Monthly Archives: December 2011

Merry Christmas

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The poochies were all snuggled in their beds for a long winters nap…

Here’s hoping you all have a very Merry Christmas, and remember why we have such a beautiful reason to celebrate!

” 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Luke 2:11-14 KJV

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Early Christmas

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Thanks to my Bubba, Christmas came early for me this year,  when I came home yesterday and found this beauty under the tree:

A Brownie Target Six-16, not the most unusual or rare camera, but one that I am very proud to add to my vintage camera collection. Which seems to be growing larger and larger one camera at a time.

The Kodak on the far right I talked about in this post, but the Brownie in the middle is a fairly new acquistion that was added to my collection a couple months ago.

This one is a little worse for wear, with some rust damage, but I think it looks very nice with the other old shooters.

Don’t these photos look like mugshots? You’d think this poor camera had robbed a 7-11 or something!

Well, I’m off to clear a shelf for my new collection! It may be time to edit down some of the other “collections” I’ve got going on!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!!

Virtual Transformations

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On a recent trip to a nearby thrift store I spied with my little eye, some treasures that needed just a little polishing. Unfortunately, I have neither the time, room, or a way of moving such treasures. So, instead of bringing home these jewels in the rough, I took some photos to share with you.

First up is a pair of chairs, I practically swooned.

I apologize for the quality of the photo, I had to use my point shoot as the big camera was a little conspicuous. Plus, florescent lights aren’t forgiving on anyone.

These chairs may not look so nice to the naked eye, but you’ve got have vision. They could be turned into this:

Via Pinterest Via Flickr (don’t you hate when you find the perfect picture, but can’t find the original link?)

Or they could be re-created into this $500 West Elm Chair:

Via West Elm

Or you could use a bold pattern to make them a statement piece, like this Target chair for $400:

Via Target

The chairs I am swooning were a cool $15.99  a pop:

Now that I’ve shopped around, these lovelies may have to come home with me.

During the same shopping excursion I found this curvy girl:

She needs some work, but nothing a little bit of stripping and paint couldn’t fix.

Especially with dove tailing like this.

And with such beautiful lines. At $129 she’s not a cheap date, not an expensive one, but considering the April hours it would take to make her pretty, I just couldn’t justify the purchase. But if I could have talked myself into this beauty, she could be turned into something like this:

Via Oh Dee Doh

No, there’s no bun, but these vintage dressers do make cute changing tables.

Via Dwellings by Devore

Or this beauty, the lines are a bit more simple, but you get the idea:

Via Little Green Notebook

Aww yes, nothing like virtually transforming a vintage treasure into something even more beautiful.

Watching my stories on a story

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Christmas is around the corner, I can’t believe it. This year I wasn’t able to get all of my Christmas pretties out, or do any of the baking I normally do. But I was able to get most of the presents wrapped, at least the ones that are currently on their way to their recipents.

I hope their bows and name tags stay attached until they arrive safely at their new home. I love bows and ribbons and pretty paper. But I hate the way my living room looks when I’m making these presents pretty.

This helped ease the pain of the mess though:

Our new LED flat screen, we finally have a TV that is light enough to be put on something pretty. Like my 1960’s Lane chest, with original advertising! Too bad the TV was already on there or else I would have taken pictures of the brochures and the original locking key. I found the chesty treasure over a year ago, and took many photos of it. However, with my ever changing photo storage habits, I can’t remember or find where I put all those pictures. So, you’ll have to take my word for it on the original paper work for this chest.

It’s one of my favorite pieces, and I’m so proud to have it front and center in our living room. Whether I like to admit it or not, I am addicted HGTV and spend too much time in front our most recent and exciting purchase. But I figure,if I’m going to be spending some time looking at something why not have it on something beautiful and attractive, and something that tells a story.  So I can watch my stories on a story!

The 19th Day of December: From the Desk of Dad

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**Warning, this post will be about my dad. So, don’t cry Mom or Big Sister! I don’t want this blog to be filled with questions of porque? with back car windows filled with pictures of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So, I promise there won’t be many more sappy posts. Ok, I can’t promise there won’t be anymore sappy posts, but I can promise there won’t be any sad posts. End Warning**

Since today is December 19th, my dad’s birthday, and  I’m munching on  a delicious piece of  (unfortunately store bought) red velvet cake, I just couldn’t help but think of Dad. And decided that today would be the best day to introduce a reoccurring series on the blog. I have entitled it From the Desk of Dad, but don’t hold me to that. I have a very short attention span, so the title of this series will more than likely change.

Remember my 31 Days of Treasures series?  If you are too lazy to click the link, it was a 31 day series that ended up being a 16 day series where I jibber jabbered on about all the vintage stuff I’ve been hoarding collecting  the past few years, and it also included a few treasures of the heart. I meant to share this one during that series, but then life happened.

This is one of my most precious and favorite treasures, my fathers Bible.

The Lord called my dad home on November 30th, 2003, it was a Sunday evening, I don’t really remember the exact time he passed from this side of heaven to the other. The watch I had worn since high school had stopped, but frankly I really didn’t care what time it was, or that my favorite Tweetie Bird watch was broken.  I just knew that my father was finally in the presence of our Savior. I will never forget the sharp pain I felt that night, or the persistent ache that came afterward. That pain, was not mine alone, the rest of my family also missed him, and we still do. But as believers in Christ we can rejoice in the fact that we will see my dad again, and be able to rejoice in the presence of the Lord, just like Dad did, that fateful night in November.

