HAVE YOU BEEN TO KNOTTS BERRY FARM?

Oh it's raining again today and tomorrow but thankfully it wasn't yesterday. My sister, Maureen and I decided to go to Knotts Berry Farm to get some extra steps in before our weigh in. I needed all the help I could get after being so bad this past week.

We took Trinity and one of her good friends. We all had so much fun! Plus I think the walking around for hours helped a lot. I ended up losing only .4 lbs but that put me over losing 45 lbs which was a goal I had. Plus, with all I ate this week, I was shocked I didn't gain.


While we were there, it dawned on me that perhaps a lot of you have never even been to Knotts Berry Farm before. So, I clicked away all day long to share what it looks like inside.

Years ago, before the park opened, Mr. and Mrs. Knotts owned a farm and grew boysenberries. People came from all over to purchase them. So it wasn't long before Mrs. Knotts figured out she could open a small restaurant and the people who came to get the berries could also have a bite to eat.

She started out with Chicken dinners and for dessert was boysenberry pie.

The word quickly got out at how wonderful the meal was that in no time at all, long lines started to form for Mrs. Knotts Chicken dinners.

In order to help the customer kill time during the long waits, the Knotts built a "Ghost Town" that was like taking a step back in time to the Wild West Days.

That was the start of what we now know as Knotts Berry Farm.

You can still get a great Chicken Dinner (or lunch) and a slice of yummy boysenberry pie if you like.


The girls, decided to dress alike with the same shirt and hat. They thought it would be fun to be sisters for the day.

There are a lot of items that are for sale that are of the craft/homemade type. Here the girls each picked out a leather bracelet and got their names inscribed on them.

There are lots of rides at Knotts Berry Farm now. When it first opened there were no rides, only shops and sights to see.

A lot of the rides are roller coaster type rides. It seems like the older I get the less I enjoy those. So I only went on two rides all day. One was the train ride and one was Pony Express. I had never been on that ride.

You get onto horses, like the one the girls are on in the photo above. Then you get locked in and go around fast on a roller coaster. No spinning or going upside down so I thought it was fun.

The girls are of the age where they LOVE all the twists and turns of the fast and scary rides. They went on this one. It not only whips you around, upside down and at a speed to fast to take a picture, but then it stops and does it all again...backwards! YIKES!

This one would make me lose my lunch if I went on it. It spins around and goes up and down and pushes your body towards the outside of the ride. If you sit side by side you squish the person next to you.

No thanks! But, the girls liked it so much they went on it twice.

The log ride was the first thrill ride at Knotts Berry Farm. It's a smooth ride that takes you through a mountain with loggers working like they used to. Then at the end there is a big drop down a waterfall and you get splashed.

Again, another hit with the girls. This ride is one I normally would go on but by this time, the girls decided they wanted to go alone.

Not only did they want to pretend to be sisters, they wanted to pretend they were old enough to be at the park alone. I remember doing that when I was a kid too. Did you?

They even wanted to share everything they ate. Here they were eating lunch. Chinese food. I have to admit, the smell was driving me crazy. I really wanted to order a big plate for myself.

But, Maureen and I were so good. She brought us food that we could eat so we wouldn't have to purchase anything there and blow our eating any more then we already had last week.

Thanks Maureen! I'm so lucky to have two sisters who watch out for me and help me as I try to reach my goal weight.

Even while eating, the girls wanted their own table. Maureen and I sat several tables away from them. Close enough to see everything but far enough away they felt like they were living their dream of being older.

Camp Snoopy is an area more for little kids. I remember the days when that was where we would spend the whole day. Oh, kids grow up so fast, don't they?

The main part of the park is done in the Wild West theme. Here you see beautiful flowers and plants in a covered wagon.

Of course, Indians were also a big part of that time period. So there is the Indian area with all the decor in the style of Indians.

Totem Poles can be found in this area. Each one tells a story of it's own.

The old style of Wooden Indians stand proudly, in front of stores.

Indian shows, shops and entertainment can be found in this area.

In the Ghost Town area this Glass House has always made me smile. When I was a kid I was so amazed at this house.

It's made out of glass bottles. Pretty clever huh?

I've always loved to go into the Saloon. You can go up to the bar and order a drink and some snacks and several times a day there is a show here.

When I was a kid I would pretend it was a real Saloon. I used watch a Western show on TV called Alias Smith and Jones. They would go into the Saloons and order a drink and I would pretend I was on the show.

