Do you want to see more of Debbie's home?

You asked for more pictures of Debbie's lovely home so here they are...
Beautiful fabric pumpkins made by Debbie...

I love this china cabinet. I've been looking for one to paint white. This picture really makes me want to find one now!

So, to answer some of the questions I've been getting:

Debbie is an online friend that I met through my blog. She lives on the east coast and I'm on the west coast so I've never actually been to her home.

Debbie does not have a blog and does not plan to start one....bummer I know. Maybe we could all beg her!

Debbie sews for fun. Unfortunately you can't buy her things online.

Tomorrow I will show you her pink sun room!

Debbie's Playroom

Here's the door that leads down to Debbie's basement. The door holds a hint of what's below...

Don't we all want to go play at Debbie's house?

Earthquake!

At 8:04 pm tonight we were rockin' and rollin' here! We had a 5.6 earthquake! I was standing outside talking to my neighbor when we heard a weird noise, a rumbling and rattling loud noise. We both looked at each other and yelled "earthquake!" Before I could even think about it, I ran into the shaking house to grab my daughter and the dog...can't forget the dog! They were both running towards me as I opened the door. My chandelier was swaying back and forth. Luckily we didn't have any damage at all!

It's now been a little over an hour and I feel a little more at ease now that we haven't felt any aftershocks. I've lived here my whole life and they still scare me so much! Oh please, no more aftershocks while I'm sleeping tonight!

Sounds like a good deal...

I found this antique chair on Craigslist for $35. I haven't actually got it yet though. He said it needs reupholstering and I'm not sure how much this will cost. It's still available but the owner is not available to show it to me until Thursday. My mind is dancing with ideas for fabrics...possibly toile? Maybe two or three different fabrics? So do you think I should buy it?

Debbie's Kitchen

Remember last Friday I showed you my new candy jar that was inspired by the photos from Debbie's home? Well, Debbie sent me some more photos of her beautiful home and I just had to share these with you. For those of you who don't know Debbie. She doesn't have a blog of her own but she sent Fifi and I the most beautiful things she made which we showed on our blogs(click here to see mine) .

I love the built in cabinet with the glass doors. I see more jars in there! Beautiful!
More beautiful jars on her kitchen island! I love those orange pumpkins...that's my favorite Halloween candy!

Now you see why I had to go buy some more candy jars! Don't they look great?
I love this open shelf too! Oh I see another jar on the counter. Wait until I show you pictures of her "play room" later in the week It's filled with more beautiful jars and lots of sewing machines!

Thank you Debbie for allowing me to put your beautiful home on my blog! Your home should be in a magazine!

A New Candy Jar

I bought this beautiful candy jar at Marshalls. It was only $14.99! I put some lemons in it for now because I didn't have any candy. I plan to group it together with some other jars I have and fill them with different Christmas candies during the holidays. I got this idea from Debbie (remember Debbie....who sent me the beautiful lined basket and heart awhile ago.)
Debbie sent me pictures of her beautiful jars filled with candy. I'll post her pictures tomorrow. Once you see them you will be out buying candy jars too! Thank you for the great idea Debbie!

Updated to add: Since 3 people asked how I get the blurred edges around my photos I thought I would put this information here. I use Adobe Photoshop. If you have Adobe Photoshop follow these instructions....I use the elliptical marquee tool to make an oval around the photograph, then I go up to "filter" then choose "blur" then select "lens blur" and make sure you click the "invert" box so the outside is blurred and not the center. That's all there is to it.

If you don't have Photoshop and you don't want to pay to get it (it's expensive), I think there are some free photo software packages on the internet. I don't know what they are but I'm sure someone who reads my blog can leave a comment and let everyone else know.

I got my Victoria Magazine!

I was so excited last night when I got home from work to open the mailbox and see my Victoria Magazine peeking out from a stack of bills! I wanted to pour myself a glass of wine and sit down and read it right then and there but I had to be a good mom and cook dinner.

