Friday, January 29, 2010

A Wintery Mix and an Ideal

No, not idea...ideal. More on that later.
First, the wintery mix. We are in the middle of a winter storm. I just checked the weather at Channel 7, the ultimate Little Rock area tv station in my mind, and now they are predicting that we are going to get slammed all day, with it wrapping up midnightish. Ok, fine by me. It's my ideal day. See where this post is headed?

So, we get up and it's sleeting like mad, and Lynn said that the boys and I aren't going ANYWHERE today, whether they cancel school or not. I said "yes sir" quite happily. When I was a police officer, back in the dark ages as Jacob likes to say, I had no choice and had to drive in this mess. I no longer HAVE to do (well, so far anyway) so I DON'T do it. I stay home. And I'm blessed with a husband who has more common sense than almost anyone I know and he had the foresite to cover the woodpile with a drop cloth, so we have a stack of dry wood to put on the fire he was kind enough to build for us before heading out into the elements to win the bread and bring home the bacon. In other words, he's working this morning, then stopping by the grocery store on the way home. Yay, Lynn!

So, the boys and I are having an "ideal" morning at home. Jonah has been in his cozy little bed, watching "Tom and Jerry" cartoons on dvd. Benjie is wrapped in his comforter on the blue couch (you know the one, the most comfortable seat in the house, the one we all fight for on Sunday afternoons and wintery mornings) watching "ScoobyDoo" and Jacob is sleeping. Me? I'm drinking another cup of coffee made yummier with real cream-none of that fake stuff for me-and surfing the web. I've caught up with a high school friend and a college friend on Facebook, texted Melissa a half dozen times and Lynn once to add waffle makings to the grocery list, and found some fabby new-to-me-blogs. I'm formulating a plan for showing them to you. I have several, so I'm thinking I'm going to spread it out over a few posts.

The starting point for blog-searching for me is my friend Susan's Between Naps on the Porch. You know Susan if you've read my blog much. Her fabulous porch was the inspiration for my own porch, and she drew my name on one of her giveaways, sending me a totally gorgeous and unexpected Christmas gift. I've emailed her enough over the past couple of years that I refer to myself as her "favorite stalker". I'm sure she would agree with the "stalker" part-"favorite"-maybe not so much.

Susan hosts Tablescape Thursday, a fun little blog party where bloggers post photos of fabulous tables set for fun events-some real, some imaginary-and then link to BNOP. It's wonderful surfing on a snowy, sleety (um, yeah..that IS a real word) morning with contented little boys leaving me alone. So today, when you check out Susan's darling table, check out some of the others too. But pay lots of attention to this one if you are a French Country nut like me.

Talk about inspiration! I went a ways back into her archives and wow! Does she know how to decorate! Beautiful stuff. I want this and this and this...um, huh. Oh, heck..anything you see on her site that you want to bring to my house...would be ok with me!!

Enjoy your day, whether it's an ideal or not. It's the only January 29, 2010 you'll ever have!!

Stay warm!
Cathy

Monday, January 25, 2010

Blog Resurrected

I've revived my food blog, Dinner at the Hamlet and given it a new purpose. I will be using this as a sort of on-line journal for my new "diet". I don't think of it as a diet, I think of it as the way I will be eating for the rest of my life. All the details are there..check it out. I'm working on a face-lift for it too.

Speaking of facelifts, do you like the new look here at the Hamlet? I really like the browns and creams. Sort of like the chocolate that I no longer eat. At least I can look at it!

Stay tuned here for some upcoming news. I'm giving this blog a little re-vamping too, and to celebrate I'm planning a little giveaway. I'm not good at these things, so I'm not giving details until they are nailed down. Check back later this week.

Until then...stay warm!

Later!
Cathy

Friday, January 22, 2010

Catching up

Sorry again. I'm going to do better. Really.

For the first time since Christmas, we don't have a busy weekend. The little boys are at a church-sponsored lock in tonight, and Jacob is at a movie with a friend. Jonah has a basketball game at --gasp--8:30 am...then it's home to a fire and enjoying the rain! I have to do some work on Mt. Washmore, but other than that...we're chilling this weekend.

Last weekend was Reality Weekend, and it was amazing. A group of around 600 kids from 14 area churches raised $19,000 for Compassion's work in Haiti. Isn't that awesome?

I'll try to get some pictures of the worship service posted tomorrow. But tonight..I'm enjoying a warm fire, a sweet husband and a quiet Friday night. See ya'll later!

Stay warm!
Cathy

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Thinking Spring

I like spring. I really do. I just don't like summer because I stay hot all the time anyway when it's not 100 degrees and 95% humidity outside. So you can just imagine how I suffer when it is that. But I like spring because it's not hot yet, but it's not cold either...and the decorating possibilites are endless. Plus, we can use the back porch again.

Have you ever opened a new spring catalog on a bitterly cold winter day and thought "oh, my word! I have to have that, only to check the price and discover that you don't have to have it after all..in fact, it's just not going to happen. Then, if you're as crafty as I think I am, you immediately think "heck, I could make that for 1/2 the price....maybe even 1/4 the price." That happened to me recently when I opened my newest issue of TouchStone Catalog. I adore that catalog. If you haven't seen it, go to the website and request a free catalog...so much inspiration waiting.

So, here's a few things I think I might like to have..either by ordering it (not going to happen right now) or by copying it. (note: sorry for the quality of these pictures..I tried to enlarge them and they just got blurry...)


Is this not the cutest thing ever? A wreath made on an old garden hose. Love that...it would be so cute on the back porch, don'tcha think?

And I'm also thinking Easter brunch...


Wouldn't this make a cute centerpiece or dessert table centerpiece for Easter? It's not a great picture...it's faux chocolate eggs made into a topiary and placed in an urn. How hard can that be? Hobby Lobby carries paper machie eggs 3/$1...and Wal-Mart carries Apple Barrel paint for less than 50 cents per bottle..and if I can paint my entire kitchen with the stuff, I can for sure paint some fake eggs, right? Right! And yes, I did paint the kitchen with craft paint. I thought Lynn was going to have a heart attack when he saw it. He got over it.

More of the eggs in glass jars...aren't they just darling?
And speaking of darling...

This egg and berry garland is too cute. I want to try several of these...for the corner china cabinet, mantle, back porch...all kinds of great options with this.

Stay tuned for these and more spring projects. What do you have going on?
Keep warm!
Cathy





Thursday, January 7, 2010

Crazy busy!

Note: This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I really like to have a picture for every post and this is one of my favorites, so enjoy!



I know it's been almost a week since I've posted, but I've been so busy with work and life that I haven't had time to take pictures for the blog! I have lots of posts in my head, but need time to photograph some things to show you. I am going to work really hard on this over the weekend. I have two after-Christmas treasures to show you that I picked up for pennies each--and I want to show you some of my Christmas loot from my sweet baboo. He did good this year.

The big news right now is the bitter cold. As I write this, it's 23 degrees...but no snow for us. Honestly, if it has to be 23 degrees, shouldn't you have some white fluffy stuff to slip and slide in? To add insult to injury, the wind is gusting up to 30 miles per hour...making it feel like 5 degrees below zero! I feel so badly for our dogs, who are outside but have a warm house and each other for warmth..plus about 2 bales of hay and the blankets they haven't torn up.

We still have some Christmas to take down, which is in the plans for Saturday.

What's up with you? Please come back this weekend to see if I have a more interesting post...maybe I will!

Merry, Merry!
Cathy