Thrifting Therapy

My honey knows how to distract me...take me thrifting.  When the house is back to normal and it gets quiet, I start to get lonely.  My dear one took me out to a couple of thrift stores and here is what I found.
A platter that matches plates I bought in the fall of last year.  A teapot, from Telefloral.  It was actually a vase for Mother's Day in 2008.  It still had the remains of oasis and the wire that holds the lid off to the side when the arrangement is in the teapot.  A hobnail jar, a faux boxwood wreath and the tablecloth, brand new in the package for .99!

 The roses on the teapot match a cup and saucer I bought a while back. It was $3.99.

 It was just too pretty to pass up.

 I love this little hobnail jar.  Wouldn't you love a set of glasses like these?  It was .99.

Boxwood is all over the place, but I think the preserved boxwood smells awful.  It was .99.

I haven't looked up this platter but the plates I have that match were almost $23 dollars each on eBay.
The platter was $3.99.  Just about $12 dollars to get me out of the house and have some fun.  The missing Penny part is still a WIP.

This is a gift from my dear SIL Elizabeth.  I added a bar of Beekman 1802 soap.  I love it and all it's enameled goodness.

I,...well my honey, (Though I yelled, pull over! ;-) garbage picked something for me...I was so excited...Show you soon.  You can decide, is she crazy or cool?

Thanks for stopping by and for all of your kind comments.  I just past 900 posts!  Boy I'm chatty!
Enjoy this wonderful day.

Fitting 365 days into 5

From the minute we got home from the airport, Penny wanted to GO!  She started walking our neighborhood, Grandma in tow.  She visited each house, all the way up to the doors.  It was a good while before we made it inside.

 This visit was different, since we had TIME.  We went for walks in the neighborhood and showed her the sites.  This is a motion sensitive frog that ribbits.  A big hit!

 Penny was here to celebrate her second birthday, and all she wanted was balloons, and we obliged.

 We also got her this big girl bed. Most of the linens are vintage and some of the toys were Penny's Mom's when she was little.

 We watched some of Penny's favorite shows.

 When the cousins came, I put them to work.  Want to entertain two two year olds?  Let them wash dishes!

 We had several birthday celebrations and got to visit with friends and family, in a casual family way.

 We visited a nature center, she loved the great outdoors, the fish inside, not so much.  Penny screamed as the fish swam past in the tank and that was the end of the animal portion of our visit.

 She loved walking, well, mostly running.  Hard to get a photo of this girl, she moves fast.

 Playground visit...

 Fun projects at home... A dishpan of colorful beads, some measuring cups...

Chasing, playing TALKING...  Oh the things she said.  A one point during her visit, she got into my bathroom as I was showering, threw open the curtain and said, Grandma's got legs!  Oh my goodness, she makes me laugh. We snuggled, hugged...She called Grandma hundreds of times.  I will never get tired of that!  Papa had his time too...I asked him what his favorite moment from the visit was, his answer, holding Penny while she slept in his arms.  Sigh...My favorite.  Penny held her little hands on  my cheeks and said, grandma, grandma, grandma with so much love, my heart overflowed.

Seeing the world through Penny's eye's...a rainstorm is "exciting!, She sang all the songs she knew that had rain in them, and danced with pure joy as we watched the rain from the front porch. Grandpa brought her a stool to sit on.  Penny adjusted the placement and said, "Excellent" as she sat down.

I held Penny till she slept each night and and was greeted each morning by that beautiful face. Papa and I got so much love, so much attention, a workout everyday, but the best possible kind.

I don't know when we'll get to visit again, but this visit will hold me for a long while. What a girl!

Best visit ever.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Penny

Penny's Birthday Celebration

What a weekend and then some. Our babygrand Penny was here to celebrate her second birthday. This photo is from one of her parties. I lit the candle again and we sang happy birthday... and this time sweet p. actually blew out the candle by herself. She threw up her arms in triumph, " I did it!", she exclaimed! A moment frozen in my memory, but then to find it was captured by our friend. Thank you so much Jen.
Our visit was filled with moments like this... but today, Grandma is relaxing with a grateful Papa. We are blessed.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Grandma, GRANDMA, Gggggrrrrannnnnnddddmaaaaaaa!
I mean Penny. ;-)



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Mini Meetup/ Chicagoland Edition

I made a new friend in blogging, Cathy of My 1929 Charmer.  For months Melanie from Comfy House has been trying to get a few of us Chicagoland bloggers together and it happened yesterday.  We met for lunch, not too far from me but 40 miles from Cathy and almost 30 from Melanie. Melanie and I have been friends for over a year now, but this was our first time meeting Cathy.

