Hope You All Had A Wonderful Holiday!

Good morning!
After a lovely dinner at our daughter's in Lakeland, Terry and I went to Daytona Beach for a mini vacation over the long weekend.  I have some beautiful sunrise photos to share and also a Thrift Store we found in Ormond Beach while taking a ride.  Wait until you see what I found!  This Thrift mission statement is to "End Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in our community" which is Ormond Beach Florida.  I will post there website and tell you more about them on Friday. 
 This is such a busy week. Our grandson plays his last two baseball games on Wed and Thursday. In between  we are trying to get somewhat decorated for Christmas and I am still working full time all week.  I loved our few days away, but  now I am way behind here at home!

Just wanted to add something soft and pretty.

Did you all have a special Thanksgiving?

I would love to hear how you spent the holiday.

Please take a moment to share in the comments.

Be back again on Friday.

Have a beautiful week.

Lynn

Somewhere In Time, Antiques Collectibles & More

Good morning,
I am really excited about sharing one of my favorite stores, Somewhere In Time, located in Brandon Florida.
I was given permission to share these photos on my blog! 

Those of you in the Tampa Bay area there is a

Christmas Open House

at

Somewhere In Time

Saturday - December 5

10am - 6pm

720 W Lumsden Road - Brandon

Shoppes of LaViva

813 684-0588

Now sit back and enjoy my Thanksgiving treat of eye candy without the carbs!

I love this "cottage", shabby chic section.

Let's see a closer view of the beautiful items on the shelves

Would you like to see what I found?

Second shelf, in the back is a large ceramic planter with cherubs on both sides

Let's try to find a closer view!

The piece is Calling All Angels. It is stunning! The tulips in the planter is actually an old fashioned fan.

I just bought the planter.

This is my sexy guy holding "my planter" while I take more pictures.

Did not want to leave it and have it gone when I came back!

This is how it looks in my home now. Isn't it just beautiful.  Do you like the touch of lace I added?

I wanted to show you that I can always find new treaures in this beautiful store.

Want to see more?

I've had my eye on this lovely desk for a long time!

I just love the detailing. Each time I go and it's still there I tell myself it's waiting for me!

Let's see some more pictures.

This is another item I love, but don't have room for it in my home right now.

What I love about this store is the selection of treasures.

Let's look at another area

All set for Thanksgiving!

I have to show you the tray on the table!

.

Concentrating on the shot I was taking, I failed to see the tray until I was viewing the pictures!

I think the first chance I get I  am going back to see if it is still there.

Now we move on to another beautiful area.

These dishes are light blue.

Aren't these pillowcases pretty? Love the silver brushes.

Now some more pictures taken around the store just to give you an idea of the selection of treaures you can find here at Somewhere In Time.

Silver tea sets, lace curtains and globe lights, totally romantic!

Since Terry is German I collect handpainted RS Prussia and Barvaian china. Love that pitcher!

I hope you enjoyed our trip to Somewhere In Time today.

These pictures only show about 1/4 of the store, there is so much more.

I am not getting paid for this. Simply sharing my passion for all things romantic, beautiful and cottage.

All the pictures are mine with permission from Somewhere In Time.

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Lynn

Calling All Angels

Good morning.
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.  Do you like the angel planter above?  I just love it!   If  you love the planter, you will want to stop by on Tuesday.  I am doing a special post on my favorite store in Brandon that I could call my second home.  You won't want to miss the beautiful photos I was able to take yesterday before and after I found the angels above. There is even going to be one of my husband holding the above for me while I could continue to take photos.  He is adorable ladies, but he is taken.

Since this is such a busy time, the post is going to be mostly photos, some nice eye candy that has no carbs!
I will see you on Tuesday then!  Have a wonderful Sunday.

Lynn

Love In Every Stitch

Since Thanksgiving is next week, I have been thinking a lot about my mom, who passed away this past March 23, 2009.  Growing up mom and I were not "close".  I could never measure up to what my mom expected of me.

