A SNOWSTORM OF GUILT

I awoke today to hear there is going to be another 8-10' of snow in, as Al Roker likes to say, my neck of the woods. Ugh. We still have dirty snow. You know, patches of snow and slush and mud. Not pretty. So the very best I can ask for is that this new snowfall is going to at least leave us with a pretty white carpet.


Now you may be looking at the above picture and thinking, "Oh. This is how Blondie stocks up for a snowstorm...a lot of Rice A Roni, dog snacks and taco chips." Wrong. This is a small example of what I wake up to every morning. Granted., I pushed everything back and as close together as possible to look neater, and wiped the counter tops off (I don't want to air too much dirty laundry at once, for Pete's sake, and who is Pete?). I just want to ask you, are you the type that cleans up before you go to bed or do you just leave it all until the morning? It seems that even if I do a white glove number in my kitchen after dinner and I am the last one to go to bed, a mysterious little Messy Fairy comes in during the night and I wake up to a disaster. When I get up in the morning I like to have a couple of cups of coffee and catch up on some blogs. And having a counter full of stuff and a sink full of dishes (okay, sometimes they haven't even made it to the sink) waiting for me can really take the joy out of the morning.
Tomorrow will be one week since The Husband came home from his golf trip. These are his clubs, still in their flight bag. And no, this isn't really bad, having them there in front of the stove, because before this they were in the middle of the living room. You can see that they are also in front of a door. This door goes down to the basement and I think that is where the clubs are slowly heading. By spring they will be tucked away in a nice corner down there (if they take one step at a time, literally).


A long time ago after I had first gotten married, my mother learned that I was ironing The Husband's undershirts. I did this because we were short on space and they wouldn't all fit in his drawers unless I did this. She said to me, "Jane, if you start doing this sort of thing now, you will be doing it forever." I wasn't really sure what she was getting at, but I do now. Even if I skip or don't get around to the everyday morning clean up, jaws drop. I am like clockwork. A robot. Mom ALWAYS gets everything done. The advice I have always gotten is "Just don't do it." Sort of the opposite of the Nike ad. But one thing holds me back: If I don't do it, who will??


I hear a lot of bloggers talking about the time constraints they are under when it comes to blogging. It seems they want to a lot more than time allows and I sense an underlying guilt. I know I can feel this way. I juggle my housework, errands and cooking with blogging and I try to throw in some time for reading or crafting or just watching a movie. And I think I have a nice balance going here. The problem is, nobody else thinks so. I wonder if The Husband ever sits in his chair reading the paper or playing online poker, wondering, "Gee, I wonder if Jane is irritated at me. Should I be making her a snack?" Or Abby, lying on the family room couch watching another reality show about unwed pregnant teen couples, dirty dishes, headbands, bobby pins, magazine and nail polish remover all within fingertip reach, thinking, "Wow. I really feel bad about all of this. I should offer to make dinner tonight." Oh, my gosh. Knock me over with a feather. And I am supposed to feel guilty? Guilty???


About a year and a half ago I was in the hospital for a yucky surgery. I had one complication after another and ended up in there for a little over two weeks. As time went on The Husband and kids were getting a bit more demanding with the doctors on when I would be going home. The doctor's excuse, that I had pneumonia, wasn't satisfying them. One day in a pain medication induced dream, I too, was begging to go home. I was begging to go home because I had to clean. I woke up in a sweat and thought about the dream. I knew it was going to be a long road before I could actually get up and clean. And then it hit me. THEY didn't know that. THEY wanted me to come home and CLEAN! And cook. And do the laundry. Oh, it was enough to ask for more morphine.
On a lighter note, I finished this book, which I told you about last week...
...and moved on to this book, which I am halfway through and loving! As another blogger commented, it is a little more raw than the movie, but it is just the way the author is. I'm not crazy about profanity in a book unless it makes a point, and it does. And it is hilarious. I can't wait to see all of the movie when I am finished. I fell asleep before the end the time I rented it.
This is my personal bookshelf in my bedroom. I can honestly say I have only read about 3 or 4 of these books. I thought I had lost my love of reading. But I have found it. I am on a roll.
And this is my next book, which I received from my husband for Christmas (Do you read the 'Alphabet Books'?). I am assuming he wanted me to read and so I am going to do it...without guilt.

