My White Christmas

Not happening like last year.

But I did have some White Christmas (tea) in a cup.

Merry Christmas blogger friends.

Treasures from my mom

My mom knew I was the one in the family that I would keep the "tresures"

and keep the family history alive.

Today I put up my mom's little first Christmas tree,

my grandmother kept for many years.

These are my mom's baby shoes that were bronzed and made

into a lamp.

I haven't plugged it in, not sure if it works.

The man in uniform is my grandfather during World War II

My grandfather used to go to the desert and collect rocks

which he cut and polished.

He made jewelry with some.

My Christmas cactus is blooming.  I really like this bit of

natural decorating.

My tree is decorated. I seem to be so behind on everything this

year.



Little elves

My granddaughter and one of my great nieces

I think they look like they could be sisters

They had a sleepover on Thanksgiving night

and

helped put up my tree.

It's up

with lights, that's it so far.



41 Years ago today

We were married

of course we were both

a lot younger

(I was 17 he was 24),

less grey

and thinner.

It hasn't always been easy

but

I knew he was the

one

I wanted to spend my life with.

Beautiful fall

 The roses are still sharing their beauty.

The trees are blazing

Last night we turned back the clocks

how I wish I could really turn back time

I would have just one more day

to tell my momma

how much she means to me

I would tell her how much I enjoyed

the time we spent together.

The last 3 words my momma said to

me

were

I Love You.

I love you too

Momma

You are forever in my heart.



Halloween Party

Vanessa is having a Halloween Party.

Thank you Vanessa for your magical blog.

You have helped me get through some very rough days this year.

I've always LOVED Halloween.

I love all the colors, the smells, the pumpkins.

Maybe because it's a couple days after my birthday.

Maybe it's because when we were kids I could always borrow some of my

mom's

skirts, scarves, jewelry and be a

gypsy.

Maybe it's because I have a dark side.

A side that love zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and

other things that go bump in the night.

So,

follow the ghost lights

to a welcome.

We can chat and have popcorn,pumpkin roll (I had plans to make pumpkin cupcakes today

but I've done something to my knee so no cooking for me)

and drink some hot apple cider.

(With spices of course).

Or maybe you would like some hot tea.

It is the south so of course there is some iced tea.

Maybe a Honey crisp apple is more to your liking.

Pull up a chair

get cozy and we will watch

a movie, or two.

Maybe a book is more to your liking

with stories by Edgar Allan Poe, HP Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell or Stephen King among many others. (A recent find at Barnes and Noble).

Don't mind the ghosts, they are all friendly here.

We can watch the witches.

Glad you stopped by for a visit.
Well, doesn't everyone have a grave in the garden?

Jack-o-lantern

Fall is in the air

Pumpkins are everywhere

so we brought one home and

made this.

God knew what he was doing when he made

her

my grandchild.

Forever in my heart.

She lost her brave fight with cancer.

We were there with her to take care of her. She would look at us and say I don't want you to work so hard taking care of me. We would tell her "Momma if our roles were reversed this is what you would do for us." We knew that because that's what she did for her step-mother, her dad and her mother and father in law.

The last 3 words she said to me were "I love you".

I love you momma, you were my momma and my friend. You will be forever in my heart.

Moments like butterflys

My butterfly is out of focus

kind of like life right now

I find myself wishing I could change things

but knowing I can't

I try to capture moments

remember past moments

and hope for future moments.

My mother is now in hospice care

She's my first thought in the mornings

and

the last at night.

The moments we share now are

me trying to be sure she is comfortable

and

that I'm there to talk to her.

To listen to her talk about the early

days

with my dad.

All those moments we've shared.

The moments are flitting away like a

butterfly

out of focus but you know it was there.

My first layer cake

Just a reminder of what it is like to walk outside

and not feel like you are having a heat stroke. I'm tired of heat, humidity, no rain, sweat, the back of my hair being soaking wet, heat, sweat, heat, heat, heat.

I won, I won A print from Vanessa

This lovely print from Vanessa

from A Fanciful Twist

She also included some other goodies.

If you have never ordered from here do,

the paper is excellent quality.

I am going to order some other things.

Thank you Vanessa.

Collections

I'm taking part in Casey's collections blog tour.

I have several collections but I won't share all of them with you. Too many (maybe we can do this again?) I collect books, books and more books. Today I'll share some of my cookbooks with you.




I scrapbook so I have loads of supplies for that. So to scrapbook you need loads of pictures. I take lots of pictures. I guess I'm the keeper of our family history. I have many of the family photos. I have a lot of books on scrapbooking, photography and many other subjects. I like to sew so have books for that. (I have books for knitting, crocheting, counted cross stitch, etc.)



I have this thing for ribbon and fibers. I save ribbon from pkgs, too. I use the ribbon on scrapbook pages and cards.



I love stamping, too. And chipboard.








Years ago I started collecting dishware, glasses, etc. My mom gave me my grandfather's silver.







My mother gave me these dishes that were my grandmother's. My mom thinks she got them from a movie theater as a giveaway in the 1940s. I love having things that were my grandparent's.



I collect newer dishes, too. Years ago when I worked at Penney's they had sets of Phaltzgraf on sale so I bought 2 boxes. When we go to Pigeon Forge I try to go to the outlet store and get more pieces for my Yorktowne pattern. The bowl in the background isn't the same pattern but I like to use other bowls and things, too.




This was my mother-in-laws. Everytime we went to her house and I helped her cook I would get this bowl out to serve something in. It's one of the few things I asked my sisters-in-law if I could have after my mil passed.



I collect luncheon plates. I just have a couple sets of these but would love to find more of them.





I love Pyrex. There is just something about these little containers with lids that I love. The other day we were at the flea market and I found the little green dish for $2. I do use some of the Pyrex but found out the hard way it does not like going in the dishwasher. So now I hand wash them.

I keep my Pyrex in a cabinet with glass doors along with bowls I used daily.









A few years ago we remodeled out kitchen and dining room and I wanted some built in cabinets to display dishes and my cookbooks. I keep the dishes I use every day in here as well as things I have collected. This is the same cabinets as we had installed in the kitchen.




I'm addicted to cookbooks, booklets, pamphlets that went with appliances, etc. I even have somethings I got while in home ec in high school so they are vintage now.
I love to find vintage cookbooks. I do use a lot of my cookbooks often. And I like reading cookbooks.








I had to have this booklet since it was published in 1953 (the year I was born).





Had to have this one too because of the retro pictures in it.





I collect some cooking magazines too. My favorites are Taste of the South (I am a southern girl), Taste of Home, Cook's Country, Paula Deen's, and Food Networks. Yes I really do try recipes from them. I got this book of cupcakes from my book club.



and made lemon cupcakes from a recipe included.




I'm making a handwritten cookbook for my granddaughter. I include recipes I've tried that she loves and things that I make without a recipe that are her favorites. I've tried to write out how I made things like the "Good Soup" and the chicken pot pie she loves.