She's Not a Baby Anymore!

I want...no scratch that...I NEED to declutter this house!

It amazes me how quickly things accumulate.

Is it just me?

Please tell me that there are others out there that have emotional attachments to items.

Please tell me that is not just me!

I don't know what it is but I have a hard time getting rid of things.

Take this lamp for instance. It was in Allison's first "girly" room after her nursery. It's been sitting up in my closet for I don't know how long. It's not like we are ever going to use it again but I just listed it on Craigslist and now I have this ache in my heart. WHY??? It's crazy!

Maybe I'm afraid that if I let it go, I'll forget her toddler years...that I need to keep it to trigger my memory to go back to how excited she was when made her a Disney Princess room. How, at about 3 years of age, she thanked us for painting her room pink. How a pink Disney Princess room made her the happiest little princess in the world.

Oh I hate that my daughter is not a baby anymore!

Whew! I feel better getting it out and now I have the memory documented here that I don't need that lamp decluttering my closet anymore!

Boy, this is much cheaper than therapy!

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A Christmas Memory!

We, meaning Curtis, Allison and myself, celebrate our little family Christmas on Christmas Eve. We save Christmas Day for traveling to and visiting our families.

Allison was 5 months old for her first Christmas. We had decided that there wasn't going to be many presents for her. She was just too young to get the whole Christmas thing and we were still adjusting to the cost of a new baby.

She had a few small gifts from us that we opened on Christmas Eve and Santa delivered a few for Christmas morning. Santa was instructed not to go overboard but he was stressing that he needed to get her just one more that would really make her day...to make her first Christmas memorable. At five months old, this was a little difficult. What WOULD make her day? A teething ring? A rattle? Building blocks?

Hmm. He thought and thought and on Christmas Eve morning, he had an idea! Yes! Santa figured it out! He knew that Allison loved the cartoon, Rolie Polie Olie on Playhouse Disney. She always got so excited when her Mom put it on the television.

But this was Christmas Eve and his elves were packing up the sleigh. They didn't have time to go back into the workshop, make one last toy and get it on the sleigh before Santa had to leave to deliver all the toys for all the good boys and girls! What to do? What to do?

Well being Santa, he has all the answers. He put one of his elves on the phone and had her call all the Disney stores around Allison's home for a Rolie Polie Olie doll. She called every store from Youngstown, Ohio to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Yippee! After seven calls she found what was probably the last one in the Pittsburgh area. Now what? Santa had already left to deliver the toys and elves can't drive. How was he going to get it to Allison's house and under her tree by Christmas morning?

Again...Santa has all the answers. He called me and asked if I could make the 3 hour round trip to the Disney store on the other side of Pittsburgh. Of course I couldn't let Santa or Allison down! I bundled Allison up and put her in the car and went on my merry way! Thankfully I found a parking spot close to the mall entrance near the Disney store. I walked right in, told them what I was there for and they already had it in a bag ready for me. I was in and out of the mall in 5 minutes on Christmas Eve! Blessings!

The picture above is what Santa left for Allison that 1st Christmas morning. He didn't even bother to wrap Rolie Polie Olie. Santa knew what he was doing because she was so excited to see her friend under the tree! Unfortunately, the picture didn't turn out but I have that memory forever in my head!

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My Mug Shot!

COFFEE mug, that is!

Those of you that know us in person, knows that Curtis is a coffee freak. Seriously. He drinks 8-12 cups a day. However. He does not like travel mugs, paper or Styrofoam cups. So what does that mean? It means he takes our coffee mugs with him to work every morning and wherever else he may be going. Most times they make it home and on a rare occasion, they don't.

This kind of stressed me out in the beginning. I don't know why. Maybe because I'm a sentimental fool and I'm attached to some of them! I know. I'm a little crazy but I have never denied it!

Anyway, I knew couples fought over much less (like leaving the cap off of the toothpaste), so I needed to find a solution. First I separated what Curtis could use and what he couldn't use. This worked for a while but then our stock of mugs that he could use depleted. Well then I decided that I needed to stock up his supply of mugs. You can call me cheap but I was not about to spend $6-$10 each on mugs for daily use that may or may not make it into next week.

