Organized People Will Never Know the Joy of Finding Money in Their Coat Pocket

Being forgetful has its up side, take your winter coat out, check pockets for lost gloves and find a $5 bill you put in last spring, what a kick! For me, it is look for the dough bowl, and find a bag of forgotten whisk brooms and mashers. Just in time to Christmas them up, these are really prim and pretty.

Clarinda Open House or the Nightmare Before Christmas?

I've done it again, decided I can do a show all by myself and how much work can it be? Well, there are hours to go before I sleep, is all I have to say. I worked at the house this weekend and got a few displays up. As with all things that can go awry, my only chance to photograph was on the gloomiest day of the year. It's 10 am in a house with one million 9 foot tall windows and the light was feeble at best. This is only a tiny bit of what I have, the Christmas needs unpacking still, husband says my inventory is out of control, so I hope you all stop by and help me out with making that a bit smaller! The big post office cubby should be filled up by the time I'm done, and I still have the ornaments to hang, wreaths to put out, entryway and living room to decorate.

We had a nice Thanksgiving in Clarinda, my good friend Lisa invited us to be with her family and oh my, what a dinner! Anna said "There are so many things to choose from, I don't know where to start!" DEEEEELicious! Company was good too, an all around nice day.

Christmas Tree Hunting

It was a gloomy day here, but very fun out at the Christmas tree farm. Handley's is outside of Solon, a little town near Iowa City, and it reminds me so much of visiting my dad's sawmill in California when I was little. Of course, Dad's trees were a bit bigger than these, but the sound of the saws, smell of the pine and sawdust, brought it all back. We picked out a good one, now just need to find time to decorate!

The little bridge over the creek was perfect for a game of Pooh sticks, which most people look at me in horror "you are playing WHAT sticks?" Winnie the Pooh, people...You throw your stick on one side of the bridge and see who's stick gets to the other side first!

Clarinda Antique Sale Dec. 2 and 3, Friday and Saturday

This is just a bit of what I have for the show in Clarinda, I'll have lots more photos posted on Sunday evening, come back and check!

Inspired at Sisters Garden

We took a drive to Kalona and I actually took my camera. Here are just a few reasons a stop at Sister's Garden always makes me happy, they have the most wonderful displays, and I love the whimsy--isn't the teapot door hanger the best?

The Holly and the Ivy

Here is my dark red and green collection up for sale today if all goes well...

Christmas Crock

For Teresa, here I am forgetting to measure, but this is a size smaller than the others you have, probably an inch shorter and smaller in diameter.