~SECONDHAND ROSE HERE..~

BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH has some of the most glorious tablescapes you will ever see anywhere! If you haven't seen them, but surely you have, do go take a peek! You will be amazed!

Well, not everything is secondhand.
But...I did make a sinful meal tonight. A large pork roast with baked beans and a tossed green salad. Jammin'bread huge cupcakes with Vanilla Bean ice cream on top.
So...I wanted to use some of my favorite dishes...and I did. Even a bit of candlelight. The candlestick was won on a giveaway. Lucky me!

The dishes are Neiman Marcus. "Rooster" is the name of them by Queen's china co.
The flatware is by Towle and I love it. I don't recall the pattern. The little teapot napkin rings are silver plate and were gift from my daughter, Mary. Well, not exactly a gift.
She was going to give them to Goodwill and I rescued them. She "rescues" a lot of things from me too...and usually things that do NOT need rescuing!
The apples? Who knows. They just looked nice sitting there so left them.
The placemats with the open cut were just beautiful and I bought them at a garage sale. I bought six of them and the price was almost nothing. They are my favorites.
The pretty little etched glass in the pictures were bought at an estate sale, 10 for $6.00. I think they are from Princess House...but who knows. They are crystal and just beautiful.
The footed tray was also a garage sale item and it was $1.00. The silverplate service was $6.00 at another garage sale. I bought twenty eight napkins for $5.00 at the same garage sale.

Daughter Mary carted off a dozen of them. No matter, I have plenty left. :)
I tend to buy my things at garage sales as some the of stores that sell things for such great prices are not near me. Bummer, huh? :)

Well...that was fun! Have a great Thursday and those of you with all that wonderful rain..send some our way..ok?
Love and hugs,
Mona

~JUST PERFECT...~

I love to find great recipes that some of our bloggers share, print them out and save them. As of last Saturday, for just 50 cents, I found the perfect way to keep them. No more printing folding and sticking in other cookbooks. It was brand new! Never been used. I was delighted!

(if you are interested in getting one, I just found them online. Just type in the name of the book and it will pop up for a very reasonable price!) :)
I found this absolutely great notebook put out by Betty Crocker to save my recipes in. I usually use a recipe box..and of course I will keep the one I have, however...
This is just so sweet. I love it!
Like a regular cookbook, it has the usual..
..but it has little special things like sheets of plastic to protect the pages...
..and what cute pages they are! There are a lot of them but you can also print more, as many as you like! Nice? :)
I loved the colors, the checks and the little decorative pictures on each page.
You can cut out recipes from magazines and glue them on, and be as creative as you want, like a scrapebook!
You can print out a recipe such I have done, from October Farm, perforate it and ...


just find the right catagory it fits and add it...or...
...just slip it into this handy dandy pocket provided on each page!!
Would you just look at those adorable polka dots on both the front and back page?? :)
I LOVE it when I find something that is so useful! I can put it right up there on my counter with the rest of my cookbooks and know exactly where that recipe I cut out of that magazine or printed from a favorite blog, is!

It's one of those neat little things in life that make me smile. :) Yes indeed!

Soo...what do you think? Do you like it? I hope so!!

Love and hugs,

Mona

I joined A SECOND TIME AROUND today. Please visit Diane at
A PICTURE IS WORTH A 1,000 WORDS and see what others have to share. You could get a great idea..yep!

~ANYTHING GOES...~

....as long as it goes with red!
And pink is a color that for me...goes perfectly! It's funny, because I didn't used to think so.
My little kitchen timer...

...and if you have seen it before....well, darn it, look at it again!! :)

My favorite clipboard..however, when something is clipped to it, you can't see the blasted roses!

My collections of file folders. Everytime I find some with pretty roses, I buy them..and therefore..

I have a lot of them to go with my file holders behind my desk. LOVE IT!

And my desk phone? Roses of course!

A sweet blogger I bought something from enclosed this with my purchase.

This little desk organizer is a favorite. Books, etc. on top, and drawers for small things below.
(I need to do some serious sorting...and soon.

