A Fine Change

I inherited a china cabinet from my MIL and have always had it full of a bunch china and tea cups she gave me. Now don't get me wrong the items are lovely but not in my color scheme so I decided to take it all out and replace them with the colors I love and items I have collected. Here are some pics and you will notice a lot of red. I have touches of red in every room. I am really into neutrals and browns, black and red. Joining Sue for Rednesday It's A Very Cherry World and Savvy Southern Style for her B&A Party.I'm also linking with My Romantic Home and Mustard Seed Creations and finally French Country Cottage. Please visit them to see all the great links to the other blogs that are participating. So many great ideas out there I could spend the whole day just blog hoppin'.

 I'm thinking of painting this piece black. Not sure how that will look but it might really make a nice change.

 I have been collecting red transferware for years and love to now get to display it.

 I have a lot of roosters and chickens throughout my house.

 I saved this little card and love to think of my hubs whenever I walk by.

Touches of red make me happy!

Happy Halloween!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
I am steeling myself for a weekend full of Halloween fun. Today is grocery shopping for the weekend. Tomorrow is pumpkin carving which my family takes very seriously. We all carve a pumpkin and choose a winner by secret ballot. Then to a party at my SIL's house Sat. night. Sunday we host our annual Halloween potluck and while the dad's hang back at the house, us mom's take any of the kids that are trick or treating out for their loot. Whew! Jam packed. Can't wait as we love our Halloween fun around here. Have fun everyone whatever you do this weekend.

Do You Know What This Is?

It's a 1958 Western Holly Oven. It is where I bake and prepare meals for the fam. Original to the house, the only problem I have had with it is the door spring broke. I found, by searching the internet, a business that repairs and restores this brand and other vintage ovens and stoves not 30 miles from my home. I love it and hope it lasts. Bakes like a charm and is a conversation piece when others come to my house for the first time.

The house we live in we bought from my husband's mother after her mother passed away so it was his grandmother's house. She was the original owner and took wonderful care of her home. I'm sure we have abused it far more in the last nine years, than she did in the almost 50 years she owned it. Some other vintage items we inherited were a drawer full of old recipe booklets.

 Oops. Did this one twice.

Is this a riot? What pie doesn't a man like?

Twenty cents? Boy that dates this booklet. I couldn't find the date in it anywhere but I love the bright red color.

 Don't you love this title?

Avocados are essential in our house. We eat one of those little bags of them every week. Joining the The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Rednesday!

I love the color red. I am joining Sue at It's A Very Cherry World for Rednesday.

 Bought a set of 4 of these Red Chairs at the thrift store. Score!

 Still able to buy strawberries here with our mild climate. My daughter's favorite.

So bad. I made a coffee with a scoop of vanilla, and topped with chocolate. I must have been feeling really weak that day. I try not to indulge too often.

Pumpkin Fun!

We were able to take a trip to a beloved pumpkin patch that we used to go to when our 19 and 16 year old were toddlers. To now take my two year old there so many years later was a real treat and besides making me feel a little melancholy, it was so fun to see it thru a two year old's eyes.
It has gone a little commercial since the old days, but the animals made it very fun for my little one.
As we left a storm was rolling in and we could hear thunder in the distance. So fallish for So. Calif. where October can be down right hot.

I love these pumpkins. Anyone know what they are called?

 Now she's thinking this is a pumpkin her size.

 I am not kidding when I say that was the biggest pig I have ever seen.

 A wonderful furry breed of Scottish cattle.

This was the funniest thing. These goats walk along all these ramps way up high into little houses. They were all peaking out of windows.

We left just as a storm rolled in. I love October.

Linking up with A Southern Daydreamer and Cherries in the Garden & more

Project: Organize incoming paperwork

I have a small space in my kitchen that acts as a catch-all for mail, paperwork and kid's stuff. It is always piled within a few days of cleaning it up so I used an idea I saw to help sort and contain the incoming paperwork.
Here is what it looked like before:

Messy. I  know you don't have to tell me. So here is what I did. I took one of those magazine organizers, some decorative cardstock and some letter stamps to make a paperwork organizer. Of course this is just to handle the papers that need to be dealt with as I sort them each day.

I decided on four categories. To do, bills, kids and file. So things I need to deal with, bills I need to pay or file with my monthly bills, paperwork that needs to be dealt with for the kids and lastly paperwork that needs to be filed away for long term. I stamped away and for those that are crafty, I admit that I am not.

I cut the cardstock to fit and filed away my paperwork and now I have this:

Much improved. So today when I needed to turn in a fundraiser for one of the kids, bam there it was in the kids section and when I needed to call our insurance company with a question, there was the paperwork right there neatly in the to do section. Now I want to give credit to Northern Cheapskate for the idea as I saw this on her blog many months ago but never got around to doing it. I am pleased with the outcome.
Linking up with Tip Junkie for Tip Me Tuesday and A Bowl Full of Lemons


Linking up with Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday.

