Do You Order Online?

I just got an email that this little table has shipped

and should arrive on my doorstep Friday. I do LOVE the convenience of online ordering! I rarely go in a real store anymore.

 

The table matches this bench I bought last spring.

I keep the bench by the garage door and store shoes in the baskets & drawers.

 I plan to store magazines in the new one.

I have invited 14 people for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be the first time I have had J's entire family for Thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to it.  This weekend I want to finish the pilgrim man/woman set I started last winter.  This is as far I am on with the woman. ..

I need to add a border around her. I have not even started on the man.  I am hoping that having all these people over, will motivate me to get it done!

Winter Purchases

I have not been buying many clothes this winter because I have more than I really need. But when has that stopped us?  LOL.  I did buy a few new things that I can show you:

This beaded fedora to wear in the garden:

I have an orange tote that it will go nicely with, should I decide to wear it someplace other than the garden.  I am not really a hat person, so I probably won't wear it in public.

 

these two sweaters:

I have not worn the navy one yet, but I've worn the aqua one three times and really like it.

 

This black/white shell:

 

I wore it last weekend with black jeans and a white jean jacket--loved it!

 

I also bought this bench last month:

I have wanted one of these for years.  I put it in the family room and store shoes in it. There is a door to the garage in the family room.  No more shoes visible by the garage door!

 

I bought this beverage dispenser:

I thought it would be great for large gatherings on the deck this summer.  Only problem is I never have large gatherings!!

 

Finally, I purchased this chef's torch in December:

 

 

I had visions of making a  delicious crème brulee dessert.  So far I have not used it. :) 

 

How often do you buy something and never use it? 

New Family Room Items

First of all, thanks to those of you who said I should return the Home Depot Duds.  I knew they had a year guarantee, but I did not save the receipt.   I never dreamed the plants would die within the month! 

When DH got home today, I asked him if he had saved that receipt.  Much to my surprise, he did!  I had no idea he saved receipts. (Sorry, ladies he's taken)  :)

 I plan to return them this weekend and I really hope they have the same plants, so I can exchange them.  Since I now know the root system is lacking, I will water accordingly.  I will let you know how easy it is to return them.  I have never actually toted a dead plant to a customer service desk to ask for a refund.  I think they count on people not feeling comfortable doing that.  I would prefer to just toss them, but I feel I have a principle to uphold here.

On to my family room....I have finally received all of the items I ordered in May.  I was told the pillows would be fast, about 10 days. HA! It was more like 10 weeks.  I was in no hurry, so it did not really matter.  I got four pillows in this fabric:

The pillows are larger than I expected, but I do like them. 

I originally ordered the ottoman in the same fabric as the pillows, but after thinking about it for a few hours, I called them back and told the salesman I wanted it in the exact fabric as the sofa. I did not want to be stuck with a floral print that I would hate in a few years.

I am happy with that decision.   I can now just change pillows and a few accessories and have a new color scheme. 

I just bought those orbs today. 

I stopped at Big Lots prior to a dental appt. and I found those as well as this large metal clock.

I had a two-hour dentist appointment for  Periodontal Scaling and root planing. I bet many of you have had that done.  This is my second time in the last ten years. I had two quadrants done at one time today and it took eight shots in the mouth (5 on the top and 3 on the bottom) to numb everything.  It is common for me not to get numb on the first shot.  The shots have all worn off now and my mouth is hardly sore at all.

 I am thrilled to show you this:

It is pouring rain right now! YES!  (I have left those Crocs outside for the past 10 days waiting for a good rain to clean the garden soil off.)

Speaking of Crocs, I ordered this pair from Amazon early this morning:

Since I ruined my feet by wearing heels for 30 years, I find that Crocs are the only casual shoe I can wear to walk for more than 5 minutes. I have had to learn to love them. :)  While my heart still says 3-inch heels, my pain level goes with cushioned flats.  It's not fun to get old! I have never tried this style, but I am hopeful that it will be just as comfy as the original holey Crocs.

Not counting the dental procedure, I have had a good day. I hope you did, too!