My answer was Goodwill. You all know I love finding treasures there! I started to pick one up every once in a while when I saw one that I liked or fit us. This proved to definitely be the best way to go since their mugs are 25 cents and some of them are 50 cents if they deemed them as collector mugs...and most of them look as if they have never been used!

Since we are close to Christmas and I can't get the lyrics "These are a few of my favorite things." out of my head, I've decided to share a few of my favorite mugs here.

I'll start with the one above. I found this red snowflake mug just yesterday at Goodwill for 25 cents...and it's never been used! This mug is totally for me and not Curtis! It think it just screams WINTER FUN!

This next one was a gift. My friend, Missy, had some surgery years ago when we both lived in Ohio. Her Mom, who lives in Louisville, Kentucky, sent this to me as a thank you for being there for her daughter. It's Louisville Stoneware and my absolute favorite mug! This one is definitely off limits to everyone else in the house except me!

This next one is one of my favorites because it's Allison's. It reminds me of her Disney Princess phase. Curtis makes awesome hot chocolate and he uses this mug for hers.

If you live anywhere in or around Pittsburgh, you'll recognize this next mug. Yes! It's a Smiley mug from Eat 'n Park Restaurant! They sell them in their restaurants for $6.99 but I picked mine up at Goodwill for 50 cents!

This last mug I picked up years ago when I lived in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington D.C. I used to love going to the National Zoo and seeing Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. They were the Giant Pandas that China gave to the United States after President Nixon visited their country. Okay...enough of the history lesson! This mug reminds me of the inner peace I would experience when I would sit there at the zoo and watch them. However. Years later this mug took on a whole new meaning for me. Shortly after I became pregnant, Curtis had a cup of coffee sitting on the nightstand next to my side of the bed. He asked me to pass it to him. When I went to pick it up, my perception of the mug changed immediately. I didn't just see two pandas. I saw a Mother-t0-be panda on the left and a Daddy-to-be on the right. They both looked as if they were connecting to their unborn baby. Now when I pour Curtis a cup of coffee in this mug, wash this mug or put this mug away, it still jogs a memory in me. It's not the old inner peace memory I used to feel watching the pandas at the zoo. It's a new inner peace memory. It's the inner peace I felt being pregnant because I was finally realizing my childhood dream of becoming a Mother.

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A Blessed Day!

Last Saturday Allison received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion. It is a day in her life that I will remember forever. She was beautiful. We were surrounded with close family and great friends. The day was amazing and I the best way I can describe how I felt that day was my heart was filled with so much joy that it sang all day. It was truly special and blessed day.

There is a lot of photos in this post. Sorry. I had trouble narrowing them down to just these. There also may be more once my sister and my friend send me theirs.

I'll start with the invitations. The colors are a little off in the picture but they are a dark purple and lilac to match the grapes in the graphic I found online. I liked the colors so much that I went with them for the overall theme of the day.

This is the pew banner. It is 12 x 16 and hung on the pew we were assigned. As you can see, I used the graphic from the invitation as inspiration. This took me 4 1/2 hours to make! As I said in a couple of posts back, I can't do anything simple and easy! I'm not sure if it's a sickness or just that I want Allison's life to be as special for her as she is to me. She won't remember that there was laundry in the basement to do but she'll remember that I put it aside to make this banner special for her. I'm putting it in her room as a reminder of the special day.
This is when we first arrived at the church. Doesn't she look super excited?

Posing with her pew banner and roses. Curtis and I got her long stem pink roses for her special day.

Father brought all the communicants up around the alter for the blessing of the bread and wine. Allison is on his side in front of the guest Priest on his left. You can't see her because she is so tiny. Her head barely reaches the top of the alter.

Minutes before she goes up to receive the bread and wine. Curtis and I love this picture. You can almost see the thoughts running through her head.

The body...

...and blood of Christ.

The children did a little song and dance for all of us.

A little more of it...

...and one more.

The group shot. Allison is in the front row.

Allison with Father Murphy.

Aunt Susan couldn't stay for dinner so she gave Allison her gift at the church. I know I'm a gushing Mom but doesn't she look cute reading that card?

I think she likes it!

Getting some help form Aunt Susan.

The family pic.

Too sweet!

My little angel!

I can't tell you how happy I was that she was able to wear my dress. It was truly a dream come true. Thank you Cindy from My Romantic Home for the advice on whitening it!

