Vintage Roost Show in Full Swing!

It is awesome! (I couldn't shop, you can only shop during show hours, even if you are a vendor, so the best goods are there for everyone)! There are beautiful french baskets to hang like wreaths on your front door, darling artist-made birdies (I adore the pink and the white!), freshly made soap, French market bags, pretty hand painted signs (my fave this time is pink of course) and says "Pretty Posies." Awwwww...

Deb and De also have cool hand made cabinets, live plants, posies, plenty of cool garden decor, cottage color coordinated kitchen cannisters, teapots, cups and saucers, beautiful vintage things including; linens, pictures, chandeliers, gorgeous pictures, tables, potting benches, and will have fresh baked goods and confections. I must get there as a customer to look around again. Everything is looking awesome! Deb and De redecorate every week! It is a show not to be missed! :)

Love,

If You Give a Mom a Muffin (the poem)

This post is dedicated to another Mom...  my grandson Brock's Mama.  Her name is Tannia, and besides being Brock's Mom, she is also the only Mom to her young step-kids (2), and 2 little girls she had with her new husband.  So, five children!  She loves and adores each one equally, and makes sure they are safe, protected, educated and clean and cute.  Sheesh, I thought having two was a struggle at times!  Tannia does it all, and is constantly busy, with the energy of 10 people!  Amazing.  She also welcomes us and our son as treasured close family members.  Also, I love her tremendously.  Here's to you, Honey!


Oh, and she laughs hysterically at my foibles and the goofy things I end up doing and saying. 

IF YOU GIVE A MOM A MUFFIN

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She'll pour herself some.

Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her

she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook

("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").

The cookbook is setting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The check book is in her purse

that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two-year-old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her

that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are... If she has a cup of coffee,

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

~author unknown

I hope you all had a nice Mother's Day!  I didn't get to see my kids but I heard from them, and we had a nice lunch with my "baby" brother and his girlfriend Karen at a very nice restaurant in Portland.

photo courtesy of nibbler.com

Love,

"The" Wedding! (Royal Watching)

I know, I know, I'm Irish!  What was I doing watching the Royal Wedding?  My Dad wouldn't be happy!  See though, I had my Belleek display in full glory right with the dahlink tea towel I had to have.  Isn't it the cutest??  

It's from Claudia Pearson on Etsy!  She ran out of her first batch of these, so I didn't think I'd get it in time!  But, in my mailbox the afternoon before the wedding, there it was!  I just love it.  Thank you Claudia!

My hubby took truckloads of my vintage things (I'm not kidding) to the Vintage Roost in Albany, which is in full swing and going every Friday and Saturday through May.  I need to post about it!  I shall...

Love,

Sheila

OPERATION COTTAGE!

Hi!  Did you get excited for a minute thinking that we had sold our home?  Nope, go ahead and start breathing again.  No houses are selling in this darling little town of late (or much of anywhere really), so I don't have a miracle to announce (yet, that is)!  Oh how I have loved this home!

It is ready to go to another special family whose needs it will serve as well as it did ours for the 7 years Mom was with us.  Oh, speaking of selling the house... we are offering a $1,000 Visa gift card to anyone that refers someone who ends up buying it!  (Not kidding)!  If it doesn't sell soon, we'll be renting it.  Because we just bought a new (older) cottage!

So, onward!  We are downsizing (way down)!  Whew, what a project it is to get rid of a big houseful of stuff you won't have room for anymore.  (Project still ongoing)! :)  We found a cute -little- cottage which I will be telling you all about as time goes on!  Who ever said I don't like a little decorating challenge? (little)?  Anyway, here it is.  I have most of it planned (I think), but am totally open to ideas. Just shout out with your input!  It is a totally blank little teeny canvas.  Oh, by the way, we take possession NEXT FRIDAY!  Good grief!

Ready for a quick tour?

Living room looking into dining room
(yes that air conditioner in the wall will be among the first things to go)!

For now, I'm not changing the colors, it is freshly painted, and the color isn't bad.

Living room

Dining room

Wee Kitchen

Breakfast Room

Breakfast room 2nd view

 My Workshop/Studio

(it is really big, 2 sliding glass doors, heated, and that white door is a huge storage closet).  Yes, that is astro turf, not green carpet! (Shouldn't be too hard to remove).

More pics as time goes on!

It will be nice to be able to clean and then move bit by bit so that we can see what fits and more of what we need to get rid of.

