World Treasures

My son went to Egypt recently on business. Egypt would not have been my choice of locations for him to travel to, but it is his job. We were in communication with him during his stay, and he told us he was able to go see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx while he was in the country. Our conversation with him about his trip to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx made me realize what a great job our government does to take care of our National Treasures.

My son told us about how the ruins were in ruin. He said that Solicitors (best name I could think of) were everywhere, and he could not have one moment of peace to enjoy the Pyramids and Sphinx without being followed and harassed the entire time. He said that these "stalkers", (my word, not his) would try to push trinkets into their hands or arms, and once you spoke to them they would get even more aggressive. Taking pictures of World Treasures is difficult in some countries because of the surrounding landscaping, and the desire of the Countries residents not wanting to be in any pictures. It could be difficult to not include them in a picture if they are one of the homeless living in the ruins.

We received an email with this picture and the Subject: Old Pile of Rocks

Here is the text of the email: Here is a panorama with with Great Pyramid (right), the Not-Quite-But-Almost- As-Great Pyramid (center), and the By-Then-People-Were-Sick-of-Hauling-Around-a-Bunch-of-Rocks-So-It-Isn't-Really-That-Great Pyramid (left) Further left are the tiny Ok-You-Can-Have-a-Pyramid-But-You're-a-Woman-So-Don't-Get-Your-Hopes-Up Pyramids for some queens. Finally, there is the Sphinx (front center).                     

Our son told us that there was a fast food restaurant about 500 feet from one of the pyramids and that there were even what looked like homeless people sleeping at the base of the Pyramid. There was trash everywhere, and people had carved their names, or initials into the stones of the Pyramids. He found one spot that he was able to take a decent picture.

Now, think of any place in this country where you have visited that contains a National Treasure. Our National Parks Department will rope off monuments and historic sites to preserve them and keep visitors from damaging them. The Parks Department will also only allow registered vendors to sell items to visitors. Sometimes, they will sell tickets to off set the cost of preserving the treasure, but in many cases it is free admission.  Many of our National Monuments have Park Rangers, or security, to help make your visit safe and enjoyable. A great example is the Washington Monument, after an earth quake a few years ago, it was shut down and repaired so that visitors were safe and the monument preserved. T hey had scaffolding up around the monument and Rangers outside to make sure it was safe for visitors and still letting visitors get close enough to appreciate the monument.

Washington Monument with Scaffolding 

After living in the DC area the last few years I have first hand seen the great job our government does to protect our Nation's monuments and historic sites.  In this country we protect sites that are a fraction of the age of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids in the hope that they will also be here in 4000 years for people to enjoy. I do not have the confidence that some of our Would Treasures will be here in a few hundred years if their home countries don`t start taking care of these priceless ruins.

Bridal Shower

If you are looking for a cute idea for a Bridal shower, let me share what we did for my Daughter`s shower. Our theme was cooking and the kitchen.  My daughter lived in Texas, and we had the shower in Ohio, so we served BBQ and the fixin's with cupcakes and banana pudding for desert. Yum, Yum!

Invitations:  In all the invitations I included a recipe card for each person to write their favorite recipe on, and bring it with them to the shower.  We had a recipe box waiting for them when they arrived. Now my daughter has a box of recipes from her loved ones that she and her husband can try out.

Decorations: I found paper at a paper craft store that had lime green and red in them, and were covered in kitchen equipment. They were 12 x 12 and made great place mats. I laminated them and they were ready to go. We found paper plates that were red checked, perfect for the BBQ, and lime green napkins that had white spoons, knife and forks printed on them. Perfect! At a craft store they had some large plastic coffee cups in a vintage kitchen pattern, and we put kitchen utensils in them for center pieces. More on that later!

Place settings with a laminated place mat.

My sister Debbie made my daughter an apron with wooden spoons on it, and she put "Kiss the Bride" on it with a lip kiss mark. We also had a diamond engagement ring headband with a veil attached. Both were worn by my daughter during the shower.

Great job Debbie, love the rick rack and the diamond letters!

