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:

You're here to be light, 

bringing out the God-colors in the world. 

God is not a secret to be kept. 

We're going public with this, 

as public as a city on a hill. 

If I make you light-bearers, 

you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, 

do you? 

I'm putting you on a light stand. 

Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, 

on a light stand

—shine! 

Keep open house; 

be generous with your lives. 

By opening up to others, 

you'll prompt people to open up with God, 

this generous Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)

Astor Courts, Historical Site of Chelsea Clinton's Hitching

Listen poodles, Your Mama was really trying hard not to get on the Chelsea Clinton wedding bandwagon. The gurl deserves to have her day in peace. However, try as we might, our resistance has been worn down by all the hoopla and frequent requests from the curious for information about the upstate New York estate where it is widely rumored and oft reported that Miss Clinton will get hitched to her man Marc Mevinsky, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.

Although no one will publicly confirm, it appears the former presidential daughter will be married tomorrow at an historic and privately owned estate overlooking the Hudson River in the quaint village of Rhinebeck, NY. The 50-ish acre estate, most often referred to as Astor Courts, was once part of the sprawling 2,800 acre spread of John Jacob Astor IV, the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor who made a mountain of money in real estate, opium, and fur trades. Iffin you want more extensive information on the Astor family, here's a good place to start.

Astor Courts–sometimes referred to as Ferncliff Casino and/or Astor Casino–was commissioned by John Jacob "Jack" Astor IV and his first wife Eva in the early 1900s as a sporting pavilion and guest quarters to go along with the estate's main house built in the late 1850s by another of the wildly wealthy of the Astor clan. The long and low Beaux Arts style building, inspired by the Grand Trianon at Versailles and completed 1904, was one of the last buildings finished by architect Stanford before he was shot and killed in 1906 at Madison Square Garden by Harry K. Thaw, the notoriously volatile heir to a Pittsburgh coal and railroad fortune.

Along with vast entertaining spaces and several guest rooms, the Astor Courts housed what some believe was the first indoor swimming pool at a private residence, as well as an indoor clay tennis court with soaring vault and truss ceiling of industrial glass, two indoor squash courts, a bowling alley, and a shooting range. There was a grass tennis court that sat along side the building. A scratchy and difficult to make out floor plan of the original structure can be seen here. The children will note the indoor swimming pool on the far left (east), the indoor tennis court at the top (south), and the guest rooms to the far right (west).

Mister Astor divorced Eva in 1909 and married the much younger Madeleine Force in 1911. In April of 1912, at the tail end of an extended European honeymoon, Mister Astor went down with the Titanic. A preggers Madeleine was one of the lucky few who survived the sinking but, it should be noted, neither she nor her son the future John Jacob Astor VI inherited Ferncliff or the Astor Courts sporting pavilion.

The entire estate was instead inherited by Mister Astor's oldest son William Vincent Astor who in the 1940s razed the monumental main house at Ferncliff and, after an extensive renovation and re-purposing of some rooms, moved into the sporting pavilion. In 1953 Vincent Astor married for a third time. His new bride was the once-divorced and once-widowed Brooke Russell Kuser Marshall who became the powerful queen of New York high society Brooke Astor, a formidable woman who once upon a time Your Mama would sometimes see swaddled in fur at big shindigs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Although it has been reported that Miz Astor didn't particularly care for the drafty and vast Astor Courts, the couple used the former sporting pavilion as a country retreat until Mister Astor died in 1959. Subsequent to Vincent Astor's death, Ferncliff was cut up into bite sized pieces, some of which was sold off and some of which–the part where Astor Courts is situated–was donated by The Widow Astor to The Catholic Archdiocese of New York who used the former Astor family playhouse as a nursing home where the old folks were cared for by nuns.

By the 1980s the Astor Courts was once again brought into use as a private residence but much of it architectural luster and detail had been lost, destroyed, or covered up with insensitive "renovations" and layer upon layer of paint, linoleum, and carpeting. In the spring of 2003 the property was purchased for $3,200,000 by its current owners, real estate developer Arthur Seelbinder and his Democratic fundraiser and former tee-vee producer wife Kathleen Hammer.

