Great first swap --

Look what I got in the mail today. What a beautiful handmade wreath with a sweet little white dove on the bottom. I love vintage ornaments and my swap partner, Linda, sent me two -- the pink one says Merry Christmas on it and the smaller one is a hollowed out semi-sphere. I love the gold and white one too! She sent me a card with a lovely note and enclosed the little pointsettia handkerchief within it. What a wonderful set of presents. Thank you so much, Linda. I hope we can stay in touch. Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

We had a good time in Las Vegas. I didn't take nearly enough photos. I'll have to gather more from my sister and Molly. Here's my niece Annie and my littlest grandson, David. He's 8 months and as cute as a button. My dad, stepmother Gloria, and my grandaughter Abby are in the background. Abby got along amazingly with my dad. He loves the kids. He kept scooping David up off the floor whenever anyone would let him down to crawl around.

The house was awesome. Wish it were mine. We had a great time and look forward to next year --maybe we'll all go to Disney World or some other fun place.

Surprise 50th Birthday Party!!

Well, I thought we were just going to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving; but my husband and daughter surprised me with a 50th birthday party! There was lots of food (Italian from Boca de Beppo) as well as leftovers from Thanksgiving (we had so many leftovers we had to try to use them).

There was a beautiful cake with the mandatory black frosting.

My grandkids decorated with black streamers and an "Over the Hill" sign. I got my "older" sister to walk under the sign and took a picture of her.

Molly made party favors -- toffee wrapped in black netting with white bows and a placard that says "Happy 50th Birthday."

I got gag gifts (a huge calculator with super big numbers, a whistle to blow if I fall) as well as really nice gifts (necklaces and earrings and oh yeah, MONEY).

Molly and I went to the casinos for a couple of hours and left the kids with Papa. When we got home everything was ready and it took me a minute to figure out what was happening. I was truly surprised!! Thanks Molly and Michael. It was super special.

Going to Sin City for Thanksgiving

There's something almost wrong with saying that. But that's what we're doing. We all rented a big house and my sister, brother, father, and daughter along with their respective families will be there. We decided to have a "personal chef" cook Thanksgiving dinner for us. It should be loads of fun!

I obviously can't sleep tonight --

I took a nap this afternoon so I can't go to sleep now. I've taken photos of some of my various collections and am sitting here posting them on my blog. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but it seems to be working pretty well. Here is my collection of milk glass. My next price guide book purchase will be one on milk glass. I just bought a small lidded candy dish to go along with a larger one I already had -- do you sense a sub-collection?

My beautiful Madonnas

This is one of my favorite collections -- my all white Madonna planters. Some are wall pockets that can also stand, one is a frog, and the rest are planters. These are so serene and beautiful. My guest bedroom is what I call my "Madonna" room. I have lots of Madonnas (of various sizes, shapes, and colors) as well as antique and vintage religious prints. I think some of my guests might think I have gone too far -- but I love religious prints and I would think they would sleep well knowing that Jesus and the Blessed Mother were looking over them at night.

To my husband's horror --

I found the little men on the bench (cork screw, bottle opener, and cork) at an estate sale the other day. I think I will start a new collection of cork screws, I tell my husband. He said he didn't think I needed another collection. So I bought the other cork screw at the next estate sale I went to. It has a really cool handle. We'll see if this collection takes off or if it is just a fleeting fancy.