A Working Weekend...and a Bunch of Random!

Lots going on this weekend.  Only 9 more days of school and I got caught up on grading - or I'm almost caught up and I'm playing hooky right now to write this post.  And my mother-in-law is flying out in two weeks and I need to get the guest room/craft studio in shape.  So some projects that have been on the back burner are now hot, front, and center.

Like this....

And this....

Oh you want to see what's going to happen with those?  Well you'll just have to wait for another day.  Soon, I promise.

I'm also getting ready for a little change in our bedroom.  This is what it looks like now above our headboard.
Oh my stars!  Do you see the crooked ceiling fan light?  Must add that to our list of projects!

Love that sign.  

Found one in person at this sweet little shop in Minnesota but didn't buy it.  Then obsessed over it and couldn't find it online and already sold from the Minnesota store - so the ebay quest began.  I bid and lost and bid and lost and bid and lost on several of these.  Then I found this seller who custom made them in the colors you wanted.  (Wish I could remember who it was, but this was several years ago I'm afraid.) 

I was so happy to finally get it.  Have you ever obsessed over something you didn't buy and then tried to find later?  

Okay, I digress, I show you this because a few weeks ago I won a fabulous giveaway from Cathe at one of the most inspirational blogs, Just Something I Made.  It was a custom monogram of my husband's and my first initials.  It's a vinyl transfer and it's going right above our bed but I need to prep the wall and that will take a bit of time so I haven't put it up yet.  It looks so beautiful.  Just perfect for our 20th anniversary.

Thought I'd show you the view that enchants me every morning when I wake up.  

We have a Japanese maple right outside our window.  Just beyond it are three coastal redwoods and at the back of the yard is Baby Bee's playhouse.  I will definitely have to blog about her little house soon.  I've got some changes in mind for it too.

This is just the start to a summer I hope is filled with projects.  

What do you plan to do this summer?

Thanks for stopping by.  Your visits are always such a pleasure.  I hope you had a relaxing weekend and that you were able to honor those who have gone before us.  

 

P.S.  I must really NOT want to get back to that grading since this is such a long post.  :)

My First Pink Saturday

I love the color pink, but very little of my home has pink in it.  So I've struggled with how I was going to be able to join Beverly's delightful Pink Saturday, but after some thought I realized that I do love to wear pink!

This is my favorite pink cardigan.  I wore it to my Open House the other night with this sweet little flower brooch I won from the delightful Susie from Vintage Susie and Wings.  Thanks Susie!

She has the sweetest Etsy store and even a real life brick and mortar store.  I've received so many compliments on it.  Of course I had to wear my pearls and a white t-shirt with it.  Thank you Susie!  If you stop by to visit, she could certainly use your prayers.  Her dear dad was in a bad motorcycle accident and will face a long recovery.

I also wanted to share this sweet purse filled with so many wonderful things from Noelle at Lil Bits and Pieces of Me.  She has the two most adorable boys and she's going to school too.  Did I mention she has Dove parties? As in chocolate?  I haven't heard of these until I heard about them from Noelle.  Wish she lived closer so I could have a Dove party.  YUMMMM!  Oh and missing from the picture are the chocolate covered almonds she sent that we devoured in a day!  Can you say delicious?  

And oh my it was filled so many other delights!  Coffee and a smoothie mix, magazines, and so many things to enjoy.  Thanks Noelle!

Thank you for coming by and seeing some of my pinks.  I'll keep looking out for pinks so I can join Beverly's Pink Saturday blog party again!

Oh and don't forget to enter my giveaway for a little welcome summer treat!  Just leave a comment here for your chance!

Open House Tonight!

It's Open House tonight at my school.  Thought I'd show off a little bit of what my students have done.  

We study the solar system...

We study patriotic symbols...

Those are fireworks to symbolize the Star Spangled Banner!

And so much more, but I can't show you all of that!

And, of course, what hostess wouldn't remember to serve her guest refreshments!

Thanks for coming by!  

Don't forget to enter my giveaway. 

 Click on the link at the top of the sidebar to take you to all the details.

School's almost out!

Scream and shout!

Summer Smoothie Giveaway

Is it hot yet in your part of the world?  It usually is here, but we haven't had to turn on the AC yet this year.  Oh no, I've probably just jinxed it for us.  Oh well, it's bound to get here eventually.

Well one of the best things to help you through those really hot days (besides a swimming pool, which  I WILL NOT be giving away) is a nice cold refreshing drink sipped through a straw.

So - my Summer Smoothie Giveaway includes:

A vintage - in jadeite green even - style straw dispenser (straws included)

A package of summery polka dotty napkins (to help keep your summer frock spotless)

And some smoothie mixes (now you know I wouldn't send you straws with nothing to drink through them)

And there might even be more added to this refreshing treat fest!

So what do you have to do to enter this slusherific giveaway?

Just leave a comment on this post.   You do not have to be a follower to enter - but feel free to join in the fun if you want.

I'll draw the winner on Friday, June 4 and announce the winner on Saturday, June 5.  So sorry but for this giveaway I will only ship to Canada or the United States.

For one extra chance to win this giveaway, mention it on your blog and leave me a comment letting me know.

Good luck and happy sipping!

Just a Cozy Corner of Sweet Bee Cottage

This is one of my favorite spots in Sweet Bee Cottage's kitchen.  

This is my cookbook bookcase.  It sits between the end of our kitchen counters and our custom benches at our kitchen table.

My uncle custom built this for me when we first moved into this house.  Our kitchen in not very big and I knew I would need someplace to store all my cookbooks.  It fits perfectly from side to side and top to bottom.  

Here are a few little snippets of the top of the shelf.

Hope you enjoyed this little visit to Sweet Bee Cottage.  Maybe one day soon we can share a latte and some delicious Blueberry Muffin Cake.

