Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Home Sweet Home








Today we had a very nice Relief Society Birthday Luncheon for all of the people who were born in October. We have these once a month on the on the first Tuesday of the month. It is pot luck and of course I always eat too much at these luncheons, but they are so much fun. Dick always gets to go too because he is one of the two Priesthood holders that have to be in the building whenever we have anything going on with the women. After the luncheon we had to do a bit of shopping so I naturally wore myself out this afternoon. I have such a time walking and it is such a lot of trouble to get the wheel chair out each time we go to a store. We went to only two looking for 7 inch long thin spatulas so that I can have them to give as presents along with a crepe pan and my recipe for Swedish Pancakes. That is what I give all the members of my family for wedding presents. Since we will be attending the wedding of our grand nepheu while we are in Dallas, I wanted to be sure I had the spatula to go with the pan I have, to give to them. I don't know why these particular spatulas are so very hard to find anymore. You used to be able to find them in all of the grocery stores. Now you have to go to specialty stores like Kitchen Kitchen or Williams Sonoma. Dick had already checked out Kitchen Kitchen so today we went to the Alley and to Williams Sonoma. No real luck at either so we are going to have to keep looking.




We leave a week from today and I am already getting nervous about what to take because I like to pack light whenever we go away and we will be gone for ten days so I just know I will wish I had packed a certain something when I get there and it will be at home. It always happens to me whenever I go away. I can never seem to get my packing right.






Here are the pictures I promised of my house. I haven't found one of the outside yet, but will post the interior ones:












This is what you see of the living room from the entry way. The celings are very high and unfortunately do not show up too well in this pic.















Yoou will see my favorite chair where I spend most of my time. It is the reddish one in the corner. The sliding windows go out to the pool so I have a nice view when I twirl my chair.










This shows a tiny bit of the fireplace with the entertainment center on the right. The bit of blue you see in the foreground is the end of the love seat.










This is our dining room area. The sliding doors go out toe the patio, which is where Dick has his built in barbecue and our outside eating area. Will take a picture of that for a later post.










Dick's office, but I do share it. You can see his chair behind the desk and the television set is directly across from it and on the side is a sliding door closet where he keeps all of his office supplies. We converted this fourth bedroom into an office and it is light and cheery with a big window to the left when you are sitting in the chair.










Here you will see our kitchen which is really quite workable, even though it is small. We have what I call the "kitchen annex" in our garage that has lots of built in cabinets which house my pots and pans that I use only occaisionally.










This is how the den looked before we took out the couch and put in the day bed with the trundle underneath. I actually like the look of day bed and trundle better than the couch. I pictured the new look for this room somewhere earlier. The mirrors reflect the large china cabinet that Dick put together from an Ikea kit. The walls in all the bedrooms are irregular, so it makes it interesting. We converted this bedroom into a den and it also has a huge closet with sliding glass mirrors.










This is one view of the guest room. It is small, but adequate and it has a huge closet with sliding glass mirrored doors all across the wall directly in front of the bed. It had a very interesting wall decor over the bed that my sister and brother in law made before they died. Unfortunately it fell on Stacy who came to visit us before she married our son in Lake Tahoe. She wasn't hurt, but was quite surprised. I have taken the broken part off and have restored the center section and have since hung it above the bed, but now I need to get something to put on either side.







This is a shot of part of our bedroom. It is seriously old fashioned and I like it that way, except for the totally outdated artificial flowers above the bed. I hate them and have been trying to find something different, but have been unsuccessful so far. I don't want pictures. I just look for something to cry out to me when I'm shopping, that will say "this is perfect", but so far haven't been successful. Any ideas anyone?


I hope this hasn't been too many pictures, but I really wanted for you to get an idea of all of our rooms, except for the bathroom (three of them) and our wide wide hallway in which I have my photo wall, with pictures of the family all over them. I really wish I had more wall space. I will save the hallway for another post. It really is quite interesting. Will write more next Tuesday, which will be the day we leave to stay overnight with our oldest daughter, Nancy, in Huntington Beach and the next morning she will take us to John Wayne airport where we will leave for Dallas.






