Time Out

Come Saturday, I was just plain tuckered out from working and then packing up to move.. All week I had been busy at work by day and then doing a lot of heavy lifting at night.
So I decided to take it easy this weekend. The wind chill was in the teens and it was no fun
moving boxes into and out of the car. By 11 o'clock in the morning I was ready for a break.

So, I decided to go out for breakfast. Frannie's is a neighbothood breakfast place. The staff knows all their customers and the customers all know each other. It's a great place to go for a bite to eat by oneself. I decided to catch up on some magazine reading and treat myself to a cheese omelette, a hash brown patty, and a grilled english muffin.

It was toasty warm inside Frannie's and while they were preparing my breakfast, I was diving into some of my favorite magazines. I had Romantic Homes, Country Living, and Yankee which is a New England based magazine. I got lots of ideas for Christmas decorating and for gifts.

One idea was to use ice skates in your decor. I just love decorating with ice skates especially during the winter holidays. It adds a touch of whimsy. When I was younger, I was quite the avid skater. I even took figure skating lessons. I did go skating once last year and I really enjoyed it. So I am hoping for a good skating season this year.

Tonight, I was once again boxing up my possessions. But I did not bring them out to the car yet because it was 18 degrees outside and with the wind chill it felt like 6 degrees. It can wait until
tomorrow when it should be a litttle warmer. And to think last Saturday it was almost 70 degrees here!

Tomorrow I'm going to Maine for the afternoon and then it's back to the dreaded packing.
Enjoy your Sunday!

Harvest Dinner

Last night was the night of our annual Harvest Dinner, a tradition I started with my friends and family several years ago. We've had Harvest Dinners in either late October or early November for probably ten years and it is one of my favorite events on our social calendar.

I have to admit, this photo was not taken by me. I actually brought my camera to the dinner but the memory card was still home in my laptop. Hence no photos from last evening. This photo was taken from www.countryliving.com . I think it depicts the feeling of the evening.

We had the best time last night. Five of us gathered for a dinner starting with a cup of hot spiced apple cider. We dined on turkey, stuffing, gravy, cream cheese mashed potatoes, butternut squash. mini corn muffins, and for dessert, oh my. My friend Mary's unbelievable two crust apple pie with vanilla ice cream, pumpkin bread made with Stonewall Kitchen's maple pumpkin butter, and gingerbread cake.

We had soft music in the background, and lots of good conversation and laughter. And to think, we actually thought of skipping it this year. Two of the friends had a home renovation just completed and I am in the moving process and it seemed like getting together was quite the inconvenience. But, it was so worth it!

Now really, do I care about the five pounds I packed on last night? No I don't because I have another wonderful evening to add to the memory bank. Thanks to Mary, Don, Debbi, and Sheila.

Condomonium

I hope you caught the title of this post. Condomonium not condominium. That's because this week's move has been nothing short of pandemonium. Welcome to my world.

The seller of my condo did not include the washer and dryer in the sale so I had to buy new ones. It took me 3 visits to the same store before I could complete my sale. I encountered
a rude salesman then an incompetent salesman. The incompetent salesman cost me time and a wasted trip to the store. The rude saleman was just plain rude. Finally I got what i wanted from them and the delivery date of Friday, the last day of my vacation.

Today was delivery day for the washer and dryer. First, the delivery men got lost. Then I watched them struggle to bring my new stackable washer and dryer into the unit. Once they were in and they were working a while, I heard their conversation but it was not in my language. Were they fighting , they were certainly not happy. Finally one called to me, Miss? It seems this washer and dryer will not fit. You will need to have the moulding in the closet shaved down an inch. Take care of the closet work and call this number and someone will come back. What I said? I gave the dimensions to the salesman. I told him what the previous owner had for a washer and dryer! I said take it back then. Can't do that Miss. We did a test and it works. No returns. So here I am with a washer and dryer in my hallway! Luckily, I have a carpenter friend.
Now I need another vacation day.

While the pandemonium was going on, the doorbell rang. I answered the door. A woman wanted to talk about a brochure she had in her hand. It was called The Truth. I said now was not a good time. She said I just need a minute. I opened the door wide so she could see the commotion in the hallway, two men, a washer and a dryer. She wanted to come back to which I responded please just go! She said she would not be back. Yay, someone is finally listening!

Ok, on to the fun part. Who cares if I have clean clothes, there is decorating to be done. I am deciding about the kitchen curtains, should they stay or should they go? I am not sure I'm thrilled with them, are you? They were left by the previous owner who by the way left all his food in the fridge. Yeah, he's taking it all on Sunday or it's getting dumped.

Back to the curtains. I was thinking I would like more of an ecru lace or crocheted curtain.
Opinions?


Here's a view of some of the kitchen. I love the shiny appliances.

I brought my bistro set off my apartment balcony and over to the kitchen. I love using outdoor furniture inside the house. The kitchen is so sparse right now I decided fresh flowers would perk it and me up.

