Long May She Wave..................

 I don't really plan on taking off from writing posts, but life happens and I usually have to pick something to put on the back burner and blogging is usually it. Then like most things you put off, the longer you put it off, the harder it is to get around to doing it. That is where I am.  

 Then I tell myself that it's not like it matters anyway. I see some of the homes we look at every day in Blogland and my humble abode does not stack up. That's not a pity party. That is just reality. 

 In the meantime, Life (yes, I meant it as a proper noun) has been changing around here. Some by choice, some notsomuch. To begin with, two of our sons graduated from college on the same day with the same degree (Industrial Safety).  When you're the parents of five children and those are the last two to get through college, it is a BIG DEAL.  Oh happy day. One of my daughters will complete her MBA by the end of the year. That will be another BIG DEAL.

 We are going to be grandparents again. This will be the third one in 2 1/2 years. Again, Oh Happy DAY!!  We have so much fun with Leightyn and Behr.  Baby #3 will be the little brother or sister of Leightyn. We will find out in August whether we get another girl or boy. Not that it matters to anyone, but it just makes pre-shopping easier!!  Leightyn and Behr were both born on March 12, a year apart. This baby is due on January 14.  MAYbe he/she can make it here January 12th and we can keep those 12's up (That is also the birthday of the Hubs late grandfather).  OR maybe it will be born on January 13th, which is my birthday (and my son-in-law's)! Or maybe it will be born January 10th, which is my son's birthday (and the father of the baby). Or maybe it will be born on January 3rd, and it can be born on my daughter's birthday (Behr's mom). Or on the 4th, 6th or 15th, and on one of my nieces or nephew's special day!  Get the picture?  We have LOTS of January birthdays to celebrate. Maybe, just maybe he or she will want to arrive on their very own day! 

 While I was doing the non-blog-writing-thing, I WAS giving end of the year state assessments. Unless you are a teacher, especially one that has to give the tests, you have NO IDEA how stressful that is....For the teacher and the students!!  All of my students have to take them. In fact they have to take a literature/reading/grammar test as well as a separate writing test.  I have about 100 students taking the tests. The writing tests have to be sent off to be graded and then added into the other test. But we do get a raw score on the lit/reading/grammar test. When the students are getting ready to push that last button to see their raw score there are a lot of anxious moments. I teach sophomore and junior English   In Oklahoma, if they do not pass their 10th grade English test, they do not get to graduate from high school.  They do get to retake it in December....or the next year (and the junior English test as well), but let me say, that is a LOT of pressure!  Thankfully, my tests went well and my students excelled. 

 Speaking of work, my Hubs and I both have changed jobs. Really. At our age. Well I have written about it before, but for 12 years I commuted more than 100 miles per day.  For the past six years, my Hubs and I have commuted together to the same school. He was the I.T. Director at the school. The six years before that, we still lived in Kansas. The Hubs commuted one way and I commuted another direction. What a deal (in all that bad Kansas weather too!!) But the Hubs has a new job completely out of the computer and education field. And it is close to home. And he has a company truck. My new job is at the high school in the town we live. It is 1 minute and 30 seconds from my home. The other day I went up to the school to get a book and it took me an entire 2 minutes!!!!  You have no idea how good that sounds to me. It is ALWAYS hard to leave a school though. Bonds are made with other faculty and so many students, but the idea of gaining two extra hours in my day of non-commute time was something I could not pass up. So come August, I'll have a new classroom. 

 We have also entertained lots of family and friends this spring. In March we had a double-birthday party for the babies with 55 people in attendance. It was a carnival theme, so we served carnival food with all the trimmings. We even rented a bounce house for the kiddos to use. There were plenty of adults in it as well! In April we hosted Easter with 30+ people. In May we had a big party for our college grads with 30 or 40 people. We love to open the house to our guests, feed them and sit around and visit. Family and friends are important to us, and that is the reason we moved back from Kansas six years ago. We knew we would never get "do-over" years. 

