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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Open House Sunday

Dallas Home
built 2007
Though this home was built in 2007, it feels like an older home.
Love those floors.
Interesting color for the walls in this room...a dusty lavender.
The perfect men's library/office.
A lovely traditional blue room.
Notice the collection of shells in the lighted bookcase.
Love those huge lamps
This is a wow of a kitchen.
I really like it when a stove is built into an alcove like this...it's very vintage in style.
Great stove hood too.
I like the mix in the cabinet colors.
Love the marble counter tops.
Small easy chairs at ends of table are nice.
Great built in desk. How about that chair cover?
Very pretty dining room. Love love love all the blue.
Hate hate hate that rug in this room.
Really like the mantel piled high with dishes.
That must be a butler's pantry through the arch.
Pretty but plain bedroom. Love the bed and bedding.
Very nice master bath. The baths have beautiful finishes....I just wish they were a little more vintage in style. Really like the color on the walls.
This is a different bathroom.
Nice stone patio...oh...I wish I had this off the back of my house.

Doesn't it feel like an old house?

See the full listing here.

Today Mom was tired but still good.
Says her pain level is at a two.
I am not sure how that could be but she swears it is.
She won't take anything but tylenol.
I keep telling her that it's ok to take some pain meds...especially now.

She says she just doesn't need it.

I picked up her dogs today and now have seven dogs in my house. 
The dog juggling begins.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Update on Mom

The Happiest Patient in the World
A quick update on Mom.
Alice
She took a long while to wake up and breath on her own....like 12 hours.
I now know that heart surgery is just not science but an art form.
What a balancing act to keep her alive those first twelve hours.

Yes, the doctor did a great job on her surgery...but the nurses kept her alive.
The nurses made it a success.
I can't imagine the stress of this job...but then there are great rewards too.

So...
She finally awoke at 4am and started breathing on her own.
She woke smiling and wiggling her feet...ready to dance.

Once she was ok'd to talk...she would not shut up.
She was full of joy.
So happy to have made it.
She kept saying she wasn't in any pain.

She ate three times yesterday and was looking forward to 
trying all the great food on the menu during her stay.

She kept saying that staying at that hospital,
The Oklahoma Heart Hospital, was like staying in a fine hotel.
You order room service for food off a menu full of heart healthy choices.

I have to say the food was so great....we both think we might have to go there for eating out in the future.

She was up walking three times. 

I didn't sleep for over 38 hours so I finally came home and dropped.

I'm going back here in just a little and as long as she is still doing well....
I will then go get her dogs. 

The nurses and doctors all said she was doing incredibly well.
They'd never seen such a happy patient.

She was so relieved to be alive.
She was like Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning!

She talked all day.
Never slept. 
I thought I'd sleep while she rested...but she never rested.

We'll see how she is today.

I hope good. But I expect her to be tired after so much yesterday.

I'm sure it was the drugs that boosted her. 

I appreciate so much all your comments and emails and wanted to let you know all is good.

I will post as soon as I can more.

The little dog is still at the vet.

I'll look for lost dog signs today.

I'll do something about him next week.

Anyway...Alice is good.
She's happy.
She's looking forward to being back at all her projects and chores.

And she's looking forward to eating her way through the hospital menu before getting out of there.
She may pretend to be sicker than she is to stay and continue getting treated like a queen.

She is the one always caring for everyone else, so she feels very spoiled having everyone care for her.

I'll be back soon.
I'll try to have an Open House up tomorrow and will if all continues to go well.

I'm looking forward to the New Year.
I feel like I've been just barely getting by in so many ways the last two years.

I'm hoping to focus on me in the new year and getting back to posting projects on this blog.

A service will be held for Shannon next Sunday.
We will all remember how special she was, always.

But today is for the living and so Mom and I are going to live.

See you soon!

Thanks for being there!

Thursday, December 27, 2012

When it Snows

It's a Blizzard
A blizzard of problems.

Today is my Mom's surgery...but I came home at midnight last night to find 
the above on my back deck.

This is not a photo of him...but he looks exactly like this.
I don't have time to take a photo.

I am posting this in hopes that someone in my neighborhood reads this blog and 
claims him.

I'm sure he is someones dog but no tag.
He is fat and healthy and has soft feet.
I'm sure he went out last night to use the bathroom and got lost.

My dogs all ran outside last night and circled around him.
It was dark.
I thought they had another opossum cornered. 
I turned on the light but still could not see in to the corner well to see what they had surrounded.

He started to move towards me...he's grey and at first I thought he was a giant rat.
Then a cat...but then I realized...no...he's a dog.
A weird little dog almost frozen to death.

I scooped him up and wrapped him in a blanket and put him in the bathroom.
Baby gated in.

