Blame it all on my roots

Now you know the above picture isn’t my style. I go for color every time. And vignettes on every space. But there is something about the clean green and white palate that draws me in every time.

I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it is hidden in my deep Scandinavian roots on my father’s side. My maiden name Garthwaite comes from waite…a piece of land and it belongs to Garth.


This style seems so peaceful to me. So serene. And a little Frenchy too.

I could never live in this world but it is fun to visit.

WORD OF THE YEAR

   It’s not yet January but I am beginning to think of my word of the year for 2017.

Forget New Year’s Resolutions. Scrap that long list of goals you won’t remember three weeks from now anyway!

Choose just one word.

One word you can focus on every day, all year long… One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.

It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your one word will shape not only your year, but also you. It will become the compass that directs your decisions and guides your steps.

Discover the big impact one word can make.

 

 

 

Here are my past words:

2010-resolve

2011-ecalirassez (French for lighten up or simplify)

2012-acceptance

2013-energize

2014-commmitment

2015-transform

2016-savor

This year I am contemplating these words:

create, artist, hygge, contentment, relax, discover, finish

 

Are you choosing a word of the year?

A little shopping

Today I finally felt like a little Christmas shopping so I went to Olean to see what I could find. I think I'm just about finished now and just have some packages to mail out. We will be staying home this year for Christmas for the first time in quite a few years.

 

 

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A little girl's life

 

Sara ..bottom row,,,green hat...riding a float for the .girl Scouts.

I never had a little girl. With two sons my life was filled with fishing, hunting, taking apart cars, motorcycles and all sorts of manly activities. I had no one interested in makeup, tea parties or crafts. I enjoyed my boys but they never wanted to go shopping with me. Then I had three grandsons and finally got my little girl. And what a girly girl she is. She loves cling and all of the girly things. When I visit I'm hardly through the door when she says to me...lets play makeup. When I visit we play dolls and have so much fun. And I love being there. But I am not involved in their lives besides the four or five times a year that I see them. And I am missing out. This weekend Sara and Sean rode in floats at the town Christmas parade for scouts. They are in karate and dance and have sleepovers and birthday parties. When I tell my daughter in law she encourages me to move down there. And it is tempting. But this is my life here and I can't imagine leaving my house at this time. So for now I live for the Facebook pictures and FaceTime.

 

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Favorite movie

I know you have a favorite Christmas movie. One that just warms your heart every time you watch it. And you make sure that you don't miss it each year. At our house Don always enjoys It's a wonderful Life.

 

 

 

I love White Christmas although they don't seem to play that anymore. But my very favorite is Love Actually. It has a great ensemble cast with many British stars and a great plot which comes together in a surprising way at the end. Here's a little summary.

Nine intertwined stories examine the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love. Among the characters explored are David (Hugh Grant), the handsome newly elected British prime minister who falls for a young junior staffer (Martine McCutcheon), Sarah (Laura Linney), a graphic designer whose devotion to her mentally ill brother complicates her love life, and Harry (Alan Rickman), a married man tempted by his attractive new secretary.

I also love The Holiday where a California girl exchanges houses with an English girl.

What is your favorite movie?

 

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Christmas Home tour 2016

Welcome friends and happy holidays to you all. It’s Christmas time once again and here is a little tour of the sunroom. As you know I love to decorate (or as my son puts it…”if there is a surface you will put a decoration on it”). And I most enjoy the holidays.

As you look into the sunroom you will see that a lot is the same as last year. The new black and white buffalo checked curtains are new for the the winter and I put on the Pier One French chair covers.
The table is set for company with the beautiful plates that I purchased at Wegman’s last year. It is surprising the beautiful tableware that you ca find there. The silver bowl is new this year from Home Goods.
As a centerpiece I used once more the long wooden trough this time filled with pine cones, berries, moss and flowers. In the center is a lantern I purchased from Hobby Lobby.
The little black and white treat plates were a gift from my sister Diane.

Once again this year I decided to use lichen laced branches above the table. On it are hung pine cones, snowflakes and acorns.
The mercury glass candle holders light up with timers and were a gift from Linda.

Yes, we got snow.

It began snowing around 2:30 on Thursday night and didn’t stop until late Friday afternoon. It piled up deep and when I went out to coffee the road in front of my house was barely plowed. On the expressway driving was hazardous but when you know how to drive in these conditions and drive slowly there isn’t a problem. I watched all Friday as the snow kept coming. it is so beautiful.
I didn’t measure it but you can see from the snow on the birdfeeder and the fence tops that it is deep. We were plowed out early Friday morning and will be needing it again on Saturday. But we don’t plan to leave the house all weekend so that’s ok with me. My cold and cough is still hanging on and I’m tired of watching tv, reading, being on the computer and looking at magazines. I hope next week I have a chance to get outside and do some more Christmas shopping.

snow

I woke this morning to my first snow of the season. It did snow while I was away for Thanksgiving but this is the first time for me.

