Tablescape Thursday/Halloween Tablescape

Welcome to my latest contribution to Tablescape Thursday, a marvelous weekly event sponsored by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch. To see a list of links to other participants blogs and amazing tablescapes, please visit her site.

For years, I have not done any decorating for Halloween. I am much more about Harvest Time than I am about Halloween. I am just not a big fan of scary stuff or monsters, or gore. However, this year I decided to go ahead and do a tablescape with a Halloween theme, albeit on the cute, rather than scary side.

I used my black vinyl tablecloth that I had from my Paris tablescape. I looked for some orange Halloweeny fabric, but couldn't find any locally, so decided to drape orange down the center. It was a buck and a half a yard.

I really didn't have any placemats chosen for this tablescape and was going to use just paper, but while browsing in Goodwill yesterday, I came upon these gorgeous placemats, a dollar for the set of two. I particularly loved them for the fall colors in the fabric, and there were beads on each end in black, dark orange, and purple. Perfect for Halloween! The tag said that these placemats were from Pier 1, and I don't think they had ever been used.

I got Halloween paper plates to fit inside the black plastic plates that were left over from my Paris tablescape. The napkins are the same ones I used in my Autumnscape, but I tied them with gauze suggesting a mummy was shedding just a bit.

I got the idea from a magazine to wrap unmatched black cups in gauze. If I hadn't, you would have seen advertisements printed on them. I call these my mummy cups.


For the centerpiece, I followed an idea I had found in the Schwan's catalog. I bought their Marble cake and Fudge Ripple Ice Cream cake for $8.99 and made a spider on top with frosting for the web, an Oreo cookie for the body, licorice legs, and M&M Peanuts in green for the eyes. It didn't turn out anywhere near as cute as the picture in the brochure, as alas, the cake was melting, "I'm melting," just like the wet witch in the Wizard of Oz!


The cake was on one of my little cheeseboard stands, and I put that in the center of a wreath which I had hanging around my porch light. Hope no moths got in the wreath! If they had, it would have simply added a little more Halloween spirit to the table.


Here is a closer up picture of the orange tulle and candy corn that I sprinkled on the table. There is candy corn in the design at the edge of the plates.


At the rear of the table is my black and white polka dot stand that I made, topped with a thrift store pumpkin. A witch's hat from the Dollar Tree tops an urn that I got a while ago at a thrift store for $3.


And last, but not least, I cute Goodwill fabric pumpkin sits atop another of my hand crafted stands. All the colors in the pumpkin tie in with colors in the tablescape.


Hope you have as much fun viewing this tablescape as I did creating it!

Also, please read my prior post on a fantastic recent health supplement find!

The One Good Thing

I'm starting out on a whole new venture!

I am not a salesperson. I swore I would never sell anything. I don't even have home parties. I hate to be pressured to buy anything.

That being said, I have found a product that I love so much and have so much faith in, that I have begun selling a it.

I have to say, I am a skeptic, a BIG skeptic! I don't automatically believe anything I am told. I like to do my research. So just imagine what I thought when my client's mother started telling me about Tahitian Noni Juice.


When she said that this stuff had changed her life and changed the life of her son, who has a severe muscular disease, it was something that I just brushed off. She and her family each have an ounce of the Noni juice each morning. I admit that it seemed to be like a waste of money.

That being said, there more I have been around, the more I realize that this stuff really is helpful...big time! My client has a compromised immune system and reduced lung capacity. This is a kid who caught every illness, and I mean EVERY illness, at school each year. It was not unusual for him to miss 2-3 months worth of classes each year. It was also not unusual for him to have to spend time in the hospital each year.

This has been a particularly devastating year for illness in the schools. Swine flu is rampant in the area right now. School has been in session since the third week in August and it is now almost November. How much school has he missed? NONE!

This is nothing short of a miracle.

Recently I came down with a bad cough. I am prone to this once or even twice per year. I have frequently suffered fron bronchitis, so when I began coughing, I was really worried. When I am ill, I cannot work there, and I would be devastated if I got my client sick. His mother gave me a couple shots of the Noni juice, and also some Nature Born vitamins, and though my cough didn't go away, it was far less severe than it would normally have been. I didn't get coughing jags. I began to improve almost right away.

I've been drinking 1-2 ounces of the Noni juice for almost 4 weeks now. I started the vitamins a week ago.

Since that time, I have found it much easier to stay awake at night while my client sleeps. I have more energy. I just generally feel better. I have also noticed that my sinuses are clearing up and I have increased breathing through my nostrils.

So is this stuff a cure all? The FDA prohibits me from saying that Tahitian Noni juice and Nature Born vitamins have curative properties, but I can sure give you testimony on how it has helped me and others. My client's step-father used to practically limp to the door after he drove home from work due to arthritis in his knees. He has had so much improvement since using the Noni juice that he will not go without it.

