Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!

oh it's the dust..the du---uh--ust...bun-neee blues...

There's dust in my hair, and dust in my nose...even dust in my i-yi-eyes..
..and if I was a wearing them..probably even in my pant..eee hose..

...oh me oh my.. I think I'm a gonna cry...
I am a singing..the dust..
oh I'm a singin' the duh---ust..bun eee blues.
(no, I totally refuse to sing this one out loud for anyone near or far..I will more than likely never get rich from the words of this pitiful song I have just typed...ha, but just in case a record company comes a knockin'...its an original by yours truly...just so you know..ha)

this little gal is part of my new laundry room decor.

I'm singing the dust bunny blues here...Today sweet mom-in-law, dear daughter, and I all tackled the clean up of the rental. I used my trusty Dyson vacuum cleaner on all the tile floors and carpets, and then had to dust all the ceiling fans.Trust me a 2400 square foot home has a lot of ceiling fans and floor space once you start cleaning. This evening I am more than tired. I have itchy eyes from the dust, no doubt dust way up in my nostrils...and yep, even in my hair. But the job is now done and the house is clean awaiting the owners to either rent it out again, or sell it or whatever they'll do with it. And I dare say I am pretty darn sure its way cleaner than we found it when we first started renting it. I did find that I can't stand Tilex...no offense to the makers of that cleaning product..trust me it does the job well, but oh my word! you must definitely make sure the room you use it in is fully ventilated and fan is going. Can we say very strong bleach smell to it. But it worked magic on the shower tiles for sure. But I was quickly seeking out a source of bleach free air asap after using it, in fact even though I had the window open and the ventilator fan going I still found myself shouting in my head "MUST FIND FRESH AIR! MUST FIND FRESH AIR! ASAP!" but daggum it its a sparkling clean shower now...ha. Oh..and thank goodness for the makers of Claritin. I will be using their product this evening before going to bed. (end of all endorsements now folks...ha. Actually I didn't get paid a darn cent for mentioning any of the products here..I'm just a yakking my gums as my dad used to say) but yes..after today I need both a hot bath for my aching bod and an allergy med.
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 The new homestead is shaping up slowly but steadily. Probably a bit more on the slowly side than the steadily side...that's because moving is such draining work. Both physically and mentally. I have just been zapped. I know I don't want to do this again for a very, very long time.
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 The Christmas tree is up and hubby and I like the new artificial tree he bought so well that we will most likely keep it up year round as a seasonal tree. Meaning we will probably decorate it for every season of the year. (Valentine's, St. Paddy's, Easter/Spring, 4th of July/Summer, Fall/Thanksgiving/and Christmas..you get the idea) It is a tall narrow version that is about 7 ft. high but takes up very little space. We may move it around from room to room throughout the house depending upon our mood/decor.
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this gal now sits next to my kitchen sink

I've gotten my dining room decorated, but still have to finish the kitchen. My laundry room is pretty much done, I may add a few extra elements to it yet.
The living room still needs doing as does the master bedroom and kids rooms.
But we have only been in since Tuesday evening, so I think all told I/we have all made pretty good progress.
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And yes, I'll be sharing pictures soon. Right now I don't want to share pictures of boxes stacked in the midst of the floor, but I will share soon I promise.
I think you all will like that dear daughter and I hung a set of 3 antique Chinese paper lanterns in my living room, and the fact that I have a darling bright red ice cream bistro set with polka dot seats, and  a yellow tea cart in my living room bay window...sort of a "world market" very eccentric/eclectic feel to it,  I guess you could call it a sort of gypsy caravan style to the room. When I get it done I think it will look so cute.
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Of course once the house has been tackled..which does take time..there will be the yard and the planning of flower beds and garden areas.
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All in due time though.

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Thanks so much for stopping by.
 ~The Garden Goose!~

The new homestead!

 It is finally ours..yippee. Here are some pictures of our new homestead.

our beautiful new kitchen

looking from the dining area back towards the kitchen

Master bedroom. has a small french door, but on either side those windows have small plantation shutters on them..so cute. door leads out to huge screened in patio area.

this is actually a large dining area but we are going to convert it to a large craft/sewing room as there is plenty of room just off the kitchen to the right for our dining table and chairs and not to mention the big bar area as well. So this big room will be used as a family crafting station area with nice organized shelves and fun decor.

this is a formal dining room to the left of the kitchen separated by a pocket door. It is large enough to be used for my husband's studio area/business.

