Show & Tell / Feeling Rich Friday

Linking to Cindy over at My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday .  Be sure and visit her and check out all the fabulous goodies... 

Family Heirlooms

Beautiful Lady Figurine

In the corner of my living room is a display cabinet (which really needs to be painted white but my husband is throwing up roadblocks on that idea- sigh) that is home to a few things I hold most precious. 

On the second shelf you can see a beautiful porcelain figurine, or doll, as my father called it.  My father was quite the antiques and porcelain collector and was even a Antonio Borsato dealer.  The Madonna and Child on the top shelf is a very rare Borsato and we'll take a look at that piece another day.

The porcelain figurine on the second shelf  was purchased by my parents on their honeymoon over 70 years ago.  It was made in Italy and I have truly never seen another with the grace and beauty of this one.  She is quite large for this type of piece at almost 13" tall

Here she is on her shelf.  In front of her are little hand-painted salt cellars that belonged to my great grandmother.

Don't you love the way she is leaning forward with her head turned?  She appears to be anticipating  the whisper of a handsome man  - or perhaps a kiss on the cheek...

Let's take her out and put her the buffet and take a closer look.  The waterfall crystal lamps also belonged to my parents...

Isn't her face gorgeous?  And I love the eyelashes...

The flowers are perfect and even the curve of her arms and hands is exquisite...

Delicate little foot peeking out from under her skirt ...

Do you have special family heirlooms?

Show & Tell / Feeling Rich Friday

I'm Feeling Rich and It Cost Less Than $10.00

Also:  Show and Tell Friday over at My Romantic Home .  Don't forget to check out as many links as you can and, if you have time, leave  a comment.  Everyone loves comments...

Some Great Finds This Week...

I was in desperate need of a second trivet to keep next to my stove.  The first one I purchased came from a specialty kitchen store and cost a whole bunch of money.  I seem to recall having to come home and put a cold cloth on my forehead after that purchase.

When I was at Ross a few weeks ago I noticed they had some trivets so I headed over to see if they had any left.  I couldn't resist the pink enamel flower one, even though it was waaaaaay over my comfort zone at $4.99.  Did I mention I'm cheap? 

I snagged the cute little French style containers a few months ago at Michael's.  They had been marked down to the point where they were almost paying the customer to take them home.  I think the small one was $1.00 and the large French flower pail was $2.00

Then I had a few (meaning two)  things to pick up at the $$ Store. Sixteen dollars later I emerged with mostly necessities - except for the bird picture.  It was just too cute to leave behind and it was chirping for a home.  It's actually on canvas.

I hung it behind my stove.  Anything that can go up with a pushpin is A-ok in my book~~~

But the best find of all was at the thrift store.  A whole stack of practically new Elle Decor and House Beautiful magazines.  The cost of a few decorating magazines now-a-days would make a good down payment on a house.  Total cost?  $2.75 + tax.  Wowzers!!

I've already started ripping out stuff for my idea files~~~

Before you leave ~~ Susan over at Writing Straight From the Heart,  has an excellent post up Home is Where the Heart Is.  She is on top of my "must read list" everyday. 

Susan would really love to join in some linky parties but she's a bit nervous about the process.  I sent her step-by-step instructions, and I know if you took a moment to go over there and encourage her, we'll have her up and running in no time at all.   

Thanks...

Feeling Rich Friday

Feeling Rich Friday on Saturday

  I couldn't think of a thing this week that made me feel rich until I hauled out my vacuum last night.  I had to change the bag and it hit me that having lots of vacuum bags makes me feel rich.

I use a Shop-Vac All Around because we have parquet wood floors. This is my third home, and in all our houses we put down parquet.  It's cheaper than carpet and easier to care for. Wood is a good insulator and is much cleaner than carpet.

"Much cleaner" is the real reason we have switched to wood.  In the past 30 years we always had two dogs and one cat. Now we have two dogs and two cats since little Erica chose us as her family.

Pets get old. That's just a fact.  And when they do, sometimes their hygiene fails a bit.  When my Elle was first stricken with her disease, which is much like Crohn's in adults, any carpet we may have had would have been ruined beyond redemption (you can fill in the blanks).   She required emergency surgery and we almost lost her.  Choosing between the joy that our fur people bring us versus a bunch of expensive carpet was easy.

Back to the bags.  The vacuum bags for this model are really hard to find.  Every time I stepped into Lowe's, KMart, or WalMart,  stores that carry this vacuum, I would check for bags.  Rarely do they have the bags.  One day I had a light bulb moment and checked Amazon.  Whoeeeee!  Bags!  Good price, low shipping.  I ordered enough bags to see me through a few years.  

Now that's rich!!

What makes you feel rich??

Feeling Rich Friday

Ok - I know it's Saturday but I'm still feeling rich...

I guess we could call this post "Into the 21st Century."  The only problem is I can't use my spray can thingy until spring, but just knowing I have it makes me feel rich.  And the glue? I can't wait to glue something - anything!  I am RICH!