Love,

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you know that in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day, what they do is to go to mass and then go home and have a nice quiet dinner. Yep, it's true! No green beer, or beads, or parades, and they've never heard of corned beef. Hope I didn't burst a bubble. Just sayin'. It IS the prettiest country ever, and I am proud to be of Irish Heritage! :) Hurray!

Here's my favorite Irish Toast:

"There are wooden ships and metal ships
(the ships that sail the sea),
but the best ships are "friendships"
and may they always be!"

Here's to ya!

To Cheer You!

You have to see this, it is just darling and it will brighten your day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLPp4gXUY3o&feature=player_detailpage



Love,

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

So curious how the timing of things in life somehow happens.  Our house is for sale, our son's house in Denver is for sale, and in Big Fork, Montana (my kids told me tonight)  our old family place (my Dad & Step Mom's former home) is also up for sale.  It's called O'Duac'hain (Our family name "Doohan" in Gaelic).  It feels so odd probably (maybe) because besides some of the decor, (and furniture) the next owners never really changed it.
.  

They added the pavillion, but everything else (inside and out) remains the same.  Very bittersweet, but I'm glad I've seen it again. They were in at least two decorating magazines in the 90s (it did look prettier and more dramatic then).   ANYWAY, it was awesome, and I want to share it with you.  They ran a very successful bed and breakfast in it (when we weren't taking the rooms away from the paying guests)!  :)  My little brother died while they were living there, so it was the setting for our grief and love and the sharing of our memories of him.  We also had a lot of fun there and have some wonderful memories.  When we rode, they gave me "Bud the riding Mule"... they must have thought I was clumsy or something.  At night there it was pitch black and the stars were so bright and so close.  I guess that's why they call it "Big Sky Country."  Lovely.  We're all headed back to Montana this summer to do both of our parent's memorials in the town where they were born (Anaconda).

The guest house.  I almost had a severely injured hubby (then fiance) from a crazy construction idea of my Dad's.  It involved Brent on the roof holding on to tools and a rope, with my Dad on a tractor on the other side of the building... the rope attached to the tractor!  That was a sight I'll never forget!  :)  There were a lot of construction "mishaps"!

Master bedroom

We all had wonderful times there, and my boys had so many adventures and memories of a lifetime on their summer trips there!  They worked hard, but LOVED it.  One summer when Billy was there, they had Niel Bush (dub-ya's brother) and family and secret service staying there.  What a learning experience for all of them.

The front door.  One time they had an icicle that went from the peak of the roof to the foot of the deck, and you could barely get your arms around it.  We went ice fishing on that visit.  (I had to have my full make up and hair to go ice fishing)!  Back in the day!

Two carved Irishmen pointing the way in.

Tony's Memorial.  He was 20 when he passed away in 1989.

Life is rich, but it wouldn't be unless we had both happy and sad.

Here is the listing, it has more pics:
 http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/675-N-Ferndale-Dr-Bigfork-MT-59911/2128918910_zpid/

Love,

Journaling

Just waiting for the carpet guy, thought I would share my lady and some of my favorite lyrics from Jewel. It's a 2 page spread inside my journal, so I had to kind of mash it to scan the whole thing. Hope you're having a great day!

Love,

My Dad: May 15, 1936-January 12, 2011

In loving memory of my father, Thomas P. Doohan, Sr. Ph.d, retired superintendent of schools, Montana.  Born and raised in Anaconda, Montana and lived in many places!

Father of six, taught many, loved deeply.  I always thought of him as the "pied piper"...  he was so charismatic.  Wherever he was, he always had the whole room in his spell in very short order, and then he kept them as followers and friends.  He lived very large and was bigger than life.  He wanted to do it "all" and to be honest, he pretty nearly did.

I love you, Pop.

Yes, I am still here! (And one pretty thing)...

I'm still here hiding out hanging in and praying hard.  Whew, am I the only one thrilled and relieved to be ushering in a NEW year?  I've been pretty scarce in blogland for many reasons, and I'm anxious to put them all behind me.

You know I have a "thing" for chandeliers.  Look at this one, isn't it cool?!  I only know one or two people gutsy enough to take such a project on, but it sure is pretty to look at!

It's from here.

Mush Warning!

No, not this kind of mush

The other kind

My husband and I have known each other for almost 30 years and we've been together over 20 years.  Last week I had to meet him one evening for a business function. (Those things always make me a little nervous... he knows that so he really appreciates it when I go).  After the evening was over he said "I love introducing you to people, you are always like a breath of fresh air!"

Awwwww.  I know, I know.  He is wonderful and I'm very blessed.

He still makes my heart skip a beat.

I warned ya.

Love,