Last but not least...the big yard which is 1.29 of an acre.

Ch..Ch...Ch..Changes are in the air...yeehaw!!

Oh my goodness gracious me! Life has been busy and this  little blogette of mine has suffered a wee bit with well... umm a bit of neglect I see, but hey... that doesn't mean that I've given up on her yet folks...it simply means that I've been busy living life and exploring, and learning a bit about my new town and even making friends!

I met this sweet gal recently and she is a real dear. (http://www.verbenanestedtreasures.blogspot.com/)

And I'm in the throes of getting ready to move again...yes! its true...after 18 months (11 months to sell our place in N. Florida, then 7 months of looking here) we have finally found a new home! We close on it this coming Friday!! Yippee- Ki- YAY!!! And Friday intends to be a super busy day too, with yet another garage sale...yes...I'm a bit of a glutton for punishment I suppose, but I wound up finding a heap more things in all of the boxes we had packed up...that we can stand to live without in a new home, plus my/our tastes have changed quite a bit over the years...time for a totally fresh start.


And my dear hubby let me order some of these beautiful heirloom roses for our soon to be new home. These are my Christmas gift from him.:0)

Bougainville Heirloom Rose

I can't wait to plant the sweet climbing roses called Bougainville against the fence on either side of our driveway to our new homestead.

Blush Hip Heirloom Rose

Great Maiden's Blush Heirloom Rose

And I'll find a nice place to plant these pretty gals too called "Blush Hip" and "Great Maiden's Blush."


I'm so excited to be getting ready to finally be in a new home. We'll have an acre and 1/4 to roam around on...and to create beautiful gardens in. 

The home has plenty of room and a terrific layout that suits our needs, and a beautiful large kitchen as well. (You can't see it in the photo but there is crown molding across the top of the counters and a ledge for displaying items/opposite side of kitchen includes a built in computer desk area and the fridge and a large pantry. This part that you see also includes a large bar area further to the right. Granite counter tops. My vintage 50's chicken decor will look cute in here...smiles. Oh..and see that window?? There is a granite ledge on the outside for serving directly from the kitchen out onto the large screened in patio area...fun! fun!)


Well, that's what's been going on in my little corner of the world. And yes, I'll share more photos later.

Have a great week. Thanks for visiting.
 ~The Garden Goose!~

A little reminder...

Today's Little Message:

Enjoy the Beauty in Your Corner of the World!

Ever feel this way?

(yes, this darling little guy will soon be added to
my fun collections of vintage items)

Ever feel like you are constantly being pulled in quite a few directions? Yeah..life gets busy sometimes... and sometimes all's we can do is play catch up for a little bit.
 I've been busy adjusting to a new town. Trying to find a house to buy. Meeting new friends, and..today I learned how to crochet! Yesterday I planted 10 new iris varieties I had received into a large galvanized tub, can't wait to see them all bloom next year.(hopefully in a new yard and not still sitting in a galvanized tub)
 I wound up burning my arm pretty badly this evening on the stove while taking dinner out of the oven..ouch! I have a big 3-4 inch burn that is about 2 inches wide on my arm now. I laid my arm right on the oven door while taking some mozarella sticks out of the oven..needless to say when I jumped back from the pain the pan went tipping over and I lost half of the mozarella sticks down the oven door and on to the floor...but..at least I didn't burn myself any worse than I did and I hope it doesn't leave any kind of scar. Thank goodness for aloe vera gel.
I've been slowly adding new seed varieties to my etsy seed shop too. I also joined a plant and seed swap group online and have managed to swap a few times with some nice folks for some pretty neat flower seeds for my personal private stash and for gardens at a new home.
I've also been keeping busy home schooling 2 young children.
Also keeping busy with the Small Town Living website and at last count I have 11 books to get reviewed... and soon! yikes.
 So..yeah..I feel kind of like the above picture..but in a good way. I like being busy. I like meeting new folks, and I absolutely am so thrilled with myself that I have learned a new skill.
 If anything I'll now be able to create my own crocheted dishcloths. You can't beat a crocheted cotton dishcloth for durability. I have several of them in my kitchen that other folks have made for me and I'll always choose those over a plain wash cloth to wash dishes with any day.
Oh..and another thing...I've started collecting orchid plants..ever so slowly adding to a collection of them but I now have 6 orchids in my collection. Woohoo! I keep them on a sunny windowsill and they take very little care. Right now I have a lady slipper orchid in bloom. I'll slowly start adding to them as I can.
 oh..and one of the plant swaps that I'm expecting next week is for cuttings of a plant called adenium. (Desert Rose)
 The lady that is sending those had like 15 different types that she had taken cuttings from. I can't wait to grow them and then eventually see the blooms.
Well I think that about sums up some of what I've been up to lately.
 Thanks so much for stopping by.
  ~The Garden Goose!~

