A Christmas Tree Party!

How COOL is this?? I love all the linky parties each week and lately seem to spend more time looking at all the other blogs in blogland instead of doing anything with my own! haha! There are so many wonderful Christmas decor and handmade crafts and foodies and so much more out there during the Christmas season.

This is a link party for Christmas trees! There's over 500 links so far. Check it out here:

Thrifty Decor Chick: A Christmas Tree Party!

I used to decorate quite a few Christmas trees and each one had a theme of some sort. Now that we are in a smaller home, space is an issue so I only have one tree up. It's a "slim" tree! I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed the years of multi-trees and a house full of decorations -- it's rather nice to have my tree up and decorated in record time!


Birds are my favorite ornament.



Especially clip-on birds, and more especially, glass birds.



Glass birds with feathers!



The Three Wise Men is my other favorite.



More Three Kings.



Clip-on butterflies in the aqua color I like.



Glass Partridge in a Pear Tree.



One of my cherished glass birds. A gift from my mother-in-law.



Mostly copper, aqua and gold on my tree.



Peacock feathers at the top.



This little tree is on my kitchen counter. Clip-on gold butterfly for the top.



Tiny glass Santa with cute ornament hooks.



And of course, more birds!


Thanks for visiting!

World War II mural on US Post Office wall

The post office in our town has a unique piece of art on the wall!

"Conservation of Wild Life" mural on post office wall.

Painted in 1940 by artist Lee Allen, the mural on the U.S. Post Office in Emmetsburg, Iowa is called "Conservation of Wild Life."

Throughout the United States—on post office walls large and small—are scenes reflecting America's history and way of life. Post offices built in the 1930s during Roosevelt's New Deal were decorated with enduring images of the "American scene." (read more here)

Artist's signature and date

The dark square in upper right corner behind the squirrel's tail shows how dark and damaged the mural was before cleaning/restoring it approximately 15 years ago.

What I initially thought was a WPA (Works Progress Administration) mural, I discovered was actually funded through commissions under the Treasury Department's Section of Painting and Sculpture (later known as The Section of Fine Arts or The Section) -- and not the WPA.

The "Section's" primary function was to decorate public buildings with selective high quality art to make the art accessible to everybody.

While in the post office to take my photos, one of the employees gave me a little more information. About 15 years ago, the painting was professionally cleaned and restored. Over the years, contributors to air pollution (cigarette smoke, etc.) had dirtied the painting. She pointed out a dark square in the upper right hand corner. The square was left to show the damage before the mural was cleaned.

There are less than 40 of these murals in the Iowa post offices. It is pretty awesome to have one in our town.

Thanks for visiting!

Do you peek?

I am not a peeker.

When I was a teenager, I wanted a pair of Topaz earrings in the worst way. For whatever reason, I thought those earrings would make my life complete. I begged for those earrings. I recently had my ears pierced (my parents made me wait until I was 15) and the only thing that mattered to me at that time were earrings.

My parents told me that I wasn't getting them. They said the earrings were too expensive and they already had my Christmas presents. I was absolutely positive I was not getting those earrings. Especially because my mother couldn't keep a secret. If I were getting those earrings, her eyes would've given her away even though her lips were denying it. But not only was she denying it, she was getting a little angry that I kept asking.

One of my friends came over a couple of weeks before Christmas. We were just hanging together. She asked if I had peeked at my gifts yet and I replied that I had never done that. My friend couldn't imagine not peeking! She convinced me (rather easily I might add) to peek at a few of my gifts.

She was definitely an Expert Peeker. She knew how to unwrap and re-wrap the gifts without any indication they had been touched. I was impressed! (Today, I know know how to wrap gifts so that this cannot be done as easily as we did it that day.)

I had several gifts under the tree and picked out a smaller one that felt heavy. I undid the tape, opened up the paper and slid the box out of it. Even before I opened the lid to the box, my inner voice was telling me "This is so wrong! Put it back now!" Being a high school freshman and 15 years old, I tended to ignore that smart little inner voice many times -- and this time was no different.

When I opened the lid to the box, there was a black velvet pouch inside. I opened the pouch and found  .......... a rock!?

It was a rock the size of my hand and on the top of the rock were tiny little figurines playing instruments. The side of the rock was painted with the words "ROCK BAND" and it was absolutely adorable! I already knew where I wanted to put it in my bedroom. I couldn't wait to show it to my friends! The ROCK BAND rock was one of the coolest things I had ever seen!

Then this horrible feeling started to come over me. I felt soooooo bad. Sick to my stomach bad. I think it was guilt. Oh, the guilt! I secretly opened a gift that was supposed to be a surprise. I had been badgering my parents for such a silly gift like earrings when I had plenty of earrings already and here was something they knew I would love. What a rotten daughter I was.

I carefully began to wrap up the rock to be re-wrapped. As I held it from the top to move over to the tissue paper, the bottom of the rock fell off. Not only was it a cool rock -- but it was also cut to make a box.

Inside the rock box was a tiny black velvet jewelry box. The kind that holds earrings. My stomach fell. I still picked up the velvet box to open it. As you have probably guessed by now, inside were the Topaz earrings I wanted so desperately.

Now I really felt bad.

For the next two weeks right up until Christmas I felt bad. Sooooo bad. During that time, I turned into the Perfect Daughter because I felt like such a horrible person. I cleaned my room, did my homework, emptied the dishwasher, folded laundry and put it away... all without anybody asking me to.

That was the first and the only time I have ever peeked at a Christmas present! I have never been tempted to do so ever again. Well, almost ever again... there have been a few times...

I still have the earrings and each time I see them in my jewelry box, they remind me of my parents. Yes, I peeked. And although I won't do it again, I love the image of my parents it brings me when I see the earrings.


Thanks for visiting!