Mmm....rain :)

I woke up this morning to the most glorious sound. No, not this little bully's heavy snoring (although I ADORE that sound) it was the sweet sound of a soft rain:)

You have to live in AZ to truly appreciate the blessing that is rain. Rainy days are my most favorite ever. And my sweet hubby knows it. This morning he whispered in my ear "just stay home today and enjoy the rain". God bless him. Really. After the home tour this past weekend, I felt so far behind on my "house stuff". So I took him up on his offer and went downstairs and made myself a cup o brew:) And let me tell you about my little teapot of happiness. It's made by Chantal, and see those 4 holes? When ready, it sings in 4 part harmony! Soooo cute right?? You gotta get one! TJ Maxx has em. $49.99 but soooo worth it!

This instant coffee that Starby's has is delish! It reeeally really is.

And reeeally good with a ton of heavy whipping creme and raw sugar :)

I took my little bully and my hot cup of deliciousness outside to check out the sky. Now I know to some of you this doesn't look like much, but any little bit of dark clouds makes this girl happy!

And check out my little ole sidewalk. Love that crack. When we were restoring, our concrete guy asked if we were going to rip up the old sidewalks. I looked at him with a look of "if you touch my old sidewalks, you die". He got the message :)

I made my way inside and wrapped myself in my dad's old sweater. I acquired this sweater one night when I was pregnant (with my now 23 yr.old daughter) with the promise that I'd return it. I never did :) my dad died in 1992 and it's one of my favorite treasures :)

I got caught up on my Masterpiece Theater on PBS. I happened to start watching this series and it has made it's way onto my "top favs" list! I'm a total sucker for a movie with the words m'lady and m'lord in them! And the outfits in this movie are to die for! If you didn't get a chance to see it- it's a must!

Little bully put in some couch time too :)

Then I got that ew I've spent too much time on the couch feeling and headed to the kitchen:) My hubby enjoys him some granola bars for breakfast so I thought I'd make him some. My daughter's boyfriend Chase found this really good recipe at Smitten Kitchen so I thought I'd give it a try.
I added a little more peanut butter than called for and flax seeds cause I love em!

They turned out uhmazing!!

Then I moved onto dinner. My hubby LOVES my chicken pot pie. I really wish I had a recipe to give you, but I just make it up :)

Little bully snored his way through the entire production.

And that's how I love to spend my rainy days :) Oh, and for the record it just kinda drizzled a few times during the day. But that's okay! You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!! :)

Chicken soup and a chicken coop!... :)

I've been wanting to try this recipe for beer bread from Yvonne over at Stonegable. So last week I decided to give it a try. And let me tell you, it does not disappoint!! Yvonne is not kidding when she talks about how good it smells while it's baking!

While the bread was in the oven I made a simple chicken soup. I shredded the leftover grilled chicken (I know, the pic makes it look soooo appetizing!) from the night before.

I started with a mirepoix (sounds so fancy right?).

Then added some chicken broth.

And if you haven't discovered this bomb chicken base- you must! My sis told me about it and it's fab! I picked mine up at Sprouts. I also keep the beef base on hand as well, makes EVERYTHING taste delish I tell ya! I just added a spoonful :)

Stirred in some frozen peas and the shredded chicken, a little cream and a thickener of water and brown rice flour and DONE!

Just in time for my bread to come out of the oven :)

Yummy, yummy, yummy! Chicken soup and warm bread- perfect, easy, winter meal :)

Speaking of chicken- let me introduce you to the one and only.... Lonely Girl. Or Girl for short. She's our last remaining chicken of the 3. One died of heat stroke (imagine that). And the other (we fear) was consumed by our next door neighbors dog. Poor Lonely. She's survived so much trauma in her short little life :(

Lonely no longer thinks she's a chicken. I think she thinks she's more like our dog. She comes to her name, and follows my husband EVERYWHERE. We (Wallace and I) have to constantly shoo her out of the house when the door is open.

This last Saturday the hubby decided to build her a house worthy of his love for her :)

And I swear she knew it! She was right there checking it out the entire time!

And here it is. Cuuuute right??!! Made out of.....the old fence of course!

With window boxes, and REAL flowers! (for now till they die a slow painful death when I forget to water them)

Girl didn't hesitate one bit going in and checking out her new digs :)

Of course Wallace loved it too :)

If you'd like to check out this sweet coop in person- you can! My house is going to be on the Mesa Historic Home Tour this Saturday from 10-4. You can find more info here. If you can't make it, you can check out some pics in the Cool House section of the Arizona Republic newspaper on Saturday :)

Feliz Cumpleanos!!

This last Saturday this special lady celebrated her 75th birthday :) That's my momma (and one of my handsome brothers). She was born in a little village in Oaxaca, Mexico. She came to the United States when she was 17. Yep 17. All by herself. I'm going to stop now or I'll end up getting all sappy :) Anyway, to know her is to love her. So my brothers and sisters and I gave her the birthday party she deserved :)

My daughter Rio was in charge of cupcakes. This girl can bake like no other. She's creative and crazy fast.

Just not the cleanest :( Yeah, that's her (may have diabetes) chihuahua Pozzy eye balling and hoping I don't see him sneak a lick at that sugar. Darn good thing we have that really cool central vac sweep into the suction thingies right there in the kitchen!