RAINY DAY RAMBLINGS

Happy Birthday to me!! It was yesterday and I had a great day. We really haven't celebrated much yet because my son Jeff is out of town, but when he gets back we will go out to dinner. And then The Husband and I are planning my birthday trip and I have chosen New Orleans. We like to do that for milestone birthdays and this was a heck of a milestone. I am thinking that we will go in April or May and I have my own strange little reason for putting it off. The weather here in Chicago is miserable right now. I think I have seen the sun about 5 times since November. Before the snow on the ground melts, we get more snow. So you would think that I'd want to go away now. Nope. I would abhor coming back. That is my reason. I think of getting away in the spring as my reward for putting up with this weather. So off we go to the Big Easy and I have plans to pop in and visit my friend Christine from Christine's Home And Travel Adventures. After we met here in Chicago, we vowed we would get together again and she is not that far from New Orleans. I am so excited!


Abby made me this cake last night. We don't normally have cake at home because we order dessert when we go out for dinner, so I completely forgot about a cake and candles when we decided to skip the dinner. Well, I think she was appalled. She drove to the grocery store and got the ingredients and candles and made the cake. Isn't it cute? And so is she. And because I refuse to cook dinner on my birthday, we ordered sushi. It was a great day. :-)
I was finally able to finish the book that I have been reading for years it seems. I have lamented about my lack of time (and overdoing the blogging) for reading and it kills me that it took so long to read a book that should not have taken more than a week. And you might be able to tell by the condition of the book that it has been everywhere; in my purse, in my duffel bag, in my bed, on the floor... It is an excellent book. In a nutshell, it's about a young mother who is widowed suddenly. Her mourning is disrupted by a cast of characters right out of a Woody Allen movie. This is a book that can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. There are the craziest relatives, a few larger than life friends, a hunk (of course) and a priest that is ready to give it all up for her. "...Juliette Fay writes with vivid dialogue and conjures up characters that feel real enough to be sitting in your kitchen." And that is the truth! I love books like this. What is that called? Character development? Anyway, it's a great read and you should look for it at your book store or on Amazon. I am now set to either start a new book or finish the other two I am reading. I think I will move on the Julie And Julia and keep the juggling act going.
I was doing really well on my diet until the birthday cake came along. I had a sliver last night. Then a sliver this morning. I figure that totals one whole piece which is not bad. But last night the Husband brought home Carmel corn. And not just any Carmel corn...Garrett Carmel corn. The best Carmel corn in the world. If you pass the shop in downtown Chicago, you will see a line all the way down the block. I have personally seen this line on the most frigid of days. People are either waiting because it is the best Carmel corn ever, or they have never had it and know it is a Chicago tradition. But I digress. He brought this home and I was such a good girl, didn't go near it. Because you know that if you have one piece you have to have the whole bag. Today I was alone, thinking how good I had been about the luscious chocolate birthday cake when I spotted the bag. Feeling virtuous, I thought, I deserve a small handful. And I proceeded to finish the bag right off. And then I made the mistake that every dieter has made. "Well...since I already screwed up..." and before I knew it I was cutting a humongous piece of cake. I even hit the fortune cookies that came with the sushi. So if you have little restraint or need a jump start on a sweet binge, you can have your own bag of Carmel corn by going to www.Garrett Popcorn.com. You may or may not regret it.


So that's it for my ramblings today. I hope you are having a great day. Thanks for stopping by!

VINTAGE FIREPLACE SCREEN

I am not in a fireplace/mantel party...I insist that I am not. And you may be really tired of seeing my fireplace, however I was just so excited to show you this that I joined Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Monday. This is my first time joining and I am so excited to see what everyone has to offer. And you can too, by clicking on the highlights.