The well-heeled couple, no stranger to home renovations, soon set off on a journey of renovation and restoration so lengthy, emotionally taxing, and costly they refuse to get specific. According to a New York Times article from 2008, the couple sold a house in Palm Beach as well as antiques and artworks to help fund the massive renovation and restoration costs. The renovations included installing a sky-lit barbering station and bathroom fixtures copied from Stanford White's original plans.

The couple hired architect Sam White–Stanford White's great-grandson–to oversee the renovation of the hotel-sized house that stretches out over 40,000 square feet. According to the New York Times article, the Astor Courts building is divided into three areas: public, private, and guest. The owners' private quarters in the east wing include the master suite, a library–a room Brooke Astor had installed in what was formerly the squash courts–and a Middle Eastern inspired indoor swimming pool with a turquoise groin vaulted ceiling and enormous arched windows with views of the bucolic landscaping that surround the house.

The west end of the building includes a large living room with fois bois moldings, fireplace, and access to a terrazzo terrace that overlooks the Hudson River, a newly enlarged kitchen, dining room, and 4 guest rooms that share two poopers. In between the east and west wings is the entrance hall and the extravagantly scaled main hall that measures 35 by 60 feet with 14.5 foot high ceilings. Underfoot are over-sized herringbone parquet floors and overhead is a shallow domed sky light. The room is ringed with heavy 30-inch moldings and elaborate plasterwork and French doors with with dramatic fan lights on either side of the aristocratic 9 by 10 foot fireplace mantelpiece swing open and overlook the indoor tennis court.

Recent reports guesstimate that the cost of Miss Clinton and Mister Mevinsky's nuptials could soar to as high as three or even five million clams. Although we have no idea where anyone got their information on this stuff, some of the costs of the wedding are reported to include $500,000 for flowers, $200,000 for security, $500,000 in transportation costs for guests, a $25,000 Vera Wang designed wedding dress, and $15,000 for dee-luxe portable terlits of the sort that high-class folks like supermarket mogul Ron Burkle will feel comfortable doing their bizness.

According to one of Gawker's top secret sources, preparations for the big event have included repainting the entire house, installing new landscaping, and preparing a clearing on the property so that invited guests can arrive by helicopter. A no-fly zone has been instituted over the property so that airborne paps won't be able to buzz the nuptials with their telephoto lenses and the children can be assured that the property is crawling with so much Secret Service and other security that iffin your were even to drive by and look cross-ways at the estate's front gates you'll be unceremoniously shuffled off in a brusque and unfriendly fashion.

Since Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter can't make it to the wedding, we'll just wish Miss Clinton and Mister Mevinsky a happy day and happy life.

photos: New York Social Diary

New Digs for Dr. and Missus Phil

BUYER: Phil and Robin McGraw
LOCATION: Beverly Hills, CA
PRICE: last listed at $29,500,000
SIZE: 15,000 square feet (approx.), 5 bedrooms, 9 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Anyone and everyone who pays any attention to the real estate machinations of celebs and other high profile peeps already knows that talk show titan Dr. Phil McGraw and his decoratin' demon of a wife Robin recently listed their lavishly done Beverly Hills, CA mansion with an asking price of $16,500,000.

Soon after that tidbit found its way to the surface another juicy nugget came bubbling up out of the celebrity real estate gossip tar pit. Even though The Good (Not A Medical) Dr. and his wifey Robin had yet to unload their mock Mediterranean beast in Beverly Hills they'd already snatched up a newer, bigger, and more expensive monster mansion high in the hills above Beverly Hills.

As soon as Your Mama heard the Mister and Missus McGraw were moving we immediately imagined them moving into something even larger and more grand than their current home because, well, we always suspected that the tough talking celebrity psychologist and his book writing wife were real estate size queens. And sure enough, Mister and Missus McGraw's new mansion, according to previous reports and listing information, measures in the neighborhood of 15,000 square feet and includes 5 bedrooms and 9 full and 2 half poopers in the main house and another 1 bedroom and pooper in the detached guest house above the garage.

