New Year's Eve

How adorable is this?! Can you stand it?  It has 3million hits in the past two days! I think it is officially viral!

What are you doing New Year's Eve?  I'll be spending it with my little darlings, reminiscing about that New Year's Eve nine years ago when I was in the hospital holding my newborn precious bundle.  New Years Eve would never be the same and means so much more to me than it did before.

Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope this year is full of blessings, good fortune, and health for all!



This was taken in New York between 1910 and 1915.  It is neat to think maybe it was 1912...possibly 100 years ago today.

A Little Princess

I have been fostering kittens continuously for about a year now.   I have had two dogs in that time that I fostered.  One puppy I kept over night and she was adopted at Petsmart's Adopt-a-thon the next day.  The other was a little hairless terrier that we called Wiggy.



She was a doll who went to a recuse after a couple weeks.

Yesterday I went to the shelter to get a kitten some meds and walked in to see a one of the workers holding this little girl.


Can you stand it? I couldn't! I said, does she need a foster home?  They said yes, they'd received about 40 dogs in the past three days and were out of room.  She was in a crate in the garage area because they had run out of room.  No way I was letting that little doll baby sleep in a cold garage over Christmas. ;)  So I brought her home.   And I'm trying very hard not to fall in love.  I'm not sure it is working.    The woman who surrendered her mentioned she was part papillon.  My dog is a papillon rescue and my mom had a teeny papillon about the size of this girl.  She has the fragile structure of my mom's pap at that age and some extra hair on her ears, but she also looks very dachshund to me.  I looked online and found there is an English Cream Dachshund, so I think that might very well be her other 'part'.   It is such a cute combination.  It reminds me of a teeny Saluki which is one of my favorite large breeds.

Be forewarned....cuteness overload:



She's a blur!




Kittens are considered old enough for spaying and adoption at 2lbs.  She's as small as the kittens I foster.  My big puffball, Sylvester rubbed his head on her right way, welcoming her to the house.  Have I mentioned how much I love my cat?  He's soooo sweet!!


I get you, kitty!






Go, girl, go!


As I said, she has the structure of my mom's little pap.  To make a long story short, my Dad did not want a house dog.  Of course he fell in love and he adored her, but he was kinda mad when mom got her without asking.

My mom passed away from breast cancer and about a year or two later the dog, Cricket, passed away too.  After that Dad was on edge that we'd say he was lonely and get him a dog without his consent.  He said they were too much work.  And when he comes to visit he tells me my foster kittens are too much work and that people didn't need animals, because they are too much work.     And for my birthday he gave me some cash and said 'go crazy'.  This is pertinent and will make sense in a second.

So you see, in a few days when we have Christmas together I must take the puppy.  And I have to freak my dad out.   I will either say,  "Hey I spent the money you gave me on a dog", which will upset him or (and I think this is it) I'll put a big bow on her neck and say "Merry Christmas, Dad!!"



Either way, it will be a Kodak moment. ;)

Christmas Kitties

Getting friendly kittens in and taking care of them until they are old enough to be neutered and go to Petsmart is the easier part of fostering.   Twice now, I've gotten a set of feral kittens.   They require lots of patience and time and they steal a part of your heart the other kittens don't touch.  You feel sorry for them, because you know they are genuinely afraid and then you are so touched when (and if) they finally show you their trust.  They are such gentle little souls.    With my first set of feral fosters, we tamed two, kept one, and then one was sent back to us from Petsmart because she wasn't tame enough and no one adopted her.   So, more time was spent taming her and after having her 6 months she was finally adopted with the Christmas rush.  

I have three more little ferals right now.  The two boys are more tame than the little calico girl.  With the Christmas rush they will likely get adopted.  Hopefully they go to good homes  that understand the trust of a wild kitten is a treasure and they never raise their voices to them or break that trust.    So here they are.  Three little Christmas angels.

His little goatee and mustache I think he looks like a little Spanish Conquistador or V from V for Vendetta.  I went the Spanish route and named him Don Gato.  The girls call him "Mini Me" because he looks just like our adopted feral, Sylvester. 





