Photo Session Turns Into Cat Fight

We were having fun, taking pictures today with a new outfit from Gramma Daisy (of The Daisy Chain.)



We had this chair in our antique booth but brought it home for Dear Bebe to play in. It was perfect for taking pictures with her new Cat in the Hat from her Auntie.

Awwwwwww! She just loved getting kisses from kitty.

Well, Love, our gray cat likes to sleep in or on things as noted here in this post. I was quite surprised when she jumped up into the chair to try it out for herself. It must have looked like a great place to sit. Or, she was jealous no one was taking pictures or giving her any kisses.

So, not wanting to disappoint Love, I started snapping her photo

in model-like fashion....when all of a sudden....

Our completely jealous and very territorial kitty, Sissy,

made it clear she didn't like it very much.

Things escalated from there. Flattened ears on one cat,

the arched back on the other. Not looking good.


Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrreoooooooooowwwwww!

Watch out for those fangs!

Whooie. We had to break it up before it got too nasty.

Kind of catty, dontcha think?

Going Daffy

Now here's the kind of daffy I like! The daffodils are in full bloom around our house. They peep out of the ground even when the leaves on the trees have not made their appearance. Signs of spring, cheerful hello's from the ground.

I'm loving it.

Hubba Hubba Hubby

It's Friday night. I wanted to blog all day but didn't get a chance. I wasn't even sure what I was going to blog about. But now, after receiving a visit from this fun blogger, I now know what I'm going to say in my post.

I'm awarding Dear Hubs with the Hot Hubby Award! Yay! This one is for you. And I do think he is pretty cute, but that is not why he is getting this award. I'd love to show you his picture but he doesn't like his photo being shown on the blog so we'll have to use a stand-in:

This is for all of the help with Dear Bebe, for being Mr. Fix-It, for the pound cake you baked yesterday, the help you give me around the house, and for all the other things you do!

Thank you, honey!

And for all of the other bloggers out there, feel free to grab the award and pass it along to your hot hubby!

Projects Projects Projects

Ever have a project you started and never finished? More than one? Two? Too many to count?

I think I have too many to count. And since I can't count them all, I'm just going to show you the two I have pictures of in my computer. Last summer I started working on this little doll dresser. It has since been painted white. At least I accomplished something! All that is left is the oval mirror that goes with it and maybe a knob makeover.

Maybe this spring I can get it out of storage (the garage!) and help it find a new home. When I am finished with it I may try selling it in our antique booth or maybe on the website. I tend not to sell items that are difficult to ship but we'll see.

The other project is this cool display piece. I absolutely love it. While it is not very large, I can just see it painted a shabby white and used for displaying vintage photos or silver items, small heirloom pieces I've collected from relatives over the years. The top piece of glass was actually very scratched plexiglass so I am waiting on Dear Hubs to get a replacement. When I do finally finish it, I don't know where I would put it in our house. Let's just hope I get to it. Dear Bebe keeps me pretty busy.

Then there's about a thousand others things I'd like to work on...but I'll just start with these. Hopefully I will have some great photos to show you in a few months of how they look with their new makeovers.

What projects are you working on? I'd love to hear about them.

Who Could Resist?

I think I've become one of THOSE moms. You know, the kind that can't stop taking pictures of their babies...or dressing them up in silly costumes?

Well, who could resist?

We had the costume. It was just sitting there.

We couldn't let it go to waste, could we?

At least she was smiling!

A Time For Every Purpose

It's the first day of spring!

At last.

I can hear the birds singing outside my window.

They're singing my song!

Ecclesiastes 3

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.


Hope your weekend is fabulous.

Spring Fever

The weather is warming up here this week! I'm getting spring fever as there are only a couple more days to go until it is official.

Whew. Sigh. Of. Relief.

Pretty soon we'll be seeing lots of these popping up everywhere.

I feel like cleaning up and clearing out all kinds of things here at home. Closets, drawers, the basement, my office.

Getting things organized.

Then we'll also see these popping up everywhere, too.

By the time I get everything done Dear Hubby will have gone to a yard sale and brought more stuff home. He can't resist stopping at a good sale.

Then I'll have to start all over again.

Growing Fast

(B& W Photography by Pea Pod Photos)

Just a short time ago Dear Bebe was my little Bebe.

She's going to be six months old soon.