I Love Shopping During January Close Out Prices

Yesterday I placed a small accessory order at my favorite online retailer (C***old***water
C**r***eek). 

I show you these orders to illustrate how watching a site daily can save you a LOT of hard-earned cash.

I agree with the majority of people when they say CC is way overpriced.  Yet it is the place where I buy almost all of my clothing and accessories.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know I like a bargain.  I would NEVER EVER pay regular CC prices for most of their items.  They used to have good quality clothing, etc. but in the past year, I have found them to be going downhill in that department and stated so on the recent survey they sent me.

I still find that most of their costume jewelry is quite nice--big quality lobster claw clasps on necklaces, etc.  I recently bought a necklace at JC Penney and it was way inferior to CC jewelry, yet I paid more for it than I normally do at CC.  Let me illustrate:

Here are the three items I recently ordered:

The prices you see are today's prices.  I ordered mine two days ago, when it was 50% off. I searched the net for a free shipping code and found one!

So I bought all three of these items for $36.01 and that included tax!  I don't think it gets much less expensive than that.

I have not received them yet, but I will probably be happy with all of them.  I mean, really, who does not NEED a reversile reptile belt?  LOL.  I certainly do.  I have a lot of jackets that will go will this belt.

My only regret is that I did not order the zebra belt.

Big Sale at CC

Since next week is my birthday, I took advantage of the big C*o*ldwater C*r*eek sale - buy one discounted item, get second 1/2 off  AND free shipping.

I like to post this stuff to my blog so that I can remember what items I ordered.  So here goes:

Loving this lace V neckline.  I find V-necks hard to find lately.

I am also loving these "waterfall" draping cardigans.   I enlarged this, so you can see that they, too, spell this color "grey".  :)

I ordered two of these crinkly sateen tanks. The pink one to go with the cardigan above and a white one  to go with the navy cardigan below.

This one is navy blue with small stripes.  I don't have much in navy.

Another white staple.  I never seem to have enough white tees to wear under jackets. It just hit me that I may already have this one!  Shoot! Now I guess I will two of them.

So these are my birthday gifts. My sweet husband always knows just what to buy me.  LOL.   Every few days, he visits my blog to find out what I have ordered.  He has not had much to read, since I have not ordered anything for about two months. We really don't even buy birthday gifts anymore because we have most of the things we need and neither of us can think of a gift the other would want. In actuality, he would never ever think to buy me clothes and I prefer it that way.  Instead of gifts, we usually go away for weekend trip.  I am not sure if we will this year, but if we do, I will have some new duds to wear.

So if you like CC, head over there and check out the sale. I watch them like a hawk with 20/20 and this sale is one of the best this year. Usually you have to spend $100 to get free shipping, but with this sale you can get it on any order, even if it's just one item.

Baking, Sewing, Online Shopping--That's My Evening

Big outlet reduction at my favorite clothing store (C*old*wat*er C*r*eek)--up to 85% off. I picked up just a couple of items...

another jean jacket - love the vintage lace on this one...also LOVE the big mark down - was $129.99, now $29.99!

This lightweight white cut out detailed shirt will be great for this summer.  I've had this one in my shopping cart for three weeks, just waiting until the price came down. Tonight I decided it was about as low as it was going to get and placed the order.  If I wait for it to go any lower, my size will probably sell out....it's like a game...sometimes I make out like a bandit; other times I lose the item by waiting.  I also found a code for free S/H - AFLC201 - in case anybody wants to use it. It just worked at 6:30 p.m., but I expect it to expire very soon.

I have not been doing much of interest the past few days.  It's been snowing - terrible roads when I went to work this morning. 

Last week I  finished the first nutcracker block. I have started another one.

 I am also putzing around with some  hearts. I have not sewn anything tonight because I am just not in the mood.  I did bake some little cakes, using a couple of pans I rarely use--hearts and mini bundts.

They match the heart blocks! 