Ice Breaker: There is a county in Indiana called Brown County, and it has a town called Nashville that is known for its antiques and country items. One of the stores on the main strip has every kitchen item you could imagine, old and new. I had no idea what some of them were used for, so I had to write them all down in the store when I bought them. I bought about 20 items, many were a dollar or less. I numbered them and laid them out on all the tables. Each person was given a numbered piece of paper and a beautiful flower pen made by my then 86 year old Mother.  Everyone could walk around, look at the items, talk about them and try to figure out what they were. There were many correct answers given, and even more hilarious ones.

Here are some of the kitchen items that the guests had to name? Any idea what number 14 is?

Name the Movie: We printed pictures from the internet of movie posters that were about weddings or brides. Removed the wording from the picture, numbered them, and posted them all over the room. This is one more game that everyone could walk around and mingle while playing.We gave them a numbered piece of paper and the fabulous flowered pens. Fun game!

Movie posters about weddings and brides were numbered and placed all the the party house.

Fill in the words to the song:  My sister Paula is always in charge of this game and I think we have it at every bridal or baby shower. Every shower must include a singing game. My family loves music and singing. It does not matter if we are good at it, we still love it. This game we wrote a line or two of lyrics of songs about marriage, weddings and love with a group of words missing.  Guests filled in the blanks and when we went over the answers we all sang the songs. Love It!

My Mom makes the most beautiful pens! She just turned 89 and is still making pens

Center pieces: I called my future Son in-law and asked him a bunch of questions about himself, like: what is your favorite color, what was your first pets name, what was your first job, what cute nickname did your Mom call you, etc...... I wrote the question on one side of a small card, and the answer on the back. I punched a hole in the card, tied a string on it, and then tied one to each cooking utensil in the coffee cup centerpieces. While my daughter was opening her gifts, a guest would pull one of the utensils out and read the questions to the Bride. If she got the answer correct, awesome, if she was incorrect or had no idea, she had to chew a piece of bubble gum. The idea was to not have her mouth stuffed with bubble gum when she was done. That was not the case for my daughter, she was stuffed with bubble gum.

There were questions tied to the wooden spoon and egg spatula. 

Gifts: As a parting gift each guest was given a wrapped package of vintage printed recipe cards. I found the cutest ribbon for the gifts and added a little metal "Thank You" medallion.

Adorable ribbon for the gifts and the little Thank You medallion just made them perfect! 

Hope you got some cute ideas for your next shower!

Yummy Slow Cooker Roast and Who Hash

I found a recipe on the internet and on Pinterest that I love. I make it all the time because it is easy, takes few ingredients, cooks while you are gone, and the leftovers are great for "Who Hash" (explained at the end).

The dish is called Mississippi Pot Roast.
This is how simple it is to make.

Ingredients:
3-4 lb  Chuck Roast
1/3 cup water
1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 packet McCormick Au Jus mix
6 Pepperoncini Peppers
6 Tbs of Butter (I use unsalted)

First, pour the water into the bottom of the slow cooker, and put the roast on top.

Empty the Ranch dressing packet on top of the Roast.

Empty the Au Jus packet on top of the dressing.

Place the butter on top of the Roast. You can leave it as a stick, or I cut it into 3 pieces.

Place the Pepperoncini peppers around the edges of the Roast.

Put on the lid.

Set on Low and cook for 8-10 hours.

Sorry, It looked so good I took a bite before I took the picture.

 I shred the beef and put it on a bun with tomatoes and cheese for a sandwich, but you can serve it on mashed potatoes, over a baked potato, rice or just alone.

What is "Who Hash"?
 When I was a kid my Mom would make a roast with potatoes and carrots. We had a very large family, so she would always make meals that you could make cheaply and in bulk. With the leftovers she would make what she called hash.  This entailed cutting the beef, carrots and potatoes into small pieces. She would throw some butter in a skillet, fry the beef, potatoes and carrots until hot through. She would take about a dozen eggs, beat them, add a little milk and then throw them in the skillet with the beef mixture. She would stir constantly until the eggs were cooked all the way through. That was her version of Hash. It is awesome for breakfast, or dinner, and for me, must be smothered in ketchup.

When I make hash with this roast, I just microwave a few potatoes in the morning and put them in the frig to cool. At dinner I just peel the skin off the potatoes, cut them up with the leftover roast and add some canned carrot. The other day I added corn from leftover corn on the cob. Add the eggs and you have hash.

