~ Happy 10th Birthday Aleena Elizabeth ~

It was our beautiful Granddaughter Aleena's birthday on Sunday the 28th. Aleena turned 10 years old!. This is a picture of our Daughter Desire' and Aleena opening one of the gifts we had for her. Aleena was so sweet to share her birthday with her little cousin Jackson that was turning 2 they share the same birthday the 28th !. We are on our way to DISNEYLAND in L.A. this Friday to celebrate Aleena's birthday. It will be another family trip with our Daughter Desire' and Son n Law Gary. Unfortunately Bernadette and Travis will not be able to join us this time. Bernadette will be on work travel. We will miss them! We gave Aleena earrings and a neckless, the gold neckless has a gold star and heart, they are because Aleena is her Pappa's star and her Grandma's heart. How wonderful to have a Granddaughter we love her so.
Aleena was given the middle named of Elizabeth. Her Daddy's Mother's name was Elizabeth and since mine is too, Aleena was named after her Grandma's. What an honer!.
This is Ty!. he loves to smile and is very excited about DISNEYLAND. Ty is 3 1/2. Isn't he a doll, I just kiss him all up and squeeze and hug him. He still lets me but I know one day he won't. We are just so lucky to have these Grandchildren in our lives. Watch out DISNEYLAND here we come!

~ Six Random Things ~

My friend Anne from Momma's Place passed on to all who read her blog to list six random things about yourself, so here they are.

1. I commute 5.5 hours a day to and from work.

2. Every night while eating dinner Gary and I watch "All my Children". I have been watching since the show began.

3. Every night when I crawl into bed I say " I love my pillow ". It's the best pillow ever and after my very long days I can't wait to hug my pillow good night!.

4. I love Kaula Coffee with whip cream.

5. I could eat Mexican food everyday. I call it my Soul Food!

6. I had my hair cut short, just wanted to try a new style but I didn't like it, I just couldn't get use to it be being so short. So now I' am letting it grow out again and we all know it seems like forever when we are letting our hair grow!.

Now I will pass this on to all that read my blog, like Anne did. Hope you want to play along and let me know that you have so I can read six random things about you!.

Have a wonderful Day,
Elizabeth

~ MAMA MIA thats some spicy Salsa ~

WOW WEE! this is the spiciest salsa ever! Gary really went to town on this one. He didn't have a recipe, he made his own recipe up so you just never know what your gonna get! and we got SPICY!!!
Gary's ingredients ~ Onion, lemon, tomatoes, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, garlic salt and thai peppers. Now I must tell you he did not use all the ingredients he bought, but he did use two habanero peppers!.
Now you might wonder what took the burn out of my mouth well it was ice cream !. Gary still wants to make more salsa. He had a lot of fun creating his mouth watering, burning on fire salsa. Maybe his salsa got so hot becasue he was watching the football game on Sunday when he was creating his receipe. The 49ers did win and Gary is BIG 49er fan. He was a happy Guy.

~ The Dinning Room ~

Our Dinning Room walls are a golden yellow that change colors with the light that comes through the stain glass windows.
I made the head chair slip covers years ago, They were made with Waverly fabric. The table Gary and I bought unfinished, we stained the legs black and the top in a deep warm walnut and stressed the table when we were done.
A look at the Dinning Room from the Kitchen, I made the curtains with red and white ticking fabric and red and white polka dot fabric. I love the polka dots they are so cheery! Our home has a very open floor plan with all rooms close to each other.
The stained glass windows are actually a stained glass overlay made by Mary and Caroline Mullins a Mother and Daughter team that own "Valley Rose Designer Glass Studio" in Modesto Ca. Currently Mary and Caroline are working on the design for my kitchen cabinet doors. I can't wait to see them!.



I wish you could see the beauty of these windows like I can, the light and reflections from them are just breathtaking.


The mike glass lamp is the mate to the one in my Guest Room. I just made a different lamp shade. The hens belonged to my Grandma and the cake plate with cover and dish warmer were wedding gifts to my Parents 56 years ago, they are still as lovely as the day they were received. The blue tea pot, teacup and saucer are a few of many favorites.
A closer look at the beautiful pewter dish warmer.
And cake plate.

I hope you can read this, you can click on the picture to enlarge. My Daughters and Son n laws gave this to me for Mother's Day.

~ New Moth Orchid Plant ~

This weekend while Gary and I were at Lowe's were spotted this beautiful "Moth Orchid". I love white flowers and plants they have such a pretty glow. We decided to try our hand at growing a Orchid plant. The attached leaflet said its a fast robust grower and easy to grow, so we shall see!. I will keep my fingers crossed.
It sure has a beautiful soft cluster of flowers. For now we have the orchid sitting on our dinning room table.

~ The Guest Room ~

Our Guest Room is small and cozy, the daybed was the best solution for sleeping in order to keep floor space for our grand kids to play. The walls are painted a soft green and in keeping with the country cottage style we have used many home made items and re-cycled furniture.
The mirror was part of an old dresser set that was originally dark brown, we painted the mirror white and distressed it. I love the charm of this old mirror!. The ceiling light, well I just couldn't help myself to buy it when I saw it. I know its different but it caught my eye and I knew I just had to have it for my guest room. The colors of the light are green and peach, I knew I wanted to create a calm room to relax in for my company who by the way is usually my "sweet seester Margo" so of course I was off to the fabric store to find just the right vintage cottage feeling fabric I could to dress the room.

Just a little peek into the Guest Room from the hall way.
I crocheted the afghan on the bad, made the pillow, stitched the counted cross pictures,covered the lamp shade with my fabric the white milk glass lamp base was my dear Grandma's.
I love plates and so this room gave me the wall space to show them off. Notice the tie backs on the wall for the curtains. Gary made them for me he used my butter plates and added the back post and screwed them into the wall. He did a great job!
A closer look a the squirrel plate tie back .
And the baby deer plate tie back.
I love all the grown molding in my home, especially in the bedrooms it really adds charm I think. the fabric for the curtains was a great find by Gary, he and I went to the fabric store together and he came across this lovely floral print first! Good job Bub!,
The beautiful antique crochet table clothes were made by my Mom's Grandmother and an Auntie we believe. They have been in our family for years and I feel so privileged to have them in my home and that they are still in fine shape. The baskets are used to store my grand kids toys.
The little night stand in the corner I painted white and stitched the counted cross "Welcome".
Another counted cross picture I made, it just so happened to have the right colors for this room.


A closer look at these beautiful had stitched table clothes.