Let it snow, let it snow let it snow

The things I love about winter..

Mittens, Hats and Scarves

Warm Sweaters

Hot Chocolate

Baked Apples

Hot Apple Cider

Snow Days

Wool Coats

Thermal Underwear

Home-made Breads and Soups

Snow Boots and Wellies

Wool Coats

Heated Car Seats

Cinnamon & Vanilla Scented Candles

Snowflakes

Hot Apple Pie

making room for the tree

My lovely British military house was not designed in the modern era that's for sure! Even with the 10 month renovation it underwent last year, it's still the same size -okay so a laundry room/mud room was added on, that still doesn't add anything to the areas of this house that need to be larger. Basically the rooms of my British house are small in comparison to American rooms. Trying to fit a Christmas tree in the living room is like trying to put on a pair of shoes that are one size too small- you can do it but it doesn't feel good and you're not going to wear them for very long. That's pretty much sums up how I feel about cramming a Christmas tree into this living room.

So here I am, I'm taking a break from moving our furniture here and there. I've had to put a couple of pieces of furniture in the formal dining room that were in the living room- all because I want to have a Christmas tree. Now both rooms are packed with wall to wall furniture. Oh there's nothing quite like that claustrophobic feeling of furniture closing in on you for Christmas, LOL!

On a lighter note, my husband did get the Christmas lights strung on the house before the temperature dipped into the teens last night. Brrrr, it sure is nippy out there today! We're expecting some snow tonight!

Busy is as Busy does

It's one of those weeks for me- just being plain busy! We Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving this week. Now I had 2 different British women ask me today what Thanksgiving is about (one thought it was our independence day). I told them it's about being thankful for the blessing that you've had throughout the year. It's a time of gathering your family and friends round and being "together". For me, it's a time of community service- giving back to my military and local communities. I'm collecting items to give to the local Food Bank, buying grocery store gift cards to help out a local church, gearing up for serving and hostessing at the big Thanksgiving dinner happening at our base and a whole lot more!

So I better get on with it, tomorrow is the big Pie Social at the base where all sorts of local folks have been invited to attend. Me, well being that everyone seems to be bringing apple, cherry or pumpkin pie to the event I thought that a New York Cheesecake with strawberry topping would be a nice change of pace. I better get myself into the kitchen and start baking it eh?

Baby it's cold outside!

What to do on a rainy day...

• Clean your house
• Do the laundry
• Play with your pet
• Write a letter to a friend
• Read a book
• Watch a movie
• Have copious amounts of tea and biscuits
• Surf the web
• Plan meals for the week
• Wash the windows (on the inside of course)
• Ring up an old friend
• Organize your pantry
• Look through clothing and do repairs
• Change sheets on all of the beds in your house

There's always something to do around MY house, how about yours?

Sunday

My husband and I spent the better part of our Sunday in the little community of Aston-Clinton. What a wonderful community it was too! My husband was part of a ceremony that honored the fallen during WW1, WW2 and the current war in the gulf. It was amazing to see so many from the local community turn out for this event. After the wreath ceremony there was a procession up to the local church where we attended church (this was my first time attending a Church of England service). Afterwards we got to talk with many of the town officials and got to learn some more history of the area and of a US plane crash that happened there during WW2.

Afterwards we dined with a British Army commander and had a tour of a historic weekend house that was built by one of the Rothschild Family back in the late 1800's (it's now used as an Officers Mess). The place was fantastic!

Now if I could figure out how to get pictures off of my cell phone and onto my computer I'd be set to share some with you!

American Football

My husband and daughter LOVE Halloween but this year they were torn to be here OR to go to an American Football game that was being held at Wembley Stadium. You can all guess where they were, yup they went to the see the San Francisco 49ers (my home team) play against the Denver Bronco's. I handed out candy to the scads of kids and parents that came to my front door and they watched men running around in the cold with a pigskin. They both had a terrific time and said they'd do it all over again!

Halloween

Halloween in out little community is HUGE. How big is huge you wonder. Well this year I liken the crowds of people to be something like Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I've never seen crowds like this- ever! It was a seriously insane amount of people coming through this little neighborhood- much more than live in the local area that's for sure!

