Final Change in Guest Room for Grandkids

I am joining an awesome foursome today.

Blue Monday is hosted by Sally of http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/.

Metamorphosis Monday is hosted by Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

You may join Yellow Mellow Monday at http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

Mosaic Monday is hosted by Mary of http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

Make sure you visit all these gracious hostessess and have fun!

We just arrived from Florida last night and after doing a little unpacking, I hung the tile on the wall and started taking pictures. But when I was ready to post, our internet and phone service went out. Must have been due to the weather because it is freezing outside. In fact there is a big blob of ice at the bottom of the pool slide, the biggest icycle that I have ever seen.

That explains why I am a little late in posting here.

Anyway, I am done with my final stages in redecorating our guest room for our grandkids.

The top picture shows the before. The 2 pictures on the left shows the old area rug and the 2 other picture shows the aubusson rug that just came in which I ordered from Overstock.com. The rug came in rolled so I am still undoing the creases. Both rugs are 100 % wool. I think I like the new one better, don't you?

Lastly, I want to show you the tile frame I just bought from Marshall's in Florida. When I saw it at the clearance table for $4.00, I immediately grabbed it, thinking it would be perfect for this wall. And I do like it there. Maybe someday I will paint the frame in black.

So, here is the room showing both beds and windows. I am pretty happy with it. The yellow wall has always been there but it shows much more now.
Thanks to all who hosted these wonderful memes and thanks to all who came to view my blue and yellow room. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

St. Maarten, Dutch and French Sides

Now isn't the St. Maarten sign just a pretty pink? For more precious pink items, go to Beverly's site at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/
This is the Dutch side. They have excellent shopping there so my sister and I took advantage of it. We walked from the port which was a good 15 minutes so we got our exercise.

After shopping, we had tot ake a taxi back to the port though, because our shopping bags got heavy. Mine was full of table linens, of course. They have stores with beautifully embroidered tablecloths and crocheted ones.

Oh no! I interchanged the pictures. Below is actually John's and my favorite flea market in the French side. This is where I buy my toile tablecloths. Shopping in the Dutch side is at the very bottom. Sorry for the mix up but I will have to delete a lot of pictures and reload to correct it and I am getting ready for another trip so I really do not have much time. I would like to load this blog entry in advance.

Now, back to the Dutch side.

Here's a pretty house on top of the mountain. We were told by the taxi driver that it is owned by a real estate guru. I can just imagine the breathtaking view from up there.

Ok, here is the shopping area in the Dutch side.

Let's go to the French side.

Lots of cacti can be seen along the hills.

See the cows at the bottom of the hill? I think it is a lovely sight. Maybe they are on their way to Burger King, lol!

They have beautiful beaches. On the far right of this beach is a nude beach.

It is more expensive to shop here because of the euro but the scenery is beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed our tour of both sides of St. Maarten. Thanks y'all for coming along.

Thanks Beverly, for another sweet Pink Saturday!

A Dinner Party for 14 Day After New Year

Foodie Friday is hosted by Michael over at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/. Visit her to see more scrumptious food.

Susan of http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ is hosting Tablesape Thursday. Go check out some amazing tablescapes by going there.

I was scheduled to have a dinner party before Christmas but I got sick so I rescheduled it to Jan. 2nd. Since it was originally intended to be a Christmas party, I left my Christmas decorations up. I set 2 tables, the formal dining and the kitchen by the fireplace. I used the same tablescape I already showed with a very slight change. I took out the tray with a tea set and I added the tall peacock candle holders.

I wanted it to be a sit down dinner but I had so much food that I knew would not fit on the table so what I did was served the salad on their plates and told them after they finish eating the salad, I will collect the salad plates and then they can get their food from the buffet table set on the kitchen counter. I used place card holders so all the guests would know where to sit.

I placed the adults in the dining room and put the kids, not really young kids but teen-agers, in the kitchen.

Below is the dining room. For salad, I used spinach drizzled with Balsamic vinaigrette dressing, sprinkled with goat cheese and I added a slice of tomato on top and then dabbed tomato pesto over it. Very simple and the guests liked it.

Here is the setting for the youngsters. One of them commented that my kitchen looked like one of the shows on TV, lol.
There is the buffet. I served stir fried noodles with shrimp and veggies (Pancit), baked stuffed chicken, baked tenderloin stuffed with crawfish, baked cubed potatoes with rosemary, chicken tinola (a chicken Filipino soup dish with papaya and spinach), Pork Afritada (another Filipino dish with potatoes and bell peppers sauteed in tomato sauce) and beef with macaroni. For dessert, I made flan, (recipe of which is posted below), fruit salad, rum cake and fudge.

