8/31/11

This Is a Very Special Day!

Hey everyone, hope you are having a great week.  I keep thinking that the weekend is starting, but then remind myself it's only Wednesday.  Why the confusion, you might ask?  Well, this is a very "special" day for The Man.


 He is RETIRING today!!!!  For the last 3 weeks, since we "officially" moved, he has been staying in Yuma to work, only coming "home" on the weekends.  He has had August 31st planned as his "retirement" for awhile now.  He was given a nice "retirement luncheon" yesterday with several of his work friends driving over from Corona, CA (that's where he used to work & is the main branch for the Yuma division) to bid him farewell & to wish him a very "Happy Retirement!"So after a couple of hours in the office this morning, he will be "packing up" & walking out the door for the last time!  

Now he will have plenty of time to get his new workshop set up in our new home.  The "Honey Do List" has been growing by leaps 'n bounds over the last 3 weeks that I've been here by myself!


Now he will have more time for enjoying his "toy," too!

And, hopefully, we will retain these happy faces in all our togetherness!  Believe me, I've heard all the warnings;  and I would be lying if I denied I had apprehensions.  But 42 years of "mostly" sweet bliss has to count for something, so I'm thinking we are going to be just fine.  I mean seriously, we both have our own spaces in our new home where we can go for a "Time Out" if need be!

We are having our first "big" family get-together this coming Sunday.  We will be celebrating 5 birthdays & The Man's retirement.  I am so excited about having everyone here for a day of good fun, food, and FAMILY!  I'll take lots of pictures, I promise.  Now I'm off to make party plans!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our good news!  Please come again soon.
CAS


8/29/11

My Almost Finished Entry

Hey everyone.  I have a bit more tweaking to do in my entry, but I'm lovin' the Fall decor I've added and wanted to share.  If you've been following my blog for awhile, then you will have seen my old Singer sewing machine many times.  In our last house, we didn't have a real entry, but I used the sewing machine to designate a small area just inside the front door.  Our current home does have an entry and the old Singer  looks quite good in it's new environment.

I still have some work to do here -- art for the wall on the right, some things for the niche, & a nice pendant light.  All in good time.


The old Singer fits perfectly on this diagonal wall.



The only thing new here is the little candle with the ceramic topper -- one of my Big Lot buys.



Love this big ol' bowl filled with an assortment of Fallish goodies!  Sorry, don't like the cord, but don't have a solution yet.


I just love these illuminated stems that I found at Kirkland's.  I already had the floral arrangement in the metal umbrella stand & just added these stems.  It adds such a cozy glow to the entry.


I have a duplicate of this lovely wreath on the outside of the door, too.  Sorry, it was just too hot to go outside to take a picture.

 

One last look at the entry.  I smile every time I walk past this space.


What kind of blogger would I be if I wasn't constantly tweakin' something?  You saw this in my Kitchen Reveal HERE, but it was a bit different.  Really, the only thing I changed was to add the tall candle holders (another of my Big Lot purchases) and move the entire vignette back onto the tile, leaving the butcher block free to use as a work surface.


This vignette also makes me smile.


Thanks again for stopping by.  I just love sharing what I'm doing with all of you.  
Please come again soon.


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It's So Very Cheri Party Time

Recycling -- Do You Do It or Not?

Hey everyone!  I have a bit of a dilemma & need some input.  We moved from a town that had "NO" recycling going on, even though trash was picked up twice a week which would have made it easy to make one of those collection days for recycling.  It just wasn't a "forward-thinking" kind of place.  Now we live in a total "recycling town," and I love it.  My dilemma is how to handle the sorting process inside.

This is what we have outside.  "Blue Can Monday" -- pickup of newspapers, glass, cans, plastics.  "Black Can Friday" -- everything else.


If you live in an area that does recycling, what is your preference for sorting?  Do you have this kind of system that fits inside a cabinet?  I think I have a cabinet where this might work, but the receptacles would have to be fairly small.  


Or would you opt for this kind of thing?  I also have an area at the end of a cabinet that would fit one of these.


Right now, I've got a small container in two different areas which isn't working for my organized mind.  But that's another issue in and of itself & we won't go there.....lol!

I would truly appreciate any and all comments, pictures, whatever.  Thanks for stopping by.
CAS


I Went Shopping!

Hey everyone!  Hope ya'll are having a great weekend.  I went exploring and shopping today & scored some great finds!  Thanks to Liz at  Savvy Seasons for the heads-up about some interesting things at Big Lots -- I went, I saw, I bought....lol!  It just happens that the Big Lots I found was in the same shopping center as Kirkland's and Marshall's -- who knew life could be so sweet!  Anyway, I thought I would share my purchases.

Did I have fun or what?


I purchased 2 bags of these adorable acorns at Kirkland's.  They are super-light weight, beautifully metallic in several Fall shades & different sizes.  They were $7.99 a bag which I thought was a very good price for the quality.


The Chinese Lanterns are from Big Lots for $7.  I know exactly what I'm doing with these!


This is a lovely wrought iron bowl that I found at Marshall's for $7.99 -- can you believe that!!!


This wrought iron pumpkin filled with the floral embellishments is also from Marshall's -- $7.99.  
That cute little red rooster is from Kirkland's for $5.99


I will be using this 6' garland (Big Lots - $8) on an outside project.


Have ya'll seen these?  Of course you have.  I'm the only one who's been living in a cave!  They are illuminated branches from Kirkland's.  They were $16.99, which was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I decided on this very simple style so I can use it all year in a variety of different ways.  Yep, that's my story, & I'm stickin' to it!


Love the iron fleur de lis knick knack & candle holder.  Thanks, Liz, I found these at Big Lots.  They were $5 & $6 respectively.