Harvey was fascinated by him.
He barked for at least two hours at him.

But finally, all settled down to sleep with me and left him to slumber in the bathroom
wrapped up in several blankets.

Today, I am taking him to my vet to board because I just cannot 
leave him here with my dogs...since they barely know each other.

It would probably be ok...but too big a risk considering
how busy I will be.

I know someone is crying over him.
He is very sweet and used to being held a lot.

I'll take him to my vet to board and when Mom is doing ok...I'll search for his owners.
I did post on some pet sites and Craigslist last night.
I'll call the paper and run a Classified too.

I felt like I couldn't handle another thing right now...but that is the way things go.
There is always something else.

This would be no big deal if my Mom weren't having surgery.
Drat.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Mod Mix Monday #82

Yes, it's late...
Two days late...but I wanted to get my favorite picks up since
I'll be away from the blog for a few days.

Isn't that a fun small kitchen above?
I love the small scale of everything and the color.

Thanks so much to all of you for your encouraging comments the last few days.

I'll be writing many of you...but not sure when...since I'll be very busy with Mom soon.

I had a nice Christmas Day.
It was a quiet one.
I made it to my friend's house.
My Mom had to stay at her house which is about 40 minutes away.
But she went over to my sister's, so she had a nice quiet Christmas too.

We had the basics but it was low key this year and I couldn't help but 
think about how different it was than what had been planned.

But it was ok.

I think I've got too much responsibility to be sad right now.
Of course I am so glad to have my dogs.
They are such a comfort.

Soon my Mom's dogs will be here too...
I know that is totally crazy...seven dogs and a woman recuperating from open heart surgery.
But there seems to be no other option and Mom thinks it will be no trouble at all.

I think she is wrong.
But I'll manage somehow.
I'm a master at dog juggling.

Here are my favorites from last week...
Kim at Made in a Day shared how to make five different holiday garlands.
The one above was my favorite.
Laura of Cottage and Broome dumped all her neting santas in a cute little green glass bucket.
Jennifer of Town and Country Living shared her pretty living room all done up for Christmas.
Makes me want to throw all my color out the door.
Angela at Hickory Trail shared her Christmas decorating.
Love the chalkboard over this serving cart filled with hot coco supplies.
Musebootsi shared this cute pom pom garland she made.
Super fun.

Really great stuff...huh?

Thanks again for being there for me.
I'll be checking in with news on how my Mom is.

I'll be so happy to have her here with me and on the mend.

I am a little numb at the moment.
I'll get my Mom well and then I am just going to focus on the pretty stuff again.

Share your Mod Mixes for this week below.
Remember anything old made over to be new...anything new changed up to look old.
New and old together...
Please include the Mod Mix Monday logo and back link to me.
Use a permalink to your post, for sure.

If you link up...I'd appreciate it, if you'd follow me.



Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Day

After thought and a little time...
I'm back
Much sooner than I thought.
You cannot imagine how much all your kind words helped.
I cried a lot the first night.
I have to say...I was not crying for Shannon.
She is having a great Christmas with her Dad today.
She no longer has pain.
No one can hurt her.
She was so easily hurt by other's words.
Not that people wanted to hurt her...but 
her sister was awful to her for no reason.
She could say things that just hurt her straight to her soul.

I tried to tell her that she was so much the better person than her sister.
That she was such the greater person and not to care what her sister said or thought.

But she was always, always hurt by her.

A sister who only caused her grief....a sister that only came to see her 
three times while she was ill this last year...and only stayed a few minutes and in 
those minutes always said something that made everything worse.

She would yell at her on the phone that she was going to die.
I would rush over to pick up the pieces to assure her that she was not going to.
That she was good and so many loved her.
Which they did.

I would say that now her sister will have to live the rest of her life knowing what 
she did to her.
But those kind of people never realize the pain they've caused.

Now...on to this Christmas....I cried
the other night thinking that I had no one in my life to share pretty things with.

Shannon always had time for me to rattle on about my favorite Christmas movie
or what thing I wanted to make.

We used to love to go shopping together.
Not for big things but for little things that made us happy.

I so regret all the times I was too busy with work to go have fun with her.

I'd give anything to have that time back.

Then when I did have time...she was too ill to go.
And we only had promises of when we'd go again.

Never to happen.

But today after reading so many thoughtful comments from those I know 
through the blog and those who tell me they've read
for years and just now are commenting on how much they enjoy my blog and to encourage me.
I realize I do have someone to share the little things with.
All of you.
You care...about my little ideas...my plans that sometimes don't come to be and
those that sometimes do get accomplished.

I worked yesterday at Pier 1 till close.
I had looked forward to it earlier in the week, thinking everyone would be in a good mood.

