A Lamp For Mom...

My folks got a couple of rooms of new furniture in 1965. The style was country/early American. It was comfortable and cozy and colors to suit the era. While trying to decide what to get my mother that year for Christmas I came across this lamp. It cost $59.95 plus tax which was quite a lot of $$ for a lamp in 1965. I knew Mom would like it so I bought it for her. She enjoyed this lamp for nearly 23 years. After she passed it came back to me. I've had it for nearly 22 years and it now sits in my guest room. It's not a very efficient lamp but, of course, that isn't why it was purchased in the first place. This lamp fits in the category of those 'gotta have' pair of shoes that look oh so gooood but just kill your feet. Know what I mean? This little beauty is about 31" from base to top of chimney. PS-the bottom half of the light is a night light. Fits right in with my fetish for night lights.

Nightlights...

I have nightlights all over the house.

I probably have more nightlights on 24-7 than most people have lights. I don't like dark! As a matter-of-fact I don't care much about anything dark. I like light!

These houses sit a top a cupboard in the guest room. They look homey,warm and give off a soft glow in the night. The dollhouse is lit too but doesn't look like it in the photo. Sorry folks, I'm not a better photographer.

The round globe glass shade at the left I found at the curb. The bottom was from the dumpster. Dave put them together for me and mounted them to a piece of wood for stabilization and voila a nightlight.

A Happy Chef. . .

LKT and I were out and about a couple of weeks ago and I found this for a mere $.50.  He is a 1950's Noma Happy Chef market reminder.  Isn't he cute?  He looks like he's had a little too much of what he's cooked, just like me.

 

This is the back side of Happy Chef

Another Dreary Day

It's another gray day in the Heartland. How many of these can there be left? My spirits have been lifted however because the noon news assures me we're going to have sunshine come the weekend. Heavenly Father, please help me hold out till then....
I did the laundry yesterday and have ironing to do today but just don't want to do it. Ever feel that way? I'm kind of listless, don't know what to do, where to go, and can't make a major decision to save my life.
Sooooo, I decided it was okay to be listless, I didn't have to go anywhere and I didn't need to make any major decisions. Instead I put on my long fleece robe, warmed up a rice bag and picked out a series on DVD! I have a few so I just stuck my hand in the cupboard and out came Christy.
That's what I've been doing for the last two hours and I so enjoyed it.
Just before I started the series I started up a pot of chili and now it's ready to eat so I'm outta here for a warm bowl and a pile of buttered crackers.
Have a lovely day wherever in the world you are. Miss NanC

M-M-M Homemade Salsa

I love the way salsa looks all chopped up and colorful, don't you? It tasted even better than it looked too. Chips are store bought cuz I didn't have any corn tortillas. Now that would've been the ultimate with the salsa, eh?
A pepper from my garden. The cup is for comparison, I didn't grow it. Haha!
After I took the photo I put it on the stove and roasted it. The kitchen smelled soooo good.
We have a potluck tomorrow after church and I made beans and franks with cut up bacon, green pepper, & chopped onions. I cook the franks in a skillet to make them outdoorsy and then slice thin. To the beans I add a bit of brown sugar, maple syrup and a scoch of smoke-flavored BBQ sauce, put it altogether and voila....something good!
I guess I should have taken a photo of the beans but alas it is too late I took them over to church so I didn't have to carry them tomorrow with my bag which weighs a ton.
Have a good evening wherever in the world you are.

My Home Town

These cottages should have been posted after the larger homes but I forgot how things load so the post about our town should have been first and this second but. . .

I didn't want everyone to think I only like the big homes I have a fondness for the cute little ones too.

We had a storm the night before I took these photos so there might be debris lying on lawns, sidewalks, and driveways.

Here starts the big houses, although the one below is a 'medium' home I just really like their porch. Cute, eh?

Isn't this one (above) a beauty?

This is the carriage house for the house below.

It's nice living in an old city. Our population is 15,000 and called a city, the other cities in our county have populations of 1,418, 2601, and 2522. I'm uncertain what qualifications are required to be called a city but the difference in populations between our city and the other three are confusing to me. In our county we have 16 villages, 27 townships, 24 unincorporated communities, and 13 ghost towns.

