Starting Off the New Year With A Bang or...

If 2010 wasn't a very good year—and personally, I think it was a wonderful year for us with our first great grandchild—I hope this year will bring you blessings beyond measure.

I certainly try not to bore in my blog. But being a realist, I'm sure some of you are. Sorry about that, but I can't always be humorous, witty, of good cheer, funny and your ONLY entertainment. But first things first. And when I tell you to keep reading or to watch out for something or that something is coming I think you'll like, then you had better listen up. (This is for my new readers. My OLD readers KNOW my surprises!) And, yes, I ramble. A lot. ;-)
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Just a couple of pix of Caroline. These are among my favorites. Please don't be bored with pix of great granddaughter; there is more to come so keep reading.

The photo on the bottom right is one of my favorites. She's getting her first bath and isn't quite sure what to make of it and looks as if she's saying to her mummy: "Do I have to take one every single day for the rest of my life?! I'm just not too sure about these baths." I'm sure it was a traumatic experience for her!

The one with her kitties—bottom middle—is another favorite. She loves her kitties. They walk past her now and she grabs onto them with both hands and pulls them to her mouth much to their dismay. The top second from left is one taken in my bedroom when she visited us for her baby blessing in church.
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Next is this. I received this mouse pad from a woman in my eBay group called Pretty Romantic Homes. She made each one of us in the group one for Christmas. I was astounded that she would think of this, but she is such a kind and sweet person and is always thinking of others. It has all of our names on it.
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Remember this post here when I made this. I decided since it didn't sell that I would do a Giveaway. It's been a long time since I've done one, and I thought that doing one at the beginning of this new year would make someone happy. ;-) So leave a comment. I'm not going to be like those people that say you have to put it on your blog or do several different things for more chances. Just leave a comment and you have a chance to win it. It's truly that simple. And I want to thank every single one of you who follow me and who leave comments. I love each and every one. Thank YOU! I'll draw the winning name on Thursday, January 6th, in the afternoon so be sure and check it out. And if you think someone else would enjoy looking at my blog, then tell them. I'm always happy and upbeat and that can make a difference in someone's life, chicks.

Another view.

A closeup of the tree.

This is perched here for safekeeping for the moment.
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Black, White & Chartreuse for Pink Saturday 1/1/11

It's another Pink Saturday with Beverly of How Sweet The Sound. Click on the logo below to visit all this week's participants.

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I know this is a busy day or maybe just a lazy day for sleeping in but I thought I'd show you more of my favorite rooms from Ethan Allen.

Essence of a French garret. Ooo la la.

Beautiful black and white.

More red and yellow with a bit of black and white thrown in.

Chartreuse! I just love this room color, very bold and beautiful and very elegant.

And the matching bedroom.

The colors in this room remind me of my mother because her favorite colors were orange and green. She would have loved this room I think.

I like this sofa but the room is a bit too modern for my taste. Remember, I grew up with MODERN when it was original in the 50s. I hated it then and still don't like it.

This would make a cute family room for a country house. Just showin' ya some ideas, chicks. Much more to come in the New Year.

And just some beautiful roses boxes I have on my plant shelf. I don't like plant shelves but I'm stuck with them in this house so I must grow to like them. These little boxes were purchased back in the 80s however and go perfectly up there.








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Kitchen Cabinets Knobs

The kitchen cabinets are needing more pizzazz. Why, you ask, would I be so concerned about them when I would eat every meal out if I could because I hate cooking anymore? Because I'm a woman, that's why. At a certain age, we would prefer to eat out, being lazy in our older years. I know there are women who just love to cook for their families for the big holidays. I ain't one of them! I'm sure there's a self-help group somewhere for them. I'll look into it if requested!

So, I decided to use some decals I made a couple of years ago of my own pathetic little rose. I think I used the wrong sealer and they sort of crackled. I did the top cabinets—all 9 of them—trying to convince myself they would be just fine once they set and dried. NO luck! Never fear; I am never without decals in this house, purchased or made by me.

So I took them off and replaced them with some I had in my stash of decals. I like these much better.

Here are a few different angles so you can see them better. It's difficult photographing them up this close with the flash, but I get much better photos with my flash than without when inside this house.

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Random Thoughts:

We have 2 kids—a daughter and a son. They were born 11 1/2 months apart. Hubby had her potty trained and broken from the bottle while I was in the hospital having Keith. Yes, you can believe that; she was potty trained at 11 1/2 months.

While giving birth to Keith I almost died, but I didn't realize he didn't know this until this year when I mentioned it while we were all together for the blessing of Caroline, our newest addition to the family. It was just a casual mentioning of being in the hospital for 11 days and not seeing him for 9 days because of how sick I was. He was shocked. I never thought much of it and just never mentioned it to him I suppose. I had uremic poisoning.

But this isn't about the birth of him; it's about how I don't usually talk about one kid to the other. It's just how it's been in this family. Hubby and I keep our counsel to ourselves about our kids. But to think I'd never let our son know how sick I was when having him was a bit surprising even to me. I just don't pit one against the other. They're both mine and loved equally.
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Recently I read where the government is mandating work places be given rooms for mothers to breast feed their babies. I think having a private "mother's lounge" would be fine, but does that mean the child is in the building and readily available? Let me tell you about my niece.