The very privately situated property sprawls across more than 3 acres of rugged hillside terrain high in the hills behind Beverly Hills and was last listed on the open market with an asking price of $29,500,000. A massive motor court with a spitting fountain in the center sits at the end of a long gated driveway and separates the main house from the detached garage and guest quarters.

Listing information shows that proportionally odd and squat looking mansion, which listing information called a "romantic European villa," includes a two-story entrance hall with sweeping staircase–natch–drawing room, formal dining room, library game/media room, and a kitchen/family room complex. If the couple's previous estate is any indication of what's to come, Your Mama expects that Missus McGraw will work over the vast interior spaces into an over-stuffed frenzy of faux-Tuscan extravagance mixed with glittery nouveau riche excess.

All four of the family bedrooms are, according to listing information, located on the second floor and each has a private pooper. In addition to dual poopers, the second floor master suite has a private sitting room and terrace. Given that in their previous house Mister and Missus McGraw each had lavish poopers and dressing rooms that combined are probably larger than Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's entire house, we imagine that they'll be creating a suite of poopers and dressing rooms equally as large and over the top dee-luxe in their new house.

A deep loggia with outdoor fireplace, terra cotta tile floors, and brick groin vaulted ceiling runs along a portion of the back of the house and steps down to an expansive back yard with flat lawn, swimming pool, and a panoramic city lights view. Over behind the garage and guest house is a sunken and lighted tennis court.

After it became public knowledge that Mister and Misssus McGraw were on the move, Dr. Phil–or his mouthpiece or some secret source or something–claimed that they were decamping for new digs because they wanted something a little larger to better accommodate their growing family. As far as Your Mama knows Mister and Missus McGraw's family currently consists entirely of two sons–one unmarried and another who's hitched to a gal who bared her naughty bits in Playboy–and one grandchild. We're not sure why their old 11,036 square foot house wasn't sufficiently large enough to accommodate their family of six–it has 8 bedrooms and 7 poopers plus a 2 bedroom guest house, after all–but such are the wacky real estate ways of the rich and famous.

listing photos: Coldwell Banker Previews International

The Best Mommy in the World!

Miss S started her first job today at a used book store; 

she is in heaven, since she is a major bibliophile
(she has been reading since she was 2 1/2)!

It was another milestone in a long list of milestones 

that I got to cherish today.

As she packed a lunch bag and gathered her Social Security card and birth certificate 

so she could fill out her first ever W-2 form,

I thought back to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Back to when I gave birth to Miss S and became a mother to her,

I, quite frankly, didn't know what to do with her!

We brought her home from the hospital, all 10 pounds of her! 

(My sister called her "Huge!" and the preacher decided 

she would drive herself home from the hospital).

And the first month went something like this:

When she cried, I fed her.

When she slept, I watched her.

When she cried, I changed her.

When she slept, I cleaned house furiously.

When she cried, I comforted her.

When she slept, I showered or napped.

When she cried, I cried.

I called on my Father God constantly for wisdom and strength and patience.

He gave it. Faithfully.

As Miss S grew older, I questioned our methods of feeding, discipline, teaching, 

choices of Mother's Day Out and schools (we decided to home school),
 friends for her, you name it.

I wondered if I told her too much or too little about the world, 

too much or too little about Jesus.

Would she learn my bad habits? (The answer is YES).

Would she learn my good habits? (The answer again: YES).

Most importantly, would she learn to love the God I love and know as Father?


Then one day, when she was around 8 years old 
I received this from her:


A bouquet and a letter.

Then, it hit me, I AM the best mommy in the world!
For her.

What I learned, while being observed by Mini-me, 
was that my actions spoke louder than words.

Mini-me imitated my behavior, 
not the behavior read from a book.

In her eyes, I was the standard 
and she saw me as the best mommy in the world.

But, was she seeing joy in my home making, marriage and life?

Did I cultivate the privilege we homemakers have in hospitality, cooking, 
ministry, baking, decorating, cleaning, 
learning an instrument, gardening, scrubbing toilets?

More importantly, did I cultivate the gifts that were endowed to only her?

Was enthusiasm for the mundane, with no promise of reward part of my behavior?

