Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Hipstamatic Iphone Ap

 

 

hipstaprint photo

 

Check this out!  This is a photo of the chalkboard in the previous post taken with my (old) iPhone using the Hipstamatic Ap.  I read about this ap at Ronda’s All the Best blog here.  It is supposed to give the photos a nostalgic, vintage look.   Compare the above with this one.  I think this is going to be fun.  Look at Ronda’s photos!  Thanks, Ronda!

 

Chalkboard Mathematics

tiny hands chalkboard 3

I love chalkboards.

I have made millions quite a few of them.

I especially love to see mathematical equations on them.

I don’t know why.  Don’t you judge me.

And please don’t tell my calculus teacher, but I just don’t seem to need calculus very often.

But here is one thing I do need often.

Reminders of life with babygrands.

Here is one.

Christmas + Babygrands = Memories

That’s an equation!

 

 

 

Linking with Kathleen’s Faded Charm White Wednesday.  Well, I used white chalk.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Little Surprises–What?

It has been awhile since I have participated in White Wednesday at Kathleen’s Faded Charm.  I try to look through the wonderful posts there whenever I can, but today I am going to add something. 

This is another “what is it?” post.

Here is a little background first.  My hubby likes to surprise me with things he buys me at new car dealerships, Louis Vuitton, jewelry stores, estate sales, garage sales and thrift stores.  He especially likes to make me guess their original purpose.  I like that about him.  Sometimes he knows what they are….sometimes he doesn’t.  Recently, he brought me this:

 

ginger grater front

Now, lest you think it is a wonderfully HUGE Italian porcelain glazed fish platter, its dimensions are  4 1/2” x 3”.   Yep, INCHES. 

 

Is it a soap dish?  Is it a spoon rest?  Is it a fancy butter pat? Is it a ring holder?  Why, yes, yes it is.

And that is all I can tell you.

Until you turn it over.

ginger grater back 

Don’t you love it when an item has some kind of marking on the back?  Why did they not always put markings on the back of things? 

Now, this changes everything.  I could then look it up.  Joyce Chen.  Japan.  Now guess what it is.  It seems this little gift from my husband has a very specific use.  It is a ginger grater. 

I was stumped. 

He was very happy with himself.   I like that about him.

 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What is it?

 

antique punch bowl

Look at this item I recently purchased at a charity thrift store.

I liked it immediately.  It was nestled in amongst the old silver, but it is made out of chrome with acrylic hardware.

 

It is 14” tall.

 

It looks a little art deco, a little futuristic.  By the way,

that is a ladle coming out of the top.

 

This was located in what I call a “high end” charity thrift store.  

Usually, in this particular store,

if I don’t know what the item is, 

I can pretty much rely on what the label says.

It said “Punch Bowl”.

SOLD!

 

But you know me.  Or don’t you?

I love to repurpose things.

antique punch bowl on little table

 

I like to keep it on the itty bitty table in the corner of my breakfast room.

It makes a great dispenser for the kids.

They love to sit here and look out the window and

partake of the various treats.

 

antique punch bowl ladel with cheerios

Cheerios, anyone?

Sunday, January 9, 2011

As Predicted

 

snowflakes 1IMG_1050

 

Yep, it snowed 5” in Frisco today.  The weatherman was right.  It was pretty and I have never seen such HUGE snowflakes.  I mean, can you see them?  It looked like feathers flying after a pillow fight!

 

snowflakes 2

 

snowflakes front door

I did not get out and drive in it.  I mean, look at my footprints.  I wasn’t even safe walking. 

snowflakes back  door

Why, yes, there is a noticeable absence of landscaping outside our patio door.  Thanks for asking.   We really don’t let just anyone back here.  But back to my point, look at the size of those flakes!

 

 

I used the time to get rid of pack away the last few remnants of Christmas.

old timey santa

Bye, bye, old vintage Santa that I found 10 years ago at an antique store.

 

christmas trees from walgreens

Bye, bye, silver Christmas trees that babygrand Reid picked out at Walgreens.  I just put them on top of some finials.  Fire in the fireplace, you can stay, I needed you today.

 

jewelry display tree

Bye, bye, jewelry display that I was going to take to the shop, but didn’t.  You looked mighty cute dressed up in your beaded finery.

 

bleached bottle brush trees

Bye, bye, bleached bottle brush trees.  Yes, I tried this like just about everyone else did.  If you haven’t seen how to do it, it’s like this:  fill sink with water, pour in some bleach, put in cheap bottle brush trees, leave overnight.  Easy!

 

I think that is finally all the decorations.  Why is it that I always find a few Christmas decorations I left out after putting most of them away each year?   

Oh well, made good use of a snow day!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Winter Wonderland

 

 

christmas tree outside in telluride

While I am watching the news tonight, I see snow is predicted for this part of Texas.  But it won’t be the first snow I’ve seen lately.  We were fortunate enough to spend Christmas in Telluride, Colorado with our daughter’s family.  Her in-laws actually own a home there and they invited us all up for a wonderful vacation.  It was beautiful and very cold.  Telluride is a scenic little town nestled in amongst those lovely mountains. 

telluride valley 2

The view from the gondola going up the mountain looking back down on Telluride.

 

 

Reid and Caroline were glad that Santa Claus found us there!

reid after santacaroline with wii drums

 

Fortunately, once we arrived, we didn’t have to drive around in the snow.  The gondola to take you up the mountain is located a block from their home and you could walk anywhere else you needed to go.  

gumby and me in tellurideamanda and jeff telluride

Tom and yours truly.                      Daughter Amanda and her husband, Jeff

 

brenda on gondolapaul and missy

Many thanks to our generous hosts, Brenda, Paul and Missy.

 

Some skied, but we all enjoyed good food, card games and, of course, our babygrands!

caroline closeup in telluridereid in telluride closeup

Caroline just wanted to play inside. Reid had never seen that much snow.

 

 

 

 

downtown telluride

I had to have a souvenir from Telluride.  There were a few little antique stores downtown.  They were really expensive.  But I did find these pretty silver napkin rings for a decent price.

napkin rings from telluride

 

And lo and behold, they were engraved.

napkin rings from telluride showing tom

Can you see it?  It says Tom.  Awww, my hubby’s name.

 

  As for the other one…..well, you can just call me….

                          ………Lula. 

 

 

I really appreciated my hubby’s driving ability in getting us safely to Telluride.  It was scary in the snowstorm!  Thanks, Gumby!

gumby on gondola 2

 

Yep, they are predicting 5” of snow here tomorrow.  We don’t handle snow and ice too well here.  I really don’t want to be driving around in it.  And there certainly is no gondola a block from the house!