Saint Nicholas

Today is the feast of Saint Nicholas. When I was small our parents always had us place a bowl on the kitchen table  on the Eve of  Saint Nicholas (Dec 5) and the next morning our bowls would be filled with lots of goodies, an orange, some coins and always a handful of tasty candy treats. It is a wonderful childhood memory and I passed it on to my own children. Now they are older and one is living nine hours away so we did not do it this year. Kind of sad. But the story of Saint Nicholas is a good one. He was from a wealthy family and his parents died in an epidemic. He was raised by an uncle and it is said when he received his inheritance he gave it all away to the poor. He was a kind and generous person and it is also said that he left coins in the shoes of those who set them out. He is often incorporated with Santa Claus and there are many wonderful stories you can read about this religious man! Our youngest son is named Nicholas and we proudly celebrate this feast day!

I wanted to share this with you today. I am still trying to get my Alphabe Thursday post up and I am getting a sinus infection and my hubby is suffering with a terrible head cold. We hear that our weather is going to change so perhaps some rain and snow will sweep all these awful germs away! As always prayer is very welcome here. It is a difficult time to work with those that are non believers and worse than that people who are mean spirited.

I hope your day is filled with happiness, love and lots of kindnesses.

Blue Monday/ Love is....

Had to share a special blue! My good friend Barb who I have known since age 13 sent this Facebook greeting to me today! It made my birthday heavenly! I hope you will visit Sally and enter your blues too!

I will share my birthday surprise later! Tell Marydon what Love is ... is your favorite today!

I won a copy of this from Leeann! Stop by the Old Parsonage and say hello. It is a treasure I will share with Jayden! He loves having someone read to him!

"B" is for Birthday's/ Beautiful Porches!

We all have them! They come around once a year whether we like it or not! I have decided to accept them with grace and be grateful that I am another year older! Birthdays are celebrations of our lives. Some people choose not to celebrate them! Others love the celebration! The attention. The gifts. Then there is the cake! Ah.....birthday cake! What to have! What flavor to choose! I am a December baby! Go here www.famousbirthdays.com/december3.html to see who shares this date with me! I am  into celebrating with people I care for! Phamily. Friends. Which reminds me, here in blog world I share my birthday with Julie and Jan at  a journey.... They are two super cool ladies and I want to wish them both a terrific birthday! I also share my birthday with a good buddy Barb S. and Jeannette.  It is a wonderful and popular day! I hope you will visit Ms. Jenny and tell her to please accept my assignment for Alphabe Thursday! Even if I was late!

One of these days I will  post a bunch of beautiful baby photos of me! LOL! I hope you will head over to Beverly's and thank her for her gracious work each week as we share into the holiday season with a wonderful venue of Pink Saturday's! This week we are showing off  holiday porches and showing our wares on Blog Shop! Since I am way behind on my holiday decorating I will share more google images with you!

Tell me what porch here is your favorite! This first one is such a classic!

How about a little fruit for the Christmas cheer?

A snowy porch filled with much cheer.

Some sporty cheer on your front porch!

A child's favorite undoubtedly! I love that sweet bear!

Look at those sweet ornaments hanging on this front porch! The red door is certainly very festive!

A cozy bench with lots of holiday decorating!

Look, they left your gifts on the front porch! Aw....so sweet! I wonder what is inside these pretty packages.

A holiday glow. Lights remind me of the true reason for the season. The Savior was born into a dark world and He filled it with light!

A precious pooch. Do you suppose he was hoping to go sledding today?

This red and white venue makes me feel like Christmas is just around the corner! Look at the lantern filled with ornaments! Isn't that a sweet touch?

A fitting holiday celebration, right on the front porch!

This Christmas tree adds a real sense of the presence of Christmas!

I think black and white makes a charming Christmas porch. I would feel so cozy here.

Did you think I would forget to give you a pink and pretty porch this holiday season? Christmas looks so calm and peaceful on this colorful front porch!

Another pretty pink porch complete with a snow lady in a wide brimmed hat! Hope your weekend is terrific and you enjoy the porch of your dreams here or at your own home!

On Blog Shop this week I have these  Princess House berry bowls. They are a small version of the Fantasia bowls and I have several and use them all the time. You can purchase these for $12 plus $12 shipping today. You may e mail me if you are interested.

This was an original Princess House hand blown potpourri bowl. But you could fill it with some small ornaments and use it as a decorating piece for any holiday! The gold metal top is great for using as a "frog" to arrange a small bouquet of flowers. It is $12 and $12 shipping. e mail me if you would like any other info too.

Love is Right on cue and Blue Trees for Blue Monday

I loved playing pool when I was younger! So I really like this little Love is....Do you feel that love is right on cue? Stop by and visit Marydon. It would be fun to see your favorite Love is....

Would you like to have a blue Christmas tree?  This one is in need of some decorations!

Maybe a patriotic tree is your style! I think some little American flags tucked around this tree would be fitting.

A lovely white tree with blue ornaments. That silver star on top of the tree is a sweet touch!

Have you decorated your tree? Do you put up a Christmas tree? I like some of these blue ornaments to add to the festivities. I used google images to show you these blues. Now I hope 

you join  Sally and all the blue crew! This girl is blue. My son Nick left for college today. It seems like he just got here and had to leave again. He is a good kid and he has changed in a short time,for the better. He is a really responsible young man. It was good to see him and even better to have him come and go safely.