11 comments:

  1. Good evening, sweet Darlene: I am sorry that you wore yourself out today and couldn't find the spatulas. It sounds like the luncheon was nice and fun though. Your wedding gift for family members sure is nice. Your home is gorgeous! Hugs

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  2. Have you tried that store, Sur La Table? They're a little pricey (like Williams Sonoma) but they have EVERYTHING. I love the pictures of your home - so beautiful and bright and airy. It looks like a very comfy place, as well as pretty. (Well, except for that thing that fell on poor Stacy) I hope you have a wonderful time in Dallas. I didn't pack everything I needed for Denver either, but I just bought what I needed when I got there! You'll do great - have fun!

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  3. Thanks for the pictures of your home. It's so pretty and light and airy looking. It just says "California" to me. I love the floors! The wood that the chest at the end of your bed is made of reminds me of a dresser and vanity set I used to have. I think it was from the 1930's. I love pictures because it just makes us feel like we know you better. Have a fun week and vacation!

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  4. Won't be long now until we see you. Karyn and David are going to be thrilled with your "traditional" gift. I finally bit the bullet and made swedish pancakes for her for the first time 2 weeks ago. (had considerable pressure from David). She loved them!!! Now she will be able to keep my son totally happy. He keeps reminding me how I used to make the pancakes for them EVERY Saturday morning. See you soon.

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  5. Hi Darlene, your house looks lovely and so tidy. I just love that neat office. I could use some discipline in my messy office that I share with my messy husband. he'd rather make piles than file things away.

    I hope that you have a little rest before going on your trip. JB

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  6. How fun to see your beautiful home. I absolutely love your white kitchen cabinets. I would really like to re do our kitchen in that way. I also have cupboards in our garage right off my kitchen to hold extra supplies.

    I like your "old fashioned" bedroom. Looks so sweet and quaint.

    Very lovely home!

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  7. When we lived in Washinton we had birthday luncheons each month and I loved the idea.
    I enjoyed the pictures of your home; it looks so cozy and perfect for you. I really liked the old fashioned bedroom. I love country type furniture and etc. but haven't had any through the years. I like to pack light for trips too and now days you need to because they charge of your luggage. Blessings to you and keep enjoying your journey! Thanks for all your sweet comments on my posts. I am so enjoying reading about your adventures.

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  8. Lovely home.

    But now am extremely curious about your Swedish pancake recipe!

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  9. My dear sweet Darlene
    I hate that you are so worried about packing the right items for your trip. I can so relate to you because I do the same thing. Just try and not worry so much and enjoy your wonderful trip.
    Easy for me to say ....Right.
    Now to your lovely home. You went to a lot of trouble to share these wonderful pictures of your home but I am so glad you did. Your home is almost how I had it pictured. It is a beautiful home and I love how you have it decorated. Your favorite spot to sit would be mine too. hahaha
    Your kitchen is small but I can tell very functional where my is even smaller and not functional at all. I need you here to tell me how to make it so.
    I have missed talking to you. My home in town has most of my attention these days but I got up this morning to go back over there and I could hardly move. Too much bending and crawling around trying to paint the baseboards yesterday.
    Just between me and you I don't think I can do all that needs to be done in that big house. I am in a pickle...hahaha
    Wanted to check on you today and see how you are doing.
    Please take care on your trip and have fun.
    Love
    Maggie

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  10. Thank you for sharing your home, Darlene. It is very lovely - so cool and calm and restful. It must be a real retreat for you, and I'm sure a lot of work has gone into making it that way. I love the big lamps, and the little lace pelmet in the kitchen - a little Scandinavian touch. I could go on and on - you have such a sure decorating touch!

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