THE CHRISTMAS QUEEN.......ROSE AND HER SANTAS.

It's that time of year again when the

Queen of all things Christmas

throws her annual Holiday Luncheon

This year was the "Ugly Sweater Party"

But the stars of the day were

Rose's Handmade Santas..... 

Can you say Talent on overload....
Rose use to Blog...
We all Miss Rose....
So every year I like to do a post on her
Fabulous Home....
And the most spectacular Christmas
Decorations you will ever see...
All made and designed by Rose...

This year would be lot's of
Ugly Sweaters...
On the table and on us lucky to
be invited...

Nothing is left un-decorated...

Here is our lovely Hostess....
and none other then Joyce....
ex-Blogger of "Flour Power" fame...

when I say everything is decorated.....
everything is decorated...
every inch...

And here is one of her
Fabulous creations...
For those of you who have never seen
these before...
Rose makes everything you see...
from the body to the clothing...
to the hand painted faces...

they are very large....
probably around 3 feet tall or more...
the ornaments come from Rose's
imagination....
she collects things all through the year
every where she goes...

Santa's are not her only talent...
the Lady can decorate....
She collects blue and white ware....
It's everywhere and it's Gorgeous!!

A new addition this year...
They converted a screened porch in to this
beautiful sun room...
See that wonderful sofa....
found at a garage sale...
Rose painted and distressed it and the
women even knows how to upholster
furniture....

The tree if filled with all
Santa ornaments..

The Dining Room....

Rose made this wreath from
vintage Christmas ornaments found
online and at thrift stores...

She's a milk glass collector too!

We all got party favors.....
Found at the Dollar Tree...
there is a container attached to the
grater that was filled with candy....
The card reads...
"To A Grate Friend Merry Christmas"

Can you see the miniature Sled
inside the Lantern...

It was an "Ugly Sweater Party"....and although
I left early I have a feeling Rose's Friend
Linda won the price....

Thanks Rose for a wonderful time...as always...
Can't wait for next year to see how you
can top yourself!!

Merry Christmas!

IT'S STILL A MAN'S WORLD..........Like it or Not.

I hate to admit this ladies.... but under
the circumstances I am here to report
that it is indeed still a "Man's World"......
For those of you who have seen on
Facebook the story of my
cute little VW Bug....Here is the follow-up...
and for those of you who don't know what
 I am talking about....let me explain...
The Boss bought me this adorable car back in 2013 as
a Replacement for my 2006 which was the
exact same car....I love red and tan...
It was my Fifth VW!
Shortly after bringing it home a toxic smell
started pouring out of the air conditioning vents...
It was so bad that the first time it happened I had to pull the
car over and get out.....
Think Glue....
I took it back to the dealer...Then got the
ever familiar phone call...
"We couldn't re-produce any smell lady"....

The smell continued..... And a new dealer opened up
right around the corner from us......I took it in and got the same response....
"nothing smells to us lady".....

Third times a charm.....My Eye....
They tried the same story....
after dropping off the car the service guy calls the house and says
"We're not saying your crazy But"......
The only difference this time..... he admits the car
can't be fixed....What??? I thought you said there is no smell....
"we would like your finance information so we can try to
get you into a new car"....
I mean who replaces a car if nothing is wrong...

He said the manager would be calling us
to discuss this shortly...
No phone call after a few hours so back to the dealer we go....
I...being an emotional women decided to stay home
And I send back the Boss...
All 250 pounds of him with the
"I'm a Teamster from Jersey"
Look on his face....

Today I got a brand new 2014
VW Beetle...
Red with a tan top....thank you very much...
VW of America Paid the bulk of the expense
and we made a very fair and equitable deal
where we agreed to pay a "small" fee to upgrade to
a Turbo and pay for the transfer fees....
Not a bad deal to get a brand new car after
a year and a half..... with no
miles and a new warranty...
The General Manager at Jim Ellis VW
of Kennesaw was very gracious 
and handled this problem in an extremely
professional way...
He gets an A+ for Customer Service...

As was the gentleman that got the new car
All set up for me...they made sure it
was exactly what I wanted ..........
No arguing....no negotiating...
 They made a real effort to find me the exact same car...
And when it arrived with different wheels
that I didn't care for....within minutes they
swapped them out...
They didn't leave me to my own devices to
Figure out how to program the Sirius Radio...

Curious what the problem was
that could not be fixed...??

It seems they use a sealant on the under carriage of the cars
when they are built
before shipping them over the water to the US to prevent rust...
Someone was a little heavy handed with
something called "Cosmalene"......
pretty impossible to remove it once it's on...

When the car got hot it began to melt...
All they did was finally put it up on the lift
and saw it melting off the car....
The smell came through the vents...
I was getting absolutely nowhere with these people...
It took the husband to get
the problem handled...

Sad to think that women aren't really
treated with the respect they deserve....
Today they treated me with respect....

 In my case I am happy to be in a new car but realize that this Country and Certainly not the World is
Ready for a Women President...
All I could picture was me asking Vladamir Putin for a new car....
Not happening....
My solution would have been to take the car back
With the smell then drive to downtown
Atlanta with a Big Sign on the Doors
Saying....
"PLEASE CAR-JACK ME"

Even though Men know we are the glue that holds
everything together and without us they
would be really screwed...
When it gets right down to it...
they basically think we are just plain stupid...