I had an 18 gallon Rubbermaid tote over flowing with candy and withing 1½ hours it was GONE! All handed out to children of all sizes who came knocking at our door. The next morning you could see how every-one's lawns were trampled by the stampeding crowds of people that were here. It was obvious just from the look for the neighborhood that there were tons more people here this year than last year!

Granted, I never had any unruly people knock on my door. When I ran out of candy they all understood and were polite (I even posted a sign on my front door stating that I was sorry but I had run out of candy). But I had heard from some friends that they had some rather uneasy and even tense moments with some groups of people when they had run out of treats to hand out. Halloween is supposed to be a fun time for children, lets have it be for the children and in the spirit that it was intended. No one needs to be rude, obnoxious or threatening.

I want to end this post on a high note. For being in a country that does not "do" Halloween, the British families really get into making costumes. It was great to see parents and grand parents dressed up in costumes going out with their children. Heck sometimes the family dog was wearing a costume. The most fun I had was when folks wanted to have their picture taken in front of our house or better yet, standing next to our automated gargoyle. It was cracking me up! We had carved pumpkins in the windows, the smoke machine was in full force, strobe light and more!

Hellos and Good Byes

Being a military spouse isn't an easy job. We're the ones that go through the constant heartache of losing friends to a PCS (military move) year after year. I used to let myself get upset about this thing that I couldn't control- those damn military moves taking my best buds away! I'd throw myself a little pity party as I hated "losing friends to a PCS" and the worst part was being the one that was left behind. I got tired of the constant heartache and that's when I decided one day to look at it from a different angle. God has given me a fantastic opportunity to show new people the wonderful places that I've discovered- the little places to have lunch with a girlfriend (or my kids), the places where to buy those hard to find items, a yummy place for a cup of coffee or tea, where you can get yourself a cool scarf, the places to take your family to set up a great back drop for a family photo, etc. Look at all of the wonderful things you've shared with your "old friends" that you can now show to "new friends". And when YOU leave, all of those wonderful things will continue to be passed on. It's like you're leaving behind a legacy. Look at it as never really saying good bye but as always saying" Hello".

My Antique Shop Treasures

I saw (it's been many months ago now) in a magazine, a sitting room decorated in a manner that has stuck with me and has been in my head for quite some time. I'll have to wait until we get state side once again to find some wing back chairs, I've got the Turkish Rug and maybe I'll get lucky find a small table while here. Okay lets get back on topic- Then a little while back on the internet (HGTV to be exact) I saw a formal dining room decorated in a manner that I thought quite pleasing. Elegant yet not too formal to make ones guests feel uncomfortable. Then I saw a some more photo's of this persons house and loved what she had done with her Blue and white Staffordshire pottery collection. I knew that I wanted to recreate a similar look for my own home with my collection of blue and white pieces. Here's the link to Tetbury's photo's over on HGTV's website. Now here's the look I've recreated...

Actually it's 2 of the looks combined into one. My British house alas has narrow poky hallways and compartmentalized rooms. The picture you see here is in my breakfast room. But once I get back to New England I'll be able to have a larger house (hopefully one with an actual entry way like I had in my last house). I've found these items in various Antique shops here in the UK, on e-bay UK , the RAF Croughton gift shop and of course at the Burleigh Company factory shop in Stoke on Trent. Now if you'd like to catch up on the lovely person who created those wonderful rooms over on HGTV, well here's a link to her Blog Antiqueaholic, it's well worth checking out!

Dreaming of my next house

With retirement in 6 months and the actual move within a few short weeks after that...It's got me thinking and dreaming about my next house. I know exactly what I want to do with the next one! I wonder what kind of house we'll end up buying- oh I hope that it's a Salt Box design as it's such a classic New England style house! I've got plans for the various rooms and areas of the house-from our reading area (which will be the formal living room) to the eat in kitchen, the formal dining room and the family room! I've got some pretty nifty ideas and with a few things purchased here in England, well I'll be able to put together something quite spiffy!

My British Goodies!

