Cookbook Giveaway

rI've been following Erin's blog "$5 Dinners" for quite sometime now. Although feeding five adults for $5 is certainly a challenge, I try to do what I can (Erin has two small children and her hubby). Anywho, she is giving away cookbooks to ten lucky people in the next two weeks. Enter here.

Remembering Buddy

The post below stayed in draft mode until today. It is the reason I took such a long hiatus from blogging. This fall was just pretty crappy and I didn't want to be a Debbie Downer. Hopefully my black cloud has found a new home and I'll getting back into blogging mode.

This week didn't go as planned. It was our much anticipated vacation week. The week we get giddy about when discussing the plans, or non-plans that is. We go with no expectations to one of favorite central coast cities with a stack of books, magazines and a devil may care attitude.

We left on Sunday and stopped at one of our favorite wineries along the way. We ate our favorite food, shopped, browsed, read on the beach and then ate some more. By Wednesday we were getting antsy to get home as we had left Buddy, our ailing cocker mix, at home in the care of our son. We had reservations to stay until Thursday and planned to stay late that day before heading home. After showering Wednesday morning I noticed that my perfume was missing. I never leave anything valuable in a hotel/motel room but had stuck my bottle of Estee Lauder Sensuous in my travel bag Tuesday morning and it stayed on the bathroom counter when we left. I guess the temptation was too great for the person cleaning our room. The odd thing is, when we returned back to the room Tuesday afternoon I just didn't feel the room was as clean as it should be. Was this person rushing through in fear we would return early and find them out? Who's to know. I was so upset by the theft the I told The Comedian I didn't want to stay there another night. I reported the theft to the office and told them we were checking out. We packed up and checked the room three times so we wouldn't leave anything behind. Wouldn't you know neither of us realized those were OUR pillows jumbled up on the bed with the rest of the bedding. They're the kind of pillows you pay a small fortune for but they really help your neck/back. The hotel called us after we returned home and said they would send them UPS.

What does this have to do with the title of my post? I'm getting there. When we got back home we found out Buddy hadn't eaten while we were gone. We got him to eat some boiled chicken and broth in his food but he didn't seem like he had much energy. Everything was such a great effort for him. For the next couple of days we babied him and prayed he would get better. His recent bout with pancreatitis seemed to wipe him out. The ER vet we saw two weeks ago when we took him for the pancreatitis (at 1 in the morning) was very concerned about his blood levels and heart murmur but when I followed up with our regular vet he was more concerned with the grossly enlarged kidney.

This morning at one in the morning Buddy started crying out and we rushed to the foot of our bed to find him in pain and barely able to move. There was fresh blood on the carpet. We rushed him to the ER vet again (what a wonderful facility we have in our city!). After examining him we had a long discussion with the attending vet about what we should do. We didn't want him to suffer. It appeared he had multiple problems and in a dog that is nearly 12 years old it didn't seem wise, or fair to him, to prolong his misery. In all of my years of being a pet owner I have never stayed with one of my animals when they were euthanized. We both decided we wanted to be there for Buddy. We loved on him and had a laugh when Buddy did his "courtesy" growl when I got too much in his space. After much agonizing we told them it was time and he left this world. Sleep didn't come for us last night. We tried, but there were just too many tears to sleep. I know there will come a time when we bring another dog into our life. It is so hard to imagine right now. Sadie (our 14 year old boxer mix) wonders where her "brother" has gone. Even Miss Mimi cat did something last night she has never done. When I was laying in bed after we saying goodbye to Buddy she came and curled up in the crook of my arm and put her head under my hand for a rub. This went on for a very long time. It is so strange how animals can sense things.

I feel like someone has cut off one of my appendages. It is like I'm walking around in a fog. Our little Buddy Bazoo isn't there when we walk through the door. Farewell good and faithful friend. I will always remember Buddy.

It's the Little Things

It's amazing how the little things in life can make you sooooo happy! Today, you would have thought I'd won the lottery. The Bride came to my downtown office and I took her to lunch on the mall. We had yummy Mexican food and had a little time to kill after we ate so we wandered over to the Goodwill store. Now, if you happen to read this blog, you might have read this post about thrift stores jacking up their prices. I was one of those ranters. But I have to take it back when it comes to our downtown Goodwill store. Cause you see, I found five of these plates in good to great condition.