Very timid, very shy little Giselle and Sylvester peeking through the door with a look of betrayal. You can't see it, but trust me it is there.  He ran in when I opened the door to go out - silly boy.


She is just going to be stunning!!


And my little Gray Baby aka Grayson.


See I can touch him without him fleeing!  ;)  I worked to achieve this.  When I brought them home from the shelter they were wild as ginueas and hopping around like hissing mexican jumping beans.



Ginseng isn't feral.  He's the complete opposite.  He is half cat and half parrot.  Super snuggler he didn't go with his litter to petsmart because he wasn't quite ready to be neutered - boy issues.





Thanks for looking and if you fall in love with one - hurry fast and contact:  http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/KY167.html

I apologize for the lack of posts recently.  We had a very rainy dark week not very conducive to picture taking or doing anything blog worthy.   I don't have my Christmas decorations up yet, although I've been getting them out.   Here's hoping for a better week to come. 

Vintage Recipe: Million Dollar Fudge

Today, first lady Michelle Obama promotes active lifestyles and healthy eating choices, but before Mrs. Obama there was a Mamie Eisenhower -and Mamie Eisenhower brought the American public the most decadent fudge recipe ever: Mamie Eisenhower's Million Dollar Fudge.

This is a marshmallow cream based fudge. There is also a recipe on the back of marshmallow cream called Fantasy Fudge, but it calls for 3/4 cup of butter, where Million Dollar Fudge uses two tablespoons, so I suppose I am paying a bit of attention to the healthiness of my Christmas candy. Mrs. Eisenhower's Million Dollar Fudge was found in publications across America through the 1950's during which her husband was in office. Mamie's recipe can be found online in the Eisenhower Archives (link).

The instructions are simple, although it is not fail proof.  I can fail any recipe - we'll discuss my 15 year love hate relationship with no-bake oatmeal cookies another time.

Mamie’s Million Dollar Fudge
4 1/2 cups sugar

pinch of salt 

2 tablespoons butter 

1 tall can evaporated milk 

12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bits 

12 ounces German-sweet chocolate  (I used milk chocolate chips)

1 pint marshmallow cream 

2 cups nutmeats  (I used walnuts)

Boil the sugar, salt, butter, evaporated milk together for six minutes.
Put chocolate bits and German chocolate, marshmallow cream and nutmeats in a bowl. Pour the boiling syrup over the ingredients. Beat until chocolate is all melted, then pour in pan. Let stand a few hours before cutting.
Remember it is better the second day. Store in tin box.

 Now, I already said I have trouble with this recipe and things boiled over and all kinds of stuff, so it wasn't pretty and I have no photos from that phase of cooking.

Starting after you've let the sugar, butter, and evaporated milk boil for 6 minutes pour it into a bowl.

Add chocolate chips

 

Stir

 Add marshmallow cream.

 Stir.

 Line your dish with plastic wrap or wax paper so it will be easy to lift the fudge out after it sets up.

 We had a little....well, my daughter raked her fingers across the top of the fudge, which we were baking for her teachers, thinking I wouldn't notice it, so I don't have photos of the pretty finished product. Grrr. Instead here is a shot showing the poinsetta's on my vintage table cloth.  I can't remember if this is the one I bought or on that the kids inherited from their Grandmother.

 And some details of the cute Christmas place-mat I found thrifting this year.

If you have never had this recipe, you must give it a try.  This fudge does not disappoint!!  Eight year old's sneaking the fudge might disappoint, but never the fudge.

Vintage Christmas Gift Tags

I had a great luck looking for vintage Christmas stuff the other week.  In the bottom of a wreath box I found these tags.  I don't know what the copyright laws are on stuff this old, so I'm not going to say you could go to my Flickr page and download these for personal use.

Instead I'll just talk about these adorable tags...

and the wonderful colors - I love how much pink use to be a part of Christmas,

and the awesome fonts,

and the way Santa never stood on two feet until at least 1980 -had you noticed? I think he wobbled from too much eggnog before the whole salmonella scare came along,


and how lovely it is to find these tiny treasures from the past.

