Dress Form Bliss

I have an old fashioned style, but I don't ever want to be thought of as old and out dated, so I love it that dress forms are so timeless. I found this darling dress form at Home Goods and I was delighted because it was very reasonable and added just the right touch to my cottage style bedroom.

I love that I can not only display some of my favorite necklaces, but I can keep them organized too.

I also love the little touch of Paris romance that it adds to my boudoir. Oooh la la!

The Big Kitchen Remodel

This is the before photo of my daughter's kitchen. I doesn't look like this anymore. My daughter Amanda , her husband and three boys live right next door to me, so when she mentioned they were going to remodel their kitchen this summer, I knew exactly what that meant. It meant that my house would be turned into grand central station while the chaos unfolded at her house.

The drawing above is the vision my sweet girl has for her remodel. They are in the thick of it now. The book shelves that lined the wall before are gone and the new wall where they will have a breakfast bar is being dry walled as I write this post.

In the meantime, my three grandsons play happily in my once untouched living room with their beloved Bionicles. Life has grown messy at my house. Presently there is more noise, more dishes, more toys, more clutter and more life at my house.

I wake up to my eldest grandson's knock at the door at about 6:30 a.m., because he is an early riser and loves coming over and watching National Geographic or Animal Planet in my sun room, while everyone at his house is still asleep. I'm usually up putting on the coffee and his Papa is busy getting ready for work. My normally quiet mornings have been turned into happy chatter about wild animals with my little magpie named Franklin. This boy can light up the room with his smile.

When I get home from work in the evening I'm greeted by my happy (sometimes not so happy, depending on their blood sugar levels) clan, and my daughter wearing one of her various adorable aprons, cooking dinner in my kitchen.

I think Mr. Honey and I will miss all the commotion once their kitchen is finished and we go back to our respective routines, but for now we are enjoying the chaos!

To see more photos of the work in progress and future updates you can visit my daughter's blog
by clicking here.

Happy Fourth of July!

The morning started off with getting the kids bicycles decorated for the neighborhood parade. This has been a tradition for at least the last 30 years. My girls enjoyed it when they were growing up and now my grandsons look forward to it too.

Green plaid with red madras shorts...really? Our middlest grandson had to endure a bit of teasing from his Nana and Papa. You will notice in later photos Grant has an appropriate red, white and blue T on.









I always enjoy seeing friends that I haven't seen for a while at the parade.



There was music and dancing at one house along the way.


While passing the house that I raised my girls in, I met the new owner and she was so sweet to invite me in to see the changes she made. She just finished remodeling the kitchen and I loved what she did. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to pull my camera out of my pocket. Oh well. Anyway, the new owner replaced the old cabinets with bead board cabinets and the tile with granite counter tops. She also added a bathroom where the old laundry room used to be. She also redid the wood floors where there used to be carpet. I always wanted to do that. The porch swing is still there, still being a favorite spot to rest.

The houses that dotted the parade route were dressed for the occasion.

I miss my dear friend Nancy, who is spending the summer with her husband and eldest granddaughter at their summer home on Lopez Island. Below is Nancy and Richie's son Mark with their daughter in-law Misty, and their granddaughters Eva and Ella.