Let's See . . . Where Was I?

Hi Everyone.  It's been eons since I checked in here.  I hope all is well with you.  I've been out in West Texas for awhile (had a birthday while I was there -- eep!).  Jess and I did lots of thrift shopping, lots of crocheting (her) and lots of knitting (me), lots of talking and cooking (Jess) and eating (me -- so long South Beach Diet) and lots of other stuff -- that girl of mine never stops!

So thrifting . . . we did good!  There are several good thrift shops there, and we found lots of good little treasures in each one.  Many of which we intended to put in our Etsy shop, but we're having a little trouble turning loose of some of them -- this one for instance . . . .

We found several fair isle sweaters at one place.  Most of them, we intend to cut up (b/c they were too small or holey or something) to make mittens and legwarmers, etc., but this one I just love too much.  It's a little big and makes me look a little poufier than normal, but I don't care.  I just love it!

And then, Jess spotted this chair (she has a great eye for spotting the good stuff) . . .

she very kindly let me have it to replace the chair that used to sit here but was sadly destroyed by an invasion of hooligans when I was out of town once upon a time.  Oh, and there are some more of the sweaters we found sitting in the chair.

(admiring my ancient beat up old boots aka houseshoes ^v^)

And you know how I love wearing long tops or dresses over jeans (hides a multitude of sins {and cookies}) -- we found several good linen tops and dresses -- which is always a good thing. 

Oh, and look at this. . .

Isn't he cute?  He's a string dispenser and the scissors are his glasses when not in use -- so clever!

As if all these little treasures weren't enough, the birthday fairy (aka Me) brought me a new coffee maker and milk frother . . .

I love this Senseo (which I first heard of over at the lovely Attic 24) -- it makes the best coffee ever -- no muss no fuss.  And the milk frother, well . . . pure decadence, but I love it.  I want to give each of these lovely things a little pat of gratitude every morning.   And aside from making wonderful coffee, I can also make tea with the Senseo --- just put a tea bag (or two if you make a giant vat of tea like I do) and you've got an almost instant cup of tea -- lovely.

Good morning most excellent and large cup of coffee.

And I'm afraid there's more decadence ahead . . .

I've been wanting to do this for a few years but just thought it was a little over the top.  It is, but I did it anyway -- it was my birthday after all.  Anyway, we ordered bread and cookies from Poilane's Bakery in Paris.  I know, I know.  They FedEx it out to you the same day it's made.  I have to say, I was a little disappointed in the bread (but I'm not that fond of sourdough bread, so what was I thinking?), but the Punitions (cookies) are very good, and we also got a loaf of yummy raisin bread that I've stashed in the freezer for making bread pudding someday soon.  I doubt I'll ever do this again, but it was kind of fun, and I figured if we can't go to Paris, a little bit of Paris could come to us -- just this once.

And one more thing . . . 

Just look at this beautiful birthday cake Jess made for us.  Son-in-law, K's birthday is just a couple of days before mine so I had to got to share with him.  Isn't it so pretty?!  I had mentioned to Jess that I'd recently read about Alicia's birthday cake and thought it looked so good (we love chocolate cake with white icing), so she made it for us (using her own delicious cake recipe & Alicia's recipe for the frosting).  It was just the best cake ever -- the piece de resistance!  Thank you Little Girl!

Well, this kind of turned into the 'Look At All the Stuff I've Got' post, didn't it?  But, I'll be back soon with more to share about all that's been going on out West -- such as Little Chloe learning to knit (big sister already knows how and has almost finished her first scarf!), Jess making the most gorgeous 'crochet together as you go' granny square blanket, a tree falling on the house, and more. . . . so in the meantime . . .

Have a great week!

♥ ♥ ♥

G