Saturday, June 27, 2009

Too Hot to Cook!

Happy Pink Saturday!

Salads

That's what we do when it's too hot to cook. Paper Plates and Cups full of ice are regular fare.

However, when the males are out of the house (which is SO rare!) I indulge myself at dinner time and use my Pink Petunia Pastelware and pretty stem ware and set dinner on a pink TV tray rescued via garage sale or flea market.



Cold Tuna salad with Parmesan Toast Triangles and a side of Pea Salad, flanked with a BIG goblet of Flavored Iced Tea.



A wonderful alternative to slaving over a hot stove.

Special thanks to our sweet Hostess: Beverly at How Sweet The Sound Hop on over to see what other Pink Goodies are being showcased today!

Have a wonder day!

Stay COOL,
Melissa

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Heat Waves...

Weather.com sez:
Cloudy
101°F
Feels Like
107°F
Updated: Jun 24 04:25 p.m. CT

My little temperature thang on the side sez it's 99*

Probably doesn't work over that...people shouldn't either.

The AC man is coming out because yesterday I thought the AC wasn't working. Then I remember ACs don't cool much below 20* over the outside.

Thanking those clouds in the sky right now and thinking that is thunder I'm hearing.

Pretend you are seeing an Oasis instead of heat waves rising from the ground...imagine a nice cold glass of iced tea maybe some snow on the ground...maybe you are shivering a bit. Yes, that is what I am doing. So nice to have company.

Hugs for hanging with me,
Melissa

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Greetings, Pinkies!

It's a Gorgeous Pink Saturday!

I've seen many lovely Roses, Peonies and Petunias these last few weeks...leaving me wishing I had put in that rose garden and maybe researched names of those I'd love to grow. Until then, I am enjoying other Blogger's photos of their gardens as they spring to life!

I've been embroidering this week with the Office Assistants curiously watching what I am doing with these hands...when I should be petting them, scratching their heads and rubbing their bellies.

I remembered a Mouse Pad I designed and sold for a while...thought you might like to take a peek and share the lift these sayings provide. They put 'things' in perspective for the Weekend and the rest of our beautiful days!



Toss perfection and give yourself a HUG!

Then pop on over to Beverly's for the Pink Saturday line up. Special thanks to our hostess Beverly for providing us these Pink Pleasures!

Melissa

Friday, June 12, 2009

Happy Pink Saturday!

Wow, already the second week in June! I would really like to know just where that time went, wouldn't you? So many things I want to do, ideas spinning in my mind left undone or half done. This is the year I decided to take action. Finish up the started projects, start the new ones and break away from the computer and LIVE.

Don't get me wrong, I still start my day with coffee and blogs, reading a few emails. But when the house clears and the morning rush turns into a day, I'm in my dining room sketching, sewing, painting, thinking...living my day.

And that brings me to Pink Saturday... :)

Last week I showed some of my trays to help me stay organized. This week my plan was to show this and a few other items:


It's a vanity mirror from long ago painted pretty. I keep it on my desk with my dad's old hole punch from his office in downtown Dallas. (I also keep prescription bottles there when necessary or pens and pencils.) I LOVE old stuff! And being his makes it all the more dear. I feel like I possess a bit of History to go along with the stories I heard from his travels and the goings on at 'the office'.

It's not pink, I know...

But it has a place of honor in this tray of Pink.

And thanks to Beverly at How Sweet The Sound I am able to share it with you like 'Show and Tell' in Elementary school. I would have brought the wooden file boxes and the old Royal typewriter but they weren't Pink and I imagine on Pink Saturday Pink is expected.

With the storms we had Wednesday evening through Thursday morning and the details brought on by the aftermath, I quite forgot about Pink Saturday until just now (10ish on Friday night). I hope you will forgive and return next Saturday where I will have some pretties to display.

Till then...LIVE your life. Step out of the ordinary routine and experience the difference.

AFTER Pink Saturday, of course! Click here to enjoy the beauty Beverly has blessed us with for over a year!

About 7:30am I'll be grabbing my Yum mug out of the dishwasher, filling it with the coffee my fabulous Man will have made and tuning in to Beverly's to get a Pink start for my day...

Hugs for Living,
Melissa

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Talk about being in the eye of the storm...

Wow, the last 24 hours have been crazy!

Getting dinner ready yesterday afternoon I was so thankful for the overcast skies. It sure kept the heat out of the kitchen, though the humidity was High. Once the cornbread was baking, I had time for a little internet surfing and Iced Tea.

It was VERY still outside...not good...so I pulled up the weather report about the same time as my guys called me to see something outside. They were very excited so I ran to the back to see rain pelting the patio. But it was the whirling, swirling of the clouds above us that caused us to be wide eyed.

Back inside, to the covered front porch we ran for shelter from the rain and better view of the sky. We stood there for a few seconds when a large branch was snapped from this tree and thrown to the ground.



Notice the house is missing a set of shutters on the right window? They just had them painted last week. Ugh!

Well, we knew to get back in the house!

In the kitchen the window over my sink was closed and locked but water was filtering in from the force of the wind...I was cleaning up the water when my son commanded I get out of the kitchen as he was afraid the window would break. Good thinking, so I complied.

