~Storage~

I am not sure that this picture is Show & Tell worthy but I always like to have a look at service areas in houses so I thought you might too.

This beat up old painted cupboard has traveled with us from house to house and is used for the storage space it provides. In one house it was by the back door and held kitchen things that didn't fit in our small kitchen. In the next house it was in the garage to holding garden tools, pots and potting soil.

In this house it is in the basement holding extra dishes.
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Thanks for coming by for Show & Tell Friday and thank you Cindy at
My Romantic Home
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Bernie, Cathy and the kids will be here to trick or treat and spend the night Saturday. Sunday I will be heading up north to watch Dana's boys for a few days at the guest house so I will blog from there the first of next week.
~

Try not to eat too much Halloween candy this weekend.
Hugs,
Sue

Halloween Tablescape For Two

This week I set up the kitchen table for two on my faded place mats and napkins. They are old but only get used during Halloween so they have held up pretty well. The pumpkin on the black pedestal came from the Hobby Lobby this year.
The leaf plates are from Big Lot's in Mt. Pleasant before they closed a few years ago. The green base plate if from Pier 1 last year. We got the little all bees wax votive candles this year at the Victorian Festival in Novi. They are sitting in my old little green depression glass cups that hold syrup in them when I make pancakes for the kids or raisins when I make them oatmeal.

The three tiered stand came from The Basket Tree, a cute little shop in Mt. Pleasant. Last year I bought two of them, one for me and one for Dana for Christmas. They have really come in handy for creating height in seasonal decorating. I think the fruit topiary also came from Big Lots along with the leaf plates. The amber glasses you have seen before.
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The flat ware is what we use every day and has been in many of my tablescapes but I do not think I ever said what kind it was. It is Reed & Barton's, Francis 1st. My Mother started buying it for us, a place setting at a time, for Christmas many years ago. Over the years I have added different serving pieces to the collection and now have a nice set. I have a set of Ice Tea spoons on my wish list if anybody is interested ,).

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Thanks for coming by. Susan at Between Naps On The Porch is the lovely hostess for this weekly event.

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Happy Tablescape Thursday,
Hugs,
Sue

Happy Birthday Angie

This is Angie, one of our daughters-in love. Today she is celebrating her birthday. In this picture she is holding baby Nolan. It is hard to find a picture of Ang where she is not holding a baby. Angie and our son Aaron met in college and have been married now for over 10 years. They have three beautiful children that keep her busy full time. When their second baby came along she retired from school teaching to devote herself to her family full time.

~

If you have been a reader of Life At Home for a long time you will remember what a wonderful job she did devoting all of her attention to Aaron when he was going through his battle with Steven-Johnson's syndrome. She is one amazing angel.

~

Happy Birthday Angie, we love you with all our hearts.

Wow, this is the second birthday post that was never published that I found in my drafts.  It is so funny reading this now especially the part about Angie always having a baby in her arms.  Angie has now taken up photography and photographs mostly, guess what????

B A B I E S

Our Angie has a very special talent.  Her heart for these little ones found its fulfillment capturing their true essence on film for their families to treasure forever.  Hers is a real story of finding your passion and developing it in service to others.  In it one will find great joy and Angie has.

Love you Angie

You can see her work at
A.E.WhitePhotography.com

~ A Flair for Living ~

A stack of books in my living room ready for reading.
One of the books in the stack is just like one of my favorite decorators.

Charlotte Moss has this same book in her stack too. This picture is from her book:

~ Charlotte Moss ~ A Flair for Living.

Weekend Recap

To get ready for the busy weekend I dismantled the Tablescape Thursday kitchen table and moved the bunny with my Sweetest Day roses into the foyer.
Dana and the boys came down to go to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon down here. Between the main event the boys watched a 3-D movie
and Dana fluffed up the mantel.
~
We did a little outdoor seasonal decorating, worked on Dana's computer generated house of the moment, and did a whole lot of Christmas shopping.
~
After a full day of Christmas shopping Dana and the boys headed home and John and I fought traffic jams and went across town to watch Luke play hockey. It was a very full weekend that I thought would leave me exhausted but surprisingly it did not and I am ready to go today. Oh, I even stayed up long enough to watch Mad Men in real time which is rare, I usually watch it via Direct TV on Monday afternoon.

Hope you all had a good weekend.


Hugs,
Sue

~ MacKenzie-Child's Lamp ~

Thank you Cindy at My Romantic Home for hosting another fun Show & Tell Friday.

Today I thought you might like to see this table lamp in our living room. The crazy color of the lamp shade dictated the wild wall color of this room. This whimsical, novelty lamp by MacKenzie-Childs is a good size to fit between two chairs in our bay window.
This is the base that has four fantastically painted dogs supporting the lamp. We like the whimsical nature of this lamp with the juxtaposition against our mostly traditional furniture and accessories to personalize our home and give it a more casual fun feel. The grandchildren love it and have had many a tea party on it using my Mother's old pewter tea set for their toy.

