Memories from a 1928 Home...

As I was upstairs taking photos of Jenn's new studio, I walked by the bathroom just outside of the room. It had been awhile since I peeked inside, and it was like walking back in time. This was my very own bath growing up in this old house. I loved the calm sea foam green tile as a child and still do. I guess some things never change. The only difference is that when you're a kid growing up in an old house like this, you don't appreciate the uniqueness and charm until you move into a new house. I realized how much I miss this place this week.



The pedestal sink , the built in linen cabinet and the tub's tile border. All so charming.



I LOVED this old wall heater. I remember holding my towel up to that heater to toast it before I'd wrap myself up in it. It's a miracle I never started a fire!

My Mom hung shower caps and a hot water bottle inside this little cabinet.
The tile border always reminded me of a whale's tail. :)


I think I'll take some more photos of this old house, so stay tuned for more Memories from home.

Shop Talk

Getting ready to add some things to the shop this evening. A little bit of this and that coming your way today between 5-6pm.

Work in Progress

Grandma gave in...the carpet came out Friday and the floors look great. We'll clean off the glue down the center of the floor on Saturday and then we'll begin moving things in. She already knows where the cutting table and sewing machine will be set up. We are going to make a trip to Architectural Salvage in the morning to see if we can find a special ceiling shade in her favorite blue. She's really excited and I told her I might just arm wrestle her for the room. I could really use a room of my own!
The room has 2 small closets and she wants to turn one into a dressing room.


Bye Bye Carpet!

She will have her sewing table in front of this window which faces east.

I was born in the old gray house you see in the distance, but we moved when I was a year old so I have no recollection of ever living there. It's a great house but it needs a lot of restoration. I imagine it would be much like the movie The Money Pit.I'll be sure to add photos as things progress. We should be finished by Sunday. :)

The Happy Seamstress

YES!!!! The answer is YES!!!

A New Pond

No...my husband isn't digging my grave, although that's been the running joke this past week.


It was midnight and Thom was pondering as he sat on the ledge. Hee hee...

I had to run for the camera..what a Kodak moment.
He's making a new home for our Koi who are currently living in a much smaller one. When we got them they were so small, but now they are over a foot long so it's time for a new home. This will be about 3 times the size of what they had. He's been digging this all by hand and works well into the night with a huge spotlight. I'll be sure to post the completed pond but it may be a week or two. Or three. The old rusted water pipe you see was a surprise, and will have to be cut out. FUN!

A Space Of Her Own

Over the next week we will be moving our daughter's sewing studio into a room in my Mother's 1928 house. It's the room I had growing up as a child. Funny, because I never told Jenna that was my room, but that's the one she immediately chose from the 5 rooms. Although she has a large bedroom now, but she really wants her own separate space and I don't blame her. Since Grand-mama has 5 empty bedrooms, she offered to give her one to use for sewing and crafting. Her house is right next door to us, so it will be nice to be minutes away from her own private little world. Our plan of attack is to move the existing bedroom furniture out into another room which means we will be a little busy this week...if I'm lucky, maybe I will lose a few pounds in the process. I will take pictures a long the way to share with you. It has carpeting now, and she desperately wants to pull it up to reveal the old hardwood floors. Grandma is hesitant since the carpeting is near new. I understand both sides... we shall see!

A Sunday lesson....

It was a little cooler today,thank goodness! Jenn and I ventured out to the flea market this morning at 6:30am. The same teenager who can sleep until 11am, will wake up before me when she's itching to go junking...hmmmm. So the first row we go down, she spots this ...and does what every seasoned junker should never do. She asks the seller, "how much?" and when he tells her the price, she immediately exclaims " I have to have this!" and proceeds to whip out the wallet. No no no...do you not understand how this process works my little butterfly? First you ask the price, then you hesitate and say hmmmm..I don't know...I'll think about it. I think the seller could sense that I was trying to pull her away to explain how a flea market works, so he says, "I'll take off $5" Well, that sealed it for her. She handed him the $25 before I could blink. I think she may have slightly over paid, but to see the look on her face as she clutched that print was priceless.

