I Won This Delicious Jam!

How exciting, I've never won something like this before!

This is Kiwi Rumba Jam!

Doesn't it look yummy! It is!

I can honestly tell you, you can't just eat one bite!

You can't stop at two bites either! :)

I love to visit blogs, I've learned so much about so many of
YOU! I've traveled to other lands through your blogs, watched
as you've been blessed with a new grandchild, or cried when
you've lost a parent. Been amazed by your talent, whimsy &
charm, loved your style, dreamed of eating your fabulous
recipes (Pat), :) loved your honesty and feel so familiar with
many of you and have many new friendships all because of your
awesome blogs...

So when I recently won this jam, I knew I had to share it with
you guys! You will be pleasantly surprised by all her delicious
desserts and you may just have to visit Covered in Chocolate Bakery Shoppe and order one of her yummy desserts! Check
her blog often, she always has something yummy cooking!

Thanks again Pat, what a fun jam and it really is delicious!

For another treat, check out her other shop! AS2 designs!

A Little Girls Button Lesson From the 40's!

This box is adorable, what's in it is priceless!


What fun learning to sew with these sweet cards!



Wouldn't the little girl in YOUR life love these!




Several years ago a friend & I started a small antique business
together in an antique mall, we spent our Saturdays scouring the
area for estate sales(our favorite), or good garage sales! We’d
heard about a sale in an older stately part of town, that we were
looking forward too. When we arrived an hour or so early, we had
to wait in a long line with all the other treasure Hunters!

Finally it was our turn to go in, with a small group, however,
once inside we found many people still filled each room. We
quickly could see it was like a dream come true for us, it was
FULL of the most beautiful antiques. It was as if time had stood
still for this house, it had been closed up and left exactly like
it was, when the family had lived there.(It seemed as if it had
been from another time period)!

There was very beautiful period furniture, exquisite glassware
and a houseful of vintage odds and ends that made our heads
swim with ‘GLEE’! It was still hard to move around, because the
house was so full of people! I was able to find a few things,
but I felt driven to go through the whole house to see everything!
I usually loved going through kitchens the most, because we
specialized in the 50’s look in our antique space, with lots
of kitchen gadgets, but I couldn’t even begin to get into
this kitchen.

I slowly worked my way around to the grand Stairway and up
to the upper floor to see what I could find! I went into a
little girls bedroom that seemed to hold her treasured belongings
as if she’d be returning soon! This child seemed to have
everything a little girl could want. I was excited to find
some children’s kitchen utensils that were amazing and in
brand new condition, (I’d started a kitchen cupboard for my
little granddaughter and this would be something I’d keep for her).

Back out in the hallway I noticed a Small room at the end of
the hall, I made my way into it and was totally taken back at
what I found! It was a sewing room, full of beautiful vintage
sewing items! There were yards and yards of vintage fabric still
on the fabric Boards covering shelves, lots and lots of pin
cushion’s full of every kind of needle you could imagine, colorful
thimbles, rickrack’s and beautiful trim in every color imaginable
and BUTTONS, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen before! I had
my bag I carried for estate sales and quickly filled it up with
beautiful yardage, a pin cushion and a sweet box that belonged
to the little girl of the house, it was the sweetest box from the
40’s with picture cards with buttons sewn onto each card, the
buttons were all shapes, sizes and colors decorating each picture
card! I imagined her Mom being excited to find something fun to
help her teach her young daughter how to sew, it was obvious the
women of this splendid home loved to sew!

There were many helpers at this sale and they were all
wonderfully friendly older women who all knew the owner! I
finally met her and was truly inspired by her, a Catholic
Sister with the help of all her Sister friends! She had been
the little girl of the house and shared with me the age of
the darling kitchen utensils and of her button cards!

So Janet, if you read this, I thank you for sharing and I want you
to know my second Granddaughter is playing with your childhood
utensils and loving them and I still keep your button cards as
one of my most prized possessions! On that particular day,all
of the items I found, (except for the fabric, that a friend talked
me out of)are with me still.

If you love buttons like I do, please check out the wonderful
button Market! All Buttoned Up!
You'll be pleasantly surprised at what this group of artisan's can do
with buttons!

My Colorful kitschy Collectables!

You know I looove the 'Cottage Look', but color is as big
a part of the boomers lives as 'Peace & Love', so here's
yet another part of what I love and what defines my style!

A little peek into my pyrex and chalkware(Goddy fruit, collections)!

My kitchen color is bright yellow, this picture doesn't really show
the true color!

The chalkware collection continues around the top of the cupboards
around both sides of the kitchen!

Even though I looove the cottage look and everything
vintage, it's easy to fall into color for my
kitchen, I looove the kitschy colorful chalkware
from our Grandma's kitchen! I call it my Goddy
fruity look! I especially adore the little faces
on some of the little fruity guys! I've carried
it out into my dining room, but kept the BRIGHT
yellow color in the kitchen, since the dining room
is really open to the living room, I kept it white!

I've painted the fruity design from my Corelle dishes
on my dining room cupboard and the same with my
Granddaughters itsy cupboard! It holds my VERY
colorful collection of PYREX! I found a beautiful
wool area rug with, YOU GUESSED IT, a fruity border!

I hope to find the perfect 'smallish' chandelier
that's just right and fits my dining room!

My Cottage Look!

Not always Chic...but comfortably lived in!