 I have been making my mother`s hash for years and my whole family loves it. My husband has always called it "Who Hash" because of the movie "The Grinch that Stole Christmas". The Grinch goes into the Who`s house, and takes everything including the last can of "Who Hash". The name has stuck for over 25 years.

 "Who" would have thought?

Will You Spell That For Me?

My sister Margie found a book in my Parent`s belongings that has the Genealogy and history of a branch of my Dad`s family tree. The book was written in 1937 and covers the years 1720 to 1937. My Grandmother`s maiden name was Foucht, but it seems that the name was originally Vogt. The earliest records of this name was that of Jonas Vogt Sr., born in Canton of Basil in Switzerland about 1720. Jonas and his wife (we have no record of her name) emigrated to North American, from Germany in 1750, landing in Pennsylvania.

Our American ancestors were called Pennsylvania Germans, because they spoke a German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch.  Though they were a Swiss family, they spoke this German dialect common in Southern Germany,  Eastern France and Switzerland. This is also the dialect of the Amish communities in the US. Why call it Dutch, when it is German? The most reasonable explanation I found is that the word "Dutch" to the English of the 18th and 19th centuries referred to anyone from a wide range of Germanic regions, that are now the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. It`s all Greek to me!

The German spelling of Vogt was the true spelling until 1810 when a number of my Uncles going westward to Ohio, mingled with the English elements of the State, and they departed from the original spelling.  Hence the following ways the name has appeared in print as: Vogt, Voght, Voight, Voigt, Voke, Vote, Fogt, Foght, Focht, Foucht, Fought, Fote, and Foke. Is it no wonder I had so much trouble tracing this branch of the family?

A fortune of over a million dollars was lost because of these variations in the spelling of the name. My early ancestors regretted this very much. Such a financial loss meant a great deal more then than now, because of the great needs in the new country.

I am having similar problems tracing my husbands family that came over from Russia and Lithuania through Ellis Island. When emigrants came into this country through Ellis Island they would chance their names after entering America. There is a myth that the names were changed by the inspectors at Ellis Island. The names on the ship manifests were written by the ship`s Captain, or a representative from the ships port of origin. The inspectors checked the immigrants in using the ships manifests, and would not have changed the documentation. There may have been some small changes do to poor interpretation of all the different languages, but it is more likely, that like my relatives the Vogts, they were just trying to fit in, and changed their name to a more American English version.

Although the "The Vogt Family History" is mostly a book of Genealogy, it does have a few dramatic and interesting stories in it about my family. In other words, future blog material. Stay tuned.

More Coffee Table Trays

In December of 2012, I showed my first attempt at making a table tray with hotel key cards. The green trays below had hotel key cards on the bottom of the tray with spaces between them, because I was limited on the number of keys I had in the correct colors. A year and a half later, after many more cards were collected, a new tray has been made. The first two trays, in the picture below, were made in 2012 for my sun room in Virginia.

Trays for my sun room

I changed the colors in my family room this last winter and decided to add blue into the mix of colors. I removed the brown coffee table bench and replaced it with two red ottomans. I needed a tray for one of the ottomans, so I decided to make another tray with hotel key cards.

I bought a wood unfinished tray from AC Moore craft store and painted it the same shade of navy blue as my new Target curtains. I sprayed a clear coat over the tray and now was ready for the key cards

I used blue Hampton Inn cards, some with the hotel name, and some with the State`s name on them. I also used red cards from the Hyatt, Welcome cards from Hilton, and trimmed the tray with the top and bottom of keys from Double Tree.  I arranged the cards the way I wanted them in the middle, and then measured the sizes I needed to cut the Double Tree keys for the trim.

After arranging and cutting all the pieces it was time to glue.  I just used hot glue, and had to be very careful not to use too much glue, as it will melt the coating on the key card.

I had a lot more cards with the colors I need for this tray, and I was able to cover the entire bottom of the tray. I get compliments all the time when people see the tray.  I had a window repair guy who wanted me to make one for him. I told him he better start traveling a lot to supply me with enough keys.

The tray looks great on the ottoman and rug. LOVE IT!