I love these for magazines or papers or whatever needs a place to rest before filing..

And that's it for now. I wanted to join Beverly for Pink Saturday, but I realized I had to register at a certain time on the EAST coast not the west coast..so I missed out.
I love Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday...but..missed that too.
Then, alas and alac, I couldn't join the rush to join the Bloggerette Sorority! Now that one really hurt! Yes it did! I couldn't think of a single thing to do with that cute old photo..so...I'll just go see what others did with it! (I'm feeling SOOO left out and I'm very sad. I wanted to be SOMEONES Bloggerette "sista"...*sigh*

I'll try to do a thing for Monday. How's that..or...I could tell you a story...or?
Never mind. I'll think of something. Have a great weekend!
I love you guys!
Mona

~ROCK? PAPER? It really doesn't matter...~

Today is our SECOND anniversary! What is that one..paper? Rock? Well for me it's a box of See's Candy..and a precious card.
We are only 73 and 76...so please do plan to join us when we celebrate our 50th! Ok? :):)
Love and hugs,
Mona

~WANNA SEE WHAT I FOUND...OK..BOUGHT?~

How I love those treasure hunts!

Our Garage Sale Saturday began with nothing. The first couple...were TRUE junk! I thought the first yard just needed a good cleaning and that someone had put the signs up as a joke!
No..I am serious! That really did pass through my mind. :)

We didn't plan on staying out until noon as we usually do. An hour and a half later we were about to go home when things began to look up..

I am always in the market for good frames at very cheap prices. This one was a bit more than I like to pay at $1.00! But...it was worth, it so into the trunk it went!


And this sturdy dyed red basket caught my eye for just 25 cents. The sweet little cookie plate was too great to pass up for another quarter..and also the old video's at .25 each. I have been searching and hoping to find "All About Eve" and there it was! I kept my VCR...so I love to find old classic films and spend an afternoon curled up watching them. Another dollar spent at this garage sale...I was not doing too badly...as I didn't have an agenda except to NOT spend much. (Famous last words!)


And books! I am always on the look out for books. I found four hardbound ones (a couple for great grandson) and two for me. Nice. .50 cents each! Yippee! I was on a roll!



I loved this little lamp with it's shaded leaf and floral design on the shade....so muted.
It is made of very heavy iron...and even came with the light bulb. Sweet little rope design...

I loved the soft colors of red, green and gold...



And here it is all lit up...


And then..OH JOY! A perfect little table for...um...somewhere!
To paint or not to paint. The stain is much too deep into the wood to remove it..and yes I could cover it with a doily or whatever ...but.. decisions, decisions!!

I had seen this little table and the lamp at one of garage sales but passed them by, then when I couldn't get them out of my mind..we backtracked trying to find it. Up one street and down another...and finally..there they were...I was really fortunate they hadn't sold.
Ever tried to backtrack when going to garage sales? Felt that urgency to rush, and it's one wrong street after another? Frantic that it will be sold by the time you find it??? Have you?

$3.00 for the lamp and $20.00 for the table. Not bad at all..but Sweet Husband was beginning to look nervous...so it was off to our favorite place for breakfast. I think it was the $20 that sent him over the edge. I noticed his hands were beginning to shake as he took that $20.00 out of his wallet. LOL Poor baby!

Of course it was another pot of beans when it was a "JOHN DEER" bike for $175! I mean, what the heck??!! At a garage sale no less! :) Please remember, he only shook, he didn't say anything! Gotta love that man!

Gosh the coffee tasted good...and the ice cold orange juice! So what do you think? Should I paint it?? The table, I mean...

Love and hugs,
Mona

~ GARAGE SALES AND LIVE THEATRE~

Do you see the hour? I have nothing! Didn't take pictures today...nothing! However....
today was a great Saturday. Started out good and stayed that way all day long so I'll just share that with you. Ok?

