MEDITERRANEAN PIZZA BREAD

I haven't posted a recipe in a long time and decided it was time. Those of you who know me know that cooking is not my favorite thing to do; but for some reason, my family likes to eat.

This is an easy, quick recipe that can be used for an appetizer or as a side dish to roasted meat.

MEDITERRANEAN PIZZA BREAD

8 slices of Italian bread (sliced about 1/2-inch thick)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

3 seeded and chopped Roma tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped and pitted black olives

6 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix olive oil, oregano, and red pepper flakes together; then brush mixture on both sides of bread slices. Bake on baking sheet for about 4 minutes. Turn slices upside down. Combine cheeses. Sprinkle slices with the cheese mixture, reserving about 1/2 cup to sprinkle on the top. Then sprinkle each slice with tomatoes, olives, and remaining cheese. Return to oven, baking until cheese melts.

Hope you enjoy this easy side dish.

A NEW TREND??

I heard that there is a new trend when building McMansions to include a snoratorium. This is a small bedroom off of the master bedroom where a snorer (or the one being snored upon) may go sleep when the snore noise becomes unbearable. The extra room may also be used when one partner is ill.

All of this discussion brought to mind my childhood. Below is a mosaic of my childhood farm. My grandparent's house was the big house on the left side in the first picture. My parents and I lived in the little 3-room house in the center; and later in the house across the road.

Grandma and Grandpa built the house in 1914 right after my father was born. It is a wonderful, huge house built in the Arts & Crafts style. It has a huge living room, dining room, office, and a screened-in porch all with big windows; lovely woodwork, and built-in window seats. The bedrooms upstairs are enormous with walk-in closets. My parents lived in the house for several years after Grandma moved to town, but that was after I was married. The farm was then sold in the 1960s.

Nothing is new under the sun, as this house had a snoratorium! The down stair's master bedroom had a small room attached with windows on two sides. I remember it contained a closet, dresser, Grandma's sewing machine, and Grandpa's twin bed for those nights of excess snoring. They called it Grandpa's sleeping porch, but it wasn't a porch at all.

So, what do you think? Should every house have a snoratorium?

AESTHETIC BROWN TRANSFERWARE

My favorite collectible has to be brown transferware from the 19th century aesthetic period. Finding pieces in my budget over the last 15 years has been a journey, but I have managed to amass a nice little collection. To receive a piece as a gift is a real bonus! My friend, Jan, also collects brown transferware and on her travels found this pedestal plate. She knew how much I fell in love with it, so she gave it to me for my birthday.

It has an incised mark on the bottom, but I can't make it out. I'm guessing that it is about 1880.

I love the Asian influence in the pattern, but the piece was probably made in England.

If anyone out there in blogland has any info on this piece, I would appreciate hearing from you. (All pictures can be clicked on to enlarge for a better look at the pattern.)

Thanks, Jan, for a wonderful addition to my collection.

Next week I'm joining the following parties:

A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

These blogs are always so full of fun stuff - be sure to visit them for lots of inspiration.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE

Just a quick post to wish our son, Mike, a Happy Birthday.

Here he is at age 3 - such a cutie and so full of curiosity.

And now, he is 43. Where did all of those years go? Still so full of curiosity; always seeking adventure and knowledge.
He's always had a desire to learn about this world, and now to pass that information on to his students. Congratulations on all of your accomplishments, Dr. S.

Cloche Party Time

It is time for Marty's annual Spring Cloche Party. Well, I'm reluctantly being pulled out of Winter mode (my favorite season). I know that I'm the only one in blogland not looking forward to Spring. So, this is about as close as I get to Spring decorating. For all of you Spring aficionados, gaze at these two plates next to my cloche for inspiration.

The plates were hand-painted by the noted Colorado china painter, Anna Peters, in the early 20th century. She was especially recognized for her rose renderings, so it is unusual to find a plate with columbines on it. However, the columbine is the Colorado state flower, which would probably explain it.
The cloche is covering a Murano glass egg that my son brought to me from Italy a couple of years ago. The wooden base is a piece that my Dad turned 30 years ago from a walnut tree that had been planted in the 1800s in the small town I grew up in. I've had that base all of these years just waiting for something special to display on it. It connects my Dad and my son, who is named after his grandfather. The pink marble lamp in the background was a wedding present to my parents in 1937. All are treasures I cherish.

Please check out Marty's blog, A Stroll Thru Life,

for some real Spring cloche inspiration.

GALLERY WALL

The dining room in our 1980's small ranch-style home is basically a hallway that connects the kitchen to the rest of the house. We have a 7-foot narrow harvest table that sits in the center of the room, which we really enjoy. But, it doesn't leave any room on the side walls for furniture. I've really struggled with what to do with this long wall, but I'm finally satisfied with a gallery of pictures, plates, and small shelves.

My latest addition to this wall are the two Bavarian bird plates, one that I bought from ebay for $7 and the other from an estate sale for $3. Then, I found the two frames that are marked Germany at a junk store for $1 each.