I made 2 kinds of punch, one with just fruit punch with 7 Up for the youngsters and a Vodka spiked one for the adults.

I used clear Princess House Fantasia clear dinner plates and green salad plates and goblets.

Coffee and tea were served on the game table in the family room.

We were stuffed. After we ate, we played Guesstures and we had a blast. You could hear laughter all over the house. What a fun evening!

Here is my recipe for the Flan:

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 doz. egg yolks

caramelized sugar

When I make flan, I always double the recipe.

Preheat the oven at 325 degrees F.

Mix all the ingredients except for the sugar. Set aside.

Melt the sugar in a pan on the stove, stirring occasionally so it does not burn.

Once melted, pour into a baking dish. It will liquify as soon as it touches the pan. Pour the mixed batter into the pan with caramelized sugar. I usually use a strainer to make it smooth.

Bake at 325 degree F for about 45 min to an hour, until set and toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Enjoy!

Thanks Susan and Michael for hosting these 2 events.

And thanks y'all for coming by!

House View From The Other Side of the Creek

I would like to join Susan for Outdoor Wednesday. Go see more great outdoor posts by visiting her at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

Before Christmas one evening, I looked out the back window and saw fire. I showed John and he called the fire dept.
Here is a close up of the fire. The location is actually on the other side of the creek so it is not that close to us but because of the leaves being too dry at this time of the year, we were concerned.

The fire dept. truck came. It's the vehicle with lights on the left side of the fire. And then it left so we guessed that it was a controlled fire.
The following day, John drove there after work to see what was going on and finds out that someone bought 6 acres of the property and is clearing out enough of the trees to be able to build a house. When John got home, he told me he could see our house from there. So, I asked him to take me there for I wanted to see how the house looked from the other side and I wanted to see the creek.

This is where the fire and smoke was coming from.

And there's our house. Recognize it? It would show more now after the leaves all have fallen but we haven't been back there since. It is a private property so we can only go when the guy, our future neighbor, is there. Can you see the creek at the bottom? It's pretty dry in this picture.
Here's a closer up.

another one

See how deep the creek is? I was excited since this was really the first time I saw our house far from behind.

and then we went home.

But first, let me show you our red Japanese maple, before it lost all its leaves. Isn't the color pretty?

One last thing I want to share is our rosemarie and camelia flowers. We had a dinner party on 1/2, so I picked some rosemarie to mix with my baked potatoes. While cutting up some rosemary, I noticed the pink and red camelias were both blooming. So, I cut some to put in a vase. Sorry, I forgot to take a camera and it was too cold for me to go out again, so I just took the pictures of the herb and flowers after I took them to the kitchen. I think they are pretty and it is so nice to see some flowers blooming in cold winter months.

Thanks Susan, for hosting another fine event.

Thanks all for the visit!

Guest Room for Grandkids Still Evolving

The holidays went by so quickly and now it's another year. For most of us, we like to redecorate during this time and I am no exception.

I would like to share what I have done. They are mostly blue so I would like to participate in Sally's meme, Blue Monday. For more blues, go visit her at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

I created some mosaics too so I am also linking with Mary at http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/ For more creative mosaics, go there.

And since I am posting changes, I would also like to join Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/. To see lots of amazing transformations, make sure you go there.

I have shown this change first last week but I am not done yet so I want to share a little progress. The top pic below is the "before" picture. It's the original decor since we moved in here from Florida almost 3 years ago. The bottom picture of the mosaic is what I did last week. The end tables have not been placed yet and no window valance was hung. And now, I have hung the blue and white toile valances I bought from Ebay. I also moved the end tables here from the living room. The tables were extra pieces in the living room and I don't know why I didn't think of moving them here to begin with.

I know I should put that porta crib away but I cannot figure out how to fold it. I haven't had practice for decades now, lol. So, I just added a yellow throw blanket to match.

I also ordered an area rug for this room but it has not arrived yet, so that might be my next transformation post. It's sorta ongoing, lol, just like everyting else in our house.

Just shown here are accessories I added on the end tables. Everything was just moved from other parts of the house. I do that a lot, do you?

Thanks for stopping by. I hope your new year is favorable so far. Thanks Sally and Susan!