MEMORIAL DAY.........

Memorial Day is celebrated in different ways by our nation.  To this family it is remembering those who came before us and those who are serving now.

Here is a Memorial Day Album of the Fenton Service Members!

This is the "Wall of Heroes" in my Husband's office.  Of course there MUST be a cute colonial sconce on that wall as well!!

This is a photo of my Husband, George's Grandfathers.  Both were Marines.

 George's Mother and Father basically grew up knowing each other from various duty stations.

This is a photo of George's Dad during the Korean War.

This is Col George Fenton with our son Lt. Patrick Fenton.  Patrick was still at VA Tech in this photo. This was at a formal dinner with Patrick's ROTC class.

1st Lt Patrick Fenton just before leaving for Afghanistan.

All the Fenton kids at a ceremony when Patrick received his 1LT bars.

 Our oldest daughter and her husband own a music arranging and copying business.  They also teach elementary music.  Our oldest son is a Graphic Designer.  Our youngest daughter is in Human Resources and a musician.  And "Baby Pat" is a Marine Captain.

All of the military genes are on the Fenton side of the family.   My uncle and my step Father are both retired Army Colonels!  They actually served together! How funny that my Mom would meet her Husband, both lost their spouses, and then find that my Uncle and Her Husband were friends!!  Small world, as they say, or should I say small military.

Soooooo I hope y'all have a wonderful day and please say a prayer for all of our brave service members that keep us safe and free!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY 2012!

GUILTY PLEASURES

AAA HAAAAA...............

I bet you thought I was going to say Chocolate!!!

WEEEELLLLLL NO it is SHEEP!!!

I don't now why but those adorable little German sheep just touch my heart!  I especially like those with broken legs and faces that no one else would want! :)  They are so sweet!

Here are some of the flock...

The sizes vary from 5" on down.  As I understand it these little guys were created for children to play with.  Some of them came in sets along with a sheep dog and Shepard.  

I started collecting these in the 80's when I got one in an antique shop in Los Aptos CA.  I think that is the name of the place, it is Near Monterey.  We were there for 2 GREAT years!!  ANYWAY  the first little one that I bought was just $4.00!  It could barely stand up and it looked as if it was used as a Christmas Tree ornament.  After that I was hooked and have been ever since.  For years I didn't see them and then E-Bay came along.  That is where I have gotten a lot of them.  That's a great place to look if you are looking for some for your flock!

I do have to admit that Chocolate and what Southern Girl would not love Coka Cola and Sweet Tea are  some of my other guilty pleasures!!  

What are your guilty pleasures?  What ever they are I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Have a Great Happy Spring!

FRIEND OR FAUX!!

We are back from a very fast moving trip to GA, while we were gone all the leaves came out on the trees and I realized how dark it is in the house!!  Plants on the mantle are out of the question.  SOOOO I decided to break down and use "faux" plants!  Normally I don't like ANYTHING fake!  BUT I have to say that the newer fake or faux plants are not too bad.  I remember going through a silk flower stage in the late 70's making loads of grapevine wreaths with silk flowers on them.  Then there were the straw hats with the silk flowers around the brim and hung on the front door!  Wow that was a long time ago!  Now I might keep the faux plants on the mantle inside, just to get some green in there!

Here are some pictures:

 

 There are also the dried pineapples!  I just love those! I have NO idea why!  When we lived in the desert there was a grocery store in Palm Springs that sold tiny pineapples!  I never saw the little ones before and so I decided to dry them in the sun!  Well in the desert that only took a couple hours!  I have since dried one or two every year.  Now I don't see them anymore, but I still use the dried ones I have!

Bringing the outdoors in has always been one of my favorite things! This house, however, is not so good for it other than pots and cement animals!

If you are looking for some "greens" in your home, check out the newer faux plants!

HAPPY SPRING!

DYE THOSE EGGS!!

It is egg dying time again!!  It came sooooo soon!!!  Anyway I thought I would like share my favorite dyed eggs with y'all!

These are just a few, I have loads of them! It was so fun to do!!

I saw these in Country Living Magazine in '93 or '94, can't remember exactly, BUT  I tried them and it was so fun! 

These were done with lots of onion skins and some with cinnamon, cloves, tumeric.  The designs are little weeds from the yard.  I moistened the weeds to get them to stay on the eggs, then took old panty hose and cut them up, put them around the egg and held it in place with a rubberband, pulling the hose tightly.  Then I left them in the water where I boiled the onion skins or spices.  At one point I had three or four pots of hot water full of spices, and onion skins!  I like the natural colors, but you can get lots of colors using different vegetables, such as red cabbage, beets...  The longer you leave them in the water the darker they get.  

That same year I also made some "Pysanke"( probably spelled wrong) eggs.  This is an ancient art where a design is drawn onto an egg with beeswax then dipped into a dye. You do this layer after layer using different color dyes.  Then when you are happy with the design you just rub off the wax and what is left is a very detailed  design. I looks like you are a great artist! :0) As I was researching this art, I read that the eggs were not blown out, but left in tact.  Sounds gross, but when you think about it, eggs are porous so the inside yolk and white eventually dry out.  Some of mine actually rattle!  I also think that not blowing them make them stronger so that they last longer.  Once in a while one will get cracked and the smell is not so good, so I just throw that one away.  