  Since his passing, over the years, I’ve begun to really appreciate my father and what he did in this life. The impacts he had on those around him, the leadership he demonstrated in our family, the witness he was to this world of Christ’s love for humankind. You see,  Dad was a preacher, he was a follower of Christ first and foremost, but he felt called to full time ministry as a pastor and missionary. And so, he followed the call, he pastored churches in Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, but the Lord had a place for him as a missionary to the Navajo people in New Mexico. It is New Mexico where Dad spent most of his ministry, and where my mother is still serving.

On my 30th birthday this past April, my mom blessed me with the gift of my dad’s last preaching Bible. He had gone through a few Bible’s during his time as a preacher and missionary, my sister and brother were given those Bible’s that had particular meaning to them. (We like having study Bibles, church Bibles, and if your a preacher then a preaching Bible. But don’t misunderstand, all Bibles are sacred, because they are the Word of the Lord.) The Bible that I wanted, the one that I held dear, was his last preaching Bible. The one he’d used during my childhood and adolescence.

Amongst the pages of this Bible are several of Dad’s sermon outlines, some are handwritten, some were typed on an old typewriter, others were scrawled on scrapes of paper here and there as the Lord spoke to my dad.   The Bible is a cherished possession, not only because it’s the Word of my Savior, but also because it holds much of who my dad was on this earth. These sermon outlines, do not paint the entire picture of who Dad was, but they do remind me of what Dad represented, and what I hope to represent to this world.

*Don’t cry Mom!*

I’ll be sharing bits and pieces of these sermons, the scriptures, and some anecdotes from these cherished outlines. I won’t put myself on a time line for this, as I apparently have blog ADD. But occasionally you will find, a post here and there about a favorite sermon, or one that has recently spoken to me.  I hope that you will join me on this journey through the Good Word, and I hope that the Lord will speak to you as He has for me, through these sermons preached and unpreached.

Ribbon Tree

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Recovery from this horrible cold is taking much longer than I had hoped, it’s definitely interferring with my holiday decorating. But I do have one major component up that brings  Christmas to the Yellow Casa, like my tree:

Ignore the messy table and the clutter surrounding tree, when I snapped the photo I didn’t really care too much about “staging” anything.

This years tree is slightly different from last years:

This year I went a little crazy with the ribbon, but I really like the fullness it added to my fake tree. Yup, I’m a fake tree loyalist, I like the non sticky-ness it provides, although I do miss that nice fresh smell you get from a real tree. All of my childhood Christmases included a traditional real tree cut down from the nearby mountains by my dad or later on by a family friend. I was in middle school when my mom decided a faux tree would be more economical and would save more tree lives. So, I followed in her footsteps and have had a fake tree every year since being out on my own. I was tempted a couple of weeks ago to buy a small real tree, but the thought of throwing it away at the end of the season was just too sad. Maybe next year I will get a live tree that can be planted in the yard after Christmas.

And here’s my wreath for the front, it’s still hung on the inside of the door due to my cold and the cold outside. I am hoping either the weather will warm up or I will get well soon.

Notice the sparkly green bow on the wreath? Yeah, it came in a two pack, so I put the other one on top of the tree with the star. I’m really lovin’ the green and the sparkle.

My ornaments are very low key, all are sentimental pieces.

Well, I must go for now, another major Christmas tradition is going on in my house, A Charlie Brown Christmas Special is on tv. I can’t miss it!

How are you fairing in the Holiday rush? Or are you trying to keep it low key and just enjoy this season of joy?

 

 

Finally Thanksgiving

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I’d thought it was about time to share my Thanksgiving with you before we got further along into Christmas. And before we get too wrapped up into, shopping, wrapping, sending, wishing, trimming, decorating, missing holiday linky parties that seem to come all too soon for my taste, and in general trying to simplify the holiday season without actually simplifying it all. *WHEW* Exhausted much?

Anywho, for Thanksgiving the Bubs and I visited my sweet mom. We ate until our jeans screamed out in agony, then we unbuckled our belts and ate some pie. Skinny jeans were totally out of the question with this feast laid out.

Fruit salad, yummy yams (that are so sweet they could rot your teeth), turkey, fresh roll, and over course the corn bread dressing. Turkey is not the main man here, it’s definitely the dressing. Thanksgiving at our house is just not complete without Grandma’s cornbread dressing. And it’s oh so easy to make. If you ever get a hankerin’ for some warm comfort food, here’s the recipe.

Corn Bread Dressing

1/2 cup onion chopped finely

1/2 cup celery diced fine

2/3 cup butter

2 quarts cornbread crumbs (be sure the cornbread is well browned)

6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Chicken or Turkey stock

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and celery in butter. In a large mixing bowl  crumble the cornbread and add the chopped hard-boiled eggs to the cornbread. After eggs and cornbread are mixed, add the sauted onion and celery to cornbread mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and moisten with chicken stock or turkey stock. Turn into a shallow well buttered casserole dish and bake until golden brown on top.

But before feasting on our traditional dressing and pie, I felt compelled to make a pretty table. Why should we eat a delicious dinner at an un-dressed table?

Simple, easy, and not so naked anymore.

It was so easy to dress the table too, my mom has all the fixins’ for a beautiful table. So, everything I used was just around the house. She’s got the prettiest serving dishes too.

And just like me, she likes her home to be festive for the holiday.

I can’t wait to see what she does for Christmas!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and aren’t forgetting the Reason for the Season.