YUM, pass me some more of those pink marshmallows and a side of African violet, too!

It's PINK SATURDAY, my favorite day of the week! I get to sit at the kitchen table sipping mocha coffee with a mound of whipping cream on top and browse through some of the most lovely blogs on the block...all filled with pinkness, sweetness and delight.

My offerings this week come from my kitchen counter and the window in my dining room. First, I'd like to share with you the fact that my darling African violet is beginning to bloom for me in the midst of the coldest temperatures of the year. It's been below zero each night for the past couple of weeks with highs in the single digits...YIKES! You may wonder why I covered my violet with a bird cage, sorta like a little prison. Well, sadly, it must be done to save her life. You see, my kitty Camille takes a fancy to fresh blooming violets. She'll snack on the blossoms until her tummy won't hold another bud. In order for me to feed the passion I have for African violets, all of my plants are housed in bird cages, especially when they begin to bud. Camille can smell a blooming plant from a mile away and will eat all the babies in a heartbeat. She's merciless and takes no prisoners.

Next in line is my kitchen counter. When I got the Williams-Sonoma basket I didn't have keeping breads warm in mind. I wanted something to hold fresh fruit that was pretty and not made of wicker. I found this gem for a steal on eBay about a year ago and have loved it more each and every time I took a glance at it when in the kitchen. Being someone who loves pink, one day when it was snowing like crazy it dawned on me that those little cakes at Wal-Mart that bear the name "snowballs" would be perfect for my basket in the wintertime. I added them to my list and the rest is history. The next day I was cleaning out a closet and spied the little chicken, plunked her on top and that was that. If you take a good look, you can see the jar on my counter with a pink teddy bear on the side, filled with pink marshmallows. Those marshmallows are older than the hills and most likely taste horrible by now but they're pink and they look cute so they get to stay, hehehe.

I also thought you'd get a kick out of the pink wall phone I have in the area between my kitchen and dining room. It has a 25' cord so I don't feel confined when a friend calls. I love this phone because it has an old-fashioned ring that takes you back to the days when moms wore aprons when they cooked and dads took their lunch to work and didn't eat in a cafeteria.

Pulling up the rear, I took a photo of my faux strawberry sundae. I found that gem at a tag sale about five years ago, long before fake food was in vogue. I don't think you can see it very clearly, but there is a little rosebud on the top that looks like a tiny cherry.

My kitchen is loaded with pink...on the counters, in the drawers, in the cupboards and on the walls. In the coming weeks I'll be sharing all of it with you hoping that you enjoy looking at my goodies as much as I love sharing them with you. Now, I'm off to visit all of the blogs who signed up for PINK SATURDAY. This event is hosted by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound. What would us pink gals do without her? Hurry on over...there are oodles of people who are participating and all of them are just wonderful!

Can Romantic Homes Magazine give us too much PINK? Um, maybe, maybe not

Has anyone seen the March issue of Romantic Homes Magazine? I'm the first one to say that the color pink was made just for me. I'm the first one to say that there is pink somewhere in each and every room of my home. I'm the first one to say that when my grand-daughter, Rachel, was born there were little, pink sugar plums dancing in my head 24/7, but come on...what I saw this afternoon when I opened the March issue of this publication that arrived in my mail today pulled me up short. I rubbed my eyes. I held the magazine a little further stretching my arms as far as they would go. I looked really hard to see if maybe, just maybe, the page had been printed askew. Nope, I don't think so. What I saw I believe was meant to look just like what it looked like.

You have to see it in order to believe it but the house exterior is Pepto pink and all I can say about the interior is that, to me, it looks like the inside of a bottle of Pepto Bismol, too...something I don't like even if I'm so sick I can't raise my head off a pillow.

I'm sure that not all of you will agree with me, and that's perfectly OK, but there are shades of pink and there are shades of pink. Me, I tend to lean to the baby-powder hues...soft, subtle, sweet. The couple who owns and built this home is Brooke and Brooks Fleming (I kid you not). They built the house from the ground up, often perplexing their contractor, sending him home with pink dots dancing before his eyes.

So, if you, like me, love the color pink, grab the March issue of Romantic Homes Magazine to read the article and meet the owners. You can also bask in all of the home's pinkness. Now, to be fair, the whole interior of the house is not Pepto pink, just the outside and a few rooms inside.

