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!

Stella Arrives in Ohio!

Look who has come for a visit at my house! Let me introduce you to Stitching Stella, from England. She is traveling around the world, from blog to blog. She will be my guest and we are going to have some great adventures! Stella was created in November 2008 by: Lindsay-ann at The Cross Stitch House and Lorrie at The View from My Door. To follow her adventures so far, click on the picture of Stella in my sidebar.


Stella last stayed at the home of Shelia from Note Songs in Galveston, Texas. She had a wonderful stay there where she got herself into trouble sneaking out at night to go surfing with the locals, getting a tattoo (though it looks awesome) and getting arrested. She reformed herself and went on to star in Broadway shows, in addition to helping Shelia with her tablescape and cooking and cleaning. Shelia also got Stella her little dog which she named Gally.

On Friday, I spotted this package at my door. It was supposed to rain, hence the plastic bag. Oh, I couldn't wait to rip this open and meet Stella!


She was safe and sound and happy to be woke up from her long nap in transit. Not only did I find Stella, I found a beautifully wrapped gift! I love that the blue paper matched my tablescape!

Ooooh, look what Shelia sent me! Mary Englebreight notes and a journal and a pretty card! I loved it all!


Anyhow, I wanted to get out and take Stella on some adventures. So bright and early the next morning afternoon, Stella and I set out to a town in the next county to visit a cute little shop that was having an open house. It was raining all the way there, but by golly, as soon as we reached our destination, the sun came out!

Here we are at East Mulberry Gift Cottage. It's cute even from the outside! Click on any picture to enlarge it so you can see the detail.

Cute sign! Mulberry Cottage is located at 847 East Mulberry Street, Bryan, Ohio 43506, and if you see anything you like, you could call the owner at 419-630-0100. I wanted to give some free advertising since she was so sweet to let me take pics! She loved the idea of Stitching Stella travelling the world!


Here is the view as you enter the front door. It just took my breath away the first time I saw it! So much to look at and its all so pretty.






Of course, Stella had to get in on all the fun! Here she is chatting with some of the dolls at Mulberry Cottage.


When she saw this evergreen tree full of birds and nests, she had to hop on in and play with them!


Near the tree, I spotted a stuffed kitty in the windowsill. Upon further inspection, I found out that this was a real kitty! I didn't want to get too close and disturb his sleep.


Stella found this gathering of frogs underneath one of the tables and jumped on in to join in their ribbity fun. You really have to keep an eye on that girl!


She even found a seat nearby that was just her size.


After playing with her new friends, she decided to take a quick rest in this little antique bed while I shopped.


Before we left, we both had some of these yummy cookies! It was an Open House after all!


Just a quick stop to the bathroom for both of use before we went outside. Isn't this the cutest bathroom ever? I love that light.






It was windy and blustery outside, so Stella chose to stay tucked away safe inside my purse as she feared being blown away. Mulberry Cottage has a beautiful garden out back. It's early in the growing season in northern Ohio, so I imagine that there will be even more flowers by the end of summer. I spotted this cute purse being used as a bird nest.


I really like these rain cups, used in place of gutters. It's so much prettier, and drops of rain were still falling through them!


Here is a tree next to the side door. I love that the owner takes even a bare tree like this and makes it decorative.


Here are some pics of the garden.







Willow furniture! I think this is so cool.




After our visit, we drove home. Oh, I did buy something after all! Isn't this bag so cute?


I had purchased some buttons and she put them in this precious green bag.

Stella wanted to see what was inside...

So she dumped all the buttons out. I tell you, don't take your eyes off of her!


It was okay though. Just look at these beautiful buttons! The owner asked if I collected buttons, and I told her that I hadn't been, but since I have been laid off, I have all kinds of ideas bouncing around in my head, and I think I could use these for something. I just haven't figured out how I will use them yet.


That ends our day! We have more adventures planned, so stay tuned. You never know if Stella is going to behave or not, but either way, she is a delight!

Pink Saturday/ Pink Flowers

Welcome to another Pink Saturday! This is a weekly event hostessed by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. Please stop by her blog to see a list of all the other participants.

Look what I found outside in my front yard last week! This tree had finally bloomed and was covered in delicate white buds.


I thought it was so pretty.


So where is the pink that I promised? It's in there somewhere!


Aha, here it is! I thought these were so lovely.







We won't talk about how all of those white petals eventually came off and stuck all over my vehicle. Today's rains washed it all off though. It sure was pretty while it lasted though!

I paid a visit to the house on Bonnie Lane, which is apparently still in our possession. I'm glad I could still see some of the spring flowers blooming. At least a couple of them were pink, and the lilacs were blooming too!












This is one reason I just love spring...all of the pretty flowers blooming everywhere!

Stay tuned this week for some posts featuring a visitor that just arrived at my door Friday afternoon! Oh, I am going to have so much fun with my guest. Some of you already know who it is. I should be posting something in the next day or two!

Happy Pink Saturday everyone!