Baby it is Snowing Outside but My New Chandy is Hanging Inside

It has been cold and snowing here all of today so no one is going anywhere. I have been listening to the dismal weather reports as the meteorologist warnings to stay indoors couldn't be more serious. The reports are that this storm may well top the two big storms of 1993 and '96, and there has been complete radio silence with regard to snow totals in New York City since about one o'clock this afternoon. As of right now there is probably somewhere in the area of 2 feet on the ground, and it is still coming down! We are all cozied up indoors with a huge crockpot full of  my spicy chili all ready to go for tonight's meal.

Earlier today Mr. Rosemary Lane was kind enough (after a lot of begging and pleading on my part) to hang my new kitchen chandelier I scored this past Thursday at ReStore  for only $15. 

I had to keep my fingers crossed she was going to work as they don't test electrical items which are hard wired at ReStore. But she worked and I was thrilled!

You may remember the chandelier I had here before...

And while I do still like the old fixture it felt a little too clunky for the kitchen's new farmhouse vibe.

As for the conditions outside, the snow is suppose to end here sometime before midnight and tomorrow is going to be sunny and 34 degrees! Perfect for a full day of sledding for Mr. RL and the kiddos. As for me, I think I may begin to repaint my kitchen chairs and possibly, if the roads permit, try to hit a fabric store or two in search of new some material to cover my kitchen chair seats.

Wishing you all a safe, warm and wonderful rest of your weekend!

XO

Remembering When We had a Snow Day

The house phone rang this morning around 6am with the prerecorded message from the school's Alert System giving us the big news of the schools being closed due to “inclement weather”.  At the same time the house phone rang, so did both my cell phone and Mr. Rosemary Lane's, and of course we received an email message on both of our computers. Geeeesh…talk about the era of automation!!

I remember when I was in grade school…we had to listen to the radio for school closings. We were tuned in to WIP 610 on the AM dial in Philadelphia. About every half hour beginning long before we were up out of bed, the station's radio personality would read the list of school numbers for closings. We would come downstairs and sit down at the kitchen table, barely looking at our cereal, and waited intently to hear if our school number was going to be read off on the closed list. "Schools 298, 299, 300 closed" the radio announcer would say...and then we waited for what felt like an eternity. “Please say 301, please say 301, please say 301” we would secretly be chanting to ourselves. And then, on that oh so rare occasion, the radio announcer would speak the numbers we’ve been waiting to hear…3-0-1. Yahoo we were off from school!!!! All of a sudden we were famished and we’d tear into the cereal as if we had not had anything to eat for a week.

After our cereal fest (more like a sugar fest) we’d run upstairs and begin to” bundle up” in about ten layers of clothing so we could go outside and play with our friends. I remember one year I built an igloo made of snow. We had a block mold, to this day I have no idea where it came from, probably a neighbor or possibly one of my younger sibling’s Christmas or birthday presents, but I didn’t care, it occupied me for hours as I built my house of snow!

My sister and brother were far more clever with ways to keep themselves entertained on the unexpected day off. We lived on a one block hill and our neighbor Mr. Phillips, who lived across from us but was also on the next road down, had this huge hill in his backyard. One year my sister and brother built a giant slope on the Phillips’s hill complete with a jump that actually rendered them airborne for about a good 15 feet. They had one of those plastic saucers which they would ride starting at the top of the Phillips’s hill, through the Phillips's backyard, and then all the way down the Fortune Road hill which was a whole block long! From there they would make the left onto Louise Avenue which took them clear out to Jenkintown Road. And, to make the ride even faster, my smart little brother and sister would pour water down the slope which would freeze and become really slick. The thrill of that snow saucer ride I am sure rivaled that of any amusement park ride of the time!

When I was a teen the main hill for sledding was at the senior high school. And boy did they have a great hill for sledding!!! Scores of kids would gather at this hill to catch their winter ride. We had graduated to a real sled by our teenage years and the fun thing to do was to pile ourselves on the sled, maybe 3 or 4 people high all lying on our bellies, and head off down the hill trying to keep everyone on the sled until we got to the bottom. Of course if you were on the top of the stack the likelihood of falling off was pretty high, but the fall itself was part of the fun!

Now in the short time it has taken me to write this blurb about my good old snow days, Grace and her friend have already gone outside, played in the snow, and now are back inside to get warmed up and look for something to snack on. I suppose at some point today I will make the trip over to our little hill which is a couple blocks away, and watch the kids as the go sledding. Maybe I will even take a spin or two down the hill on one of their sleds…if not for anything else but for “the sake of old times.”

Wishing you a wonderful day!!

And if you are in the wake of this big nor-easter, have a great SNOW DAY!

XO

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The Season Of Snow

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” 

― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

Happy Weekend!!!

XO

Our Welcoming Holiday Entry

We are having lots of snow and I am loving it! The kids surprisingly had school today, so it was the perfect tome to tackle more of my Christmas decorating while enjoying the peace and quiet of a tranquil snowfall. This year in the entry I decided to showcase a wonderful antique radio and turntable console Mr. Rosemary Lane managed to salvage from an estate sale a few years back. So with the buffet from the foyer moved into the dining room, I had a clean slate to work. 

I brought the radio/turntable console in from the dining room and placed it under an ornate mirror I borrowed from the upstairs hallway. Garland was wrapped around the mirror and a Christmas basket filled with red satin Christmas balls, along with two candlestick lamps, adorn the top of the console . My sweet little Antibes green chair flanks the right side of the console, and above the chair two Christmas plates were hung to balance the wall.

A small wire basket filled with scented pine cones and a faux pine tree to give the display some height, was placed on the floor to the left of the console. The wonderful cinnamon aroma of the cones greet holiday visitors as they enter the foyer.

In the corner of the stairway landing is an old wooden sled my dear friend Dawn gave to me before she moved to South Carolina. Usually the sled enjoys the Christmas season on the front porch, but this year I decided to bring her inside and top her off with some faux garland and berries, and some nice bright red ribbon. 

Never underestimate the power of a red bow! 

(I couldn't help adding the gloves!)

And that is our festive Christmas entry for 2013! 

I am a just humming along with my decorating and hoping to be done with a few days to spare before Christmas. 

How are you doing with your decorating this year?

Wishing you all a wonderful and productive week!

XO

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