Thank you for all the wonderful comments on my lovely family.  I will be visiting each and every one of you.  Right now I have many projects to finish up, including a very special give away for The Shabby Chic Cottage Christmas Giveaway.

First Snow

Yesterday we had our first snow of the year.  It was just a dusting. Let's hope it stays like this for the rest of the winter.

Last year we received the gift of over 100" of snow and broke every record.

I'll just try and remember this...

and this...

and this:

and, and, and. You get the idea...

Have a wonderful weekend...

Feeling Rich Friday

Boxes make me feel rich.  I love boxes - in particular wooden boxes.  When I was a little girl I had a dark mahogany "treasure" box.  It was the perfect size for keeping letters, cards, and pictures.  I'm not sure what happened to that box and I think I've been trying to replace it my entire life.

Finally I started to rescue boxes.  Some I left beat up, but most got a pretty good reworking.  Sanding, painting, gluing, nailing and re-lining. When they threatened to take over the house, I started to sell them and discovered lots of people love boxes to hold their little treasures. 

This little guy never made it to the sale shelf. He was just so sweet and perfectly shabby.  When I started working on him (some are girls, some are boys), he literally fell apart.  I glued, clamped and added screws. Now he's in tip-top shape.

I left his inside unlined because his overall design is a bit primitive. This picture really shows his "true colors"... The first two pictures are sort of dark.

I love the flower on top. So Victorian...

Now the "in process" boxes threaten to take over the house. These morphed out of my office/workshop because that room is full of the ornaments I'm working on for Christmas.  Yep - that's my buffet in the dining room.  Usually they're on the dining room table and we just eat around them.  Gives the concept of  tablescape a whole new meaning...  I do insist that we use placemats on top of the paint spattered garbage bag. Have to maintain some class, doncha know!

Speaking of Christmas, Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage is having a BIG deal Christmas show and I'M GOING TO BE IN IT.  Oooops - didn't mean to shout but I'm soooooo excited!

If you missed this office transformation by Sherry over at Creations from the Heart, do yourself a favor and take a gander.  It is outstanding!  She was part of Gina's Transformation Thursday. 

Feeling Rich Friday

Feeling rich doesn't take lots of money...

Beautiful ribbon makes me feel rich.  I have boxes of it. Whenever I see pretty ribbon at a good price, I snap it up.  I've even found some wonderful wired ribbons at the Dollar Store.

Some of these ribbons are from Ruban et Fleur (Ribbons and Flowers in French) in Houston, Texas.  Many of the other ribbons are from PaperMart

Update: I'm posting a bit early 'cause I was anxious to try out MckLinky.  And it worked!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have something you've posted about that makes you feel rich? Why not share it?  Just add your name to the MckLinky list below.

Feeling Rich Friday

A Clean Kitchen Sink makes me feel very, very rich. That's not my sink there to the right but it looks just like mine. Ordinary, but very, very clean.

I'm a big fan of Fly Lady and the first thing she has you do is clean your sink.  That was never a problem for me as I can't remember ever being able to stand a sink with dishes piled up.  That includes the drainer. I detest getting up in the morning and having a few things sitting in the drainer. 

If you want to try feeling rich, make sure your sink is spotless before going to bed. What fun it is to get up in the morning to a fresh pot of coffee and a spotless sink. 

I would dearly love to have a "farm sink" like the one pictured above, and it is definitely on my "want" list. 




 I don't like how the counter narrows on each side of this sink but I wouldn't turn down the sink if someone gave it to me.  Anyone??

More on Sinks:

Fly Lady: Why You Shine Your Sink

I'll be back later today to tell you all about the lovely lady who gave me such a beautiful blog.  She did the makeover on La Bella Vita, and I was so impressed I hopped right on her waiting list.  She deserves a post all her very own, so see you in a bit...

Feeling Rich

Feeling Rich Friday

Vitabath makes me feel rich. I started using Vitabath about 30 years ago.  I only use the original Spring Green scent, which people either love or hate. To me it smells like a pine forest (it's a combination of pine and patchouli.) I'm sure others think it smells like PineSol.

 Vitabath was developed by skincare specialists in Europe over 40 years ago.  I bought my first little bottle at the new Saks Fifth Avenue store in Houston and was instantly hooked.

My husband refuses to use anything else, and so we dip deep into our budget to make sure we have our Vitabath. I usually get mine from Drugstore.com.  My last order was for a GIANT  128 oz bottle when it was on sale. We should be good for a couple of years.

They have other scents available but we'll probably always use the Spring Green. I am tempted to try a small bottle of their new Plus for extra dry skin.  The fragrance of the Plus is jasmine, fresh violet, and soft white mush musk, which sounds pretty yummy.

I'll be back after breakfast with and update and some pics some of my accomplishments so far on my Ten Tasks in Ten Days Challenge.