IN THE GARDEN WITH SOPHIE......

Every Now and again I like to do a post
Just for Sophie...
One that she will be able to see when she
Gets Older....
You are kindly invited to enjoy with me
My time gardening with "Our Miss B."

"B" has been seen recently looking a
bit under the weather...
long hours at school...Flu Season..
left Miss B looking like she was in
Need of a little Vacation..
So what are grandparents to do....
Ship her down to Georgia with her
Mother and Spoil the Heck out of her...

thought it would be fun one day to
Plant some flowers....
After a trip to Walmart....with shovel...
gloves and a watering can in hand
We were off to Home Depot for some
Plants....

Don't let the kid fool you...
This is something "Sweet Cheeks" would do.
she made it through 3 plants
then threw in the trowel...
This was strictly a Photo Op...

We all know her from her yearly
Calendars...She's a camera
Hog....
You point a camera at this child
and this is what you get.

this picture makes me very happy
because she's back looking
like our old Miss B...
Happy and Healthy...

Of course she spent most of her time
With the Boss or as
we like to call him
"Sophie's version of Tom Selleck"

When you tell her to pose
this is what you get...
take note that the gloves
aren't even dirty!!

Attempting an action shot... 

The first try at the shovel in the air
almost hit grandma in the head...
This time she threw it straight in the
Air...

Work day is done....
All of 10 minutes....but we had fun


"Sweet Cheeks" can usually be found
on her grandmother's Blog
Diana Takes a Break... Nana
she is my second favorite
Kid blog star...

THE IKEA GUEST ROOM......Not Just For Dorm Rooms!!

Men seem to have a problem with Ikea furniture
I guess because it has to be built....
All I ever hear when I'm shopping at the store
is...
"Well....it's good for a dorm room....But I
Wouldn't put it in my House"....
Let's discuss this.....

This is my Guest Bedroom on the first floor
and most of the furnishings in it is from
Ikea.....
The bed is not.....the exact matching bedside
lamps....Ikea...I think I paid under $20 each for
both the lamp and the shade....

the large print on canvas above the bed was
bought for $49.00... night tables under $100.
Each...they have great yellow and white 
Striped Wallpaper in the drawers...

The white metal tray was $9.99
Don't you love those tea cups...
Those were a promotional offer
from Bailey's...

The striped pillows were used before.....
A print on the backside...I just turned them
Over...

My little Terrier Collection...Most found
At Scott's Antique Market here in
The Atl....
That wonderful painting was done by
Daughter....
Yes...along with all her other talents...
she's also an artist...

Nothing from Ikea in this shot but that
eyeglass pillow is from Pottery Barn...
Old suitcases that belonged to the
Big Boss and Mrs Big Boss
the little red table has a game board
that slides out just above the drawer...

Another Ikea touch....
The Birds on a Wire print was $5.00
teamed with one of their great frames for
another $9.99
The Clock was also $9.99
every Guest room Needs a
Clock...

I'm sure you have seen this pillow
on other blogs....
Just as nice as anything Pottery Barn
sells for 4 times the Price....
I got two of these a few years ago for
$20.00 Each.....which includes
the pillow inside...
And it's Embroidered...The pattern is
Not Printed on the fabric...

You will notice a lot of my pictures
appear to be crooked...They are not...
I hold my camera on an angle and then forget
to go in and stragihten them before I
Post....

The Ikea famous Hemnes Dresser....
$299.99

Postcard pillow a gift from Daughter....

Coverlet from Martha Stewart Living at
Macy's before she got into a fight with
them...

Bit's of Ikea even in the Guest Bath....

Package of 3 Post Cards plus the
Frame...about $10.00

Just mix them with your own Photo's
and they don't look like you framed
post cards...
Notice the Angle...
Honest in person they hang very straight!!

And Finally....Ikea sells Baskets...and towels...
and all good things that you just
can't live without....My favorite
their frames.....and of course their
Meatballs...but that was before I heard the ones
in Europe were made of Horse Meat...
So I'll leave it with "just frames"....

And a "Shout Out" to my next door neighbor
Kathy who came running out into the street
To stop our oncoming car a few weekends ago
To give me this wonderful Eiffel Tower
Dish Towel...
How adorable is this....
Thank You Kathy for thinking of me

I hope you enjoyed seeing that Ikea can
be more then just for a Dorm Room...
We never seem to get complaints from
Our Guests...
Daughter and B are spending the week in
it and next up will be an old high school
friend of the Boss....

Now go do some Ikea shopping...
www.Ikea.com
But I wouldn't recommend the
Meatballs :)

WHAT WE WON IN THE DIVORCE SETTLEMENT......and a Clydesdale.

Let me make that statement clearer.....
the piano is on loan....
A gift to daughter while she was married....... she got to keep
it in the divorce settlement....NYC apartments not
being size appropriate for such a large
instrument........ it was confiscated by the gift-giving parents...
Which would be us....

Daughter thought it would be carefully stored in our
basement.....Wrong.....first it cost a small fortune to have the thing delivered to Georgia and they charge according to
how many steps they have to carry it up or down....so there way no way
it was going down 18 steps....
Plus it's beautiful....I wasn't about to put it in the
basement....

When it resided at the Princeton Homestead the ex-jackass
refused to have the top raised up....dust? I don't know his
reasoning.....It's meant to have the top raised...
That is what a feather duster was made for....
When deciding where it was going to go we agonized for the
two months it was in transit..........
It was the Boss who suggested the entrance foyer....