With age and sage widsom I realize that mom and I were two very different people. Mom was analytical. She took on a bookkeeping job as a volunteer for their church for many years. She loved it totally!  I was and still am the romantic dreamer. I love to read, write stories in black composition notebooks on the back of my grandfather's yacht and see a kind of "beauty" in the world that most people never saw. I was "dreamy".  I just always saw beauty. (By the time I discovered I could capture some of this beauty through the lens of my camera, mom did not remember I was her daughter so I never could share my vision of my world with her.)

Growing up an only child I was never lonely because I could occupy myself easily with my books and writing. Yet, I always wanted something I never did get, that close mother/daughter relationship.

Yet, today I have the proof that mom loved me deeply. She just could not express her love in the ways that I needed at that time.  Instead, she put love into every stitch of needlework pictures, needlework ornaments, and quilts.  She touched so many people with the beautiful gifts of baby afghans, needlework pictures, Christmas decorations and  perhaps quilts. I only know of two quilts she made. One for me and the other for her home.

So as Thanksgiving draws closer I am sharing my mother's love in the treasures she has left me because as I know now,  actions sometimes speak much louder than words.

Mom working on my beautiful quilt in 1988.

Mom made this for my birthday in 1991.

I have it on our entertainment center seen below.

Every time  I walk down the hallway past the picture I smile and feel mom's love.

This is a set, one of three that mom made for her home and gave me after my dad passed away.

I need to get the other two framed and hang on both sides.

When I have the other two framed I will share them.

The last picture  mom made before her hands were unable to do any more

was this very precious one for my marriage to my darling Terry.

I had no idea she was making it. My friend came for the wedding and gave it to me the night before.

Everything is done in needlework. Stitches of love on one of the happiest day of my life!

In posts in December  will share my Christmas tree ornaments and my gingerbread house, all done in needlepoint by mom.

What treasures do you have from your mom or a speical person in your life?

Please take a moment to share your memories with me.

May each of us sit down on Thanksgiving Day and be grateful for the special people in our lives that have touched us deeply.

Blessings,

Lynn

A Little Word Change In My Blog Name

Welcome to Romantic Cottage Dreamer!

Have you noticed the added "cottage" to my blog name?

I am a "romantic dreamer" and what I dream about most is making our cottage home warm and inviting for the family and friends who drop by.

I so appreciate you stopping in. Please come back soon.

Lynn

What Do You Think Of the Change I Made In My Home?

Good morning,

Have you ever moved a few pieces of furniture around a room, on a whim, and was so pleased with the results you wondered why you had not thought of that arrangement before?
After reading such inspiring blogs and seeing how so many of your decorate your lovely homes, I became inspired with an idea to make my living/dining rooms into one charming cottage area.  I took some pictures to show the changes in furniture placement.  I would love to know which you love best.

This is how we have had it since we moved in almost 3 years ago. Separated space for living room and dining room. I love the white sofa table, I love the legs!

This is looking toward the dining area.  There is a large empty space between the sofa table and the dining table but the angle of the photos do not show it well.   I started looking at my home and dreaming of a change.

How many of you do this,  tweaking or dreaming about tweaking?

 I love to putter around my home move small items, changed tablescapes, pictures, pillows etc, but now I was thinking of a rather drastic change in the structure of how the two rooms were set up.

You can see how the rooms wrap around the front. I love that room with the windows

My favorite chair is in the corner

I still have the dark table you care barely see, but at the moement it's in my closet because I love it and really don't have a place for it, but won't part with it either. 

Anyone know that feeling?

SO I DID IT!

This is the result which I loved the minute I was finished moving the furniture.

I think you can click on the photos to enlarge.

Do you feel as I do that the new look is  softer and cozier?

No I am not decorated for Fall. I ususally go from "normal" to Christmas due to our warm Fall weather.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to my cottage home.

Please come back and visit again soon.