I can't believe how quickly the time goes.

Here she's playing in her exersaucer. She loves it.

I'm loving this age. She finds everything fascinating!

But loves people the most!

Journaling My Way Through Life

In my last post I wrote about how I came up with the name for this blog. In doing so, I showed a stack of journals I've written in throughout my life.


It didn't really hit me until I did this...how many books I have filled and how much I've written. It spans the time of my life from childhood until ....um....gulp...middle age. Yikes. I'm kind of proud of this accomplishment. There was only one time in my life where I hardly wrote in a journal... during college and a few years after.




This was one of my first books. Remember when gnomes were popular? I think it was around the same time the Smurfs were a big deal. Anyway, I loved this book. Each page had a picture of the little gnome in the corner.


I wrote in the book, I saved important clippings, I taped photos in there. It was a almost like a scrapbook for me. Here is a newspaper clipping from sixth grade. I had been in a "College Bowl" at school and took third place.

Some of the journals have covers that make them easy to pinpoint what year I must have bought them in.

If you were a child of the 80's then you remember the IZOD frenzy. I had an IZOD purse and this journal. What I really wanted was the IZOD shirt. My Sister had one. I'm not sure if she ever let me wear it. Oh the sibling rivalries. I'm sure I must have blurted it out in the journal.

I've written about political events such as Iran taking our citizens hostage, Reagan being shot, as well as other newsy events like hurricanes.

There are entries about silly things. In my first little journal which I unfortunately can't find now, I remember I wrote "Today I had a hot dog." I think I was in 4th or 5th grade. Each day only had five lines you could fill. I guess I thought what I had for lunch was important. I'm really upset I can't find this little book. I would love to read the rest of it.

Some of the entries are sad. Times I would not like to remember. Some of them are funny. My favorites are when I came up with something philosophical and introspective. A few years of my life I started writing poetry. Not a lot, just a few times. And the weird thing is, I haven't since.

When I was living on my own in Missouri as a young TV producer, I wrote often. Moving to a new state and living by yourself really makes you think. I started naming or titling my journals at that point and I titled one "Missouri Loves Company." I always thought I would write a book about my time there. I started to, but didn't finish. Distracted by my new life when I moved to Pennsylvania, I guess. I think it would make a great name for a movie.

And now that I'm a new Mommy I've started another journal. One for Dear Bebe. I've been writing to her since I was pregnant. I'm not sure how long I will do this. Will she find it interesting?

This leads me to wonder. Should I keep all of the journals I've ever written in? Should I attempt writing a book based on my journals?

Do I want Dear Bebe to read them after I'm gone? I'd have to do some creative editing to some of the pages. As in: "I really don't know why there is a page missing there"....or "looks like a bug must have eaten a big hole in that one!"

I also have to admit I have neglected my own personal journal since starting to blog. Maybe this period of my life will be known as the bloggy era? I used to print out each post and save it in a 3 ring binder...but I have to admit I haven't been able to keep up with that, either.

And now that I've written a book in just this one post I realize I need to stop, or no one is going to even read it!

Maybe I should get back to the journal writing after all.

What's In a Name

When I started my blog about a year and a half ago, I didn't know what to name it. I don't remember taking a whole lot of time to come up with the name so I must not have thought it was too important. I had been following other blogs and it seemed like a fun place to write.

But what was I going to name it? I thought about my history with writing. I've been journaling for eons...ever since the 4th or 5th grade. This stack of books are a lifetime of thoughts and memories.

There is also a book about working on your creative side which suggests you streamline write, meaning, just write whatever you are thinking ....and stop when you reach three pages worth.

I liked the term "pages" from that suggestion. I then thought about using the nickname, Jillian, given to me by a friend. We used to joke about being of Irish descent and add an Irish accent to everything. She in turn was given the nickname "Pattian." It was then picked up as a pet name between my Dear Hubby and I, and an "ian" was added to the end of his name.... do you see the pattern here?

So there you have it.

The "pages" writing technique and the nickname "Jillian" and voila...you have Jillian's Pages. Like I said, I don't think I put a whole lot of thought into it.

Sometimes I think I should change my blog title. My blog has evolved since the first day I started posting. Maybe it is too late.

How did you come up with the name for your blog? Should I keep mine the way it is?

