Girlfriends and Mothers

I'm 53 years old and I don't mind the age.  I don't mind getting older.  Not yet, anyway.  The thing that I'm finding to be the most difficult part of aging is that the generations ahead of me are also aging.  It's hard to watch family and friends become ill and die.  That's what my fifth decade of life is now presenting to me.  

I've become more aware of how important my friends and family are to me.  People don't live forever, as a young me never gave much thought to.

 I decided I needed to get together with three of my very best friends that live close to me in my little town, but because of life's busy twists and turns, we don't see each other as much as we used to.  In the "old days", when our kids were all young, there were four of us that would get together every Friday after work for a glass of wine.  And when our kids were too young to be left alone, we would all get together with our kids.  Now, all of our kids are in their late 20's and early 30's and it seems we are unable to get together at all anymore.  We are now busy with grandchildren, jobs that some didn't have before, and at times taking care of ailing parents and in my case until last year - grandparents.

So I made some brownies, chocolate covered strawberries and shrimp soup and invited my three good friends and my mother to my home last Friday. 

 Unfortunately, one friend couldn't make it as her grandson had a school program going on. Another friend was going to bring her ailing mother with her, but she showed up for a brief time alone since her mother was too ill to leave the house.  We still had a very nice visit and caught up again on the very different lives that we all now lead.  

It feels good to be able to share your life with people that have known you forever and have seen each other through all the ups and downs and changes that going from young mothers to young grandmothers brings with it.

For those of you that read this post of mine, I had recently re-connected with a very long time friend of mine.  At that time we made arrangements to get together, along with our mothers who were also long time old friends.  On Monday, Mom and I traveled the three hours to Pittsburgh and had a wonderful visit and lunch with our good friends.  Our mothers hadn't seen each other for about ten years  In that time, Mom's friend, my friend's mother, had a stroke and is now confined to a wheel chair.  I believe she's about two years older than my mother.  Her mind and spirit is good, though, and it was so much fun to catch up with them.

from l-r - my mother, my friend, me, and in front is friend's mother.

It was a little hard to see Mom's friend in a wheelchair, but it was so nice to be able to visit.  It made me realize how lucky I am to have a healthy mother.  It's easy to take this for granted until you face other scenarios.

Yesterday morning I was reminded by my calendar that My Hubby's mother passed away exactly a year ago, on March 2.  We all miss Mother Millie very much.  She was quite a character and always fun to be around.  It's still a little hard to accept that she's no longer here.

Then last night I received a call from one of my local girlfriends to tell me that our other friend's mother,  the mother that was unable to make it to my home last Friday, had just passed away. 

Good-Bye Grandma D.

 It's so strange that these two beautiful, loving mothers in my life passed on the same day one year apart!  I'm even more aware and thankful to still have my mother. 

Aging and living this life is interesting!  Health, family, friends, love and happiness make it worth it! 

The Welcome Of My Home

First impressions are everything, right!  Well, not always, but I always try to make my entrance feel warm and welcoming.  I want everyone that enters to feel comfortable and welcome. 

I'm really proud of my front foyer.  When we bought our house about six years ago, the foyer was just all white walls, old brass chandelier, a plain and solid cheap wooden door, and pink carpeting going up the stairs.  Of course, back then I never thought of taking "before" pictures, so put the pictures in your head of what I just described, and now here are the "after" pictures.

We had a new oak door with sidelights and leaded glass installed.

We hired two painters to paint the foyer.  The first painter painted the solid gold color on the walls.  The second painter took us months to employ.  She's a very talented muralist and faux paint artist.  She painted a faux plaster look over the solid from the floor halfway up the wall.  In between the faux technique and the solid she painted a grapevine all the way around.

When you walk in the front door, off to the right are glass doors leading into my tea room parlor.
This room can be seen here as it was at Christmas.  The chair by the front door is an antique from an old court house.

Above the parlor doors was painted this stained glass window and balcony.

To the left as you walk in the front door is my dining room.  The wreath on the wall by the door was made for me by a very good friend as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago.  It's made from wine bottle corks.

Straight in front of you as you walk in the front door is my entrance table that I always have decorated for the season or holiday.  I always have a dish of candy sitting there and a guest book for everyone that visits here to sign before they leave.

Above the doorway going in to the living room was painted a cherub.  I love angels and cherubs so my husband had asked our painter to paint that there for me.

Going up the stairs are stair lights.  Again, you have to use your imagination for the "before" picture.  The glass covering the lights was originally just a plain clear plastic.  We had stained glass covers made that mimicked the stained glass painted on our faux window.

The chair on the landing is one of my favorite antiques.  Notice how short the chair is.  Years ago people were not very tall.  The chair has been refinished, re-glued and varnished.

