Confessions of a Plateaholic.......

Okay, so I started the post off with a pretty cloche picture...just to offset the mass of plate pictures you are about to encounter. I don't think I have a problem... Just because I have no more room to store all mine and my mom's china and pretties does not represent a problem...just a love for those wonderful fun, pretty, yummy, beauticious plates...
So here you go...you decide. Just know that these are just the plates hanging on the walls.....
First 3 pretty florals over a book shelf....

Then a set of bird plates from Germany... How can you not love birds right?

Oh then a set of seasonal plates....

Oh! and what about the adorable teeny tiny plate over the oven....

And the gorgeous green and gold rimmed plate with the cute fishing/napping boy.....

And a pretty little wedgewood plate that was my Aunt's....

And last....but of course not lonely....a set of plates from either Turkey or Greece...we can't leave these little detailed plates out!

Well, that is all for the plate love.... Is there a 12 step program for this??? If there is, I might need a linen program, a button program, a paper program...I love paper-vintage and new! Oh My!

Well, to distract you as you leave, I will show you a pic of the little princess...We are trying to teach the little rascal to leave the doggie pillow to the dog so Marissa gave her this build-a-bear bed and I think she is finally liking it!

And thanks for all the well wishes, prayers and thoughts for my mom, she is finally home and doing better...as she says "I'm gonna live!"

Hugs! karen....

Some images to share

Hello Sweet Blogging Friends!

Just wanted to share a few images with you....I love children and florals and these are some scans from my last flea marketing trip....

I hope you are all having a good week. Today was my last day of work until next wednesday (yippee!) but we thought mom would be coming home today but they are keeping her for a while longer (Boo!) We are grateful they didn't send her home to only have to return to the hospital but she was really disappointed. Now tomorrow will be my sweet girl's last day of school until Sept. (yippee!)

Enjoy the rest of the week! hugs! karen...

A Mom update and a possible bag lady......

This is a photo of my cute mom a while back, she was modeling a group of hats that I had gotten from ebay. She had her hip replacement surgery on Wednesday and although the hip part of the surgery went well, she has had a rough go of the rest of it! Today she is finally doing pretty well, handling the pain meds and in better spirits. This is her 3rd replacement, one regular replacement and then she dislocated that hip 4 times and they finally had to replace it again but this is the worst by far. The docs seem to attribute alot of her problems to the 10 years difference in age.
I am just happy to finally have her out of ICU and seeing a little of the old girl back again! Her friend of 50 years stopped by to visit her and brought her a lakers jersey, mug and stickers...do you think she might like the lakers a bit? She was thrilled!
Now on to my regular blogging.....
I think I need to brace myself that I might become a bag lady in my old age!!!
I'll let you be the judge.... Now keep in mind, these were not purchased to replace grocery bags....no, no! I have a bazillian of those too!
These are just some of my favorite bags and I realized I had alot after laundering a couple and thought I would share them with you....
This first little buttoned beauty, I bought from a darling brazillian bombshell at her garage sale...she said she brought it from home but never used it....I use it all the time...

Then there are a couple of my barkcloth purses...the bigger a market bag, both made by a friend who moved to Vegas....I miss her and her barkcloth talents!

And then there are my Asian bag-purchased for $2 at a thrift store brand new and my much-used mexican market bag ( I didn't even take the stuff out of this one to show you!)

Oh and some more barkcloth beauties....the one on the left was purchase at a thrift store for $1 and I use the one on the right for my lunch...

Do you ever find a really good deal on something in a thrift store or garage sale and find yourself holding on to it like someone might steal it??? I remember doing that with the yellow bag....

I don't know if I should warn hubby or just ease him into it as life goes on...but it is a worry I say...... At least I will be a colorful bag lady!

Hope you are having a great start to your summer! I will be back again when I can... hang in there with me friends! karen.....

I'm okay...really I am..... uh huh!!!

Have you ever had a time in your life where you just are overwhelmed??? Well, I'm there lately... My mom is coming closer to her surgery which we are very grateful for but she is also in alot of pain and on alot of meds which make her cranky....understandable but not easy.
Work is winding down...we are done on the 17th but it has been crazy and will be until the last day. I am looking forward to the 6 days off until summer school.
We love the kitten...her name has been changed to Mila. But we have decided that she has swallowed a small tasmanian devil and don't quite know what to do about it!
Here is the little devil:

She lives in Marissa's room and we let her out when we can monitor her....