I am linking today with Cielo at House in the Roses for - 

Do You Have the Same Uncontrollable Urge to Make Utilitarian Cute?

I can't help it!  I see something that has a job to do and it's just not good enough the way it is.  I've got to do some Sweet Bee magic on it. 

Case in point:

The Kitchen Garden is growing fabulously and it's time (well maybe even a little late) to put in some sort of tomato cages.  Worker Bee and I have done a lot of looking for just the right tomato cage and there are some pretty EXPENSIVE tomato cages out there in the world.  $40?  Really?  So after much buzzing about we decided to go with the $1.99 cages from Home Depot.  

Now I love the look of galvanized metal, but these called out for something.   What would it be?

Well, my dears, I decided they needed to be painted.  And what looks just fabulous with green and tomato red?  Why Cherry Red spray paint from Krylon does the trick.

So we went from this -

to this.

Are you as bad as me?  Can't leave well enough alone?  Have I been too influenced by Martha?  

Okay, if I do say so myself, I think this is a pretty great shot of my fabulous tomato cages!

Well I think they look fabulous and they were done in about an hour with dry time.  

So, dear friends, what have you had to take from Plain Jane to fabulous?  Do share your stories!

Thanks for popping in for a quick visit!  I've got some wonderful ginger peach iced tea I can brew up  for us to enjoy out on the patio. 

What the Heck Is That?

Kind of reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live skit with Steve Martin and Bill Murray - which is an entirely other kind of vintage thingie, but that's not why we're here today.   But ----

Just what the heck is that thing?

Well, I'll tell you what I know.  

It belonged to my grandparents and they always had it on a bookcase they had in their living room.  All the grandkids always wanted to play with it, but it was fragile and Grandma wouldn't let us look at it without her supervision.

I loved to imagine it was a crystal ball telling me all sorts of secrets.  I was also a rock collector when I was in elementary school so this was doubly fascinating.  

I wish I knew where they picked it up.  I wish I knew when they got it, but they always had it for as long as I could remember.

When my grandparents passed away  - within a month of each other -  all the grandkids got to pick out something especially meaningful to each one of us.  My one cousin took this giant jack (like the game jacks) that was a bookend.  Another cousin took a book of fairytales.  I can't remember what everybody else took, but I took this.  (Don't worry, I picked up a few other treasures too.)  

What it is is a little wooden coaster like thing filled with lovely rocks.  Each rock has a number on it that corresponded with a paper on the bottom of it that told you the name of each rock.  The paper is long gone as you can see.  The top is a magnifying glass to show each rock in detail.

Why did I pick this?  I wish I knew exactly what triggered that connection to my grandparents.  Maybe I knew how much it meant to Grandma and Grandpa.  Maybe I just liked the color.  Maybe it reminded me of my rock collection from my childhood.  Whatever the reason, it now lives at Sweet Bee Cottage where I treasure it, but I've never talked to Baby Bee about why it's in our library.  I think I have a story to tell her tonight.

Thanks for stopping in and visiting my little Vintage Thingie.  I hope you have a chance to go by Suzanne's Vintage Thingie Thursday little party at her blog, Colorado Lady, to see the other vintage treasures.

I hope to hear some of your stories too.

Look What My Garden Grew!

The first crop is in!  

Baby Bee went to work and pulled out all 32 of them.

Our French Blush Radishes are all harvested!  

Aren't they pretty?

I just love what Baby Bee said when we went to harvest them....

"I can't believe they actually grew in our garden!"

My thoughts exactly!

"Hmmmm....." she continued.  "They taste like the garden.  Like dirt."  

And then, "Yow!  Those are spicy!"

"Let's have them for dinner tonight."

So tonight we will enjoy the fruits of our labor - yeah, I know - little fruits!  

This is part of the reason I wanted to have a kitchen garden.  I wanted my daughter to know where her food comes from.  I wanted her to have this experience.  

Thanks for coming by and I think we have baby tomatoes!  I'm so excited!  

How is your garden coming along?  

Do You Remember Open House?

Well it's Open House Season in our part of the country.  Baby Bee's Open House is next week and my school's Open House is the week after.  

I love Open House!  I love all the projects the students make and how we get to really show off each student's creativity.  My students are making dioramas of a Great American Hero.

Baby Bee had to make some sort of project on the Solar System.  I thought about making one out of styrofoam balls, but have you priced styrofoam balls lately?  It would have cost about $35 just for the balls.   That's just not in the budget with all these graduations and other events, so I found some planet print outs and Baby Bee watercolored them.  

While she was painting each planet as accurately as she could (I had a picture of each planet up on our desktop) I did a little playing too.  

I saw on somebody's blog that they had watercolored some paper doilies.  (Sorry, I can't remember now where I saw it - so many fabulous blogs out there and I can't remember where I get some of my inspiration.) It was kind of fun, but I'll have to play around a little more with it.  

So after all the planets had dried we glued them onto some black construction paper and . . .

Ta-da!

Couldn't quite get all of the Solar System in the picture. 

I'm particularly proud of her Saturn - it looks a lot like the pictures from NASA.  

I can remember - now climb in the wayback machine with me - in fifth grade working on state reports.  I did Missouri and North Dakota.  We also made kites in honor of the bicentennial.  Mine had the 13 colonies drawn in red and blue marker.  Loved that kite - it never did fly right though.  I can remember even trying to make my own homemade kite at home that summer.   'Fraid I don't have a picture of that to share with you today.

Do you remember any of your Open House projects?  What did you love about them?  (Or hate about them?)  Now I sound like a journal topic for my students to write on.  So in 25 words or less - LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  I always enjoy our little visits and I so enjoy coming by your place too.