I have to say I dreaded it when I got ready yesterday.
But I put on a new red scarf and went in.

One of the girl's had brought cream cheese with pepper jelly to share with all.

That was so nice.
Shannon and I were to have that for Christmas Eve so I thought of her as I ate it.
I thanked Lee for bringing it but she'll never know how much it really meant to me.
That I took a bite for Shannon each time I ate. 

I thought the shoppers would be fun to work with.
I was wrong...most were desperate.

The amateurs were definitely out.

I did have a new customer that came in that I had only met last week.
She and her husband had just moved to OKC and were furnishing a new place.
She came in and bought some flowers on clearance that I loved yesterday.
Only I loved them in the store, everyone else thought them ugly.
But she loved them. We immediately had hit it off because we both like the same things.

There were a few that came in looking for last minute stocking stuffers.
Some a gift for a sudden house guest.

But then there were the men that came in who obviously didn't want to put 
any thought into a gift for their wife or girlfriend.

They just wanted to buy anything and be done with it.
They'd put it off till the last minute and were put out that they had to do it at all.

They'd only come in Pier 1 because they'd seen the mall parking lot was so awfully full and 
our's by comparison was practically empty.

One guy came in asking for measuring spoons in such a hateful way.
I asked what colors were in her kitchen.
He said he hadn't noticed...she'd just said get her measuring spoons.
She was his girlfriend.

I tried to direct him to the nicest ones.
He bought the cheapest and gaudiest.
If a measuring spoon can be gaudy...yes...they can.

I said to him..."You make me glad I don't have a husband."

Lee gasped and then laughed.
After he left she said she couldn't believe I'd said that.

But all those men made me glad I don't have anyone like that who went out at the very last 
possible moment to buy just anything. And was mad about it.
Amazing how some men can be middle aged and still not get the 
true meaning of Christmas like Charlie Brown learned so easily and 
has taught us all for years and years.

After I got off work...I went to my friend Deidra's to help her move something 
into her house. She is moving back to the neighborhood.

I then rushed to Walmart to pick up a frozen pizza for me in case I got snowed in today
and to get some special canned food for the dogs. 

It was a mad house there.
I noticed police cars in the parking lot just outside the main doors.

Not lights flashing but police standing around by the doors.

I went in it and as I grabbed a cart a man yelled in my ear...
"You have ten minutes to close."
"Ten minutes to get your stuff"

That was all I needed.

I grabbed the few things I needed and was in line by three minutes to 8.
I know this because they were announcing overhead the minutes to 8.
If we were not in line by 8 we could not check out.

People were running all over the store.
I have to say it was the lowest of society.

I vowed to never ever do this again.

I was in line with crack whores and tweakers...criminals and would be criminals.
I held a place in line for a mother who was frantically trying to find 
a gift for her four year old.
She kept saying..."I told my boyfriend we have to have something. I been tellin my son that he 
must be good or Santa won't come."

She said he'd been good...so she had to find him something.
She didn't seem to have any joy in doing this.

She brought up several things and then would run back to try to find something different.
Each time she asked my opinion.

Oh...I wished I'd had enough money to just buy that kid a bunch of nice things
and send home with her.

She decided finally on a set of legos and a small monster truck.

I finally checked out about 8:15 and as I left the check out area
I was stopped and asked if they could see my receipt.

This is the first time this has happened, ever.

I said..."Oh Lord."

Just cause I was surprised.
I couldn't find my receipt...I'd stuck it in my purse.

The person checking said, "I'm sorry...we have to check everyone."

Horrible.

Horrible.

I will never go in Walmart last minute on Christmas Eve...ever again.

It was pure chaos.
It was like shopping at a high security prison.
A girl that worked there was gathering up returns and saying...
"This is hell" 
Straight out loud and I can't say I blamed her.
I told her I felt her pain..that I knew she'd be there for several more hours as I'd done it myself
last year at Target.
(this is why these stores should close at a decent time...it is so unfair to those working)

So it was utter chaos....like shopping in a security prison where the inmates are revolting.

Last time I'd seen that much chaos was at Byron's liquor store at closing time down on 23rd street.
And I'll never ever never do that again either.

People pounding on the doors to be let in for one last bottle. 

I came home and called Shannon's husband and checked on him.
He said he was exhausted.
He'd had people over all day checking on him.

He called me just before he went to bed and asked if it was normal that he 
was scared to be in the house alone.

Yes, I told him...totally normal.
It will take awhile but you will get used to it.


Right now I should be on my way to my other friend Shannon's house.
This is where I always go for Christmas.

But I wanted to just say how much you all mean to me.
Foolish as I am, I am already thinking...next year...next year.
Next year will be a nice Christmas.
I'll make this...

