Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Welcome!

Let me turn the music down so we can visit.  I've got speakers wired into
our kitchen so I can play all my favorite Christmas tunes while I bake.
I think it's my favorite place to be at Christmastime.

You've seen the wall above numerous times, but this winter it feels warmer
in the room with the stenciled wallpaper.  Our big window faces north
 which tends to give true whites a chilly bluish cast during the winter months.

 

Since our kitchen wears red and green all year long, decorating for Christmas

takes just a few minutes.  I keep the few things I put out in a small basket
 on a little used upper cabinet shelf, so I don't even have to leave the room to decorate!

 

I moved this set of coasters way up high and out of reach of little fingers.

There are only 2 smiling faces left and I want to preserve them.

Do you hear that Maggie, our little climber?
Future firefighter perhaps?

Note to self:  Hide my ladder.

It's nice to be able to add small pops of color on my open shelving.
The ( Holt Howard?) salt & pepper shakers I've had forever
are a favorite of mine and that's why they're on the high altitude shelf. 

I finished painting the remaining kitchen walls a slightly warmer white

as you can see under the bakery sign.  Leftover kitchen "greens" and a pine cone wreath
decorate the space above the coat rack in the back entryway.

I've now got enough Santa nut cups to fill my sterilizer cabinet.

The reclining elf-on-the-sewing-machine-drawer-shelf is joined by
 vintage mushroom candle holders that I found on clearance after Christmas last year.

This is the room where we coffee drinkers like to hang out,
the kiddos eat breakfast and lunch, and the cooking happens,
so a few holiday accents bring a festive feel without taking up valuable space.

FYI, the chalk painted table and chairs finished with MMS clear furniture wax

are holding up nicely, and clean up easily with a mild vinegar and warm water solution.
Kid tested, grandma approved.

One tiny change here is the red & white crocheted romper pot holder

on the wall above the green scale.

Once again, the boss man keeps an eye on what's happening below.

View from the dining room before the baking starts.

Now it's time to crank up my Christmas tunes and bake some cookies!

This year's Christmas selfie (gift bought for one's self) is the set of 3 bowls
for only $5.99 at Walgreens, of all places!  I could not resist.

For years, I've marveled over the pretty gingerbread houses
and beautifully decorated cookies displayed in Scandinavian kitchens,
so today I made time to bake and decorate my own.

OMG.

They are way more labor intensive than one would think,
so of the 5 dozen cookies my recipe made, this is as many as my
stiff slightly arthritic hands could decorate at one time!

Unfortunately they will not be hanging in the windows and strung across shelves.
  They will be locked up tight in covered containers.

Have you read KariAnne's story about her disappearing gingerbread men?
(If not, click on her name for the lowdown.  Let me tell you, it's all
 fun & games when you're reading about somebody else's house.)


 Much to my horror and dismay, we discovered a pair uninvited guests
  stirring in our house this holiday season.  Eeek!!!!
  Let's add a few more !!!!!!! to let you know how I really feel about them!!!!!


 They've now been "escorted off the property", so to speak, and I don't think I'll be
 inviting them back in any time soon for biscuits and tea.

To all creatures, great and small, Merry Christmas!

Vickie

Do you remember the rhyme from your childhood that goes like this....

Group:  Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

   Mousie stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

Mousie:  Who me?
 Group:  Yes you!

 Mousie:  Couldn't be. 

Group:  Then who?

 Mousie:  (insert name here) stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

Repeat until everybody in the bus has a turn.

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Winter Blunderland.

This time of year, everybody's in a great big hurry,
so if you're here for a quick dining room tour, welcome!
  For those of you who want the inside scoop,
 you'll find it at the end of the post.

The biggest change this year is my all white (I know) mantel
featuring an old doll dresser that's been repaired and painted
just in time for Christmas.  Enjoy!

 

  

I'm running out of daylight, so that concludes this year's

911 Christmas dining room tour.

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie 

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** Behind the scenes;  take two deux.

 I thought I'd impress you with what I learned during my deux months

 of high school French class.  My instructor was surely a twin sister to the 

Wicked Witch of the West, so I dropped the class despite her dire warning

 that I'd live to regret my decision.

Oh, I don't think so Prunella Prunepuss.

Well.

   As you can see above, I misspelled Joyeux and had to take 

all my photos over again!!!!!

Guess who's laughing cackling now, my pretty?

Do you see the unsightly black box under our buffet?
1990 sound system gone bad.

Two years ago the drawer to this CD player snapped off when I was trying to

pry it open with a screwdriver.  This year, thank you very much, the power button

fell inside the player, so in order to play my Christmas tunes,

I have to reach in with my pinky finger and push the teeny tiny

offset switch inside.  Are you listening Santa?

Au revoir,
Vickie

Ready for a long winter's nap.

Bedroom no. 3 is by no means done, but here's where it's at this holiday season.

The chore board and shelf were hand-me-downs from our youngest daughter.

I added a few hooks to hang vintage baby gowns.

I had planned to paint the dresser gray, but the yellow adds a bit of sunshine

to this room during our long gray days of winter.  We replaced the ceiling fan

with the same fandelier we hung in the other bedroom.  It still needs

 bobeches and crystals, but that will come later.