Don't you love Cindy's picture that she uses to tag participants in her Show and Tell Friday party? I just think it is so pretty. It reminds me of photos by Toshi Otsuki in the old Victoria magazine.
So, to see more of Show and Tell Friday or join in you might want to stop by My Romantic Home and take a look around.

Thanks for coming by and visiting, it is always good to hear from you.

Hugs,
Sue

Majolica Morning ~ Happy Birthday Sheryl

Welcome to another Tablescape Thursday sponsored by Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.
In honor of my friend Sheryl at Friendship Cottage who is celebrating her birthday today I set up this breakfast table pretending that she and the girls were here celebrating after a sleep over.

Just a simple breakfast of some fruit, toast with jelly, juice, coffee and maybe some scrambled eggs if anybody is up to fixing them.

Ooops, I forgot the napkins! We are going to need them if we attempt cracking open that juicy pomegranate at the table.

To see more Tablescapes or join in on the fun you can visit Susan at Between Naps On The Porch.

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Happy Tablescape Thursday and Happy Birthday Sheryl.

~

Hugs,

Sue

Something Is Not Right

While packing to go up north a couple of weeks ago it was a struggle to find shirts to take for John that were not frayed around the edges. That five o'clock shadow wreaks havoc on the collar of his shirts. During the summer he wears polo or golf shirts but when the weather starts to cool off he switches to oxford cloth all cotton button-down shirts. ~
After inventorying the shirts that could be salvaged I placed an order for a fresh batch of shirts to fill in the gaps. The shirts arrived last Thursday so I unpacked the box, took off the tags and gave them a quick press before hanging them in his closet.
~
Something is not right. Can you tell what it is?

~ MAC in Lillyland (Lilly Pulitzer) Collection ~

Good morning ladies. Thought I would share some pretty pink and green with you all this morning.

~

MAC cosmetics have been a favorite of mine for years. The only thing I use from the foundation or skin care line is their StudioFix foundation in a compact. The NW25 color matches my pasty skin tone perfectly and is so easy to slap on for a quick fix.

Their color line though is fabulous. It has a broad range of colors in eyeshadow, eye kohl, lipstick, lipliners and blush that is highly pigmented, blendable and long wearing for a fairly reasonable price.
January 7, 2010 is the launch date in the U.S. for the new:
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MAC in Lillyland (Lilly Pulitzer) Collection
~ Looks like the perfect complement of colors for all the Lilly lovers out there and the launch will be just in time for the resort season.
~
Hugs,
Sue

~
Photos from http://www.temptalia.com/mac-in-lillyland-lilly-pulitzer-collection

Time To Get Busy

Hope you all had a good weekend. I never really think about Sweetest Day so I was very pleasantly surprised when John came home from work Friday with these pretty roses, a sweet card and tickets to see the play Legally Blonde downtown Saturday night for Sweetest Day. We worked around the house Saturday and then friends joined us for dinner and the play Saturday night. We had a very nice quiet weekend.
Now it is time to get my feather duster flying.

When I get behind with my house work I revert back to The FlyLady for guidance.


Today the plan is to complete the Monday: Home Blessing Hour.
Cull/toss old Magazines
Change sheets.
Empty all the trash.
Vacuum all rooms.
Mop kitchen and bath.
Clean mirrors and doors.
Feather Dust furniture.


Have y'all heard of The FlyLady? Any FlyLadie's around here?
~
If you are overcome with C H A O S (Can't Have Anybody Over Syndrome) you might want to check out her website.
~
I have used routines most of my life but around 2003 The FlyLady came into my life with her daily email reminders of BabySteps to help reduce and remove the CHAOS and disorganization in our homes. When I get side tracked I go back to basics with the FlyLady and before I know it I'm back on track. So, this morning I'm pulling out my Control Journal and getting busy.

Happy Monday!

~Show and Tell Friday~

Yesterday when I was around visiting, Cindy's post with her fall decor caught my eye. I love the way she uses blue and white and the way she used it in her fall decor had me in a swoon. Anyway, I went back today to look at it again and saw that she hosts a Show and Tell Friday. Since I did not have time today to post the post I have been working on I decided to join in the Show and Tell fun. I hope you enjoy my blurry little offering.
When I had the store we carried the Halcyon Day Enamel
line of boxes. They are precious little boxes that The Queen of England has commissioned from the company and sometimes gives out as gifts.

Well, they were a little high end for my tiny shop so when I closed the store they became part of my private personal collection. I know, I know if I had not bought these high end little treasures and a few things like them I would probably not have had to close the store. Be that as it may, these little boxes are sweet little reminders of a lesson learned and on the other hand many fond memories that were created along the way.

As my husband reminds me I am not the Queen of England.

When the urge strikes me to venture back into retail I look at my little boxes, some of which have been given to me, and I remind myself that even the beloved Charlotte Moss closed her shop.

