~Welcome Morning~

I have always thought of myself as a morning person. Apparently not....according to my husband. I was pretty shocked to hear that. I used to get up every day and go to work. I never have to set an alarm. I give Bradley a huge hug, kiss and smile when he comes in my room. Still not sure I agree with him but hey....I get to enjoy one of these every morning now.
A BIG FAT CAPPUCCINO!! Thanks so me. His Hanukkah present was an espresso/cappuccino maker.
LOVE IT!!!

Now I WELCOME the morning. I know I get to go downstairs and make one of these girls every morning.
Huh...I wonder who is enjoying this new little machine more....me or hubby??
I will think about that while I enjoy me freshly brewed cappuccino.
Ciao!!!!

~JAKOB~

Jakob is my 22 year old step-son. I have been with his father for almost 12 years so I feel like I have know him most of his life. He is quite the guy. He lives in Brooklyn and doing just what we wanted for him......setting himself up in his own life....ya know...on his own 2 feet.

He just left after being home for almost 9 days. It is really hard to say bye again. You would think I would be used to this by now. We live just outside of Chicago and he went to college in New Jersey ( i'm gonna brag a bit here...he graduated from Princeton). He is such a kind, sweet, thoughtful, courteous man. Did I just type man?? Wow, I even just shocked myself. I must be accepting him growing up. I'm suddenly so proud of myself~

This is Jakob lastnight . He's off to his annual holiday sweater party. I have a collection of these crazy outfits. Why won't he take those to NY with him?? I will have to bring that up next time I talk to him. Why does he leave the good stuff at home!

This is Jakob with his Aunt Barbara. He LOVES her very much.

My jewish "man" opening his Christmas presents on Christmas morning. No matter what we get him he always acts like it's the best thing he has ever seen. See what I mean????........he's so sweet!!

My jewish "man" eating shellfish(crab legs)on Christmas eve...BIG jewish no-no!!!! It's hard to resist surf & turf.



Things I will miss about Jakob:

Sharring a cappacino with him in the morning.

Him throwing Bradley around.

Going on any errand with me.

ALWAYS loving whatever food I put in front of him.

Jakob laughing at all my realllly bad jokes.

All his friends coming and going.

Watching Bradley wake Jakob up. Jakob ALWAYS greets him with a HUGE smile.

Unloading and reloading the dishwasher without being asked :)

Doing his OWN laundry.

Going on my computer and finding that he has logged me out of my Google account and logged himself into his own account.

Playing Hearts with Jakob and the rest of the family.

Watching him enjoy green bean casserole.

Coming up close so I will scratch his back.

Hearing all about his amazing life in person.

Watching him watch movies.

Most of all...I will miss EVERYTHING about Jakob. He is such a person!!!

~Hanukkah~

As some of you know my husband, Bill, is Jewish. His three kids are also Jewish. As of today, we are still trying to work out how and what we are going to raise Bradley.
What all this means is that we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah in our home.
The Jewish traditions are truly beautiful and have great meaning.
This is one of about 4 menorahs that we have. It is all based on mood. The other ones are pretty formal. I like this to be informal....Ya know, apparently the Christian girl makes the decisions for the Jewish family members.

Our annual fried chicken from KFC. This is the one thing I have not tried cooking....why fix somethin' that's not broken. I don't think I could do better than this.

Potato latkes.....YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMY. 'nough said!!

This is matzo ball soup. The tradition is to eat all fried food....to represent the oil that God miraculously supplied for 8 nights...hence 8 nights of Hanukkah. However, Haley, thinks that every Jewish holiday should be celebrated with matzo ball soup. Hard to say no to such yummy soup.



I am blogging about this because tonight is the last, 8th, night of Hanukkah. I am sad because Bradley will get his last present. Yes, when our kids were younger they all got gifts for each night. Now they are older and their gifts are bigger and more expensive so usually they get 1 or 2 gifts. I am not ready for the holidays to be over.

This year the holidays were sooooo special. I don't know why but I feel overwhelmed with the feeling of being blessed.

Now, off to plan the New Year's Eve dinner we have every year. We do a three course fondue dinner. Again, tradition. Have done this every year since I was a little girl. Gotta love family traditions!!!

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~

~MERRY CHRISTMAS~

Thank you for a great couple of months. I have really enjoyed my time here in the blog world. I look forward to posting more in 2009!

~The Great Indoors~

So...I found this fabric and I LOVE it. My favorite color is green. I wish I could find this in wallpaper. That would make Maisy very happy!!!

This is the same fabric just a different size.....but...I still LOVE this fabric.

