Getting Ready for Reader Bee's Birthday

Reader Bee, my niece, is turning 11 in about 10 days.  She is a very creative girl and she typically decides on the theme of all her parties.  

This year she is having a carnival theme.  She is borrowing some of our lawn games and has a cupcake walk planned.  She has other activities in mind too.  (I might be drafted for face painting.)

Reader Bee and I enjoy crafting together - a lot!  So she came over today and we made ice cream cone wraps for her kid party and her adult/family party.  

You might remember I made these for the Fourth of July.  Reader Bee really liked this idea so we just printed the pattern from Martha and used our own scrapbook paper to make the wraps.

(Be careful you don't get lost in the ice cream cone wrapper forest.  Just follow the scent of chocolate and you'll be safe.)

She is a girl after my own crafty heart!

In the meantime, another creative girl devised a way to carry both her babies at once and keep her hands free.....

I knew all those trendy scarves would prove to be practical.

I'll be joining the party over at 

All Things Related

for

Anything Related Tuesdays.

Hope you can join the party and see all the great projects.  Rebekah and Bridgette always put together a great event!

Thanks for buzzing by today!  

My Sweet Cherry Pink Bundle of Inspiration

This sweet cherry pink sleeve belonged to my Baby Bee.

To know how very precious our girl is to us you need to know a little about how she came into this world.  

Baby Bee was a preemie.  She came into our world at 32 weeks, 3 lb. 5 oz.  and as tiny as a doll baby.  I had something called HELLP syndrome which is a bit complicated, but my doctor described it as the worst kind of toxemia you could possibly get.  One day I was teaching my sixth grade class and the next day I was having an emergency c-section.  

Baby Bee spent 11 days in the NICU and 8 days on the main floor before she could come home.  She never had to be given oxygen.  She just needed to gain weight and maintain her temperature.

While she was in the hospital they detected a hearing problem.  So at 6 months she had extensive testing done and she had no hearing loss.

Because she was a preemie, we also went to a developmental pediatric specialist for the first three years of her life.  They told us she would probably have difficulties in school.  Yesterday she received two gold medals (for the second year in a row) for scoring advanced on her California State Tests.  

Our girl is strong.  

Our girl is kind.  

Our girl is smart.  

Our girl is even more beautiful on the inside than the outside.

Our girl loves pink.

What more can you ask for?  

(And boy was she cute and adorable when she fit in this dress.  She wore it when she was about 2.  I found it when we were cleaning out her closet and I have recently hung it in our bedroom.)

Our Baby Bee's story also reminds me of the power of prayer.  So many people prayed for her and this gave us so much comfort and inspiration. 

Today we are sharing our pink stories of inspiration at

How Sweet the Sound

for

Pink Saturday.

Please stop by and support the good work of Guideposts Miracle Makeover.

A Little Peaceful White for a Change

You know if you visit here a lot that I LURVE me some color!  

But there are a few spots in my home that are serene and white.  (Oooops!  COLOR peeking out! Please disregard it.)

I'm a milkglass addict.  I bought these tumblers at an antique mall a few years ago.  Eventually I found the matching pitcher at an antique show (at a price I was willing to pay).  I'm not sure if they are the same vintage.  The cups/glasses are not as opaque as the pitcher.  

For now they live on top of my refrigerator, but they are wanderers and they travel all over the house.

Thought I'd show off some of my whites over at Faded Charm for the first time.

Thanks for buzzing in today.  If you can stay awhile I'll make you some raspberry lemonade and I'll even let you drink from my milkglass tumblers.  :)

How Do You Like Your Tuna Salad?

Worker Bee thinks I'm nuts to talk about this, but .....I'm curious.    

What do you put in your tuna salad?  

Are there regional ways of making tuna?  

Have you changed the way your mom made it?

When I was girl (and I grew up here in Central California, as did my mom, and my mother's mom) we always had it with Miracle Whip and chopped up sweet pickles.  Every once in awhile my mom would add a little chopped up hard boiled egg.  That was always a special treat.

When I married Worker Bee, it turned out that we were a mixed marriage - I liked pickles, he loathed them.  To this day I make the tuna without pickles, make his sandwich, and then add pickles for me.  Lucky me - I get all the leftovers.