Lynn

Good morning!
I have been ill with a bad cold.  I have managed to work my full time job each day, but crash as soon as possible after work.  So Romantic Dreamer has been quiet the last few days.
Hope to back by Monday.  Please join me then.

Have a beautiful day!

Lynn

God Bless Our Military

Thank you Dad and Bobby

Thank you Uncle John and his grandson John

Thank you Bob, my children's father

Thank you Dawn, my dear friend

Thank you Bob Jones, our former neighbor

Thank those who paid the ultimate price

Thank all the military families

Thank God  our Flag still waves

Thank you for our freedom

My dad, WWII Vet

My son, 6 years in the AF, now full time Reserve

God Bless our Military!

Lynn

Hurricane Ida

Have you heard about the Hurricane in the Gulf right now?   Such a meek, wonderful summer this has been in that we did not have to evacuate once.  I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida,  about 3 miles from the beach.  Now, weeks before the official end of "Hurricane Season" here comes IDA. 
 It  is such a gloomy day today.  Windy with thick grey clouds gobbling up any rays of sunlight.
Also a great day for a sinus headache, which I have had all day.   Therefore I am going to put off writing a post until Wed when this storm will have passed  by.
My husband is a sad little boy today as over the weekend he took his antennas down in our backyard in prepraration for IDA.  Without his antennas, he cannot work his beloved ham radio.  That is the only  preparation we have done as it appears, the last time I checked this morning that IDA is not interested in making a sharp right turn to the Florida Gulf Coast.  Still, we will feel the affects tonight and tomorrow.
Sort of scary time in that these storms in the Gulf spawn tornadoes.  We live in a retirement manufactured community that we just love.  We have a Hampton Inn just up the road which we will go to (have several times in the past 2 years since we moved here) if IDA does turn toward us. 

So while I watch the weather, I wanted to send you a rose and tell each of you to have a beautiful day!

This rose was on the cover of my grandmother's book when she was baptized in 1905. 

Lynn

I can Hear!

Good morning,

Welcome back!  Please sit and pour the tea. As usual the muffins are coming out of the oven shortly. Today we are having pumpkin nut muffins. Sit back, enjoy as I tell you of my journey back to the hearing world.

The BIG day had arrived. Knowing that each person's cause of deafness is so unique and that while many have a successful implant, some do not, I really was scared.  Having the implant meant that if it did not work for me, then even those "sonic blip noises" I had heard were gone forever.

My son was in TX in the Air Force. My oldest daughter had gone with her boyfriend to his parents in PA. So only my husband and younger daughter went with me to the "hookup". This is when the audiologist and the computer "make a specific program or programs just for me and my CI".  This is called "mapping". 

I was between total fear and total joy waiting for the mapping to be complete. I could hardly keep the tears from slipping down my cheeks. I had missd the hearing world I knew more than I even wanted to admit to myself.  When I lost my hearing, I had to see the glass half full, not half empty to survive.  I had to look at faces, to see the sunsets, sunrises, the beauty in every day life to balance the overwhelming loss of my hearing.  Gradually, over time, it became my life.  Seeing not hearing people.  Living in my "glass bubble". A beautiful quote by Helen Keller sums it up, "Blindness cuts you off from things, deafness cuts you off from people".   So as I sit and wait, fear and hope mingle and drain me emotionally.

