Daybook November 1 and Baseball

Outside My Window… I see the beds where I need to plant my

daffodil bulbs that I have been storing in my refrigerator.

The tag on the bag says,

‘for the warm weather garden’.

That makes me laugh uproariously.

Oh really?

How about a warm weather garden 6 inches from the sun?

It is still in the 80’s here.

I Am Thinking… about my grandsons-

all day- everyday.

I wish they lived next door .

They could walk over after school and have a snack.

They could help me plant my daffodil bulbs, because they are such hard workers.

I Am Thankful For… the mild weather this past weekend while we helped our middle daughter move.

From the Kitchen…  I went to Big Lots and bought Krusteaz chocolate chunk cookie mix, sugar cookie mix, Marie Callender’s brownie mix,and

Paula Dean’s chocolate cake mix to bake cupcakes for the church fiesta.

(I am not a fan of her mix…)

(Krusteaz mixes are great.)

I am reading… training materials.  I am training 50 teachers this week in Laredo with my training partner.

I am hearing … the pre-game show for game 4 of the World Series.

I love the Texas Rangers.

I like sports stories that

involve redemption.

I love the idea that these men have been playing the game since they were probably 4- in a park or someone’s backyard.

There are players who may have learned the game without real equipment.

I love the way the 3rd baseman Michael Young takes a little hop before he throws to first.

You know he has done that same move for years.

I love talking to my husband about the game during the game.

I love thinking that some of the players-while in the in field or out- are thinking in Spanish while their teammate a few feet away is thinking in English.

(I love Nolan Ryan… shhhhh…..)

 

 

Chinet Crowd

On a recent trip to  Canton, my youngest daughter and I stopped at Laurie Anna’s.

What a treat for the eye.

She has AMAZING things.

I bought several things to use for my tablescape at Thanksgiving .

This was my table last year.

Remember my mantra?

More is more.

This year I bought these at Laurie Anna’s.

These are tiny burlap bags that I plan to use for the silverware.

I am doing this for

one simple reason.

To Get My Father’s Reaction.

I want to hear him say,

“What’s that?”

“What’s that for?”

I also bought a 10 yard roll of burlap runner.

It is soft and has a nice bound edge.

He will probably say-

“That looks like the sacks my seed is in.”

And lastly, here is the hand towel I will NOT be using to dry dishes.

True confession?

The men in my family are the

super-sized

oval

Chinet

paper plate crowd,

but every year I try.

 

***

I am linking to

Favorite Fall Fragrances

Oh how I love a sweet smelling house, especially this time of year.

These are my favorites.

Orleans Cinnamon Orange Candle

I first discovered Orleans Cinnamon Orange at a Christmas Shop in Plano, while visiting our youngest daughter who lives there.

I almost swooned.

That’s a great word, isn’t it?

After all, my nickname, originally given to me years ago by my friends JB and Debbie,

is Laura Belle-

or Belle for short.

Swooning is my game.

Slatkin and Co. Leaves Candle

This is a newly discovered favorite.

I bought this at Bath and Body Works, which I always want to call

Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

The scent is pretty strong, but I am not really into delicate…

Pier One’s Asian Spice

This is an all-time favorite.

My friend Anna and I can have an entire conversation about

Asian Spice.

You must try it ( particularly the room spray).

It is also affordable.

Claire Burke’s Original Vapourri

I love this room spray because my mother used this.

It makes your house smell wonderful.

You may not recognize the packaging shown (I didn’t), but it still the same fragrance.

A few minutes before a get-together at my house, I like to open the front door and spray outside.

Then people smell it as they reach the front door.

Clinique Elixer

This perfume is not new or modern but once again,

I love it because my mother wore it.

In fact,

after she passed away,

I wore her robe because it smelled like her.

It smelled of Clinique Elixer.

Aromatique’s The Smell of Christmas

I can’t live without this.

I stockpile candles, room spray, and bags of potpourri at after Christmas sales.

I am hoarding some small bags of simmering potpourri, which they apparently don’t make anymore.

I am desperate.

It is bagged in tiny cotton sachet bags.

If you see it anywhere, just email me.

***

What are your favorites?

 

Can You Find This at Your Flea Market?

At the flea market this weekend, it was more about the sights than the treasures.

There were nopalitos (cactus) for sale,

gorditas, which often have fillings in the center,

spiropapas, which are potatoes cut in a spiral and skewered and fried on a long stick,

cups of fruit ,

 

and wonderful fruit drinks.