These days I try to add more veggies to our tuna salad sandwiches.  Have you tried it with chopped up celery?  How about chopped up English cucumber?  I even add a little bit of dried dill for a different flavor.  Yummy!  Oh and we're using mayonnaise now, not Miracle Whip!

So.....what's in your tuna?

200 Posts! 200 Followers! It's a ME-a-palooza Giveaway!

Who would have thought that I would ever have 200 topics to post about and that I'd ever have 200 followers?  I sure didn't when I first started blogging not quite a year ago.  

Well I certainly think that this is something to celebrate, don't you?

So, what better way to share with all of you then to have a Mary Engelbreit giveaway?  

 And what you see here is only a start!  I'll be adding more Mary fun to this giveaway.

There is a ME hatbox, ME paper placemats, ME lunch bags, ME tiny treasure box, ME fried egg flower purse, and a ME bag from the ME store that I've saved for several years.  

Just leave a comment on this post and you will be entered.  You don't have to be a follower, just leave a comment.  This giveaway is open to United States and Canada only.  

The giveaway will close on Saturday, September 4 at midnight PST and the winner announced on Sunday, September 5.

Thank you for following along so far and I'm so looking forward to more of our visits in the future!

Giveaway now closed!  

 

Rednesday, Oh Rednesday - How I Have Missed You!

Nice little red alarm clock with red eyes.  Exactly how I feel.  Back to the grind.  Don't get me wrong, I love teaching, but boy it is hard to get back into that routine.

Thought I'd share a few little red things today that help me keep on top of that teaching job.

Gotta' have a water bottle.  I'm trying to go green and not keep buying bottled water.  When you talk a lot, water definitely helps you stay healthy - just not too much water - remember we can only go to the bathroom during recess.

Two other red organizational tools.  You must have a clipboard.  (This is my favorite clipboard.  It's a Mary E. one but I have to be careful with it because it's kind of like cardboard.) You also have to have something to keep all those tests and papers clipped together.  What better than a red clothespin?  Those devices are handy for all kinds of things!  I'll have to show you how I use them in my classroom sometime.

Well thanks for buzzing in and seeing a few of my Back to School Reds!

Thanks Sue for hosting the brightest party in blogland.  I haven't been by for several weeks and I sure have missed it.  

Happy Back to School Everybody!

Welcome to Royal Bee Suite......

I got it done!  I got it done!  (Before school starts!) In my acceptance speech I need to thank Worker Bee for being an integral part of my getting this done.  I couldn't have done it without you Worker Bee.  

What did I get done?  Well a lot of little things in Worker Bee's and my bedroom.  We didn't paint, we didn't buy new furniture, in fact we didn't buy anything new at all, but oh how sweet and romantic and retreatish (I love making up new words) it looks.  

I'll start off with the big project.  Back in April (when it was my 20th wedding anniversary) Cathe over at Just Something I Made was having all these fabulous giveaways and I won a vinyl monogram of Worker Bee's and my initials.  It was huge and just so especially sweet to win it at that time.  I've never done any of these vinyl things before so it was quite a learning experience.  We seemed to discover that there was a "sweet" corner to start peeling from.  I had rubbed and rubbed and rubbed but when I started peeling it, it stuck to the top layer.  Worker Bee tried from a different corner and it came off very smoothly.  So we're just saying that there's a "sweet" corner and NOT that I am totally incompetent in applying vinyl, right?

Doesn't it look beautiful?  S-I-G-H......I love it!

This is the before.....

And this is the after.....

Yep!  Still lovin' it!

Well you know how it goes - one change leads to a bunch more.  Where was our "Always Kiss Me Goodnight" sign going to go?  And wouldn't it be great to have a better nightstand on my side of the bed?  And wouldn't the hankies look better in a pretty apothecary jar?  Do you see what I mean?  Well let me just show you.  (Although, I don't have a lot of before pictures - sorry!)

So.....please enjoy!  I'll give you details as we look around.

This chair used to sit at the little desk I used for my nightstand.  Not using that desk anymore, so cute black wicker chair gets to go live by the closet.

This dresser used to be honey pine, than I painted everything white and a couple of years ago it all went black.  It's dark, I know, but it is so cozy feeling.

As you walk in the door, the bed is to the left.

Keep walking and you get to my side of the bed.

This is the before....