M works for a think tank in Washington, D.C. They are providing a room where mothers can pump into a tube that goes down to the nursery through the walls (not hand carrying!) and is available for the child. No contact with the child, just some person puts it into a bottle for him and he eats. What is this world coming to when mothers won't stay home to be with their infants and give them the personal attention they deserve? I was just astounded at this revelation. Institutionalized babies. Horrible. Human beings are a precious resource!
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Pennies are made at the rate of 1,000 a second. The U.S. mint took more than 2 years to produce its first million coins, but today can make that many in 45 minutes.
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The greed of today.
We talk all about the greedy evil bankers but they wouldn't have been paid all those millions if we hadn't been willing to buy the fantasy they were selling. So don't blame them; blame the people who were so greedy they thought they could buy anything they wanted. All of this got worse when we were willing to believe all that popular culture was feeding our desire for more and more stuff. It's one thing to see sports and movie stars in their mansions in a rarified world and we thought if they have it I should be able to have it. We bought that we felt we were entitled to. We thought we could buy what we wanted. This caused our values to change. Things don't matter; people do. And that's just one of the reasons we're in this situation today.
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I hear people regularly say they have issues with something. It's not an issue; it's a problem or opinion. Calling it an issue tries to give it a "lofty" feeling. Call a spade a spade here and get over it.
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To see the condition of the human heart, you must look first to where scientists will not admit to looking at all. It's that simple. ;-)
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In Honor of Blues

This post is dedicated to lovers of blue, but to one blogger especially who loves a certain shade of blue that is known as McCoy blue I believe—Claudia, a really neat lady who has a darling little cottage in New York state along with her hubby and dogs.

This is the color that made me think of her. Oh, it is probably not the same color of blue she loves, but it simply reminded me of her. Since Claudia is a voice coach with a theatrical background and the sofa has a theatrical bent to it—to me anyway, it reminds me of her even more. Theatrical style, theatrical fabric (velvet) and theatrical colors!

And this color also just reminded me of Claudia.

There are lots of different blues in these photos but I love this periwinkle color of blue the best.

Blue headboard and flowery blue linens for this lovely room.

A touch of blue in the desk and side table in this monochromatic room. Very soothing.

Would you have ever imagined these two colors together and looking so beautiful together? I absolutely love them. That in no way means I'll fall to their allure. :-) I'm still a PINK girl!

This photo scan has absolutely nothing to do with blue, but I like the serenity of it. It's probably a coastline on the east coast since I'm very familiar with the west coast shoreline and it doesn't look too much like ours out here.

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A Wysocki Christmas for 2010 Pink Saturday

Merry Christmas from Connie and Love Bunny, my sweet blogging chicks. I hope this day finds you all well, laughing with your family and stuffed with favorite foods of the season, whatever that may be in your home.

But it's still Pink Saturday so go to Beverly's site and view all the other participants.

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As with all of you, I have always loved Christmas, not for the gifts—oh, that was probably true as a child, but for the feelings most of us feel this time of year. I believe it ranks right up there as the most favorite holiday of the year. In saying that, I'll explain what it means to us in this home.

We're a very religious family. We attend church every sunday and try to observe the Sabbath as a holy day of rest. That's tough for me because I'm always busy doing something. But we don't shop on sundays, work, eat out or have lavish dinners. We try to keep all sunday dinners simple so we don't spend a lot of time preparing or cleaning up after dinners.

I've already stated this but I'll say it again: We don't buy presents for each other, only for the youngest grandkids and, now, our great granddaughter. It's not about saving money for us; it's about being in the true Spirit of the reason for this holiday, plus there are absolutely no NEEDS here and very little wants. We concentrate a bit more of the life of Christ and the glorious gift of eternal life he has given us. To be caught up in the frenzy of purchasing gifts, decorating (although, hubs insists we have a tree and lights around the house outside because he loves seeing those things), and the frazzle of shopping isn't my idea of fun either. It's chaotic and we then forget our Savior and His gift.

So I'm just going to share some limited edition prints we have of Charles Wysocki that I've collected and now hang in the bedroom's hallway. In our last house we had the dining room all red and green and Christmas-y all year and yes, there was bright red carpet that no one could believe we put in there. I thought it was gorgeous though. I loved it but we don't need a formal dining room now so they have taken up residence in that hallway. Frankly, I'm just too lazy to take them down for a good photoshoot so this is as good as it gets in that cramped hallway. And, since you're here, you've probably had it with the family, all the cooking, eating and just want to get away from the zaniness for a few minutes. ;-)

Wysocki's paintings were representative of a time when it seemed simpler but truly wasn't because we now have much more spare time due to the invention of time- and labor-saving devices. I doubt I'd like to have lived back then but I would like the patriotic fervor, camaraderie, politeness and gentleness that era evokes in us. You'll always see an American flag in his paintings and prints. Most of his paintings usually evoke the New England part of our country and, although born in Michigan, he lived most of his life in Southern California. He is my favorite Americana artist of all times. His artwork just makes me happy to view it.

Wysocki once said donuts were nature's perfect food. I wholeheartedly agree! You'll notice the touch of whimsy in his painting below by putting his name—Charlie—on the pastry wagon.

Who wouldn't love this happy greeting at this time of year?

This is one I bought for my hubby because it has a train in it.

So, again, Merry Christmas! Enjoy the season and I hope your New Year is a happy one for you and your family.
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