How hard is it to get from Indy to Dallas?

My son and his girlfriend were coming to Dallas for a visit before they go back to college. My son had been living with his Girlfriend's family in Indy, while he was working his summer job. I haven`t seen either of them for several months, so I was so very excited for their visit.

Tickets were bought a few months ago for their trip, and because we used frequent flyer miles there were no direct flights. We chose a flight into Dallas through Houston, and a return through Chicago. The reason was if they got stuck in either layover airport, they were within driving distance to their final destination.

No Updates? I think you can consider Canceled an Update. Just saying!

While the kids were in the air from Indy to Houston, my husband received 4 text messages from United delaying their trip from Huston to Dallas. They were originally scheduled to arrive at 10 PM  and we were now at about a 1 AM arrival. My husband decided to get them a hotel room at DFW, and we would pick them up in the morning. WAIT!!! Another text. Their flight was canceled. Figures!

When they landed in Houston our son called, and my husband gave him the bad news. He had his own news to give us, the jet bridge was broken, and they were stuck on the plane until someone fixed it. While they were stuck on the plane my husband went to work making arrangements to see how we were going to get them to Dallas. The next available flight was tomorrow at 6 PM. Really? Time for Plan B.

Houston must not be at Phase 4 yet!

National rental car, and a Hyatt hotel in Houston for the night. Luckily we were able to get both by using points, so it was no additional cost. They will be able to get a good nights sleep and drive into Dallas tomorrow. Now, they will be here a little before noon, instead of the 8 hours later if they re-booked with United. Our son was not too upset after seeing the rental car he gets to drive. Inconvenience should have some perks.

We call that "Ticket Red"! He parked it under a light just like his Dad taught him. So proud!

Florida Headboards

Three years ago my husband and I bought a condo in Florida on the Gulf. It is in a great resort that we fell in love with while there on vacation. It took almost a year to purchase the condo, after waiting on a short sale that fell through, and then moving on to a different unit. After closing we went to Florida, painted, had flooring put in, furnished and decorated the whole condo during a weekend while in a tropical storm.

We bought a lot of the pictures and accessories in Indiana and took them to Florida that weekend. While shopping at a Home Goods store in Indiana, we were looking at beach type items and were able to find clearance beach pictures, lamps and nick knacks. When I was walking through the picture section I saw a man walking around with this dark brown door that had metal work on it. I followed him to see where he got the door, only to find him putting it back on the shelf. When I went to look at it, there were two of them. I called my husband over and said I thought they would be a great headboard for the master bedroom in the condo. He didn`t see it, but we bought them anyway. I painted them white and sanded them a bit to distress them. We packed them and took them to Florida. They look awesome!

I loved how they turned out. They were not heavy, so we just used heavy picture hangers to hang them.

I really wanted to make the room feel like you were at a beach house, not the tropical palm tree look.

My sister Debbie and her husband bought a home in Florida last year and while visiting her new place we went shopping for a headboard for her master bedroom. This time I think we were in Ross for Less, and found two short arch doors and we both thought "Headboard".  She bought them and we hung them above the headboard on her bed, and they looked awesome.

Debbie went for a little more sophisticated look. She gets to live in hers, while I rent mine to vacationers.

Had to show the bench. We covered it while I was visiting. Very nice, right?

Our sister Paula just bought a home in Florida, and it is just a matter of time before the pressure will be too much for her to resist to buy a door headboard. Come on Paula, you know you want to!

Who designed this house?

I went out with my Realtor today to look at houses. These homes were all on large lots and all were less then ten years old. I can truly say I had no idea what was in the head of the designer of some of these homes. Now, I am sure many were designed by the home owners, but they really should have thought ahead to the day they may want to sell their house. So, here are just a few examples of what I saw today.

I have to first start with the people that decline your showing. Some of these houses have been on the market for over 100 days and they really need to think that the reason they can`t sell their house is that they decline showings. One of the houses I wanted to see that was declined, I had already looked at in May, and they declined the first request for that showing too. I will show my house to anyone, anytime. That is a motivated seller, right?

What is this room?  You can see the kitchen in the back
of the picture. The stairs lead to a huge game room. 

