Illustrations By Charlotte Stone

I recently acquired two wonderful books from the early 1930's. The books are in poor condition, but the illustrations within, by Charlotte Stone, are spectacular!
Jack and Jill:
Bye Baby Bunting:

Curly Locks:

Jack Be Nimble:

Simple Simon:

Jack And The Beanstalk:

Little Red Riding Hood:


The colors are so vivid and bright, and the illustrations are simply delightful in every way.
I absolutely love them.

Happy Birthday Esther!

Esther Williams is 90 years young today!

I just wanted to wish this beautiful lady a very happy birthday.

Now - go take a nice, cool dip in your pool.
If you are lucky enough to have one.

(First image from dvdtalk.com, second from Life Magazine.)

Cats In Stitches

No, silly - not laughing cats! Stitchery cats, like this little cutie , from the Whitman lacing cards I found recently at a thrift shop:

I've never seen a purple cow, but I did see a purple cat once - right here:
Cats in cross-stitch:

Very LONG cool modern cats:

Needlepoint cats:
And machine-stitched cats as artwork:

Last, but most definitely not least, there are these adorable kitties from Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, (Oct/Nov 2008). Do you remember when Tina showed you the ones she made for Christmas gifts? (Pattern designed by Hillary Lang, from Wee Wonderfuls.)

Aren't they the cutest?

What's Penny Wearing? #51 Wedding Whites

Today is our anniversary, so I thought it only appropriate that Penny should model for you what I was wearing 17 years ago today.
I'm a truly old-fashioned girl at heart, so I wore a white cotton blouse with a vintage look, and an antique petticoat as my wedding "dress".

My shoes had to be white cotton, also, and I decorated them with pink and white satin rosebuds to match my bouquet, and wove satin ribbon through them that tied up and around my ankles.
After the ceremony, I changed into this outfit:

(This isn't the necklace I wore that day - I don't have that one because it was my something borrowed, from Tina.)

Happy anniversary to us!

Summer Dinner

Lori already had plans for dinner with friends one night when I was visiting at her house last week, so this is what I made myself for dinner:

Dinner for one:
farmer's market zucchini, steamed
+ one large farmer's market tomato, peeled and chopped
+ reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
= YUM
Mother used to fix a similar version with onions, and we loved it when we were kids. Of course, back then the vegetables were probably from Daddy's garden (so they would have been even better!).
And I still love it.
I steamed the squash and then added the tomato and cheese, and microwaved it just long enough to melt the cheese and warm the tomato. Simple, delicious and healthy.

I Told You More Thrift Finds Were Coming....

I'm always happy when my thrift store stops yield great finds like this framed stitchery picture - a trainload of bright flowers:

Vintage cards and trims, and a sweet little Rand McNally Elf book for my collection:

Two vintage recipe tins with geometric graphics:
A pretty little plate with butterflies and ladybugs:

I very rarely find chenille rugs! This one looks really nice, despite a couple of faded areas:
I even found an "Enchanted Tiki Room" shirt!

Would you like to see more thrift finds?
I'll be sure to keep you "post"ed!

Hello, I'm Ishi, Tina's New Kitty

Good morning people persons. I am here to introduce myself. I am Tina's new kitten, and my name is Ishi. I am very proud to be named after the last survivor of the Yana people, Ishi, who lived near Oroville and was born about 1860. He was known as the last Native American in Northern California and he died in San Francisco in 1916.

I don't know where I was born. I was very rudely dumped from someone's car on a rural road on the Georgetown Divide in Garden Valley, near the home of Tina's good friend Cindy. I was very lonely, hungry, and dirty, and I didn't know where to go. But I found my way to a tree and meowed and cried all night near Cindy's bedroom and kept her awake. That was last Friday night.
Cindy had just acquired two new kittens last winter and really was not ready for another one. Neither were her kittens. So she did what a lot of people might do, she put my picture on facebook. That is how I met Tina.

Tina had been wanting a new addition to her family. Luna (blurry below as she first meets me) is now eight years old, and Chessie is ten. Tina thought it would be a good time to insert some new blood into the household.

Luna and Chessie (below as he too discovers I am now in his home) aren't sure about the new blood idea, but they think maybe spilled blood is in order.

I am hoping after a few days they will realize I am cute and cuddly and belong here.

How could you deny me? I am a snuggly ball of purring fluffiness.

Being wise beyond my weeks, I have already figured out that this gigantic flight of stairs leads to the master bath, and that is where the cat food and kitty litter box reside. I even chose to use the litter box first thing this morning, all by myself, before I ate! I am really growing up and trying to fit in.

I am still cleaning myself up, because I was pretty dirty. After a quick trip to the vet yesterday afternoon, Tina having discovered I was "riddled" with fleas (she really has a way with words) I am now rid of those critters this morning. What a relief!

I am trying now to talk the dog, Robbi, into not immediately chasing me under the bed or couch as soon as he walks into the house. We may be working on his training for a while, as I hear he is not the most teachable Corgi. But we do what we have to do when we are the new kid on the block.

Meanwhile I make sure that all the toys in the house are played with, and I plan to become the lap cat of the house, and the visitor greeter, since Luna and Chessie really don't care for company that much.

I will also make sure all computer connections are a go, so that you will be able to read about me often in this blog.

Nice to meet you, come again soon!

Convention at Disneyland!!

Sister Lori here:
Recently I made a trip to Disneyland for a Close To My Heart Convention.
CTMH (formerly DOTS), is a stamping and scrapbooking company for which I am a consultant I loved that it was held at the Disneyland Hotel. But it actually turned out to be rather distracting to have Disneyland right there!
This was the view from our room in one of the DH towers. The pool was right below us, and there was a good, quick restaurant, too.

In our room were 2 queen beds and a futon , so it actually could sleep 5. I had 2 roomies.

The backboard of the 2 beds lit up when you pushed a switch, showing these pretty fireworks and playing a Disney song.

Here was the beautiful backdrop for the stage where our general sessions were held.

Mostly all women are involved, 2000 or more attended, so we were able to take over the men's restroom as well. Here is what they had done to "cover up" the urinals - cute!

Some of the beautiful artwork made with our products:

Here are my 2 roomies and another friend in front of The Grand Californian Hotel.

This is some of our team at a "Create and Take":

This was our table at the Dinner Banquet:

More artwork from "Extravaganza":

A beautiful wedding cake made all of papers!

Of course I did make it to Disneyland a couple of times, (not many pictures from there), but I did remember to snap a photo of my delicious Bleu Cheese Burger, half eaten, and sweet potato fries from House of Blues in Downtown Disney:

We had a great time, although it was truly exhausting. It took me 3 days after coming home just to catch up on sleep, etc!

Caught Napping

This shelf outside our kitchen window has always been one of Dizzy's favorite places. For a while, we thought perhaps the jump up there was a little bit too high for him, as he is getting older. But, no - he can still get up there. Sometimes he looks in at me when I am at the sink. ("Let me in, now, please!") Sometimes he just lays there. Still awake here:
Nodding off a little:
Okay, now he's REALLY asleep!

We've lived here for 12 years, and he sleeps there a lot, but we have never seen him like this before - with his face half falling into one of the flower pot holes on the shelf! I'm glad we got a picture - it totally cracked us up!