They say (whoever THEY are?) that if you buy what you love then everything will go together. I love both the plates and the frames, so I just put them together.

The remainder of the pictures are watercolors, oils, and prints that I have picked up at estate and yard sales over the years.

This week I will be partying with the following:

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Common Ground for Vintage Inspiration Friday

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Please check out these wonderful blogs for great inspiration.

MAD FOR PLAID

It seems that the last couple of years plaid has been everywhere! I've always loved plaid, and the resurgence has really refueled my interest.

I thought I would take a look into my personal archives, and see if my love of plaid has remained steady.

Let's start with the 1940s. Every girl in grade school had a plaid dress. I was no exception.

Then in the 1950s, we all had our plaid shirts with the rolled-up sleeves to wear with our jeans with the rolled-up cuffs. Check out the plaid picnic blanket in the first picture; then the plaid curtains in my dorm room. By the way, do you think I was infatuated with this boy? Well, the plaid shirts must have worked, because he married me in 1958.
In the 1960s our nest sported plaid curtains.

Every little boy's room in the 1970s needed plaid wallpaper. We remember hanging this wallpaper one Sunday afternoon while listening to the Super Bowl, but you shouldn't get distracted when hanging plaid paper - if it isn't perfectly level, you have a mess. Ours looks pretty straight. Check out the macrame owl on the wall; please forgive me as it was the 70s after all.

Evidently, the mauve/blue years of the 1980s weren't conducive to plaid as I couldn't find any plaid fabrics in my house pictures for those years. But, I did make a quilt with red and & white plaid in 1988, and named it 'Tartan'.
This is our guest room in the 1990s with a plaid comforter and red plaid pillows under the floral pillow cases.

In the 2000s our dining room sported plaid valances that matched the wallpaper border that I hand-cut around all of those paisleys. Our dining room decor has changed a couple of times since then with the wallpaper, border and valances out of there.

The last couple of years I have been making pillows out of recycled Ralph Lauren plaid skirts. You can read one of those posts here.

Below is my newest pillow that I made last week. In 1967, we were in a Saskatoon, Canada department store where this fabric was displayed as the official Tartan of Canada's centennial. So I bought a half of a yard. This piece of fabric has moved with us from house to house over the years, and I decided it was time I did something with it.

I guess that means that my infatuation with plaid has come full circle.

I will be joining the following parties this week. Please check out these blogs for a plethora of inspiration.

Savvy Southern Style for Wow us Wednesdays

Little Red House for Mosaic Monday

Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday

Funky Junk Interiors for Saturday Nite Special

I GUESS YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD!

I mentioned in my last post how much we enjoy winter, and that the Colorado mountains are just glorious. This past weekend our church had a sledding party at the San Isabel National Forest. Our granddaughter was going with her youth group, but our grandson was too young unless accompanied by his family; so what are grandparents to do, but go!

We probably had no business going with my artificial hips on snow, ice and uneven ground; and Bob with his muscular dystrophy, braces, and cane. But, we went and had a blast!

What a thrill to watch kids have so much fun doing something old-fashioned and free!

Wyatt had never been on a sled before; but before Bob & I had hiked into the sledding area, he had gone down the hill (backwards!) and was trudging back up to go again. He went up and down the small hill, then the big hill so many times; he was one tired boy.



This is the frozen lake at the bottom of the small hill.

The big hill - it's a long way up there, but what a thrill coming down.

The older kids would line up on their individual sleds, hook their legs around the one in front of them; and go down in tandem.

Who's that old guy with the cane trudging up the hill? Bob went up the big hill about a third of the way, met Wyatt with his sled, then slid down with his cane on his lap. I wasn't as adventurous - it was enough just walking around. I only fell once flat out on my tummy; but one of those nice teenagers quickly came over to help me up!

Some hot chocolate to warm the body before hiking back to the car.

The road out of the forest was muddy/snowy and tricky to navigate; but we all made it home safely.

A small lesson relearned: sometimes joy outweighs a little risk.

I'm joining Susan of A Southern Daydreamer

for Outdoor Wednesday

P.S.: I know these are lousy pictures. Hopefully I'll have a new camera soon.

MY HEART TUGGERS!

Hello everyone! I'm not back to regular blogging yet, as I still don't have a new camera. Progress is being made in that direction, however. The weather here in Colorado has been cold and snowy, and I LOVE it. Warm and toasty inside, and beautiful outside - our mountains are glorious right now.

I'm stopping by as I just didn't want to miss the opportunity to wish my Valentine boy a happy 9th birthday. With those freckles and imagination, Wyatt, you tug at my heart every day!

And, a Happy Valentine's Day to my other heart tugger - Miss Caitlin!

Grandchildren are the BEST Valentines in the world!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU, TOO!

BYE FOR AWHILE

I'm going to take an extended break from posting on my blog. I need a new camera, and with my limited budget for things like that, it may be awhile.

