Grinchmas

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

The kids are so excited to have Grinchmas this year. We are having a Grinchmas party the week before Christmas. The tree is ready, I wish you could see it spin.

                                  The stocking are hung and the Dept 56 Grinch village is lit.

                                                               Take a closer look

                                                      I painted the Grinch for the party

This is what I did with the stash of Christmas socks that I had, I think it looks like Who stockings.

I wanted to dress up the laundry room since you enter through the back door into this room. I call this Elf laundry.

                                            I picked up all the infant clothes at Goodwill.

                                       The little kitchen hutch filled with Christmas dishes.

                                           I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

                                                                                 Blessings, Missy

Thanksgiving

My family has been through a lot this past year. We have moved to Indiana and are renting a small cottage from my parents. My husband got a promotion and had to work out of the Indianapolis office. We currently have our beautiful Victorian home in Petersburg IL for sale. Our two boys had to change schools. I had to leave my job as an EMT that I love. We all miss our town, community, friends and most of all our church family. We were all settling in and starting to go on with life as usual when my daughter came for a visit while her husband was deployed out to sea. My daughter was 22 weeks pregnant and being high risk she did not want to stay home alone. Thank God she came because on Aug 11 she went into labor and at 24 weeks pregnant she gave birth to our grandson Kaiden. Kaiden weighed 1 pond 6oz. Our precious baby lived 9 days. Kaiden touched so many hearts in his short time with us. We loved him so much and miss him every day. Our family has been forever changed and has made us stronger with help from our comforting, loving God. This time of year it can be hard to be thankful for so many people. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, our two grown children and son in law, our two younger boys that we adopted just over a year ago, my grandson Kaiden, grand daughter Kali, my parents, family, friends, a nice warm home, the ability to have loved ones over for Thanksgiving dinner. Most of all I am thankful for my God. I have to remind myself of others that have so little and we have so much. So we go on and I am decorating for Thanksgiving and Christmas as usual, because I have to. I decorated our little rental cottage and I decorated Kaidens grave. I am truly blessed and thankful.

I have no mantel at the rental cottage so my husband put up a large shelf. I am thankful for the Indians that fed the pilgrims.

This painting was a gift many years ago from a friend. It reminds me of where I grew up surrounded by fields and wild turkeys. I think it is perfect for Thanksgiving decorating.

A closer look at whats on the "mantel" Homco Indian figurines and one of my vintage turkey planters.

Homco Pilgrims and a Queens Myott Thanksgiving charger plate.

A little shelf in the kitchen that holds my thrift store and flea market turkeys.

My small kitchen hutch holds my Queens Myott Thanksgiving dishes and Paprika Fiesta dishes.

My slowly growing collection of Shawnee Corn King finds a place on top of the microwave and on the counter. Myott Thanksgiving mugs to remind me to be thankful for my morning coffee.

In the corner hutch I have a couple vintage turkey planters, some pumpkin plates for serving pumpkin pie and my Queens Myott Thanksgiving tea pot and cups.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

A Special Birthday for a special boy

My youngest turned 11.  After he went to bed I taped streamers to his bedroom door frame and added balloons. I wanted to be ready with the camera and get his surprised face when we all yelled HAPPY BIRTHDAY as the balloons fell all around him. Well the little burger got up 5 minutes before me, he never does that. Anyway he was surprised and giggly with the balloons.

Today is a school day so I wanted him to have a special breakfast. I set his spot at the breakfast table with the special plate and birthday glass.

Kids love to feel special and what better a day than their Birthday to show them just how special they are. Pancakes with strawberry syrup and sprinkles, the perfect way to start.

Had to take the Birthday picture, wonder how many more he will allow.

While the boys were at school I went and printed his Birthday pics and did some decorating.

I used some multi colored tinsel garland, a strand of multi colored lights, painted wood one's "11" some blocks to spell out his name, some party blow thingies, a birthday hat, a birthday boy figurine, and his pics with birthday magnets. Even my grown kids love it when I do this for their special day.


                                          Thank you for stopping by for my boys special day.

Easter at Victorian Cottage

The Easter dishes are ready and the house is decorated. The small china cabinet has Longaberger Ivy dinner pates, Bordello bunny lunch plates, Bordello Cabbage plates, Longaberger egg plates and some vintage Easter eggs and planters.

The egg with the chic on top is a recent Goodwill find, Lefton china.

Kali's table is set and ready for Easter dinner.

I found the cute orange fabric for the tablecloth at JoAnn's. I used a Fiesta lemongrass dinner plate, Bordello lunch plate and Longaberger egg plate.

The tea pot is Longaberger and the little basket is also Longaberger filled with carrots.

On the coffee table is a easter doily and a Goodwill find bunny planter filled with Easter silk flowers.

I found the paper mache bunny at TJ Max and thought he would be the perfect companion to my vintage Easter books.

The foyer table has my German eggs and my cute peeps box that I filled with fuzzy chic's and eggs.