I have loved Royal Albert's Old Country Roses China since before I was married. My mother-in-law has this pattern and when I saw it I knew that THIS was the china pattern for me! Did I get this as my wedding china? No. Would I have liked this as my wedding china? You know it! So I made up for lost time and bought this pieces a little at a time on e-bay UK. There's no way I would pay the awful high prices back in the states for something made in Malaysia when all I want is the real deal that was made in England! I found a couple of pieces (cups and saucers) in antique shops but I was wanting more than teacups and saucers, I was in want of a dinner service! I bought a little here and there and now I have the china service of my dreams! Granted the only so called extra pieces I have are the teapot, creamer and sugar bowl and a cake/sandwich plate- but I'm fine with that. Platters and bowls- well I have plenty of those in other patterns!

Here we go with other things...Lilliput Lane houses. I got my first one back in 1992 the year our son was born. My husband was on tdy (an acronym for military business trip) to England. He brought my back "Penny Sweets". I was in love! Over the years he would bring me back one whenever he went to England. The rest I've managed to find here and there in Antique shops, Charity shops or have bought at the BX at RAF Lakenheath.

Now the Curio cabinet- we bought this yesterday at our favorite Antique Shop, The Brackley Antique Cellar. We've been looking for a curio cabinet for years, never found one that we really liked. So we've waited. I saw this on Friday and hoped and prayed that it would still be there on Sunday when I could take my husband in to see it (and check it over). It's got claw and ball feet and a skeleton key that lock it closed, how cool is that?!! We plan on add lighting to the cabinet once we get state side.

Burleigh Pottery- I thought that I was immune to the Blue & White pottery phenomenon that is after all, a very British thing to collect and display and I was for the most part since I'm not into the Asiatic Pheasant or the Oriental Blue Willow designs (and that's what seems to be most prevalent out here). Then I went to the Burleigh factory and saw all of the blue and white (and other colors too) that were all out on display before me and then I knew...THIS is the Blue & White pottery for Me! I'm standing there looking at all of the different flower prints and I could not make up my mind, I liked them all- okay I liked most of them (dark blue and red). The pale blue prints aren't really for me, it was dark blue that really caught my eye! I started small, only a few teacups and dessert plates and I worked my way up from there. The cow creamers are adorable! Seriously, who can resist buying at least one? I don't have it all out on display, I have some more pieces tucked away in my sideboard. I even own a piece of green Burleigh (a serving bowl in the retired pomegranate print- which is apparently a pretty rare piece). I've got pitchers, soups bowls, cake plates, a sandwich tray and my cool little canister that holds my loose tea. The Burleigh teapots are awesome because they don't dribble, not at all!

My new to me Sideboard was a stumble upon find at the antique store yesterday. As my husband and I were poking around in what I call "spooky corner" (it's the part of the store where there's so much furniture china and stuff piled up that if it fell on you, you'd never be found alive). Well... as were in spooky corner waiting for the sales staff to dig out a path to take the Curio cabinet up to the check out desk were looking around at "things" and as I see my spouse looking at stuff it's then that I realize that I'm standing right in front of a really neat Sideboard. We start looking at it and I of course look at the price tag, I couldn't believe my eyes- the price was seriously reasonable, so much so that I first thought that it must have been a misprint because other Sideboards in this place were priced MUCH higher, at least £100 or more higher! I also felt the same way with the Curio cabinet. The spouse and I check the Sideboard over from top to bottom, it's in great shape minus a little ding or scratch from normal wear. He looks at me I look at him and we know that we've got another great find! I would have been stupid not to get this piece. I've been looking for a sideboard ever since we got here and I've never found one at this price! It's in great condition and it's the size that I wanted!

All this happened as I was about to give up hope that we would ever find a piece of Antique British-Made furniture to take back with us when we move state side. Many of my friends have found furniture pieces that they like and enjoy and all I've found up to this point were books, shoes, clothes and of course pottery. Now I have real conversation pieces!

things that are in storage

It's be a story I've repeated at least a thousand times since moving here to the UK- "it's in storage". You have no idea how tired I am of saying this! Things being in storage that were not supposed to be in storage and things arriving here that were supposed to be in storage- it's VERY frustrating to say the least! Why the moving folks put several of my quilted table runners and wall hangings into storage is beyond me!