Thank you Boss for being the "bad cop"
of our "Good Cop" "Bad Cop" routine
which has worked for us for 44 years.....
Or I guess in our case..
"Good Cop....Bad Wop"
( Italian reference)
Thanks for having my back....

 For all you Feminists out there...
Let's put this story to rest
and admit that sometimes we need a man
to step in and back us up...
I'm okay with that....are you?

"THE MAN CAVE......Boss Style X's 2

If there's one thing I hate it's
Catch phrases....
We never before had catch phrases like
"hunker down"....."what "Venue" will it be at?"
"Sammies" and "EVOO" thanks to Rachel Ray..
Even the newest term "boots on the ground"
drives me nuts.....
I do like the old phrase...
"Going to Hell in a Hand basket"
Whatever that means....
But the one I hate the most is
"The Man Cave'.....
when did it become a "cave"....back in the
Old Days....think the 1950's....a man's room was
either a Den....a Study or a Library......
Now all you can think of when you hear
Man Cave is an overbearing sized T.V.
Lot's of beer cans and beer related do-dads....
maybe an air hockey table or one of those
foos-ball things....
and of course......The ever popular
Sports Stuff....
framed shirts....Balls...helmets....
And then there's the Boss...
He....is in a class all his own...
And we're still not sure if it's a good
class or a bad class...
You decide...

This is where the Boss spends his mornings....
which falls within the 11:00 a.m. to Noon
Category....
He checks the stock market and then goes
promptly back upstairs to relax for the remainder
of the day..
See that chair next to the desk...You
Would think he actually does business...
It's looks official doesn't it...
Nope...the cat sits there...

This is what his view is like from the
Desk...
We call this room
"The Library"
Nothing cave-y about it...

He LOVES to Display things....
Like it's a store....
again...Good or bad...Not sure...
But the man is organized...
He is NOT a Hoarder...
He is a Collector...
Has been for 45 years....
top to bottom...
A photo I took of McSorley's Ale House
in NYC...
a vintage magazine cover from WW2....
And the ever popular Steve McQueen.

I have a current Ban on anything that needs
to be hung on the walls...
Daughter has been warned of this...
as has the Boss...
That would be "The Kramer" from Seinfeld
and an exotic car photo from the recent
"Dream Car' exhibit at the High Museum
here in Atlanta....
When a neighbor visited and saw the Kramer
she asked if it was the Boss when he was younger...
It seems she is not a watcher of Seinfeld...
Or she needs new glasses....

We found a pair of these beautiful wall units
when we moved in to the house.....
as you can see it's filled top to bottom...
I guess a touch of "man cave" is up on
top where there are two NFL
Helmets signed by the players...
Matt Ryan for the Falcons and
Paul Horning for the Packers...
That Big Orange thing was made by
Smith Miller in the 1950's
and looks like a train car but
is a small toy chest...

He does allow me a bit of shelf space for my
Sue Grafton book collection...
All signed...All first editions...
And of course....Our Miss B!!

Yes...your seeing that right...
A miniature boat motor...

His shout out to the Stock Market...

Military Stuff...
He has Military figures....
by the hundreds....
these are from a company called
"King and Country"

Figures.....cars....tanks...and even Buildings...
They are everywhere...

And then there are these....
They run all along the top of these shelves....
Smith Miller company from the 1950's...

His newest edition....
He finds these through auction houses....
that specialize in vintage toys...

We're in Atlanta so we have to honor
Coca-Cola....

Let's not forget what started this whole
thing 45 years ago...
The Lionel Train....

There is even Napoleon....
Dear God....

More Trucks..and an autographed
Football....

Yup.....he has Balls....
This one signed by Sam Huff
who ever the hell he is...

Now this I can appreciate...
Lionel "standard gauge"
the big chunky stuff
from the 1920's....
Now that's Old!!

the little table came from England..
The Campaign Desk
is a copy of Napoleon's that
was found at the Louvre on our
last trip...
Hence...the reason he had to find
the Bust to sit on top....

Beetle Bailey...
1950's....

"Sad Sack"....from the Book of the
Same name from the late 40's...
 if you have been reading this blog for any
length of time you know the Boss
buys multiple of Everything...
If one is nice...two or more is Better...
I think his motto must be
"Go Big or Go Home'
Welcome to Room #2.....
"The Den".....

located on the second floor....
this is the overflow...
plus a big-ass safe...

Alfred E. Newman....
the only person worrying in this house is Me...
as long as I don't lose my space in the Kitchen...

On top of the Safe sits a model of
St. Mere Eglise in Normandy France
where the troops went thru on D-Day...
You can't see in this picture but there is actually
Little soldiers hung up on their parachutes
off the top of the church as they landed...
something that actually happened...

Daughter's Art Work....
Beetle Bailey....
from the cartoon...

More Military....
this is a large diorama of Viet Nam....

I have to say I love these little ships...
They sit under glass in a very cool
coffee table found at Pottery Barn...
Me and Daughter are enablers where these are concerned.
Whenever we go to the Trocadero in Paris...
A Maritime Museum with a great gift shop...
we make sure to add to this collection...
some new....some vintage..

Safety Patrol badges from the 50's....

Not from the movie....But just like the one
seen in "Pulp Fiction"

More Lionel...

Dinky Toy from the 50's....

And last but not least....
Little men hanging from the ceiling....
Of Course they are....
Who dusts all this "stuff"
Not me!!!!