Wanna Be Santa?

Have you seen this Macy's Page? You gotta try it. I've doodled away 45 minutes making me and everyone I have a picture of into Santa...what a hoot!


And here's another Holiday Season pic showing the first Xmas card I received. I thought it looked good on my red stash cabinet.

Holiday Spirit

Well, most of the decorating is done.
I'm calling it a minimalist Holiday Season here.

The lights are up.
I hung them under the upstairs patio, and I like the twinkle at night.




I got a teeny weeny tree at Trader Joe's and some teeny weeny lights to go on it. That corner of the living room looks festive as all get-out!











I got these little red doo-dads at IKEA and with a poinsetta bloom they are kinda holiday-ish, don't you think?







There are lights around the inside of the patio fence and I'm going to leave these up after the holidays too. I love the twinkle.











A reindeer and some red votives on the table.






A cheery candle and a glittery wreath on the entry hall table.








Christmas cards have been sent out.
And everything is in the pantry for some holiday baking. I'm pretty much ready.

I have loved reading everyone's blogs! If you haven't checked out Sew, Mama, Sew you should if you need ideas for some holiday gifting that are hand made. Not all of them require a lot of time, so you still can make a hand-made Christmas.

I also loved Jane Sassaman's blog today~ she had some beautiful wondrous things utilizing her fabrics.

I listed all my favorite blogs on the sidebar ~ if you can't get inspired on your own, these women will get you going.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Today...preparation.

How could I have forgotten Trader Joe's in my posting about my favorites?

I was so happy to move to a town where we have 3 of them. I stopped by this one yesterday as well because they sell Maya's favorite dog food and we were almost out. Can you believe I got in there and out again without buying anything but dog food? That's a first for me.

Okay, so this is what I'm up to today...


Two are in the oven and two are out and cooling.
Sweet Potato pie is my favorite and I've been making these for over 30 years. I love them and while 1 is for my home, the other three will go to other families for their holiday dinners. In Columbus, Ohio, my cousin Randy will be making my recipe for this pie along with 4-5 other pies for the table with all my cousins and their families. He inherited my grandmother's pie-making gene and really puts the rest of us to shame.

I'm also making green bean casserole. Even though I'm joining my two best sister-friends for dinner tomorrow at a local restaurant (none of us want to do the cooking, have the mess, or clean up after...lol), I want something here because I'm going to bake a chicken and make stove top stuffing for "leftovers" on Friday.

I think I love "leftovers" better than the actual dinner.


Yesterday, I finished all my mending. I got some fabric to cover my great task chairs that I got from IKEA....they are okay, but the fabric seems to be a dog hair magnet ~ it's the texture of the fabric or something, so I'm going to make cotton covers that I can take off, shake off, and launder when I need to. The bedding in my bedroom is orange/rusts, or all white, or watery blues. I like to switch it up. So I found a wonderful graphic print at IKEA that has the blues and oranges on a white background and will make the cover for the chair at my desk in those colors. The sewing table in the living room will have a red cover for that chair.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Yesterday's Favorite Things

I had a gazillion errands and left my camera in the car so I was able to show you some of my favorite things about living in Sacramento.

IKEA is only just across the river ~ less than 5 miles from my home. I got the IKEA catalog every year while I was living in Mexico and drooled over it. When I moved to North Carolina, the closest IKEA was in Atlanta....5-6 hours away and I made that drive twice in 2 years just to get my IKEA fix. Now I go at least once a month and when I first moved here it was 2-3 times a week!!! I love me some IKEA.

We are so lucky to live in what is called the Market Basket of the world ~ the central valley of California is largely agricultural. We have some wonderful markets here and a new one to me, is Nugget Market. Not only is the outside of their market wonderously beautiful, the inside is amazing to behold. Even if you aren't in the mood to cook....you will once you travel these aisles.

Isn't this butterfly bench something? The corporate offices have opted for beauty and function when it would have been less expensive to just go for function.






Sculptures on the walls of gossamer-clad beauties holding up platters of fruit. My, my, my.

Oh, and the awnings over the windows look as if they are made of seeds...the texture is remarkable.



The produce is displayed like fine art, and even though you came to shop for vegetables, it seems a shame to change a thing...it is so perfect.






That was yesterday....

She's Baaaaaaaaaack!

It may seem that I've been gone, like forever, but really it's only been 6 months....in which I moved cross country, unpacked, wandered hours and hours through IKEA, furnished my digs, settled in, and got the lay of the land. Whew! Now during that time you guys went on with your lives and a couple of my favorite bloggers, Anna Maria and Meg, got pregnant. How do I know? Well, even though I was busy doing all that stuff up there, I was also getting online and reading blogs. I needed an anchor for the upheaval in my life, and my blog-sisters were that and then some.

Can I show you my dining room and my stash? Here ya go!
Ha! Just kidding about the stash, 'cause this isn't all of it. (There's a bunch in rubbermaid tubs in the storage closet and some more in my bedroom closet.)

The stash in my dining room is arranged delightfully. I love looking at it, and so do my guests. Those purple boxes on top hold my quilting books.

The cabinet is IKEA.
I'm glad to be back here. Let me know if you found me.

On the road to California

I'm packing up the last of the stuff I'm taking and on Monday, bright and early, Maya and I will be on the road. We are hauling a U-Haul trailer with the stuff we can't live without (fabric, fabric, stash, sewing machine.....you get my drift) and hope to be there on Friday.

I've found an apartment that will take Maya, most wouldn't, and so we are both happy. See you when I get settled in.

Happy trails to youuuuuuuuuuuu!

That reminds me of a little story......
When my brother and I were little, I wanted to play cowboys, so I told him that when he rode off into the sunset he had to sing. He couldn't sing "Happy Trails" ~ so speech impediment and all, he galloped off singing, "wing awound da wosy". I was mortified!