friday 6/19 - Cloche Party, Show us Where You Live Friday and Flasback Friday

I have been sooo excited about the Cloche Party over at A Stroll thru Life (she inspired me to have the Christmas in July Party) that I could barley not post mine a week ago. And then I found Show Us Where You Live Friday over at Kelli's Corner - yeah a reason to take some of my happy little home! But I couldn't forget my very own Flashback Friday...so this might be a little long. Stay with me - pour another cup of coffee and enjoy.

My Cloche is not a Cloche - it's an Giant ginger jar. Momma gave this to me for Christmas in 2007. She said while we were in pottery barn that shopping that my face lit up and I declared "isn't that beautiful - can't you just imagine personal items in there?" Now to this day, I have no idea what my my vision was at the time, but I certainly LOVE my jar. Last Christmas I set out to make this a prominent decoration, because thus far it had set in my bathroom with pretty White soap bars and a few sea sponges. I think I achieved my goal:

I set this in the living room and it just fit really nicely with the rest of the decorations. I was so happy with what it looked like that I knew I wanted it to be a decorative piece all year long...what to do...where to put it...not back in the bathroom....oh the bedroom! But I have soo many shells, and starfish in there already that I knew I did not want shells and sand to be the filler.

So pearls it is! I just adore this jar - these are mostly pearl strands that Momma picked up at yard sales and thrift stores .

I have had fun trying to add to the collection -because they have to be cute and cheap.
The Jar sits on a sofa table in the Master bedroom and I smile every time I walk by this treasure.


Now onto the Laundry room. This is not my favorite room in the house, but it sure beats what I had twenty years ago. We will not be opening any cupboard doors, just because it would take to much time and space here. But the cupboards pictured here contain cleaning supplies, candles, tablecloths and toys for the niece and nephew. There's also one empty drawer and a junk drawer.This is a treasure that my Mother in law made for me at least 8 years ago. She captured exactly how I feel when I think of "home". This makes me cry every time I read it. It reads: I remember the softness and charm of the wide shady street, the great tree that hung heavy with the heat of August and in the winter, the warm contentment. I love remembering the simple pleasures of my Grandmother's home.





The deep sink is great for hand washables and drip-drying and plants.
Oh yeah - the washer and dryer (almost forgot). The cupboards above have detergent, paper towels, etc.
I do a load of laundry every morning and we leave this door to the "bonus room" open - but it does not make me get on that thing. Instead I head into the pantry....oh well. There is a built in ironing board on the wall next to the bonus room door, but I forgot to take the picture - it gets used by the kiddos.

The bonus room holds all the stuff that we should use everyday but alas, we do not. I want a pool table in here! This room is rather large (16x26) but I am not going to show you the other end because it's full of stuff that needs to be put away or sold in a yard sale. Sorry.

Okay, now for the flashback - I'll make it short.

This is June of 2006 - yes, June. We camping in Bishop one weekend with our friends R&T and their son, it was pretty warm so we decided to drive up to Mammoth Lakes where the trees are tall. We knew it would be cool but we weren't expecting the snow, as you can tell from the shorts and sandals. It ended up being a beautiful day with a snowball fight and laughter.

Thanks for joining me. Just leave a comment to join Flashback Friday.

Ladies who want to Fashback:

http://lbratina.blogspot.com/2009/06/cloche-party-friday-flashback.html

http://blondiesjournals.blogspot.com/

http://bigsticksblog.blogspot.com/

http://keethastuff.blogspot.com/2009/06/oh-baby.html

Flash Back Friday #2 Fun in the Sun!

Good Morning Y'all.