Our city was founded in 1825 by a man who thought he was someplace else. This founder was killed along with an infant son ten years later in a tornado.

We have one hospital, one library, one community college, a Walmart, a K-Mart, one major grocer and one Midwest grocer, one movie theatre with two screens, a Goodwill, a McDonald's, a DQ, Burger King, Taco Bell and a Hardees. We also have a small JC Penney's and numerous small businesses. We have a town square as do many of the towns in this county. I believe the population of the whole county is somewhere around 37,700 with our town being the largest.

One of the neat things about living in a smaller city is the big old houses we have. The photos posted are from our town only. I never tire driving around looking at the old homes and neighborhoods. I hope you will enjoy the photos.

P.S. Notice how most of our homes have porches?

Flowering Tulip Tree

Do any of you have a tulip tree on your property? They're very easy to identify, the have the most unusual leaves and flowers. Click on the photo and look at the leaves closely. The flowers are green on the outside and yellow starting at the tip inside flowing down into orange. They're not very attractive but they sure are prolific! From below the tree the flowers are nearly invisible. These trees can reach a height of 80-100', I hope this one doesn't but you know the luck of the Irish....

When I planted this tree it was the talk of the neighborhood I'm sure. I put it in, placed a small fence around it and covered it with cheesecloth (it was summertime and I didn't want it to burn in the full sun). Whenever I'd be in the front garden and someone would drive past they'd invariably gawk at my little white surprise. The woman who gave it to me was the d/o the old folks we bought our house from and she suggested where to plant it. I'm sorry I listened to her because this tree is already quite large. We all live and learn don't we?

Dark Dreary Days and Pretty Lights

It's a day for pretty lights and lots of them. I have three Christmas trees in my house that are never put away. (One never knows when a twinkly light might be required) Today is another one of those days. We've had so much rain and dreary weather in the Heartland this year. It cheers me up to see the lights sparkle and shine. Below is reason for the lights today.I was listening to the AG report yesterday at noon and the announcer said only 10% of the corn has been planted so far. Many of the fields are still so mucky the farmers can't get into them to work. That probably means more soybean fields this year and HIGHER prices for any product relying upon corn for a source. Hang onto your pocketbooks and start using your coupons it's going to be a costly summer and fall.

Apothecary Jars

Here are the apothecary jars I got at Alco. They were on sale for $5.96 each. What a bargain!

I didn't know what to put behind them so you could see them, my creative juices weren't flowing yet. Haha. So a green dishtowel is what you get.

Revised Curtains

The revised edition...

I shortened them and added buttons.
This looks fuzzy to me.

What do you think?

Dishtowel curtains

My daughter Cheyenne sent me a goodie box for my birthday and these dishtowels were part of that parcel. There is one more polka dot towel as well. As I look at this photo I see I need to adjust the center curtain.
Unfortunately my window looks south onto my neighbor's back porch and yard. I have a blind on the window but have never had curtains. I was looking out the window one day and thinking how I hate looking at their messy yard and porch so the idea came to me about those dishtowels and voila the width was perfect so I folded them over and stitched at the corners. They looked cute but something was missing so I folded a doily over each one and I liked it. I'm going to live with it for a while and see how I like them in a month or so. What do you think?
P. S. After I posted this I looked at the photos and in the bottom photo to the extreme left you can barely see two glass apothecary jars. There was a 40% off sale Mother's Day sale at Alco so I got them. Anyway I was trying to find a way to photograph them to show y'all, I thought I had them out of the way but apparently didn't. I'll do a better photo but I need to find something and someway to hang it behind them so they show up...anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Is it done . . .

This photo is a little dark and it was suppose to go under the other one but I forgot how these things load so please read post below. I love the colors in this rug.

I can't make up my mind if I'm through with this rug or not. If I go much larger I won't be able to use my own machine to launder it. I would like to go a couple more rows at least so I can put another row of beige opposite the one on the left of this photo. Share your opinion with me.