Thats the end of my Easter tour. I hope you have a beautiful Easter and remember the true meaning of the holiday.

                                                                      Blessings,
                                                                                    Missy

Mantel Monday

Welcome to Mantel Monday. Easter is fast approaching and I had to scramble to put away the St Patrick's decorations. The mantel is my favorite place to decorate for the holidays.

It has taken me several years to collect the Lefton Easter figurines. I am still in search of the brown bunnies.

Let's take a closer look. Lefton lambs and ducks. Longaberger Easter baskets.

Two more Longaberger baskets, Lefton rabbits and chicks. I hope you enjoyed my mantel.

Come back tomorrow for more Easter decorations.

                                                                               Blessings,
                                                                                             Missy
                                                                     

St Patricks Day, Kali's little table & more

Just seven more days till one of my favorite holidays. I wanted to share with you my grand daughters little table all set for St Patty's Day.

I used a yard of fabric from JoAnns, Longaberger Ivy plates and shamrock ramekins, two longaberger luck baskets, a Lefton Leprechaun planter filled with candy, old horseshoes and brick sprayed gold and cast iron pot filled with gold nuggets.

 
I rolled two Longaberger napkins and just plopped them on the plates.

Kali and uncle Kameron are going to love having dinner at the little table.

This is my small china cabinet that I change out with seasonal dishes.

Just one more final St Patty's decoration that I want to share with you.

Yes even the dog gets her space decorated for St Patty's Day.


I hope you have enjoyed your visit.
                                                     Blessings, Missy

Adopting foster children

 I wanted to write about something very close to my heart, my children. We have two biological grown children and two adopted children. I just wanted to say that if you have room in your heart and home for children contact your local foster care agency. We were foster parents and then adopted our boys last September at the ages of 9 and 13. There are some misconceptions about older children in the system. These older children need loving homes and parents to love them just as the younger children but are usually overlooked by people wanting to adopt children. It has been a huge adjustment in our lives but the blessings that these boys have brought to our family have been ten fold. Children are so precious and deserve a home with a loving family know matter if they are a year old or seventeen.

Just look at my wonderful bunch of kids. Bottom left to right. My youngest son Kameron, Me, my fantastic husband John, our grand daughter Kali. Top left, our son Kaleb, daughter in law Misty, our oldest Cody, our daughter Cassie.

                                                                      Blessings,
                                                                                    Missy

Thrifty finds

I wanted to share with you some of the treasures I have found recently. If you have never been shopping at Goodwill and Salvation Army than you do not know what you are missing. Shopping at these stores also helps others. Thrifting is like treasure hunting in my book. My boys love thrifting and rummaging.

See what I am saying? All this came from one Goodwill and one Salvation Army store.

This was my favorite find of the day. I paid $1.00 for this darling needlepoint pillow.

This Christmas needlepoint pillow was a great deal also at $1.99 I will buy needlepoint pillows at this price all day long.

I raked in on table linens,  the pumpkin tablecloth and the fall plaid was $1.00 each. I also found a stack of napkins at .25 cents each most still had new tags. The baskets at my local Goodwill are priced .25 cents. I also also scored 9 napkin rings for $1.25 I think I had a pretty good day.  I hope you will give it a try and let me know what treasures you find.

                                                               Blessings,
                                                                             Missy

St Patricks tablescape

The weather here in central IL. is cold and snowy. So I stayed in today and worked on setting the tables for St Patty's day. This one is the kitchen breakfast table.

I started off with a cute green plaid with shamrocks tablecloth. Next I found the shiny green place mats at Tuesday Mornings a couple weeks ago on clearance in the Christmas decorations. I used Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage Chop plates. I think of Corned Beef and Cabbage for St Patty's Day so that's where the Cabbage plates come in. Next is Longaberger classic green pottery plates topped off with Longaberger shamrock ramekins. I think the design on the plate edge looks like a shamrock, perfect for my table. The green napkins I found last week at Goodwill $2.00 for 8 brand new with tags. The juice glass and tumbler is fifth avenue crystal.

Next is the dining room buffet. I pulled out some of my vintage green Moon and Stars pieces. I used to be able to find these at thrift stores and rummage sales but these days it's rare.

I used another Bordallo Cabbage plate on a cake stand.

The dining table is set with Longaberger and Fifth Avenue crystal.

I used Longaberger shamrock place mats but I only have six and have lost several battles on EBay for the other two that I need. Remember the shiny green place mats from the breakfast table? I improvised and use one on each end of the table. Maybe I can get the elusive shamrock ones for next year.

Here is what the end place settings look like. I offset the solid green place mat with a Longaberger napkin. I then used more of the solid green Goodwill napkins on the rest of the place settings.

I had planned on setting Kali's table today as well but the table cloth that I ordered still has not made it so that will be another day.  Pop back tomorrow to see some things that I have found on my thrift store shopping trips.

                                                             Blessings,
                                                                           Missy