We are ready!  Everything is programmed and I am ready to turn on my CI. The internal component of my CI is inside my skull but is not working until I turn the external component on. The audiologist turns it on. There is a lot of "white noise" in the background. She asks Terry and Kellie to say something to me, one at a time. The tears start and don't stop. I can actually hear what sounds like Mickey Mouse thru a tunnel!  But oh Thank you God I can hear that. After 13 years, I clutch at those "echo-like sounds" and keep thanking God over and over. My glass bubble has shattered!
We go thru this several times. The audiologist adjusts the computer settings and  we try again. A bit clearer, but definitely Mickey Mouse.  Both my daughter and husband sound like Mickey Mouse, I know they are voices, but could not tell which is which, they sound alike.
At this point, having read many successful CI journeys back to sound, I am again feeling sad but still seeing the glass half full.  I had been told going into this that my cochlear was smaller than most and that the full array that is place in the cochlear to stimulate electrical implues would not all fit. So as I sit hearing Mickey try to talk to me, I wish it were clearer, much clearer.  Yet, it is not sonic blip either.  My audiologist tells me it takes time, my hearing nerve has been without hearing for 13 years, it will take time.
We leave an go to lunch to celebrate. I am not truly sure I want to "celebrate".  I have to admit I expcted more. Should not have, but I did.  The restaurant is very loud.  Very loud!  I cannot make out most of the sounds. I turn down my volume, it's too loud!  I can see my daughter's disappointment and it is breaking my heart as I did this for her  as much as for myself. Out of my 3 children she has inherited the BOR syndrome and hearing loss.  I wanted to give her a future to look forward to.  I wanted her to know that despite the progressive hearing loss she had, if it came to total deafness there was the CI.  I felt I let her down.
We hug goodby. She leaves to go back to work.  Terry opens the car door for me. Wait!  I ask Terry to do the locks again.  Then wide eyed in wonder I know that sound, I KNOW those are car locks.  We sit in the car for 10 minutes in the parking lot locking and unlocking the car doors. Tears are really coming fast and furious now. I can hear!  I can hear that sound clearly and know what it is.  I can hear again!
Terry is talking to me and still signing because he still is Mickey talking thru a tunnel and I cannot understand him.
We finally pull out of the parking lot.I clearly hear the directional signal and know it. Since we are now in traffic, I don't ask him to play with that for 10 minutes!  Then incredibly, I hear, "wop wop wop" and KNOW its the tires on the pavement.  I have stopped crying and am now very excited. I am a child delighting in the simpliest of sounds. After 13 years those sounds are the sweetest in the world.  I start to fiddle with my controls on my CI because the 'wop wop wop" of the tires has stopped. Something is wrong with my CI.  Terry understands and signs to me, "look at the road".  I do and it is brand new pavement. It wasn't my CI, it was the road!
We stop at a light and I hear a radio. I ask Terry if the radio is on, but he says no. We are in the car with the a/c on and I KNOW I hear a radio.  Terry signs to me, "its the car next to us".  Incredible that I could hear and understand it was a radio.
We are home now and Terry goes upstairs.  I go find a music box I had saved. I love music boxes, had several. When I knew I would never hear again I smashed all by one, out of sheer frustration.  While Terry is upstairs, I wind up the music box, but hold it so it does not start.  I am so scared to know what music may sound like.  After what seemed like forever, I let go and the pure, sweet music plays. My uncontrolable sobbing brings Terry on the run quickly. His fear turns to joy as I tell him, "Honey, it is beautiful, I can hear the music and its not Mickey Mouse sounds, it just beautiful music".
Emotionally drained from the day, I take a nap. I have to go back to work the next day.  Later I come down stairs and Terry starts to talk and sign to me.  In total wonder, I walk up to him, take his hands and hold them. "Stop signing", I can hear and understand you a little bit, just talk to me".  My sweet, caring husband of 5 years, I had never heard his voice until this moment.  We are both crying, laughing and oh what a sexy laugh my guy has! 
We hold hands and thank God for this miracle in our lives. 
Over the next three days, almost all the sounds came back that I knew and remembered. Voices started to sound like voices not Mickey Mouse.  Words became clearer but I still lip read a bit to aid what I was hearing.
Thursday is Thanksgiving and boy am I thankful!

Thank you for stopping by to visit today.  Please come back again to find out what is was like for each of my 3 children, now adults to be able to talk to their mom again after 13 long years.

 I would sincerely appreciate your comments, please take a moment to let me know you stopped by.
 Have a beatiful day!

 Lynn