I am sorry to be getting this up late, but evidently my perkiness yesterday kicked my but today. I slept in until almost 7:00! I have a love/hate relationship with sleeping in during the summer. When I do stay in bed, I relish every second; feeling the softness of the cotton sheets, laughing at the sun trying to creep in my west facing bedroom windows (we planned it that way), and listening to birds chirping, delighting in the new day. Then I drag my booty out of my soft heaven and curse how much of my day has been wasted dawdling in slumberland. So here I sit with a new day, a late post and some really old pictures - because it's Flashback Friday! Now join me in my front yard 17 years and 2 houses ago:

To set this up: These youngin's are my two brother-in-laws, two of the best uncles to walk the planet. They loved playing with our babies because at the time our babies were the only ones in the family. Some of my best memories of these two with our children are not captured in photo but are vivid visions in my head. So, I am ecstatic that this particular antic was caught on camera. The story goes, the three brothers were working on some vehicle at our house and I brought the kiddos outside to play in the yard for awhile and water the flowers.

So the kiddos are running around getting hot and occasionally drinkin' from the hose.

Please don't call Child Services, I did not know it was bad to drink from the hose then, although it could explain a few things now - LOL.

Now, remember when I said the memories are vivid images in my head, this particular day is very vivid, because I could have put money down that I had a picture of the kiddos looking down the barrel of this hose, trying to figure out what the heck was happenin' to their water supply...remember the first picture? Yep, uncles were just waiting for the right moment and this photo is just after it came barreling out the top like champagne from a bottle. What you can't hear is the GIGGLE coming from babygirl! It was a great day and I love that this memory is so vivid in my head - many of their tiny days are a blur to me, but I must have been stopping to smell the roses on this day.

Thanks for strolling down memory lane with me, be sure to leave your comment with your link and I will post it for you. Next week's theme is....I think we will stick with summertime for a few weeks...so let's go with, Made in the Shade. I can't wait to see what happens! TaTa for now!

Bloggers who had a flashback today:

Leigh over at Bloggerittaville -http://lbratina.blogspot.com/2009/06/blue-willow-birds-and-other-topics.html

Flashback Friday - Please Join Me!

Welcome to Flashback Friday (once hosted by AnneGlamore at My Tiny Kingdom) where we will take a look back and share things of our past that we may wish to share again or things that we have not had a reason to share until now! I plan on going way back for some (so out comes Momma's scanner) and not so far back for others. I do hope you will join me on my little journey through time. I do not have a Mr. Linky yet, so just leave your URL and your title as a comment to this post. I will pick a theme every week and post it on the prior Friday in order to give you plenty of time to think and prepare for your Flashback. On the following Friday I will list everyone that participated (just like Bloggeritaville) on my Flashback post. Got it? I hope so - I confuse myself sometimes. So this week is a Free for All (post about anything you like), choose your topic, load or scan related photos and blog away!
My Flashback is way back to May of 2008. I chose this because Tricia over at The Boutelle Family Zoo can't believe I have two college age kiddos. So, it occurred to me that the only picture of my fully grown munchkins is the one with their feet dipped in the water, which was taken about 6 years ago. So, off we go to David's graduation day, May 19 2008:

My beautiful Irish Twins (she is older than him by 10 months and 11 days apart) right after Graduation. This picture is beautiful and painful at the same time. Beautiful; look at those bright face, both spitting images of my beautiful Prince Charming. Both faces fresh and ready to live life and conquer the world. Painful; I am no where to be found in all of the "after" photos because A) I am the graduation coordinator for their Alma Mater, so i was busy at first with "after" stuff in the gym, B) I collapsed when no one was around. I couldn't walk, couldn't breathe, dialed PC on the cell and 30 seconds later paramedics, family, graduates..everybody was gathered around my very unhealthy body. I refused the ambulance ride (PC was furious) and ended up in the ER anyway (PC drove me there against my wishes) all night and went home with a serious diagnosis of Myositis. Such a happy day ruined by the frailty of being human. It has been a long year, but I am healing, some days are better than others, but I feel fine. I chose not to take any meds, I chose to watch my activity level and drink a lot of water. So a year later, I executed another graduation, none my own offspring "in" the ceremony, everybody helped and worried, but I did just fine. So yes Tricia, I am old enough to have to two college kids and old enough to have to listen to my body when it says sloooow down.

Okay, Your Turn! Remember this week is a Free For All. Next week's topic: Fun in the Sun!