I hope you enjoyed this little Show and Tell 'All' Friday. To see other Show and Teller's or to join in go to Cindy's at My Romantic Home and look around or sign up.

~

Enjoy the weekend blogger's. I will talk to you next week.

~

Hugs,

Sue

~ Dinner In The Kitchen ~

Hi Tablescaper's and visitor's. We are having take out Chicken Parmesan and a green salad tonight for dinner so I thought I would set the table early to join in Tablescape Thursday that Susan at Between Naps On The Porch so graciously hosts each week.

Earlier this fall after having our usual Friday night dinner at Brio on the porch in the Partridge Creek Mall near our house John wanted to look at surround sounds at Bose so I ran into Sur La Table that is right next door. My mission was to pick up some steak knives but these pretty Italian, Deruta Earthenware dishes caught my eye and some how ended up coming home with me.

They seem to look nice with this dried flower arrangement.


I like the natural flowers mixed with dried pods. They add nice texture to the tablescape.



A little candle light and the table is all set for dinner.

Thanks for coming by and be sure to check out the other tablescapers at Between Naps On The Porch.

Happy Thursday,
Hugs,
Sue

~ Kaffe Fassett ~

Last Mother's Day Dana, Angie and I celebrated the occasion with a weekend trip to Mackinac Island and a stay at The Grand Hotel.
A copy of this picture had been in my idea folder forever just because it had so many of my favorite things incorporated into it. Rose printed chintz, pitchers, blue and white, a green background and the fact that they were all beautifully combined, what's not to love. Who created this beauty never really even crossed my mind.

We were enjoying our getaway and a lot of laughs. The girls wanted to have spa treatments so I walked down with them to the spa at The Grand to arrange the appointments. It was then that I spotted a poster with my beloved picture on it announcing a seminar in the Grand Ballroom by the artist.

Off I went to sign up. Well, did I get an unexpected treat. The artist, Kaffe Fassett, is amazing. He is a multi-media artist that creates off the cuff art using paint, needlepoint, ceramic, stone, yarn and a number of other mediums.

His lecture had me spellbound. I couldn't wait to meet up with the girls and fill them in on my new discovery. After sharing the news we headed into the area they had set up to sell some of his wares.

A lovely lady in the yarn shop hooked us up with three skeins of yarn and three sets of knitting needles and a promise to meet us in the parlor after dinner and teach us how to knit. I used to knit a little and got the girls started a bit but by the time the knitting teachers showed up we were ripping up our teaching pieces and starting over the correct way.

The yarn that we were using is yarn created by Kaffe Fassett. It is a variegated color yarn that has flecks of other colors incorporated in it, kind of like a Harris Tweed type thing.

We sat in the parlor of The Grand knitting away that night until our fingers were sore. We knitted and talked about the amazing Kaffe Fassett. As it turned out the hotel was full of Fassett groupies that had assembled from all over the country to hear the Master speak. We just fell into the whole scene and loved every minute of it.

The thing that I took away from Fassett's lecture the most was his decree to just jump in and do it. Kind of like the Nike slogan on steroids. Since hearing him I have picked up my needlepoint projects that have languished in drawers and have started to just do it. They are not perfect but I'm doing it.

I still haven't finished anything and my knitting project with the beautiful yarn has been untouched since last May, but I am inspired.

Dana did finish her knitting project. If you go to her blog you can see pictures of the fruits of her labor snuggling around the sweet little neck of Nolan.

Here is some background from the jacket of Fassett's book "Glorious Interiors":

Kaffe Fassett is world renowned for his knitting and needlepoint. His work is included in many important textile collections and was exhibited in an extraordinarily successful retrospective in l988 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was born in San Francisco and studied painting at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston before picking up his first pair of knitting needles on a train trip through rural England. He now lives in London, where he does design and commissioned needlework. He is the author of six books on knitting and needlepoint: Kaffe's Classics, Glorious Knits, Glorious Needlepoint, Kaffe Fasset at the V&A, Family Album and Glorious Inspiration.

Recently Kaffe has branched out into other areas of textile design. After having much success with his collections of upholstery fabrics and wallpapers, he has gone on to design five major tapestries for the Edinburg Tapestry Weavers in Scotland. These tapestries are now being exhibited along with his other work in a worldwide art tour. Kaffe has also begun experimenting with larger projects, such as set and costume design, and he has already completed the work for his first ballet, D'Ensemble, where he has flooded the set and costumes with the vibrant colors that are his hallmark. Kaffe also spends a great deal of time traveling the world, lecturing and giving workshops with his assistant and fellow designer, Brandon Mably.

~

The girls did not get to go to the lecture but as luck would have it, on Sunday morning as we were waiting for the carriage to take us down to the boat Mr. Fassett came strolling out onto the porch and was most gracious with his time. We spent that time taking in his awsome willingness to share of himself and his talents. He was wearing a scarf made out of the very same wool that we had tucked in our bags in hope of one day completing. Kaffe Fassett is a very dear man.