NOTE- While looking for something in the garage I found these 2 table runners! So not all hope is lost in my decorating for Autumn around here!

The Art of making people happy

This is my friend Alisha and she's modeling the custom apron that I made just for her.




It's the little things we do for others that shows how much we truly care about them.

Remembering 9/11

I still can't bring myself to turn on the TV today. I'd rather keep it off and not have to listen or see the gruesome events that took place on this day. I know where I was and I think about it and am ever so thankful that my husband was not at the Pentagon that day. I still grieve for the lives that were tragically cut short and for the families who lost loved ones.

Instead of being angry about what happened do something to honor those that are gone. Don't wait for an opportunity to help someone, make one happen! have an elderly neighbor? Mow their lawn, or rake their leaves or even take their trash cans down/up to the curb for them. Know of a single mom on your street that's always busy with the kids and work? You could do the same for her too! What I'm talking about is called "Being Neighborly". Try it, you'll be hooked!

Room Transformation

I back only a few days and I'm ready to get back to work in our sons "old" bedroom (old being a relative term). He's off to college now and his room is now our "new" guest room. I started tackeling his room the day he left (July 26th) but as you know I had to leave suddenly myself on the 28th-which meant the bulk of the cleaning out of our son's pigstye of a room was left to my husband. I'm happy to say that my husband got the rest of the rubbish cleared out of there, got things cleaned up leaving me a blank canvas in which to work with. So, after airing out the room for 3 weeks, it's time to dress it up!

Now where to start? Hmmmm...

♥I started with the decorator table, put a floor length tale cloth on it- looks fab!

♥Lets move on to the windows- took down the room darkening drapes and out up these new Waverly window treatments that I bought while out in California, they're a pretty blue check and they are floor length. If you want to get some great looking window treatmens try Lowe's. I can't make window treatments for less than what I can get them for at Lowe's. I'll pull them back with the ivory colored curtain tie backs that I bought at the Laura Ashely store last year (Laura Ashely has awesome sales).

♥Now to the bed- remember that Americana quilt that I made for the guest room for our house in South Dakota? Well it's now got a bed to call home. Fresh clean sheets, pillows, some fancy handmade pillow cases by yours truly and now an awesome quilt! The bed looks great!

♥The walls- being that our son chose not to hang anything on them for his time here I've decided to change that! I'm going to hang a few things up and make it a real guest room.

♥Additional closet space- oh yeah! Now this is a real treat! I'm storing all of our extra bed linens on the shelves in his closet along with a few other items and maybe some of our clothes, LOL!!!

Look for pictures soon!

Life in the Air Force

Since moving here a little over a year ago, I knew that I would be doing 2 moves within one year. This year is my "easy year"- no moves involved. Next year brings with it another move (no joke). Spring 2011 we will be moving back to the USA and enjoying retirement. That's right you read that correctly, my husband after 20 plus years in the Air Force will be retiring. So what does that mean for me? Well my brain is once again on "clear it out mode". I know that we have at least 9 more months here but as it is, I want to be prepared to be able to make this a smooth transition for us. Reduce, reuse, recycle and my favorite...just plain donate!

I'll have time for at least one more trip to Stoke on Trent to rake up on some more great Made in England pottery, not to mention to get in some more trips around England in general. There are loads of places that Hannah and I want to see while we're here and we're going to try our best to see them all!

Scrapbooking the "every day things"

I'm a scrapbooker who is also a military wife. We move around every few years and that means a new to you house with a new view out the windows. Currently I am living in England. There are everyday kinds of things about my life here that I want to document...things like the light switches which are something we take for granted or my tiny microwave that I named Tivo simply because it looks like the Tivo character to Ken and Barbie- my very small but efficient washer and dryer. It's the little things that we take for granted that we tend to forget. There's the ever so small fireplace in the living room or as the British call it "the Lounge"- that would never fit a full sized log, you can even forget getting a half of a log in there. There's the entry way that is only a couple of inches wider than the front door and the fact that some of the walls are about 18 inches or more thick or the back door that opens outward. I want to document the flower beds that we worked so hard, we started with nothing but dirt and have turned them into something beautiful to look at.