This is a photo of Nick and his team mate Sean from the Nike Southwest XC Invitational 2011 in Phoenix, AZ. Do you like Nick's shirt? Have a wonderful week.

Giving Thanks/ Blog Shop/Abundance for the Letter A

I am sharing a few random photos from our celebration at Thanksgiving Day 2012. I hope you will stop by and visit Beverly and lots of pinkies today. I am very grateful we spent a wonderful phamily day with good food and knowing each of you here. Having an abundance of good people in your life is a true blessing. I decided to incorporate my Alphabe Thursday. Ms. Jenny does an excellent job of making sure we are all A plus each week! My favorite sleeping boy! I sang him to sleep on Wednesday and he clutched my old Valentine Bear! There is nothing more priceless in this life! Abundantly happy with the phamily I have!

Abundance of the heart. Our hearts are full of good friends here. It is a wonderful feeling and a very good thing.

Our three daughters! I adore being mom to them!


We shared a great dinner today. Our middle daughter Rebekah has a beau Zach and he shares a phamily favorite with us each year. He makes a simple dessert called "Snicker Apple Dessert. He cuts up mini snickers with diced apples and mixes it with Cool Whip! Yum! He also shares his phamily Crab Dip with us. It is so tasty and has a nice bite to it!

Andrew, Tarrah and Jayden had dinner with us. They brought three pies, Apple, Cherry and Pumpkin. They were wonderful. This boy is always on a mission. He had the cutest shoes on! Baby Vans! Unsure where they went!

I shared two phamily favorites. My sister-in-law Joyce makes a jell-o dessert with raspberry and strawberry jell-o. The strawberry jell-o is the base. After it is set you frost that layer with sour cream. The raspberry jell-o has frozen strawberries in it. It looks pretty in a clear bundt pan or other jell-o mold.

My dad loved orange jell-o with shredded carrots and pineapple so I made a small dessert in honor of him today. Nick loves plain orange jell-o so I also made several individual cups for him. Hannah and Nick are our two babies!

Noelle's kitchen looked like a page out of Martha Stewart's organized kitchen! She made several dishes including green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, scalloped potatoes and the stuffing my mom use to make for us. She baked a ham and the turkey and we pitched in with two turkey breasts. We also mashed a bunch of potatoes and made home made cranberries, corn, green beans, french style and a phamily favorite. Sour cream, canned whole cranberries and crushed pineapple. They are frozen in cupcake liners and they make a nice addition to to the whole meal.

I am excited about Blog Shop. I have lots more of Princess House Products to sell. So I will show you a few here. My son has a PayPal account we use so if there is anything you would like let me know. The worse part of selling on line is the fact that the shipping has gotten very expensive. So I am trying to make the pricing very reasonable. Let me know if you want anything. I will get it to you as quickly as I can. U.S. shoppers only, sorry.

A set of four collectible Orchard Medley  dessert plates. The lattice and fruit print is very pretty and I own these plates too! The price is $15 with $15 shipping. 

A set of four Princess House retired Veranda "French Horn" dessert plates. They have an 18k gold rim so they are hand washed only. I also have these plates and enjoy them with my phamily during the Christmas season. $15 with $15 shipping.

This is an Orchard Medley Pie Plate. It s a beautiful retired piece and is a deep dish plate. It has the fruit pattern that is very cheerful all around. It is ceramic. It is $16 plus $15 shipping.

This is a Pavillion Cappuccino mug. This mug is HUGE and can be used as a bowl for soup as well as your favorite coffee drinks. $8 and $12 shipping.

A collectible Princess Heritage Cappuccino mug. $9 and $12 shipping

A pair of Fantasia Cappuccino mugs $17, $14 shipping

This decorator bowl is an Optic Wave piece and it is retired. I have several of these in different styles and they are so much fun to decorator with.  $17 with $14 shipping.

A Princess Heritage Candlelamp. A collectible piece and so sweet! $12 with $12 shipping

I wanted to share a few pieces with you and if you are interested let me know. These one of a kind items disappear. I have sold several items from my garage that is brimming with Princess House. I will have several more items next week. An over abundance of things I suppose is another way to say it!

Princess house has changed through the years. The cost to produce hand blown pieces has gotten more expensive and they have stopped producing so much of this product. They seem to have good success with their stainless steel line. While I own many pieces and love using their cookware I am sad to see so many beautiful decorating pieces go . I have lots of candlestick holders and different decorating ideas using different candle holders.

Times change and I appreciate you stopping by. Let me know if you would like any other information on any of these pieces.

I hope you visit Pink Saturday with Beverly and again thank her for all her sharing! She is a generous lady! Then let Jenny know you want to join Alphabe Thursday. I like it because is gives you a good reason to challenge your mind and set your creative genius into motion!

Happy Thanksgivings

Happy blue Monday! Here is a blue slate turkey! Such a pretty creature!

When you work in the daily grind like me you have to have a sense of humor! There is a saying "How will I ever fly with eagles when I am stuck working with turkeys!".

Pretty blue ribbons to tie up a terrific Fall!

My final humor for Monday before you head over to Sally's and see the other blues! Have a beautiful and bountiful Thanksgiving Day!