 My Hubs mother has Alzheimer's.  What a horrible, horrible disease.  In her career as an oil company exec, she had to do all sorts of calculating and complex number problems.  Now even the slightest bit of (coin) change gets her mixed up.  It is a disease that strips away a person's dignity....and does so quickly.  The Hubs and I spend a lot of time fixing meals to take to her, and going to visit her. She is still in her home with her husband, but we worry that things could change any day on that front. I try to make her meals nutritious, but easy to warm up.  I try to make sure I include things I know she loved to eat.  My sister-in-law lives right down the street from my MIL, so she gets the brunt of the duty of checking on her. We do try to relieve her as often as possible. It's another one of those things, that unless you have had to live or take care of someone with Alzheimer's you really can't understand how even the smallest thing becomes the biggest obstacle.  Thank goodness for the good days! 

 I also have not sat around twiddling my thumbs on my "free" time. I have painted three rooms in my home...including all the woodwork. We put up the antique fence in the front of our house. We planted lots of new plants. We are working on the backyard and also painting two more rooms. I have also painted a couple of pieces of furniture and have several pieces in my summer to-do list. This week I am working on sewing curtains for one of the rooms I painted. 

And since this is officially "flag week", I would be remiss if I had not included pics of the outside of our house.  Each year I put up our flags, swags and garland a day or two before Memorial Day(when these pics were taken) and take it down about two weeks after the 4th of July. I know, I know. That's a long time to keep it up. But honestly, I love it. I have always lived in homes that had big front porches and the lent themselves to beautiful red/white and blue swags. This home even has the upper story and two side balconies, so I just go crazy, wild with all my patriotic decor. I even swag up the wooden fence and the antique fence we just put up out front!  Personally, I think it makes an old (seen better days) house, look a little proud. I've said before that we live in the historic area of our little city and we are on the Trolley Tour. We have trolley's come by all day long each day. If I am sitting out front enjoying my front porch (and yes, I LOVE to do that) and the trolley comes by, I wave at everyone. If I have one of the grands with me the trolley operator will ring the bell. I see people in the trolley taking pics of the house, so I'll continue with my over-the-top-patriotic-spectacle! I like to think the house had to look something like this 90 years ago as well. 

I have taken pics of the many projects I have worked on, so I will try to be better about posting some of them. I am not promising anything, but I hope to be better. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy Life.

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday

The Scoop

Metamorphosis Monday

All Hearts Come Home For Easter

 For Easter we hosted 24 adults and three children between the ages of 1 and 2. And it could not have been a better day. I worked hard to have the house be ready for the guests as well as having plenty of food. In all that, I did not take very many pictures before. You are seeing the afters!  I do have a few food pictures I will post in a day or two though. 

 Among our guests was one of my best friends from my childhood. She brought her two beautiful daughters and her beautiful niece and great-niece who were visiting from Arizona. The niece is actually the daughter of one of my very best friends from childhood. (I wish she could have come from Arizona too! But it was fun hosting her two beauties.) Are you confused now? Well what is important is that the crew not only came, but also gifted me with the beautiful roses for inviting them. Not a bad deal! 

 The bunny parade is from the Meri Meri line. They can be found on Amazon if a shop near you doesn't carry them. The entire line is adorable. 

 Although you can't tell, this table was set with green plates and pastel bunny salad plates. I set three tables, all with different dishes, but all in the Easter theme. Another table had cobalt blue plates and the orange carrots plates. The third table had white ironstone with blue and orange carrot plates (salad plates). You will see them in the last picture. Lots of fun tables.....OH, and I can't forget the kiddie table I set as well. I will try better next time to remember to take pics! 

 This is also my end-of-the-school-year-state-testing-to-the-maximum-stress-season. Because of that, I kept things simple at home. When I come home from school during this testing period I am mentally wiped out. I figured the focus would be on the three cute babies we would have over and not on my decor. And I was right! In fact it is so simple, it is hard to really see what was on the mantle. I'll take you through it. 

