Listen Chickens...

...Your Mama is about to put our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly into our big BMW and head on up to Big Daddy's ranch out in the boonies. We regret to inform that there is not, quite simply, any interweb service that we know of for miles around Big Daddy's spread. Therefore, much to our chagrin and perhaps your disappointment, we may be out of touch for a day or two unless we can find some coffee shop–or a kuh-fay as our Grandmammy Rayna used to call them–within a 20 mile radius that has entered the modern age and offers its patrons wireless internet access.

My 1st GIVE-AWAY-- NO April Foolin'!

HAPPY SPRING!!

I AM SO HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE:

A GIVE-AWAY!

I decided that when I reached 25 followers 

(THANK YOU for becoming my friends and listening to lil' ol' me!), 

that I would have a give-away.

Not only that, I decided that when I reach 100 followers,
and every 100 after that.

I will have another giveaway.

Just for fun!

And not just items for the decorating of your home, 

but for your health
and the decorating of your heart!

The pictures are a few hints 
of some of the neat stuff 
that I want to give to 
you.

The theme is: 

Happy Spring

The sign-up for it starts tomorrow, April 1st.

Won't you come back tomorrow?

I'd love to see you win!

God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways 

so that you're ready for anything and everything, 

more than just ready to do what needs to be done. 

His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, 

never wear out. 

This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer 

that becomes bread for your meals 

is more than extravagant with you. 

He gives you something you can then give away, 

which grows into full-formed lives, 

robust in God, wealthy in every way, 

so that you can be generous in every way, 

producing with us great praise to God.

2 Corinthians 9:7-9

I Got a Hug Today, (otherwise titled:) Kilz Paint Love

Have you ever been thinking about and wanting something 

and maybe only you and God knew about it?

Maybe you have been hoping for a certain doodad for your home, 

or a relationship mended or I don't know, just anything?

And you have waited for the answer and out of nowhere, it shows up?

That very miracle, that very THING that you had hoped for?

It stops you in your tracks because it was so unexpected, 

and you know it was meant JUST FOR YOU, and no one else?

Well, it happened to ME today.

I call it a hug from God.

I have had this paint swatch on my wall(s) for months 

(tell me you do this too, please!):

This is in our dining room:

In our kitchen (on the iron thingy):

Just another shot of our kitchen above the French doors:

I know what you are thinking.

I think I do, anyway.

You are thinking, "The walls are yellow, 

and she wants to paint them yellow again, so what's the big deal?" 

Well, the paint swatch color is called Smooth Pebble, 

and is actually a khaki-ish yellow, 

a more mature shade of yellow. 

Hard to capture, it is!

So, I have an affection for Kilz Paint, yes, paint. 

This paint gets used in all my staged homes. 

Not primer. 

But made by the same company as the primer:

We subscribe to Consumer Reports, 

so we can get the best products for the best price 

with the best ratings of items that have already been tested. 

We do this with cars, tools, appliances.

Kilz Paint is one of CR's Best buys, see? 

Who knew?:

(Click the picture to make it larger, if you wanna)

So, back to the hugging part.

I was wandering through Wal-Mart today, and thought, 

"Maybe I should just by a quart of "Smooth Pebble", to see if I really like it.

I priced the quarts at $12.00. 

Hmmm... the gallons were only $10 more for 75% more paint... 

Hmmmm...lemme check the oops! paint aisle.

Guess what is WAITING FOR ME, on the end, 

in the front of all the other cans of oops! paint on the shelf???

Can you guess????

If not, here's a picture to help you:

Another of the front to help some more:

Yep. A can of oops! Smooth Pebble, just for ME.

And the WHOLE gallon was $11.22!

God gave me a hug right there in the Wal-Mart.

Where have you been hugged by God?

The Lord looks down from heaven and sees all His children.

Psalm 33:13

Another Real Estate Nightmare for Nic Cage

Poor, poor Nic Cage. It seems the lavish living but (apparently and allegedly) financially strapped Oscar winning actor's real estate dramas and traumas will never end.

Yesterday, Your Mama was yakkety-yakking with a well-connected gal pal whom we'll call Laveenuh Livesinahighrise who, between deep drags on one of her ever-present Virginia Slims, casually and off-handedly snickered that Mister Cage's aristocratic and eccentric residence on swank Copa de Oro Road in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles is scheduled to be auctioned off on the courthouse steps in the early part of April.