(Yikes! What a mess!  I'm just a wee bit embarrassed, but hey - makes the after all the better, right?)

And now the after.....

(could not get a good picture of this spot - this will have to do)

So much more space.  You might be able to tell I moved the picture above our bed to over the table.

So here's some more.....

This is our closet.  Wall to wall but not walk in.  Actually we've got it functioning quite well, but only clothes in season will fit.  Winter clothes are under the bed.  

One of my favorite things about the closets is how we turned the doors the "wrong" way when we repainted them.  The doors were smooth plywood with a little inset handle to slide the doors.  When we took them off to paint them I thought the back side was so much more interesting to look at then a wall of blankness.  Worker Bee agreed and so this is what we have.  I called it architectural details.  :)

Another closet shot - built in drawers.  

Oooh!  Here's the close-up!  I used a sliding mug hook to hand my necklaces and a candle hurricane for all my bracelets.  So far it's working and it looks pretty!

 Worker Bee's side of the bed.  (Baby Bee made that sweet little handprint when she was in kindergarten.)

Our curtains are also one of my favorite parts.  The Fabulous Phyllis made them for us.  We used the red plaid, some of the sheets that came with the linens (Eddie Bauer) and an extra duvet that I ordered for the fabric (much cheaper than the premade valances they were selling).  I love the little prairie points.  Such a nice detail.  Phyllis is so Fabulous because I'll take her a sketch and the measurements and she'll create my vision.  She's a Fabulous friend too.

Can you guess what's in here?

(It's full of all my fun reading glasses!)

I put all my vintage hankies in here.  They are too pretty to be cooped up in a drawer!

Amy Jo Hill painted that sweet cake.  I adore her work.  So whimsical and charming!  It says "Forever" on the heart.  Amy sells on ebay and etsy.

All rightee!  Here is one last shot of what inspired all this transformation!  

I'm joining all these parties for Monday.  Who knew Monday was such a party day?  Only in blogland, right?

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch

Cindy at Cottage Instincts

Cielo at The House in the Roses

Thank you ladies for being the hostesses with the mostests (had to make that plural to go with hostesses -   see? I love making up words)

School starts tomorrow with students arriving on Wednesday.  I'll be finishing up preparing my room and materials to welcome my students over the next few days.  Have to develop a whole new routine after summer vacation.  

Thanks for coming by and visiting this summer.  I'm looking forward to sharing more with you as the seasons start to change.  

Oh! I'm approaching 200 posts and I have 200 followers so I'm preparing a fun giveaway to celebrate these milestones.  Hope you can come back and visit soon!  

It's always a treat to welcome you to our little cottage.

Whew.....Such a Busy Time of Year!

I start back to school next week.  I have been very busy in my classroom getting it ready for all the fresh faces that will come through my classroom door on Wednesday and this is my last chance to get any home projects done before my life is taken up with grading, lesson planning, and other school, mom, and PTC duties.  (Didn't I just reprimand myself for run-on sentences? Oh well!  At least I know it's a run-on.  My third graders usually don't know it.)

In addition to working in my classroom, I did a complete reorganization of Worker Bee's and my bedroom.  Nothing really dramatic, but just some editing, switching out some furniture, and putting up a great giveaway I won from Cathe over at Just Something I Made.  I hope to share all these little changes on Sunday.

In the meantime I thought you might enjoy a sneak peek of some sweet pink treasures in our room.

( I swear I just dusted all these treasures!  Please, avert your eyes from the dust!)

My pink sunglasses.....

My favorite fragrances - Amazing Grace and Crabtree & Evelyn's Rosewater.....

A sweet little candlestick.  The color reminds me of Depression Glass, but I'm not sure if it is.

Another pillar candlestick.  Again, it looks like it might be Depression Glass, but I just don't know.

And last a sweet little silver cup filled with faux roses.  I don't use fake flowers a lot, but I just loved the look of these and how velvety they felt.

Hope you enjoyed a little peek into our bedroom pinks.  (Wow!  I hope that doesn't show up on some weird Google search!) 

Well I hope you are able to see some more delightful pinks by visiting some (or all) of the participants in Beverly's 

Pink Saturday over at How Sweet the Sound.  Isn't it always fun to see all the different pinks?

Hope you can come back again and see what I managed to get done before the school bell rang!  Maybe I'll even pour you a pink lemonade!