After the dishes were done I finally got to sit down and look through it. I have to say, it far exceeded my expectations! Even the advertisements are beautiful! Words can't even describe how happy I am that this magazine is available again.

On page 88 there is the most beautiful lace sweater from J. Jill. I went right to their website but I couldn't find it. I'm going to have to go to the mall now and look for it because I must have it!

Thank you Phyllis Hoffman for bringing back this wonderful magazine.

I copied the pumpkin in the urn idea from Tina at Cherry Hill Cottage. Thank you Tina for the great idea! I think my pumpkin's a little too big for my urn though.

My Love/Hate Relationship with eBay

I love looking at vintage white linens on eBay and when I find beautiful napkins like these something comes over me and next thing I know I'm bidding on them. The sad part is I didn't get either one of these. They were both sets of 12 napkins. The one above had a reserve that wasn't met. I actually loved them so much I bid more than I usually would. I was so frustrated that I emailed the seller after the bidding was over and asked her (in a nice way) what the reserve was. It was a $100....that's more than this single mom on a budget can spend on napkins! That's not a bad price when you consider that there are 12 of them but I still can't justify spending $100 on them.
This set of 12 above I almost won. I bid $25 and I was so excited because I had them....until the last 2 seconds when someone swooped in and outbid me! I tried frantically to put in a higher bid but the time ran out.

Yesterday morning I loved eBay and by 5:05 pm last night I hate it!

For those of you who asked about my safety with the fires in California, thank you for your concern. I live in Northern California in the San Francisco Bay Area so I'm not anywhere near the fires in Southern California. My heart goes out to everyone down there, I hope you are all safe!

Still no Victoria! I don't even get excited anymore when I open the mailbox because I'm tired of being let down. I'm now wondering if there was a problem with my subscription. It's supposed to be out in the stores on Oct 30th so worst case I will have it next week!

I'm ready for Christmas!

I know it's not even Halloween yet but my mind is on Christmas! It's my favorite time of the year! If I were rich I would decorate my tree with all Christopher Radko ornaments because I just love them. Click here to see more of his beautiful ornaments. I have one of his that I treasure. I have been extremely busy at work lately. You know that feeling when you feel like you're being buried alive...well that's how I feel. I being buried with a load of paperwork. My company had layoffs awhile ago and now I've acquired partial duties of two employees that left. We also had a new Director transfer back and I'm now supporting him. I now have my job and 3 more on top of it! I can't complain though, because at least I have a job. I don't know what I would do if I got laid off! I've been laid off twice and it's not fun when you are the sole bread winner. It's all part of living in the Silicon Valley I guess.

I STILL have not received my Victoria Magazine. I'm hoping it's in the mail today! This is torture!

Lovely Umbrellas

Yesterday while reading my November issue of Romantic Homes, I saw an ad for these beautiful umbrellas. You can pick the color of the canopy and the handle you want. I love the the black one but since it's $99 I probably won't be getting one any time soon unless I win the lottery. There are so many other things that I need more but it is nice to dream. Click here to see their website.

I still haven't received my Victoria but I did get the new Romantic Homes and I think they are finally getting better. The November issue is really good. It's almost looking like Victoria Magazine.

Quick and Easy Dessert

Here is a very quick & easy dessert. The hardest part of this is finding the Stella D'oro Anginetti cookies. I went to four different stores looking for them. I finally found them but they were on sale and they only had 1 bag left. These are always a hit every time I make them so I usually double the recipe. Everyone is always impressed that I made them...they don't have any clue that they are just filled store bought cookies! This recipe can easily be doubled 1 pkg. (5 oz.) STELLA D'ORO ANGINETTI Cookies

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1-1/2 cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, well drained

CUT cookies in half horizontally; set aside.

BEAT cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add whipped topping; beat 1 minute or just until blended. Gently stir in pineapple.

SPOON 1 Tbsp. of the pineapple mixture onto bottom half of each cookie; cover with top half of cookie. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store leftover cream puffs in refrigerator.