I have had these dishes for over 25 years and have loved them every step of the way. They set a fabulous table and you can use any kind of decorations in any color and they look even more fabulous. Since we have lived in the "kibbutz" these past four years, five of my plates have suffered fatal catastophes. But when I spied the five in the store today for...get this...75 cents each, I wanted to sing. But I just let my heart sing instead all the way to the cash register. I'm telling ya, it's the little things!!!

Fruits of My Labor

I must begin with a disclaimer. I love to garden but it doesn't necessary mean it I am all that great at it. But that said, with the price of food going so high I thought the least I could do was try to grow some tomatoes. Last year I didn't get one, not ONE tomato. A bad location and too much nitrogen from the surrounding forest humus was to blame (I think). But I didn't give up and this year planted two cherry tomatoes (last time I grew them I had fruit until late November) and one beefsteak plant. I have been harvesting a few cherry tomatoes the last month but this week I proudly picked my first "beefsteak". They aren't so beefy but they are good! I sure hope I get lots more (unfortunately they won't set fruit in this blasted heat). What are you doing to help cut down your food bill?

One More Try

Here I go again. Trying my hand at a reentry into blogland. Life has just been so unbelievably crazy, hectic, busy...you get the picture. We thought we had some good news with The Papa but today we're waiting with baited breathe. The Papa has leukemia and the doctor and hospice thought he wouldn't live past the end of June. He has been doing really well the month of July and has been regaining energy (he has been bedfast for nearly 3 months). Now it looks like the leukemia might be rearing it's head again. What an awful journey this has been. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

Yesterday it was an unbelievably HOT 112. We took off with the Prodigal Son and Cute Redhead and headed over to the central coast. We stopped in Paso Robles for some wine tasting, a yummy seafood lunch in Cambria, a visit to a craft show where we bought another birdhouse for around the pond and 3 hours of reading and relaxing on the beach. We had a spectacular show of pelicans diving for food (there was a huge flock of them) right in front of us. We came home happy but tired from the long drive. Today it was a mere 108 and should only be 106 tomorrow. Whoo hoo! I'll try to get a picture or two uploaded tomorrow from the desk top computer. But for now, I think I'll get ready for bed cause it's just too darned hot!

Lost in the Digital Age???

Life is a whirling blur around me. I'm trying to keep up on soooo many levels it isn't even funny! The Papa is on the last of his journey on this earth. He wants to go Home and be with Jesus but Heaven isn't quite ready for him yet. My dear Daddy left this earth suddenly in his sleep. It definitely is the much easier road. We are spending much time at The Papa's house and this is where life has become a little blurry. You see we have The Queen Bee (who is 86) living with us and The Prodigal Son with his wife The Cute Redhead and Psychodoggy (a Black Schipperke). We have had many issues to deal with concerning them, toss in my full time, high energy job, a recovering from surgery foot and The Papa's soon to be Homegoing and well, you get the picture. You wonder what this has to do with my Post Title today I bet. To show just how my mind is lost in this spinning blur I will tell you a story. Friday was our big annual Support Staff Conference at work. An all day affair with many vendors, workshops and special speakers. I noticed shortly before the first speaker got up I was feeling a little "damp". I turned to my coworker and said "I think I forgot to put on deoderant today". I mulled through my mind what order my morning "toilette" had taken and realized, yep, I had indeed forgotten. The first speaker got up to welcome us and he talked about todays' students being part of the first totally digital generation. He had placed at everyone's place setting a paper full of abbreviations they use while texting, facebooking or tweeting. I put my head down on the table and moaned "I can't remember to put on my deoderant and they expect me to remember all of these abbreviations???" It was at that point I realized that I thought I was pretty techno savvy, but I'm really just lost in the Digital Age.

Reentry

I feel like the space ship above reentering earth's atmosphere. Jetting through life at the speed of sound! But it is springtime around the cottage where life appears new and fresh. I've made the decision to reenter the blog world...posting on my own blog that is. I've always enjoyed reading other blogs especially if they are about cottage decorating or turning someone else's trash into treasure. I've spent the last three months wondering if I should give up my own feeble attempt at blogging. I have to admit, this whole blasted foot surgery and recuperation has thrown me for a loop. Throw in a topsy turvy household (remember, we have five adults from three generations, three dogs and a cat living in the cottage), a demanding full time out of the house job with commute, and well, you can understand why I haven't posted in a long time. It has taken waaaay more energy than I had ever imagined to recover from the surgery. I'm at about 75% now and I can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

I have soooo many projects lined up it is ridiculous. I am the thinker of great ideas and the biggest procastinator you've ever seen. I had to contemplate whether anything I do is even remotely interesting to others and the fact I'm lax in taking pictures (plus I'm not a very good photographer). Then I realized, blogging was really an outlet for me when I was actively posting. So on with the show!

