Autumn Leaves Table

Here is a picture of my placesetting from last week.

We now have the son and daughter-in-law rehearsed, decorated, wedded and celebrated and they are sunning themselves in the Dominican Republic!  And in the middle of all that - I actually set an ENTIRE Autumn Table!

We will start with the table. Bill featured a "rustic" table last week. Mine is VERY rustic. I am not sure about it's absolute beginnings, but I know it spent at least fifty years residing in the breakfast nook adjoining my gramma's kitchen. It is a maple table, built in the style of a picnic table and does have two matching benches. It sits four comfortably and was such a perfect fit in the nook, I would not be surprised to find it was made for that spot! The top is one solid piece of maple, or at least it was until about fifteen years ago when it traveled to my house. It now has a split that keeps growing, but I love every inch of it! I bought the placemats several years ago, I think at Big Lots.

My dishes are my Pfaltzgraff. Since I have no time or inclination to cook this week, and because we are still feasting on leftover beef and chicken, I have filled the plates with teeny tiny miniature gourds and pumpkins that helped decorate tables at my older daughter's wedding five years ago. I placed a few silk leaves between the layers of the plates and sprinkled the rest on the table.

The metal napkin holder with leaves was purchased several years ago on the clearance rack at our local Hallmark store.

The sunny yellow pottery creamer and sugar bowl were my grandmothers. I borrowed the chair from my Raggedy Ann dolls and the scarecrow was a bingo door prize from Thanksgiving. The only way I can get my family to play games is if I award prizes.

The candle is apple scented and I wish you could catch a whiff!

I think I might have gone a little crazy here. I am not sure if I have a creative tablescape or whether it resembles a leaf pile where children have been jumping.

 

I am linking to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.  Please visit at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/  I can't wait to see all the Autumn tables! And I can't wait to start decorating for Halloween!

And with Colorado Lady at  http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/2010/09/vintage-thingie-thursday-vintage_29.html  for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

Autumn Birthday

My husband and I celebrated our thirty fourth wedding anniversary at the beginning of the month. You can't be married that long without learning to respect one another's strength and weaknesses. He is calm and quiet, I am loud and crazy. He is methodical, I like to dive right in. He READS THE INSTRUCTIONS before starting a project. I assume I can figure it out from the pictures. He DOES NOT SHOP. So to help him out,I ordered some clearance Pfaltzgraff dishes for my birthday! I am sad I cannot go to the outlet store (they chose to close them, sniff, sniff). I had planned to unpack them before Mr. Merry caught sight of the quantity of boxes. Unfortunately he is home this week, working on preparations for our son's wedding. That silly UPS man dropped them off to him.

 

My centerpiece is a birthday gift from my co-worker and friend, Sam. She introduced me to blogs and inspires me to keep going! Thanks again, Sam.

I bought these placemats years ago and will hopefully showcase them on a fall TABLE once we get through the weekend.

For my charger, I am using a ruby red plate with a raised border. The very, very last time I visited the Pfaltzgraff outlet, they had piles of these plates. I bought quite a few to supplement my Pfaltzgraff Christmas Hertitage dishses, which were discontinued. As we keep adding family members to the Christmas table, I was wishing I had picked up many more. I was delighted to find them on the clearance site. The pattern name is Ruby.

I also ordered a set of four dinner plates and four salad plates in the green. I would have ordered more, but I am concerned about how I am going to store the ones I do have! The pattern name is Emerald, but I think the color is much richer than that.

Our top plate is a lovely golden Pfaltzgraff bread plate. When I saw these, I thought they would be perfect for a slice of pie at Thanksgiving. The pattern name is Plymouth and they came in a set of three. I ordered three sets, since most of my table is too full for pie. I unfortunately broke one plate when I dropped it while taking it out of the box. I am almost in tears. But I guess it is an excuse to order another set.

Don't you just love the wheat staff border?

I added a candle in a glass holder shaped like a jack'o lantern. I know that is rushing the season - but I love fall and I love Halloween. I can't wait to decorate my fall table and begin planning my Halloween table, too!

 

I am linking with Susan who hosts the Greatest Tablescape Review On Earth- Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-to-109th-tablescape-thursday.html

And with Michael who hosts the delicious Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/2010/09/pineapple-upside-down-cake.html

Please visit both sites and enjoy the lovely tables and delectable foods!

