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....

A Little surprise in the garden and some flea finds!

Last year we planted this pretty flower (foxglove?) I can't remember the name, but I thought it was a gonner because Oreo, our angelic little beagle, decided to start digging at the age of 7 and dug up a bunch of our bulbs (go figure! she doesn't dig for 6 years and then all of sudden....)
Anyway, I thought I would share it with you...I just love how unusual it is!

Last week, I went to our local little flea market. I didn't find much, and a couple of things will go to my May Basket partner Marilyn so I will show you those later but I did find this lovely little creamer for $2, and I have a really pretty bowl in the same pattern so I was really excited.....

And, I was able to get some really fun paper items that I just loved too!

Just thought I would share some little lovelies! Happy Sunday! xoxo karen....

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day to all of you! When I was a little girl, my best friend Phyllis and I would take strawberry baskets, wind ribbon or yarn thru them and fill them with just anything we could find that we thought our neighbors would like. We even asked our moms to make hard boiled eggs to put in them....Nobody told us that flowers were the theme of the day. We liked to give them to the people we thought needed them the most... Stephi and Willy - the elderly couple 2 houses down, or Tad who lived on his own and we thought that was lonely. We would put them on their door steps and ring their door bells and run. I don't remember ever learning about mayday in school or dancing around the maypole- hey I did go to LA Unified! Maybe we confused mayday with a combination of easter and ding-dong doorbell ditch but I think our hearts were in the right places and we put smiles on a few faces!

Hope your day had a little spring sweetness in it and your weekend starts off great! hugs and flowers ( I'm getting it right this time!)

A Beachy House tour and some Marie Love

I was going to end this post with my wonderful Marie Canvas from Heidi but was upside down in my uploading so Marie pretties it is!!!
Here are the packages waiting for me to open! (it was hard to stop and take a picture!)

Heidi used cute feather hair clips for decorations on the packages...very fun!
Here is my beautiful canvas:

I just love it! She has used vintage earrings and vintage scrap and the flower heart frame is made of celluloid, I love it all!!! Thank you so much Heidi! My mom wanted me to hang it immediately on the wall, no pictures for her, she wanted to enjoy it right then!

Here are the goodies in the second package:

A pretty notebook, vintage pink satin trim, a pretty matchbox with arting goodies, chandelier crystals (ooo la la!) and a wonderful shoe pincushion that is so Marie!

Here is another picture of everything together because I know you want a second look!

I was just so happy with everything. I hope she is just as happy with hers!
Onto another subject!
I wanted to take you on a little tour of some of the places in Redondo Beach, Ca. I work there and like that it is very diverse in its homes....some beach cottages, some new-builds and some mansions....I am more of a vintage girl so here is your first installment of homes!
Hope you have fun! Here are some beachy cottages...
I love the little cutouts on either side of the porch and the picket fence...love how nice that this has been preserved. I don't need a mansion, just a little beach cottage will do.....

This cottage is a little run down but look at that cute window in the old garage door.... It has possibilites! This baby is across the street from the first one....

And then we will walk next door, Now put on your sunglasses!......

I think this old girl is well loved also...definitely sunny!

Just down the block is this great old church. I know many of you live in communities that have many preserved historical homes and churches but the California mindset is often to teardown the old and build new and big! I appreciate when there is a history to a property and this cute church even has an old wooden bench :

Then on to my last house for this tour. This is a much bigger property and it is for sale. It is about 5 blocks from the last 3....

I dont know if it will get bigger if you click on it, but the door is awesome. And you too can own this beauty, because it is up for sale... Probably for about 1.2 million....or more....

Well, thanks for being patient! My hubby is a computer wiz and I am glad to be up and typing again!!!

karen......