Santa and Snowman

I hope you all are enjoying this Christmas season, though hectic it may be. By the time this post, I am already in Florida with one of my daughters and I am hoping at least 1 baby has arrived. But I am sure you will be among the first ones to know.

Before I left, I set this delightful table, maybe John will smile everytime he passes by it, even though he may be missing me terribly. I wish! LOL!

Anyway, I love santa and the snowman so I decided to make them my theme. I think they are both fun. I just bought this sleigh from another booth next to my booth in the store, for $5. I like that it is heavy and feels like bronze. You don't see it in this photo but it has 2 reindeers pulling it. Little snowman name plate holder is taking a ride on the sleigh.

I decided not to use a tablecloth but I used a red and green plaid table runner.
Ceramic chargers with "Believe" and snowflake inscribed. Underneath is a round silver (more like pewter) sequined placemat.

Snowman dinner and salad plates.

My ex co worker, Gwen, who just visited us, gave me a set of these stocking flatware holders. Aren't they cute? I think they give my table a touch of whimsy.

I have them in 3 main colors, red, green and white but I did not use the white ones this time.

Green and red stemware.
snowman placecard holder

I found this from another vendor at the store. It is a big lidded white urn with green grapes and it is a light. I thought it was unusual. The little cute snowman was $1 from St. Andrews thrift store where I usually give donations.

Do you see the gifts on the kitchen counter that I still have to deliver?

Looks like I just captured the blue hour. Look at that pretty deep blue sky outside!

Another shot showing the blue sky.

Here is a better photo of the urn light and snowman.

Do you like my Santa? Isn't he handsome? He is one of the many free Christmas items I got from my daughter's in laws.

ceramic Santa napkin holder

ceramic snowman napkin holder

The napkin holders were another thrifty finds. I bought them last year from another vendor in the store for $5 I think, and there are 6 of them. They are really nice and heavy and I like their shade of green color.

I also bought this big but cute snowman from another vendor in the store, for $5.


And that concludes my tablescape for this week and this should remain until I get back home, possibly in early February. John never takes them apart, lol.

I am glad you all stopped by, Thanks.

Thanks also to our gracious hostesses:

Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Susan for Tablescape Friday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Sherry's Open House Party Thursday at http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/

Dianns' Thrifty Friday at http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/

Sherry's Home Sweet Home Fri at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Honey's Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

Beverly's Pink Sat at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sunday at http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas y'all!

My New Toy in the Kitchen

Everybody seems to think that I will be very busy taking care of new grand kids in Florida but I think I will be able to rest there. I seem to keep taking upon projects after projects here at home. In the midst of the chaos caused by floor flooding and packing for a long trip to Florida, not to mention attending parties of friends here since they say they will miss me being gone for so long, I decided to add a lighted pot rack in the kitchen. Don't forget, I am still emptying the office cause tomorrow, they are removing the rug. I still have to disconnect all the computers and printer and have to label the cables so they can be reconnected back easily, but I am still using the computer so will have to do that later tonight. Yes, we decided to go ahead and replace the floor in here too. And so far, 7 boxes of dishes were just delivered from Fedex and were just unpacked, just to be packed in plastic bins. This is the Winter Greetings Christmas china that I just won from Ebay and there are almost 100 pieces.

Anyway, I searched and searched for something I like that would look good above the kitchen counter. Alas, I found it on Amazon and so I ordered it. It arrived yesterday so today, we asked Mitch to come and install it.

The 2 consecutive photos below are the "Before" pictures.

Wow! This picture must really be old. We did not have the TV on the brick wall yet and I still had the black hutch there.

And here is our talented electrician/handyman Mitch installing the pot rack.

It's up! I couldn't believe how closely it matched our hanging light in the breakfast nook and I did not not even try to match it. I must just be drawn to that style, huh! Do you see what I mean? I did not hang any pots yet because the only nice ones I have are Le Creuset but I am afraid they might be too heavy. Does anybody know? Oh well, I think I will search for copper ones. Don't you think copper pots and pans will look good hanging there?