How Grandma Almost/Might Have Killed Santa

My grandmother is getting dementia. She remembers a lot of things and can tell stories about her childhood and even some stories from ours, but she forgets names (she had forgotten my mom), and names of things (hallways are alleys), and what she ate yesterday.  She thought the last time I'd been to see her was when my youngest was a toddler, but that isn't the case.  We just saw her this summer.  A visit during which she fell and broke her hip.   And I just nodded, because letting her think I've avoided her for three years somehow seemed better than bring up that horrible day.

So the visit went pleasant enough - until we brought up Christmas.  And I joked at my girls that if they were naughty Santa would bring them coal in their stocking.  And then laughed and said "Isn't that right, Grandmother".  I expected her to have my back.  Boy was I wrong.  She said, "I don't remember that,but I do remember one year when money was real tight and we bought one ride on toy for all three boys to share and told them that Santa didn't have much money"  (insert record scratch sound effect now!)  Woah!! My head was reeling and inside I'm screaming, "Grandmother! My kids! They are sitting right here.  They believe!! They believe!!"    I smile at my grandmother and then looked deliberately at my daughter sitting by me as if to say 'follow my eyes - see her'  and I stroked her hair...or maybe I smacked her head repeatedly trying to get my Grandmother so see her and stop,  but she went on....  "And the little boy up the road saw their present and said, "Boy are you lucky. Santa didn't even stop at my house""    And I quickly changed the subject, hoping my child wouldn't catch on to what she had said.  The youngest, buried in her DSi, seemed to be spared the trauma of having dreams of Santa killed by Grandma.

I turned the subject to school.   And Grandmother asked the girls if they liked school and they said, "Yes! We do!" and Grandmother said, "Well that's good I never did."  And I was all like, what the heck is all this truth telling? We don't tell children the truth! We tell them we loved school and there is a Santa Claus.  You lie to children - that's the rules!  That's what we do.

"Happy Thanksgiving" and "How Kentucky Rocks"

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  With my girls away with their father, I spent my day with my best friend's family.  We've been friends since our freshman year of college in 1991 and are cut from the same cloth - frayed piece of cloth it is.  So on Thanksgiving with our bellies full of the finest Southern fare, we drove to her house to give her pooch a potty break.   We are out in the yard and she is walking her pup around on a leash.  All of a sudden her foot slips sideways in the wet grass.  She was going down - but, realizing she might land on the dog and possibly kill it she started the long slow stagger-fall.  We all have seen it happen.  It is like watching a long slow train wreck.  When she does finally hit ground she looses her grip on the leash and the puppy bolts.   I, being the ever dutiful friend, yelled, "I've got her!!" and took off after the puppy who'd ran up on the porch, but alas I'm vertically challenged and the steps were made  for the Jolly Green Giant and I didn't make the step and flopped onto the porch.   My friend and I, both still where we fell, laughed hysterically.  To make matters worse there were about 8 people standing outside the neighbor's house on a smoke break to witness this.   We are sure they thought we were drunk.  I even cautiously searched "Drunk Women Rolling In Yard On Thanksgiving" on YouTube, to make sure no one had videoed the spectacle.

I spent the rest of the evening learning to play Rook.  I researched it and it seems Rook came about because religious folks wanted to play cards, but felt a normal poker deck was of the devil, so Parker Brothers redesigned the cards and Rook was born.  It is played heavily in Kentucky and Rook Tournaments play with 'Kentucky Rook" rules.  I was telling an elderly family member about this and said, "I didn't realize that Rook was kind of a Kentucky game."  She said, "So is Chess."  My eyebrows went up in surprise.  "Yes," she said, "Chess originated in Kentucky."  So...take that Fifteenth Century Europe.