If any of you saw my post about my new sewing machine you will recognize this fabric. I just made a bigger and better one. I guess I will now have to take the other one apart and do it over. When I see the two of them next to each other I realize it isn't very good. Hey, I'm not complaining. I was very proud of myself...ya know.....my very first pillow and all.

I pulled out my knitting needles and decided to get busy. I haven't touched them in a while. Actually, I had to blow the dust off my knitting box. Don't tell my husband, he will make me clean my closet out. In order to start a project I decided to just warm up my skills and make a scarf. Now Bradley wants a scarf. I may never get to a cute project. I will be knitting scarves for everyone again. Hey, if people actually wear them I'm happy to knit away.

These are my new coffee mugs. I am sooooo happy they are glass. Hubby wasn't so sure at first...now he likes them too. I can't wait to put Bradley's hot chocolate it them. Just imagine how cute his heart shaped homemade marshmallows are going to look. Yeah...I can't wait!!

If any of you are in the Chicago area please stay warm today. Right now my outdoor thermometer is reading -7. UGH!!! Now that's even toooooo cold for me.
Guess I will just have to stay in the great indoors and come up with more cute projects to work on!!

~Time for Maisy~

I love to bake. Do you?? Put your nose up to your computer screen and take a BIG sniff. Can ya smell the delicious cookies??

I baked these cookies for the first time.
This is why my family keeps loving me.
I fill them with lots of "sweet" love~

I was out and about the other day and stumbled upon this perfect pink cake plate. I had to have it. I hope you can see the color. It is soooo pretty.
I am going to make a coconut cake for Christmas. It will look like a HUGE snowball on this cake plate. I think this cake plate was made for a white cake.

That leads me to my next thought....our family is hosting Bill's family for Christmas. We are so excited to see everyone. It is always a lovely time.

Bill is blessed to be a member of an amazing family. They are all so loving. Not only are all the women great party planners they are also so funny, smart, beautiful and gracious people. I am so lucky to have married into such a special family.

Well...that's it for now....I realllllly must go finish up my Christmas shopping. Why do I do this to myself every year.....I wait until the last minute.

~Winter Wonderland~

This is a picture of the pond in my yard. It doesn't look like this in the summer. Hope all the fish are OK. For any of you that are reading this and may worry about the fish....they are FINE. Haven't lost a fish during the winter in 7 years.

Just a photo of the other side of my back yard. The grass didn't have a snowflake on it this morning when I woke up.

This is from my front porch~

This is the other direction on my street. Our streets get plowed by the village. Apparently, they didn't know snow was coming. HUH??

This is my fireplace. It keeps me toasty and warm. Makes me think about the people who don't have heat...or the homeless people. Bradley just asked me if he can take a bath...he's cold. Mother of the year over here told him NO!!! Go put another layer on or get under a blanket. I think I better go make him some hot chocolate. I think homemade marshmallows are in order.


To all you people who live through cold winters....bundle up and stay warm. Remember we get to layer our clothes...we get to wear scarves...we get to wear realllly cute sweaters......we get to appreciate the spring.....we get to watch tulips popping out of the ground. We get to appreciate all that winter has to offer. Remember...stop and smell the snowflakes!!!

~Girls Weekend~

I am off to University of Illinois to visit my step-daughter, Haley. She is AWESOME. I love spending time with her. She is such a busy girl that these weekend are so special to me. I know some of you know her and know what a blessing she is in everyone's life that she touches. Sure wish I had the wisdom that she has when I was 19 years old. She's is way more together than I was. Off I go!!
Wish me safe travels.
HAPPY SATURDAY!!

~Before & After~

This is another thing I have been busy with. I love the fabric.
Bill and I are hosting Christmas for Bill's family. What that means to us is....HURRY GET THINGS DONE BEFORE PEOPLE GET HERE!!!
This was one of those "things".




BEFORE(and this wasn't the BAD ones)

AFTER(nice and pretty)

~SANTA CAME EARLY~

SANTA CAME EARLY TO MAISY'S HOUSE

I have wanted a sewing machine for a while now. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it makes me feel domestic. Who knows. Let's all keep in mind that I don't think I have touched one of these things since HomeEc in 8th grade.
Bill came home today and this is what he had for me
YIPPEE!!!!

My very own sewing machine. It seems to be like riding a bike...I had no problem threading it. PHEW!! I was really afraid of that. Isn't she pretty??

This is the front of the first pillow I made today. Not to bad for a girl's first time!

This is the back.

I was actually surprised how easy it was. There are a few people I know who sew. My friend, Shelby, for one. She's always making these adorable pillows. I think she takes such a laid back approach to her crafts that it inspires me. By the way, Shelby is really gifted. She makes great stuff! GO SHELBY!!!