Does anyone remember that show?

The Bird Cage Theater is like the old Theaters with live shows and you, the audience, would boo and hiss at the villain and clap and say Awww at the heroes.

There is an old school house from the 1800's. This always reminds me of the TV show and books Little House on the Prairie and again, when I was a kid, my mind had me living in those shows every time I walked in here.

There is an old graveyard too. I used to wonder if real people were buried there when I was a kid.

When you stand on this "grave" you can feel the heart beating. I had no idea how they could make that happen when I was little.

This little shop looks like one of the old houses would have looked. I say, put some paint on that place and even today I would love to live there. I love old wooden houses.

The old Post Office where the town would have to go pick up their mail and get caught up on the gossip is a must have at the Ghost Town. Again, another reminder of the Little House on the Prairie Days.

The Old General Store. Can't you just picture kids going in there and dreaming of being lucky enough they got to walk out with a candy.

This store looks like the old Hotels that would be rented by men on the road. The luxury of a nice hot bath and a soft bed wasn't something they often had.

Yes, going to Knotts Berry Farm is like taking a step back in time as well as a chance to get some good food and have fun on rides.

It's a place where kids can pretend they are older and adults can remember their youth.

SUPER BOWL PARTY

I'm not a big football fan. I can say that now that Super Bowl is over. But, you know I love a party and since I was invited to one, I was excited.

I love the decorations at parties and get excited over different types of items.

Finding new ways to serve items is always fun for me. The drinks can sometimes be a hard thing as there are not a lot of cute drink holders out there.

But, this one was a great one! I loved it. It was a blow up cooler that looked like touch down zone.

Our hostess as she is picking the numbers for the pool we all entered.

Speaking of a pool... it was nice enough outside to let the kids go swimming in their backyard pool. The water was heated to 92 degrees. I stuck my hand in the water and let me tell you, it felt as warm as a bath tub!

Our host, James, did all the BBQ. Looks like I caught him. It's OK James, I know you guys eat meat! I am sure I'm the only vegetarian here. LOL.

Don't you love their back yard! A built in BBQ, a pool, a covered room and a fireplace!!! What more could you ask for?

Food, food and more food could be found, inside and out. First the table filled with snacks and sweets. Oh and the best homemade salsa!

Of course, cute serving dishes were used too.

Outside was where the BBQ could be found. Along with several different salads and beans and different kinds of chips.

Oh I just know I'm going to have a weight gain on Tuesday when I go to Weight Watchers! I ate way to much!

After swimming, playing games, eating and lots of laughs, it was time for the game to start. Everyone took their places and the yelling, screaming, clapping and even boos went on for the next several hours.

By the time it was over, this is what we all felt like. Tummies full and pooped out! Another Super Bowl survived! I had a great time.

VINTAGE VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY

The Vintage Valentine's Day party my girlfriend, Sandra, threw was just as lovely as I thought it would be.

The table was set so beautiful with pale pink and touches of red, white lace tablecloth and napkins and vintage hankies.

I loved the centerpiece which was very simple and easy to do but yet oh so breath taking.

Fresh red roses were put first into a vase of water and then into a box covered with a romantic print. Vintage Valentine hankies were then placed in the box, around the vase to add a sweet touch of days gone by.

Pink and white swirl plates were used and topped with a darling chocolate bar that had a sweet vintage Valentine wrapper. The napkins were wrapped with pale pink ribbon that held a pink heart. Vintage inspired pink glasses were also used.

The little white lace top boxes were placed on top of darling note pads with a cute a vintage cover. Just another little token of the party every one got to take home.

There were several touches to the party that I just adored and the chocolate bars were one of them. I fell in love with the wrappers.

She found these at TJ Maxx, of all places.

Sandra always decorates her fireplace mantel for every party she has and this was no exception. Just perfect!

Vintage inspired signs, plates and other decorations tied in the theme of her party.

We all got to make some great Vintage looking cards and a heart shaped box. As always, Sandra put out a big spread of papers, ribbons, charms and so on for everyone to use.

I loved all the items we made but, this box was just to cute for words. She even supplied chocolates to put inside so we could give them as a little gift to our loved ones or even keep them and treasure each year.

There was enough food to feed an army. You know how hungry you get after crafting for hours!

The desserts were way to tempting for me to stay away from. There was homemade lemon bunt cake, homemade cookies, mini cheesecakes of different flavors and tons of other sugar/butter filled goodies.