25 cent lampshade tops a pretty lamp from my Baba.

This darling deer was left in a dresser that I'll show you in an upcoming post.

Fish bowl view of this side of the room.  That's a closet door on the right

We made this shelf from lumber we unearthed in our garage.

The "hooks" (or hookers as our youngest grandson calls them)

are a mish mash of porcelain knobs I've collected over time.

The petite size of this smoking stand works well as a bedside table.

It's topped with one of my many doll dressers.

To the left of the door is the alcove that houses my yarn cubby.

I procrastinated so long that I had to resort to painting the bed indoors

with chalk paint.  I gave it 2 coats followed by clear wax and it seems

to be pretty durable.  The alternative was to spray paint in the snow.  :o)

After 5 years of kicking this buffet topper around, I've finally found a use for it.

I filled in the mirror opening with plywood cut to size and painted with
 homemade chalkboard paint.  Then I sketched in the art with plain old white chalk.
  I bought chalkboard markers, but they only work on a flat surface and
 I was not about to take this very heavy piece off the wall!

For those of you who will be sleeping under it, don't worry because

 it's attached with 6 long screws directly into wall studs.

  It's not going anywhere.

The deer I made decades ago have been spiffed up with new glittery wreaths.

I do believe this window has found its final resting spot.

Last year's ho hum candle ring has become this year's window wreath.

Well, that's it for now.

Thanks for visiting and sweet dreams!

Vickie

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Dark and cozy.

After I removed this mirror from the wall behind the Christmas tree,

I gave it a try over our fireplace...... and  (insert angels singing).......

....lo and behold, I actually liked our stodgy old fireplace for the very first time!

Well, that's how I'm feeling today with the snow falling outside

and the lights twinkling indoors.  Tomorrow, who knows?

I usually shy away from using real greens in our house because our steam heat is so drying

 the greenery will probably be brown and crispy in a few days time.  Thinking ahead,

 I intertwined real and faux greens.  I bought a 20 foot cedar garland and only used about half,

so the other half is in cold storage (outside buried under the falling snow).

I think I saved enough to rewind the garland before the holidays.

Here's how it looks in the light of day.




And in the early evening hours.  Sigh. 
I think I'll just sit here for awhile before I clean up the big mess I made.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I've got a few more changes going on that I'll share
 in upcoming posts.  Until then, I hope you take the time to slow down
 and enjoy the season!

Vickie

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Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels!

Vickie

Primitive cubby.

Ta da!

I finished my yarn cubby.

I asked my assistant to cut the wood on my pencil markings,

 but other than that, I planned and built the cubby all by myself.  Soooo,
 if it appears slightly off-kilter in the photo above.....well, it probably is.

Remember, primitive.

I've got Vanna White standing next to the cubby just to give you an idea of its size.

It will be screwed into wall studs in a small recessed area behind the door to the
 unfinished bedroom, but I took the photos against a brighter wall.

Over the past year, I've been selling or donating my vintage stash
collected over almost 4 decades, but here are a few things
 that made the cut to be used in said bedroom.

I painted it this past summer (big mistake), but my assistant was kind enough
to sand off the paint and dark varnish to reveal the soft wood tone underneath.
It still needs some finishing touches, but I think it's a keeper.

Here's how it looked when I bought it at an estate sale back in December of 2011.
Where has the time gone?!

You can't imagine how many times I stubbed my toe on this heavy,
 mirrorless buffet top while it was collecting dust under a bed.

Nabbed from youngest daughter's sell pile at our vintage sale in October.
The last line says "To Bed on Time".

I truly hope this leaded glass window works in the bedroom....

... because I'm getting tired of filling holes in the walls where I've hung it previously.
  And I'd really like to use it somewhere in our house.

I'm sure there are any number of tutorials out there for building a cubby,
so I'll let you follow somebody other than me who knows
what in the world they're doing.

It's constructed of 1 x 12 stock pine with a plywood back.  For a non-toxic, no VOC finish,

I aged the wood with steel wool soaked overnight in vinegar.  Beware!  The vinegar

solution permanently stains clothing and anything else it comes in contact with.
I should not have been wearing those 10 year old jeans anyway, but there you have it.
I've been forced by the hand of fate to update my wardrobe.  :o)

I attached horizontal slats with the rustiest nails I could find

and then added a little faux staining around the nails with black oil paint.

For a smooth clean finish, I applied 2 coats of wax, inside and out.

As you can see, I left enough room on top for a basket to hold 

yarn remnants and works in progress.  The cubby is only 12 inches deep, but the small
suitcase that holds my needles and pattern books fits nicely underneath.

I've got 2 coats of paint on the baseboard trim, but there are a few dozen other things
 to complete before I haul furniture into the room.  My goal is to have the room back together
 before the gang's all here for Thanksgiving, so I better get crackin'!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Vickie

*I took the photo above to use as an autumn screensaver on our home computer,
not really paying much attention to the squirrely details in the photo.

Our oldest granddaughter pointed out that it's a boy.
he he he.

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