There were chili pequins,

 

red bell peppers,

orange tortillas for enchiladas,

pinatas,

and

lizards.

What did I purchase?

a double blooming bougainvillea.

I did not buy this.

Fall Tablescape

This fall tablescape was a pleasure to create because of two things:

the use of a new color

and

a Birthday Club celebration for some dear friends, which was held at my house.

I wanted to use purple, and I wanted to

fill the table-

I used everything I could find.

I LOVE doing that.

More is more.

It may seem like too much, but that is the way I like it.

I used my Royal Stafford bird dishes and my Nyssa garage sale soup tureens.

Even though they are not my favorite (as my grandson says), I am so glad I kept my 12

mercurochrome colored goblets.

I have 12- and for several years I have tried to sell them at a local antique mall.

They just wouldn’t leave (sell), because alone they are pretty startling, but mixed in with everything on the table, they become wonderful.

I love THAT too.

My Reed and Barton Francis 1st still makes my heart flutter – and it  has since I chose it many, many years ago.

I only had one place setting for years.

I didn’t tend to it, I didn’t make it a priority, and rightly so I guess.

And then one day I woke up, years had gone by, and I thought,

‘I better get this show on the road.’

And so I turned to Ebay.

I am just so grateful today-

which is not to say that perfection lives in my house,

because it does not.

But the irregular does-

*my purple tablecloth from DD’s Discount- which is a retail phenomenon in and of itself.

That is where things from Ross are sent out to pasture.

Can you imagine?

*my ceramic pumpkins from Walgreen’s- I love multi-tasking shopping, don’t you?

You can even buy Blue Bell there.

*my copper colored, mercury glass candlesticks (from a garage sale), that I found stuck and forgotten in a cabinet in the little house

*my goblets that wouldn’t leave

and

a simple life today.

***

I am linking to these wonderful parties.

Rancho Landscape Design

In preparing for a birthday club celebration which was held at my house, I Iooked around the yard and tried to think outside the box (which is where my thinking lives most days anyway).

The ginger plant I bought at a local nursery reminded me of my daughter’s beach mat, so I placed them near each other.

The window ledge on my back patio reminded me of a mantel, so I dressed it as one.

The door to the little house needed something, so I made this from ‘found’ objects in my garden shed.

I looked to the left of the little house door, and thought it needed something so I added a favorite cross.

I wanted to hang this wrought iron candle holder on this old brick BBQ pit wall behind the little house, so I began a wrestling match with it and some garden twine.

(Picture a tug of war with me hanging on for dear life, inside the pit hanging on to my twine tied wrought iron candelabra that weighs a million pounds - shouting ‘John’ (my husband) to no avail.)

I tried my talavera here , but I can see that this is off and needs re-working.

I kept adding pieces, in the same way I keep adding bracelets when I get dressed.

Please know that I know this doesn’t look right.

I am going to remove the pitcher and the small sconce.

The broken lantern also needs a candle.

I found a St. Francis statue at HEB of all places (a local grocery store) .

And I also found petunias there in purple, pink, and white.

Aside on petunias:  I am not a fan of their one hit wonder nature or the irritating concept of dead-heading, but the colors are amazing.

In discussing my yard with my friend Anna- the evening of the party, I have hit upon a name for my kind of landscape design.

Rancho…

literal translation: ranch

my loose symbolic translation: country, imperfect, simple, humble, ‘dolled up’ for special occasions , a little shy

Does This Make Sense to You? (It Does to Me…)

Does this make sense to you?

It makes perfect sense to me.

Our middle daughter is moving at the end of this month, and she will be hiring my all-time favorite

thing in the whole wide world-

a truck and two movers from

Chapa’s Moving Service.

So my plan for this wonderful ‘opportunity’ is to:

*Have the truck meet us at the storage unit I have and empty it.

*Travel to my house and remove the things from the truck that are mine, leave her boxes from the storage unit on the truck, and place my storage unit boxes in the garage.

*Drive down the street to my father’s house and get my mother’s red lacquer buffet from his

garage and put it on the truck.

*Drop it off at my house and put it in my den.

*Remove the furniture from the garage that belongs to my daughter and put it on the truck.

*Drive to her apartment and empty it.

*Drive to her new house and move everything in.

*Drive to a local Antique Mall and load all shelves from the booth we have had.

(It is much more fun to sell at once a month Market Days- when you feel like it.)

*Drive to my house and put the shelves in my garden shed.

*Take a muscle relaxer.

Isn’t this a great plan?