Some Things Never Get Fixed

Waiting for the TV repair man to fix the TV and I spot the missing door handle on the wine cooler.  If it isn't one thing it's another. 

Corralling The Kitchen Clutter

This is my worst hot spot. I have a hard time keeping this area looking neat and clean. 

The solution I am trying out to the clutter is my favorite Spode Blue Italian Platter. 

It looks nice but I fear for its safty. I am such a clutze any more. Forever moving around quickly and getting a lot done was just the way I moved. Age is catching up with me and when I go at my old pace I break a lot. It is so hard to slow down. 

Blue and White

This morning while trying to decide if I wanted to order blue and white planters for the front porch at Greenbrier I came across these old pictures of our house in Mt. Pleasant. While the blue and white worked there I don't think it will work on our bigger brick house now. 

Happy New Year

A Puppy And A Happiness Jar

 Finally a fairly decent picture of Pippa to share with you all.  Isn't she just the cutiest?  God made her this cute to make up for how awful she acts ;)

 At the kennel for the Rochester Leader Dog Academy they have a wall of the breeder dogs so you can see who your puppies parents are.  Here is Pippa's Dad Gabe, a fairly white, yellow Labradore Retriever.  I think she resembles him.

 This is her beautiful, Golden Retriever Mom Abby.  Hopefully Pippa will take on some of Abby's Golden traits as she ages.  She has longish hair on the back of here legs, ears, and chest so I think there is a good chance that she will.

On another note, the other night I went to Homegoods looking for another blue and white lamp for up north and found one that was recommended by one of my pintrest friends, but, unfortunately, it was too big for where I need one.  Over in the accessories section though they had two of these happiness jars that I also need for the mantle so I picked them up.  Unhappily, when we got home and lifted the back door hatch of our SUV one of my happiness jars fell out and smashed to bits.....grrrrrrr.  I have done this so many time and it makes me so mad every time.  Psssst ~ I didn't open the hatch from the inside, but John did......Not that I am blaming him though.  Ok, I am, but anyhow......Any friends, family or fellow bloggers in the Rochester, MI area, if you see one of these at a local Homegoods I would appreciate a heads up so I can replace the one that I (john) broke.  Thanks!!!

Inspiration From Tina

Oh I love this photograph enlargement feature on blogger......Are there any other neat features that I missed out on while I was away from blogging that you can think of?  Do share if you get a minute...

Well, do you all know Tina at The Enchanted Home?  She has a dream house that she has been building and she has shared the journey with her blog readers.  She is more than generous with sources for all kinds of construction items including right down to cabinet hardware.  She has broadened my base of reference in decor.  For example, before Tina I would have been more than happy to have a cute bathroom with maybe a little wallpaper.  Post Tina, all I can think of while doing the bathroom up north is floor to ceiling marble...You should see the beautiful marble variations Tina shares on her blog that she is using in her house.....Well, my little place up north is getting a very scaled down version of http://theenchantedhome.blogspot.com/2012/02/random-musings-on-saturday-afternoon.htmlbut I am loving the wallpaper that she is thinking about using in her kitchen powder room and may use that as inspiration for our guest bathroom.  

So, this morning I go to The Enchanted Home blog for my morning dose of gorgeous and was inspired to change thing up a little bit here at our house.  Tina put some big blue and white urns on her island that I thought looked great so I went around the house and found a pair of urns to put on our island too.  What do you thing?

Hum,,,not sure what is going on with the link feature here but I hope you can find your way to Tina's from this long underlined link that inserted itself into this post.????  

Party

I tried on Saturday to upload this picture with no luck.  My blogger skills are definitly rusty. Anyway, here is a picture of the table set without silverware yet but I wanted to at least get some kind of picture before the party got under way.

See the two lamps on the buffet.  Dana picked them up for me at the Mt. Pleasant TJ's.  Tomorrow I will have close ups of them and details.

Hope you had a good weekend.

Tea and Silver

The forecast for SE Michigan is dreary with rain predicted through the 15th....Yuck!

