Monday, June 1, 2020

Tales of the Traveling Totes #23 & A Giveaway, 6.1.20

Welcome to the Tales of the Traveling Totes, where my fellow travelers and I share our latest adventures, projects, and current events. At the end of my post you will find links to visit our other members and learn about how to register for our giveaway. I'm so glad you've stopped to visit.

 Well, I think we all have to admit that the first quarter of 2020, has been quite the experience for everyone of us. Few of us have ventured far from home, and last week I went  to the grocery store for the first time since January.  Sweet Mister has been my knight in shining armor. He has been very protective of my asthma and chronic bronchitis; he has done just about everything that involves leaving the house. That's not to say that I've been lackadaisical. Come see what's been going on since last September and continues to go on at our house . I call it "An Anatomy of a Renovation. A bit heavy on pictures, I'll try to keep my gab to a minimum. Come on in and take a look at our latest adventure...

It had been an easy going summer, and September found everything slowing down for just a moment. 

Miss Carrie Ann Hall and I had made just about our last run for the lovely blooms to be used on our summer tablescapes. And then Sweet Mister came up with an idea. We had been looking at property to buy a new home for months, and we had found a house just a little over a mile from us. We decided to make an offer.  The night before we planned to make our offer,  Mister said, "When I think about spending that much money on a house, I get sick at my stomach. What would you think about trying to do the things that you'd like to see done at our house, and we'll just stay here?" "Fine by me; let's do it," I said. And that's how our latest adventure began. Come on in and take a look at a few of our projects...

 The last of our giant trees was at the end of its life. It had been losing limbs out of the center of the tree, and it was also leaning more and more toward our home.

I shed more than a few tears, but it needed to be done.

The root ball left quite a hole! Just kidding. This became...

...This.


   This comfortable old porch where I entertained so many friends...


Started anew like this...


...and is still on its way to its final destination as our new back porch.


The area I had always envisioned as my lovely sunken garden and lawn...


...is now our new Pickle Ball Court. I have to admit that there has already been a whole bunch of fun take place here, and we're not even through with our project. There's more going on in the front yard, and I now call the inside of our home "Pandemonium City. We've totally moved out of our master bedroom and bath and currently reside in a guest room and the hall bath. One of the guest rooms and the living room have also been emptied. It's crazy, but we have a saying in our family, "No sympathy for self-inflicted wounds." We have the typical POD in the front drive and the ubiquitous porta potty on the curb. I asked Sweet Mister if he thought that should we have a new appraisal, would those count as an extra bath and bedroom? 

So although much of our world seemed to come to a stop, the action at our house has not stopped at all. In our city, construction work was deemed essential. The work has continued all the way through from September, and it continues today. At least I have had something of a show to watch outside my windows. It definitely hasn't been boring...messy, but not boring! We anticipate completion in the next 30-60 days. I'll invite you back when all is back in order. "Back in order?" That should take a bit longer.


Now for our giveaway!

 

Just leave a comment with Linda of Life and Linda for a chance to win a four piece set of Feather Canape Knives from MacKenzie-Childs.


You'll want to be sure to see what's been going on with the rest of the ladies of the Traveling Totes. Click on each of the links below, and you'll find posts from each of my lovely fellow travelers. You're going to love all of them!

                      Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths                   
Emily with Miss Courtney ChildsThe French Hutch
Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C Panoply 
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader
Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  



I'll look forward to seeing all of you again in September. It will be interesting to find out where all of the tote ladies head, once travel becomes more realistic. I know they'll all have some amazing things to share with you once they're let loose to travel!

Tablescape Thursday w/ Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

We'll hope to see you when the Tales of the Traveling Totes publishes our next adventures. Please, come again often.

This week I'll be joining:
Tablescape Thursday w/ Susan@Between Naps on the Porch.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Tales of the Traveling Totes, #22 and Giveaway, An American Girl Adventure


Welcome to the Tales of the Traveling Totes, where my fellow travelers and I share our latest adventures, projects, and current events. At the end of my post you will find links to visit our other members and learn about how to register for our giveaway. I'm so glad you've stopped to visit. This episode finds me sharing my very own American Girl adventure with my precious granddaughter, Beatrice Emaline and her mom, K.C. We're here for a belated birthday trip; Beatrice is such a busy little girl, this is the first time that we've had a weekend to run away to Dallas, Texas and the American Girl store. Won't you join us?

So much to see! Beatrice agreed that she would spend her first day at the American Girl store exploring everything before choosing her main birthday gift from yours truly, Mo and Pop. 

After a bit of exploring, the three of us stopped for Beatrice's own American Girl tea. It was so much fun to see Beatrice able to study and read her own menu before choosing the items she wished to order. Her "just like me" American Girl doll, Bea, had her very own booster chair for our tea party. 

Beatrice obviously was pleased with her hot chocolate, pink lemonade and the last of the mini lemon cupcakes. K.C. and I also enjoyed the tea sandwiches and savory offerings. 

After lunch, Bea had an appointment at the hair salon. Beatrice chose dog ears with bright colored bows for her doll's new hair style. The made to fit salon chairs made me smile. Little Bea also had her ears pierced. Our Miss Beatrice Emaline understands that it will be a good  number of years before she is allowed to have her own ears pierced. Whew! Carrie Ann Hall was standing by to give Little Bea a ride after her appointment. Beatrice was so busy examining all the goodies in the store that she needed Carrie Ann to babysit her doll. Oh, Little Bea was the second American Doll that Pop and Mo (that's me) gave her several Christmases ago. Prior to that we gifted her with the American Girl Bitty Baby.  

