COTM: January

Janelle at Talk of Tomatoes created a fun blogging event called "Centerpiece of the Month" (COTM, for short). I love this idea. You know, I have to say that food blogging with all of my new friends and your wonderful events keeps me motivated at home.  I used to love to decorate for holidays, entertain, set the table even when it was just for Gene and I, learn new cooking techniques, decorate cakes,  knit, cross stitch, sew, all the Martha Stewartish home arts.  There's a church saying in the church of my youth that the most important work you'll ever do is in your own home.  And I'll stand by that even if it doesn't seem like it stands up to career.  Even with our careers, our jobs are important and they contribute to society but they also only pay for our real lives, for building the relationships with our families.  I used to think that my family didn't count because Gene and I don't have kids but I finally figured out a few years ago that we are our own family, just as much a family as those with children.  As corny as it sounds, I enjoy making our home a haven from the world for Gene and I, someplace we can be safe (and don't think for a second I don't appreciate the blessing in that simple word), beautiful, and refreshing to our spirits...but then sometimes life intrudes. Little things like Gene's heart attack, my pulmonary embolism (if you're over thirty, learn from me and get off the birth control pills, even if you've never smoked), me having to go back to school, the actual going back to school with its three days a week of clinical shifts, etc.  Life wears you down.  But my point to all this is to say that I relish the blogging events I'm participating in these days because it helps me to remember all the great things in my life, all the beauty around me and the beauty that I help create in my own little home in my own little corner of the world.  And so I thank you Janelle, Garrett, Cheryl, Kalyn, Cate, and all the others that I've forgotten to name.  You help me remember who I am at my best.

And then I go out into the world and get the sh** kicked out of me, just like everyone else. Oh wait. Did I say that out loud? Da**it, and it was so beautiful up until that sentence. Oh well.  Sometimes ya just gotta tell the truth as it is. :-)

Centerpiece of the Month (COTM) is sponsored by Janelle at Talk of Tomatoes. Be sure to check in with her blog to see the round up of all the lovely table settings and more that will be posted soon.

My entry is all about the snowflake napkins I bought myself for Christmas last year that remind me that we're still in winter and expecting snow the first of next week. We're all praying it's SNOW and not more ICE.  The bright yellow mix of tea roses, carnations, daisies, and something I can't remember the name of off the top of my head right now, all remind me that spring is coming if we just hold on.

I should also mention the glasses that are serving as my vase.  I have 1 taller one in the middle, surrounded by 6 smaller ones.  Makes balancing and arrangement much easier, sort of Flower Arranging for Dumba**es Dummies.  The glasses were given to me by a bartender friend. Okay, the truth is they were traded to me by a bartender friend.  The glasses were bar glasses, the shape is beautiful but the size is odd.  They don't fit any cocktail except wine and they don't work well for that because of the narrow, flute-like quality. So, red wine in them? No.  My friend hated the glasses and wanted to get rid of them since there were only about a dozen left but he couldn't really do that in good conscience since it wasn't his bar. Taking responsibiltiy for other people's property can be so darn annoying sometimes.  I offered to cook him dinner for the set. He refused.  I offered to show him my boobs.  Just kidding!  I would never do that.  Probably. Don't get all high and mighty on me, I really like stemware. A lot.  Come on, what's dignity compared to good glassware?  Yeah, well it wouldn't have worked anyway since he was gay. So I asked Gene how much he loves me...  Think about that for a minute.  Okay, seriously, I knew my bartender friend was a big country music fan and my husband owned a country music radio station at the time...see the connection there?  So the glasses became mine at the cost of Gene forking over two autographed by every member of the band t-shirts, one of the Kentucky Headhunters and one of Alabama (It was the early 90's--they were still popular).  My friend told the owner of the bar he was moving the glasses and accidentally knocked them into the floor. Every single one of them. What a shame.  Tsk. Tsk.

Comments

[Nancy]

a beautiful piece you just wrote and most certainly not CORNY.......and a beautiful table...........

[sher]

How beautiful! My picture will certainly not match that!!! But, it's so nice to have pretty flowers on the table! Yours is perfect!

[janelle]

Yippy! I love the pictures and the inspiration: thanks for setting such a beautiful table/thanks for the shout-out/thanks for including a great story to go with it! I am so with you: I have a sincere, scary weakness for stemware. :)

[Glenna]

Nancy--thank you!

Sher--Oh please! I love your dining room. It's beautiful just the way it is!

Janelle--Thanbks for having the event! (And agreeing with me about the stemware. It must be a special disease or gene that makes us love it so much!)