We just about knocked our pitcher of gin and tonics over with shock. "AUCTIONED!" Your Mama screeched. "Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" Miz Livesinahighrise, her words enveloped and blunted by a mouth full of acrid cigarette smoke said, "Yes Mother dear, 'tis true. You oughtta check that shit out." After bidding Miz Livesinahighrise adieu and placing the handset of our worn out but still bedazzled princess phone back into its cradle, Your Mama spent a few minutes peeping and poking around the interweb looking to see what sort of information we could turn up. Within minutes Your Mama hit pay dirt and–lo and behold butter beans–public records we accessed did indeed confirm Miz Livesinahighrise's not exactly financially flattering celebrity real estate gossip regarding Mister Cage's residence on Copa de Oro Road.

According to the 411 Your Mama mined out of the internets, in late 2009 Mister Cage received a nasty Notice of Default on a large mortgage with Citibank secured with the Copa de Oro Road residence. It was recorded on December 16, 2009. How's that for a merry damn Christmas from your bank, Mister Cage? Shooooot, even Your Mama ain't cold enough to wreck up someone's quasi Christian holiday. Anyhoo, an even nastier Notice of Sale–recorded on the 18th of March, 2010–reveals that unless Mister Cage makes good on the defaulted mortgage the posh property will be auctioned on the 7th of April. The auction, which has a minimum bid of $11,004,189, is currently scheduled to take place at 10:30 in the a.m. at a Los Angeles County courthouse in Pomona, CA. Pomona. Pomona! Good grief, child. Surely it is upsetting enough to just lose one's Bel Air mansion–not to mention all the other luxe properties Mister Cage has lost in the last year–but for it all to go down in Po-freaking-mona? Lo-word.

Nicky hunny, call Your Mama, we got a nerve pill or two with your name on it.

Mister Cage's imposing English Tudor style white elephant, first listed in late 2007 with a skin scorching asking price of $35,000,000 and now listed at a greatly reduced but still upsettingly high $17,500,000, was designed by noted Los Angeles based architect Gerard Colcord. The Cage mansion was built in 1940, measures 11,817 square feet and includes, according to listing information, 6 bedrooms and 9 poopers. The sprawling residence, which perhaps looks a little too much like a damn dorm hall at an east coast college for our personal and questionable taste, also includes an 1,800 square foot wine cellar, a home theater, multiple marble fireplaces, original stained glass windows, hidden rooms and staircases, exercise facilities and staff quarters. The 1 acre of manicured grounds encompasses mature shade trees, a massive motor court, a huge heated swimming pool, and an outdoor kitchen with a built-in brick oven.

According to Colcord: Home, an exhaustively researched compendium on the architect Gerard Colcord penned and compiled by real estateophile Bret Parsons, Mister Cage's house was commissioned in 1938 by May Ormerod Harris. Miz Harris, a ladee Your Mama has never heard of before, is–or was–the wealthy widow of a real estate developer named John Wesley Harris who developed parts of the Westwood area of Los Angeles. In certain circles, including that of Mister Parsons, the property is still referred to as Harris House after its original owner.

According to Mister Parsons' publication, the Widda Harris granted the property to the University of Southern California in 1962 (or possibly 1964). The estate was quickly sold by the university for just $200,000 to Beverly Hills banker Stanley Stalford and his wife Joanne who sold it for $250,000 in 1968 to an heir to the Yuban coffee fortune. In 1972 the property was purchased by liquor luvin' crooner Dean Martin. According to Mister Parsons' book, Mister Martin hired Mister Colcord in 1974 to add a 2,500 square foot entertainment complex that includes, "a foyer, curtained stage and movie screen, projection room, sunken wet-bar, large fireplace, two marble baths, and two dressing rooms" plus a children's playroom. In 1976 Mister Martin sold the house to the campy and hairy chested troubadour Tom Jones who owned the property until 1998 when he sold it to our Mister Cage for six and some million clams.