In the meantime, I'll still be lurking around in blogland, visiting my favorite blogs, and making comments. The blog world is such a source of inspiration for me that I could never give that up. PLUS, all of the wonderful friends I have made through blogging the last 2 1/2 years has been an unexpected bonus.

I hope you don't forget me - hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later!

Best wishes to all of you!

Sally

CABIN COZY

The Christmas glitz is packed away, and the cold weather has settled in here in Colorado. I was ready for some 'cozy cabin' feel to my house. I figured a quick quilting project was the answer.


In a few hours I made a new patchwork table runner for the dining room. It consists of seven identical blocks with a paisley border and is machine quilted.


To top it off, I have a good, old-fashioned cold; my sinuses feel like they may explode. So I think I'll go get cozy in my chair and read a decorating book I borrowed from a friend this morning.




I will be linking up with the following linky parties. Be sure to check them out for lots of winter inspiration.

Kim at Savvy Southern Style
for the Boring to Better party


Marty at A Stroll Thru Life
for Table Top Tuesday

Donna at Funky Junk Interiors
for Saturday Nite Special

OLD MEMORIES, NEW BEGINNING

Kate at Centsational Girl has a post today about day planners asking what our favorite tool for organizing our days would be.

I'm obviously sold on using a day planner where I can write things down. Below is the drawer in my desk where I keep all of my old day planners - many, many years of them. They are handy and I refer to them often.

I picked just one to show you. This is my 1967 planner, and it shows that on July 11th at 3:00 pm I had an appointment with Dr. Danner and above I had written, "Hooray!! Hooray!!" I found out I was pregnant with my first-born after 9 years of marriage. And there is scrap of paper attached, where I counted out the days to figure when this bundle of joy was to be born. Do you think I was excited? That was almost 44 years ago. Also, on that same day at 5:00 we had an appointment to look at a house we ended up purchasing - the nesting instinct kicked in fast!
Everyone of these old day planners has tidbits of info in them. I always recorded heights and weights of our kids when they had doctor's appointments, etc. etc.


And here we are -- time to file away 2010 and begin a brand new year with new scribbles in my 2011 calendar.

For quite a few years now, my publisher, American Quilter's Society, has sent me a quilt art calendar which I enjoy using.

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY

Yes, New Year's Day is my favorite holiday. Let me explain!

I'm not a very celebratory person. All of the other major holidays actually fill me with dread. I know I'm weird; a psychologist could probably get to the bottom of it for me, but I don't need to know why. It probably has something to do with the fact that I was an only child with very little extended family. Yea, blame it on my parents!

Back to the lack of a celebration personality--- My entire adult life, I have been a wife, then a mother and grandmother; and have always felt the need to do my part to fulfill the expectations of others on holidays. There is all of the cooking (my least favorite thing to do) and the getting together with in-laws, out-laws, kids, etc. etc. I'm not the most social person and thoroughly enjoy being alone, so everything is a chore for me.

That brings us to New Year's Day. In our family, there are no expectations. We have no food traditions and no history of get-togethers. Just a day of whatever happens - NO EXPECTATIONS! My favorite kind of holiday!

I have compensated for my 72 years of not being a big occasion celebration person by trying to find joy in the little things of every single day. So my wish for you is that 2011 brings you some bit of joy and happiness every day of the year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FAVORITE PROJECTS - 2010

It is the end of 2010 already, and time to review our favorite projects for the year! Here are mine in no particular order.

We found this old commercial-type cupboard with sliding doors at an auction, and knew that with its dimensions it would be perfect to house our TV in the living room. This is not our primary TV watching area, so the sliding doors were a bonus. Unfortunately, this cupboard was a mess and had been in a barn for many years. It cleaned up well, and has become a favorite!

I love to find thrifted Ralph Lauren wool skirts, and transform them into pillows.

I've waited several years to be able to have this green vinyl chair recovered professionally.
I love the new red upholstery!

I also waited several years to trade out my old china cupboard for something I liked better. We found this one that needed refinishing. After Bob refinished it, I lined the inside with fabric.

I love the details!

The project that was probably the most fun was the building of the tree house in our backyard. I had nothing to do with it, but Wyatt and his Papa sure had fun.

He was one happy boy when it was done!

I finally found an alabaster lamp in my price range after looking for a long time. It needed a new shade, so I purchased a self-adhesive one and covered it with my favorite toile fabric that I had bought 10 years ago from a French vendor.

We refinished and recovered a $2 chair purchased at an auction.

I love a pretty paisley fabric.

And finally, I made some red wool pillows from bargain fabric and estate-sale velvet ribbon for the living room.

I'll be joining the following parties to wrap up 2010. Please check out these hostesses for a plethora of inspiration.

Rhoda of Southern Hospitality

for Top Ten Projects of 2010

Kim of Savvy Southern Style

for the Boring to Better party