My lovely daughter Emily went to Milwaukee on Saturday and happened to pop into antique/junk shop. She saw this fireplace screen and fell in love with it. She was sure I would love it too, even though we weren't exactly looking for anything new...
Isn't it beautiful. it is a medium brown, almost the shade of my print here. The scroll work is gorgeous and the fire looks so totally different and beautiful than it did behind the old screen.
This is the 'old screen'. I never had a problem with it before. I think the new one is so much more attractive. Emily paid a whopping $60.00 for this screen. I am in amazement. I could just imagine what Pottery Barn would want for this fireplace screen.
The Husband will be home from Florida tomorrow. It seems like the time has just flown by. It was nice to use my time to work on some crafts, read and do a little extra cleaning. Emily and Abigail have been here and have kept me company. We didn't do as much cooking meals as we had planned on doing, but we did rely on my favorite cookbook of all which you can see below. It is a little dog eared because it is such a favorite of mine! We've had everything from sushi to pizza, salads to tacos. Tomorrow I am avoiding the scale!
The Husband finished up his fundraiser and golfing today in Florida. The highlight it seemed, was running into a bobcat in a wildlife conservatory, which I posted about last Thursday. Well, today he claims he saw a monkey squirrel. I am shaking with laughter as I type this. Could it be true? I asked him if it was a monkey that looked like a squirrel or the other way around. He replied that this was a stupid question. As I said before, I never have adventures like this.


I hope you had a good time visiting and that you have a great start to a wonderful week.

MANTEL PARTY & BITS & PIECES FROM BLONDIE'S WORLD

I am joining Beth's Mantel Party again this week because I am having such a fun time. It is really forcing me not only to find my creative side, but to find little goodies that I have bought and put away (hid), only to forget I had them. So last week I took down the Silver, Glass & White decor I had for the last party and put back up my favorite giclee paintings. And then I found these cute little bottles I bought before Christmas and had stored (hid) away in a basket. So here we have the ever coveted crown and Fleur de lis. Magical.
On this side of the mantel I simply rearranged the mercury glass votives and tried to give you a better picture of one of my lamps. Everything else from last week stayed the same and so I won't bore you with pictures of the whole mantel. Oh, I am having a blast and feel like I am getting out of the rut of mindlessly decorating.
I have not been up to the Lakehouse because of various engagements, but Emily went last weekend and I asked her to get some shots of the fireplace. We have no mantel and I suppose one day I will want one, but by looking at the stones, it will have to be custom made and put up. For now I enjoy decorating the stone wall (which happens to be bare right now...you might remember I took The Husbands spear gun down and hid it...wow, I do a lot of hiding things! Now it is my turn to put something up. I am thinking of a huge grapevine wreath. Very simple, no flowers or greenery because there are so many floral patterns going on in the room that you can't see.
I may be cheating but instead of the mantel I am showing the hearth. i don't have a lot on it because I have never made a big effort in decorating it. It's pretty rustic and I think it might be fun to 'feminize' it a bit... To the right is the big old wood burning stove that does a fantastic job of heating up the Great Room. It is by the stairwell so the heat also goes upstairs and keeps everything very snugly. When I go to the lake next time, I will work on this hearth and maybe visit my friend Jody at the floral shop in town to see about the grapevine wreath. You might remember that she helped me with my cloche last fall. She is SO creative.


Now for those of you that are here for the Mantel Party, you can stop reading here if you wish. I am going to ramble on a bit about things that have absolutely nothing to do with mantels. Just little bits and pieces about what is going on in Blondie's world.


The Husband left for his annual Fundraiser for the Make A Wish Foundation that is held in Naples, Florida every January. How coincidental that our son Kevin is working the golf season in Naples as well. The have had dinner together a few times and golfed yesterday. Now, Kevin is a professional golfer and gives lessons as well as runs the Pro Shop. How ironic it is that The Husband bought him his first set of clubs and taught him how to golf and today they are out on the course and Kevin is giving The Husband tips! Life is full of surprises. So The Husband is having a rollicking time; today he went to a wildlife conservation area and had a bobcat cross his path fifty feet away. Just moseying along, minding it's own business. He called me and went on and on for about a half hour about this darn bobcat until I finally said (shouted), "What did you expect in a wildlife conservation, a litter of kittens?" He has a bit of fear of these things ever since he was chased buy a wild horse in a field while we were honeymooning in Hawaii. These adventures never happen to me.
So when The Husband is away, what does any good blonde do? Shop, of course. Actually I took Abigail out and she reaped the rewards of my credit card and I came home with this book. I am a bit ashamed that I am still reading three other books simultaneously and had no business buying another, but it was either go in to Borders or follow Abby around Forever 21 looking at clothes that could have fit my Barbie doll. I flipped through the book and it looks incredibly funny. I watched most of the movie awhile ago but fell asleep before it was over...not because it was boring, it was late at night and it was our third movie. So I have to catch it again.