Let's just say that we had too much fun.  We laughed so much and had the best time getting to know each other.  We share a love of thrifting, decorating and of course blogging in common, and what a place to start. Melanie is a thrifter extraordinaire, she is always on the hunt for the next great item to add to her "Comfy" and beautiful home.  I have only seen Cathy's home through her blog and it is amazing.  These two leave me in the dust when it comes to thrifting skills.   It was such a pleasure spending a couple of hours with these sweet and talented ladies. Making new friends is always great, but making friends that share your passion for
finding that hidden treasure among the junk, decorating your home, over and over... and the friendships that come with blogging, well that, as they say, is priceless!

Thanks to Melanie for organizing this meet up, and to Cathy for traveling all those miles in order to have lunch.  I'm still smiling...

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Isn't it Romantic...

As the blossoms fall and leave a carpet of petals...


Makes me sigh...


So sweet and romantic.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Penny


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What's Up?

The spring has really popped in the neighborhood, and so have the roofs of many of our neighbors homes.
The winter storms and recent hail were too much for many homes on our block and in our subdivision.
The bad news is our roof was badly damaged in a 50 mph wind and snowstorm in February.  There was so much storm damage nationwide that it took until recently for a crew from Texas sent by our insurer to come and check out our roof.  The good news is that our roof will be replaced in a few weeks!  The neighborhood is a buzz with us looky loo's who prowl the block wanting the latest roofing news.  Brings a  neighborhood together!

A neighbor decided to take off the entire roof, something we hope will not have to happen for us, since the decking is our responsibility...and you pay by the sheet of plywood! Big house = lots of sheets = big bucks!

A few more photos of our dinner.  These are the tags I made for the wrapping of the napkins and forks.
I forget how much fun it is to stamp, and how a stamp can carry a theme throughout an event inexpensively.

Here is the wandering minstrel and good friend Tom who provided the beautiful music for our Mass. Thanks Tom and to Jean for lending him to us for the evening.

 We are not just Church ladies, we have some party in us... some more than others!  Oh how I love this girl!

 Our Celebrant Father Ray and dear Jeanie.

I tried making some infused water...being too cheap for a jar with a spigot, I used a ladle with a jar I already had.  It looked beautiful.

Some of the wonderful women I am proud to call Sisters.  They each have a story, and are an inspiration to me.  This is just a few I gathered together for a photo.  My real life SIL is second from the right hiding in the back.  Elizabeth, what would I do without you?  Love you Betty.

 This is a Mother's Day gift I got from sweet son Jon and dear Charlotte.

Very fancy and too too much.  I am spoiled enough by their love...no presents needed guys!  They are really cool and the color!  Mike keeps my itunes account filled, giving me music is the perfect gift.  Thanks kids, I love you all so much.

Speaking of Love and color.  Hubby in orange at the little flea.  What did I find?  Two bushel baskets...I plan to make fabric liners for, 4 cottage magazines, (.50 cents each originally $10.99 each) and 4 yard sticks for my kitchen boarder.  A idea we will work on all summer. Gotta find old yardsticks!

This week my  sweet granddaughter turns TWO!  All she wants is balloons, lots and lots of balloons. Grandma and Papa are on the job!  More about our celebration next week.

Tomorrow a mini meet up with a couple of awesome local bloggers...I can't wait!  Hope I remember to take some photos.

Have a great week my friends.
Enjoy this beautiful day.

Penny

A Beautiful Night

Our Celebration Dinner went off without a hitch. After all the preparations, it was worth every minute.  We had a beautiful night.  A special Mass with my Sisters, a lovely May Crowning, a great dinner and desserts. I can truly say a good time was had by all.

The centerpieces were a hit as were the favors.
Everyone came ready to help.  In a couple of hours it was all over...except for the unloading of my hubby's truck.  It's chock full of stuff, but nothing needing my attention last night.

I should have handed off the camera to one of the girls. In the rush to get things to the table I never thought of taking a photo.  Just like at home. The food was amazing, catered by a local Chef from a place called Feast of Eden here in Palatine.  We just plated the desserts and put together one of the salads.  Delicious!

 This statue of Mary has been with the club since the beginning in the 60's.  I used touches of blue throughout the room, in Mary's honor.  It's difficult to cozy up a room of this size, and we were just using half of the space.

I got more compliments about the thrifted embroidered tablecloth we used as an altar cloth.  Everyone admired the beautiful needlework.  It made a pretty altar, along with a family heirloom cross. We had a talented musician help us with the music.  One of the songs was Mary Did You Know.  Tom sang it beautifully. It fit our Marian theme perfectly. So much work went into the liturgy, and making it a special celebration.

So many hands, so much love...Girls I am so proud to call my Sisters. Another Guild year over.

It's snowing today, no surprise in Chicagoland.  We've had a little bit of everything this Spring.  Have a great weekend my friends.  Enjoy this beautiful day.

Penny

Came the Spring...

 Came the spring with all it's splendor

 All the birds and all the blossoms,

 All the flowers,

 and leaves,

 and grasses.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow    

 Throwing in a few painting projects.

 The dregs of my chalk paint on mason jars and a thrifted frame.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy this beautiful day!