Not always.

But, as I realized that God gave her to me to teach me, and vice versa, 
I finally comprehended that I was raising an adult, not a child.

So, I understood, then, that I had to kindly and patiently guide her and encourage her.

To become a person of virtue, of kindness, compassion, of faithfulness, 
honesty, joy, and of forgiveness.

Eternal traits, with enduring benefits.

She is 19, an adult now, and although, not perfect (because her mommy isn't), 
she is one beautiful treasure 
that I can say was worth investing in.

A living, breathing Masterpiece, that I can say with confidence, 
I have invested my home making soul into.

She knows the One in Whom she can trust.

She knows the One who treasures her 
and regards her as a treasure of inestimable worth.

The best kind of treasure.

SO!
Did you also know that:


YOU are the best mommy in the world?!
It's true!

We must understand that the time we invest in our child(ren) is eternal. 
Don't hold back. Throw yourselves into your work. 
Confident that nothing you do for Him is a waste of time or effort.
(1 Corinthians 15:58)

Christie Brinkley Lists Picture Perfect Pad in the Hamptons

SELLER: Christie Brinkley
LOCATION: Sag Harbor, NY
PRICE: $15,750,000
SIZE: 5,500 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Former supermodel Christie Brinkley is hoping to thin her fat real estate portfolio in the hoity toity Hamptons. Miz Brinkley, who makes the Hamptons her home year round, recently listed an historic property in the North Haven section of Sag Harbor, NY with an asking price of $15,750,000.

Property records reveal that Miz Brinkley picked up the 4.5 acre bay front spread in April of 2004 for $7,150,000. It doesn't take a math genius–which Your Mama certainly is not–to see that Miz Brinkley and her real estate peeps believe her property has more than doubled in value in the last six years. And maybe it has. It's quite possible that Miz Brinkley's philandering ex-huzband, architect Peter Cook, did a number on the property prior to them parting ways in 2006 amid salacious stories in all the tabs and gossip glossies about Mister Cook's lurid affair with a legal but teen-aged gurl. Or maybe she stuck it to his professional ego and hired another architect to do the place over. Whatever the case, and extensive renovation would certainly might account for at least some of the increase in value even though the market sank like stone in 2007 and 2008 and 2009.

Anyhoo, listing information for the property shows the three floor Greek Revival style captain's house was built way back in 1843 and has not just one, but two elegant and imposing columned porticos. The interior spaces, which we'd bet our long bodied bitches are well executed and decorated even if they're not to Your Mama's own taste, include period details, wide-plank old pine floors, and 4 wood burning fireplaces according to listing information.

The main living level of the approximately 5,500 square foot house has a large living room and adjacent sitting room, formal dining room, a no doubt lavishly equipped kitchen with soapstone and marble counter tops, and a "great room" with additional sitting and dining areas. There are also a mud room, pantry and full pooper plus a powder pooper on the main floor.

A staircase with an oak banister climbs up the the landing that opens onto a water side deck. Four of the home's 5 bedrooms are located on the second floor. Three of the guest rooms have private poopers and the master suite includes a separate sitting room, private pooper, and private deck with bay views. The third floor contains a fifth bedroom, separate study, and generous storage space. What the third floor does not appear to have is a pooper which means anyone staying up there has to make their way down a flight of stairs in the middle of the night to do their bizness.

The property stretches out to the bay where there is 327 feet of sandy beach over looking the bay, harbor and Shelter Island. The grounds have mature landscaping, specimen trees, gardens, and a water side gunite swimming pool sunk directly into the lawn with a simple blue stone coping. While pools completely surrounded by lawn can be murder for Pablo the Pool Boy–they sho' do look purdy.

In addition to owning the bay front property immediately next door that records show she purchased in August of 2007 for $9,900,000, Miz Brinkley also owns Tower Hill, a 20+ acre compound in the inland area of Sag Harbor that she's owned since the mid-1990s and has had on and off the market for years with asking prices as high as $30,000,000.