Sweet husband and I hit the road early because I had a date in the afternoon! At first I thought something had happened during the night and we were the only ones left alive! A wierd feeling.
But..we just are not used to getting out there quite that early. I loved it...but it really did feel strange. We had the streets completely to our selves...just an occassional car...
I will show you the few things I picked up on our treasure hunt tomorrow. We topped it off with our pancake breakfast... *smile* naturally!

Last week..Danny, my youngest son, asked to take me to the Theatre. :) Well, of course he could! I was delighted I said...so at 2 this afternoon, after a morning of garage saleing ..off Dan and I went to see the live stage play "AIDA..a timeless love story." The music had me crying and the audience was on their feet at curtain call.

I DO love live theatre! Sweet husband says he is not into things like that... however he would have loved the music...so next time I will twist his arm to get him to try it. Season tickets are in the air...


...and below...



I dug out this old unflattering photo of Danny and I...NEVER, EVER tell us a joke to get us to laugh. I think we fell on the floor with this one! Anyway, we have great times together...my children and I.
Life is good!
Have a perfectly beautiful Sunday.

My love to all of you...
Mona

~ME AND MY WHEELBARROW...~

Have you seen Tootsie's yard lately? If not you must go see the lovliness of her yard. She is hosting Fertilizer Friday and you are in for a treat!!

Have you ever seen something and just fell in love with it...bought it and then just never used it. So it sat..and got further and further tucked away..until it was out of sight.

Then one day you thought, "I wish I had something to put weeds in and to haul plants around in, and my gardening tools...if only everything was right here handy...something light weight that I could handle with ease.." And then you remember! Wait, I have something like that. Now where did I put it??" and then you remember!! You sold it at a yard sale...you think...oh maybe three years or so ago, and you get that sinking feeling in your tummy?

You are NOT alone. I do that..more than I want to admit..but the search IS ON!
You start moving things, looking...give up finally. Ask sweet husband "Do you remember...." and he looks at you blankly.

Wasn't it in the shed, he asks, or did you sell that?!"
Back you go to search more thoughly.

Then you see it...and you start pulling down things, things fall, you grab a handle and pull, everything comes crashing down, but who cares.
My precious little wheelbarrow...*smiles*

And here it is, the dear little thing!!!


So light weight and easy to roll.

Doesn't look too sturdy, but it really is!

See the roomy pocket for gloves and tooks, I mean tools (I'm just so excited trying to get this story out!)...and that little handle? There is also a little strap with velcro on it....

...which when you fold the little darling up, fastens onto the other side holding it firmly together!

AND then you have the little handle to carry it with. Clever?? Indeed!

Gosh, I can hardly wait to get gardening in the morning! :) You DO believe me, don't you??

Love and hugs,

Mona

p.s. I wanted to add that I bought this little wheelbarrow at Target about four or five years ago.

~IT'S ALL ABOUT ..RED~

I thought I would join Susan @ BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH for some interesting and inspiring before's and after's!


What a busy weekend! Actually, what a busy week the entire last week was. I find myself wondering how I ever found time to clean, cook, wash, iron and work a full time job at a hospital all those years.

Now I'm retired...and still just as busy but it's different. Things actually do get done! It's nice.

I became highly motivated to paint my little bistro set on my front porch when I saw Cindy's at Applestone Cottage...

For me..it's all about color!

This is what it has looked like for years...then I fell in love with Cindy's and well...you KNOW how we are here in blogland...

We just get inspired all to pieces...


Yes, I ran out of the Colonial Red paint..but it's not far from the store and tomorrow..I will talk Mr. Wonderful into picking me up a couple of cans...along with the new trash can he has in mind!



I tell you, I LOVE IT! I go out every morning and just sit across from it and ..wonder at the rich red glorious beauty!

Thank's Cindy for the inspiration. Of course the fact that Dawn visit of A Cottage State of Mind did factor in. I wanted it to look pretty for her. Nothing like an honored guest to make us move our feeties!!

So what do you think? Do you like it? :) I hoped that you would!! :)

Love and hugs,
Mona