I still haven't received my Victoria Magazine!

Mirror Update

Here are the mirrors and the cherub I got last week painted and hung on the stairway wall. I moved the large mirror I had there up to the top landing and put these in it's place.
I'm not thrilled with the color on the large mirror, I think it would look better with a whiter color so I may repaint that later.

I didn't get my Victoria Magazine yet. Hopefully it will come today!

Dried Hydrangeas for me!

The other day I mentioned on my blog that I wished I had saved some of my hydrangeas to dry. My mother-in-law read that on my blog and brought me over these from her garden! I know what you're thinking...how can I have a mother-in-law when I'm divorced? Well, in my case, when I divorced my ex, thankfully I didn't have to divorce his family. She also brought over some beautiful crocheted lace pillows which I forgot to take a picture of. The colors of these flowers are so beautiful! They make me happy every time I walk by them!

I started stripping my table this weekend...started is the key word here. I worked on it for 4-5 hours yesterday. Stripping a piece of furniture with that much detail is a huge job. Getting the gunk out of every crevice is very time consuming and the muscles in my hands are so sore. I finally got sick of working on it and decided to stop and finish up the stripping next weekend. This table, which I now call the wedding cake table because that's what it reminds me of, will probably take me a month to finish but I hope it's worth it.

I've also been rewiring another crystal chandelier for my kitchen and I've almost got that finished too. I wish there were more hours in the day. Oh, and I think I've found a paint color for my kitchen walls...actually my daughter found it. I'm learning that she has a very good eye for color. I thought it was going to be too gray but it looks blue on the wall. I have too many projects and not enough time!

I hope when I get home tonight, my Victoria Magazine is in the mailbox!

Victoria Magazine

It's so exciting! First I saw on Penny's blog that she has received her new Victoria Magazine! Yes, it's already out! I haven't got mine yet but I saw on Dawn's blog that they have updated the Victoria Magazine web site! Click here to go see! Oh, it's so exciting I can hardly wait to see my first issue in my mailbox!

Mmmm....Soup!

I know I've mentioned that I love to cook before but when the seasons change I love it even more. It's a time when I can pull out my old favorite recipes that I haven't made in almost a year. This sausage and kale soup is one of those favorites. It calls for white beans but my daughter doesn't like those so I substitute with small pasta shells or sometimes diced potatoes (I prefer the beans though). This soup has so much flavor with the kielbasa and the white wine. When we were eating this the other night, my daughter commented that she forgot how much flavor this soup had. I gave this recipe to a friend a few years ago and she didn't like it so I'm a little worried to pass this on but if you are interested click here to see the recipe.
One of the good things about homemade soup is that I can use my soup tureen for something other than a decoration on my table!

Candles

Here's the little cherub I bought at the flea market last weekend. When I bought him he had a floral frog glued inside so at one time he was used to hold flowers. It was my daughter's idea to make him hold a candle.
I took this picture Tuesday evening and the wind was blowing so hard I thought for sure the power was going to go out but it didn't. I lit a million candles just in case!

(In the photo it looks like the flame is right up against the wood cabinet but it's actually not, there's about 6 inches between.)

Shoes on the Table?

My mom gave me these old Victorian boots last time I saw her. They are really old but you can tell that they were only worn once or twice at the most! They reminded me of witch's shoes so I thought they would make a good Halloween decoration. I put some tall drinking glasses in them and then some beautiful fresh flowers. The crow with a cherry in his mouth was made by my dad. It's hard for me to decorate my home in the fall because my home decor is so summery that it usually looks out of place but I think this little side table in my dining room is just the right amount of Autumn.

Freebies, Flea Market & Thrift Store Finds!