Who knew he had a flair for decorating.....
I thought about it but just couldn't decide....I even sent off an
e-mail to Savvy Southern Kim asking her advise.....
When she said she had never decorated with a piano before and
then asked...."Isn't your sofa in the Great Room very casual from Pottery Barn"
Why yes it is....and not only that But let's not
forget the American Buffalo Head and the 2 Deer heads....
She might have been on to something....How do you put a
elegant Baby Grand Piano....in a house with Taxidermy
and odd other items that we can only characterize as
"Kitchy"
or maybe a bit eccentric....

I'm one of those people that ask opinions but then do
what I like....I like this....A Lot.....
We did move the hunt table and the lamp that you see to the left
in the picture so it's just the piano....
It fit perfectly on top of the Persian Rug....

 Then taking his new found decorating skills to an all
time low..... I knew the piano placement idea was a fluke....
The Boss decided we needed something special over
the English Bench.....
I saw a Union Jack Flag framed in a nice black shadow box
but it was too small for above the bench....
But it did match all my black framed pictures that now
Hang going up our staircase...
I suggested we buy it and add maybe a clock of some kind along with it.......
The Italian Version of "Vern Yip"
vetoed that idea..... 

I must have been having a weak moment or I just
wasn't paying attention while wandering through Englishman's.....So Please spare me the jokes and
the insults....Don't say "why would you add big ornate gold
frames in the same room as the Buffalo and the Deers...."
And what in the Hell.....is that a horse?
No Not one horse.....but two....and a rider....

Just realize that someday your husband could also go nuts and
lose all sense of what goes with what....
You just have to go with the flow and hope that one day
you will quietly move them away (Like I did with the bad Steve McQueen Print) and hope he doesn't notice
that they are gone....In the meantime he is in love with
these damn pictures......

As for me.....when I come down the stairs every morning
All I can think of is.....
"Oh My God I have a miniature paint-by-number of a
Clydesdale in my house...."

SPRING BREAK IN NYC...........the good the bad and the parking ticket....

My week in NYC started out with a
Fashion Show....
Sophie is seen here channeling Roy Orbison......
she always has on sunglasses....

Me and B went to the I-Hop out in Jersey......

The waitress was shocked that "B" actually ate
all of the pancake.....with a side of bacon...
She commented that kids never eat what they order...
A shining testimonial to the I-Hop food...

back in the city it was Bunny cake making.....

I tried my hand at dying shelled eggs.....
the color came good and who doesn't love a good
deviled egg....but I was a little heavy handed
with the paprika...
I don't know what I was thinking.....

"B" spent Easter with her father so me and
daughter hogged the Bunny at Brunch at
Brasserie 8 1/2......

A sampling of the dessert buffet......
the lemon tart was a winner....everything else....
not very good....
They did have a wide array of food....but in typical
"this always happens to us"....the place was maybe
1/4 filled when we arrived and they took us to the farthest
point in the dining room...way in the back of the room.....
next to the kitchen door...Not happening....
After I fussed they moved us up 4 booths closer....
You wonder what goes through people's minds when they
do things like that...

Then there was Ringling Brothers.......
basically now a "One Ring" circus....
at one point the only thing going on down on
the floor were 2 gay men and a rabbit....
they built a whole act around that.....

the second half livened up a bit with
all the tigers.....
I was surprised PETA wasn't protesting outside...
How do they really get those tigers to do tricks?

And this is always a site to see....
It's always a show stopper....

"B" with her stuffed animal stash....
What??? she's an only child....she's spoiled....
You can never have too many stuffed up toys....
Courtesy of Grandpa who even spoils from
afar.....

Must be the Brooklyn Bridge....

Left home one night on my own I decided to keep
busy by re-arranging daughters furniture....

the bookcases were already in place....I added the
Eiffel Tower to the table.... 

By moving the sofa against the radiator it now
showcases the beautiful rug.....

what a difference it makes by simply
re-arranging furniture placement...
The room now looks twice as large....
I tried to convince daughter to paint that
big round column back by the windows a light
Aqua to match the color in the rug....
A few more days there and I would have done it myself...
I think the room needs a little "pop" of color.... 

Regal "Miss Kitty".....
The sweetest cat around....
 she loves sitting in this chair.....

Well on my last day in the city.....I took out the car and
I did legally park in a parking garage to take "B"
to Toy R Us at Times Square....I paid a hefty $35.00
for 2 hours....But then we had to make a pit stop
at Mom's office on 50th Street.....
Driving down the street I spy a very tiny spot right next
to one of those "Muni Meters" where you pay first
and leave the ticket on the dash....The Bug squeezed into
the space with only inches to spare...there were normal
cars parked in front and in back of the space...
I bought my hour of parking and put the receipt on the
dash....
I hung my handicap tag from the mirror....
I even asked the security guard from the
Time Building if it was legal to park there...
to which he said...."Yes".....

Liar in a uniform.....
I came out 1/2 hour later to find a ticket....
$115.00 ticket....
it seems about 5 car lengths ahead of where I was parked was
a sign that said "commercial vehicles only"
You could have fooled me as there was a White Camaro
parked a few spots ahead and there was no ticket on that
car....
Yes....I will appeal it....I mean it's a car with out of state
plates.....it's a handicapped person who paid
the required fee.....I wasn't taking up the space for another
Commercial Vehicle unless a "Smart Car" came along....
Plus if you read my last post.....
"I am Special".......

And lastly here is "B" trying to box herself up
and be Fedex'ed back to Georgia....
I don't think I would like jail so I'll have to wait a
few weeks until she comes down the legal way
By Airplane with her mother....
I miss you girls!!!!