Wolverton Duet?

Who knew this one existed?  Surely not this girl!  I always heard the Claude King version and just recently happened on this duet from Connie Francis and Hank Williams Jr.  It's cute.  I happen to love Connie Francis anyway.  Finding that she recorded a version of one of my favorite songs of all time is a nice little surprise.

Moon River. . . .

So it's vintage week in my head anyway.  Thus it's appropriate that we give a day to remember Andy Williams who died on Tuesday at the age of 84.  One of the great entertainers from days gone by.  His signature song was Moon River.  Listen for yourself. . .one of the best.

Apparently, this is vintage week

I can't seem to break away from my old sites.  With good reason.  I love that step back in time.  And why not?  I can visit from the comfort of my own home.  I wonder if I would love the look of older homes if I had lived through that era. . .without air conditioning.

Anyway, take a look at some cool vintage bathrooms here.  Not just pink tile--just amazingness!

Second Choice Dream Home

This one didn't make it as the final choice either.  But I came really close to this one. . .simple construction.  A nice box.  Plenty of room.  But it didn't have the charm of the plan we finally settled on.

Look at that.  Nice wide front porch.  Spacious rooms.  So it only had 1 bathroom.  But that was a completely fixable issue.  I wanted to put a big 2-sided fireplace between the kitchen and dining room. . .except in my world it would have been kitchen and family room.  The space labelled for the parlor would have become my dining room.  Or I might even have flipped the rooms completely around--living room become dining room.  Dining room become kitchen.  kitchen become family room. Parlor would have been the formal living room with the piano (no fighting piano practicing and tv noise).

In the end this one didn't cut it for us either.  But I still think it's a pretty stellar plan.

The Home of Your Dreams

Or at least my dreams.

Go ahead.  Take a minute.  Really check it out.

You love it too, don't you?

It reminds me of the one from the movie "Father of the Bride," the one with Steve Martin.  When we first bought our land with the plans to build, I gave some real thought to this plan.  I would have updated it to make it fit today's expectations from a home. In the end, it just wasn't the right house for our property.  Still, I think it is a gorgeous home.

To see more homes like this, check out Antique Home: Vintage House Plans  You won't be disappointed.

True German Potato Salad

So often German potato salad, when made in the States, includes bacon.  But when our family visited a while back, they made a completely different German Potato Salad--one with cucumbers.  It was refreshing, not heavy.  So here's one to try although I admit the recipe is quite rough.

Cook potatoes, peel and cut into slices (perhaps 3 lbs of potatoes)

Peel 1-2 cucumbers, slice in half then slice thinly so you have half moons.  You can easily pull out the seeds as you go.

1/2 of a medium size onion, thinly sliced.

Now here's where it gets difficult.  The dressing is made of vegetable buillion (1-2 cubes in a cup of water.  Salt and pepper.  No, the recipe I was given doesn't tell how much.  Silly.  OK, I will guesstimate for you for the other, more crucial ingrediets.  Add a tablespoon or 2 of mustard, 1/4 c of vinegar, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  Mix together and pour over the potatoes, cucumbers and onions.

It really is delicious.

The Book of Love!

When I was a young teenager I was all into the music from the 1950s and 1960s.  I listened to this one over and over and over on the tape I made from the record.  And it's a good one!

I played this one for my kids the other night. . .even the youngest one couldn't help but dance.  Good stuff.

Pardon me. . .I'm a little busy right now. I picked up a Wanted Man

I sure did.  The latest Jack Reacher novel that is.  And it is amazing.  Just like I knew it would be.  I have such a hard time reading it though.  Because I absolutely love Jack Reacher. And when I finish reading this one, I'll have to wait a long time for another novel to be released.  Painful.

This is the 17th novel in the series. That's a lot of Reacher stories.  Some novel series get old after a while.

Not Jack.  Never.  He is 6 foot 5 inches.  Former Army MP.  He's traveling across the United States just to see it.  No set plan.  No set address.  And he always finds trouble.  He's one of the good guys but he sure might not look like it at a glance.  He rights wrongs.  He takes care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

He's the man.

Reacher.

Get it. A Wanted Man by Lee Child

Kiss an Angel Good Morning. . .

 Heard this one in the car yesterday afternoon.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and this song just took me back in time~~back to my days as a little girl listening to the radio with my dad, sitting in the car while my mom and sister went into Kmart to pick up a few things.  I decided I'd have to share it with all of you.  Enjoy!

Two for One Special

I love Herb Alpert.

I love the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy.

So when you watch this one you'll get to experience two of my favorites mixed together!

Drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

Driving me insane.

My kitchen sink had a leak a few weeks ago.  Hubby managed to stop the under the sink leak. 

Unfortunately, now the faucet leaks. 

And it is getting worse.  How I wish I had the skills to fix this darn faucet!

But for now I keep getting to hear drip drip drip drip drip drip drip.

And of course, when I go over to see if it's dripping because someone failed to turn it off all the way, it stops.  Mocking me.

Drip drip drip drip drip drip drip!