Today we say goodbye to an old friend. When my daughter was in 3rd grade she inherited her great grandmother's piano (Sissy was a music teacher). She took lessons for 7+ years but during her high school years it was difficult to devote the time to piano when she had a demanding school schedule as well as cheer leading, singing in the concert choir and elite ensemble. All this background served her well in her liberal studies with music emphasis major in college. She starts a long term substitute teaching position this month as a choir director at the high school and middle school she attended. She is very excited and needs to brush up on her piano. To tell you the truth, I'm glad it is exiting the den as it is in The Comedian's "man room" and we have plans to finish the "man" decor in there and the cottagey piano with it's decorations wasn't cutting it. Too bad I had already taken all the cottagey decor off the top of the piano. As usual, I think of taking a picture after I've taken it all apart. You would think a girl would learn!`

Sweet Pillow Giveaway

Diane Knott is giving away this darling pillow on her blog. Please stop by and have a look. I'd love to win it (it would be adorable in the office/guest room we're redoing), but if I don't win it, I hope one of my readers does. Good Luck!

Talk to Me Tuesday

I visited the Tip Junkie's blog and she has challenged her readers to come up with a word of the year for themselves. My word is BALANCE. My life has been pretty out of balance this past year and it reflects in everything I do and am. I'm caffeine free (an entire week, lol) and I'm trying to be more conscious of what goes in my mouth. Once I recover from the foot surgery I plan to carve out 3-4 days a week back at the gym (I LOVE my "me" time at the gym). I also plan to spend more time in Bible study and devotions. I can just feel the balance waiting to come back to me. Do you have a word to live by for 2009? Hit this link and join in the fun.

Snowman Love

After all of the Christmas Decorations have come down I can't stand the bareness of the house so I leave out most of my Snowmen (women, people) around the house. This is my favorite cabinet in the kitchen (which is really hard to photograph because of the lighting).

This fellow stands guard under the cloche on the dining room table.

Who wouldn't want to be greeted by this cozy fellow when they enter the house?

No snowmen on the mantel but lots of white, silver and sparkle.

A close up of the sweet silver birdies on the mantel. These sweeties move all through the house as the seasons/holidays change.

Hmmm, I need to get a close up of the cute couple on the left so you can see the detail. They are a post holiday addition to my collection.

The little guy holding the star is a new addition too. He needs a close up shot, don't you think?

I realize now that I've missed a few vignettes I wanted to share. I need to go back and shoot some more pictures and do some editing. I really, REALLY need to take a photo class. Yep, it's on my to do list. How long is your "to do" list?

Where Do I Begin?

How do I even begin to explain how crazy life has been at the cottage the last few months. I don't think I'll even begin to try. That explains my lack of posts as of late. The Comedian and I were lucky enough to steal away to our favorite B&B in Pacific Grove the weekend before Christmas to celebrate our 38th anniversary. Where on earth has time gone? We enjoyed long walks along the coastline, shopping in quaint Pacific Grove (about the only place I can get The Comedian to willingly shop with me), yummy seafood,




















wine tasting at Ventana Vineyards






















and most importantly, lots of quiet time at the inn in front of the fireplace without TV all weekend! We had a fairly quiet Christmas minus The Bride and Groom and the Cute Redhead. Since The Comedian and I try to take either a December or January getaway trip every year we don't buy each other gifts throughout the year. It sure takes a lot of pressure off and we both get something we REALLY want.

I brought in the New Year with a Vicodene cocktail. I had foot surgery on Dec. 30th and was pretty medicated the first two days but was off all meds by day four other than an occasion ibuprofen. I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y lumbering around the house in this humongous walking boot cast thing. I have the stitches out on Tuesday but have figured how to successfully have a deliciously hot shower without getting the foot wet (can't get it wet till the stitches come out). The boot is supposed to be on for 24/7 but sometimes I just have to have a breather or I'd lose my sanity! I spend most of my days lying either in bed or on the sofa with my foot propped up. I expect to be home for another couple of weeks. I sure wish they could be productive weeks with me happily working on the many, many unfinished projects around here. Oh well, all in good time I suppose.