Let me know what you think. Now that I've pulled out all of my old journals I'm going to reminisce for awhile.

In a Flash ~ Vintage Clock Faces, Pin Ornaments, Mirror, Shabby Rose Plates

This weekend seemed to go by in a flash. Where does the time go?

Saturday the weather warmed up a lot. Just enough to tease me into thinking spring was finally here. Ha! I heard a weather report it will be getting cold again, really cold, by the end of the week.

Sigh.

I do know it is short term because daylight savings is already in effect (yay!) and March 21st isn't too far away either. Not that it's going to be like Florida around here but one can hope.

Anyway, we took advantage of the warm temps and took Dear Bebe around the neighborhood in her stroller. She's so cute. She has a dangling toy hooked to the seat and she holds onto it the whole time. Even when her eyes are closed.

Saturday afternoon I finally got a chance to load the rest of my latest inventory onto the Bella Rosa website.

These scalloped edged plates are soooooo neat because they have that vintage patina built in from time gone by. A dainty pink rose border is the perfect touch. I have some of the same pattern in Dear Bebe's nursery. Remember I did the baby meets shabby chic theme? I used the large meat platter as a tray to hold all of her lotions and other bottles on the dresser.

This little mirror (4" x 4") is too cute. I'm wondering if it came off of an old vintage photo album? I think it's great making it's own little statement all by itself.

Cake plates and I have a thing for each other. I love to buy (and collect) them and somehow they keep finding me! Especially this one with all of the pastel roses.


These pin ornaments are older and I just love the velvet pastel colors someone chose for the base. Too sweet! Secretly I'm thinking how great they are going to look this Christmas if they don't sell. Isn't that backwards? I'm supposed to hope they SELL. Not the other way around.

There's more unique items including the clock faces at the top of this post. I left the picture there because I couldn't resist the "time" analogy. Okay, so it's early in the week. I'll think of something clever to write about next time!

Grandmom and Her Gift of Memories

Today is my paternal Grandmother's birthday. She would have been 99. Although she passed away three years ago and had been in a nursing home, I still miss her.

(Here, Grandmom joins us for my birthday celebration in 1985. My Dad and my friend Sudha are also in the photo.)
I spent a lot of time with her when I was a kid. Saturday nights at Grandmom's house was always fun for my Sister and I. We didn't do anything grand, but what we did do became great memories for me.



Like watching Hee Haw and Lawrence Welk. I have to admit, at age 10 I wasn't exactly thrilled about watching the latter. So, I would go in her bedroom and turn on her little black and white tv...probably from the sixties because it had a remote that my Grandmother referred to as "the clicker." That's because the up and down buttons ( the only buttons on it) actually made loud CLICK CLICK CLICK sounds when you went through the five channels available.

I would come out during the hour show when Grandmom would call me to let me know the couple that danced was on. Bobby and what was her name? Cissy? Can't remember now.



Then we'd watch the Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Somewhere during this time we'd have an ice cream break. She had these great Fire King bowls we'd use. I have them now and cherish them because of these special nights together.



She also had a cookie tin we'd sneak a cookie or three out of, fully expecting to hear her reprimands coming from the living room. "You'll ruin your supper!"

Since my Mother worked during the day, she would bring me over to Grandmom's if I was sick and needed to stay home from school. We'd look at her old photo albums. Or play cards. A good round of "Go Fish" always seemed to make me feel better. That and a bowl of Campbell's chicken noodle paired with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Memories.

Simple, yes. But I carry them with me always.

Great gifts from Grandmom on her birthday.

Hey, That's My Turf

One of our cats, Love, likes to sleep in things. Like my tote bag, for instance.

We've found her snoozing in baskets, on top of cardboard boxes, and once in a vintage doll bed that was just barely holding her up.

We still can't figure out how she got under this blanket ... I guess she burrowed in there! With as cold as it's been...it looks like a good idea.



And this one is the best! A small cardboard tray.

From the looks of this, the tighter she fits into the container, the better. She's not exactly a skinny minny either.

But what's this? Our other cat, Sissy, decided this looked like a great spot, too. I think this is breaking a kitty turf code. These two cats still don't get along after almost five years of living together. (Love was Dear Hubby's kitty before we were married.)

By the way, this was Sissy when she was a kitten in 2002. She gets away with a lot because she is cute!

I'm sure Love doesn't agree.