Who knows what else I can do. If you don't see or hear from me for a few days know that I am sewing. I am one of those people who will wake up in the middle of the night excited about sewing. Then....down the stairs I go....sewing in the middle of the night. I want to be able to sew my own aprons. That's not too much to ask...is it??? Now if I could just read a pattern. Small steps Maisy.....small step!!!

~One For You......One For Me~

This is such a tough time of year for me. It's Christmas shopping time. Those of you who know me know I don't really shop outside of Target, Kohl's, Old Navy & Gap. Well this time of year brings me to all sorts of amazing places to shop. This year my new friend, Kasey, had her holiday open house. So I meandered over to Lola B's(OK I rushed...but who's keeping time??), Kasey's place. AWESOME stuff.

The two pictures above are a couple of the frames I bought. I bought them to give as gifts but I have a sneaky feeling I am keeping them for myself. I can put a picture in them....however, I really adore the music sheets. What would you do???

This is a clutch I bought. Now, this one is NOT a gift. I'm keeping this sweet clutch for me. I'm so happy because I'm going out tomorrow night(if I can get a sitter...crazy that my 16 year old went out and got a job)and I can use it. I will have to fend off all the fans. The fashion paparazzi will be following me. I better park the black Tahoe out back. I will have to sneak out the basement window.....OK...I really better stop. I will just have to walk to the neighbors house for dinner.

This is just a cute holiday plaque I had to have. I bought it over the weekend at a great store in downtown Wheaton, Serenade. I wish I had cute things like this up all year. It's kinda shimmery....ya know, kinda like Vegas, Baby!
Happy weekend to all!!

~Old & New~

This is my new Anthropologie apron. I bought it last weekend when I went to Geneva Commons with my family. Anthro was the only store I went to(he-he). I bought this with Christmas in mind. I have decided that for every holiday I host I am going to buy myself a new apron. I asked Bill for a sewing machine for Christmas....maybe by this time next year I will be making my own aprons! How exciting is that thought??

These are the stockings for everyone. Four of them are new. I'm not sure why but EVERY year I have to buy at least three new stockings. If I felt like they would come back from year to year I may actually buy corrdinating stockings. Actually, I like the 70's style of them not matching. It makes me feel good. I sure wish I could remember the stockings we had as kids.

This is our new advent calendar I picked up a couple weeks ago. I think it's adorable. It sure beats that nasty chocholate in the advent calendars I usually buy. You know the one, the chocolate tastes like plastic. This year I put a Hershey Kiss in it for each day. Now I wake up to Bradley saying "Mommy, I'm going to go get my chocolate"....sad part is that it is usually around 6:00 am and I say "OK". My thought process is Christmas only comes once a year AND if he goes downstairs maybe he will turn the TV on and I can go back to sleep for a half hour or so.
~ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ~

~New and Improved~

About 3 1/2 years ago my husband and I inherited my DEAR, SWEET, ADORABLE mother-in-law's dining room furniture. Now keep in mind that this furniture is more than 60 years old(according to Bill). We had a perfectly good dining room set. Since this set had SUCH sentimental value we BEGGED for it....not sure we had too actually beg for it but it made us want it even more.

Now we have it and it is showing it's age. I wasn't sure what to do with it. My friend Kasey, Lola B's, agreed to "antique" it for us. Did it ever turn out BEAUTIFUL!!

After it was all done I went out to look for new hardware. After seeing the prices I decided to use the original hardware. I think it looks PERFECT!

Sure wish my dear in laws were still here with us. I really think my mother-in law would have loved it. (They would have also adored the cute little boy in the photo.)
I'm so happy that we were able to come up with a solution to keep this furniture. Every one of the Deitch kids seems to have a story about this furniture or it has been in some of their amazing memories.
Maybe someday one of my kids will inherit this set from us.

~THE CHEESE TRAY~

THE PERFECT CHEESE TRAY

This is a picture of the cheese tray from Thanksgiving that I put together. Ingredients that you must have:
1) At least three types of cheese. I ALWAYS have an Aged Gouda.....everyones favorite.
2) Grapes...I always use a red seedless. However, I have been know to also use green grapes.
3) Fresh Baguette
Other options are to take a brandy glass and fill it with nuts and thinly slice up a pear.
Serve with the perfect wine and you have yourself the perfect appetizer.

I will be posting more recipes as the holidays get closer. I have some of the most delicious recipes with AWESOME presentation.

**Just so you know....Internet Explorer was not allowing me to post whenever I wanted. I had to switch to Firefox.**

~Errors~

I just want everyone to know that I am having a problem with my blog. I am working on it with Google. I will post as soon as I can!
Thanks so much for your patience. Check back soon!