This is the way Oreo looks at me since her arrival: "MMMMMooooommmmm!"

She is just plain wild and crazy!

But Oreo will soon be bored of her shannanigans and calm down....

Sorry for all the unloading... just needed to tell you where I am at right now and hope that you will all stick with me over the next few weeks.... I just want my mom to get this done and have her be on the mend again...she needs her life back!

On a good note, I did get a treasure at the Goodwill the other day! I went on my lunchtime and they were putting out things and I found this Fendi purse in the bin. It was in perfect condition and only 6.99! I love it! It is actually a butter yellow but looks more tan in the photo.

The garden is starting to produce and here is our first basket of veggies we have gotten. Lots of squash and radishes, we also have wonky carrots that are ready when we need them and green onions almost ready.

Well, I hope you are all doing well and having a nice weekend! I will try to post again soon! hugs ... karen....

A New Addition.....

We took a leap and adopted a new family member this weekend. She was one of seven babies of a rescue kitty and my friend needed to find a home for her quickly...how could I resisit! Sweet girl has been asking for a kitten for 2 years now so she resides in her room most of the time....
So, with no further ado.....
Meet.......
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STELLA.....


She is cute, fiesty, sweet as candy....she just melts my heart!

Oreo is very excited about her arrival.....but the kitten just teases her and hisses and spits at her so she has taken to whining after a while... Be patient my Oreo, she will come around.....

Here she is teasing her again....

Beasley (our cat) is totally annoyed by her...he tried to greet her properly and she hissed and spit at him so he is done.... Stella you better back off!
And here is the new proud mommy with her baby!

Sorry for the poor contrast, for some reason my photos are going in the wrong place and I can't always edit them...

We have enjoyed the joy that she has brought into our house....hope you are finding some joy also! karen....

Ramblings......

One thing that we have been doing is being tourists in our own area lately on the weekend. It's simple, inexpensive and we live in a really nice area to be a tourist! Remember the photos of Redondo Beach homes from a recent post? Well this is Palos Verdes, it is also called "the hill" by locals. It is a very wealthy (no...I don't live here)
area that overlooks Malibu, Catalina and all the local cities and if you drive around you are in San Pedro which overlooks our LA harbor.
Here is a view of the cliffs:

And I tried to show you a plane flying by so you could use it as a gauge to how high we were but it came out blurry....

And here is the side of the hill where you can see our local beaches and to the far left is Santa Monica and Malibu...If you end up in the south bay of southern cal. ask to see Palos Verdes....there is the glass church, Portugese Bend where the ground never stops moving. All the piping is above ground and they re-tar it 5days a week. And...many beautiful vistas to enjoy!!!

Now for some fun goodies.... Beth sent me this wonderful, very old ledger paper! She has a fun ebay and etsy shoppe so go visit her!

And look at this orb-thingie I found for .25 cents. My mom doesn't get it but I soooo do! It will be painted soon and added to the garden.

And just for something pretty, here is that little doll I showed you a while back added to a little vignette in the living room, she makes me happy!

I will be posting again soon to tell you the woes of my Marie A. canvas but blogger won't let me download any more pictures so I can't do it now!

Hope you have a great rest of your week...go wander around your town and find something to love about it!

xoxo karen.....

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!

Mine started out on friday. When I returned home from work, my son came out to meet me at the car, kissed me and told me "happy Mother's day weekend!" Now he is 17, a teenager..(you know, that alien creature age that starts around 11 and ends around 24?) When we went into the house, he had proudly made everyone in the family crepes in honor of mothers day! I was so happy I forgot to take pictures! They were filled with Nutella, bananas and topped with whipped cream....yummmmmmmy! They were something he and I had shared at a farmer's market once and he thought I would like them! And....we get to have them for dessert tonite because he made enough crepes to do that!!!

Yesterday we spent the day, cleaning and clearing off the back porch, washing down all the furniture and I took my mom to the nursery and we planted a bunch of flowers all around for her to enjoy...It was fun because everyone had a hand in it, even mom. We set her up in a chair and put some pots and flowers around her and a little table and she got to get her hands in the dirt too.

This morning hubby and daughter made us a wonderful breakfast and cleaned up the mess and hubby and son are bbqing our dinner tonite.... I am truly blessed! Now sweet daughter and I are going shopping a little....

Please feel free to take any of the images I have posted.

Hope you have a wonderful day! Hugs! karen....