This was her idea for a pic and I already have it blown up to an 8 x 10 ready for a frame. It's such a special shot.

Another one of the family outside the church.

We went to dinner at The Villa restaurant after the ceremony. It is an Italian restaurant about 45 minutes away but so worth the drive. It's has become Allison's favorite and she picked it out of the choices I gave her. Here she is at the restaurant in her dinner dress with her cake. I would have loved to have kept her in her communion dress but I wasn't going to take any chances with tomato sauce. After all...I have to save it for my granddaughter! ;)

Even though it was just close family and friends, I still had to make favors. They were filled with "Hugs & Kisses" from Allison...with help from Hershey.

A close-up of the favor.

A close-up of the roses. I am going to dry one for her and make potpourri out of the rest for her.

Thanks for staying with me through all of these pictures. I have one last one to share. This is a split screen of me and Allison both in the same dress. Don't you just love the knee socks?

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Good Bye & a Thought for the New Year!

It's time to say good bye to Christmas 2008. We are taking down our tree today.

Well. What's left of it....no thanks to my fur kids who have knocked down as many ornaments as they can and pulled the strands of beads off the bottom section. I guess that's what to be expected when you have pets. Things can't be perfect!

As I'm waiting for the family to get up, I am admiring the tree once more before it's packed up in a box for next Christmas. I just LOVE that Allison put the ornaments on the tree this year. As I've said previously, I have enough ornaments for 5 trees so they all don't get to hang on the tree. One particular set of ornaments that I've enjoyed this year is my bell ornaments made out of beads. My Dad's sister, my Aunt Edith, made them and I am lucky enough to own a dozen or so of them. They are so pretty. I took a picture of one of them so I could share it with you. I'm sure it would look prettier if the lights on the tree were lit and the flash on the camera were off.....BUT one of the cats knocked the plug out of the wall yesterday and it doesn't light up anymore!

Anyway, she made them in all colors. I have red, green, silver, gold, pearl & blue. They are all trimmed in pearl, gold & silver. They are just gorgeous on the tree. I wish I could have her teach me how to make them but she passed away when I was 5 months pregnant with Allison. Maybe I'll try to find the instructions on the web. Wish me luck!

After taking down the tree, I'll begin to put all of my focus on the New Year. I've been making some notes one what my goals are for the year. As usual, my list is too long. I need to prioritize what is important to me and start there. When I look at my list, the one thing that jumps out at me is change. That might just be my word for the New Year. I'll get back to all of you on that!

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Show and Tell Friday, Sept. 19th!

It's Show & Tell Friday! Be sure to stop over at Kelli's to see the other show and tellers!

This week I'm sharing my little donkey planter. It used to be my Ba Ba's (grandmother). As a little girl I remember it sitting on one of the shelves that were above her kitchen window. You know what type of shelves I'm talking about. They were two, I believe, on the end of the cupboards where they stopped for the window above her sink. She used to keep little planters with plants in them on those shelves. I can still see this planter there on those shelves in my mind. It's a warm memory for me. I luckily inherited it and a few other planters after my Aunt Carole passed away. I keep them in my window curio....and as you can see, I apparently don't dust inside it very often. Please ignore the dust on the greenery!
Here is the window curio where I keep it. I've talked about it before on my blog. If you are interested to see what else is in there, you can click here.

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A Big Year with a Vintage Dress!

Sunday was Allison's first day of 2nd Grade Catechism. This is a big year for her. She will receive two sacraments. The Sacrament of Penance in December and her First Holy Communion in May of 2009. She is so excited and I could not be prouder. She loves church and everything she learns there. This past Sunday she asked if she could go to church every day like she did school. Too sweet!

This picture if of me in my First Holy Communion dress. Don't I look cute? My Mom still has this dressed packed away. I am sure it's not as white as it is in the picture. After all, it IS 36 years old! Speaking of the dress, I have a question for all of you out in blogland. How do we get it white again?!? I know you've already guessed that I want Allison to wear my dress. Big surprise since I am the sentimental one! So! Any ideas? Are there vintage wedding dress cleaners out there? Do you have a home remedy or and ancient Chinese secret? Please send any ideas my way! I have about 7 months to try things before I give up and buy a new one...and I don't want to buy a new one.

Thanks everyone!

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One of My Favorite Things!

