right in my sweets!

Lemon meringue pie hanging ornies, cupcakes, cherry pie and chocolate cake! Whoooooa......like a kid in a candy store.

This cone looks more like a yogurt instead of ice cream and then there's the pink and yellow faux cupcakes!!! Yummmm

Well, that's it for today, but I'm telling ya I'm saving the pièce de resistance for the last. However, there are more things coming with the next couple of posts that I doubt you've seen anywhere else. You think the above stuff can't be topped???? Au contraire, mes amis, oui, il peut!! Just you wait. This is the 15th in the series and there are a total of 18 so only 3 more to go after this one. It ain't over yet, my little chickees......

Read more »