More Lilies, a Wally World Bargain, & a CC Disappointment

I went for my after-work garden stroll and was all excited to see another new Tango lily has opened. This one is yellow...........hmmm....I don't remember ordering any yellow Tangos. I think this is 'Capuchino' but for some reason these petals are yellow instead of the white they should be. That's fine with me because I have enough of the white -- I only ordered more because they were part of the collection.

I am still waiting for the 'dot com' (pink) and the Kentucky (orange) to open.

A lot more of my tall Asiatic orange and red lilies have opened. I really like these together. You can see the Tango 'Capuchinos' in the back. If you enlarge this pic, you should be able to see the yellow petals in the front and the older ones that are white in the back.

For the past few weeks I have been admiring some of the bold bracelets that one of our young dining room hostesses has been wearing. Every time I mention how much I like a piece, she tells me she got it at Wally's World.

So this weekend I went to WW and wandered through the jewelry department. I found three really fun bracelets and I only paid $13.00!

$13.00 total for all three! I wore the orange one yesterday to our BBQ party.
It was a good match to my big bold Coldwater Creek orange necklace. I am going to check out WW more often. I have a ton of necklaces, but very few fun bracelets. I have a small wristful of gold bracelets, but sometimes I want funky and fun--especially in the summer.

I am slightly miffed at Coldwater Creek. I have mentioned before that I order just about all my clothing from CC--hardly a week goes by that I don't get a delivery at work.Two weeks ago I ordered these:
Yes, they are ants--big black heavy metal ants. I ordered 8 of them.

CC also has many unique items for entertaining. These ants are tablecloth weights! You set them around your outdoor tablecloth so it does not blow off the table. How clever is that? I had DH's birthday deck dinner (in August) all planned--right down to the red checkered tablecloth. I mean, really, could anything be more cute than big ants on a red-checkered tablecloth? I was going to use my black octagon dinner plates, red wine glasses and my vintage picnic basket with a huge floral arrangement with those red/black 'Olina' lilies at the back of the table. You all know how excited I get over a good tablescape...

Well, today I got an email that they had no more ants in stock, so I would not be getting them. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGG...............so much for my well-thought out plans. I guess there will be no ants at my deck dnner this year.

Thank you, Jean & Breck's Order 7/1/2008

Ms. Greenthumb, Jean, grows the most beautiful foxgloves. I commented as such on one of her posts and she generously offered to send me some of her seed, which I gladly accepted.

The seeds arrived yesterday. Let me tell you those poor seeds must have had a bumpy journey from New York to Michigan! Just look at the envelope. The postal service put it inside one of their apology envelopes and it continued on its way to northern Michigan.


Luckily Jean had double enveloped the seeds and the envelope inside was just fine. Jean was more than generous, sending many thousands of seeds. Thank you, Jean. I have already scattered the seeds through three different gardens in hopes of finding one that they find hospitable. Maybe with Jean's "magic" seeds I will finally be able to grow a foxglove.



Thanks to the skillful sleuthing of Dianne, who promptly found a 'buy $50, get $25 free' coupon from Breck's, I ordered all of the items in the previous post, plus this Oriental poppy collection. Since I am (hopefully) getting rid of all my invasive ones, I will have room for these nicer varieties. I am posting all of the below info for my own records. I have found the quickest way to find out what I planted a previous year is to search my blog.

2 Lauren's Lilac - Introduced in 2000, this poppy exhibits a beautiful soft shade of mauve lilac.
2 Royal Wedding - Large, silky shimmering white petals surround black centers making a bold statement.
2 Queen Alexander Poppy - The most beautiful of all pink poppies with extra-bright salmon-pink single blooms held aloft by wiry, pubescent stems.
2 Prince of Orange Poppy - Huge blooms the color of tangerines surrounded by light green foliage. Wonderful satiny texture and long-lasting garden flair.
2 Brilliant Poppy - Wildfire red blooms with prominent black markings that will make you sigh with admiration.

Plus 2 Turkenlouis Poppy Free! - Spectacular fully double flowers are brightly colored with velvety fringed and frilly petals of scarlet red.
#1 field grown plants.

