Tea With My Mother

I really can't have tea with my mother.

This week marks 

32 years since she passed away.

Very young and very suddenly.

Saturday, September 1

would have also been her 

78th birthday.

Not a day goes by that I don't think of her.

(my older and younger brother and me with mom)

She had such a great sense of humor!

My girlfriends always wanted to come

to our house because she made them laugh.

 

Mom was a traditional mom.

She never worked outside the home. 

And she never learned to drive.

She was tiny, 4 foot 11 and a half.

She always stressed the half LOL.

She loved TV!

 Especially soap operas.

To her, the actors were her friends.

She'd refer to them by their first name.

I remember her dressing up for 

Luke & Laura's wedding and telling her

friends that she would be unavailable as

she had a wedding to go to LOL!

Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore,

she loved them all and never missed

watching them.

I wish she had shared with me her

fried chicken recipe.

32 years have passed and I can still taste it.

32 years I have been trying, and failing,

to duplicate it.

She did, however, teach me how to 

 shuffle dance to "Tea For Two".

 She had not been sick at all

and, in fact had babysat

my six month old son,

the only grandchild she knew,

the day she passed.

She & my dad were on their way from
Denver to her birthplace, Iowa, for her birthday.

They stopped at a rest stop to,

well rest, along the way.

She went to sleep and never woke up.

To celebrate her birthday,

I set up a little table

so that she & I can have 

a birthday tea party together. 

Just us girls.

♥Tea For Two♥

I brought in a small round table

from the sunroom.

I covered it with a plain white tablecloth

and then layered on a scarf from my thrift shopping.

The tea cups and saucers are from Ross.

The teapot and matching

sugar and creamer

were purchased at Home Goods

with a birthday gift card

from my dear mother-in-law.

The rose pitcher was a gift long ago,

filled with flowers, from Mr. B.

The pink roses are from Michael's.

I like to think mom

saw me putting this little table together

and thought it special enough

to get dressed up and tell her

friends that she was unavailable.

She had a tea party at her daughter's to attend.

 Happy Birthday Mom!

I love you and I miss you♥

I always share my tablescapes with 

Kathleen at Let's Dish at Cuisine Kathleen 

Susan at Between Naps On The Porch Tablescape Thursday

and 

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life Table Top Tuesday

Click here to see where else I may be partying this week.
AND
Don't forget to come by on Tuesday's

for my link party.

Easter Decor 2012

Oh my goodness!  

Where is this year going?  

It's already April?  

Oh please 2012, please slow down!

When I looked at the calendar

and saw that Easter 

was next week

I knew I needed to get a move on

and get the holiday decor out of the bins!

 Do you notice anything different?

How about now?

Yep, I changed out the lampshades on the buffet!

These were found at my favorite designer boutique, 

WalMart! 

Ha!

$9.99 each to give the room 

a lighter, Springier (spell check took it so it must be a word?) look!

I placed some of my most favorite

thrifted and gifted Easter decor on the buffet. 

The plants were received

when dad passed away 

in February.

 You may remember this post when I purchased
The taller green and pink Mr. & Mrs.bunnies
back in January.
Well...several weeks ago I was back at
Goodwill and ran across
the third member of the family.
I named him Little Boy Blue Bunny LOL.

I think they are quite the lovely family
and I am so happy to have reunited them.

The Fitz & Floyd plate and pitcher
were a gift and I always
love being able to have them
on display.

Just look at that sweet face!
Could you not just squee??

Take a look at this find!
I found this big beauty on clearance
at Pier 1! 
75% off, so I paid under $5.00!!

I must have bunny fever.
I love seeing them in the front yard,
at thrift stores,
at Home Goods
and at Ross.
Especially if they are
priced right like these were

Max, once again, let me do a bit a of decor
on the table that
he hides under during
thunderstorms.

The sheep family is from Hobby Lobby last year.
The feathery egg tree
was made, by me, several years ago.
I just took a pink boa, clearanced from Valentine's Day,
hot glued it to a foam tree form
and then hot glued some plastic
Easter Eggs to it.
The fun ceramic bunnies with 
eggs are from the Dollar Tree.

Whew! So, I got the Easter decor done
before Easter!
Now, I just need to get the
table set for Easter dinner...
Before Easter!

Winter Gray

The holidays are over.  All of the festive decorations have been put away for another year. The house is clean and organized, sort of. I am already counting the days until I can be out working in my gardens.  Only one thing is in my way. Winter!  Old.Man.Winter. Even though Denver claims over 360 days of sunshine we can still expect bitter cold temperatures and gray days for the next few months. We won't see our front lawn until late March or April.

It was knowing this that led me to set this table. 

I had purchased this set of china on the last day of an estate sale. It was marked $85.00 but, as everything was half off,  I wound up only paying $42.50.!  It is a service for 12 and also includes various serving bowls. Of course, I didn't set the table for 12!  The most I have ever seated at our table is six.  Today it is set for four.

I started with a black charger then a dinner plate and a bowl from the set. The flatware is a gift from Mr. B.  I also used the coffee cup and saucer and salad plate from the set.  The stemware is my go-to Godinger Shannon crystal. The napkins were purchased online from Boscovs.  Their clearance section is awesome!! The napkins rings were a stocking stuffer from Santa.

The crocheted runner is a gift from Mr. B's mother.  She picked it out for me when Grandma passed away last summer.  It always sat on Grandma's magazine stand.  I cherish it greatly! It truly is a precious gift.

The candles are a bit of me being crafty.  I have seen sweater candles all over blogland and decided to try my hand at it.  I had a sweater that I really liked the look of but it was one of those that shed like crazy!  

I simple cut the sleeves off and hot glued them over vases from Dollar Tree.  The gray worked perfectly with the wispy flowers on the plates.

The wooden basket was a thrift store find from last spring.  I believe I paid a dollar for it.  I filled it with some pine cones and moss, again from Dollar Tree.  The pop of red is unexpected and lends just a touch of color to the table.

 The covered butter dishes are from Ross.

 I thought my Candlewick cream and sugar looked nice with this table.

 You can tell how drab it is outside.  Gray skies. Gray table.

And now, the Candy shot

I've had people ask how this particular shot is achieved.  I will now reveal my secret weapon:

 

Six foot tall Mr. B stands on a chair and leans above the table and takes the candy shot for me. No ladder, no zip lines.  Just a tall Mr. B on a chair! Now you know :)

For now, I will enjoy this table as it is a reminder to me that gray skies make me slow down a bit.  Snuggle up on the couch with Max and Mr. B. Rest up for the upcoming Spring season when all things bright emerge and lighten our spirits.