Bella Rose Cottage is the business that Brooke runs out of her home. If you are already in your jammies, or don't want to buy the magazine, hop over to Brooke's web site. Once there you will be able to see this pink house with pink wreaths on the doors and take a virtual stroll through the pink rooms and then browse those that are more subtle in coloration.

Of course, my reaction to this house is a personal call and I'd be horrified if I hurt anyone's feelings with this blog entry of mine, so I apologize if I've stepped on toes. But, as someone who adores the color pink and as someone who can spot pink at a tag sale from 100 feet away, I'll pass this time and stick with my rendition of the color and leave the rest for others to enjoy. See you tomorrow, it's PINK SATURDAY, ya know!

Good(will) things come to those who wait and wait and wait

More than once I've brought something home with me that was missing a part, or wasn't complete, having faith that "good things come to those who wait. I'd have absolute faith that, given enough time, I'd find that part or the missing something-something that I needed to find so I could use my treasured, new-found goodie somewhere in my home.

I love to shop at Goodwill, just love it. I might have only five dollars in my pocket but I can always find a hidden treasure to take home to give new life and to enjoy. That is what happened a few months ago when I spotted this adorable lamp. Only the lamp, no shade, but I was smitten as a kitten with a dish of cream! Little baby-powder-hued balls of cotton yarn filling the base of a ginger jar lamp. Pastels remind me all year long of babies and flowers and cupcakes and kittens and puppies and soft feather-filled pillows. Pastels make me feel happy just looking at them, no matter what form they take or what shade or hue they happen to be.

I also love to have things in my home that are useful and sweet and cute all at the same time. I think that is why my eye caught the lamp on the top shelf in the home section at my local Goodwill store. I wanted that little lamp so bad that I waited for someone to come by so I could ask them to get it down for me. (I'm not too short but I've never been considered to be tall, either.) Once it was in my hands I checked it over for cracks and flaws...none! None! And...only $2.98. That settled the deal for me, yes, it did! I placed it into my cart as gently as I would a baby...feeling mighty fine, yes, I did!

I brought my treasure home and set it where I could see it anytime I wanted to think about what kind of a shade I wanted to find to top off my piece of the cute-lamp-pie. For a few months I looked, and looked, and looked. Not one shade that I found inspired me to plunk down some of my financial wealth (yeah, right) to bring it home. The shades were either the wrong color or the wrong shape or the wrong size. That is, not until yesterday when I was in Big Lots! I wandered over to the furniture department and there it was. I rubbed my eyes and took another look. Nope, I wasn't delusional. It was real and it was gonna be mine, yes, it was coming home with me, no doubt about it. A little, baby blue, 100% cotton shade with adorable, teeny roses along the bottom edge. I knew this was "the" shade I had been looking for and it was a steal! Could life get any better? I don't think so!

I put the shade in my cart and smiled. I finally had the shade that was perfect for my sweet, little yarn lamp. I need to share with you that these past few months I didn't have any particular shade style or color in mind but I'd know when I found it. I know that you, dear reader, know what I mean because all of us have "that feeling" every now and then when we won't settle and play the waiting game until the right goodie comes along.

So, as of yesterday, I have a complete, little lamp. I am happy, happy, happy, except for the fact that now don't know where I'm going to put it. I've been looking here and looking there and wandering around with the little lamp. I set it down and step back. And walk around. And look at it from this angle and that angle but so far, I keep picking it up again and walking into another room looking around for inspiration. This might go on for another couple of months or I might be sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of tea and a light will go off in my head showing me the way and leading me to plunk this cutie pie in the perfect place. A place that I might have walked by 1000s of times and not paid much attention but now...IT IS THE PLACE, a place of importance, one that has the right elements to give my little bargain lamp the exact amount of esteem it so rightly deserves.

But for now, the little lamp is sitting on my dining room table topped with the adorable, blue rose cotton shade looking perfect, just perfect. It may have to stay there for a while but it may not. Something might pop into my head any minute, or maybe not, but I don't care, I found what I wanted...the perfect shade for the lamp and for me.

I am pleased and content...and on the hunt...there is something out there in the world that I need to find because it and I are meant to be! Our paths will cross. I'll pick it up and I'll take it home, and the waiting and imagining and planning will begin once more!

A little p.s., I fell in love with this little lamp shade so much that I went back to the store about bought three more. Not because I need three more, but because I wanted to share them with people who have the same romantic and whimsical side to their personalities as I do. If you'd like one, let me know.