But, the item I swooned over was the homemade coconut cheese cake. OMG! It was wonderful!

Years ago, Sandra, got a monkey from Build a Bear and she dresses her up for every party she has.

Check out this cute outfit. This little monkey has become Sandra's party mascot.

A big thrill this year was this darling little puppy, Bella, who entertained us with her sweet personality.

One of Sandra's good friends just got her a few earlier and didn't want to leave her home. I was thrilled to be able to play and hold her.

She was such a good girl.

So there you have it. Another fun and pretty party. We had a lot of fun, laughs and good memories were made.

My ghost hunting got canceled due to another heavy storm with thunder and lighting. While it sounds like it would be a fun time to go, the truth is a lot of sounds and sights would really be coming from the storm and would be hard to tell what was from the weather and what was from the Paranormal. So, we will reschedule.

I'm off to another party today. A Superbowl Party. I'm sure many of you will be doing the same thing.

I THINK I'LL BE HAVING FUN ON FRIDAY

On Friday, I will be having a full fun filled day. First I'm going to be going to my girlfriends annual Girls Valentine's Day party.

Each year she picks a different theme and we all get together to chat, eat lunch, do crafts and we even have a gift exchange.


I love the theme she is having this year. It's a Vintage Valentine's Day theme.

She made this cute invitation and I knew as soon as I saw it we were going to have a fun day.

Our gift exchange is going to be a Vintage Apron. Well, they don't have to be a real vintage apron but just the style of the vintage aprons. How fun will that be!

I told her I would help her out any way I could and she took me up on that. She asked me to put together the little boxes she wants at each place setting on the table.

Aren't these cute! Guess where she found them? At Big Lots! They are Martha Stewart brand and she picked them up months ago knowing she would one day use them. I adore the sweet lace look to them.

So, I put them all together, filled them with a pink lace doily and then packed them full of cinnamon red heart shaped candy. I love those candies and could have eaten the whole bag myself.

In fact, they were tempting me so badly I had to open them up and put these together a few days sooner then I had planned. I knew if they were all put together I would not open them up to eat them.

She also asked to use my lace table clothes and napkins. So I ironed them and put the flatware inside the napkins and tied on pink hearts with pink ribbons as the napkin rings.

She had a lot of wonderful Vintage Valentine's Day Hankies that is going to use to decorate with. Since I knew I was going to be having the iron out for the table cloths and napkins, I offered to iron them too.

I collect vintage hankies so I really loved seeing all these laid out together. They are so pretty.

Then I walked around to the other side of the ironing board to unplug the iron and I noticed how pretty they would all be if turned into an ironing board cover. Very cute, don't you think?

I don't know what the whole party will look like once it's all put together but with the little parts I've seen I know it's going to be a hit.

I'll be sure to post photos of the whole party on Sat or Sun.

After the fun party I'm going to head out to do a Paranormal Investigation with my group. I'm looking forward to that.

They say it's going to rain so I hope that it isn't a down pour that causes to much noise in the church we are going to.

I'll post about that on Sat or Sun also.

THIS IS CUTE AND EASY TO DO!

When I was out going to the antique shops at the Orange Circle last week, I came across this item and thought it was very cute. Then I took a closer look and thought it would be super easy and cheep to make one myself.

I know you all love cheep and easy projects too, so, I thought I would share it with you.


It's a tray made out of an old drawer. Isn't that clever?

I think I would paint it white if I made one and I would use clear glass knobs.

You just add more glass knobs on the bottom to make little feet.

I also liked the idea of using old sheet music to line it with.

You could use scrapbooking paper, wrapping paper, pages from an old book, old photos or postcards. The list goes on and on.

I would also either finish off the inside with glass or a clear coat so it would be easy to wipe off.

I can see making these to go with your holiday decor too. I think one for Halloween would be darling. Paint it black, use scary pictures or "spells" from a Witches book. Use old knobs to match your theme.

Or use it as a try to hold the "Mad Scientist's" experiments.

What do you think? Do you like this idea? Would you give it a try and make one of your own?

Oh ya, it's Tuesday and that means Weight Watchers weigh in day. I lost 1.4 lbs last week so that brings the total up to 44.8 total. I'll be looking forward to hitting that 45 lb mark next week!

I LOVE NAPKIN RINGS!

I don't know when or how my obsession with napkin rings came into play. I love them and always keep my eye out for them wherever I go.