After a full afternoon of exploring the store...and a few "little" goodies, we returned to our hotel room where Beatrice was able to spend some time with her new toys while she pondered what she would choose for her big gift the next day. Evidently Little Bea broke her leg, so Beatrice had to apply a cast and put her in her new wheel chair. Beatrice turned out to be a very attentive nurse.

Everyone was pooped, and we had no problem climbing into our beds for the night shortly after the sun made its final peek appearance over Dallas before dipping below the horizon.

After a good night's sleep, Beatrice and Little Bea were up and ready for a second day at the American Girl store.

Beatrice was thrilled when her Aunt Jamiann met us at the store. Beatrice quickly became an official guide and gave Aunt Jami a complete tour of the store. 

Jamiann is a middle school vice-principal, so Beatrice made sure that this precious school desk was one stop on the tour. The accessories for the American Girl dolls are totally unbelievable! 

My wonderful daughter K.C., Beatrice Emaline, and I had to say an early goodbye to Aunt Jamiann because she had a weekend faculty meeting at her school; but not before Beatrice decided on her "big gift" for her birthday. She ended up choosing Joss, this year's Doll of the Year. Joss is a surfer and a cheerleader.


 Beatrice and the girls stopped for a pic with Carrie Ann Hall and me before we headed upstairs to the American Girl Bistro for a special birthday lunch.


There was considerable concentration needed for Princess Beatrice to narrow her decisions for her birthday lunch. When I was a little girl, I used to stick out my tongue while I was studying something important, too. I kind of like that a lot.

Beatrice was thrilled with her birthday party! Joss and Little Bea had their own chairs at the table, and they loved that they were given crowns just like Beatrice's. The place settings went home with us, too, a party favor for Beatrice from American Girl. Wow, it's been a wonderful trip for all of us.

As we left the Bistro to make the drive home, we noticed a bevy of American Girl Dolls waiting to be seated. I think that they were getting ready to hold a board of directors meeting. They are obviously very successful business women!  We thanked them for our wonderful time, and we all agreed that there would be many more trips in our future!

Thank you so much for stopping by for a while. I appreciate each and every one of your comments. You make my day each time you touch base. 


The giveaway for this episode is this darling MacKenzie-Childs Flower Market Whisk. To be entered in the drawing visit and leave a comment for our host Jenna @ The Painted Apron. I hope you're the winner! 

Click on each of the links below, and you'll find posts from each of my lovely fellow travelers. Happy traveling!
                      Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths                   
Emily with Miss Courtney ChildsThe French Hutch
Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C Panoply 
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader
Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

This week I'll be joining:
 Tablescape Thursday with Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Tales of the Traveling Totes; Fabulous Give-Away!; Welcome Miss Waverly!


Welcome to our January, 2020, edition of
Tales of the Traveling Totes, where ladies 
from across theUnited States bring their 
lovely, and famous MacKenzie-Childs totes 
along with them on adventures, and then share 
those adventures with you, our readers. I'm so excited about this issue because we have an unbelievable Give-Away for one of our readers. Climb on the Carousel and pick your favorite horse for a very merry ride! Here we go...

  

And now allow me to introduce our Give-Away:

Wow! I'm almost out of breath! Isn't it gorgeous? Mac-Kenzie Childs is so excited for one of you to win this one-of-a-kind custom tote. We're excited, too! We look forward to reading your comments. Now, I actually have a blog post to share with you. We're in the living room, gathered at the games table. Come on in and join us...


Miss Carrie Ann Hall and Miss Patches insisted that we must have a welcome party for their new little sister, Miss Waverly. Now they knew that Miss Waverly was a one-of-a-kind, so they wanted their party table to be bright and happy, just like Miss Waverly.

The girls also decided that to give recognition to MacKenzie-Childs, we must set our table with beautiful McK-C dinnerware and accent pieces.

Of course, Carrie Ann had to choose the Courtly Check charger plate as the underpinning for our place setting. Me thinks she might have been thinking of herself when she chose the plate.

Miss Patches was thrilled to pick our dinner plate. She quickly chose the Sweetbriar plate.

The girls were unanimous in their choice of the Flower Market White Accent Plate.

They allowed me to add the Fraley-Clark antique carved flatware and the Michael Weems goblet. We all were in agreement on the Horchow pink matlessé tablecloth. A combination of Courtly Check and Flower Market pieces made their ideal centerpiece. 

The welcome party was a complete hit with the girls. Miss Carrie Ann Hall was pretty pleased with herself...

Miss Patches, our middle child, was just happy to be included as a party planner...

And Miss Waverly immediately felt at home. She was so excited to get to know her two older siblings, and she was ever so grateful to know that Julie and Joan, designers at MacKenzie-Childs designed her to fit perfectly into our family!

Well, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Remember we'll announce our winner of the custom, one-of-a-kind MacKenzie-Childs tote bag on January 27, so get busy letting us hear from you in our comments sections! 
And we'll also look forward to seeing you again for our next episode of Tales of the Traveling Totes!

Click on each of the links below, and you'll find posts from each of my lovely fellow travelers. Happy traveling!
                                             
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 
Emily with Miss Courtney ChildsThe French Hutch
Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C Panoply 
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader
Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

This week I'm joining:
Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday

Follow Me on Instagram