Cindy over at "My Romantic Home" blog is hosting an "Our Favorite Things" weekend.

She has asked us to post one of our favorite things. It can't be a person but something materialistic. Can I just say here...This was HARD! You know me, I'm sentimental so it was difficult to narrow it down to just one thing. My home is filled with things that are special to me. Things that were handed down by loved ones, things that were gifts from my family and friends, things that I've collected along the journey of my life that reflect me. I'll just have to do a post later in the future of ALL of my favorite things! But for now, here is what I picked to share. It's the one thing that I kept coming back to when walking around my home.

It's my old window curio. It's just a 3 shelf cabinet with an old window on the front. I picked it up at a craft festival a few years ago. I didn't have anything in mind of what I was going to put in it when I bought it. I just liked it.

Let me take you on a tour of the inside. The first things I put in here are the old planters. This was a collection that I inherited from my Aunt Carole after she passed away. The one on the top shelf was her Mother's (my Ba Ba). I remember it was on the little shelf on the side of the kitchen cabinet. This is what started my Aunt to start collecting the others that are in the curio after Ba Ba died. I plan to pass them on to my Allison. The girl on the top is a December lady figurine. This was also my Aunt Carole's and since we are both December babies, I was the obvious person to inherit this. The picture next to it is of me at about 3 years of age sitting on my Aunt Carole's lap. The middle shelf houses 3 Willow Tree Christmas ornaments from my friend, Sherie. I collect Willow Trees. I didn't want to wrap the ornaments up and put them away all year so I decided to put them in here for now. The blue stoneware angel is from a friend of mine that passed away 4 years ago from cancer. Barbara knew I loved angels and I've named this one after her. I know she's one of my angels up there watching over me. The rose was also my Aunt Carole's. It will be moved to my bedroom as soon as that room gets redone. Last but not least, the bottom shelf. The picture is of Aunt Carole. This was taken before she got sick. It's how I remember her. The other things are from my daughter, Allison. The little bottle of sand art that she did in kindergarten. The rock she found for me because there was pink in it. Another little stone (in front of the picture) that she tumbled in her rock tumbler because it came out pink. There is also a little silver frog with a crown on it next to the stone. It's something she picked out when we were at Put-In-Bay last fall. If you click on the picture, you should be able to see a close up of everything.
I hoped you enjoyed one of my favorite things. Stop by Cindy's blog to see more favorite things of other bloggers. You can click on the link at the beginning of this post to get there. If that doesn't work, Cindy's blog "My Romantic Home" is over there ----> on my side bar too.

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You've Got To Love Popsicle Sticks!

I know I'm back a little late with this post. It kind of slipped my mind. Thanks to my friend, Sandy in SC, here it is! This is what Allison made in school for me for Mother's day! Isn't it cute? I just love the handmade gifts. They are so sweet! As you can see, I hung it above the kitchen counter under the cabinets. She said when I run out of paper, she'll make me more. You can't beat that!

She also completed a Mother's Day book. This is too cute and I will save it forever! She spelled the words that she didn't know in her "turtle talk." This is when she says the words slowly to herself and sounds it out. Too funny! The part in black is what was printed for them and then they had to finish the sentence.

1. My Mom is as pretty as a kittin and a cat and a puppy. Puppys are pretty. I love puppys and dogs! They keep you bizzy. Thats why I like puppys. I wish you could get free gas!
2. My Mom is so smart! She even knows that a tomato is a fruit and a lielack can grow on a tree or a bosh! And any questun I ask her. And who my firends are.
3. My Mom is special because she is funny!
4. I like it when my Mom sings silly songs that is hlaryes! (hilarious)
5. My Mom is so strong! She can even lift the holiday tree! Lift me I em geting hever (hevier) and she dosn't lift me alot.
6. My Mom helps me by backing my birthday cake.
7. My Mom can do many things! I think she's the best at cooking. Loveing. Huging. And kissing and calling my cats and holding them for a long time.
8. My Mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by having the cats atack me. That makes her laugh and my dad laugh too!

And then it is signed:

I LOVE YOU

I hope you have a good Mothers day.

Love Allison

by Allison V. - - - - - - -

from Allison

to Mom

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Ba Ba's Bowl & A Brownies Recipe!