Don't worry I have a cushion for the second chair. Well, if Molly (my cat) will give it back I'll have a second cushion.

Ok, I have vented sufficiently. I know what you're thinking, nobody said it would be easy.

Eventually it will all fall into place. You're right. I'm better and we can leave the condo now.

Here's the welcome sign on my back door. Since parking is in back of the building I think I should have something pretty on the back door too. The sign was made from an old lithograph and purchased in Salem, Massachusetts.

I hope you all have a great weekend. Tomorrow I am attending a pre-Thanksgiving Harvest Dinner with friends and family and all I have to make is the cream cheese mashed potatoes. Good food and drink, great company. I can handle that.

New Chairs

When I move to my new condo, I will have a dining room for the very first time. This is exciting to me. I've been trying to decide on decor ever since I made the offer on the place. I am realizing as I'm packing up my belongings that my taste has changed drastically in 13 years.
That's the last time I changed addresses.

I am leaning towards a French inspired look. Wouldn't it be nice to feel like you are on a European vacation every time you come home? I can't afford a new dining room set so I am taking the existing kitchen table and four chairs and putting that in my new dining room. I bought 2 new chairs from Pier One for either end of the table. I've seen chairs mixed and matched in decorating magazines so I figured I'd give it a try. I want an elegant look for the dining room. The richness of the fabric makes it the perfect chocie for the room. The studs on the back of the chairs give it a nice finish.

I just love the colors of these chairs. The dining room walls are sage green and I think the colors
in the chairs will go well with the sage. They're comfy too. I can just see my guests fighting over who gets the soft chairs! Only kidding, I hope my family and friends are more civilized than that.


A multitude of colors in the fabric will give me lots of options for coordinating other accessories
in the room. All of that is going to have to wait. I am trying to be sensible and buy a little at a time. One could go crazy with so many great stores to choose from. I live in a suburb of Boston and there are lots of options for furniture stores. But, for now I am being good.

Next, I'll tackle the kitchen!

Autumn's Golden Gown

Autumn's Golden Gown
Originally uploaded by cafechatelaine

To borrow some words from the song Forever Autumn sung by Justin Hayward, "Through autumn's golden gown we used to kick our way. You always loved this time of year."

As you all know, I love this time of year. Today was an absolutely gorgeous Autumn day. Cold, windy, and bright. The leaves are hanging on to the trees despite the winds best efforts to knock them down. Lots of golden gowns out there today. Just beautiful!

Tonight was quite cold and I was wishing I could find my gloves. The smell of a wood burning stove stung my nose. I looked up at the sky . It was so black.with just a smattering of stars . The leaves crunched under my feet. Perfect. I am in my glory. It's Autumn. .

All Hallow's Eve

Since I am moving, I didn't decorate for Halloween this year. At work, I have a white pumpkin container on my desk. Right now, it's filled with caramel Hershey's Kisses-yum! I always try to keep a little chocolate on hand for my customers. Talking about one's finances can be so stressful, especially nowadays. Oh yeah, I keep a box of Kleenex handy too!

Enjoy the vintage Halloween illustration. I thought this one was particularly striking and unique. Not your typical artwork depicting pumpkins or witches.

Saturday night I am attending my friend's Halloween party.. The decorations were partially up at her home last week. They were impressive. Lots of spider webs and purple mini lights. I hope to get some interesting photos to post.

Until my next post, wishing you all a spooky and fantastic Halloween!!

Bake Sale!

I was the coordinator for a charity bake sale this past weekend. The bake sale was held in memory of our friend and coworker Joanne DiPaola. Joanne wasa teller at the bank where I work. She passed away in July 2006 after fighting her cancer for 16 months. She was the nicest person I ever met.

The money raised will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. We raised $1,521.

Friday the first day of the sale was Joanne's birthday. She would have been 61 years old. One of our customers bought a cake and donated it to us for our sale. She wanted the word remembering written on it. When she picked it up the word remembrance was written on it and it was spelled wrong. We decided instead of selling the cake, we would cut the cake and
each take a slice and remember Joanne on her birthday.

Here's the birthday cake in memory of Joanne.

We received a large amount of baked goods. We had 5 pies, coffee cakes, whoppie pies, apple crisps, all kinds of breads and coookies, espesso brownies, candy, jars of sweet pepper relish and rum mocha sauce.

We displayed the jars of sauce and relish in my wire container.

We even had a "decorating room". Any baked goods that needed packaging went straight to the decorating room to be bagged and embelished with ribbons and other decorative elements.

This is my cranberry apple crisp, all ready for a good home! The recipe is from Susan Branch's Autumn cookbook. Susan Branch is one of my favorites. I actually got to have afternoon

tea with her last Fall!

I always ask the bank to match funds from the bake sale. I'm not sure if they will but if they

do we will have raised over $10,000. in three years. Money to be used for free testing for women who can't afford it and for education about the disease. I think that is one of the best tributes we can give to our friend Joanne.