The Opening of Home Goods

I don't know what took so long for Home Goods to come to Bakersfield, but it has finally arrived.
Seems like we live in a time warp. We have no Pottery Barn, no Nordstrom's, no Cheesecake Factory...we've needed to join the new millenium for quite some time now.

Seemed like the entire town came out for this grand opening. I was there at 8 o'clock this morning and there was already a line around the block! When I drove back by at 10:30 there was still a line that went on forever.

I was on a mission. It's not like I really needed anything and I do believe if you are going to buy something new you should also get rid of something. My reading lamp went haywire this week and I had just bought a new lamp shade for it, so I went hoping to find a new base for it. I also was hoping to find a new bath mat. I don't like scuzzy looking bath mats and it was definitely time for a new one. I didn't have to stand in line long before I accomplished what I set out to do.
Look at that line would you!

On the way to finding the lamp I found this darling little bird cage to hang my bracelets and earrings on. Isn't it adorable?

Here's the lamp base I found. I think it works really well with my Pottery Barn lamp shade...

and here's my fresh new yellow bath mat. I got two for $14. What a bargain!

Hellos and Goodbyes

Today when I came home from work and went straight to my daughter Amanda's house (she lives right next door). Amanda was out in her garden digging up the earth to get it ready for her spring planting. I wish I would have had my camera with me when I first went over because all six of her chickens were gathering around, but by the time I went to get my camera the chickens had scurried under the trampoline. The first thing I love to do when I get home from work is go and say hello to my grandsons.

I tempted the youngest with earth worms to get him to let me take his photo.

I'm saying goodbye to my beautiful car tonight, because the lease is up. I've enjoyed driving this car for the last three years. We leased it right before we found out Mr. Honey lost his job. How we've managed to keep up with the payments is a real miracle. I'll miss my creme brulee colored car, but I won't miss the payments. I will be driving Mr. Honey's truck to work for a while.

Bye bye to my beautiful Ford Edge.

Valentine's Day - the Bitter and the Sweet

Valentine's Day has always been bitter sweet for me. The sweet part was meeting Mr. Honey and getting engaged on Valentine's Day and still being in love after 38 years of marriage.

The bitter was taking my only sister to the hospital on Valentine's Day 32 years ago and losing her to a brain tumor just 5 days later. She will be gone more years than she was alive this coming Saturday, but there is not a day that goes by that I do not miss her.

Below is a photo of Nonie dressed up for my wedding...she was my only brides maid. I still remember how she looked that day, so happy for me and there to support me as I took a giant leap into adulthood. It meant everything to me that she loved my soon to be husband and gave me her blessing.
Nonie was always my protector growing up...I think she thought at times that she was raising me, despite the fact, my mother was always in charge. I grew up feeling like I had two mothers. It feels natural for me to think of her now as my own private guardian angel.

I get a little blue in February. I was really having a bad week, missing both my mother and my sister something terrible. I've only had a few dreams about my sister since she passed 32 years ago, but last week, when I was really missing her, I had a dream and she came to me in my dream. I knew in my dream that she had passed on, but she looked as alive in my dream as she did at my wedding. She told me she knew I missed her and she wanted me to know how much she loved me. The dream was over in a flash, but I didn't wake up wishing I could go to sleep and continue the dream. I woke up deeply comforted. It doesn't take a lot of faith for me to believe she is watching over me, I know she is.

Happy Birthday Sybil!

February 11Th is a day to celebrate my long standing friend's birthday. We met when we were just 15 years old and we have remained friends for all these years.


Left to right: Sybil, my sister Nonie, my Mama, and myself. We have done a lot of celebrating together over the years.
Here is Sybil standing next to my Mama and my sister on St.Patrick's Day in 1973 on the day of my wedding to Mr. Honey.

The photo above is in front of La Maison on our first night in Paris.

Wishing you much happiness, filled with flowers and love and more trips to Paris and cake of course!

Below is a photo of Sybil and her mother clowning around in my mother's dining room at one of the many get togethers we enjoyed growing up together.