Another cutie from Big Lots -- little candle with a ceramic topper for $5.  I also bought a package of 2 candle chubs for $5 in the Ginger Pumpkin -- smells so good!


Bought this cute little hook for hanging a kitchen towel -- Kirkland's $2.99!


These are nice, heavy candle holders from Big Lots for $5 & $6.


Big Lots also had quite a few tassels.  This set of 2 was $2.50 -- SCORE! 


Okay, a pant hanger, right?  When I saw this at Marshall's, a light bulb went off, & I saw a great way to store and display my scarves.  I've already implemented this & it's working great!


Of course I had to get some things for the "Grands!"  We have a large concrete area on the side of our home that will be perfect for chalk art, hopscotch, whatever they want to do.  This Jumbling Tower game looked like it would be fun for the older children.  The game was $6 & the chalk was $2.


As always, thank you so much for stopping by.  I'm still busy unpacking and arranging and having a great time.  Hopefully, I'll have more spaces to share with ya'll real soon.  Thanks to all who've left such sweet comments and for all your positive support.  I'm really trying to visit blogs as often as I can, but I'm falling short, so please be patient if you haven't heard from me in awhile.  Sometimes I "stalk," because I just have to see what everyone's doing, but just don't have time to comment -- sorry.  Anyway,  the "Welcome Mat" is always out, & I love company!
CAS


8/25/11

My Kitchen Reveal

Hey everyone!  Well, are you ready for a "boat-load" of photos?  Part of the reason I ended up with so many pics is because I did most of the decorating & arranging last week, but then this week I caught the "Fall Decorating Bug."  Believe me, I tried aspirin & considered chicken soup, but it's just too doggone hot here for soup.  The ONLY remedy that seemed to work was to, well, DECORATE with a few Fall embellishments.  Truly made me feel so much better!

This is the view from our  casual eating area.  I'm using the portable island from our last house to extend the built-in island & also give a smooth surface (it's butcher block) for cookie, pie or bread making since all the other countertops are tile.  Haven't decided if we are going to change it all to granite or maybe just the island & make it bigger.  Plenty of time to decide. 


The ceilings throughout the home are 10', so I have lots of space for adding chotskies.  I am not too keen on heights, so climbing up and down on the 8' ladder was not pretty -- trust me, not pretty at all! 


Nothing new was purchased for this vignette.  I had everything at the last house.


I just love this tray that we bought in San Francisco several years ago, & now it finally has a lovely spot to show off all the beautiful colors.  Don't know why the wall looks green.


Love the colors in this large plate.  The floral bush is from Hobby Lobby & Mr. Roo is from Ross.  He was about $7 and is all metal.

He looks like he's crowing his heart out, doesn't he?  He's actually very quiet.  The metal teapot on the end needs to be lifted just a tad.  I bought it at Kirklands several years ago.  It's filled with faux lemons & limes.


Now over to the other side of the room.  I'm showing you all the "high" places first, & then I'll show you the rest.


I really purged my cookbooks before we moved, but still had quite a few & wasn't sure how or where I was going to display them.  Then I thought of this old metal basket that I've had for years & just recently sprayed painted it turquoise -- voila, perfect!  A few others are on the counter.


This Roy Rogers & Dale Evans thermos belonged to The Man when he was about 5 years old.  The lunchbox didn't survive.  He also had the Captain Midnight cups from about the same time.  They were ordered from Ovaltine.  The vintage jar holds all my cookie cutters.  I think it makes a really sweet & nostalgic vignette.


Nothing new here, either.  This is San Francisco pottery that I've had for over thirty years.  I just love the colors & really like having them displayed together.


I had these two pottery urns displayed on my china hutch in the previous house along with the faux fig greenery.  There is one newbie up there, but he's very hard to see. 


That's better.   He is a stainless steel rooster.  Ross, once again!


This Tuscan print was in our bedroom in the last house.  I just love it here over my pantry.



Oh, much better with a touch of Fall!


I'm gonna have fun with wreaths on my pantry door!


This is a good view of the room from a slightly different angle.


Bought this little display piece at Kirkland's last week.


I have quite a bit of counter space in this kitchen, so it's nice to have the things I use the most right out on the counter for easy access.


This was another purchase from Kirkland's.  The Man is crazy about Spain & it says Espana in this print.


I've never had enough counter space to be able to have my KitchenAid or Cuisinart out like this.  It's a very easy kitchen to work in.


Love my coffee center!


Isn't this nightlight just the cutest?


This seems to be the best spot for making toast or putting sandwiches together.


I bought this little cutie at Ross several months ago & was saving it for the new house.


I also bought these little prints several months ago at Kirklands.  I couldn't wait to get them hung!


Here is the rest of the vignette that was my "tease" in my last post.  I just love how all these colors work together.  



Another Ross purchase from last year.


The Man just recently bought this adorable little chef for me at Kirklands.  I decided he really needed to be surrounded with Fall loveliness.  I have a Spice Cake candle tart burning in his little bowl -- smells incredible!!!


The little white buffet is now the perfect home to all my Fiesta Ware dishes, & I love it in front of this big window.


This is going to be a favorite spot for seasonal decor.


I already had everything.


This is a good view looking toward the family room.


We have to get a casual dining table that will seat at least 6 people, but we haven't found what we want yet.  So for now, the bar-height table from our previous sunroom is filling in.


This short wall is just before you go into our dining room.  It seemed like the perfect spot for the big star & my new little plaque.



Yep, that's what I'm all about!


Well, that's a "wrap" for the kitchen.  Sure hope I didn't lose anyone to total boredom!  I'm just so excited about our new home, and I love that I can share it with all of you.  You guys are truly the best.  So thanks for coming by and please come again soon.

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