Since it looks like we will not be getting outside in our gardens any time in the near future here are some pretty flowers that do not need tending for you today.

A couple of weeks ago John and I went on a rare antiquing excursion and picked up this Crabtree & Evelyn tea set and the silver tray that is sets on. I hope this brightens your day.

Also, apparently it is Tartan Day, or something like that. Anyhow, I am waiting for Scot Meacham Wood over at "The Adventures of Tartanscot" to post what he claims will be an abundance of tartan on his blog today. If you are a tartan lover you might want to check out his blog today to see what he has in store. He is amazing and I am sure his post today will not disappoint.

Good Morning

Just stopping by to say hello. Hope all is well with you and yours.

xoxo,

Sue

Time To Get Moving

Good morning. Well, the last of my injuries from Christmas day are finally beginning to heal. The house is still covered in Christmas decorations but this morning I felt good enough to start the undecorating. So far I have the tops of the cabinets done. They still need some work but at least it is a start. The rabbits and roses are starting to reappear after their rest in the basement. OK, I know the faux foliage on cabinet tops is way over but they work for us so they are back up. They are clean and not your run of the mill ivy (which I really kind of like anyway, if done right, but it seems to have really gotten a bad rap here in blog land).

On top of the glass front cabinet you get a close look at the faux parsley in a Tiffany blue and white cachepot. It is clean and has a good deal of texture. The lavender plant needs a blue and white cachepot. That will be added when I find one that works. The chalk ware rabbit, in front of the tole tray, is happy to see the light of day.

This black berry plant, with its curling tendrils, softens the top on the opposite cabinet top. The beat up tole painted plates match the big tray on the other side of the room. It does not look beat up from a distance. Well, not much anyway ;) The rabbit with his French horn is tucked in the back to evenly distribute the rabbits around the room.

This blue and white, Crab Tree & Evelyn, wreath softens the corner by the pantry. That funny looking thing in the back, on the cabinet top, is another rabbit that lost its mate over the winter. The little couple below is keeping him company.....

The stairway project is moving along. I have found one Milken carpet that looks like a look-for- less alternative to the Stark carpet that I really want. A sample is on its way to us so I can see what it looks like in person and determine the quality of it. The search is still continuing though because even if the quality and look are acceptable, there is not a border to go with it, we will see. Maybe I do not even need a border to get the look that I am after.

Time to get back to work.

Hugs,

Sue

~ The Winner Is ~

Please join me in congratulating Celeste, the winner of the Rosanna, Beach Cottage sets of dessert dishes.

You can visit her blog here.

Celeste generously features other bloggers giveaways on her blog. I thought it was sweet that someone as generous as she seems to be won.

Thank you all for entering to win the Rosanna dessert sets. It has been a busy couple of weeks here so I haven't been around to visit all of you yet but I will and hopefully you will come back for more Life At Home. It has been my pleasure meeting so many new bloggers in this wonderful blogging community and I count every one of you as a friend.

Again, congratulations Cleste. Blessings to you and I hope you enjoy your new set of dessert dishes and that they bring you joy.

Hugs,
Sue

Tablescape Thursday

Happy Tablescape Thursday Ladies.
The table is all set for a Birthday Celebration.

To set the table I used my dishes, flat ware, and accessories from Summer Hill, our old cottage in Harbor Springs.


This little Anna Weatherly tid bit plate with the butterfly is from the store where I used to work occasionally during the summer. I added it to the tablescape to coordinate with the butterfly clips that came as package decorations from Neiman-Marcus that I used on a couple of the napkins.



The mosaic rabbit plate came from the annual arts and crafts show that they have at Nub's Nob in Harbor Springs. I thought it looked kind of cute tucked into my center piece.




Here is a close up of the place setting.

This little candle stick with the sweet paper shade also came from Patricia Wood & Co., the shop I worked at.

It is a little faded but the detail on the back of the shade with the scalloped edge and hand sewn seam, ending in a bow, makes it worthy of preserving.

In the foyer I set up the dessert table with the dishes that I'm giving away to let you get a peek at how they might look when put to use.