The middle aged and still quite striking Miz Brinkley also maintains an itty bitty and dumpy but charming ocean front cottage in nearby Water Mill that she had on the market back in May of 2007 with an asking price of $7,900,000.

listing photos: Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Is James Marsden Going Hollywood...Again?

SELLER: James Marsden
LOCATION: Nashville, TN
PRICE: $1,399,000
SIZE: 3,974 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 poopers

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: A person can not swing a damn cat in the country music capital of Nashville, TN without knocking a celebrity over. It's not just crooners and country pop people like Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson, and Tim McGraw who own homes in Nashville. There's girl-rocker Sheryl Crow (who listed her farm in the spring of 2010 with an asking price of $7,500,000), soon to be dee-vorced former vice president/global warming do-gooder Al Gore, all the Followill boys from the Kings of Leon, Jessica Simpson (who not very successfully tried to reinvent herself as a country queen in 2008), disco diva Donna Summer, Hollywood's favorite homosexual Lance Bass, alterna-musician Ben Folds, a-list actress Reese Witherspoon, rock musician Peter Frampton, and frozen faced Aussie actress Nicole Kidman who is, of course, married to country king Keith Urban.

For the last couple of years Nashville has also been home to hard working actor James Marsden and his former actress wifey Lisa Linde who, thanks to the Nashville House Whore, we've learned recently heaved their Nashville home on to the market with an asking price of $1,399,000.

Mister Marsden, a former model for Versace, got his start in the Hollywood Shuffle not long after meeting actor turned Christian activist Kirk Cameron while on vacation in Hawaii in 1991. In the mid-1990s Mister Marsden appeared on the one season wonder Second Noah and by the early naughts had hit a professional stride with parts in Zoolander and as Cyclops in the wildly successful X-Men, a role he has repeated in all three of the films in that money minting franchise. In more recent years bizzy Mister Marsden appeared in Hairspray, Enchanted, 27 Dresses, and he voiced a part in the recently released and dee-voonly named Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. He also has a regular and no doubt lucrative role in the latest incarnation of the Superman film franchise. Mister Marsden's wife Lisa Linde is–or was–an actress whose biggest role to date was on the soap story Days of Our Lives in the late 1990s. However, it seems she's spent the last 10 years more focused on making and raising babies than making movies.

By the fall of 2008 there were reports and confirmations that Mister and Missus Marsden had picked up and moved their expanding family from Los Angeles to Nashville, TN. It wasn't really a far-fetched or shocking choice given that Nashville happens to be the hometown of Missus Marsden whose father is country music songwriter Dennis Linde who penned songs sung by folks like Elvis Presley, the Dixie Chicks, Tanya Tucker, The Judds, and Garth Brooks.

Property records reveal that in February of 2008, the comely couple scooped up a secluded house in the Forest Hills area just south of downtown Nashville for which they paid $780,000. Despite and extensive eco-friendly renovation, the brick-faced split level ranch house, situated at the opposite end of the same street as the home of Al and Tipper Gore, looks on the outside like the sort of office building Your Mama imagines one might go to buy life insurance or have yer teeth worked on.

Although listing information shows the house measures 3,974 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 3.5 poopers, the Davidson county tax man shows the Marsden crib measures 4,860 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 5 poopers. We're not sure why those numerical discrepancies exist but it may or may not have something to do with the big ol' renovation they performed on the house.

The Marsden's 2.15 acre property sits at the tail end of a leafy cul-de-sac where a steep driveway ascends to a motor court, garage, and wood framed clear glass front doors. Your Mama loves us some all-glass front doors and would love to have one installed at our house. However, the front door of our Hollywood Hills hideaway sits just 4 feet from the street and the busy-body Russian spinster sisters across the way would no doubt be all up in Your Mama and the Dr. Cooter's bizness every damn day iffin we had a glass door.