Happy, happy, happy birthday to you Sybil dear! I know you will be missing your mother this year and for many birthdays to come, but I know she would want you to be as happy as you look in this photo!

I hope you are found monkeying around on your special day! I will be thinking of you and sending you love from afar. (Sybil now lives in London)

Sybil has always been adventurous. She brought this monkey back with her from her river rafting trip down the Amazon river. Yes, you heard me right, down the Amazon!

Happy Birthday my adventurous friend!

A mother and her daughter's hair

First I'll start by saying, when my own mother decided to let her hair go natural (in other words white) I had a melt down. I did not want her to change her image in any way, shape or form. To this day, I do not know what I was afraid of, but the whole prospect of the color of my mother's hair changing made me very nervous.


I've always had a thing about my daughters and their hair. I think in this area of their lives I bordered on neurotic (others may say, I've always been a bit neurotic, but we won't go there).

The first time I really had to let go of the hair neurosis was when I was taking my youngest to Oregon and leaving the two older ones at home with their father (otherwise known as Mr. Honey). I knew he was not going to be French braiding their hair everyday while I was away. As soon as I boarded the airplane he went straight to the drugstore and bought them each 10 different headbands and handed them a brush. That was their ticket to independence and there was no going back to the days of me doing their hair. I was grief stricken when I returned home. I can laugh about it now, but I really was traumatized!

Then, when my middle daughter went away to study abroad her junior year (in Ireland), I received a letter from her, letting me know she was planning on shaving her head. I was completely mortified. I couldn't understand why a child that never had a bad hair day in her life would choose to do such a thing. I begged her not to do it. I thought her to be so ungrateful having been blessed with a head full of golden curls to just shave it all away. I think she received so much attention for her beautiful hair that she just wanted to know what it would feel like to be known for herself and not her gorgeous hair. At any rate, I went to bed for three days and cried til there was not one tear left. When I got up from my bed, I took my youngest daughter shopping for all the girlie clothes we could find. Quite simply that is how I chose to cope.

In the photo below is how I imagine the look on my daughter's face when I begged her not to shave her head. You know that look of "what do you mean I can't do with my hair as I please?"
This child of mine has always had the courage to live life her way. I never had that courage (or at least, not to that that extent), so I really do admire that courage and the strength of character it takes to live life as authentically as you possibly can.

Below is a photo of my middle daughter, taken after she called to tell me she was going to dye her hair red, and didn't want me to see a photo of her on Facebook before telling me herself what she was planning on doing. I subtly tried to threaten to pierce my nose, get a tattoo on my cheek and dye my hair black. Ultimatums and guilt have never been good motivators for any of my three daughters. I have been known to say "I taught my girls to think for themselves and doggone it they do!"

When my mother was in the hospital having a heart attack many years ago my youngest was at home dying her hair red. What is the fascination with red hair, may I ask? I took her straight to the hair salon to get the red out and after twelve hours she was finally a blond again. So you see, it was my youngest daughter who blazed the trail for her middle sister to dye her hair red.

Here's Brook today with her new hair color. She is quite gorgeous no matter what the hair color, I have to admit.

Happy Chines New Year!

You can turn off the music on my blog to the right on my side bar in the pink box.


This marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and this year is the year of the metal rabbit.
The year I was born was also the year of the metal rabbit.

"There are no problems for the Rabbit in this, his auspicious year. Career advancement, promotions, or financial coups may be ahead of him. There are unexpected benefits to be reaped, and investments or funds could be recovered that were once considered lost. Joy and romance come to him from happy tidings and celebrations at home. Projects he has been working on will finally pay off. However, he would do well to moderate his drinking and exercise caution when driving. This year has its share of stress, and he may find his employer particularly demanding. Even so, this is a great time for Rabbits, so go for it!"

I tell you, I'm ready for some romance and for less stress, that's for certain! I remind myself daily that I need to slow down and not drive so fast. My driving habits are a sure sign I was born in the year of the rabbit. I've always joked that I was a race car driver in a former life. The Chinese are on to something if they heed caution while driving for me. Happy tidings and celebrating at home are a sure fire remedy for what ails me.