Look What One Day in the Sun Did to this Hosta

I dug him out, potted him up, and left him sitting on the deck in a sunny location overnight. I gasped when I got home from work and saw this! The poor guy was nearly scorched to death. I immediately moved him to the shade and will have to wait for some new growth.



Here's some prettier things to look at. I've been checking out the Breck's site to see what's new this year.




Look at this double-fringed tulip from Breck's. It looks like a begonia.

It's interesting. I love the color.
It's about $2 per bulb.



I like this tulip, too. The fact is I've rarely met a tulip I didn't like! This one is called Hotpants. It's a more reasonable $9.99 for 8 bulbs. It opens white with a little purple stripe that grows wider as it matures.


I have a few tulip varieties that change as they mature. That's always interesting to watch.

What about this Hair Allium?
Not exactly pretty, but I find it piques my interest, too.


One of the most interesting tulips I spotted was this one:

Touted as Flashy as a flamenco dancer, this Blumex tulip is way over the top. Have you ever seen such a crazy and wild tulip? I like this one even though it does not look like a tulip. It would be worth having just for its artistic expression.

I am planning to order all of these. In fact, they are all sitting in my Breck's basket awaiting the mouse click to finalize the order. If you spend $75, you get free shipping, but that's not really good enough for me. The shipping is only about $13 dollars. I want the spend $25, get $25 off coupons like they had last year!

Has anyone seen those coupons this year?

Has Anyone Read this Book?

I am trying to read it. I am on page 30 and it's been over 2 weeks since I started to read it.

I must not like it much or I would have found the time to continue. By now I have forgotten almost everything in the first 30 pages.

I am trying to decide whether to give it another shot this weekend, or just forget it.

So I am looking for anyone who has read it to guide me forward. Is it worth trying again?

I want to enjoy it because this author has written a number of books and I am eager to find an author that I just can't wait to read the next book.

I need to take a weekend trip.

It's the only time I get to read.

I've worked a bit each night on the gardens. Just a bit. No more than one hour per night. I hope to finish it all this weekend.

Here is the rest of my fashion show week.

Wednesday, my newest copper shine top with the animal print jacket I bought as one of my very first CC purchases. I love this jacket (so much that I ordered another one with aqua animal stripes. It's a very lightweight jacket which is what I like):

Thurs: The coral jacket (this is the one I matched my nail color to)

and today it was back to the darker colors. This is the only outfit that was not purchased from CC:

So there you have one full week of my work attire. Every day I wore black pants (I bought 8 pair of the exact same pant). I went from wearing only dresses and skirts to wearing only pants during the past year or so.

I used to wear pantyhose everyday.

Now I never wear pantyhose.

I am getting very boring in my dress habits.

In the Pink (and Black)

I love pink and black together.

A couple of you asked for a fashion show with the new jackets, so here it is...at least one of them. Please forgive the missing head. :)

I am quite happy with all 5 of the new jackets. Well, I haven't actually worn the jean jacket yet. It's the one most of you liked the best, but I like it the least. It's too casual for work and I almost never wear jeans. I had cool summer evenings and capri jeans in mind when I ordered it. One of these days I am sure I will find a reason to wear it.

Can you stand one more post about the quilt? It was bothering me that there was no dark border to anchor it. To me most quilts need a dark border. Today at work I thought of some blocks I had been sewing for the past year. When I felt like doing mindless sewing I would do a few of these and toss them in this plastic bin. (The 2007 is for the Roses are Red quilt. It was intended to be done by the end of 2007 and that label was to be sewn on the back. I think I will call it "close enough" and sew it in anyway)

I was thrilled when I got home and discovered that I had enough of these blocks to add another border to the star quilt. (If I keep this up, it will end up as another king-sized quilt). So here is a pic of the quilt as it looks with the new border.



It uses most of the same fabrics that are in the stars. Here's a close up of one corner:

There are 436 pieces in the border! It would take a long time to just sit down and sew them all together. When I was making them, I thought I'd be happy one day to have a border all ready to sew on.

Today was the day. And I was indeed quite happy to remember I had these!

So in the last two days it went from this:

to this:

to this:


I am pretty certain that I am now done! :)