...And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon.

...the cow jumped ooooover the moon...smile. I was trying to think of a fun title for my thoughts on decorating with plates and this favorite nursery rhyme popped into my ol' noggin. Don't know why...it just did. Having said that, do you want to add great detail to your decor....hang a plate or in my case...hang a dozen. You can find plate hangers at the dollar store for...well....a dollar! Then come home and go to your cupboard and choose a plate or two or twelve and hang ' em.

Even your everyday dishes will look great hung around your home. I also love to display them on little easels. Craft stores sell those in all sizes. TJ Maxx, Marshall's and The Home Store are great sources for picking up a cute plate or two. Also....check the sale table at larger department stores....you can buy one plate from an incomplete set....bring that home and hang it up and ENJOY!

Now I have talked about the unexpected before....so this should come as no surprise to you...I love to hang plates in the bathroom, a group of three on the outside of the house along the deck...I have even taken broken plates and stuck them halfway down in a planter...just cuz. Instant Unexpectedness Realized!

Get used to it folks ~ plates are not just for eating ~ Anymore! Cha~cha~cha!

Have a wonderful rest of the week.....it is actually going to snow here in Beaverton, Oregon this weekend in April......gotta love it...good thing that I love socks....they keep my toes warm while I go around hanging plates all over town. Smile.

I Heart Chairs

Oh don't 'cha know it. I really do heart chairs. Especially little ones..little ones for children or even smaller...the ones for dolls ~ I can hardly resist them. My favorite doll-sized chair is one I bought at the Magic of Oregon show a million or so years ago that is upholstered in an old quilt. Totally cool! I purchased it early at the show and carried it around for the rest of the day....and probably could have resold it for double the price that I had paid. But resell it....no-can-do...I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. It is probably right up there with the large rooster in my love, love, love it catagory.

Big chairs are great too. I took our old dining room chairs that looked tired and sad and I crackle painted them puppies and reupholstered the seats....fell back in love with those bad boys right then and there.

Now some may think it wrong to love chairs and roosters and words on walls as much as I do....but if it is wrong, well then, I don't wanna be right. And, don't be swift to judge me until you have heard about my obsession with benches, ladders and clocks...then it will be safe to say....I am a sick decorating chick~ola....I just love good design....now is that so wrong?

Ciao!

...This Little Piggy Stayed Home....

I love pigs....almost as much as roosters. I especially love large cement pigs that are for ornamentation in the yard....here's what I do....I stick 'em in the house....you know, the "unexpected". I love the unexpected a lot too...but we will chat about that in a future blog entry.

Pigs are great...they seem so happy to me. I have one that dangles from a bracket over the laundry room door....he looks kinda happy....but the chubby one in our yard, all mossy and damp...lying on his back....big belly and all...well, he seems the happiest of all. I always think of the pigs in our house as having male personas. I do not know why this is....it just is. They also seem like they are either standing guard or hiding under the kitchen island or hanging high above our noodles like cute little pig angels.

Some other thoughts on pigs ~ they are charming and gentle, those three pigs really knew how to take care of each other...you know, they had each other's backs....which brings me to my favorite way to ride... piggyback... and like the five toes on your feet pretending to be little piggys....sooner or later we all go wee, wee, wee, wee all the way home.

Have a cheery good day ~ Ramona

Boxwoods on the Brain

I love boxwoods! I love them a lot. When I think about moving to a smaller house someday, I always see myself at Home Depot buying lots and lots of little boxwoods to plant in my new garden. So....here are some great things about this particular plant.

One.

Ya can't kill 'em...unless ya wanna.

Two.

Easy to plant.

Three.

Always green.

Four.

They look fantastic outlining a path.

Five.

They make great clippings.

Six.

Cheap.

Seven.

Transplant easily.

Eight.

They come in different varieties.

Nine.

They look really cute in a pot.

Ten.

They die, I mean, dry beautifully.

I once did have two boxwoods die in a clay pot over the summer when I was pregnant with our last child because I forgot to water those poor sweet plants. I thought that they looked so cool that I brought them in the house and painted and decoupaged the pots with those "dried" boxwoods in them....I loved it! It is really kind of funny....those two "dried" boxwoods are probably two of my most favorite things in the house....second to that large rooster in the aforementioned entry...of course.

August Henry ~ A.K.A. The Coolest Dog Ever!

August Henry, born April 1, 1995...our lovable Gus! Beagle extrodinaire! I am sure that you heard....a beagle won Best in Show this year. And as you all know, the totally rad "Snoopy"...a beagle too! Yep, our Gus turned 13 yesterday. He is an old man...snores like one too. He is beloved in our family. He is even loved by our cats. His stride is much, much slower and I am sure uncomfortable these days, but he has a look in his eyes that tells me that in his mind he is a puppy. He still chases those cats...so he can steal their food...he was here first and no cat in this town is gonna forget it! Arf!

If you know anything about beagles, then you know that they howl....you know, a long doleful cry whenever we come home....like he thought that we would never return....but how could we not...Gus is the best dog we have ever owned. He can be a major pain in the rump~ola from time to time and time again...BUT, that face, that howl....well I ask you...what is not to forgive?

George Carlin said once..."...your life is a series of dogs...", well so far, our dear Gus has been the best in our series! Bow~Wow and Happy Birthday o' Boy!