His N Hers

This past weekend I decided a change was in order for my office area. First, let me say I share an office with my Dear Hubby so my space is limited.

So we have "your half" and "my half" going on.

It helps if I can let Dear Bebe in the office with me so I can work occasionally on orders for my website or answer some of the emails I receive.

Sounds good? Not if you have antiques on open shelves in the room. Nightmare with a toddler with grippy hands.

So I decided to buy new shelving that would fit in the closet and store everthing where the doors can be closed.

That left my current shelving available for other items! I hadn't thought about it until the new space was created and I love what I've decided to use it for. My shipping supplies, boxes, ribbons, etc.

She loves to play with the boxes and ribbons which can easily be wound up again and put back on the shelf. Nothing to break there!
This is the other half of the room. It doesn't help we also have an antique booth and end up with lots of excess stuff, bins, boxes, containers waiting to be taken to the antique mall.

Even Dear Bebe thinks it's a mess.

Goal for this year: Work on this room as well as our dining room. We had big plans when we moved in four years ago to paint and put up crown molding, etc in our formal dining area.

Ha! We'll see. I've got 11 months left.

Maybe I'll just start with organizing the rest of my shelves.

Those Were The Days!

Recently I came across a few photos on the internet while Facebooking (is this a term?) The photos stopped me in my tracks and my eyes opened wide:

I've always been drawn to the spotlight and back in high school I auditioned for our high school musical. That year (1984) we did SOUTH PACIFIC. This play was so much fun to be in.

That's me, the red head third or fourth on the left and whaddya know, I'm not facing forward like I should be and my arm isn't with all the other dancers. And look at that funky 80s hair!

But it was great seeing these old photos... I don't think I had ever seen these before. Someone loaded them onto a reunion page on Facebook and I'm so glad he did.

This was a photo taken during the song "Nothin Like a Dame." Looks pretty good, eh? I haven't gotten the song out of my head since I saw it this afternoon.

And WOW! The entire cast photo. I'm the first girl on the left. Boy do I look like a skinny minny there.

Those were the days!

Chocolate Museum & Factory

Who doesn't love chocolate? Okay, I know there are some who don't, but most people I know wouldn't turn down a piece, or two....or three!


Last weekend I encouraged Dear Hubs to take us for a family outing. As Dear Bebe gets older, this will get more and more fun to do.




He looked up some things to do online and found a local chocolate factory had a mini museum inside. I did not protest.

They make these cute little (and very tasty morsels) called BUDS. They look like KISSES but they are not. Which came first? The KISS or the BUD? Tee hee.

Either way these are delicious. I'm halfway through the bag of them already.

The museum was really neat, but small.




Just as I was about to take a photo of their gorgeous display of porcelain chocolate pots... my camera battery died. Ahhhhhhh!



Here are all the chocolate molds they've collected as well as other neat items used to make chocolate.

But we had fun and we look forward to more family outings! Especially if they involve food!

Leap Year : More Like Leap Frog!

My friend and I went out for a girl's night and we chose to see the movie, Leap Year.

Amy Adams again in a starring role. I like her. I really do.

But maybe not in this role. Here she is hoping to receive a proposal from her doctor boyfriend and instead receives a pair of diamond earrings.
She spends the rest of the movie stomping (in high heels mind you) through the rest of the movie up and down the hills of Ireland trying to get to him on February 29th, to propose to him during a rare Irish Leap Year tradition.

Then of course, she meets another guy and they seem to like each other despite hating each other. (And haven't we seen THIS scenario over and over before?)

Okay. So, it had potential.

The biggest problem was a lack of chemistry between any of the actors.

I won't give the rest of the story away in case you'd like to rent it...which is the only way I would recommend it. The price of a movie and the six dollar popcorn just isn't worth it!

See? No sparks.

You'd think the casting director would have seen that during early script reading.

I give it 2 and a half popcorns. Maybe a three if I didn't have to buy the ticket or the popcorn. Like if I just sat on my couch, made microwave popcorn and had rented it. Now there's a tradition I can leap to!

Winter Blues

It's almost the middle of January. And I've got the winter blues really bad! The cold arrived eons ago and it didn't seem like it was going to lift....but I'm thrilled to say today we had warmer temperatures! Like, no longer frigid.

I know it is not spring, but it was enough to motivate me.


So now I can start thinking about future days when I can go to the local farmers market and see these....


And even sooner when I can bring these home to brighten up the house.

For now though my trusty crockpot is here. What's your favorite "beat the winter blues" recipe for the slow cooker? I'd love to hear about it.

Need a Lift?

When New Year's day rolls around... I scoff at making resolutions. Who really sticks to them anyway?

I decided instead... I needed a lift.

My hair was getting pretty long and I had a few inches cut off.

Instant lift!

New year, new hair. It's a great "pick me up."

Now, the only thing that could make it better would be spring.

How many more days?

Baby It's Cold Outside ~ Got Soup?

It is soooooo cold here on the North East Coast. The only solution is to make soup.

And lots of it. Dear Hubs got out the ol' vintage enamelware stock pot and set to work.

I think I'll pour myself a bowl...

And this photo is for Grandma ... Dear Bebe is wearing her Santa slippers! Thank you!

Now I'm going to go warm up and have some of that yummy soup.