There is something special about seeing the ground all covered in white hiding the dull brown.







And I had to include this cartoon. Happy snow day everyone.

Are we friends?

Is it just me or do you also get friend requests on Facebook from people you don’t even know? I guess it is a status thing to have a lot of friends but I really don’t want to know what Joe Blow is doing if I don’t know that person at all. Why would I? I don’t even accept friend requests from some of my high school classmates. After all if we haven’t talked in over fifty years is there a reason why I want to see pictures of all your grandchildren? So I have become the queen of ignoring. I just delete the request and move on.

I do like Facebook for keeping up with my out of town relatives. If I can’t personally visit them I love to see pictures of the nieces and nephews and grandchildren and all their accomplishments. And once in a while I comment on something special…an animal video..that I think is extraordinarily cute.

But why do some people have to repost so many? I don’t mind if you post two or three but when I have to go through twenty or more posts daily well, I just have to hide your posts. That’s Facebook abuse.

So if you requested my friendship and I didn’t respond please don’t be offended. I still like you and would love an email or phone call from you. Let’s be friends that way.

Another Sainsbury video

These are just too cute not to share. 

The greatest gift....your time.

Another cute Christmas video...enjoy.

A darling Christmas video

Since Christmas is a time of sharing I just had to share this darling Christmas video. Enjoy.

Do you have a Martha Stewart Christmas?

Are you a Martha Stewart look alike? Do you strive to have the best, most tasty, extremely decorated and gorgeous Christmas at your house? Do you work yourself into a frenzy getting all those cookies and breads baked in time for entertaining?

That used to be me. I couldn’t rest until all was done. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed baking and getting out the once a year recipes. I loved hauling out all those decorations and spending days and days making the house just the way I wanted. I crafted and created all kinds of ornaments over the years…remember bread dough ornaments?

This went on for years. But as age tells you it got harder each year. I love my age but there are concessions and one of them is that you don’t have the energy that you once had. It takes you longer to do what you once could whip out in a day. Now it takes multiple days with rest stops in between. So each year in the last few have become simpler. This year I decided I’m not doing the cookie marathon. I always bake for two solid days filling boxes with cookies. This year we will be staying home and Don and I can only eat so many. I will make a few of the favorites and that will be all.

How about you? Do you get caught up in the Christmas business? Or have you found a simpler solution?

Not again!

Do you remember how I got sick at the beginning of November with a sore throat and flulike symptoms? Well it's back again. This time I got into the doctor and got a z pack. I feel a little better today after a horrible night where I finally got out of bed and was awake till five coughing. I regret I will have to miss our monthly card party with my classmates. I have been looking forward to it for a long time.

 

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We are…Penn State

I am not a huge football fan but I like to settle down and watch a game on Sunday. I watch mostly the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills and occasionally a Penn State game. But last night I had to watch the game. It started at 8 and I only lasted till ten because I had taken some cold medicine which put me to sleep. I went to bed and as usual I had the tv on while I was drifting into sleepland. But the screams from the announcers woke me up as they got so excited that Penn State who was behind the first half came on strong. So what did I do? Got out of bed and joined Don watching the game in the sunroom. It was right down to the last few minutes and Penn State pulled it out. I was so glad to see that after all they had been through with the scandal and all. Yeah, Penn State. Now the Big Ten champion they won nine straight games. Now on to the Rose Bowl. 

Christmas around the world

On Friday our Literary Club program was presented by our members Patti Neidich, Gae Colligan, Fran Runyan and Lois Schultz who gave us a tour of Christmas customs from around the world. I always enjoy our meetings on Fridays and the tea and cookies which follow.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

On Wednesday night my friends and I attended a concert by the Boston Brass to get us in the mood for the holidays. There renowned musicians have played all over the world with well known bands for many years. Their sound was fantastic. They alternated playing well known songs with personal Christmas stories. I was a little disappointed that they “jazzed” up every Christmas song. I am not sophisticated enough to enjoy jazz music so it left me a little wanting. But I did enjoy their last number, the big band sound of Caravan.  We are lucky that the University brings in many concerts and acts over the year to choose from. They also offer free concerts and performances.