A River Runs Through It

It's 4:00 in the afternoon and 93 degrees. Earlier it was over 100 so I pretty much stayed inside today. It's times like this that I wish we had one of two things. Air conditioning or a pool. Every year we say we are going to get AC, but we really don't have that many hot days here in San Diego. Maybe we'll hit the lotto someday and have a pool like this. Isn't it amazing? It looks like a winding river through a forest...yes, this is my dream pool. This and someone serving me a blended fruit drink with an umbrella in it.

I've been cleaning house the past couple of days,
so check out my newest goods in the shop after 6pm.

He's Happy...I'm Happy

After living with my little man's new cut for the week, I have already grown accustomed to his new look. Thanks for everyone's input! I can tell you this much..he seems to be more energetic and maybe even a little feisty. His hair has already grown so much in just a week, which is exactly what the groomer said would happen. I never knew his eyes were so big and brown! I love him both ways now. It's like having two different dogs! I can get used to this. :)

Who is this imposter?

I loved his long hair, but with the warm weather and endless combing, we decided to go for a shorter style on Ivan. I really miss his shagginess :(

What does everyone else think? Before or after?

Father's Day Memories

I was dusting off the shelf this morning and came to this picture. It was taken with my father when I was around 2 yrs of age, and the only picture I have with him holding me. :) It's creased, but it's probably my favorite picture with us both. I still feel him here with us today.

Here today...gone tomorrow!

There are 24 of theses bad boys sitting in the fridg at this very moment.
Jenna made chocolate cupcakes with custard filling and strawberries for the party tomorrow. The strawberry fields are closing at the end of the month, and that makes me sad. Can you believe I had the will power to take this picture without sneaking a cupcake? She counted them...brat. :(

Follow Your Bliss

Last night we watched our daughter walk down the path to receive her high school diploma. Our little girl...graduating. It didn't seem that long ago that we watched her graduate from 6th grade. I felt old, but so proud!


She has impressed me with her strength, creativity and independence.
We have so many memories through the years. Her passion for crafting & sewing. Completing her first dress without assistance from anyone.I remember her first knitted scarf. I loved the fact that it wasn't perfect and I wore it proudly. The day she learned to ride a bike with her Dad. Her first swimming lesson, and the day the doctor told us,"your daughter has diabetes."

As she left school for the last time, I could sense she was having a difficult time saying her goodbyes. I saw a different side to our daughter. Was this the same girl who just last week, was dying to get out of school?!! So many friends heading off to college. So many friends that she would probably never see again. Well, at least there is Facebook and Video Chat. Sharing a chocolate cigar with her best friend David. It doesn't get any better than this!


This blog would not be complete with sharing a picture taken with her favorite AP History teacher, Mr. Tanaka. She enjoyed his class so much, that she was his TA for her senior year. She was thrilled to have a picture taken with him right before we left. They are performing what is known as a "wolf pack point" I was never really clear on when exactly someone deserved a wolf pack point, but he apparently displayed this move in class to only a select few. :)

When you follow your bliss... doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn't be a door for anyone else. -Joseph Campbell

What a week!

It's been a crazy week. A senior trip to Magic Mountain, awards ceremony, senior breakfast, pizza party, graduation practice today, graduation practice tomorrow morning...and with Graduation tomorrow evening at 7pm...It will finally be OVER! She will be released from jail...as Jenna puts it.
(Photo taken at Magic Mountain)

Well..almost. On Sunday we are hosting the Graduation/Father's Day party, so I guess I better get cracking and finalize the plans for that one. No time for blogging. Congrats to all of the graduates and proud parents out there!

A Happy New Do

I can really be a dork some days, and today was no exception. I tried to take a pic of my new do, but decided to spare you all of a face without makeup. I couldn't find a flower, so I used my mad paint shop pro 7 skillz.