Well now that was pretty cool

Friday night we had a little dance for school.  It was pretty darn fantastic if I do say so myself.  We have the good fortune of a patio with a very cool view at night.  So we were really excited when we were approved to have the dance out on that patio.

Perfect night.  The weather was gorgeous.  There was no humidity.  The sound was amazing and the lights were out of this world.

And I managed to stay out of the way of my oldest who was at her first high school dance. 

Yup, pretty cool and pretty near to perfect.

Good stuff.

One of my all time favorites. . .

Anytime I had a lot of school work to do, especially if it involved writing a paper, I would set myself up in the living room and crank this one up.  Well, maybe not crank it up.  But it was one of my favorite songs to listen to while writing.  And I still turn it on to set the mood when I have a lot of work to do. 

Listen to this one here.  You'll love it too!

Lord I hope this day is good. . .

Each day at school we have a designated moment of silence.  Sometimes it seems like a really long time.  But most of the time I find myself singing this one: 

Not because I'm feeling empty or misunderstood.  Not because I'm afraid God has forgotten me.  But because it is a catchy tune that reminds me what I need to get out of my day.

Hooray for Harold Lloyd!!

When we were kids we used to stay up "late" to watch Harold Lloyd on PBS.  This is something I need to get my kids to watch.  So far they haven't seen any of these classics. . .and since they can be found on youtube, there's just no reason for them to be left out, right?

I love skinny dip!

No words were mistakenly left out of that title. 

One day at work I was introduced to skinny dip.  Oh my!  What a delicious little treat.  Of course it's another pinterest thing.  (I'm sure you know pinterest.  For me it's a website I refuse to join because it will become another time suck and I just can't allow myself to go there.)

So I googled for it.

Super easy and super tasty. 

1 block of softened 1/3 light Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can of corn, drained
1 red pepper, diced (green works too)
2 jalepeno peppers, seeds removed, diced
1 small can of sliced black olives (but then I chop them a little)
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

Mix and enjoy.  It's that easy.  And 2 out of 3 kids in my household not only tried it, but loved it.  Who would have ever thought?

We Remember

Flight 11

Flight 175

Flight 77

Flight 93

And the thousands of families who were forever altered. 

We remember.

Friday Night Lights!

Football season is off and running.  It is serious stuff in this neck of the woods.  The team is steeped in tradition and whether you like football or not, the stadium is the place to be on Friday nights.

Since the oldest is now in high school, going to the games with her friends is the thing to do.  There is a fantastic cheering section that they just have to be a part of for each game.  The younger girls don't bother with the dressing up for games and they sure can't sit in the student cheering section.  But they have a blast too.

The boys of fall . . .that pretty much says it all.  Although the music lyrics don't quite fit our experience. . .in order to fit they would have to include something like "smell that baby powder in the air, watch the fans throw flour everywhere" 

Good stuff.  Great memories for the kids. 

Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport!

This one is for my girls.  One of those silly songs I knew as a little girl. . .and I just had to share it with them.  Excellent song for singing as you roll down the road with the windows down!

Sometimes we just need a little reminder

Because sometimes the days are just a little tougher than we think we can handle.

And speaking of artists, you can't beat Liberace!

With his glitzy costumes--sequins and glittery material and tuxes with tails! 

Oh the rings!  He had more and more of them over the years.

The candelabra. . .on the mirrored piano.

What a showman!

These are a couple of our favorite Liberace moments:

 And finally, the mirrored piano:

Jack Benny--What an artist!

A few days ago we were at school.  One was finishing up homework before we headed home for the evening.  To keep the other two entertained I pulled up some old videos on youtube.  The girls loved this one of Jack Benny with Gisele MacKenzie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3cc0HlO7so

(I apologize, I simply cannot get some of the videos to embed.  But you must follow the links when I post them.  They just don't do entertainment like this anymore!)

Bad Books

There are some things that I just can't stand to read.

I could probably come up with a list of 50. . .or 3.

In all seriousness, I hate reading "dark" novels.  The ones where the characters are just not good souls.  I can handle characters making mistakes and learning about themselves but not when they are just dark dark dark souls.  I read one of those last week.  It was on the New York Times Bestseller list for weeks and weeks so I thought, it must be good, right?  I was so disappointed at the end that I just wanted to kill the two main characters. . .even if that meant that I was just like one of them.

I can handle stressful stories.  I can handle Jodi Picoult plot twists. 

But books filled with foul language and books with dark characters?  I'd rather leave those on the shelf.  Why waste my time?  Even if the book manages to stay on the NY Times Bestseller list for months at a time.  I just can't waste my precious reading time on trash.

Guess I just want a happy ending.

Dancing down the stairs

I was always intrigued by this scene when I was a little girl.  My girls love it too.  It's from the end of the movie "Yankee Doodle Dandy" with James Cagney starring as George M. Cohan.  Fabulous movie.  I have a lot of favorite parts of the movie but this one probably takes the cake.  Unfortunately I can't get the link to embed properly.  But follow the link.  You'll enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1rkzUIL8oc