Some scrapbookers feel as if they should only be scrapbooking major events such as birthday, Halloween and Christmas. Not me, I've always wanted to take notice of the little things. How we really lived, what we really did and what we were really like. I hope to be able to capture this is some of the photographs that I take.

Volunteer Appreciation

No matter what base we've been assigned to, I always go and show my support at Volunteer Appreciation functions. Today's military would be no where without it's constant stream of volunteers. Today's Volunteer Appreciation Ice Cream Social had a terrific turn out of men and women from RAF Croughton. All of whom have made a difference in the quality of life for the servicemen, women and families of RAF Croughton and the surrounding area. There were 3 special volunteer awards, not to mention certificates of appreciation for every person who has volunteered at our base.

Now for the BIG surprise...so not only was I nominated but through a selection process of my peers I have been given the Certificate of Volunteer Excellence. As it's written on my certificate...

for exceptionally meritorious

volunteer service to the

United States Air Force community.

I can't begin to tell you how it feels to be recognized for all of the volunteer work I've done at this base since arriving here a year ago. To know that others do appreciate the work I have done and continue to do. For me, it's validation that I have made a difference in the quality of life for others in our surrounding community. Thank you RAF Croughton and the towns of Bicester and Brackley.

A fine ending...almost

Yesterday was another one of those days where I spent the majority of the day in the kitchen. Once again I was wrangled into cooking big for a function, but not a military one, this one was for a school party. I jumped at the opportunity to help out.

The "Leavers Party"- obviously this is a British wording and not American as we would have worded it quite differently but it gets the point across none the less. This is not only a party for those that are graduating from Kingham Hill but also for those US students that are moving away this summer. What a wonderful tribute to pay to those US students that work so hard to fit in, to adjust to something new and foreign to them and all supported by their British friends and teachers. Even our Andrew had a special speech said about him- and it pretty much summed up what he had gone through- I had to hold myself back from crying because there it was out in the open-All of the things he thought that his Senior Year in High School would have been and we move him right before all of that. Everyone applauded him when he stood up, the journey was over, he survived and he even made a handful of great friends along the way. It was nice way to start the final days of school.

Although Andrew is technically done with school, Speech Day is July 3rd and we will ALL be in attendance then! He's off to South Dakota soon (yes again) but this time it's for University orientation. He'll spend 4 or 5 days there then he'll be back here, then he goes back to South Dakota at the end of July . We won't see him again until December.

I took about a gazillion pictures (of which I need to upload to my computer), now to find out where my camera had gone off to...it's around here somewhere. Now for some coffee and working on finding that camera!

358 days later...

June 15th, 2009 is when the movers first arrived at our house in South Dakota and they left 5 days later with ALL of our belongings being packed into crates. Today the claims adjuster is coming over to go over our damage claim. Nothing like timeliness (can you feel my sarcasm?) It's not enough that your things are damaged beyond repair, but they make you wait months on end for them to process your claim. Meanwhile you're having to store all of these damaged item somewhere in your home. If your house is like our house there's not much storage space to speak of. And what storage space I do have here, well I need it for every day kind of stuff...lawnmower, kids bikes, weed whacker, winter/summer clothing storage and that other crazy thing we like to do...we like to park our car in the garage.

This is where I really miss my house in South Dakota- with it's deep spacious closets, 2 large storage ares inside of the house plus that huge 3 car garage where you could actually pack 3 cars, 4 bikes, a ride on lawn mower and a push mower, have a work bench, numerous shelving units with gardening and camping equipment, have a table saw, wheelbarrow, beer fridge, recycle bins, rubbish bin and more! But alas we gave that up right?

What I could use here is a nice spacious kitchen with a gas range and a refrigerator that I could actually get both doors to open the way they should so I could use it the way it was intended to be used. Adequate heat/window ventilation would be nice too.

Sorry everyone, I'm cranky today. Reliving all of my move today and it's not good. My heart broke when I saw my damaged bed, damaged furniture and the crap way things were packed for our overseas move and I've got all of those feeling rushing over me right now.