You can go to the tag on my side bar to sign up to win this dessert set by Rosanna Inc.

Thank you again Susan at Between Naps On The Porch. To join in or to visit the other Tablescaper's hop on over and take a look at her gorgeous site.

Hugs,

Sue

~ The First Life At Home Give-Away ~

Remember last week when I did a tablescape and mentioned the blue boxes in the corner. Well, here is what was inside those pretty boxes. While shopping last week for Blue Italian serving pieces at my new favorite discount store, Tuesday Mornings, I spotted these dishes. My first thought was my blogging friends and how these would make a good give-away so into the cart they went.

The round box contains a set of four mugs.

The tall box has a tall pitcher in it.

The square box holds a set of 4 dessert plates.

Aren't they sweet?

Each one is a different pattern.

I have wanted to have a give-away for a long time so when I spotted these Beach Cottage sets by Rosanna at Tuesday Mornings I decided the time was right. Hopefully you like what I picked for one of you. I must admit the temptation to keep them for myself. But, no......... these three sets are for one of my blogger friends ;)

To enter to win all three sets of Beach Cottage dishes sign up to follow Life At Home in the box at the top of my side bar so I can keep up with what you are blogging about, and leave a comment on this post. Spread the word to your blogging buddies and let me know that you have, and I will enter you twice to win. In two weeks, on April 15, the winner will be announced.

Thanks for reading Life At Home. I hope I have been able to spread some sunshine into your lives, I know all of you have brightened my days with your amazing blogs.

Good luck with the give-away and I hope you keep reading Life At Home.

Hugs,

Sue

~ Blue Monday ~

Welcome to my first Blue Monday post. Thanks Sally for the invitation to participate. You can see other Blue Monday posts by visiting Sally's site at Smilingsally. She invites everyone to join in or visit her Blue Monday participants.
I love to decorate with plates. So many of them are little pieces of art on their own.


This Asiatic Pheasant platter anchors an arrangement of other similar plates that are over the mirror in our powder room. This is one of my favorite patterns in the blue and white transfer ware catagory.

These are three English plates have Grecian stamped on the back.
Thanks for coming by and letting me join all you Blue Monday blogger's.
Hugs,
Sue

~ Foodie Friday Trainwrecks ~

Well, my first Foodie Friday post ever fell right into the theme of this weeks Foodie Friday Trainwrecks quite nicely. I had another funny story about food that I told our lovely host at Designs By Gollum that I was going to post, but this one worked out to be a trainwreck that fit the theme too and it was at hand, as they say. So, welcome to my first Foodie Friday entry.
From a distance it does not look too bad. A nice classic chicken piccata with steamed fresh asparagus as the main course. A light green salad and a side of lasagna left over from last nights dinner with John's sisters, accompanied by a mellow glass of Chianti Rufina.

On closer examination you can see that the steamed asparagus is a limp pale green version of its former self. John does not like his vegetables al dente but cooked a bit further. However, when he asked me if the asparagus were from a can I knew I had crossed the line from al dente to border line mush.


Trainwreck # 2 was the chicken piccata. Usually when I make this I use olive oil to saute the meat in. Well, I saw on a cooking show that regular vegetable oil is preferable because there is less chance of scorching the delicate olive oil. Big mistake. Instead of using my regular process of heating the EVOO over medium heat and slowly cooking the chicken I cranked up this new oil and burnt the heck out of the whole batch of chicken.

Here you get a close up of the limp asparagus and the over cooked chicken, like you really wanted to see it close up......

Well, here it is even closer. You can see how greasy it is, as well as burned.....

It is so disheartening to go to the trouble of making something and having it turn out badly.

Poor asparagus in all their fresh glory before I cremated them.

John's favorite salad that we have with most meals turned out just fine.

Well, there you have it my first Foodie Friday. Thanks for letting me play along.

I'm off to see what other Foodie's have posted at Designs By Gollum and to see if I did this any where near how you are supposed to do it.

Hugs,

Sue