Fun Finds and Pretty Flowers

Treated myself to a couple of early birthday presents a couple of days ago. (shhh..my birthday isn't for another 16 days though, but a gal just has to do what a gal has to do when she finds some awesome items at a great deal that will look gorgeous in a new home..that is once she gets the new home...smiles)
  So, I snagged these beautiful items at a local consignment shop that has become my new haunt.
Now living in what is deemed as a retirement type area...there are always "new" items coming through the doors of this consignment shop that I like to frequent. Items that are from estate sales or from homes being redecorated, etc.  making it easy to find high end, quality items and antiques for a song.
 Yay! I love a bargain don't you?

 So without further ado meet my new finds. This is an antique pine tea cart painted in a creamy butter yellow color. After I cleaned it with Dawn dish detergent to remove the layer of nicotine and grime it had on it it looked even more lovely than these photos show.

Then I found this beautiful large lady lamp. This lamp and matching table with cherubs on it stands taller than my ten year old son. It is rather large, but an elegant piece that will be placed in the master bedroom of a new home in which I intend to have William Bougeureau type art work in for a nice romantic look.

And then last but not least, I spotted this lovely lady Slipper Orchid plant at a local hardware store's nursery and my sweet husband went back and bought it for me last night. (love that man!) The flower on this orchid is absolutely stunning. I love it. Another orchid for my fast growing collection! Yay!

Also..this Surprise Lily popped up in a pot that I had over at my mom in laws "holding garden" a place where I have some of my plants awaiting a new home. The surprise lily bulbs were given to me several years ago from a gal in Indiana. They had never bloomed until this year. This is the first flower to show itself.Gorgeous! 

 I cannot wait until I have my own yard again and home to grow lovely items like this and to find a permanent place to put my fun finds like the lamp and tea cart in.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

 ~The Garden Goose~

Ballerina Mobile

Super Easy Child’s Room Mobile Decoration

August 26, 2010

By Tina Wilson

To make the mobile:
10 fluffy chenille stems
organza type wired edge ribbon in colors of choice (I chose pale blue and pink)
bead garland or other glittery type garland (I used about 24 inches of a tiny plastic flower garland in silver color)
small fabric quilted heart (or other embellishment of your choice that has a little “weight” to it/this will help to allow your mobile to hang better)
fabric ribbon (I used a harlequin print pink and brown colored ribbon)
6 small plastic ballerina cupcake toppers (available from:www.layercakeshop.com) (I used 3 of each pink and blue)
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To create this simple child’s room decor you do not need glue or sewing skills. You just simply need to know how to create a bow and to twist wire, and to tie knots.
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Take 3 of the chenille stems and create a circle. Twist the ends of each chenille stems together.
Take 6 chenille stems and place them evenly around the circle. At these evenly spaced points twist the chenille stems around your circle. 3 small twists will secure. Now point these 6 chenille stems upward into a “tent” shape. Gather them all together in a point.
Fold the sharp edges over. Take your last chenille stem and form into a hook shape on one end. Use the excess to wrap around your 6 gathered stems. Wrap tightly.
Create a large decorative bow from your fabric ribbon(not the organza type, but the thicker solid ribbon) Before tying the bow to the top of your mobile slide a few strands of decorative glittered garland in between the bow(about 12 inch length/2 strands). Finish attaching to the top near the hook by making a knot. Your  glittery garland will be secured by the knot you tie.
From the hook area also tie a long piece of organza ribbon(about 18 inches long) hanging down from the center of the mobile(tie in a knot). This will be what you attach the fabric heart or other center embellishment with.
Attach the heart or other center embellishment to the length of ribbon that hangs from the center of your mobile. Tie with a knot. Right at this knot, attach a pretty ribbon bow. Again secure by knotting the bow onto the ribbon hanging down.
Cut 6 lengths of organza wired ribbon (about 10 inches long) Tie ribbon in a knot around the waist of each of the ballerina figures.
Attach  the ballerinas to the mobile by tying with knots at evenly spaced intervals around the chenille ring.
Where each ballerina’s holding ribbon is attached to the chenille ring tie little blue organza wired bows . Trim bow ends.
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***This can be changed to be used for a boy’s room by using green or blue chenille stems or another favorite color chenille stem and using such items as tiny plastic dinosaurs or other fun plastic figures. Be creative and have fun! No limit to the types of little plastic items you can use to create a fun mobile.
*** As with any item that has small parts keep away from small children. Not recommended for a baby or children who have a tendency to put items in their mouths.***

