October is Breast Cancer Month

Everyone has been posting about Breast Cancer Month all month long. I know that this is the last day of the month so I am posting this so that as we move into next month that all of you out there will be reminded one last time to think pink and remember to get your mammograms. As a four and half year survivor of this dreaded disease I can tell you that mammograms DO save lives!! I had no symptoms but they found it on my yearly mammogram. We all get really busy with the holidays so don't forget to be proactive and don't put off getting your mammogram. It is the best gift that you can give you and your family this holiday season.

A blast from the past

It's been a very busy week. The weather here has turned off cold in the past few days and it is the beginning of the cold and flu season. The clinic has been very busy. I haven't had much time to do a lot so I thought that I would share a picture of the patio and fountain that I built in my last house. I did have help lifting all the heavy rock but I dug the hole for the fountain and built it and the flower beds alone. Hope you enjoy......

Pink Saturday, Sort of....

I have seen a lot of people showing pink things today and a lot of fall things.
I guess I'm somewhat of a maverick, I went to Home Depot today to buy dirt for a flower bed that I am building and they had bright pink geraniums. Bright pink geraniums are my all time favorite! So I just had to buy a couple to keep in my dining room window for the winter. We get lots of sun there so I am hoping that I can keep them alive and hopefully blooming. If not I'll move them outside but for now they really fit into my little vignette.
The pie cupboard,leaded window and shutters are garage sale finds. The spoon holder is from an antique store in Bingen Washington, a small town in the Columbia River Gorge, when visiting my BFF a couple of years ago. The old tray in the back is from a local craft/antique shop. The garden container from is from Home Goods. Hope you enjoy this little glimpse of my dining room.

New Fireplace

When we moved into this house we downsized from three bedrooms to two. We used our third bedroom as a den and TV room. I decided that since we had to watch TV in the living room I wanted a flat screen TV. That kind of set the tone for what we wanted to do with the fireplace. With the brick on each side, and a flat area between it was the perfect place for the TV. I wanted to update the look and I also wanted to have a way to hide the wires and a place to put the cable box and the DVD player. I really needed some book shelves to house all my decorating and gardening books.
You can see from the sequence of the pictures that we enlarged the hearth so that the bookcases were grounded. We covered the dated brick with tile in a neutral tile and I wanted a mantle so we could hang our Christmas stockings. The part that isn't finished is a print to go on the doors so when they are closed it just looks like there is a picture there. I will decoupage the print onto the doors. I also have to paint the trim along the edge to look like the print is framed. It sure doesn't look the same, does it.

Something New, Something Old

I've shown you all a lot of pictures of my kitchen so I thought that I would show you something else in my house. The picture is of my miniature perfume bottles. I've picked them up from lots of different places and some were gifts from friends who knew that I was collecting them. This box hangs on the wall of my dressing area just off of my bedroom. The pictures in the box are of my daughter. One is her newborn picture and the other was from a dance when she was in high school. I haven't really started working on my bedroom yet. I will start on my daughter's bedroom next as she has finally picked out some fabric to make her coverlet. I swear that girl can't ever make up her mind about things. So I will try to get in an do it before she tells me she's changed mind.

I want to show you all pictures of my living room next but I don't have one vital part of the revamped fireplace done, maybe I'll show you the process we went through and later show you the totally finished project. Stay tuned!

The Fine Print

Well, here I am again. I have tried to do a post multiple times over the past two weeks.

I got so frustrated that I almost decided to quit. First I couldn't get my pictures in the right places, then when I tried again it still wouldn't cooperate. Then I finally got the pictures on the page but not where I wanted I decided to remove one picture as when it was enlarged you could see some information that I figured wasn't for posting on the Internet (a personal address) and I tried to remove just the one picture but it removed the whole post. That is why you may have gotten a message that I had a new post but it wasn't there. Bummer!!! I'm also having trouble with my laptop. I'll be typing on one line and it will jump up to a previous line and start typing there. !!!

OK, I'm through wining! what I wanted to talk about were a couple of little details that to me help the total picture . The first is the draw pulls. there wasn't any hardware on the cabinets when I moved in here. So I added them but I wanted something different for the drawers. In two of my previous kitchens I had used old spoons. I went on e-bay to look for 6 spoons that match. It took awhile for 6 that I liked that weren't too expensive. Then I gently bent them over a round surface to form the handle and then attached them to the drawer fronts with Loc-tite adhesive (the one that the guy glues the hammer to the ceiling). It holds right away and is re positional for about 1 hour then is dry in 24 hours. It, also, is white so it didn't show at all on the cream colored cabinets. Be sure to let it dry thoroughly.

Secondly, I dislike a lot of extra wires and cords lying around, especially if they are black, they stand out like a sore thumb in my mostly white kitchen. So, I purchased a nice chipboard box that was covered in nice blue fabric with pink roses. I cut a hole in the back of the box (Actually

it was an x-shaped cut so it would let the cord through but not make a big open hole) Inside the

box I put a power strip. On one side I cut two smaller holes for the cords for my cell phone and blue tooth. Also, the power cord for the cordless phone. None show but are easily accessible if needed. So I'll add the pictures and pray that all goes OK.

What We Did This Week-end

We had a garage sale on Saturday and although we didn't make as much as we'd have liked to, we did accomplish one monumental thing. I can now park my car in my garage. I haven't been able to do this for over a year.

We moved in to this house about one year ago. I sold our other house and down-sized to this house. Being the pack-rat that I am and with all the wood for the main living area it has been impossible to walk through there at times much less park in it.









About 3 weeks we (A helper and me) put a Cute Rubbermaid shed in the back of my yard. Between the sale, a carload to Goodwill and the shed I can put my car in the garage. Just in time for the winter months. Here in south Texas it does frost, and some times it requires scraping the windshield! I thought I left all that when I left my beloved Kansas.

On our way to do some errands we went by an Estate sale. We didn't plan on going but they had everything 50% off. I just couldn't resist. I got 4 of these cute little plates for $7.00. I also got something that just called to me. Luckily it was 50% off so I could afford it. It was a vintage1940's nurses' uniform. Blue gingham dress and a white pinafore and the cap, too. I am sure that it could tell many a story. Tales of loving and caring, hard work , laughter and tears. Nursing has been a large part of my life for over 30 years. I place it in a place of honor,in my entry way. Welcome All, love and caring live in this home!

This is the rest of the story

Well, you have seen all of the other walls of the kitchen, here is a picture of the last wall. It goes up the full height of the 12 foot vault. It, also , was the most difficult of the walls to paper. I had to stand on a chair on the counter top to hang the strip that couldn't be reached from either side on the ladder. I got a great deal on the wallpaper I got all 4 double rolls on e-bay for $ 45.00. and the color was just perfect. I couldn't believe my luck.

I built the shelves and mounted them on iron brackets which I painted the same color as the cabinets. They house a large part of my Fitz & Floyd collection. I bought some of them at a F&F outlet and others were gifts for either my birthday or Christmas. I am partial to bunnies and ducks. The canister set was a garage sale find and the sugar and creamer were from a trip to Kansas City several years ago. The tray on the top shelf was painted by my Mom over 35 years ago.