Here are a few more testimonies: When my client developed a sore throat, he gargled with the Tahitian Noni Juice. His throat cleared up! When his other caretaker had a very sore tooth, she put the Noni juice on the soreness, and it cleared up! When my client's little brother got sick and was vomitting, his mother put Noni juice in his belly button and it stopped. My client's nurse has been using Tahitian Noni juice and the other products for 10 years now. She is 70 and has the vim and vigor of someone much younger. She has noticed a marked difference in her energy level and sense of well-being when she has run out of her Noni.

There are even more great products. I have started using their beauty products and facial care line. More on that on another post.

Anyhow, feel free to ask me questions. If you'd like to purchase products from me, which the company will ship directly to you, or just check out the products, my sales website is here. At checkout, when you are asked for an IPC (Independent Product Consultant) number, use my number: 2916465.

This is not going to become a sales blog, but I will occasionally be blogging about the products I am selling.

I'll be back tomorrow night for Tablescape Thursday!

UPDATED TO ADD: In response to a comment I received with a link to a site warning against Noni, I would like to add this information. I have read the above link. I read all the sites that warned people against Tahitian Noni juice. I have also read a great number of glowing testimonials from people who say that the Noni juice has really made a difference in their lives.

Nowhere does Tahitian Noni International claim that the juice is a cure for cancer, however there are people who have received relief from the symptoms associated with cancer and cancer treatment. There are studies done that have shown Tahitian Noni juice to actually boost the immune system. Click here for more info.

As with any business, there are people who do get rich selling the products. I am not in it for that. If I do make money, that's great. I hope to at least make enough to pay for the products I order. Mostly, I just want people to know that this is something that is helping me and some people that I am very close to.

Tahitian Noni Juice is also listed in the Physician's Desk Reference as having beneficial properties. It wouldn't have been in that publication without clinical trials proving such. Also, please note that it references Tahition Noni International as the ONLY noni juice, as there are plenty of what we call "phony nonis" out there, that are not of the same quality and purity, and do not have the high percentage of actual noni puree as ours.

Just sayin'. I also find it odd that the commenter chose not to identify themselves and signed on under Anonymous.

Crazy Weekend!

I've had a crazy weekend! First of all, my youngest boy got sick. Poor baby!


He started feeling unwell Wednesday evening, but went to school on Thursday. He wasn't feeling well at all and went right to bed. Somehow in the latest move, I lost my thermometer, but his forehead felt pretty warm. I didn't think too much of it. As of Friday, he was still feeling under the weather and couging a lot too. He also had a sore throat, congestion, and overall body aches. I was able to get him into the doctor early afternoon.

At first, they thought it might be strep throat or mono, but he had his nose swabbed, and he tested positive for flu.

So is it the piggy flu? I don't know because unless he would get so sick that he had to go to the hospital, they won't test. He also isn't in the "cluster group" of individuals being tested for H1N1.

He was prescribed Tamiflu and is feeling a little better today, but is still not well. I am asking prayers for his full recovery! And also that my other son and I don't get infected. I cannot chance getting sick as I could expose my teen client to the flu. It is very important that he not catch any diseases involving the respiratory system as his lungs are already compromised.

Remember my house on Bonnie Lane? It went to sherrif's auction and I had to finish getting everything out. We hadn't done much of that this summer as for the majority of the summer, we were hoping for a loan modification. Also, a company had come during this time to lock down the house and winterize it.

Well, I was to meet someone there at 9 a.m. Friday morning so that we could have access to the house to get everything out. This was a great plan until I got called into work the night before. So after working 3rd shift, we had to start packing up the rest of our things. This was interrupted by the doctor visit, and returns home for bathroom breaks and to check on the sick boy. By 7:00 p.m., I couldn't take any more, so I called the realtor and asked if we could return on Saturday.

It took several more hours today, several trips to the storage unit, and many more things sorted through, packed and moved, but we get everything out.

So this is what my living room looks like now. Yikes! Why oh why am I such a packrat? Some of those boxes will also be going into storage, but it was too dark to go there after we packed the van full.


Okay, call me crazy, but I cleaned the house as well as I could using Lysol wipes, since we didn't have water there, we vacuumed, and even took all the bags of trash to the garage. I just had way to much love for that home and too much self pride to leave it a mess like so many people do after they lose their house to foreclosure.

I sure hope that a nice family loves the house on Bonnie Lane as much as I did, but tonight I said my good-byes. It's easier than it might have been because I love our new home so much.

As for me, I am heading to bed and sleeping in tomorrow! I deserve the rest.

Pink Saturday/Pink Roses Plate and a Pink Purpose

It's been a long time since I participated in Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. However, I found this little treasure recently at Goodwill for pennies, and wanted to share it with you. It goes well with all of my other pink floral plates, but this one is smaller.


And now for the most important part of my post! October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.


Please do your self exams in the shower.


And schedule a mammogram if you haven't yet.


They really aren't as bad as women think. I have only felt a little pressure on my breasts, no actual pain.


If you are over 40 years old and need a mammogram or Pap test and you are within 200% of poverty level, have no insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, you may be eligible for free exams. Please call your local health department and ask about the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project. There may be a waiting list, but if you have a family history of any breast or cervical cancers, you will be able to get in more quickly.