I saw this frame at Marshall's the other day and just stared and stared at it with creative thoughts running fleetingly through my head. None of them turned into anything firm so I left without it. I continued to have those fleeting thoughts (actually, all my thoughts seem to be fleeting), and so I went back for it yesterday. I want to fill the four spaces with something vintagy and I think once I take a trip to Michael's, my ideas will come together. Don't you love the frame?


Emily, Abby and myself are having quite a wonderful girls week here. We are taking turns cooking every night and it's really quite interesting since neither of them can cook to save their lives. Last night Emily made Chicken Parmesan and she bought bread sticks and made a dipping sauce with a Parmesan garlic vinaigrette by Giada De Laurentiis. She has a line of products at Target and I can tell you that I was impressed with the vinaigrette. Tonight is Abby's night to cook, so I think I will fast all day and have no problem getting down whatever she makes...


So that is what is going on my life. As always, I say I am going to post more often so I am not so lengthy, but time gets in the way. I'll do my best. Thanks for coming by!

MANTEL PARTY: GLASS, SILVER & WHITE

It's Friday and time for another mantel party hosted by Beth at The Stories Of A To Z. This is such a fun event and I have gotten so much inspiration from the participants in creating new and interesting mantelscapes. Visit Beth and see what everyone has to show off this week and see Beth's cute Valentine's Day vignette.


I drew inspiration from my vintage mirror for this weeks party and I want to thank everyone who complimented it last week. I really do love it and I think it will be a permanent fixture in all of my mantelscapes. I really love the look of the silver and glass, so I shopped my house for pieces to add. I also added touches of white for some balance.
The little candelabra is lit with tea lights and I propped a starfish against it for a pop of white to match the base. I probably have no business adding coastal items since I live in the frigid Midwest, but a girl can break the rules, can't she? I have also added a mercury glass candle holder.
On the opposite side I have another candelabra that I found at an antique shop where I also found the lamps. I felt so bad when they went out of business after 35 years, but we were able to bid on and win an entire 90 piece set of china for $40.00 on the last day of their auction. Whoo Hoo!! Balancing this side is a tall jar of sea shells and some white branches, keeping with that unlikely coastal look I have going on here. And another mercury glass candle holder. In the center I have added a vanity mirror rimmed in silver. I hope you have enjoyed my vignette!
I wanted to mention that my new darling friend, Federica from Bologna, Italy is having a giveaway. You can visit her here at Sweet As Candy. She has written 500 posts in her one year blogging! Awesome.
And I have received the Sunshine Award from Shellagh at Ticking And Toile. I am really honored to receive this award and rather than pass it on to select bloggers, I ask that you grab it yourself, especially if you need some sunshine today, which I think we all do. :-)


Thanks for visiting me today. I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

WRITER'S CHALLENGE: A TEACHER REMEMBERED

Lori from Family Trees May Contain Nuts is the hostess of a writer's challenge and our topic this time around is: A teacher who has made a difference in your life. In all my years of school, of every teacher I have ever had, there is one and only one and it didn't take but a minute to know who I would write about. The problem is of course, to pay proper tribute to her. But I am going to just cast my cares aside (as I frequently do) and just write from my heart.

She stood in front of my high school freshman class (first period, on top of it all) and announced, "My name is Mrs. Drown. As in 'can't swim"'. It grew quite a chuckle and eased the tension of our first class. I had the feeling she had this monologue down pat. She wasn't a comedian, she was actually rather quiet. Not shy, just not verbose. She'd meander about the art room and peer over our shoulders and mumble a bit. Give short bits and pieces of advice or critique. She was never one I had long, drawn out conversations with and I was too young to ever seek her out for more. But it might have been interesting. It would have.


Delores Drown was probably about thirty-five or forty years old (what does a fourteen year old know?) when I had her Freshman year. Tall and thin with wispy black hair and fair (read: pale) skin, I imagine she had a lot of Irish, English or Scottish blood. Again, never asked. It was later, much later, that I had the questions and I was too late to ask. I don't know what ever became of Mrs. Drown. I googled her to no end...