  I have been busy this week with Christmas shopping and catching up on household chores. The house is all decorated and when I get a moment I will post pictures.

   Yesterday Don had an eye doctor appointment. In August Don had a stroke in his eye and lost the vision completely in his right eye. He had hopes that it would slowly return but unfortunately the optic nerve is dead and he will never regain his sight. The doctor told us that this is common in older people and they see it a lot. He took it very hard because this is the first year since he was a kid that he didn’t get to hunt because now he can’t shoot a gun.

  Update on Sadie. She still isn’t walking. The vet suggested hydrotherapy so we have been filling the bathtub and encouraging her to swim to use that leg. But she doesn’t even want to do that.

One thing leads to the other

I know you have had this experience. You get just one thing. Then you have change some other things to make it work. That’s the dilemma I was in today. I bought eight water goblets at the Olde Time Pottery in Pigeon Forge because I didn’t have eight plain water glasses that I wanted to use at my big table. After running them through the dishwasher I realized that I had no space in my kitchen cupboards for them. So I needed to put them in the china cupboard. \   

      This china cupboard is very old. We acquired it a very long time ago when Don and I were in the antiquing stage of our life. We liked nothing better than to travel around looking in antique stores or going to auctions to find older things. I was in the primitive country phase and those antiques fit right in. I’m not longer in that place but the china closet, dresser, and bookcase have hung on in the the house as a reminder of our collecting days. And the china cupboard holds a lot of dishes and we all know I have the dish disease.

 

 

 

 

 

  So I spent a few hours taking everything out and cleaning and washing china and glassware. I must admit that it looks better. Unfortunately I didn’t throw anything away, just relegated those plastic margarita glasses to the summer storage in the basement. 

 

    Do you notice the chandelier? One time at an auction Don found a box of gas light parts hidden underneath a table. It was a two armed gas light but he converted it to a four armed electric chandelier. This has been in our house from the very beginning. Every time I look at it I am reminded of those fun times and how Don worked to buff up the blackness and bring out the brass shine.

 

 

 

I also made a wreath for over the fireplace. The theme in the living room is more pink this year. The picture doesn’t do it justice.



I also used the little French postcards that my sister Linda and I made one holiday. The sparkly deer add a luster to the mantle.

And last here is my coffee table.

That’s the only rule

 

"If you love something, it will work. That's the only real rule." ~Bunny Williams

 

 

Have you ever bought something that you absolutely loved but you didn’t know where you would put it when you got home?You only knew that it sung to your heart and it made you happy.

What would a little trip to the big city (in this case Knoxville) be without buying something special?
There are special shops that I like to visit when I am there and I call it “seeing pretty things”. One is the Repeat Etc. This shop (right beside the Repeat Boutique) deals in decorative objects…my kind of store. They have pictures (I bought one before that had rabbits), glassware, kitchen items, pillows, silver and many other designer objects. But when I saw this my heart went pit a pat!

 

 

 

I imagine that this is a silver vase. It’s hammered sides and two handles were so well designed. It is very heavy. I am using it on my ottomans with an arrangement in it. (I see I need to add some moss to the bottom to hid the dish that the arrangement was already in.) I know I will get so much use out of this one item. I love it and it fits in the sunroom with all my other silver and mercury glass things.


I also bought a new bed ensemble and new thermal drapes for winter. My older pillows matched completely and the colors are perfect for the room. Pretend you don’t see that crooked lampshade.
  I am very tired from our twelve hour trip home yesterday so there are many more things I need to do but that’s enough for today.

My little darling grandbaby is having her tonsils out tomorrow. She has suffered continuously with colds and her tonsils are very enlarged.

Forever Country

Here is my first Christmas gift for you. This country video has most of the great artists and weaves a few different songs into it. They did forget Garth however. Hope that you enjoy it. 

Dine well

Is your tummy full? Or are you a moderater? If you listen to Gretchen Rubin's podcast or read her books you know exactly what I'm talking about. There are those who when they are trying to break a habit can be satisfied with just having it a little. For instance they can limit themselves to two pieces of candy a day and be happy with that decision, stick to it and reach their goal. They are moderators. But I am an abstainer. It is easier for me just to completely abstain from the undesirable food in order to reach my goal. Which are you?

that said I must say it is very hard to be an abstainer when you are not in your own controlled environment at home. Visiting at someone else's home you at mostly at the mercy of your hosts. Then there is eating out. If you are diligent you can make good choices. But if you are a food addict you use that as an excuse to indulge in your favorite foods.

So when I return home it's back to watching and tracking my food again.

 

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