Our faux painter also put these plaster stencils on the walls.  After the painting was done she suggested this as it just looked like they needed to be added.  She was right.

Here is the view from the top of the stairway.  The new chandelier was put up after the painting was all finished. 

 Welcome into my home.  I hope you come back to visit soon.

I'm linking this to Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage Monday
  

"My Favorite Things" Mini Quilt

Making miniature quilts is one of my many hobbies.  I tend to go in cycles with my hobbies.  Cross stitching was one of my first obsessions many years ago.  I'm thinking of getting back into that.  I just gave my DIL a cross stitch lesson.  Lately I've been very much into knitting.  I like knitting because it's so portable and I can travel easily with it.  But between the cross stitching and the knitting was a large obsession with quilting.  I especially liked making miniature quilts.  I find it to be more of an art than utilitarian.  I 've continued to quilt, even through my knitting phase.  There's just something about the feel of good fabrics and making the seems and stitches and points as perfect as I can get them.

Here is one of my first miniature quilts.  I tend to really enjoy small, precise work and so challenged myself at making miniature applique squares.  Here is my little sampler that I call, "My Favorite Things".

Since I can't stand to part with this, it hangs on the wall with several of my other mini quilts in my little studio.

This quilt is a total of 17" square.  Each of the nine little squares is 3-3/4".

 All the applique is done by hand by the "turn under" method.  Then I padded or stuffed many of the appliques to give it some puff and dimension.

These little berries were a little time consuming in order to keep them as round as I could.  They're very tiny.
I embroidered the veins on the leaves and the eye of the bird.

Beads and pearls were sewn onto the center of the flowers.

The center of these flowers I made with silk ribbon french knots.

I put little heart charms on the collars of the cat and the dog.

A few little button embellishments.

I hand quilted this, which I love to do, but it is very time consuming.  It's not too bad on these little quilts, though.  This whole process is so relaxing for me and I love to see all these little bits and pieces of fabrics, beads, buttons and floss come together into a "picture".

I do make little 4" quilts that I frame and sell in my Etsy shop, but I won't part with these larger minis.

I'm linking today to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

And Alison's Fridays Unfolded

Not Your Regular Old Chicken Salad

I love to come across new recipes that are good, easy, and not too many ingredients.  While I was in Spokane my DIL made some very good dishes.  She's a good cook!  Warms my heart!

She made this delicious chicken salad for dinner one evening and I just couldn't quit eating it!  It has enough of a different taste to it that it's not your regular old chicken salad.

Curried Chicken Salad

2-3 cups cooked chicken (I used 3 cups.  I boiled boneless, skinless chicken breasts, then cut them up into 

                                          large bite size pieces)                                                                    

4 oz. can water chestnuts (drained and sliced)

1/2 lb. seedless grapes

1 cup celery

1 cup mayo. (I like "light" mayo and/or mayo with olive oil)

1 t. curry powder 

2 t. soy sauce (I also use "light" soy sauce)

That's it!  Now just mix the first 4 items in a large bowl.  In a small bowl mix together the final 3 ingredients into a dressing, pour over the chicken mixture and stir.  

I served with Rhodes whole wheat dinner rolls.  You could make sandwiches or just eat the salad by itself with the rolls on the side.  

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!! Fairly low fat, too.

St. Patrick's Show and Tell

I know St. Patrick's Day is a month away, but I took the Valentine decorations down, along with the straggling Christmas decorations, so the next holiday and seasonal decorations have to come out.  Since we have had two beautifully unusual warm days, I was able to do a little bit outside.

Here's my little tree that sits on my front stoop that I decorate for each season.

  I don't totally re-decorate it because it's my grape and wine tree that stays in keeping with the overall theme of my home.  Then I tweak it a little bit to go with the current holiday or season.

I exchanged the heart ribbon for green plaid.  I also had a few Christmas remnants still left on so I took those off.  And I had LED lights on, but if you've ever used those you know how they put off a different color, like a bluish color rather than a yellow color.  I had to switch that back to a regular strand of lights.  That blue tint drove me crazy.  I'm told you can get "cool" LED lights that are more yellow, but I can't find them right now.

I had to also change out my foyer entrance table.

The teapot and teacup are from JoAnn's Crafts two years ago.
This little "Welcome" sign hanging from the drawer pull is from JoAnn's yesterday.

I don't do too much more for St. Patrick's Day.  I may put a green tablecloth on the dining room table instead of the burgundy.  I also exchange some of my pink candles with green ones.

Now I just need to put the Valentine's boxes away and I'm good for another month.  Then it's time to work on Easter!
Thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking up to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday.

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2011/02/show-and-tell-friday_17.html

And also to Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage Monday


http://houseinroses.blogspot.com/2011/02/show-off-your-cottage-monday_20.html