Isn't that precious!
The only thing I have that I can absolutely count on is making pretty things.

Trying to make my life a pretty one.
That can't be taken away from me.
So I will keep doing that and sharing.

I probably will be posting sporadically later in the week as I will be with my Mom.

Thanks for being there for me.

I hope you are having a Lovely Christmas.

I have to say I am lucky to have my Mom, sister and brother in law and my other family...
Peggy, Shannon, Haley and Heather...Jill too.

Shannon's Jeff too.
My Aunt Jane who I spoke with last night.

I will count my blessings.

Merry Christmas

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas in the Dining Room

Not So Merry....
These are photos of my dining room this Christmas. 
I was very excited about decorating it this year.

What you don't see in these photos are the empty storage boxes I photographed around.
I can't show a long view because there is stuff strewn all about.

Sometimes in spite all your best efforts and plans....you have no control over how things go.

I only finished my decorating Saturday night...Sunday morning I was up and getting ready
to move all boxes to storage when I got the call that my friend Shannon
was at the hospital.

A call a few minutes later told me she was gone.
GONE

She died at home shortly after waking this morning.
Just suddenly gone. 

I was dazed....stunned.
I'd spoken to her several times the day before.
I'd spoken to her the night before.
We were to plan our Christmas Eve meal.
It was to include lobster bisque.
That was the only thing we knew for sure.

I was going to shop for it today.

Instead I was at her home with her husband and friends mourning our loss.

Before I went to her home...to sit with her husband...
I took photos of my Christmas mess.
Which truly is what it is now.

A big mess. Life is a big mess.

I should not have even bothered this year.
Now I have it all to put away on top of everything else going on and 
my Mom's fastly approaching surgery.

But...I thought I might as well show what I've done...or it will all be to waste.

But...I think I'll just say I give up.
For now...I just give up.
I'm not going to try any more.
I plan and work and try and hope and wish...
and 
it does no good.

I may not post for awhile.
I hope you all have a nice Christmas...for me
it has turned out just something to get through again
in spite of my best efforts to make it merry.


My friend Shannon was the sweetest, kindest most thoughtful person ever.
She was always trying to figure out what she could do for others to make their lives better.

The last few months we talked a lot about how good things would be
when she was better.
How good next Christmas would be and that we'd make the most of this one.

I was going to make it good - no matter what.

She and her husband surprised me with a new tv last year for Christmas when I was so down
from losing my best friend, Shelly and Newman, also.

It's a good thing we cannot know our future for if we'd known then how 
she'd be gone this Christmas...it would be impossible to go on.

Her husband was everything to her and she everything to him. 
He will need everyone's prayers to keep him going.
He has lived for her for so long.
She has always been his first priority.

There must be something better after this life...she so deserves it.
If anyone ever deserved heaven...it is her.

I'll check in and let you know how my Mom is...but I may not 
do any serious posting for quite awhile...not till my Mom is better.

I just feel like not trying any more.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Surprises


Yesterday when I got home from work...I had an email from
Belinda my Oklahoma friend who I met through blogging.

She said she'd left me a surprise on my porch.

Belinda doesn't have a blog...but she's a great pinner...you'll want to follow her on Pinterest.


I went out to find a package wrapped in adorable snowflake cellophane.
(I must create something with that)
Inside were what looked to be a bunch of little white trees.
Upon taking them out, I realized it was a white feather putz fence.
The sort of fence you'd put around your cardboard putz house village under the tree!

I was beyond thrilled and couldn't believe she'd bought this for me.
Isn't it precious? It has four sides. I just set it up on the coffee table for now...
I'm sure it will be getting a place of honor. Not sure where...but somewhere.

I immediately wrote her to thank her and ask where she'd found such a thing.
Get this.... she found it at a Thrift Store for $2!!!!!!

What a find!!!!

I can't believe she snatched it up for me instead of herself.

It is like brand new too. Amazing...
Another Christmas surprise is that I made these twisty pipe cleaner things for my tree.
I really wanted something to add some whimsy to the tree this year but everything 
I found to stick in ...was way out of my price range.
When poor...you have to get creative. So it occurred to me that I could make something out of 
pipe cleaners to stick in my tree.
This involved twisting the pipe cleaners around a long skinny brush handle...and I had my whimsy.
Let's see my other Christmas surprise is....
My Mom is having open heart surgery on December 27th...we weren't expecting that this year.
That is why I have been lacking in Christmas posts...
I've been working and
going to doctors with Mom and you know....just stuff.

I'll be back tomorrow showing more of my Christmas.
I should have just blown off decorating this year...but I just didn't want to.
So it's all being done last minute and in a rush...but that is ok.

See you tomorrow....