Curtis and I went to a drag race exhibition on Saturday. It's about 4 hours away so we take food with us. Food that we normally wouldn't have around on a daily basis...because I would be the only one who eats it! Anyway, one of our traditional drag race food is cheesecake brownies. When I made them this time, I grabbed my Ba Ba's (grandma's) Pyrex bowl that has been passed down to me in the last year or so. It's the bowl that I grab most. Even though my Ba Ba passed on when I was young, I remember this bowl. I don't know what it is about this bowl but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I use it. Maybe because I imagine my Ba Ba using it herself to make her awesome rolls that we'll never taste again because the recipe was never written down. Maybe it's because she's up there watching down on me while I use it. Maybe it's because I feel close to her while I use it. Or maybe it is just because I'm a sentimental fool and anything that is old and once belonged to someone I love makes me happy. Who knows?However I do know this bowl will be passed down to Allison one day whose middle name (Victoria) was chosen because it was my Ba Ba's first name. I am hoping she will cherish it as much as I do!

Mmm! There is something about brownie batter that says "Stick your finger in me and taste me!"
The recipe is below but this time I sprinkled milk chocolate chips on top. It was a perfect addition!
Can you almost taste it? They are such a moist brownie!
Philly Cheesecake Brownies

1 pkg of brownie mix (I used the basic Betty Crocker mix.)

1 pkg (8 oz.) Philadelphia cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Pour into greased 13 x 9 in baking pan.

2. Beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar, mixing until well blended. Ad egg and vanilla and also mix until well blended.

3. Pour cream cheese mixture over brownie mixture; cut through batter with knife several times for marbled effect.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes or until cream cheese mixture is lightly browned. Cool and cut into squares. Makes 24.

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Vacation...Simplify...Declutter...Relax!

Today is the first official day of my vacation! Yippee!!! I have 9 days off from my paying job! However, I have a plan! In the next nine days, I plan to SIMPLIFY our lives by DECLUTTERING this house so we can RELAX in our home! Where does all this stuff come from? This place seemed so big when we moved in but now it is wall to wall stuff! I think there are little fairies that enter while we are sleeping and dump stuff everywhere! Okay, okay, truth be told, I am a packrat! There! I've said it! Are you happy? I have a hard time getting rid of things. My Mom once called me her sentimental Cindi and boy is she right! I love things that have a history to them and tells a story, things that have been owned by loved ones, things that can instantly take me to a special memory or things that will help Allison have wonderful memories of her life. I know most of them are just "things" but they make me happy. I guess that's why I scrapbook...because I'm sentimental and it's my job to pass our legacy onto my daughter and my future generations.

Here are a few of those things around my home that are special to me:

This was my Ba Ba's (grandma) lamp that she had in her bedroom when I was a child. She passed away in 1978 and years later, I inherited it without a shade. It has been in my daughter's room since we brought her home from the hospital. Allison's middle name is Victoria which was my Ba Ba's first name.
The are pictures of Curtis and I when we where little. My friend, Nancy, and I were looking through some old pictures I had when we came across the one of me in the raspberry patch picking raspberries. She insisted that I do something with it. I ended up having one framed for my Mom as well for Mother's Day one year. A couple of years later when Curtis brought some pictures home from his Mom's, I saw this one of him and knew it would be perfect along side mine. It's fun to look at now and see who Allison resembles more. I think it's me!
I recently inherited this donkey planter. It was my Ba Ba's and I remember as a little girl, it was sitting on a shelf by her kitchen window with a plant in it.
This rooster was my Aunt Carole's. She passed away about 2 1/2 years ago. We were very close and I miss her terribly. She loved roosters. My Ba Ba loved roosters. My Mom loves roosters. Curtis' Mom loves roosters. I never got the whole rooster thing but my Aunt Carole always said that every kitchen should have at least one rooster. I hunted and she hunted and we could never find just the right rooster for my kitchen. After she passed away, my Aunt Lee gave me this ceramic rooster basket tureen. My Aunt Carole had made it in ceramics in the late 70's and it is the perfect rooster for my kitchen. He sits safely in the corner above my sink. I love my rooster and now I get the whole rooster thing!

Okay, that enough of my rambling on! Curtis and I are going to clean and organize the basement! Wooo Hoooo! This is the first step in my decluttering of this house!

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