Visiting ! Carnaval! display in Ocala, FL

Today I convinced my mother in law and my oldest daughter to join me for a visit to ! Carnaval! an exhibit organized by the Museum of International Folk Art and toured by NEH on the Road. This display was being shown at the Webber Center  Gallery in Ocala, Florida from June 17th-August 11th. After it leaves Ocala, FL it will then be displayed in Indianapolis. So to get a chance to see it was a privilege…I feel anyhow.

New Orleans,USA Mardi Gras mask

A mask from Mexico

Anyhow, I managed to get some really nice photos of the masks from around the world that depict how the pre-Lenten Mardi-Gras type festivals  are  celebrated. Yes! they allowed photos! I was so excited.

I hope you enjoy them.

A simple Italian mask

The masks are from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, USA, and Switzerland, and a few other places that unfortunately I forgot. Anyhow, my favorite masks were the fancy jeweled one from Spain (green feathers and jewels), and the bird man from Spain(black plague dr’s mask) and the mask that looks like the phantom of the opera, as well as the green lady from Switzerland(green hair), and the metal sculpted one from Mexico (dragon eyes and snake heads).

An elaborately jeweled mask from Spain

Carnival, Carnevale, Fassnacht, Entroido- the annual pre-Lenten festival most people in the United States know as “Mardi Gras” is celebrated throughout Europe and the Americas.

This mask depicts a dr's mask from the time of the Black Plague. Mask from Italy

a Mask from Italy

Many of today’s Carnival activities are not necessarily religious, but the “feast before famine” excess is still deeply rooted in its litugurical origins.

Different cultures have different words for “Carnival” or the pre-Lenten festivities.

Tlaxcala, Mexico mask

detail on Tlaxcala, Mexico mask

A mask from Mexico

Italians refer to it as “Carnevale” meaning “flesh farewell”, and the Spanish and Portugese refer to it as “Carnaval”, and the English call it “Carnival”… The Swiss-German peoples refer to it as “Fasnacht” or Night before fasting, and the French  call it “Mardi Gras” or “Fat Tuesday”.

Mask from Switzerland/Fasnacht celebration

Elaborate details on mask from Spain

No matter how the different cultures celebrate this event, one thing was for certain…the masks were all elaborate and colorful and unique. “Carnival” is all about turning the regular order upside down. What better way of doing so than donning a mask and parading through the streets as someone else?

Spanish masks

Happy 4th of July

Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July!

~The Garden Goose~

A fun Thursday

On Thursday afternoon after I took hubby to his dr. appointment.  Afterwards I took the kids to our local library for a fun reptile show.
 They were able to see the following critters: A yellow footed tortoise, a rhinoceros iguana, a Chinese alligator, an alligator snapping turtle, a python, and an anaconda snake.
Here are a few pictures from the show. My kids really enjoyed it. The Chinese alligator shown here on the right  was only about 3 ft. long. When fully grown it will be 6 ft. long.
 The yellow footed tortoise below left was really rather cute. And loved snacking on fresh banana.


I must say that the alligator snapping turtle shown below was definitely the ugliest critter shown that day. Its tail was about 14 inches long and the entire time it kept its mouth open, and a scary looking mouth it had too! Inside of this turtles mouth it looks just like mud..to blend in with the muddy river bottoms in which it dwells, it also has a little flap of skin that looks like a worm that it will wiggle to entice fish to swim right into its mouth.

So much has gone on lately...

