Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Hello Friends,

This Thanksgiving holiday my family and I went to Virginia to visit my brother who lives in Midlothian Virginia, a suburb of Richmond. We had a nice time and it was fun to see where he lives. My parents were on the trip too.

My parents were married on Thanksgiving day 50 years ago. Can you imagine being married on Thanksgiving? While we were away we celebrated their special day with a nice dinner, a beautiful cake and champagne. This is a picture of the cake that we had made for them that has a copy of one of their wedding pictures on the top - all edible. It was made by the Oakmont Bakery. Yum.

Another highlight of our trip was a visit to the Virginia Science Museum in Richmond. It was great! It is located in an old train station. I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting Richmond. The girls had a great time and I learned alot too.

This is a picture from the 2nd floor looking down into the lobby of the train station. On Thanksgiving weekend the museum was host to a holiday train layout.

The girls had a great time learning about all kinds of things including space, weather, the body, life cycles and more.

Gaby got to sit inside the space capsule that carried John Glenn around the Earth. I complain about sitting in traffic for hours on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but can only imagine what it would be like to sit in this thing for hours and then enter the Earth's atmosphere where it would have been hot and bumpy!

Bufferin anyone? Being the junk collector that I am, no trip would be complete without a stop at the local antique mall. I brought home this cool old store display. I already owned the old Bufferin bottle (see I told you I am a collector). I think this will go in my bathroom for towels. Anyway, after a nice trip, a long ride home and unpacking and laundry, I think "Fast Pain Relief" is just what the doctor ordered!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Love,

Katie

Thankful

Hello Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for stopping by today. I am thankful for each and every one of you who have taken the time to support me and encourage me.

If you participated in my Attitude of Gratitude challenge I hope it made you feel blessed for everything you have. Don't let your attitude stop, continue it each and every day!

It is hard for me to narrow down what I am thankful for to just 5. I don't want to bore you with a long list. I'm going to list 5 simple things that I am thankful for today. These are in addition to thanking the Lord each and every day for Mark, Gaby, Hannah, my family & my friends.

1. Hugs - I love it when my kids hug me. Their hugs have meaning behind them. Each hug says "I Love You Mom". Kisses are great, but I love hugs!

2. Quiet Time - I savor those few moments each day. Sometimes it happens in the morning when I wake up and the rest of the house is still sleeping. No TV, no phone, nobody asking me to get them something or do something. Just quiet. It usually doesn't last very long, but I look forward to it whenever it comes.

3.  Clean Sheets - OK, I know I sound ridiculous, but one of the best things in the world is lying down on your bed after a long day, especially when you have just changed the sheets!

4. Laughter - That deep, crazy laughter that makes you feel so good. The kind where tears come out of your eyes. This life is tough, laughter makes it better.

5. My Faith - I'm so thankful that for a God who is the same yesterday, today and always. I love who He is, even when I don't always love who I am.

God Bless & Happy Thanksgiving!
Love,
Katie

Get a Gobbler Game

I found this interesting Thanksgiving contest card at a flea market earlier this year. I don't know if it is an old lottery ticket of some kind, but I thought it was interesting. To play the game you choose a girl's name listed on the card and push that name in. If you guess the correct name you win a turkey. Some name choices are free and others cost 25 cents. This particular card was never played, so we will never know which name was the winner.

I'm not sure the age of this card. The names suggest that it is maybe from the 1950's. Because I have two girls of my own, I get a kick out of seeing what names were popular when this card was printed.

Milly, Freda, Wilma, Lorna, Olga, Ida and Babe are listed. I Wonder why we don't see these names much any more? Names like Cathy, Ella, Emma, Rose, and Kate have stood the test of time.

Speaking of names...Thank you to Alexis & Kath who took my Attitude of Gratitude challenge. I enjoyed reading what you are thankful for. I am thankful for both of you!!

Because they are both great friends and good sports, I am giving them each a Scrabble game tile sign of their choice! (I'll be in touch.)

Thanks for stopping by.
Love,
Katie

An Attitude of Gratitude

Hello Friends,

Do you have an attitude of gratitude? Do you take the time daily to be thankful? Being honest, I could do better in this area. Sometimes it is easier to complain and think about what you don't have than to be thankful for what you do have. So, in honor of Thanksgiving, I'm challenging my readers to come up with 5 things they are thankful for today. Just stop and think of the first 5 that come to mind. I bet you can come up with a lot more than 5.
If you dare, leave me a comment with 5 things you are thankful for. I will read them all and choose one person to receive their choice of these Scrabble game piece signs. (Make sure you leave me an email or blog address where I can contact you.) The deadline to participate in the giveaway will be Wednesday, November 24th.

On Thanksgiving day I will share with you some of the things that I am thankful
for.

Thanks for joining me in having an Attitude of Gratitude!
God Bless,
Katie

Glimpses

Do you ever just stop and look around, enjoying what you see? ....Not really doing anything...no cleaning, no rearranging, just looking and enjoying?

Here are some glimpses around my house.

A collection of old hymnals.

An old typewriter, old photographs and some old bed springs.

A view of my bookshelves - crammed with stuff!!

This is a repurposed bird cage made into a desk organizer. I didn't stage it to look pretty but decided to show you how it looks everyday - full of papers, schoolwork, bills and more papers!

A collection of pretty vintage china.

Bathroom storage - Again, I didn't "pretty" it up but chose to show you how it really looks...full of stuff!