Anyhoo, the interior of the Marsden's 1975 era home has been re-worked and opened up creating a loft-like environment where one room flows freely and easily into the next. The main living space, where people are likely to gather, is a large kitchen/family room combo at the back of the house that opens out onto a large covered patio. The ebonized cabinetry in the kitchen is topped with marble–that's marble, right?–and there are all the expected accouterments including a Mac-Daddy sized stainless steel range with industrial venting hood. Your Mama appreciates that the kitchen dee-ziner included a small breakfast bar at one end of the large work island because sometimes it's nice for guests to sit around and get sauced while the hostess prepares dinner. We also appreciate that the dee-ziner didn't pull the overhead cabinetry in too tight over the sink, which had he or she done might have felt a mite claustrophobic for anyone doing the dishes.

The large family room area includes a built-in entertainment center with space for a big tee-vee and under counter wine fridge. Two sets of extra-wide wood-framed sliding glass doors open to the backyard and at the far end of the room the fireplace has been done over in a clean and crisp contemporary manner with smooth gray concrete. While we do like the two wirey sphere chandeliers in the family room we feel they're not quite the right scale for a room this size with ceilings this high and would have recommended they be twice and large as they currently are.

The generously sized master bedroom has white, white, white walls, wide-plank hardwood floors, a gently pitched ceiling, closets large enough for 27 Dresses, and an extra-wide sliding glass door that opens onto a small deck that overlooks the back yard. While the deck really isn't large or private enough for Mister or Missus Marsden to have a chaise lounge where they could sun their buns in the nood, it would be the perfect spot for our mean ol' pussy Sugar to spend the afternoon lolling in the sun and cleaning her fur.

The exterior articulation at the back of the house is complicated, haphazard looking, and so unattractive that it makes Your Mama sweat with architectural flabbergast and dismay. Listen hunnies, no one loves a covered and shaded patio for enjoying the outdoors out of the glare of the blazing sun more than Your Mama. But this large and vaulted patio covering that juts uncomfortably off the back of the house and over a gigantic concrete patio is an eyesore. For a million and four in Nashville we want–nay, require–a patio created from a natural stone not some slab of concrete that looks like the carport of a damn mobile home.

It does not appear that Mister and Missus Marsden got around to or bothered to have any work done on the landscaping, which consists of little more than a large swathe of patchy grass. Rather than get all bitchy about that, we're going to turn that lemon into lemonade and say that the barely landscaped backyard that's depressingly devoid of a single plant or flower is primed and ready for the next homeowner to exercise their green thumb and install a swimming pool.

Given that the interior of the home is stripped of all personal effects, we're guessing the Marsden family has done moved on. Of course, Your Mama don't know a Parson's table from a patio set, but iffin we were the wagering type we'd bet our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly that Mister and Missus Marsden will be heading back to Los Angeles where property records show they own two houses.

In May of 1998, prior to their getting hitched, Mister Mardsen forked over $454,000 for a 1,595 square foot house in a prime if not glittery neighborhood in Studio City. In April of 2004 the couple traded up for a $1,300,000 single story home with 3 bedrooms and 3 poopers in the family friendly celebrity enclave of Toluca Lake, the same neck of the Tinseltown Woods where Miley Cyrus, Steve Carell, Jenny Garth and Peter Facinelli (who listed their home this summer for $5,995,000), and many more famous folks own homes.

Cloche Addiction a New Lamp/Shade and a ?

I think I like cloches.

They are clear and go with anything.

(I took some night shots and day shots--there's nothing wrong with your monitor).

They hold groupings of pretties that we like.

So, when I found this glass lamp (without a shade)

at a yard sale for $3, I wondered if it would play nicely with others.

I found this Target barrel shade at Ross for $2.99.

My new-to-me lamp reminded me of these lamps:

The Bacchus Lamp from Pottery Barn: $169.00 - $199.00.

Or, the Briana Lamp from Pottery Barn: $99.00.

Or, the Eva Lamp from Pottery Barn: $99.00.

Here's my ?:

Does the lamp play nicely with all the cloches, or is it too much?

This is not a nest, it is moss.

The nests are from the trees in our yard.

The birds had moved out, don't worry!

This is a hummingbird nest.

So, do you think the lamp looks okay here?
Does it need "something"?
Thanks for your kind support!

I am partying here:
A Stroll Thru Life: Tabletop Tuesday
Coastal Charm: Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays
Blue Cricket Design: Show and Tell
Homebody: Knock-Off Party