Happy Halloween!!

A few more decorations around my home.

This is a cake stand I added a web doilie to and piled some goodies on.

And lastly a Halloween October sky!

We left just as the thunder rolled in and the drops started to fall. Happy Halloween!
Linking up with The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.

New Kicks

When you have four daughters, one of which starting nursing school this year, you don't often find much left over in the clothing budget for yourself. I have never bought so few clothes as I did this year. Part of me wants to be a better steward of what I already have and make it last. I am really working on contentment. I am feeling happier these days keeping my focus on the family and keeping the house neat and clean. Of course I have a two year old who is always making a mess but I am keeping my focus on just being happy with what I have. I suppose this economy has forced lots of people to re-examine their lives but I have just wanted to get basic.You know like putting good food on the table and organizing things around the house.. Does this make any sense?

Anyway, I did finally get out to go shopping with my two oldest girls and we went to TJ Maxx where I found these great new tennies. Yellow plaid how cute is that? My kids loved them too. Then when I got home, my SIL had dropped of some clothes she didn't want and look at this sweater. Isn't it too cute. I've been told I use the word cute too much.

The Results of a Very Cheap Bathroom Re-do

 

Way back over Memorial Day I wrote about how we were going to re-do our bathroom or actually just spruce it up with paint and few things changed around in the bathroom. Well we are finally done. Projects never happen very fast around here as my hubby works a lot of weekends so I am happy to report it is done. We bought paint at ACE Hardware and submitted for the $5 rebate. So in all with another coupon I had we spent $11 on sprucing up our my bathroom.

Nothing is new, we just decided to paint it in a lighter color and keep a monochromatic scheme. The mirror was an old green thing (my MIL's when she was young) that I painted and aged with some stain and did the same treatment on the medicine cabinet. Pulling pictures and things from other rooms that fall into the same colors was all we did to decorate it. I also hung an antique rug beater in there. I love it. I walk in and feel so happy to see it so bright and fresh. I am linking with the Colorado Lady's Vintage Thingy Thursday so check out all the other wonderful vintage finds at The Colorado Lady. Also linking with The Shabby Chic Cottage and Funky Junk Interiors. And last but not least, The Shabby Nest and Savvy Southern Style

Miracle Cleaner?

Today I was wiping down my tile backsplash and was so so about the results. Some of the grease splatters were still stuck on the tile. Well I wanted to hang a picture with one of those 3M velcro great sticky picture hangers. Like my description? Anyway, it recommended wiping the tile down with rubbing alcohol before applying the picture hanger and when I did I noticed it wonderfully cleaned the area. Even after I had already cleaned it with a kitchen spray cleaner. So I wiped the entire backsplash down with the alcohol and it removed all the grease build up and any dirt and it was so shiny I literally could see myself in the reflection. Who knew? I immediately placed the bottle of alcohol underneath the sink with all my other cleaners. Small things like my reflection in the backsplash make me happy. I kept looking at it today and loving how clean it seemed. Now I have to see what else this might clean. Within reason of course.

Linking to:
BNOTP
The Stuff of Success

Fall Gardening

To live in Southern California is a gardener's dream. Outside of a couple summer months of hot weather, you can garden and have flowers all year here. Gardening has become my therapy, not work, but something I do just for me. When I am outside with my kids, I can putter around and enjoy just hanging out with them and sprucing up my yard. Eight years ago, both of my parents died within three months of each other, and if it wasn't for gardening, I would have never survived the journey with my head intact. In fact, we held my father's memorial in my back yard, on the very brick patio he laid just months prior to his passing. He was a very skilled mason. My yard was filled with flowers and was a perfect setting. Many people told us that it was one of the nicest memorials, if they can be nice, that they had attended. Most tolerable maybe. Kidding aside, it was a loving tribute to my dad. Anyway, now that we are all depressed, I'll share some pics of my yard that I took last weekend. Not a  lot in bloom these days as I have a two year old that takes up loads of time so I don't get to garden as intensively right now.

This dahlia just rambles haphazardly all over this planter. I planted it about six years ago and it just keeps coming up every year. We don't have to dig them up for the winter in SoCal.

We had such a cool summer that I had nasturtiums for the entire season. Unheard of.

I feel like going to the nursery. I'd rather go shopping at the nursery than the mall any day. Strange I know. I'm linking up with A Southern Daydreamer for outdoor Wednesday. She has an absolutely lovely blog. I'm also linking up with My Romantic Home. Her current post has the most to die for hutch. Linking up with The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays. Her post on the Hamptons is charming and check out her post with her Halloween tablescape. It is unbelievable.