A plaque that says it all.

Glass insulators reflecting the light.

A paper pumpkin that Hannah made.

This is Chip, resident cat.

My Gardenias are still in bloom!

I guess it is the teacher in me, but I just love old chalkboards.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy all of the glimpses around you!

Love, Katie

My Daily Bread

Sometimes you find the coolest things at yard sales. In honor of the Lord's Day, I thought I would post about this cutie that I scored a couple of years back at a sale in Saegertown, PA. It is a "Our Daily Bread" mini bread loaf that holds lots of multicolored cards with Bible scriptures on them.

I can picture the lady who owned this before me as having this sitting on her kitchen table amongst the salt & pepper to be looked at over morning coffee.

The scriptures are probably KJV because of all of the thou's and thee's, but great none the less. I personally love to memorize scripture and usually write my favorites on an index card to refer to later. So, when I saw this little set I was over the moon.

To prepare to take some pictures I just grabbed a few cards out of the loaf and randomly laid them on the table. I smiled as I read the ones that were chosen.

The card in pink is a great one!



"In my Father's house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2
I've always wanted to live in a mansion and rejoice in the knowledge that the Lord has one waiting for me!

Another great one that gave me a chuckle is the little red one on the right. It reads
"Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Galatians 6:9
The "if we faint not" shows that God really does have a sense of humor.

I hope you enjoyed this little collection. God Bless & Happy Sunday!
Katie

Etsy Shop

I've opened an Etsy shop! It is called KayteeJane's House, (just like this blog), and I'll be selling my handmade crafts - made mostly with vintage materials and one of a kind treasures. If you are looking for a unique gift this Christmas, check it out. There is a link on the right side of the page. Thanks for stopping! If you are local to Oakmont, PA and wish to purchase something, let me know and I can deliver!

Autumn Collectibles

For years now part of my collecting has gone into aquiring things that center around a particular holiday. When fall rolls around I bring out some of my favorite pieces to decorate with.

This is a collection of vintage metal trays. (sorry about the glare) The colors are really pretty and I love that they are decorated with autumn leaves. This year I displayed them on my mantel.

This red tray is my favorite. Looking at it just makes me smile. It was the first tray that I bought and it came from one of my favorite antique stores. It is a little scratched up, but I don't care! I have seen similar ones since that time but none that have a red background with oak leaves. Oak leaves are a special favorite because I live in Oakmont - home to the most beautiful Oak trees on the planet.

I can't remember exactly where I got this tray, probably at a yard sale. It is a pretty green color with a yellow border.

The black tray is the most recent addition to my collection. I think I paid about 25 cents for it at a yard sale. If I remember correctly it was lumped in a bag with some other stuff. I think it has the perfect colors for the season. It works great holding candy on Halloween.

I love collecting vintage pottery. These two guys are two of my favorites and they only make an appearance for a few months a year and then go back into storage. Again, I'm loving these because of their oak and squirrel theme. The gray piece is McCoy. The pink squirrel isn't marked and I'm not sure who the maker is. Both of these came from yard sales.

This is another piece of vintage pottery. I'm not sure of the maker. It reminds me of a cornucopia, so I like to put it out around Thanksgiving. It is a pretty peach/tan color - which you probably can't see because my picture is dark!

Thanks for letting me share some of my autumn collectibles.

Tearing Down the Ugly

For those of you who know me and have been in my kitchen there is one word to describe it....UGLY! My brother has labeled it "The ugliest kitchen in America" and I didn't dispute him.

Well today we finally began to tear it down to make way for our new kitchen.

Here is Mark pulling out the ugly metal cabinets that the previous owners laminated with a "wood grain".





He also ripped off the 70's wallpaper and Homosote (paper board) underneath.





The previous owners loved to use construction adhesive in all their projects. These are the blobs you see on the wall.

They even wallpapered the ceiling and painted over it with white. It just had to go!

Check back later for more pics when we rip out the dishwasher, avocado green sink and the ugliest brown shag carpet you've ever seen.

I mean really...who carpets their kitchen????

Trip to Kraynak's

Each Christmas season it is a family tradition to travel to Hermitage, PA to visit Kraynaks. Kraynaks is a retail store that sells holiday decorations, plants, toys & candy. Although all of that stuff is great, we don't go there to shop but instead we go to see their annual Christmas display. The display is described on their website as "A 300 feet long avenue of sights and sounds to delight children and adults alike".

There is a special area inside the store devoted specifically to the display. When you arrive at Kraynaks you either enter the store to shop or you get in the display line.   The line can sometimes extend out the front door. The display is open each Christmas and Easter season and it is decorated differently each year. Think department store windows but without glass fronts...complete with piped-in music and scented air fresheners. The people who manage Kraynaks are retail geniuses too! Viewing the display is free, but while you are waiting in line to get to the actual display they route you through the middle of the toy department - usually with a few kids in tow. At the end of the display you walk right into their Christmas decorations area, where you can buy any of the great ornaments, lights, trees and toys that you just oohed and awhed over in the display.

It is commercialism at its finest and it is a Harley tradition.

Loving the Peanuts characters

Hannah & Gaby

I think this is supposed to be Sally of the Peanuts gang

Hannah poses with Dora & Boots

love these pink trees - so girly!

Toy Story tree

This display is so cute with animated eskimos & igloo

Me and my two best buddies