On to the Showings.
First, Texas homes do not have basements, so they all seem to have a game room and a media room in their floor plans. Most are located on the second floor. If you do have your game room on the main floor, put it in the back of the house, I don`t want to sit in my kitchen and see the pool table and game room. This house had a huge staircase that went to one room upstairs that was also used as a game room. It is not good when you can`t tell what room is to be used for what. Very confused!

Is the soundproof booth to keep the animal noises out?

Location, Location, Location. I knew we were in trouble with this house when the agent called and asked us to look past the neighborhood. It was in "transition". We were very curious to see this one. The owner did not leave the house when we were there, he felt compelled to show us every room and explain the reason behind every cabinet and door. He built the house himself and it was very nice, but in a very rural neighborhood. Horses across the street, an old barn like structure in the back of the house next door, and it included chickens, and donkeys down the street. The house next door also had a gravel drive with about seven pickup trucks in it. This was in the middle of the day. Hunting party? The house we were looking at also had a recording studio in it, but I am too old to start a music career.  I wish him luck in selling his much loved home.

We couldn`t even get this close to Paradise!

Again with the dogs? We went into the next house and it was so dark inside. The walls were painted dark earth tones and there was just not enough lighting anywhere. They also had a guest house attached to an extra garage in the back of the driveway. It had a two bedroom apartment with kitchen, family room with fireplace, porch with swing, upstairs game room with a bar, and a balcony looking over the pool. It even had one of those chair lifts to go up the stairs. They need a particular buyer with an older child living at home, a renter, or older parents/in laws. Not much to say about the inside of the main house, because it was hard to see. The outdoor space was like paradise, but we couldn`t go out and look at it because of the FIVE dogs running in Paradise. We were unable to see the best feature of the house. Board your dogs during a showing.

Your very own storm shelter that holds eight!

Is that the pantry? I saw a beautiful home with a huge kitchen, a lot of cherry wood cabinets, large frig, double oven, microwave, trash compactor, pot filler, and for reason two dishwashers. Then in the back of the kitchen, by an outside door with a big window, there were cherry wood shelves that went all the way to the ceiling, and then white cabinets like you would find in a laundry room. We assumed it was the pantry, but it was open to the kitchen and the outside door window. Who would want all their food out for everyone in the kitchen and outside to see?  All the appliances were gone in the outdoor kitchen, cabinets were there, but no appliances. This house did have a storm shelter suitable for eight people. Maybe that is what happened to the outside appliances. A tornado took them away while they were in the storm shelter.  Just blows my mind! Get it? Moving on.

Wood beams, river rock stove hood and antler chandelier. 

The last house we saw was what I would describe as a "Rustic Texas" house. Wood and stone everywhere. Animal pelts on the floor and dark wood beams all across the ceilings. A wood mantel on a river stone fireplace. River stone on the pillars in the foyer. When we walked in the Foyer we couldn`t even tell what the rooms were to be used for. They had a dinning room table sideways from the corner, because it would be in front of a doorway if you put it in the obvious place, under the chandelier. There was a couch in the dinning area and a chair in an odd place across the foyer with an animal pelt on the floor.

River rock pillar and a pelt on the floor under the chair.

The owners designed this house just for their family. How do I know this? It was for sale by owner and she called us about the showing and talked to us on speaker phone telling us all about it.They had a huge room, as soon as you came in the front door, to the right, that they designed for their kids as a play room. You really couldn`t use it for anything else, because it was right by the front entrance. Also, you had to go through this room to get to two of the bedrooms. The office was upstairs with a fourth bedroom. No way we would want to go upstairs to use the office every day. The whole house did not flow. One of the closets was filled with camouflage clothing and boots.  By the time I left I didn`t know if I wanted to shoot something, or go fishing. Yikes!

Master bedroom with the brown molding.

Out of the six homes I saw today I really liked one. It had great flow and all the rooms were where you would expect them to be. It had a great outdoor space and the whole thing made sense. The one thing different about this house, was that the baseboards and crown molding were all painted brown. For some reason it really worked in this house.  Plus, they will not show dust like painted white wood does. It had a beautiful outdoor space and lovely landscaping. I will be taking the husband to see this one.


Going out again tomorrow and I will keep you updated. Hope for a better day!