I love these pearl ones I got at TJ Maxx. They were in the clearance section. I just couldn't leave them behind.


These little vintage flower ones I bought off EBay. There is a set of 6 of them and two are white flowers, two are pink flowers and two are blue.

When I found these darling 101 Dalmatians napkin rings I had to get them. I just love that little face. Plus I thought they would be fun to use with my black and white polka dot plates.

I got 12 of these pretty silver roses off EBay. I don't know why they came out looking kind of old and dirty. They don't in person. Guess it was the light.

These Eiffel Tower rings were from Target in the dollar section. But, I think they were $2.00 for a pack of two. Why do they call it the dollar section when things are often more then $2.00?

Anyway, you can't see the detail in this photo but they are really cute. Silly me, I hit the delete button on the picture I wanted to use. I was to lazy to go take more photos.

I have both black and white ones of these. Perfect for that Paris party!

Summer time will be the perfect time to use these cute little hand painted watermelon napkin rings.

These little blue birds make me smile. I can't wait until Spring so I can have a a luncheon outside and set the table with birds and bird houses.

These flowers are made out of some kind of material. They weren't my favorite but they were only 50 cents so I had to get them. I think they will look cute on a table set up out in the garden.

I also have a set of different tea pots. Each one is different. I have wanted a set like these for a long time and so when I came across them I was thrilled.

Perfect for a tea party or just when you have a friend over and share a few cookies while talking.

I have not used these little bunny ones yet. I got them for Easter this year. I think they are sweet and love the little wreath of flowers around their neck.

Now to be fully honest with you, I HATE bugs. But for some reason I keep thinking about a table set with cute bugs. (yes there is such a thing as cute bugs)

When I saw these bug napkin rings I grabbed them as the start to that tablescape.

There are four different bugs and each one is a bright cheerful looking bug.

Here is one other one in the bug set. Ohhhhh, I just had another thought! A lady bug theme tablescape would be darling too.

I've shared that I'm having a small luncheon for Valentine's Day. Well, I didn't have any heart napkin rings. So I searched EBay. I kept getting out bid on the ones I wanted.

Then I found these. Simple but cute for my table theme this year. Luckily I won them. They were only $1.99 for four of them! Not bad huh?

Are you tired of looking at my napkin rings? OK, I'll just show you one more set that I have. I got this set of flag ones just today in the mail. Another EBay purchase. It's never to early to start stocking up for holiday tables.

These can be used for all sorts of tablescapes. Of course 4th of July. Then there is President's Day, Memorial Day or a Patriot table.

I'm sure I'll get lots of use from these.

While I have several more sets I will stop here. Otherwise you may fall asleep by how long this post can get.

I would love to see some of your napkin rings!

Someday I want to start to collect vintage sterling silver ones. Most of the time you can only find one left out of the set but I think a table set with all different ones would be fun.

Are you a lover of napkin rings or do you prefer to go without them?

I think they make great hostess gifts and party favors. They can be found for very little money but if you get the theme of the table then your friends/family can remember that fun night every time they use them.

They are also a fun thing to collect when you travel. Sometimes buying things when you travel end up being thrown out but napkin rings can be used over and over again.

GHOST HUNTERS!!!

For those of you who have been emailing me wanting to know when my next Paranormal Investigation will be, you'll be happy to know that I meet up with my group last night and we talked about several places for us to go to.

Our next investigation is going to be on Feb 6th. We are going to a church in Brea where a man fell off the roof while doing repairs and died. It is said that many of the people who go to this church have seen, felt and heard him over the years.

Also, there was an accident out front of the church and a man died. He is also said to have gone into the church to find comfort and remains there as a lost soul.

As in most church's, there have been many funerals held there and it appears that at least one spirit decided to not go with his body to the grave. Rather, he is hiding in the church waiting for the rest of his family to pass over before he moves on.

Should be interesting and I will be sure to post about our findings.

Some of our up coming investigations will include a closed down mental hospital where it said a few of the Dr. decided it would be best to kill some of the patients rather then treat them.

This place has been investigated by some of the top Paranormal investigators and even a few of the TV shows have gone there. Lot's of interesting things were found in those investigations.

We are also going to go back to the Star of India to re-investigate the ship down in San Diego.

We are going to go to Suicide Bridge where many many people have jumped to their death as well as some outside hiking trails were murders took place.

So, if you are some of my readers who enjoy the ghost hunting stories then be sure to come back to read the stories about what we found or didn't find.