In case you are wondering what that stainless steel control knob on the counter is, it is a built in system for a food processor. I have the attachments under the cabinet but I have never used them. They were there when we bought the house.

I really like how bright my cooking area is now. Maybe it will entice me to cook more often, lol.

I hope you like it as much as I do. I cannot wait to find the right pots to hang from it. I might try some that I already have, tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. By the time this post, I will be in Florida already, maybe resting, lol.

Linking with

Susan for Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Sally for Blue Monday at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

See my beautiful blue Virgin Mary? and Mitch's blue jacket?

Mary's Masterpieces Monday at http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Marty's Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com

Bunny Jean's Bunny Hop at http://bunnyjeansdecorandmore.blogspot.com/
Thanks for hosting, sweet ladies!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!

Winter Greetings, 2011

This is my second Christmas tablescape for this year. Again, I have to do it on the small square table in the breakfast nook. No tablescape on the big dining table this year because I just finished emptying that room so that they can work on the floor whenever they can get to it.

Centerpiece taken at daytime and at night with candle light.

I used my free bling tassels for napkin holders. I got them from my daughter Tina's in laws in Florida. They were giving them away and told me to take as much as I want so I filled a shoe box, lol. That's thrifty, right? I won't even tell you what else I took but between me and my other daughter, we filled a really big plastic bin, the size that one person alone cannot carry.

The napkins are part of an embroidered Christmas tablecloth set I bought from Grand Cayman.

My flatware is mahogany and brass "Siam" from Thailand. My cousin gave them to me. Someone had pawned them in her pawnshop and never collected them back. Their loss is my gain.

Don't you just love this Winter Greetings salt and pepper shaker set? I think it is so cute! The birdhouse, which is the salt shaker, comes apart from it's base, which is the pepper shaker.

Gold mercury silver glass balls and green mercury silver candle holders create my main centerpiece. And I added a wreath made with more holly berries cut from the bushes outside and tied with a bow.
I just realized that I should have hung some of the bling tassels around the candle holders too. I sure do have enough of them, lol.

I also added a small cloche on a tall pedestal and placed more holy berries inside.

I love my Mikasa champagne flutes. I bought them from Marshall's for $3.99 each last year, I think. I love the stems. But my thrifty green goblets were bought for $1 each from another vendor in the store where my booth is. I thought they look pretty together and the red ones make the green look more expensive.

Do you like the christmas tree name plate holders? Now, I can't say that I do not have any christmas trees, lol.

I also mixed more holly berries and rosemary, all from our yard, in a vase as part of the centerpiece.

This time, I used my favorite Christmas china, Winter Greetings. Right now, I have 8 dinner plates, 16 salad plates, 8 mugs and a S & P shaker in this pattern. But I just won a big set, service for 12 of dinner, salad, cup and saucer, bread, soup, luncheon or accent plates, plus extra serving pieces such as pasta, 2 large platters, sandwich platter, 3 relish, veggie and hor d'ouvres from Ebay for $665.51 plus $50 shipping, almost 100 pieces more, so they can be used for my big set next year. I know it is still a lot of money, nevertheless, I know I am getting a good deal because I have been prcicing them and they are very expensive individually. The seller said she paid $200 for 1 platter alone and I believe her. I think I will have a big party next year to make up for everything that I will miss this holiday season. Good thing I won cause I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to watch out for the end of the auction because there were other bidders, lol. I can't wait to get them. I showed them to John on Ebay and he liked them too so he told me to go ahead and bid and they can be my belated anniversary present. But of course he already gave me an anniversary present, but doesn't that statement leave it open for another Christmas present?

The gold ornate plate chargers are from Horchow from years ago.





Just adding a few "effect" pictures from my camera.

Black and white with red accents.

Black and white with green accents.