 At one end is my all-time-favorite Easter picture. It is of my own five children. They were ages (almost) 1 through 8. I don't think I will ever take a picture I have loved more. 

 This is from 1990, when we still used negatives. Of course I never kept track of something like that. I wish I did. I would love to have this picture in a big canvas. 

 Simple urns that march down the mantle, holding a few eggs. 

 At the other end are a couple of antique Peter Rabbit books I have from the 1920's. The little plush rabbit was one of my daughters. He looks old though. (Possibly well loved!) 

 The simple burlap garland I bought at Target this year for $5.

 You can't beat a bargain like that. 

 This is EB (short for Easter Bunny). He has been hanging out at our family Easter's for 32 years. No lie. He was my oldest son Fielding's on his very first Easter. He has sported the same ribbon around his neck for that long too. If you will notice, he is as big as the wingback chair. I know, I know. Dorky. But after 32 years, we can't leave him in the basement come Easter now! 

 I love this green bunny plate. I have the green cabbage leaf plates to match too. AND...I got them all at Ross. 

 One more dorkism...This little bunny is "only" about 26.  He plugs in and lights up, although we have not done that in years. This big plastic guy has NOT got to come out in the last 10 years or so. But this year I brought it out and put him on our front porch. All three babies hugged that bunny to death. They talked to him, they pet him, they put their arms around him, they kissed him. Apparently he is not a dorky giant plastic bunny in a child's world! 

 Those Meri Meri bunnies come about eight (or more???) to a box. Well worth the investment. This guy was sitting on the entry table. 

 And finally, there was an urn just sitting in my dining room, so I plopped the fake grass into it with a couple of those oh-so-famous-Pier 1 bunnies. There were also several Easter eggs hiding in the grass, but those got "found" very quickly by the toddlers. 

 It took three dishwasher loads for me to get everything washed! I guess I could have washed by hand as well, but I didn't. You can see the green and blue dishes I used as well as the green goblets. I promise the table were pretty. 

I actually got TWO bouquets for hostess gifts! I hit the jackpot. You can see some of the salad plates under these flowers. Lots of fun stuff. But the day wasn't about the simple decor or the cute tables. It wasn't about the painters tape still on the trim in the dining room where I never finished!!  Or the helium balloons still on the ceiling from a birthday party several weeks ago!! It was about family and good friends getting together to celebrate the fact that we are all believers and we know He Lives! It was a wonderful day. 

Auld Lang Syne in Silver and Gold

 Let's pretend: You want to throw a  New Years party but you spent way too much at Christmas so you have no decorations for a New Years tablescape. I've come to your rescue. Before you load up all that Christmas/holiday stuff back into the plastic bins, take a look at what you have.  

 You are bound to find a few treasures in that trove! Let's pretend again that you found a few but you need some additional help. Once again, I've come to your rescue. 

 Every single item on this (faux) glam tablescape was bought at rock-bottom prices except for the big clock platter in the middle. That was gifted to me several years ago by my oldest son and his wife. I have used it in many tablescapes and mantelscapes since receiving it. 

 Let me give you the low-down on recreating this table at a very low price so you too can throw your own dinner party. 

 I numbered some of the key elements in this tablescape and I will share with you how to recreate your own. 

Number 1 are the three tiered cake stands. My mom bought me the set of three cakestands (complete with glass domes which I took off for the tablescape) for $2 each at a garage sale one of her friends was throwing. I use them in many ways besides holding food. This is one way. I know that places like Wal Mart and Target sell these sets frequently during the holidays for a pretty good deal. If you can't find them you can recreate the idea of a glass candlestick and glass plate from the dollar store. Buy your candlesticks at different heights for added drama. (Be sure and glue them together with E6000 glue!!) 

 Once you have your glass tiers (or cakestands) fill them up with silver, gold, white or pearlized ornaments from Christmas. That's why I said you might find many treasures in your Christmas trove!!