Last week was my week for some great deals. You saw the great deal I got on the table already but that wasn't the only thing I found last weekend. I went to the flea market on Saturday right after I bought the table off of Craigslist. I found the cherub above for $10. I'm going to leave him just the way I found him. I now have him in my living room with a white pillar candle in him and I love the way he looks. So romantic!
This beautiful mirror was free! My landlord found this on the curb of someone's house and she thought of me. Wasn't that nice! I LOVE it. I painted it white and added it to my mirror collection on the stairway but I haven't taken a picture of it yet. See the mirror at the top...it has etchings on it. I love it!
This is a mirror I found at the thrift store for $3. I painted this white also and put it in my stairway. I also found another mirror which I forgot to take a picture of.
My mom gave me the large white birdcage the when I saw her a couple weeks ago and then I found this small one at the thrift store for $4 and I thought they would look cute together. I painted the brown one white of course. I have them sitting on top of my fridge in my kitchen now.
And last but not least I found this cherub at the thrift store for $4. I'm really into cherubs lately. I loved the paint finish on him but the white plaster showing through looked horrible so I painted him white and then antiqued him. He is hanging on my mirrored staircase just below the small mirror I showed you above. I put my one and only dried hydrangea in him but I need to find some more dried hydrangeas to add to it. Wow, that's a whole lot of stuff to bring into an already full apartment in just 3 days but I love every one of them!

Smiles & update on the table

JO at Neere An Dear Creations & Designs has given me a "You Make Me Smile Award". Thank you! What a great thing it is to make someone smile. I wish I could see all you you out there smiling at your computers. I think it's so funny when I go by someone's cubicle at work and they are staring at the monitor with a big smile on their face...I know they're not working!

I'm supposed to send this on to 10 other bloggers that make me smile but I'm not going to do that. I know, I'm a party-pooper. I just have a hard time passing these on for two reasons. I hate to single out a few blogs because there are so many I like and I would hate to send this to someone who hates getting tagged. All your comments make me smile, so if you've left me a comment I would like to give this award to you.

Just to update you all on the table from yesterday's post. I have decided to paint it! I love it and I can't imagine selling it but if it's going to live in my house it must painted! I'm not an expert in antiques but from what I understand, is that you never want to paint an old painted piece and I would never do that. If I ever wanted to I could strip the paint off this table and refinish the wood so I'm not ruining the table by painting it. Hopefully this weekend I will get started on it!

Look what I found on Craigslist!

Click on photos to enlarge

I found this beautiful 2 tiered square table on Craigslist for $35. When I saw it on there I thought for sure someone would have already bought it because it was on there about 3 hours before I saw it. An antique table for $35 won't last long around here, things on Craigslist are sold so quickly! I took my chance and responded to the ad and was suprised it was still available!
Look at carving on the sides of each tier. The center post and legs are also carved.
Yep, I'll be painting it white and glazing it so the carvings show up...yikes I'm almost afraid to say that after that mean comment someone left me about what a crime it is to paint wood furniture!

Updated: Thanks for the comment Cheryl. I am afraid to paint it. I was going to do it today but I think I'll wait. The maker is Zangerle & Peterson from Chicago. I guess I should learn more about it before I paint it!

How nice!

There are a lot of links in this post so make sure you click on the green text to follow the link...


I've seen other bloggers get messages from various people they've written about on their blogs. Cherry Menlove received an email from Susan Branch after she wrote a lovely post about her. Tracey received a nice email from Kimberly Kennedy after she gave her book rave reviews and now Linda received an email from Matthew Mead! Well, now I can say it happened to me too! Cassie Chappell (Mommy Makes Roses) left a wonderful comment last week on my post about her coffee filter roses that I made! Wow, that was so sweet of her! Okay ~ so now I can say I have one degree separation from Martha Stewart...I hope everyone knows what I'm talking about...the six degrees of separation thing.


Okay, so now I think it's time that Brian Dennehy sent Suzie Q. and email! Come on Brian...send her an email! I lost track of how many times your name was mentioned on her blog!


I'm curious...if you have received an email about someone you wrote about on your blog, leave a comment and let us all know!