The stately and legendary residence came to be just one of a dozen or more high priced and higher maintenance properties owned by Mister Cage whose property portfolio once bulged with a German schloss (sold in the spring of 2009 for around $2,300,000), a couple of historic mansions in New Orleans (lost to foreclosure in late 2009), a 27-acre estate in Middletown, RI with a 24,667 square foot mansion (bought for $15,700,000, now listed for sale at $9,995,000), a private and undeveloped island in the Bahamas (listed at $6,000,000), a house on Paradise Island in the Bahamas (status unknown), two combined condos in a New York City high-rise (sold last year for $7,750,000), a club-shaped castle outside of Bath in the U.K. (reported to be sold at a million dollar plus loss), a gorgeous Georgian style townhouse in Bath itself (sold at a loss of a couple hundred thousand bucks), a more modest modern house in Baltonsborough, near Glastonbury (bought in June 2006, status unknown), a Las Vegas mansion (bought in September 2006 for $8,500,000, lost to foreclosure in December 2009, and since sold by the lender for $4,200,000), a behemoth bay front mansion in Newport Beach, CA (sold in early 2008 for around $35,000,000), another small house in Newport Beach occupied by his recently deceased father (bought in December of 2006 for $1,700,000 sold in February of 2010 for $1,000,000), a worn out, mid-century modern-ish house above Lake Hollywood (sold in October of 2009 for $1,375,000), and a couple parcels totaling around 400 acres in the mountains above Malibu (listed in late 2009 with combined asking price of around $12,000,000, current status unknown). And that, children, is just the properties Your Mama can scratch off the top of our booze marinated brain.

In the wake of his financial melt-down, Mister Cage filed suit against his now former business manager Samuel Levin claiming his one-time money man led him down a path to financial ruin by allowing him spend money that he did not have on big ticket items that he could not afford. Mister Levin has, of course, filed a counter suit claiming Mister Cage created his own financial quagmire with his wildly profligate ways. According to Mister Levin's suit, at the peak of his spending Mister Cage required an annual income of at least $30,000,000 in order to maintain his immoderate lifestyle of unrestrained spending.

Take a moment to think about that popsicles...thir-tee millon damn clams a year just to pay the bills. That's enough to make Your Mama, a well known financial hypchondriac from way back, want to faint with flabbergast and blanch with pecuniary heebie-jeebies.

Anyhoo, Mister Levin's suit contends that in the year 2007 alone Mister Cage bought 22 cars–a count that included 9 damn Rolls Royces–12 pieces of fine jewelry, 47 pieces of art and three homes totaling more than $33,000,000. And that was just what Mister Cage spent on the big toys, imagine what the man frittered away on the myriad of less expensive purchases not to mention what it cost him to maintain the homes, planes, and boats that he already owned.

Lo-word have mercy piglets, just thinking about his rampant and unrestrained spending makes Your Mama quiver and sweat. We certainly don't begrudge anyone a little luxury in their life but, people, there's really something so vulgar and disturbing about the insanely excessive lifestyle Mister Cage craved. His need for expensive gewgaws and swank real estate seems almost pathological, don't it? For what it's worth and as fer as Your Mama is concerned, there is much more dignity preserved when a wildly rich person knows when plenty is enough than when a money mongering multi-millionaire (or billionaire) spends their entire life sucking up pricey possessions like they actually mean something. Even still, as much as we loathe and can not comprehend Mister Cage's unrestrained lust for conspicuous and superfluous consumption, we do wish him a modicum of real estate peace in the near future and, even more, we hope he's learned a necessary lesson in financial restraint and good sense.

Your Mama would also ask the children to keep in mind that it is quite possible that Mister Cage will or has already managed to make good on his mortgage and thus stave off the auction of his house. But as of this day in March, public records show the auction is on. May we all soon be able to put Mister Cage and his real estate miseries to bed and out of our minds for-evah.

photo: Pacific Coast News

Antique Mantel Makeover, Jamaican Honeymoon-Style

I've started the master bedroom makeover. Finally!

I started with the sitting area wall. I still have much to do, but here's what's there as of today.

The 1840's mantel before, when rescued from a friend's shed:

She got a bath and found a place inside our home:

(Some candlesticks, a window, and the grating I am still working on, need to go in the mantel opening).

The smaller shells and pitcher were found at yard sales.

The hydrangeas are from my Pee Gee hydrangea tree.

This mirror has a gold plastic frame. It was hanging in our 1/2 bath when we bought the house.

Five packages of sea shells from the Dollar Tree, the HGG (Hot Glue Gun) and hours later:

This gold, glittery, foam thing found for $1.00 at Good Will was painted--

and now it likes being right here:

The candleabra was purchased off eBay.

I have had the large conch shell since I was 2 years old
when my Gram bought it for me in Key West, Florida.

Our honeymoon was in Jamaica and we stayed in the Half Moon in Montego Bay.