The smell of that art room. The mix of paint and turpentine and sawdust. The huge tables in the middle of the room piled high with all sort of objects for still life's; dolls, chairs, broken vases, cow skulls (of course), everything to entice your imagination in shape, size , form, texture. I grew to love that room, it became a sanctuary for me. Literally. I was a smart student, in more ways than one...


Oral Communications. Not one of Blondie's best subjects. Stand in front of a class and make a speech. Noooo Waaaaay. So I hid in the art room, just up the hall. It was my Sophomore year. All Mrs. Drown ever said while I worked on my first hour project during an empty fourth hour class was, "Turn off the lights when you are done, Jane." She knew my classes and she knew where I should have been. Did she identify with my fears? Those are the things I think of now.


An adjoining office connected the art room with the pottery room. I thought I would love pottery but I could not control that wheel!! The pottery wheel! My pots went all over the place and I literally cried. So I'd wander over to the art class and although I was clearly in my pottery smock smeared with clay, Mrs. Drown politely looked the other way. Mr Larson (the pottery instructor) would come lumbering in looking for me and Mrs. Drown would quickly involve me in conversation and then send me back off the the pottery room. And then I'd wander back over like a good blonde.


Four years. Four quarters each year. 16 courses. I never had it so good. Sophomore year, over Christmas vacation, I was in a horrific car accident. Riding in a van with a group of school friends, we went over a snowy embankment and rolled several times. I was in the hospital until March. I remember the day that Mrs. Drown walked in to visit me for the first time at the hospital. She carried a large, rolled up sheaf of paper and on it was the linoleum print I had been working on before our break. To think that she has rolled out the print for me...you had to be there. When I came back to school in the spring, healed but frail, art class is where I took refuge. I weighed 85 pounds and people stared. I was a phenomenon. I HAD to get away from it all. I always had to get away from it all and Mrs. Drown's class is where I went. She never looked twice at me.


My senior year I sat in the art class looking out the window at the apple blossom trees and the field beyond. I couldn't wait to leave high school behind and was just killing time in the art room as usual. My big drawer that has held my myriad of supplies of four years was cleaned out and my smock permanently retired. Mrs. Drown wasn't around for some reason. I had the room to myself. As I had so many times. I felt like I was leaving home. I felt like Mrs. Drown would never have another me. She wasn't there to say goodbye to. I was glad, I probably would have cried. Now I wish she had been.

MANTEL PARTY

I am joining Beth from The Stories Of A To Z for a mantel party she is hosting every Friday. I am really excited about this event because I love to get ideas for my mantel. Beth encourages that we 'shop the house' and that should be no problem...ask The Husband. I have been promising that once I stored away all of the holiday items, I would work on all of the clutter, and the clutter is for the most part, the results of my shopping sprees. So I hope to be inspired to make some pretty vignettes over the next few weeks, or longer, and put that clutter to good use.
The mirror above my mantel is vintage...how old, I am not sure and neither was the antique store owner. In one of Rachel Ashwell's books, she advises that you will know an old 'looking glass' by the somewhat blurriness and waviness of the glass. The detail at the top pf my mirror is a good sign as well. Since my living room is small, a mirror is nice to give it an open feeling. The oil giclee paintings are from French Garden House. Stop by and see the wonderful items Lidy has for sale. I never leave empty handed. The candle holders are a recent find from a local gift shop and the birds are just part of my flock, turning up here and there...
I usually have more plants around the hearth, but they were getting extremely dried out from the fires everyday, so it looks sort of plain. And I promise to light a fire at the next party. I am not feeling so well, lately, a bit of a cold, some asthma problems, and let me run this one by all of you, who I consider the wisest of friends. I have been waking up with horrible cramps in my toes and feet and last night the cramp settled in my right calf. I can barely walk on the leg. I have heard that the cramping is very common in menopause and wonder if anyone else has this or has heard of it. Last night it was SO bad that I took a muscle relaxant that I have on hand for my back and it helped a lot...but that isn't the answer. So let me hear from you. My imagination is already working overtime. And of course I will talk to my doctor.


This is probably the shortest post I have ever done! But I need a hot bath and then I think I am going to spend the evening in bed with some books and the dogs and some comfort food. Hopefully I will be asleep with a smile on my face when those cramps come. :-)