Christine's Home and Travel Adventures: July 2014

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party for Grandkids

Good news on Rea! After 4 cycles of chemo, she had a full body MIBG scan and an MRI scan of the knee. The lesions on the knee completely vanished, all gone and the fracture is healing nicely. The MIBG scan showed the primary tumor to have shrunk considerably and the surgeon is very confident that she can remove it completely. No other cancer cells were found.

Naturally, we are all rejoicing of these good news. What's more, Rea has a week off from hospital and clinic visits because her blood count has been really good too. We took this opportunity to drive to our FL home in Cape Coral so the kids can go swimming.

After swimming, I had a tea party for the grandkids. Since they just came from swimming and some of them were still wet, I just set it up on the deck.

We flew in yesterday from New Orleans and we took Southwest. Since they allow 2 luggage to check in per person, I decided to bring along and transport all my Alice in Wonderland tea set and dishes, still in boxes.

Nothing fancy here. Just as I said, some of the grand kids were still wet and just took a break from swimming.

They were hungry after all that exercise but I was determined to take pictures first, lol.

I bought all the goodies from the newly opened Trader Joe's in Tampa. I had no time to bake since we left home at 3 AM and drove for 3 hrs. to the airport. The following day, we drove 2.5 hrs. from the north Tampa Bay area to Cape Coral. The cookies, especially the macarons were delicious.

Rea stood a lot cause it was easier for her to reach the table that way.

We all had a great time! Thanks for taking the time to come and visit and hosting for the hostesses.
Please continue to pray for Rea as she is still approaching her surgery procedure and some other important procedures to follow. I thank you very much for the prayers.

I am linking with

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/
Christine's Table it Monday
http://www.rustic-refined.com/

Masterpiece Monday

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Kathy's A Return To Loveliness

http://adelightsomelife.com

Sandi's Teatime Tues

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com
Bernideen's Tea Time
http://blog.bernideens.com/

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

Martha and Terri's Teacup Tues

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Maria Elena's Tuesdays at Our Home

http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/

Paula's What's It Wed

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Centerpiece Wed

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Kathleen's Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Sunday, July 20, 2014

A Manly Table for the Guys While Watching World Cup Championship, 2014

John felt a little guilty because he had 2 emergency surgery cases late this past weekend and he felt bad for the anaesthesiologist, so he invited him to dinner. But they got done late and they were tired so they decided to just get together on Sunday to watch the World Cup Championship at home. I told John to go ahead and invite our friend Karl too, an orthopedic surgeon in town, since his wife is away and he's been all alone for a while.

Since we were going to watch the game, I decided to just set the coffee table and I want to make it more manly. After all, I am eating with 3 gentlemen. I started with an animal print table runner.

I chose to use the green leaf plate chargers.

I wanted to use some animal printed plates but they are stored in the dish room in the garage and I did not have much time to prepare, so I opted to use my transferware that were easily accessible instead.

I mixed 2 patterns of brown with a little color transferware. The Spode Byron divided dinner and salad plates are just stored in the open shelves in the kitchen china cabinet. The Staffordshire WH Grindley "Sunday Morning" bowls, saucers and cups are stored right inside the TV cabinet so all I had to do was take them out. Easy peasy! I think they blend very well together, don't you?

And what could be more manly than a set of horn flatware? And they are stored right inside the drawer of this coffee table. Convenient! I used animal printed napkins and rings.

The goblets match the plate chargers in green color.

And there it is, all set and ready! Now all I have to do is marinate the chicken. I decided to just prepare Thai chicken with peanut sauce, cucumber salad, tandoori rice and egg rolls.

My monkey in the centerpiece is patiently waiting for the occasion. I thought I would add the Coach coasters since they go with the color theme. German S & P shakers are also on the table, after all, the Germans were playing. Too bad I don't have anything Argentinian items or I would have added them too.

I finally got to use these covered little animal bowls! A perfect way to individually serve my peanut sauce.

I went to church on Sunday and got home at noon. Our invitation was for 1 PM. Would you believe that I was able to prepare and cook all these in an hour? Yes, I made it! Well, the tablescape was done before I went to church.

Thanks for stopping by. I already have a tablescape posted for this week so I will post this next week. I will already be in FL by then. You all have a nice week! Thanks to all the hostesses too.

Kathryn's Make it Pretty Monday

http://thededicatedhouse.blogspot.com/
Christine's Table it Mondayhttp://www.rustic-refined.com/

Masterpiece Monday

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Marty's Inspire Me Tuesday

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Kathy's A Return To Loveliness

http://adelightsomelife.com

Sandi's Teatime Tues

http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com
Bernideen's Tea Time
http://blog.bernideens.com/

Ruth's Tuesday Cuppa Tea

http://www.antiquesandteacups.info

Martha and Terri's Teacup Tues

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

Maria Elena's Tuesdays at Our Home

http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/

Paula's What's It Wed

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

Centerpiece Wed

http://thestylesisters.blogspot.com/

Kathleen's Let's Dish

http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Share Your Cup Thursday

http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Just a Little Work in the Secret Garden

I was determined to work in the secret garden in spite of my fear of snakes. Many of you know that I was in Florida for 4 months because my granddaughter Rea has been sick (Please continue to pray for her), so our yard has been neglected and has overgrown, especially the secret garden since nobody ever goes down there. My hubby pretty much works 7 days a week, even if he is off every weekend and therefore has no time to do yard work and gardening. He does his paperwork on weekends and often gets calls for emergencies and sometimes have to perform surgeries too.

I put on my gardening boots, even on a 90 degree weather. It gives me a little peace of mind, even though I did not really see any snake, lol.

I asked John to stay with me even if he will just sit there. It makes me feel safer so he can take to the hospital in case I got bitten. Are you imagining now how really terrified I am of snakes? LOL! But he actually worked with me. Yippee!

Do you see how overgrown it is? I actually created some terracing on the right side but you can't even see it.

Somewhere there, I have a "Secret Garden" sign, but again you can't see it.

After cleaning and trimming a bit, you can see it now. There it is!

Most of my flowers growing in the secret garden now are orange and they are all perennials. I did not plant anything new this year because I was mostly not home.

You can hardly see the iron swing too. The honeysuckle vine has taken over.

After trimming the vine, the swing is more visible. I have to leave for Florida soon again but when I come back, I plan to paint this and recover the padding. What color paint do you think would be nice?

The canna lilies under the oak are orange too.

Looking much better and brighter now, though it has not reached my satisfaction level yet. I got exhausted that I had to stop. I could not even swim because I thought I would pass out so I just sat on the recliner inside the house and rested prior to taking a shower. I know my limitations.

But I can live with this now.

See the Asian jasmine ground cover? It needs to be trimmed on the deck but I am out of time. It is creeping in. I have to prepare for my next trip to FL, not to mention catching up on all my work that was abandoned while I was gone.