Jewelry Heaven

The last couple of years I have collected more jewelry (mostly cheapy costume jewelry) to accessorize my rather pathetic working wardrobe. I'm a VERY visual person and I need things where I'll see them or I'll forget (or not bother) to wear them. This is the left side of my bathroom counter (fortunately we have a nice, BIG bathroom and The Comedian and I have separate sink areas across the room from each other). I bought this cheap shelf with hooks at the Factory To You store and shabbied it up and painted the hooks black (they were a garish chrome finish). I like to see all of my necklaces hanging at arms reach.

I finally finished the remake on this picture frame. It was gold and garish so I shabbied it up and stretched a favorite piece of fabric over a frame and then put netting over the fabric. Now all of my earrings and favorite brooches are nice and neat rather than lying in a heap on the shelf.

This makes me smile everytime I look at it. I bought this glove form from The French Garden House and use it to hold bracelets and rings. I think it is cute...The Comedian thinks I've lost my marbles. Ahhhhh, the simple pleasures.

Tassel Love

This is the sweet little french provincial hutch that took me about ten years to completely redo (well, maybe more like 10 months). The display on top and in the cupboard changes constantly. I knew for quite sometime that it was missing "something". Silly me stayed up VERY late on Halloween browsing the web when I discovered what it was missing! This adorable rooster tassel.

The Nester is one clever crafter. She makes these marvelous B-I-G tassels and this one spoke to my heart. My hands were shaking and my heart was palpitating as I was getting it loaded into my cart in Etsy. I was soooo afraid it would get snatched out from underneath me. But come on, who else is up at 1:00 a.m. Pacific Time browsing the web looking for cute tassels? Maybe a stripper or two (just kidding....could you imagine this hanging from your breast?). Now it resides on my hutch keeping all of the hens inside the wire from making a break for it.

A Fall Pond

It's amazing how the pond changes with the seasons. As I mentioned previously, I hosted a bridal shower on our patio last month. I took these pics before the event.

It is fun to watch our fishies in the pond. They are called Shubunkin which is a cousin to the koi. We never have to feed them. In fact, we have four fish that were about an inch and a half long in March and now they're 5-6 inches long. There's been some hanky panky going on in the pond as we noticed a few weeks ago we have three baby fish! There might be more because they like to hide in the grottos and under the lily pad. If they keep this up, we might have to go into the fish business!!!

Makeover

You know how some things just scream "M A K E O V E R" everytime you look at them? Well, I finally got around to a redo on two large pots that moved over to this house from the Queen Bee's house.

Honestly, I've got to take some classes on good photography. My picture look like I'm slightly tipsy! This is how these two pots transformed.

These pots house some red fountain grass and stand guard over our little lime tree (which produces great limes!). They look fabulous on the edge of our patio.

Here is a shot of the pond with my fabulous piggy standing guard. I can't tell you how many people have wanted to take that pig home with them!

Our two dogs and cat love to hang out at the pond. The kitty watches the fish with great interest. She even likes to drink out of the pond! I'm sooo afraid that one of these days one of the dogs is going to come up behind her and scare her and we'll have a wet kitty!

We are so fortunate to have fabulous fall weather in the valley. The mornings have been a bit brisk but I plan to spend the afternoon today lounging on the patio and reading a book. Tomorrow I'll share pics of the pond in it's fall glory.

Happy Birthday to The Prodigal Son

Twenty nine years ago at 1:40 a.m. I gave birth to an 11 lb. baby boy...at home...no drugs...but with doctor, two nurse/midwives, The Comedian and my mom and dad in attendance (I didn't know my dad was in the room until it was all over). That baby boy has been my "challenging child". But I wouldn't trade him for anything. I feel very blessed to be his mother. He has brought The Cute Redhead into the family and we look forward to the day they produce their own cute redheads. I'm sure at least one of them will be as challenging as his/her daddy.

I know I have promised some more pictures of the fall decor but it has been a crazy busy week. The Nana is in the hospital with pneumonia. She was sick on Saturday but we didn't realize how sick. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital on Monday and hopefully will be released tomorrow. I don't like uploading pictures to my laptop but The Comedian has a new game so I'm getting very little seat time with that computer. Is it Friday yet???

We Resume Our Normal Broadcast...

I'm so sorry to be away from my blog for such a long time but life has handed as a real doozy the past three weeks! Besides getting the yard and house spiffed up (had all of the carpets cleaned, what a job that was!) for the bridal shower of the century, we were handed some very bad news. The Papa (The Comedian's father) was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and was given a very bad prognosis. Without treatment he was given 3 - 10 weeks to live. We all went through a huge grieving process but rallied the troops to get him to Stanford to see if he could be a part of a drug trial. The Comedian accompanied The Papa and The Nana up to Palo Alto for four days so he could see his cardiologist (he was going to have a heart procedure done at the end of October). The cardiologist gave the ok for him to be part of the drug trial but the heart procedure wasn't going to happen (heart ablation). The doctors accepted him into the trial and made an appointment for him to return the following week for new blood draws, bone marrow biopsy and xrays. It would take 2 weeks to get the results back from the Netherlands to determine the course of treatment.