Here's the finished cupcakes. They were sooo pretty and tasty! What you can't see is the shimmer glitter on them with these sweet tiny silver beads. And let me mention that the sun was so strong that day the butter cream frosting was starting to melt, so we had to move them into the shade. That's Arizona for ya!

My mom's favorite color is blue. She has this collection of blue and white pottery that she got in Hong Kong years ago. I borrowed some of the pieces to fill with flowers..

Rio glittered up a bunch of 75's in varying sizes and colors for the flowers and plants. Cute right?

A pic of some of the 2nd cousins. Yes, I said some. I hail from one HUGE familia!!

I had to show this pic of my sweet sisters and my cousins. Notice we all got the memo? And there was no memo! My sisters and I always happen to wear the same colors. It was really funny when my cousins showed up in the same color too! :)

And here she is. And that was her happy face- all day :)

Feliz Cumpleanos Mama! I love you :)

Red means STOP!!

Call me crazy, but I actually like to do laundry. Always have. And ironing? Love it :) Maybe because this was my old laundry room and you couldn't help but love to be in it! Too bad I didn't feel like that about the rest of the house:(

Anyway, when we sold that beast of a house and moved to my dreamy bungalow, my laundry room got considerably smaller- but waaay more me :) Here's the terrifying before:

And the after! Sweet. Fresh. Cozy. I adore wood counter tops. These are white oak, made by my amazingly talented son Ryne :) You can check out more of his work and our family biz here :)

Except for the white pot and plant on the top shelf, it's all stuff I already had :)

The ornamental brackets I bought at Anthro forever ago and the hubbs made the shelves out of our old fence. (I know, some sad day there will be no more fence) I love this laundry room. But let me tell you, there is one HUGE mistake staring me right in the face EVERYDAY......

The RED washer and dryer!!! What the sam heck was I thinking?! I wasn't. I bought them right after we sold the beast. I blame moving, my kids moving out and putting my dog down in the same week. Yeah, that sounds logical. I don't know. But UGH! How to fix this horrendous mistake??? A curtain? Wearing blinders? Kicking them on a daily basis hoping they'll die??

I would much appreciate your thoughts :)

The name has a face... :)

This blogging world is nothing short of amazing I tell ya! Sometime a while back I had a blogger leave a comment that went something like this: "I think your house was built for my great-great aunt, let me know if you want any more information." WHAT???? Of course I FREAKED!! When we bought this house all we knew was it was built in 1916 and was known as the Bleak-Peterson house. So to have someone who #1-actually read my blog and #2 have info on my beloved house was nothing short of a miracle. So on a really hot day this past June, I got the greatest package in the mail! And seriously? This woman did her homework!! She sent me page after page of information I would have never been able to find otherwise. But the absolute best?? A picture. Of her. The "first lady" of my home. So without further adieu, let me introduce you to Ellye Ellsworth Irwin Bleak :)

I've never met her, but I love her. Her "somewhere in time" hairdo is so perfect. Her eyes seem so friendly and gracious. She was a photographer, so obviously she was creative:) I feel such a connection with her, walking where she walked, sitting on the front porch where she sat. She would be so sad to know that over the years so many people had "remodeled" her once beautiful home. Few original details were saved. But one item in particular refused to leave. The bathtub :)

While I was soaking here the other night, I couldn't help but smile and think that here I was relaxing in the exact tub where Ellye relaxed at the end of what I'm sure was a long, hard day. I feel so blessed to call this house my home. Thank you Ellye :)

And Marianne, I can't thank you enough for the pictures and wonderful information you sent me. I will, rest assured forever treasure it :)

Isn't blogging the best?! :)

A Penny for your thoughts.... :)

I love old things. Always have. I adore old dilapidated houses that I could love and restore back to their original beauty :)

I'm truly obsessed with old funky cars. Like this Nash Metropolitan. I WILL have one of these someday :)

But my most favorite old obsession?? Old ladies!! Check out these ladies. That's Penny in the green, and next to her is Helen. The lady in the fab leopard coat shall remain nameless until I get close enough to read her name on her coffee cup:) These ladies are at my local Starbucks (or Starby's as I call it) every Sunday morning. I have become absolutely OBSESSED with their cuteness. It's to the point where my husband says he's having coffee alone because I am so intensely focused on these ladies!

Penny (in the green coat) is my fav. Her hair is so perfectly coiffed! She has this sense of style that says "I've always been in style. New York kind of style." She wears these awesome vintage looking sunglasses (you can see them on the table) and has a voice of a smoker. And yes, occasionally they sit outside because Penny smokes, yep- those long skinny cigarettes, just like you would imagine. And did I mention she wears a thumb ring?? Oh yes, she does!!

My husband tries to act like he's not totally intrigued by these ladies, but a few Sundays back he said, "Look at them, their wrinkles are beautiful." And they are! They reeally are!! These ladies truly inspire me. I reeeally want in their club! My husband asked them this last Sunday if we could join, Helen replied, " nope, not unless you're a white haired widow!" Bummer city for me!! Oh well, I will love them from afar and secretly hope that Penny quits smoking ;)

**A very Happy New Year to you all!