Cloches and apothecary jars

I finally finished my glass domes turned cloches from Hobby Lobby. They turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. I glued bases on them and spray painted heirloom white. I also glued on a knob on the top. Am I obsessed with cloches?? i think 4 on one buffet is not that many, is it???

I have this little number behind my kitchen sink. Apothecary jars run in a close 2nd behind my cloche obsession  love.

The big candy cane sticks are from the Dollar Tree, the "soft" mints are from Target along with those wrapped chewy tree/red/white one. I looooove those. LOVE. The fake snow and big candy ornaments are from Target, also. (Guess I have another obsession love)

I saw this at crate and barrel (outlet store near us) and it was $30. GASP. I had one in our basement, but with a metal top. Little spray paint (walmart has red for .96) and voila....

I absolutely love it...and....a little secret for you...i can't stand candy canes. I know, I know. But, they scream the holidays and i love the simplicity and colors of them. Just don't want to eat them, k?!

I have also taken to cookie jars, but didn't want to buy a ton for all the holidays. This is my favorite, plain white one from Pottery Barn, with holiday ribbon. Saved sooo much money and space....

Another cloche

And just a tree and some reindeer in our dining room

Apparently my decorating style went from browns, to red/greens to silver. I don't like to get rid of things, so I tried to mix up the colors by room.

Here is the fireplace

The mercury glass trees were the find.of.all.time. Kohls used to do these crazy online deals. Crazy, I tell ya. Those guys were marked 29.99 and I got them (about 3 years ago) for .99. AND free shipping. Crazy, right??!!!!

Yes, I love silver this year.

And....what do I do with that cord???? It is driving me c.r.a.z.y.!!!!

Just so he knows

My dad was not a good dad. He never abused us mentally, physically or sexually....but he did emotionally. He never told us he loved us, he never hugged or kissed us and he never spent any time with us.
I never thought I'd have to talk about him to my kids because he died several years ago and my kids had never met him/heard about him/seen photos of him.
Tonight C. asked me about him. I started out being vague ("he died" "in his 50's" "heart attack" bla bla) and then he asked "was he a nice dad?"
I just froze. I didn't want to lie or give my father the gift of making him out to be a good person to the grandchild he chose to never meet. So I just answered, "no". This threw him for a loop. He asked, "what did he do mean to you?"
I had NO idea what to say, since he is too young to know or understand. But, I didn't think my father deserved a lie that he was a good person.
I simply said, "He didn't do anything mean to me. He never told me he loved me." His eyes got wide. I said, "You are very lucky that you have a dad that tells you that every day."
I think that is one reason I kiss him, hug him, snuggle him (against his will) and tell him I love him a million times a day. I cannot even imagine my children growing up NOT knowing that I, and their father, love them more than anything in this world.

Food issues

My son is 7 1/2. He is sweet, smart, funny and sometimes acts like a turkey. (not the animal) He blows me away with his retention of pretty much anything with numbers and chapters of books. He has loved math since he was about 3. He started reading around the same time. He loves his sister more than anything. Even though he questioned it, he believed my answer about the tooth fairy being real. He still loves to snuggle up with me at night. He just took up chess and asks NL husband to play every single day. And he does. And sometimes C. wins. He still sleeps with his "Bear" that he's had since he was a baby.

One thing he is not, though, is a good eater. He is what some might call "picky", although NL husband and I know it is nowhere near picky. I'd take picky ANY day over his "food issues". He, since about the age of 2, will not eat pretty much anything. He will eat: apples, pears, bananas, strawberries, pancakes, toast with butter (not too brown of the toast and butter must be melted), hot dogs (NOT grilled or on a bun), chicken nuggets, cheese sticks, yogurt tubes (but only Yoplait), buttered noodles, crackers. That's it. Also, he will not eat food at anyones house. He may, MAY, eat at our families homes, but it will be Wheat Thins or Cheez its.

It is exhausting some days. Most days I feel like a failure and it is somehow my fault. The boy hasn't eaten a vegetable in over 5 years. He seems to be growing and he's not a skeleton, but it's exhausting. It used to be containable.....then we started having to take him to restaurants.  Then family functions. Most family members are super, super nice and will bend over backwards to get him something, anything, to eat. But you just don't want to have to have family, or anyone for that matter, go through so much for food. It's not an allergy. It's not that other food makes him ill. He's just.....well.....he's just that way.

And sometimes on the rare occasion that I/he/we are questioned on it, the other person will say something along the lines of, "Yes, our son/daughter is picky, too! He will only try 2 bites of everything on his plate every night and he/she makes a big deal about it." Ok, maybe that's a little exaggerated. But, my point is that he won't even do that. I think people really think he's just "picky" and that it's us, not him.

And I have done the whole "you cannot leave the table until you've XXXX (tried everything, taken a bite of a vegetable, finished everything" and believe me....that boy will sit. it. out. No joke.

The reason I'm writing all this (other than hoping there are others out there with me) is that I just had to email another mom about a potential playdate this week. Her boy is 7 also. Last time he came over here and had dinner......now it's our turn. I am dying a little inside. I'm worried how it will go over there. What will he say? What will he do? Will they think it's us, too?? I started to write this long winded email to her (long winded like this post) and then I just stopped. I reread it and realized how ridiculous I sounded. Why am I making such a big deal about food?? I erased the whole thing and just wrote, "Sounds great! How about Wednesday."

Was that the right thing??

Just to add....

Vitatops has 9 grams of fiber per top. NINE. Apparently I didn't really realize what this would mean for me, but I just wanted to mention that again....just in case.

Cloches and Vitatops

So my new love of cloches has screeched to a halt. I check Goodwill weekly and have yet to find another cheese dome. Hobby Lobby has some tops, but no plates/stands.  Or so I thought....
Well, today I was at Hobby Lobby (it's a bad relationship we have) and I'm in the dollhouse section. (did you even know they had one??) I look down and see THIS

Two separate "tops" and two "stands". Well, the glassware is 50% at Hobby Lobby this week (it's 50% off about 99% of the time) but the stands were not. Which is totally fine since the small one was 3.47 and the large was 5.47. Not too shabby. I just need to Gorilla glue the stand to a candlestick, spray paint it and glue a glass knob of some sort on the top as a handle. Who knew???

One another topic...anyone try Vitatops? And if so, why didn't you tell me????? They are like muffin tops, but super good for you. AND...they DON'T taste good for you.

I picked up this box at Super Target today for 3.99 (I think) they look JUST like the picture (I hate when they don't) and they taste fabulous. Like a choc. chip muffin top. But, with 9 grams of fiber, TONS of vitamin and only 120 calories. Mmmmm.

And they are big....check them out next to my hand. (please excuse my hand...I'm 37, but my hands are 86)