You see, I went to the house of beauty today because I had about an inch of gray hair coming in that had to go. I didn't want to be mistaken for Jenn's grandmother at next weeks graduation. So as I am getting my hair colored, I was making small talk with my new stylist,Isacc. I asked him if he ever watched Shear Genius on Bravo. He went on to tell me that he was actually chosen to be on that show for Episode 1. It was between him and Ben Mollin...who could pass for his twin! I looked at him like he was crazy and said.."so you didn't want to take a shot at winning $100,000? Are you nuts?!!" At the time, he was working at a salon in Beverly Hills and the Bay area, and he didn't feel that it could have worked out for him. We talked a bit about the show, and how much he actually looked like Ben Mollin. He said that the producer was looking for someone who was bald with tattoos, and they both fit the bill! So to make long story even longer, I'm glad that he didn't accept their offer to be on the show, because I might not have been so happy with my new hair today. Thanks Isaac!

My Mother was right...

As a parent, you never stop worrying about your children. No matter how old they are. It's something my Mother always told me, but I never understood it until I became a parent myself. I just dropped off my BIG girl this morning at 6:30 to catch a charter bus for her Senior Class trip to Magic Mountain.
I'm a worry wort. I admit it, but I probably wouldn't worry as much, but I do for good reason. Some of my close friends know that Jenna is Type 1 Diabetic. I hate that word actually. Whenever I say it, the first syllable sticks in my mind. I just try to remember what her doctor told us the first day we were at Children's Hospital. She was 8 years old and he told us, "Jenna can live a long normal life as long as she has good control and takes care of herself." She's dealt with this for 10 years now, and it's been a long 10 years. It's all she knows actually. For the first 8 years, she gave her own injections and she pricked her finger 5-6 times a day. A real trooper. Never complaining except for the first couple of months. She now wears an insulin pump which delivers a constant drip of insulin, much like a normal healthy pancreas does. It makes living with it much easier, but having something attached to her body under her clothing is a constant reminder of what she has. Anyone out there dealing with it knows, it's always a struggle. Like this morning. I hand her a juice box, a few packaged cracker snacks for her to take, and she rolls her eyes. She needs to have these with her at all times. If she has a low blood sugar, she has to act FAST. She can't afford to have to wait in a line to get something. I understand she wants to fit in and just be a normal teen, but it's extremely difficult at times. She never wants to wear her medical alert necklace or bracelet, but last night, she came to me and asked me if I would like her to wear it on the trip. A sign of maturity I suppose, and I was very relieved that I didn't have to ask her to please wear it. Whenever I start feeling down about all of this, I take a look around. I see so many others dealing with so much more than this. You have to stay positive and just do the best you can with the cards you've been dealt.

My Feathered Friends

They came back yesterday, and this time I had my camera. I was so excited to see that they ventured down even closer. Perched in the macadamian tree, I was probably only 8 feet from them. They sat on the branches and cracked those hard shells with such ease, that my husband said he wouldn't want to get bit by one of them! I had him run inside and cut up a fresh banana and apple to see if they would come even closer, but no dice. One of them did get a bit closer and he was very curious at what was on that plate on top of the brick wall, but it wasn't happening. At least not today. They all took off at the same time, and flew directly in front of us..so close I could almost touch them. It was amazing to see such beautiful birds in flight.

Lazy Sunday afternoon...

The plan was to make a trip to the Irvine Flea to sell today, but how can you get excited to go on a 2 hour road trip with the price of gas? It's depressing. Last year, we were able to rent a large truck for the flea market, split the gas and still came home with a wad in our pocket. This year it's different, and it's not just the gas. Buyers are spending less than last year. I was told about one seller who normally averages $5000 at the flea, is now averaging only $1500 a trip. We considered cramming as much as possible into one small truck. It just didn't seem worth it to me. We do have a local flea market just 10 miles from the house, but with only a few rows of the "old stuff" , you just don't get as many people looking for the "good stuff". We may give it a try though, and it will probably be the 2nd Sunday of each month.

I didn't get much done this weekend because somebody wouldn't stay off my lap, but that's ok..I loved the distraction. Sophie was her usual self. I swear..pugs must sleep 18 hours a day. Her snoring is the only snoring I can tolerate. I think it's just precious. :)
I did manage to get a few pictures taken, so new items will be in the shop by 6pm. A little bit of this and that...hope there is something for everyone!