Catching Up Part 1........

I am so very late in posting about my Christmas Swap with Erica! 

Erica please forgive me!

How sweet is this vintage Christmas tin?  Erica sent a note saying the house on the tin reminded her of a vintage Putz house!  

I think she's right!!

So nicely wrapped!!

Two different version of The Night Before Christmas......love this book!

And of course the graphics are to die for!

One of my favorite Christmas decorations.....a vintage Putz house, was included in the package!

A few Santa cake picks, I only have a few cake picks, and none of them are vintage Christmas!

Mercury beads, a Santa mug, ornaments, a vintage Christmas corsage and a few newer Christmas crafty items. 

How sweet are the little carolers??  Christmas cards with carolers melt my heart!

The Santas are pretty cute too!!

Erica was a busy lady, she put together such lovely package for me and she hosted the Christmas in July Swap too!!

Thank you Erica!!!

Catching Up Part 2.....coming the end of the week!

chris

Can You Ever Have Too Many.......

Linen napkins??

Linen napkins are one thing I just can't pass up at flea markets, garage sales, estate sales, or any other kind of sale!

I LOVE LINEN NAPKINS!

Red, White and Blue for the 4th of July, red for Valentine's Day, or Christmas

Golds, and Browns for Autumn events

Christmas of course!

Hors d'oeuvres napkins for the holidays

Solids for any occasion

The print napkins are some of my favorites!!  I use the Polka Dot ones a lot!! They seem to go with just about everything!

You've got to love the napkins from the 60's, designed by Vera!!

I buy any napkins in good condition, meaning little or no staining. I try not to spend more than .50 cents to a  $1.00 a piece, but.....you know how it goes....sometimes I spend a little bit more...if I just can't pass them by. Often the napkins are bundled together as a set and you can get a set for $2.00 or $3.00. The napkins by Vera are usually more.....I feel like I'm doing well to pick up a set of Vera's for $3.00!

Do you have a favorite item that you just can't pass up at the sales?

chris

Some Pig!!

Sunday I went to the Santa Clara County Fair to support a friend's daughter who participates in the local 4-H project. 

I'm sure many of you are familiar with 4-H projects....the kids raise an animal from birth and finish the project by showing their animal at the county fair. They learn to budget and plan for caring for their animals, as well as showmanship. 

How sweet is this little guy??? 

Yes, he was named after the royal baby!!

There were piglets born at the fair too.... a bakers dozen!

We finally found the pig we had come to see.....

Meet Philly!

The pigs are huge!! Philly weighed in at about 285 pounds!

I wonder if they have Weight Watchers for farm animals!  Philly might think about joining!!!

chris

One Of My Favorite Things........

Is watering the garden early in the morning.. Some mornings, and today is one of those mornings, I am able to smell the garlic that grows about 30 miles away in Gilroy California. Gilroy is home to the Garlic Festival held every July.

The mornings are cool and a little over cast.  It's quite outside, a few birds just starting to wake up.

roses waiting for the next bloom

late planted tomatoes, one Cherry, one Beefsteak

my leaky $2.00 bird bath...I  love it even though it leaks and have added another great find....a $1.00 Koi Fish garden statue

the front porch still proudly showing off for the 4th of July


I'm off to breakfast with friends, and then to the Santa Clara County Fair! We are going to watch the local 4-H group display their pigs!

Happy Sunday!!

chris

Over The River And Through The Woods.......

To Nana and Papa's house Miss Margaret came!!

Miss Margaret traveled from Atlanta to celebrate her first birthday at Nana and Papa's house.

And all of her Aunts were here too!! Add two boyfriends to the mix and the Xavier Ct. house was full to the brim!

We planned a birthday party and invited all of our family friends!

A collage of pictures from Margaret's first year was put together...not that she's a princess or anything....

but......

since she lives on the East Coast and our friends live on the West Coast, we wanted to share how she has changed throughout the year.

Metal vases filled with spider Mums, Sunflowers and Pinwheels were on the tables in the yard and the buffet table!

We spent a great day at the beach, Margaret loved the ocean! One of our favorite beaches to go to is Capitola.....30 minutes away, door to parked on the beach with beach chairs, waiting for the sun to break through the clouds!

 We meet up with sisters who grew up with my girls and their three boys....These girls and their kids are very special to the McKinley's... their mom is my best friend who suffers from Alzheimer's and cannot interact with them any more.

Nothing like a week with a one year old to brighten your spirits!!

Happy Birthday Miss Margaret! Papa and I love you to the moon and back!!

chris

Back In The Swing Of Things?????

Sort of.......

I'm not sure why, but the last month or so I've been in "blue funk"...at least that's what my Mom used to call it.

I just can't seem to get going on pretty much anything....and when I'm out of sorts, everything seems to be out of sorts.

The month of June was especially draining at work....June is end year for us, so the pressure is on to wrap things up for the year.  Working 70 plus hours a week takes it's toll on me.

I also don't keep up on the housework, going for my walks or to the gym, watching what I eat, or blogging.

Any who, I'm feeling a little better, and wanted to share a few recent garage sale finds.

This garage sale had a ton of Golden Books and a few Junior Elf ones too. 

The Paper Doll Wedding book is my favorite!! I haven't seen this Golden Book before!!

The bride and the ring bearer are missing, but it's still a pretty cool book!!

A couple of puzzles, a picture of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, and a few vintage Christmas ornaments....

Lap trays, napkins by Vera, (love these), and a jar of buttons

As I look around the Xavier Ct house, I realize that I have a lot of stuff!  I have made a promise to myself, that unless it's really spectacular, I'm not buying it!! 

I know what you're thinking....we'll see how long that rule lasts!!

I actually think I see a garage sale in my future!

chris

God Bless America.....A Little History Of....

I've shared this picture of my Dad and his sister Kathleen before, but it's one of my favorite photos, so.......I'm sharing it again.  Salida Colorado, 4th of July around 1916.....my Dad in his WW1 uniform and his American flag. Any who....a friend shared the info below with me about the song God Bless America, and I had to pass it along. And you have to watch the YouTube video.....it's true what they say....it brought a tear to my eye!                                                                                                  America - The Origin Of The Song Do you remember Kate Smith? Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing God Bless America on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two. Here are the facts. The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of God Bless America.  But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song. The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.  This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were huge, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith. Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, It ain't over till the fat lady sings. Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time. Kate was also patriotic.  It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote White Christmas) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country.  When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, twenty two years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra.  She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America. Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song. This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, You're In The Army Now.  At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan. To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country.  Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry and for many generations of Americans to follow.  Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it and treasure it even more. Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with God Bless America.  So here's the entire song as originally sung. Click here: YouTube#%21