Happy New Year ~ ~ ~

~ HAPPY NEW YEAR ~

Peace, health, happiness and prosperity to all of you in the coming year!

May you have the New Year's Eve that makes you most happy. I have the perfect evening in store for me. Since I have to work, my DSO is making a prime rib (medium rare ~ yum!). After feasting, we will enjoy a quiet evening watching Dexter (we are hooked on that bizarre show...watching season 3), perhaps do a little hooking and drink a little wine. We will share our evening with Loocie and Eema, our two special girls. We'll be lucky to make it to midnight, but that's okay by me. We had a chance to join friends, but I really need a quiet, relaxing evening of nothing!

Dear friends, I appreciate every one who drops by and a special thank you to those who leave me a comment! When I started this blog, I was afraid no one would visit and I have been so surprised by all the positive comments I have received and all the new friends I have made.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Post Christmas musings ~

I hope everyone had the Christmas dreams are made of. It's hard to believe Christmas day has come and gone. Mine started out a bit stressful. My Mom fell and the caregiver hurt herself trying to get her up. Normally, I can lift my Mom, but every time I tried, she cried in pain so I had to call 911. They quickly arrived and determined that she had not broken anything so a trip to the ER was unnecessary. Thankfully my Mom has great bones and has not yet (knock on wood!) broken anything when she has fallen. I do hope that is one thing I have inherited from her. She was in a world of hurt, but was able to spend Christmas day here. Not the best picture of her, but the best one that was taken that day.
This is my older brother Bill in the dining room looking towards the living room.

That's me in the red sweater. It is a rare day when I will share one of me :) My son's girlfriend Janet is to the left, grandson Jake hanging on my arm and part of my brother's DSO, Lyn, to the right.

Out of the mouths of babes ~ ~ ~ When my grandson arrived, my brother excitedly asked him if the knew what day it was. Jake, so very confident, answered "It's Friday". We all got a good laugh out of his answer.

Here's my foster Eema in her new Christmas sweater. She has been such a good girl and a joy to have around. I hope one day soon she will find her forever home. I will cry when she leaves and miss her greatly, but there are many more pugs waiting in line to take her place.

I can finally share with you the only Christmas gift that was done on time. This little mat was hooked for Lyn since she and my brother sail.

I finally picked up my hook yesterday after a month of it sitting idle. I really must get busy hooking the rug that was supposed to be done a week and a half ago. I could have taken the easy way out and bought a gift, but I was bound and determined that this was the gift I was going to give! Next year I'd better start making my gifts by June! Time just has a way of slipping by.

And last but not least, I'd like to thank Joanne (http://www.snippetsandscrapsandpieces.blogspot.com/) for the gift she sent me. She saw my post about my feather trees and sent me all the goodies to make a "wool feather tree". She gave a tutorial on her blog back in November of 2008. How kind and generous. Thank you so much, Joanne!

If I am going to accomplish anything today, I'd better get busy. It's back to work tomorrow.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Merry Christmas to all ~

~ and to all a good night.

May you be blessed this Christmas

with health and happiness,

time with family and friends

(both the two and four legged variety),

and a Santa Claus who knows

you've been very, very good!

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

A very special St. Nicholas ~

~ MERRY CHRISTMAS ~

Here's a bucket bench I've owned for many years

diplaying one of my favorite pieces ~

Saint Nicholas

painted by my dear Mom.

Her attention to detail was amazing.

This was done when she was in her 60's.

Her hands were so steady then.

Thanks, Mom,

for gifting me with such a treasure.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Fun with my grandson ~

Welcome friends. Thank you for stopping by. Tonight my grandson Jake and I had a fun evening planned. We stopped at the local Christmas shoppe in our downtown where he picked up a rose made from wood shavings for his great grandma and a Hot Wheels cars for himself :-) We then stopped at Santa Land where he and Eema had their picture taken.

After that, it was off to the movie theater to see The Princess and the Frog.

Christmas is much more special when shared with a child.

Pug hugs to all who are reading :)

Merry Christmas!
Lauren

Feather Trees ~

Welcome and thank you for stopping by. We had our first snowfall over the weekend ~ just a couple of inches. I'll take snow for Christmas and then it can get warm again {in my dreams!}. I thought I'd start a fire this evening to enjoy while I wrapped gifts.
Eema has decided to get in the Christmas spirit and don an elf hat. Isn't she just too cute?

I love feather trees. This one is just under three feet tall and is the only one that is old. Most of the trees have a combination of old and new ornaments and old bead garland. Celluloid reindeer graze beneath this one. It sits atop a Canadian dough box used as a sofa table.

This is an American made blue green reproduction feather tree from Twins Feather Trees of Cincinnati, Ohio, atop a jelly cupboard in the dining room.

Also in the dining room, this little one sits on the pie safe.

I made the candy canes and stars adorning this tree.

On the upstairs landing.

I hope everyone has had a productive weekend.

I must get back to wrapping presents.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Santa addiction ~

I'm not sure how it happened, but my Santa collection has grown and grown over the years. Tonight I'll share some of them with you. Here's a Santa gourd I bought years ago at a craft show.
Santas on the jelly cupboard. I'm not sure about the Santa in red on the left, but all the others are imports.