Vintage Christmas family Movie 1960-1962

I know, I'm in the Christmas Spirit a bit early this year, but had to share this adorable video I found on Youtube. At around 5:00 they give you a 'tour' of the room and how it is decorated and how the tree is decorated. It also zooms in on the dolls faces. I love it!! It is so sweet and just gives you tons of warm fuzzies. I found some great vintage Christmas items this year I can't wait to decorate with them.


For those with Spotify,  here is a Vintage Christmas Music playlist to get you in the mood!

Not so Retro Music

As much as I love old/vintage/retro things, I'm just not someone to music from past decades.  It just isn't my thing.  So how does someone who love vintage stuff satisfy their vintage craving musically?  Well there are a few modern artists who fit the bill...

Caro Emerald - She has a beautiful smooth, sultry voice. Her songs are upbeat with what I consider a little Calypso feel.  Songs like "The Lipstick on His Collar" would fit right in a old Sean Connery/James Bond movie. The video for "That Man" is too cute, puts me in mind of the opening of Monsters Inc.  This is my favorite though, "On a Night Like This" -



Of course you also have the Rockabilly/Psychobilly groups. I am partial to The Creepshow's "In the Garden" and Hillbilly Moon Explosion's "My Love For Evermore".  I think the guy singing on "My Love For Evermore" sounds like what Michael Madsen would sound like if he sang and the video fits with a Tarintino feel.  

My very favorite artist of the moment is Imelda May.  I love "Mayhem", "Psycho","Johnny's Got A Boom" Boom, which was on the soundtrack for Wild Target.  Currently I am stuck on her song "Road Runner".  The video is too cute!


Is it wrong that I used leftover pink hairspray from Halloween and sprayed an Imelda May style stripe in the front of my 6 year old's hair?  And put it in an Imelda May loopy swoop?  And sent her out in public like that?

What do you do when you find something too precious to purchase?

You take a photo and blog about!
How cute is this? I love coming across stuff like this at thrift stores. Although I don't want these doily plastic fruits on my dining table, I love the idea that some sweet old lady painstakingly made these to brighten her home.

Now, I am trying type this entry via iPhone and I'm not sure where the photos will go in the post , but I figured while I'm here I'll post a couple more photos from, this, my favorite thrift shop.  The little lady that manages this runs a very tight ship. A place for everything and everything in its place.

Even the walnut mice refrigerator magnets have a home here.

Happy Birthday Louis Daguerre!

I love Google's homage to Louis Daguerre this morning!!  This is one of my favorite Google doodles I've seen.   Louis was one of those lovely combinations of scientist and artist through which new mediums are born.  When the first permanent photograph was produced in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Louis worked with Niepce to further develop this process until Niepce's death in 1833.  Louis went on to perfect his process and the Daguerreotype was produced in 1839 and portrait photograph is born! 

Daguerreotypes were mounted, for safe keeping, in little cases, but not every case you find contains a daguerreotype- some are ambrotype and tintypes.   Here are some case images from my mother's collection.  I'm not sure any are daguerreotypes, but they are still beautiful little case prints.





 


Ambrotypes came into use in the 1850's and it was an easier process and replaced Daguerreotypes. Ambrotypes are like negatives on glass with black emulsion painted to make the negative areas black.

This little guy is out of his case, so it is easy to see, from the side this is a glass image. 



In this one you can see the black backing has separated from the image.

Although looking straight on the image is easily seen.

Although this image doesn't show it, these ladies have the same thing happening.


Although I'm not positive, this seems to be another Ambrotype with some sort of damage that is making he negative 'drop' and the positive peel.

This image is housed in a "Genuine Union Case" which was made of a composite material made from sawdust.


 Of course with people interested in anachronism (like Steampunkers) you can find artists online producing modern Daguerreotypes.  Here are some examples:

Shiny Photos - Jonathan Danforth
Cased Image - Alan Bekhuis
Contemporary Daguerreotype Flickr Group

And  Alternative Photography who I subscribe to on Facebook. 

Thanks to men like Daguerre and Neipce we can preserve a tiny moment in time to have forever. So maybe Daguerre was more than Artist and Scientist.  Maybe he was also Magician.