April Baby turns 54!

School house owned by Hearst Ranch sits right next to Sabastian's Deli! I think it is soo adorable!
Sabastians Store and Deli! Yummy!!!

Our beach view!!!

Yes! I am a April baby... and I am celebrating my 54 this year! My birthday was different this year from the last 5 years celebrations.. for some reason hitting 49 and up signaled in me and alarm.. though not a conscience one ..I started telling people I didn't celebrate birthday and the on coming "day" threw me into quiet contemplation..even sadness at times... I was getting older.. then the not so subtle signs of not being able to garden for 6 hours straight as I was used to........reared its ugly head.. causing me to reflect on.. the changes ...there were changes taking place... but my mind was still the same! ( well OK.. the memory...have you ever been looking all over for your keys and finally find them in your hand??? )

Something fabulous and wonderful "CLICKED" this year in my mind! I was looking forward to my birthday this year! I was feeling happy and looking forward to the future and all its wonderful possibilities! I am glad to be alive and share this wonderful life I have created with my family and friends. On my special day..My Husband and I spent a wonderful day together, walked on the beach..talked about our plans and the future, we went to lunch at my favorite place in San Simeon Sebastian's!

We went hiking on the East West Ranch trails with our 2 boys Jujube and Toby.. a perfect day...then that night we went to a dinner given by a friend for our birthday and was surprised when a group of friends came unexpectedly!

Birthdays are not so bad... its a 'good' thing as Martha says!

A Garage Sale and a Fireplace Mystery.....

Well we had a very successful Garage Sale and a very unusual fireplace incident...all within 24 hours....My back is just getting back to normal...

We had 5 different families do their spring cleaning thus the Garage Sale !

We started setting up Friday all day...till late at night, Our garage sales set up always turns into a big party..everyone looking at each others stuff and YES! buying from each other ( what sickness!) ..we had music playing and actually made money from neighbors which were walking their dogs.. and a few asked if they could bring some things over! ..We had pizza delivered and we were all exhausted by 9:30 that night... went right to bed and everyone met back at my house at 6:00am sharp!

We had a strange event happen on Friday during our set up.. Our fireplace was scheduled to be

cleaned and serviced that following week, we have one of those wood burning stove insert and it has been acting up.. blowing soot and smoke into the house after the fire dies down.. which has caused me to have to do major cleaning each time it did..( 4 times I had to do this in a month) cleaning all my white slipcovers, and curtains..and floor..not fun.. well as we were setting up a truck comes by to check out our sale.. and it has the name of the company sched to clean our fireplace.. I mentioned to them that ....and they said.. hey we had a cancellation we can do yours now if you want....! so I said ok...I let them in and continued with my garage sale set up.... WELL

about an hour later..out comes one of the guys..covered with soot..(that should have been a clue)

Off they left ..saying my fireplace was all done.....I don't know what happened..cus I wasn't there...but my living room was like a hazy smoking lounge..

I screamed to my husband when I came in...(he had been in his office during the entire thing)

All he said was.... "Its ok.. we will just open some windows " Oh yes.... !

So right after the garage sale and taking all items not sold to thrift shops! I had to clean all over again....

Giveaway at Vintage Junky!!!

Be sure to drop by and see the fabulous giveaway at http://vintagejunky.blogspot.com/
beautiful pillow and pitcher !! I'm keeping my fingers crossed I will win... :-)

I want that one! No that one.!... the ulgy one!

That's what I said...that's the only way I could let them know in the auction which hanging lamp I wanted for my bid of $15...All the lamps were up very high and this one caught my eye...it was ugly it was the only way to describe it..the guy kept pointing to diff ones and I kept saying no.. that one! and then I said it.. the ugly one.. and he turned right to it.... people gave looks and whispered...I saw them in the corner of my eye when he pulled it down... but I thought I could do something with it..My eyes kept going up to that lamp all thru the auction...I just had to have it....
Here is a picture of my "next" project
I already primed it white..I could not take a picture of how it looked when I brought it home...poor thing...so here is a picture of it in the first stage! I think I can make her pretty..I have been toying with the idea of a drum hanging lamp over my kitchen table..which is odd because I am more a chandelier girl...but....
I keep her on my kitchen table to my husbands dismay..and stare at her as I walk by...waiting for my inspiration...Well what do you think ?? Can you see it??? Be kind! :-)

Rain Rain Go Away...

I know ..I know...I SHOULD want the rain..we here in Cambria are always in need of rain... but I have had enough..I want the sun... I want Spring..I want to work in my garden and have my morning coffee in my yard...I want to be able to paint my furniture ..which I do in my outside patio and when its so humid nothing dries..so my projects just line up...We have 2 storms lining up.. My front yard oak tree looks sad under the rainy gloom ...I heard in the news..tomorrow it will start and go straight thru to next week...sooooo I will
have to clean and organize another closet or dresser..read another book..try a new soup recipe and wait ... wait for the Rain Rain to go away....

Daddy's boy...

My husband decided he was going to help me with the sun room cleanup.. I hate doing the floors there...so off he went with Jujube trailing behind him like he always does
those 2 have become a inseparable pair since we lost our older dog which was my hubby's constant companion..somehow Jujube sensed that he was needed to replace her, while my husband works in his office, does yard work, watches tv ( Jujube loves tv!)
or just about anything..jujube is always there...well I was in my kitchen..listening to the 2 of them..My husband moving furniture, while yelling at Jujube to stop bringing his ball to play..while he worked ....all of a sudden I noticed it was awfully quiet in there.............and here is what I found! My two boys fast asleep.. they didn't even wake when I took their picture...I guess mom will have to finish the floors huh???

A Courageous Start!

I have been trying to organize my Guest/Sewing room for several months now...and its been a VERY slow process.. The room intimidates me..taunts me....scares me to be perfectly honest.....I try ..I really do...to come in and sort thru the fabrics, items for my shop..things that need to be transformed into the image that ran thru my mind..the moment I saw it and "had to have it"..( there are alot of these )..and anything else I hide there..until I have time...
What makes it so hard to organize...is that I do not have enough storage in this room and my walk in closet needed to be purged first to make room for these items that i do want to keep and be able to "find" ..( sound familiar?? ..I hope I am not the only one!!! )....SO I end up closing the door to this room...alot and talk talk talk about what I plan to do there...WELL.... since we have had some rainy weather here...I am happy to say I actually made a small dent.! It is still a long ways to go but I am feeling good at my courageous start!.Check out Patti's Artful Design and see how she organized her space! ..I decided to go ahead and post my progress! I can't wait until I can actually go in sit at my table and be able to work in a peaceful creative environment! Have you organized any new spaces in your house lately??? Doesn't it feel good to start???