I did NOT steal the key holder- really, it broke, so I went to the front desk to report it, and they let me keep this one as a souvenir!

My lady was found at Good Will for $10.00, as were the necklaces and scarf.

I think she is sweet, but she creeps my hubby out, especially if she looks like she's staring at him in the reflection of the mirror.

I tell him to get over it, she's an air-head, and besides, she knows he's already married.

The chairs were a barter with a friend for some slipcovers.

Down pillows ($3.00/pair at a yard sale) were covered
with clearance Target napkins sewn into pillow slips
.

This week, I am working on another wall, here is a sneak peek:

I am so enjoying making our space into an island-get-away for me and my groom!

Sunday Serenity

Each Sunday, I will feature a picture taken by one of my daughters, 

and some words of faith, hope and love given by our Father:

We can understand 

someone 

dying for a person 

worth dying for, 

and we can understand 

how someone 

good and noble 

could inspire us 

to selfless sacrifice.

But God put His love on the line 

for us 

by offering his Son 

in sacrificial death 

while we 

were of no use 

whatever to Him.

Romans 5:7-8

Nancy Daly's Estate Lists Los Angeles Area Homes

SELLER: Estate of Nancy Daly
LOCATION: Malibu, CA
PRICE :$57,000,000
SIZE: 12,785 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: If the children will put on their thinking caps and go back to February of 2008 when Your Mama heard from a number of our better connected sources that word on the real estate gossip grapevine was that philanthropist Nancy Daly–the estranged wife of former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan–had done sold her massive Malibu mansion for around $50,000,000.

A month later, now retired L.A. Times celebrity real estate high priestess Ruth Ryon reported that Miz Daly had sold her behemoth beach house to a couple of very rich Canadians for not fifty million bucks but a bone chilling $68,000,000.

As it turns out, both Your Mama and Miz Ryon were wrong, wrong, wrong. Well, mostly wrong. We can't confirm this, which makes it just rumor and gossip of course, but Your Mama did hear from someone in the position to know–and we presume Miz Ryon heard the same thing also from a reliable informant–that the huge house was being shopped around by a couple of big name brokers and that there had indeedy been a deal thisclose to being done on Miz Daly's ocean front dwelling. However, the jaw-dropping deal died and in the end the residence remained in Miz Daly's property portfolio.

What Your Mama did not know at that time was that Miz Daly had solid and sound reasons for wanting to lighten her real estate load. See puppies, in October of 2009 Miz Daly succumbed to an unfortunate and nasty battle with pancreatic cancer, one of the more virulent and painful ways to go we're sorry to say. Miz Daly died, according to her obit in the L.A. Times, "in St. Louis while traveling back to Los Angeles from New York City in a motor home with her three children." It sounds a little undignified for a woman of Miz Daly's stature, but according to her daughter it was quite okay since she was able to spend her last days and moments with her children.

Now, some six or so months since her untimely passing at the not exactly ancient age of 68, the estate of Miz Daly–presumably controlled or at least heavily influenced by her 3 children and 5 grandchildren–has officially hoisted her major manse in Malee-boo on the market with a blistering and billionaires only asking price of $57,000,000. That's right chickens, fifty seven million smackers, a number large enough to make Your Mama hyperventilate and start in on the gin & tonics before 11 in the a.m.

According to listing information, Miz Daly's beach digs measure in at a mammoth 12,785 square feet and include 8 bedrooms and a dozen poopers. Although our seriously superstitious and demanding house gurl Svetlana would require at least 1 full time terlit gurl to assist her with 12 damn poopers, she would at least approve of Miz Daly's restroom restraint that stopping at twelve rather than an unlucky 13 lavatories.

Miz Daly cobbled her property together over a number of years until finally snagging almost three-quarters of an acre and 180 feet of beach frontage on Carbon Beach, the most coveted, glammy and insane expensive stretches of sand in all of Malee-boo. Miz Daly completed her Carbon Beach castle in 2002 ending up with 9 fireplaces, lavishly sized main rooms including a leviathan double-height living room with a disappearing wall of glass, a sport court and a wide stretch of unnaturally green lawn next to the ocean side swimming pool and spa that is protected by a frameless glass wind screen.

From the few photos currently included with with listing information and marketing materials, it appears that Miz Daly and her team of interior designers and nice, gay decorators did the whole place up in tasteful if not exactly exhilarating shades of ecru with bits of blue that mirror, reflect and echo the shimming blue of the Pacific Ocean.