The storm sirens were going off all around as the trees were being twisted, their branches swaying hard left, right then straight down. In minutes the water was over the curb and 5 trash cans from back alleys had found there way to the high water intersection. The yards looks littered with foot long branches and bits of roof shingles.

And then we lost power.

It had to be mid 90s when the power went out. My original plan was to take a shower once the corn bread was cooked but no way I was getting in the shower with the winds so high and a tornado on the ground three blocks over.

Mom called to tell me we were having bad weather, Hubby called to tell me he was sending employees to shelter.

I still hear the sirens ringing like a casino in my head. The pulsating of the warning system and the race of police and rescue sirens over lapped each other with the sound of a fire truck passing occasionally down the main road.

And, our own alarm system squawking at each pulse. Loud blaring smoke alarm and the panel beeping out of control, 3 of us trying to make it stop and couldn't. We had momentary control for half hour intervals and still I don't know why,with no power, the blasted thangs kept going off. But they did.

9:30 we had dead quiet peace from the wind...finally. Three waves had hit hard.

The doors stood wide open to let in a breeze that was cool but wet, as the rains were gentle summer sprinkles highlighted with viscous lightening. I prayed the power would come back on soon and went to bed with 3 cats who were weary of loud noises and crazy alarm systems.

Still

Hot

The lightening never ended. The thunder rumbled once to the end of the Earth and back around until I had no idea if it was the same thunder or a different one.

I got up 6 or 7 times for water, for relief from the fur babies who were laying next to me for comfort.

Finally at 3am the power came back on and the alarm began going crazy once again.

At 5am I went to bed...in the cool confines of my bedroom, fan blowing it's assurance of comfort.

At 6:30am I am aware of nothing but my son's near hysterical words as he flew downstairs announcing another tornado. He was numb, half asleep, sitting on the stairs sobbing. I didn't hear the pop nor was I awakened by the brightness of the lightening that hit our street...only the sound of him in need of comfort and my husband and older son's excited voices as they stood looking out the windows.

And again that alarm system roaring its presence!

And still I have had no shower, dried on sweat, hair matted, nerves spent. I grabbed my flash drives and prepared my laptop for a journey...told everyone to get dressed as we might not want to be found walking around like we looked.

Jeans and a t-shirt with pocket for my two flash drives, brushed my teeth, found my shoes and tried to think straight.

About 7am, my older son agreed to drive me up to look at the house on the corner. Hubby pointed out it's tree was laying on the ground and looked like shrubs.





But on the way to the corner, we passed this...and it looked worse in the back yard. We live on the other side of that red brick to the right.





We road up a couple streets and shot these photos...different house, same photo. Trees snapped like tooth picks laying on the ground.




I've never seen telephone poles leaning like this...You can see the blue in the left of the photo signaling another round of storms so we turned onto our street to go home.





Today we ran into town and saw more trees on houses, trees snapped like tooth picks at the base or totally uprooted. The apartment down the street had bricks blown off and the roof slid off as well. I haven't seen and news as our internet and TV have been down until just now. They had to totally reinstall our FIOS.

We are finally back online, The television DVR will be here tomorrow, power is up and we are cool. The alarm system has settled down. The cats are curled up in the windows or on chairs and I think we will all sleep better tonight.

I'm off to see if I can find any news on what happened in our area last night but wanted to post photos while it was on my mind.

I sure hope things have been peaceful where you are and look forward to visiting everyone's blogs.

Gosh, it was horrible being without TV and internet!!

Hugs to all,
Melissa

Friday, June 5, 2009

Creative Chaos for Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday!

A friend gave me a compliment saying: 'Even when your house is messy it still looks nice.' When I thought about it further it made sense. It's the way I organize my chaos. And believe me...my house can be quite the mess! But to keep my sanity and my projects (magazines, spy novels, holiday note cards, menus, anything!) organized...

I use trays.

It helps me keep what I'm working on in one location. If I want to change locations, I just pick up the tray and off I go. If I know my MIL is on her way over, it's a fast clean up. Just stack them to the side and it looks like you decorate that way!



I keep some stacked in this wicker shelf thing to hold magazine photos I love, card stock, printer paper, colored paper, etc. I also use wooden or metal vintage boxes to organize software, photos, flash drives, etc. My fav is the pink box with roses and the large rose knob. LOVE that knob!



When I sew, I have a tray that has sewing stuff I use all the time. Seam rippers, glue (yes, I sew with that...lol!) threads, etc.

This photo shows how I keep templates organized...this is the Faux Cathedral Window template I've covered with pink rose paper and the little squares to finish that project.



Solid colors would be beautiful too! Black or White, Red, Robins egg blue.

Use the trays as part of your decor or stacked in shelves, really keeps things out of site, organized and easy to reach...and it doesn't look too bad just sittin' around.



Why not make up some of these as Mixed Media Art? Decoupage them, add decals, vintage wallpapers, etc. It's really helped me keep up with all my crafty items without loosing my mind...At least I know where stuff is and that is half the game. The other half is making the junque look nice.

Well, that's my two cents for a Pink Saturday!

Hop on over to Beverly's and see the rest of the Pink Saturday fun!

Pink Hugs and have a lovely weekend!,
Melissa