Mr. Scarecrow

This is a scarecrow that my dad made. I just love him! I think this weekend I'll buy a couple more pumpkins to put around him. I like to have some extra pumpkins to paint silver or gold after Thanksgiving and keep around through the Christmas Holiday.

Rosemary Topiary

Remember when I bought some rosemary plants and did my little project to turn them into a topiary (click here)? Well, don't be impressed because this is not one of them. Actually, to be honest both of those died. I'm not sure if I killed it by stripping it almost naked or if the heat killed it. Maybe the yogurt I smeared on the planter killed it...who knows??? Luckily I found this one at Trader Joe's last weekend for only $6.99. It came in a plastic pot so I transplanted into this terracotta planter for now. I'm going to be on the look out for a more decorative one ~ more romantic looking. I think I'll wait to see if I can keep it alive first.

Gifts & Prizes!

Yesterday I received 3 package deliveries! Two were prizes I won from other bloggers and one box was a gift from Debbie, who is a new reader of my blog who asked if she could send me something. This adorable lined wicker tote basket is what she sent me. I love it! The amazing this is that this is exactly what I wanted to hold my knitting project! Look at the beautiful lining inside it! Blue...you know I LOVE blue!

She also sent this cute little dark blue bag! It's just so elegant!

And if that weren't enough goodies she sent me this beautiful heart. If you read Fifi's blog this may look familiar. Fifi also received beautiful gifts from Debbie!

Last week on Crystal's blog, Fairiebees, I won this cute little bunny in a rocker that she made! I can't believe she made this...it's so tiny. It will go in the doll house that I plan to buy someday but for now it's on my dresser.

Also, last week I won a giveaway on Karla blog, Karla's Cottage! The giveaway was for the new issue of Romantic Country Magazine which has her lovely home in it. With the magazine she included this tag that she made for me. I hung it on my old screen door that I have in my bedroom.

Thank you so much to Debbie, Crystal and Karla for the wonderful gifts! Remember last week I received a gift from Fifi too! Click here if you missed seeing that post.

Dried Hydrangeas & Tagged again

One of my readers, Renata, emailed me this beautiful photo of her hydrangeas that she is drying. This makes me wish I didn't cut all my hydrangeas in the summer to make bouquets like the one below. I did have one left on my bush so I cut it off yesterday and I'm going to dry it. Maybe next year I will be able to restrain myself from cutting them so I can dry them and enjoy their beauty so much longer!

Also, Brenda has tagged me with the 7 things you don't know about me. This is getting harder to do because I've already told you so much about me already but I'll give it a try.

1. I just joined a Supper Club. I was in one before but we could never find a time when everyone was available to meet for dinner so it just fizzled out. Cooking Light Magazine has a place on their website where you can find other people in your area that want to start a supper club or as in my case a Supper Club that is looking for new members. In case you never heard of this before ~ you get together with about 5 others and either bring food or cook at the host's home. Usually there is a theme. The theme for the one I'm going to this month is "Tapas." It should be a lot of fun.

2. I'm REALLY afraid of spiders. If they're outside it's not so bad but if they are in the house I freak out. This is not a good fear to have when you are a single mom and you've raised a daughter to be freaked out by spiders too. We scream a lot and try to figure out who will kill it and how. I'm sure it would be very comical to someone watching us.

3. I love brussel sprouts and so do my kids!

4. I love to cook and bake.

5. Sometimes I have so many emails in my personal email box that I just delete them all to start over and hope that there wasn't something important in there. I apologize if you sent me an email and I didn't' respond. I really try not to do this and I think I reply to about 99.9% of them but I find it really hard to keep up sometimes.

6. I grew up in 4 different houses by the time I was 10. My parents would buy a house, fix it up and then sell it.

7. I went bungee jumping to celebrate my 30th birthday and I did it twice. It was fun but now I have a fear of heights that I didn't have before I did it. I must be getting old because I can't imagine bungee jumping now!

As usual, I'm not going to tag anyone but if you would like to do it, consider yourself tagged.