Black and white with yellow accents.

Thanks for stopping by. I know how busy you all are during this Christmas season, which I hope you all are enjoying, so I really appreciate your visit.

Linking with

Bunny Jean's Bunny Hop at

http://bunnyjeansdecorandmore.blogspot.com/

Susan of Tablescape Thursday
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/
Sherry's Open House Party Thursday
http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com/
Diann's Thrifty Things Friday at
http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/
Courtney's Feathered Nest Friday
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
Honey's Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/
Sherry's Home Sweet Home Fri
http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
Fresh Cut Flowers Friday
http://rosevignettes.blogspot.com/
Sarah's Homemaking Link Up Weekend at

http://bloggingwhilewaiting.blogspot.com/

Beverly's Pink Saturday at
http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/

Thank you sweet ladies, for hosting!

Rearranging Mama's Bedroom and Its New Floors

My mom is 93 years old and she rotates among us 5 brothers and sisters in 4 states, but more often among us 3 sisters. She is with my sister in IL right now but when she is here, this is the bedroom I designated for her.

It used to be carpeted. Before she left in August, her toilet overflowed and by the time we discovered it, the water had already seeped through the walls and damaged the hardwood floors in the hallway and also some carpeted areas including this, her bedroom. We moved all of the furniture from her bedroom into the other 2 guest rooms and her bathroom to prepare for the floor installation.

I had an overnight guest laast night, my ex co worker and her daughter, who would need the guest rooms so I asked the floor guy to do ma's floors first so I can move back the furniture to get the other guest rooms ready for our guests.

Finally this morning, it was finished. I hurriedly put it back together and cleared the other 2 bedrooms of the extra stuff.

The bedroom floor did not get done until 11:30 AM and our guests arrived before 2 PM. So you can just imagine me and the floor guy moving really fast, cleaning, making the bed and putting this room together and getting the other 2 rooms ready for the guests, but we got it done. I saw this opportunity to move furniture around. The bed used to be on the left wall, now it's between the 2 windows, and I moved the armoire on the far right wall.

Carpet is gone and has been replaced by redwood oak hardwood floors. We have a alligator covered trunk that goes in front of the bed but we did not move it back there. I sent for my mom and dad's larger antique woodcarved cedar chest from the Philippines and it just arrived yesterday, so I think I will put that instead but it still needs to be cleaned. The hinges got messed up during transit also so it needs to be repaired first. It was a wedding gift to them by a politician. If my father is still alive, they would have been married for 75 years now.

I also moved the leather chair and ottoman to the left wall. It used to be between the windows where the bed is now.

I left the Norman Rockwell "Mother and Daughter" plates on that wall.

I placed this double hobnail hurricane lamp and moved the little bunny painting and the peacock with feather balls to the top of the armoire.

This is where I do my sewing. My mom always enjoy the company, except I can never get done because she keeps asking me questions, lol. I also like to hang religious items here because she is very religious. She is always touching them and making the sign of the cross.

There's the door to ma's bathroom, where all the problem started. Although there must have been 2 inches of water in there, the tile was not damaged at all.

The big picture on the left table was my mom at 18.

I moved the big bunny oil painting here too.

There is still a lot of work to be done but I feel so much better seeing one room completed. The back hallway is almost done and the big hallway with adjoining bathroom and closet is half done. We are having second thoughts, whether or not, to replace the carpet in the home office. We have all the wood but it will be so much work moving the heavy wall unit, file cabinets and disconnecting 2 big desktop computers, printer and a TV. The carpet does not really look bad at all and it matches the one in the master bedroom that adjoins the room. What do you all think?

Thank you all for stopping by. I am linking with

Susan for Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage Monday at http://houseinroses.blogspot.com/

Marty for Tabletop Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Bunny Jean for Bunny Hop at http://bunnyjeansdecorandmore.blogspot.com/

Thank you, lovely ladies, for hosting. We appreciate all your extra work.