Stella Does a Strip...

...Mall of course. And what were YOU thinking?


Today, Stella and I traveled to Holland. No, not the Netherlands -- Holland, Ohio, near Toledo. My daughter Tara and her fiance live and work there, and just got their own apartment! It was time for me to take her some of her belongings that had managed to be left at my house after her last move.

She was thrilled to meet Stella!


I had a surprise for Tara. She said that she wanted to decorate her kitchen in sunflowers, like she had in her last place. She had left a small folding table at my house, and she read my blog and saw how I had been transforming things with paint, and said how much she liked what I had done. She had forgotten that she even owned the table! Anyhow, I found a yard of fabric at Joann Fabric for just $3, found a package of 4 light yellow napkins at Goodwill for $2, and found some cute buttons and ribbon also at Joann's. I got some paint at Meijer, Rustoleum in Yellow Squash.

She was thrilled!


She just purchased the plates and cups last week for a dollar each at the Dollar Tree. She loved the place setting I made for her too!


Stella wanted to jump in and help too. Tara thought she did a great job!


I had not even seen a picture of the plates yet when I bought the ribbon, but it coordinates perfectly!

After we moved the boxes and bags into the apartment, it was time to go shopping.

I had been wanting the Target salt and pepper shaker birds for a long time now, months even! However, there is no Target nearby, but my daughter lives less than a mile from one! We dashed over there.

At first, I couldn't locate them and was getting discouraged.

Then Joyness! I spotted the infamous Target birds! Oh happiness, I am now officially a true blogger! Just look how excited I am.

I danced through the aisles of Target singing "I got the Target birdies! I got the Target birdies!" Yes, really and truly I did. It was just that kind of day.

After my Target birdy score, my daughter treated me to lunch as a very late Christmas present. She took me to her favorite local restaurant. Stella liked the idea of traveling to Holland and China, all within a one mile radius.


Stella served the tea, which was delicous...


Then shared my peanut chicken dinner with rice.


After lunch, we visited several other stores including The Avenue, Bed Bath and Beyond, where I danced and sang in the aisles, embarrassing my daughter, and Dollar Tree, where I did the same. A woman in line at the register told the cashier that she really liked coming in the store because of the music. I told her that I had been dancing in the aisles, then she began to shimmy and shake a little too. Stella hid away in my purse, her face red with embarrassment at my antics.

However, when we got to TJ Maxx, Stella wanted to jump out and get in on all the fun. She liked these trunks. Now she could visit Holland, China, and Paris!


She also liked this lovely little holder with a mosaic center. I wanted to snatch it up at only $7.50, but since I had bought the Target birds, I was low on the dough. There was more TJ Maxx yumminess, but I am saving that for Pink Saturday.


After a long afternoon of shopping and window shopping, Tara and I gathered her fiance Mike, and we all headed back to my home so that they would have a couple days to visit with me and with Mike's mother and siblings. It was late, but not too late to start up the firepit and roast hot dogs and s'mores.


Stella grabbed one of the sticks and roasted a marshmallow.

This is where the story gets Dark and Twisty.

Be assured that no Aida cloth dolls were harmed in the commission of this story. Anyhow, my daughter was reviewing my pictures and had her own idea of how this story should go, with macabre additions from my son.

Tara: Hee hee, this picture of Stella looks like she has a shank (prison term for fashioned object into lethal knife)>


Tara:Mom, this picture looks like Stella fell in the fire!


Tara: Mom, I know...this would be funny...let's take this picture of Sean eating and pretend that he got mad and tried to eat Stella, but she fell in the fire instead.

Kady (Mom):No! No, we are not doing this. This is not funny.

Tara: Yeah Mom, it would be, and lets pretend that she is mad at Sean and tried to stab him.

Kady aka Mom: NO!

Tara: Yeah Mom! And then we can wrap toilet paper around her body and tell a story about how we had to have her visit the burn unit! You know, this picture looks like her hair is on fire too!

Sean giggles like a goofball.



Kady aka Mom: You kids are dark, twisted sick individuals.

So anyhow, I allowed no horrors to befall our dear Stella. She is safe and sound asleep in her bed tonight, resting peacefully after a long fun day.

She rather enjoyed the Dark and Twisty story though, silly girl!

Stay tuned for more Stella adventures!