I loooove what I call the 'Cottage Look'!!! It definitely
is my favorite style, no matter where I see 'THE LOOK', it
doesn't matter what it's called, Shabby Chic, French Country
or The Cottage Look, to me it's BEAUTIFUL, it means one of
a kind decorating with vintage beauty mixed in with varying
shades of WHITE!!! Wait, that isn't always the RULE!
Clean, tasteful and ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL or cluttered, rusty
...and ALWAYS BEAUTIFUL! What about WHITE??? Color is not
forbidden! My rule is...Always use what you have, and only
have what you believe to be BEAUTIFUL!


Nothing to matchy, matchy and if it is, it must be vintage
or 'Hand Made'. We all tend to be collectors of stuff! Beauty
is truly in the eye of the beholder, which also makes the
cottage look more appealing to us. I know that someone may
enjoy 'MY COTTAGE LOOK', but their 'Cottage Look' may be
totally different, making it their own beautiful style and
oh so different! Which is why it's so inviting to so many of
us! It's always different in every home, making it so much
fun for us to take a peek and see what's going on in yet
another 'Cottage Home'!!!

I will tell you right off the get go, that my house is lived
in and if there's a shelf, it's full and our Grandkiddos, are
not forbidden to play here, it's kid friendly, so excuse my
Granddaughters books or a toy here or there, but this is
MY COTTAGE LOOK, comfort is as important to me as the warm
cozy feeling of the look itself!

Here's a portion of my living room, the chaise lounge
is a vintage shorty, that I looove! (I bought it years
ago at the antique mall I had a booth in), The mid century
lounge chair & ottoman with white leather pads are a favorite
of mine (found at a thrift shop a couple of years ago), the
shelf unit was from the 70's, (very ugly), stained almost
black, with gold marbled mirrors in the back, without glass
in the doors or the beautiful green knobs (garage sale find),
the french lamp was an antique store find (I just had to have)
I found the green glass shades at a garage sale a few years
later!!! Beautiful rose trays (a thrift store find)!

The gorgeous vintage window paned door in the background
was a find from a house in a nearby town, it was the
original outside door to that house. I had it cut to fit
the opening from my living room to my family room. It
truly gives these two rooms a warm feeling from the past!

What I really want to share with you, is how I painted my
living room walls...My wall paint isn't stark white, I
call it lace, I found a stencil I liked and painted
using white acrylic paint around my whole living room,
giving it a beautiful background to my 'Cottage Look'!
If you've been thinking it's hard to get the look you want
start small, maybe just painting and start picking up a
few garage sale finds that warm your heart, before you
know it, you'll have a room full of treasured objects that
define your own style and 'Cottage Look'!

An Open Letter to My Pets!

I wish I could take credit for writing this,
but I didn't, I wish I did know, so I could
give them the awesome credit they so deserve!
If you have pets, I know you too, understand!


Dear Dogs and Cats:

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Racing me to the bottom is not the object.. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years - canine/feline attendance is not required.

The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough.

Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:

TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don't.
(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.
(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.


Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

(1) eat less,
(2) don't ask for money all the time,
(3) are easier to train,
(4) normally come when called,
(5) never ask to drive the car,
(6) don't smoke or drink,
(7) don't want to wear your clothes,
(8) don't have to buy the latest fashions,
(9) don't need a gazillion dollars for college and
(10) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children ...

Good Bye Summer, Hello FALL! Follow Me to OUR Farmers Market, Where I Always Have A Ball!

Stroll with me through the "Farmers Market" while I choose
a few veggies and help me pick out a bouquet of flowers,
it sounds much easier than it really is! You'll see!!!

As I walk along the old uneven oil soaked dock towards one of
my very favorite places, I realize as I look out over the water,
how blessed I am to live in the Pacific Northwest, with all
of this at my doorstep!

Oh the Thinks YOU Can Think, (by Dr.Seuss)!From this vantage point!

I love to look across the small harbor of boats & docks to see the
white tents beckoning me closer...

I adore our Farmers Market, it's always a treat to all of my senses!
It naturally picks me up, from the minute I get near the water
front and as I drive onto the wharf, I can feel the excitement in the air!

I love the sights, sounds & smells of an outdoor Market!

Blueberry muffins ANYONE? Simply beautiful!

I love the festive colors!

You can't beat the quality of the fresh veggies &
fruit our local farmers have to offer! I so wish I could
send you a gentle breeze with the aroma from this booth,
it's always heavenly!

Picking my flowers is never as easy as one would think
it would be...too many choices!

Could you easily choose your bouquet?

Usually I choose my flowers because I happen upon an all
white bouquet, with oodles of white lilies,(for fragrance)!

Now you see why I must wander through the whole Farmers Market,
and usually back through again...(which I did this time)
back to the beginning for my gorgeous bouquet!

This is the sweet vendor I bought my fresh bouquet from, she
was such a delight! Normally I buy all white flowers,
I have my cottage white going on, so I opt for beautiful white
flowers most of the time, until Fall, then I go for a
beautiful fall bouquet like this one!

Do you ever Daydream what it would be like to own your own little Cottage? I do!

I've always loved this cottage, there aren't many
like it in our area! I hadn't seen this in years,
so yesterday I decided to go find it again and
daydream about how fun it would be to own a cottage
like this! I've loved it since I was a little girl!

I think this cottage is sooo sweet, could you just
imagine living in it?

I'd have to have a cottage garden all across the front
and side yards!

If it were mine, I'd clear the shrubs away from
the windows, so I could enjoy the cottage garden
& sunlight streaming through the windows!

Love their flower boxes, very sweet! You can tell
they love their sweet cottage on the hill!

I've always loved this cottage, there aren't many
like it in our area! I hadn't seen this in years,
so yesterday I decided to go find it again and
daydream about how fun it would be to own a cottage
like this!