The Papa got a call on Thursday that the results came back and it isn't AML but rather MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome) which a preleukemia blood cancer. We don't know yet which of the 5 types it is. He is to return to Stanford after the first of the year and they will determine whether they will put him on an intravenous chemotherapy that can be done in our local area. It is kind of a good news, bad news type of thing. He isn't as sick as was originally thought, but he is still sick. This has the potential of turning into AML. We have been through the lowest of lows and the highest of highs these past 3 weeks. We have many people praying for The Papa and we are sure God must have been hearing these prayers. The Papa will be 78 this month which just seems too young to leave us. The Nana is totally unprepared to be by herself (The Papa has always done EVERYTHING for her). The poor Comedian has really had a heavy load to bear this past month.

I hope to get some pictures loaded in the next few days of the tablescape for the shower brunch and the rest of my fall decorations. I want to get them up because this coming weekend the Christmas decorations will begin to appear around the cottage. I have a four day weekend coming up and hope to get most of the decorating done. It's a big cottage and I like to decorate every nook and cranny. The problem is, by the time Christmas Day is over I'm ready to take it all down and that always seems to take longer than the decorating. This year it will be especially important to get on the stick and get it put away as I am having surgery on December 30th. Another story for another day. Stay tuned.

My Favorite Corner

Do you have a happy place in your house? This little corner is one of mine. The antique writing desk was mine as a teenager. The lamp was my mother's. The little ice cream chair goes back to my childhood. I picked up the mirror at an estate sale (the owner told me it was an antique french mirror).

The little shelving unit was picked up at an estate sale and holds my treasured memories. Pictures of children and grandchildren, rocks and shells in a jar collected from our favorite central coast beach, favorite items with roses on them and a sweet little jar of old buttons (I've been a seamstress since I was 10 and love old sewing items). I've recently finished sprucing up some of the frames with new paint makeovers. But I need your opinions. I'm conflicted as to whether I should paint the shelf black, white or leave it as is. I'm leaning towards black as I think the items on it will POP more. What do you think?

A Hunter on the Loose

This morning I was quite rudely awakened by Miss Mimi meowing quite loudly with a meow I had never heard from her before. I knew her food bowl was full, water was in the other bowl and litter in her box. I normally get up at 5:30 but dragged myself out of bed to see what her problem was. I checked all the bowls and gave her a little rub. She followed me into the w.c. still letting me know quite adamantly that she wanted attention. It wasn't until I finished my duty and flipped on the light in the shower when I saw why she was making so much noise. Smack in the middle of the shower she left me a present. Not a pretty one all wrapped up. Nooooooo, it was a very...dead...field mouse. A very LARGE field mouse. She was so proud of herself. Miss Mimi you see was an indoor kitty the first four years of her life. When she came to live at the cottage we would leave the french door in our bedroom open so she could go explore. It was very funny at first watching her. She had NO idea what grass was. The yard is very secure and has 7 ft. high fencing all the way around with no horizontal rails so she can't climb it. Fast forward 20 months and now you can see Miss Mimi lounging on the patio on balmy afternoons and begging to go out at night. I guess she must have gotten bored and decided to take up hunting. I informed The Comedian we would no longer be sleeping with the french door open at night!

Decorating for Fall

I...love...fall! We're even starting to get a little taste of it. The mercury managed to creep down into the 80's with the 70's in sight for the weekend with a chance of rain. I got out my fall decorations this weekend and had fun decorating. I still have some "tweaking" to do and I need a couple of new fall colored candles. It is dark now and my pictures don't come out well this time of the day but I wanted to share my favorite cabinet with you. This is the only cupboard in our kitchen that has a glass door. Rather than put "useful" things in it I like to decorate it for the season. I picked up that darling pumpkin platter at TJ Maxx last weekend (I live waaaaay to close to that store!). Everything else are treasures from years past.

Speaking of mercury I picked up a cool mercury glass pumpkin and candle holder (yep, you guessed it, TJ Maxx again) and two large mercury glass Christmas trees hopped in my cart too! Oh, if only that were all that hopped in for the ride ;o)