 As you can see, I spent $1.24 on each box of ornaments. I think there were 20 ornaments in each box. They come in various finishes (glitter, shiny, matte) so when all clumped together they look great. And honestly, they don't look like $1.24 (x2).  But of course I am so proud of my bargain that I have to share. There are all kinds and colors of these ornaments left on shelves right now just waiting to be purchased!

 See how they look with candlelight? (Sigh)

 Here you can see some of the various colors and textures that are thrown together. 

 Next I used a (well used...and I should probably spring for a new one) party hat. As long as it doesn't have the year, you can use it from year to year. I just layered it on top of the giant clock plate for the center of the table. I added a few ornament balls around it as well. 

 Those hats can also be bought for a dollar (or under). It would be cute to have some of those party blow horns too, but I didn't have any, so I only went with what I had. Feel free to add those freely across the table. (Or at least at every place setting). 

 I had a Happy New Years "necklace" in silver too, so I strung it across the cakestands. I used several of these in the cakestands. 

 The fourth arrow in the pic (several above) points to the crystal wreath that the clock plate sits on. In reality it too is a Christmas wreath. Since it is faux crystal, I thought it lent it self well to the table. After I put it in the middle of the table, I put a glass cakestand in the middle of the wreath for the clock plate to sit evenly on. If you look closely you can see that. Again,  you can improvise here. If you don't happen to have a crystal wreath, you could take a green wreath left over from Christmas and spray paint it whatever color you want. Or you could use fake snow on it and make it all white. Or one of those wreaths made from the ornaments would work out great too. (Buy more ornaments and make a centerpiece wreath!) 

 This wreath tends to shed "crystals" so I there have been many Christmases I never even get it out. It works out great for the tablescape though! You always have to be thinking outside of the norm!!!

 The fifth arrows point to a curly-cue clipped to the head of every plate. I bought these in the Christmas tree ornament section at Wal-Mart after Christmas for 25 cents each. I thought they would be cute as napkin rings. In this case I put my napkins in the glasses, so I just clipped these on to the top of the chargers for extra sparkle and pizazz. I could have actually used them for name tags for the place settings.

 Go out now and look for those after Christmas ornament bargains! When I saw the little clip on these I knew they could be used for many tablescapes! I have these stored with my napkin rings by the way. They have never seen a tree branch!!

 The napkins I picked up for cents (again after Christmas) when I lived in Kansas, so I have had these for a while. I thought the silver circles went well with the whole tablescape theme of the circular clock, the round cakestands, the round ornaments, the round votive holders, plates, etc. I doubt anyone else picks up on the idea, but it makes me happy to think of this concentric table. I know there is that cute burlap with gold circles fabric that would be cute in this tablescape to recreate. 

 The chargers were under 50 cents at Wal Mart. Also after Christmas. 

 I used various white plates throughout the tablescape as well. Some had a silver rim and some were just old ironstone. It all works. 

 In the arrow picture, I put an arrow on the votive candle, but I forgot to number it. I picked up these white votives at Tuesday morning several years ago. They have a gold glittery inside, so that when they are lit, they shine a bright gold. Again, something that could be replicated easily. (Be safe if you are using real candles.) 

 In addition to all the above hoopla, I added all sizes and kinds of crystal and very faux crystal candle holders. I sat some on the cakestands and the others around the table. I used silver, gold and white candles in the candlesticks. The tablecloth I used was a creamy colored one with silver threads that run through it. You guessed it, bought at an after Christmas sale at Target. 

 I chose to put the napkins in the glasses for added height at the table. They could easily be tucked under the silverware or on the plate as well. To each her own! 

 I hope I have inspired you to either look through the things you have and/or to hit those after-Christmas sales! 

 I took pictures both at night and during the day and the table looked equally as pretty in both settings. That is just what I was looking for! 

Here's to a brand new year, 2014, however you choose to celebrate it!

Linking with: 

Tablescape Thursday
Metamorphosis Monday
Wow Us Wednesday