A celluloid wind up Santa and reindeer. I purchased this with the original box and key. I believe it to be from the 40's.

I've had this tin sleigh for many decades. My mom painted the ceramic Santa.

I purchased this little guy in Paris. My sweetie took me there for my last milestone birthday. Lucky me :-)

The two taller Santas were purchased at craft shows many years ago and were locally made. The Santas on either end were gifts gotten years apart from two dear friends. The original Santa painting was purchased on eBay a number of years ago.

A full view of the top of the jelly cupboard in the dining room.

Santas on the baker's cupboard in the living room. My sweet niece Elise got me the polka dot Santa in Door County, Wisconsin a number of years ago. My dear friend Wink gave me the cone Santa MANY years ago.

This great patriotic Santa is sitting in an old dovetailed box surrounded by blue spruce. {{ouch!}}

The top of the baker's cupboard. I didn't realize my pantry boxes needed straightening...lol! That's a part of my snake plant in the lower left.

A small, cheesy vintage plastic light-up Santa in the bathroom. He looks so much better in person, so come on by if you'd like to see him up close and personal!

Thank you so much for stopping by and please come again soon. I have many more Christmas goodies to share with you!
Pug hugs :)

Lauren

Oh Christmas Tree ~ Tree ~ Tree

WELCOME! Thank you for stopping by.

Tonight I thought I'd share a few of my trees with you. This is the "big tree" in the living room. I just can't get a good picture of it. It is very eclectic and has everything on it from an antique Santa ornament to the paper ornaments my boys made in preschool (25+ years ago). The tree itself has seen better days and every year I tell myself I must get a new tree because this tree loses more needles than a live tree! It is just very different because the branches are not all evenly spaced and it has pine cones and grapevine tied to it. Many of my ornaments are big and heavy, and this tree can support the weight.
I received this Nativity in the first grade (and that was a REALLY long time ago). The manger lost its star long ago but I still cherish it.

Here's the tree in the dining room decorated in a more "country" style. I love the tacky lighted plastic Santas at the base of the tree.

There's a great story behind my devil's head ornament. About twelve years ago when my DSO was still living in Michigan, we went to a Restoration Hardware Store about an hour from his place. I had never been to one before ~ in fact I had never even heard of it. (Now I love that store!) When we walked in they had an entire tree full of these ornaments. I wanted one but would not pay the twelve dollars or so they were selling for. After I returned home, that dear sweet man drove back to the store only to discover there was not one left on the tree. Luckily he inquired and was told they pulled them all due to customer complaints. People did not realize (or care) that the ornament was based on an antique. It is one of my most prized ornaments.

Here's my patriotic tree on the small landing part way up to the second story. (This is one of Eema's favorite hiding places when she knows she is going to be put in the crate. Too funny!) Patriotic Santas on antique cupboard.

More patriotic items in the small cupboard. (I opened the door to avoid the glare of the flash.)

I hope you have enjoyed the pictures. I have many more to share with you in the coming days.

Pug hugs :)

Lauren

YUMMY make ahead potato recipe ~

~ ~ ~ WELCOME FRIENDS ~ ~ ~

I thought I would share a yummy potato recipe with you. I like this recipe because it can be made a day ahead and baked the next. I've been making this for years to rave reviews.

DOUBLE BAKED MASHED POTATOES

12 potatoes, cooked and mashed

8 oz. cream cheese, cut in cubes

1/4 c butter

1/2 c sour cream

1/2 c milk

2 eggs

1/4 c finely chopped onion

1 t salt

White pepper

To potatoes, add cream cheese and butter. Beat well until cream cheese and butter are melted.

Add sour cream.

Beat together milk, eggs, and onion.

Slowly add milk-egg mixture while still beating potatoes.

Add 1 t salt and white pepper to taste.

Beat until smooth.

Put in greased 9 x 13 inch casserole.

Refrigerate until ready to bake. (Can be refrigerated overnight)

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes.

Enjoy!

Thank you so much for stopping. I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Pug hugs :)
Lauren

Favorite Reindeer ~

I finally feel as if I'm getting things done. I've finished the "big tree" in the living room and that is MAJOR! It normally takes me two days to decorate ~ this year it took four because of busy evenings. About the only decorating I have left to do is to put the wreath on the door and the garland on the banister. Tomorrow I hope to do the Christmas cards and then I'd better think about working on the hooked rug that needs to be done in four or five days (hahaha!). Oh, and finish shopping so I can get my packages mailed.

I thought I'd share some pictures of my favorite reindeer. Here's my grandson Jake ~
~ and Loocie. She looks so thrilled :)

Eema, my foster pug.

This is my younger son, J (as in Jason), last year. (I'm sure he'll be thrilled to know he made the blog again.)

My dear Mom, last year, at 88. I'm lucky to have her here for one more Christmas.

Thank you all for stopping by.

I'll post some pictures of the house soon.

Pug hugs :)
Lauren