God Bless American, Land That I Love

We are on Day Ten of the Wedding Day Countdown for my middle son and his lovely fiance. Every night after work the lovely couple arrives with their clipboard and check list. The preparations are leaving little time for tablescaping (even if I could just find the table), so I thought I would share a tablescape and menu I created before I had ever heard of blogs and tablescapes.  We are going back in time to January 17, 2009.  I hesitated about this post, I don't want to get all political on you, but then I realized that the beauty of being a citizen of the United States of American is that I have the freedom to vote in an election for the candidate of my choice and that, along with that choice, I have to respect the majority when they disagree with me, even if they are my family members. (or especially if they are my family members?) Anyway.  In a web search - looking for the recipes and ideas that inspired my party - I found this posting from  http://www.diva-girl-parties-and-stuff.com/presidential-inauguration.html which kinda summed up my thoughts  "The United States of America has just expanded the dreams of every child, every race, and every gender. Let's CELEBRATE everything this means. We don't have to agree on every principle, but we CAN recognize when boundaries have been broken and new heights have been acheived in our world."

I remember googling some great recipes, but the idea had come to me so late, that I decided to stick with the tried and true unhealthy snack food that my family loves. The photo above is my own creation - An All American Taco Salad Flag. I like to think of taco salad as a vegetable.

I found these cupcake toppers on a website, printed them on cardstock and taped them to toothpicks. Not only were they delicious, but my co-workers found the leftovers very humorous the next day. I found that chocolate was the key to bringing the different political parties together.

I believe that the one of the crockpots held barbeque chicken and the other meatballs. Add some chips and it is a party!

My son, an ardent Republican provided the poster of the president. He found it at Big Lots and it is still wearing it's price tag. I believe it was his olive branch. Or he was being funny. I am going with the olive branch.

I did find this recipe for the Ciroc Obama on the internet and it was the hit of the party. All my children are over 21 and we had Mr. Merry as our designated driver. Actually, we really aren't drinkers. Each lady had one drink and I still have the almost full bottles in my liquor cabinet. It did make us feel very decadent. Please notice the pink lemonade. That is what makes it a girl's drink.
We didn't actually watch the inauguration. If you remember back, it was an American Idol night. You can always watch news over and over and over on CNN and I was sure we would get all the highlights. But you can't visit over the watercooler if you aren't up on your Idol!

I will be linking on Tablescape Thursday with everyone's favorite, the hostess with the most - ess, Susan, at Between Naps on the Porch. Please visit everyone!
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-to-108th-tablescape-thursday.html

I also wanted to ask if anyone could explain Blog Frog to me? Is this something I signed up for? How does it work? I am clueless about this.

Thanks for visiting - I love seeing all the lovely tablescapes, china, dishes, crystal, flatware, flowers, linens and goodies you share each week! And I love your comments. See you later!

Whine and Cheese

I recently posed a question to my facebook friends. What should I be when I grow up – a Lady Who Lunches or a Housewife? (I clearly omitted my interim job of the past 26 years). The suggested choice, overwhelmingly, was  "Lady Who Lunches".

This is a dilemma I face every Thursday. How can I be a Lady Who Lunches at a beautiful table when I do not have a Housewife to prepare my home? By the time I have cleared a week’s worth of clutter (and this week was a memorable stack) from the dining room table, dusted the cobwebs from the ceiling down, washed the windows or rearranged the curtains, hung up the coats on the backs of chairs and surveyed the room from various angles to see if I can even get a photo with a clear background – I have run out of time to set the table!

I was sitting at work, envisioning a tablescape them to go with this essay – aprons, a restaurant meal, a briefcase? What goes with a whine? Voila! (or as a former co-worker used to say “viola”) Anyway – Whine and Cheese!

Here is one of a set of four plates I recently picked up at Goodwill.
The back says "Johnson Bros, England".

Here is the front with some smoked cheese, cubed at the grocery store, and rosemary and garlic boxed crackers I bought on the way home from work. I forgot to take a picture SANS cheese and crackers, but if you can see enough of the pattern to identify it, please let me know! I spent an afternoon after the purchase looking at patterns on the internet and couldn't figure it out. Perhaps another example about how and why the clutter accumulates.

I am using Moscato wine – a favorite with the Olive Garden devotees that are my daughters and daughter-in-law.

Here is my Whine and Cheese Tablescape

I especially like this candlelight shot with the Little Tikes Coupe in the background!

Thank you to Susan who always inspires me with her own lovely tablescapes as well as all the other lovely tablescapes she features on Tablescape Thursday.  Please visit and see all the wonderful postings! http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2010/09/welcome-to-107th-tablescape-thursday.html