I'm still here folks...but life has been so busy lately. After we moved to Central Florida just 2 months ago..my children all caught a bad cold that made its rounds one by one through our household and landed on me for 6 weeks. So no one in our household was able to get out and explore our new town. Add to that..after I got better and everyone else had had the bad cold except for dad..he wound up getting it 2 and a half weeks ago and was laid up on the couch with low grade fever for 3 days. After he started feeling better he noticed a bad pain in his buttock then groin area one day. That morning he became in so much pain that he started dry heaving and then vomited up the glass of water I had given him. He laid back down for a few hours only to awake in more pain and looked down to see that his left leg had swollen and was red and his toes were blue in color!
Yikes! So we rushed to the Er and found out that he had a blood clot and pulmonary embolisms. Yikes! Yikes! Yikes!
 So we wound up having to camp out at the hospital for a full week. Of course we did not plan on the hospital being our first "must see" place to visit in our new town that's for sure.
 So after having been released on the 18th we have had several dr's visits and hubby is slowly, slowly on the mend and slowly being able to gain mobility back in his leg.
 It is a long healing process. But things will be o.k.
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During this time I did manage a trip over to my in-laws home one evening to see a family of owls that are in her big oak tree in her backyard. The parents had a little owlet ...and boy is it cute. Of course with the tree situated close to the driveway and patio sitting area ..well they do create a bit of a mess. But I had never in my life seen a baby owl up close, let alone having the chance to photograph it, so it was quite exciting. And I haven't seen adult owls too often either..so it was so very fascinating to observe an entire family of them. Of course they didn't do anything except for sit and sit and sit some more and slowly turn their heads to look down at us..but none the less they still were pretty cool. I hope that you enjoy this photo.

I also managed to capture a photo of a dragonfly that was visiting my mother in laws garden. Didn't notice the fine strands of spider webbing between the two little poles until after I had taken the image.
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Anyhow..we do love our new town..the little bit of it that we've been able to see, and we are delighted to now live closer to family.
 Right now we are leasing a home until we find one to buy, and hopefully that process won't take too long..but first up is to get my hubby  well.  And with that I'll leave you with an important reminder: If you or someone you love sits at a computer throughout the day..remind yourself or them to get up and move around at least every half hour.
Blood clots and pulmonary embolisms are very serious and very scary. Stay well!
Have a pleasant day and thanks for stopping by!  ~The Garden Goose!~

Beautiful Spring ...and more

Hi there folks. Wow! A whole month nearly since I've written, but it certainly has been a busy one. Since I wrote last we have moved to central Florida and wow! We love it here!
 We are leasing a home that has a huge back yard and my kids love that, I do too as it is so nice and quiet here, and we can sit outside for long lengths of time and not have to worry about "no see-ums" (biting gnats that cause one to itch terribly... for those of you who do not know what a no-seeum is) 

And every morning and evening we have a little visitor. This cottontail rabbit visits every day. Spring time has been gorgeous here! 


Well, after our move the kids and I went to meet up with a group of homeschooler's at a well known chain restaurant geared towards kids here, and 2 days later we all started getting ill with sore throats and coughs and sinus problems..uggh. Seems we all caught a bad bug that someone had left there. Everyone was sick for a week and some of us are still getting over it all. We have learned that we won't go back to a place like that, just not worth catching germs from. But it was nice meeting the homeschool group though.

My irises and roses that are in the "holding garden" at my mother in laws are doing wonderful! (I can't plant anything here as per the lease agreement, if I plant anything I have to leave it) So I go over and "visit" my plants at my mom in laws house. I can't wait to have a yard of my own to putter around in. Soon..very soon. Isn't this iris gorgeous? It is one of my "little ladies" that are waiting for me to have a garden to plant them in soon.

As soon as we moved in I was told to get ready for a garage sale, so during the time that I was working to get us settled in to a rental home, I was also going through every single box of what we owned and thinning down yet again. I somehow managed to thin out about 14 boxes...big boxes now mind you...filled with items we no longer needed...where I found all of the stuff I don't know, as prior to the move I had gone through a lot of items and gotten rid of quite a lot, but I amazed myself that I found even more... and that much more..that we could live without. So..we had a 2 day garage sale this past weekend and I did pretty darn good if I say so myself. Sold nearly everything that I had carted over to my mother in laws for the sale, and now I have a little change in my pocket going jing a ling a ling. :0) Of course as soon as we get moved into a permanent place I'll have to go through the cleaning out process all over again...after I decorate that is.

Well..I hope all of you moms had a terrific Mother's day! I did. My two youngest children went to their grandma's house and  each made me a keepsake plate on which they drew pretty pictures. And hubby got us all Chinese takeout for dinner so that I did not have to cook, and I got to sleep in on Mother's day..so it was a great day! 


Here's wishing you all a great week! Thanks for stopping by!
Don't forget to visit www.stliving.com too. 
~The Garden Goose~