In addition to the large lawn area and the terrace surrounding the swimming pool, deceased Miz Daly's weekend retreat also comes equipped with a sport court, a couple of balconies and terraces located off guest suites and a deep and wide terrace on the second floor that is accessible either through Miz Daly's master suite or by the stone staircase that leads up from the terrace below.

Miz Daly's nearest neighbors include Jeffrey Katzenberg's Gwathmey Seigel designed compound one one side and former Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel's Michael Graves designed digs on the other. A few other big name and bigger money Carbon Beach property owners includes gay gajillionaire David Geffen, prolific action film producer Joel Silver, restaurant mogul Peter Morton (who has relatively recently completed and dee-voon domicile designed by architect Richard Meier), apparel manufacturing mogul Charles Perez, dueling and dee-vorcing duo Frank and Jamie McCourt who paid $27,300,000 in July of 2007 for the John Lautner designed house formerly owned by architecture buff Courtney Cox and her huzband David Arquette.

The children might also find it inneresting that Miz Daly's in-town residence, on posh Peruguia Way in the swank Bel Air section of Los Angeles, is also up for sale with an asking price of $7,900,000. The 5, 205 square foot traditional was formerly owned by the priceless actress Jean Stapleton, otherwise known as Edith Bunker from the savvy, smart and way before it's time satirical situation comedy All in the Family.
According to listing information, Miz Daly's Bel Air crib (above) includes 2 family bedrooms in the main house, each with private pooper, plus a master suite with massive amounts of closet space and two marble poopers. a staff room on the first floor also has it's own terliting facilities and a two-floor guest house contains an additional two suites each comprised of a living room, bedroom and pooper.

The flat and grassy backyard looks out over the Bel Air Count Club golf course and has secret garden areas, a swimming pool and an adjacent cabana with a fireplace, and a children's playground is tucked down a nearly hidden set of stairs.

Miz Daly's nearest neighbors in Bel Air include Hank Azaria and his baby momma Katie Wright, Talia Shire, the legendary Carole Bayer Sager and her entertainment executive huzband Robert Daly–who happens to be Miz Nancy Daly's ex-huzband–and recently widowed Bren Simon who recently listed her beast of a house at a toe curling $50,000,000.

Sources: Joyce Rey (Bel Air) and Chris Cortazzo (Malibu)

Organizing of a Closet

Our closets can be compared to our souls. 

As we grow in Christ, the contents of our souls change 

as we learn to purge our closets of undesirables 

and keep the wardrobe that is best-fitting.

I have been reading Colossians 3 (The Message version), 

and did you know that it talks about closet organizing in the Bible?

Yep. Verses 5-9:

Get rid of everything connected with the way of death: 

sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, 

doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, 

and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. 

That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. 

It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. 

It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. 

But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: 

bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

Don't lie to one another. 

You're done with that old life. 

It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. 

Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. 

Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, 

with his label on it. 

All the old fashions are now obsolete.

The job of organizing your closet doesn't end when you've organized your clothes.

We also keep other very important stuff in our closet: 

ties, scarves, handbags, hats, belts and shoes.

The closet that we are looking at today is in a client's home. 

It is an older home, therefore quirky (which I love), 

so she has another, larger clothing closet to the right of this one. 

This closet is mainly used for items she uses occasionally, not daily.

Ways this closet was simplified:

• Took everything OUT OF THE CLOSET and eliminated everything that wasn't worn within the past year. We were ruthless!
• Put the items back in the closet inside baskets or bins or on hooks. This is helpful, so you can just grab the basket/bin you need, and not have to dig around for something. Over-the-door hooks are excellent organizers, especially for a small closet, like this one.
• Brought in only the smallest baskets that were needed, so she wasn't tempted to fill it up with more stuff she didn't need which is why we were organizing the closet in the first place.
• Added cute label/tags tags to the sides of the baskets.
• A draw-string, just-for-dry-cleaning bag is placed on the floor.
• A lined hamper with handles is handy to take to the laundry room.
• This closet's space is limited, so for each new item put in, one item must go out.

Tags read: 

Garden & Beach

Handbags & Scarves

Tags read:

T-Shirts

Shorts

Clothing care convenience:

Other pictures of this room:

I confess I need to rid my closet of the ill-fitting clothing of irritability and selfishness.

They need to be thrown out. 

Which "old fashions" do you have that you need to get rid of?

Let's purge. Let's be ruthless!