I have had these eggs for a long time, I store them in an old wooden egg crate.  It is best to keep them in a way that air can get to them, I am guessing that if they are kept air tight the smell would increase.  Sometimes when I first take them out there is a little odor, but once they are out in the air it is a lot better!  If you would like, though, you could blow them out!

This is fun to do with children as a lesson in natural dyes.

OK!!!  Get out there and dye some eggs!!

THE ART OF DECEPTION!

Deception!  What does that really mean?  Well according to Mr Webster it means to mislead, elude or cause to err.  We think of it as a negative thing.

In my case I call deceit "the cheap way out"!  Let me explain!  My use of deceit is in decorating as in faux finishes, tromp'loi, or Fool The Eye".  An example is when one makes a wall look like plaster when it is really sheet rock.
You probably know about the faux finishes, these are techniques used to add texture to a wall or furniture, even fabric.  There is sponging, ragging, color wash, and on and on.  There are also an infinite number of finishes because they can be anything you want to try, let your imagination go wild and try any tool, brush, rag, sponges, dirt, sticks...you get the picture!  These are ways that can be used to make a different look.
I like the colonial uses of "fool the eye".  They are combing, marbeling, graining, just to name a few.

This is our front door.

          This door is metal.  It was dented by soccer balls, baseballs, you name it!  I didn't want to buy a new door so I used a combination of graining and combing.  It has worked pretty well over the years. 

 I have also used it in the kitchen.  Our cabinets are pretty old, not cute old just OLD.  We contemplated putting in new cabinets until we saw the cost.  I decided to try to disguise the wear and tear with some faux finishes.  I decided on this graining, but there are lots of other ways this could have been done.

These are the doors to the pantry.

 These are the kitchen cabinets.
These have held up pretty well for a while!

Just to give you an idea of others ways graining and combing can be used to transform an object to look like something else!!
This is a graining project that I did at an office building.

This is a metal door that was red.  It was primed in this picture

 Here it is with the base coat.

This is the finished door, made to look like a wooden door.

This picture was taken before it was completely dry so it has a sort of film look.  That goes away when it it dry.

So if you are thinking about replacing doors or kitchen cabinets this could be an alternative.  It is cheaper to paint the old doors than to buy new ones:)
Even a coat of paint and no graining can transform kitchen cabinets.
I did ours a few years ago, so now the actual cabinet doors are falling apart.  I guess it is time to look for new doors if not all new cabinets:)

Take a look around at nature, as in bark on the trees or leaves, and imagine that design on something in the house!

Here's hoping y'all have a happy "deceitful" day and take some time to play with paint!!!!

RAINY DAYS AND CANDLES

As y'all may have read on this blog before, I work as a guide in the Mary Washington House.  The house belonged to the Mother of George Washington.

Well sometimes I just sit in there and wonder what it was like in 1772 when Mary moved to town from her farm a few miles away.  I was also thinking how peaceful it is without the sound of the heat kicking on or the refrigerator ice falling down.

Today is is a cold rainy day!  I love these rainy days, but today I turned off all of the lights just to see how it would be without electricity!  It was so dark that the camera would not take the picture with the flash off! I didn't get very good pictures but here are the ones I took.

I couldn't get a good representation of how dark and rainy it is.

Even with candles and some flash on the camera it is still pretty dark but not as dark as it really was.

I suppose the next time I complain about the electric bill I will remember what it might be like without electricity!   AND THE PLUMBING of that time!!!  We all know about privies but did you know that in that time, at least here in VA, the only months they bathed were June, July, and August!!!  That includes their hair as well!!  They were very afraid of catching the consumption (bad cold) that they felt it was only safe to immerse yourself into a bath tub in those hot months!  I may have mentioned this before, but I have to say it again:)

SOOOOOOO as I sit here and wait for my left over pizza to heat up, the one that was delivered to our door last night, I have decided that I was meant to LIVE in an old home WITH electricity, plumbing, internet, cable...... well you get the picture:)

I will go now and turn on a few lights and get out the electric vacuum cleaner and get to work!

I hope you have a great day today!!

SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!

I thought that I would share some of my favorite things.  I love to walk around the house and just look at my favorite things!  Then I realized that most of them remind me of friends.  Here are some pictures!

I love a warm cozy fireplace also the dog toys:)

I love pie safes!! This was from one of my favorite antique stores owned by Becky!!

The lamp I bought from my friend Bobbi and the little chest of drawers from Sandra.  Every time I see these I think of them and all of the fun times we spent together!

I love wooden bowls and Arnold Cats!

I love Gaudy Welsh!! My friend Barbara introduced me to that!!  Some of these I have purchased from her! She has  great antiques!!

I love dried hydrangeas !!!

I love shiny pewter!

love old baskets!

My favorite ironstone has a little or a lot of that great brownish color of age!!

I have had this papier mache reindeer since high school!! 

Love the ironstone and staffordshire dogs!

Cute baby dogs!

AHHHH..... TIN!!

These are real blue birds eggs that we found in our blue bird box, the mother was killed and the father cried and cried!!!  When he didn't come back I took them!  They are so sweet and sad at the same time!!  I love them so much!

Easter bunnies are soooo fun!!!

I love cows!! I probably won't ever get to have my own so these have to do!!

 

 I miss my friends, but I am so blessed with these things to remind me of them every day!!

Take time to go "shopping" in your home, you may be surprised what you find!!:)