I have my exams on November 10. When you click on my button in the right hand column, it really does go to help a woman get her exams and stay healthy. I am one of them!

This is being posted today in honor of my cousin Wendy who died of breast cancer years ago, my Aunt June and Aunt Tiny who were survivors, and my dear friend Carol Jean who passed away just last month from a 6 year battle with breast cancer.

You can find this sweet angel pin on the Cancer Society's website. I thought she was perfect for remembering those brave women.

What are you waiting for? Call your doctor's office and get scheduled today! After all, we want you around for many, many more Pink Saturdays!

Tablescape Thursday/Feels So Good to be a Fallen Woman!

As my friend Shelia at Note Songs likes to say, we are fallen women! In other words, fall has arrived in my home and at many other bloggers' homes. In celebration of this season, I have created a fall tablescape, and also set up my outside decorations.

I used my brown tablecloth which was a perfect backdrop for all the warm fall colors.


I used my white Gibson dishes which were a deal this summer at Big Lots. I topped the plates with pumpkin plates I found at Dollar General for $1.50 each and they sit on autumn leaf placemats also a buck and a half at DG.


I found this gorgeous leaf napkin at Walmart, $3 for a set of two. My everyday flatware is being used. This is the only flatware I own and I don't know the pattern, but I have had these forever. My parents had the same pattern.


To add a little contrasting green to the table, I used my depression glass goblets.


I filled my fifty cent garage sale wine goblets with a golden colored white wine. Or is it actually peach-papaya flavored Lipton White Tea?


I just found these salt and pepper shakers in Kayson's Golden Rhapsody pattern at Goodwill for thirty-five cents each! They match dishes that I have in the same pattern.


I wanted the center of the table to also be warm and autumn-y. The candles are pumpkin scented with little gingham bows in orange and were just a dollar a piece at Dollar General. I get them every year.


The centerpiece is created from a white Gibson planter, a pumpkin that I also purchased at Dollar General for two dollars, and some garland, also from DG.


At the back of the table, I added a pumpkin with a fall garland I had purchased years ago but had disappeared into storage for a few years. I finally got to use it!


Since the pumpkin went back outside into my outside decorations, I decided to create an alternative arrangement with this lovely white tureen that I found at Goodwill a few weeks ago for only $5! I had been wanting a tureen for a long time and finally found it, but it's missing a ladle.

I had so much fun creating this tablescape and when my sons came home they told me they really liked it because it was so warm and got them in the fall mood. Hard to believe that boys would give me compliments on my tablescapes, but they actually told their friends they were proud of me!

The same day, I decided to create a really special outside arrangement. This is the biggest decorating effort I have ever given to outside decoration and I loved how it turned out. It was just my luck that a local grocery store was having a fall festival where I could get pumpkins, mums, and a bale of hay at great prices.

I've had the little scarecrow, the chair, and the red tin star for a couple years now. The metal pumpkin sign is new and was free with the purchase of the arrangement I have sitting on the red bench.








This was so much fun, and I love the result! Myt neighbor who lives across the yard said she was going to enjoy looking at this when she was at the sink washing dishes.

Happy fall! And do be sure to visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see a list of other Tablescape Thursday participants.

I Had a Date!

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. This computer is so slow that it really makes it difficult to visit other blog posts as it takes forever for pages to download and then it often freezes. I will be so glad when I will be able to get the old computer fixed or get another one.

And believe it or not, but I'd never though I would say this, but sometimes I just get sick of the internet! There have even been days that I didn't log on to anything but my daily cartoon and my mail. I haven't even been to Blogspot or Facebook in days.

But I digress...this post is about dating! And for the first time in a year and a half, I actually had a date!



I had a nice time. He drove over two hours from up near Detroit to come see me. We went out to lunch at a local restaurant and then hung out at the local riverfront park and walked along the river. Yes, he even kissed me and we actually held hands! We agreed to meet again in two weeks. Well that was the plan. This week he messaged me and said that he is not sure he is "ready to meet again until a couple more weeks." Whatever that means. I am now doubting that there is going to be a second date. Oh well. That is par for the course now and then when you date. We shall see. I'm not going to post his pic, because at this point, I have too much respect to do that.

Anyhow, I get asked all the time why I don't date more. The answer is simply that I am not being asked. People tell me they are surprised and men that I talk to online say that they can't believe I am not in a relationship. I think I can shed a little light on part of that.

For one, whatever happened to a man taking a woman out on a date simply for the pleasure of her company? Too many of the men who say they would like to meet me have "conditions" if they agree to meet up.

(Update: 1/12/13 - I deleted some of this post's content. This really has no part in my life any more.)

There really are some nice guys out there. I still keep in contact with the man I met in Dallas a year and a half ago. He admits that if we lived closer, we would probably be a couple. *Sigh* There is also another man that has talked to me for several years, but we have never managed to meet due to him living in various locations far across the country, and at one point, across the ocean. I also talk to another man who has been attending med school and working, so we have never had the chance to meet.

Despite all of this, I remain optimistic. I really do think that the right guy is out there somewhere.

And if you know of any great single men, send them my way!