Iwanna Wednesday

Iwanna Wednesday is back!!!! Sorry I left you hanging last week with my technical difficulties. But without further ado...here's what Iwanna this week!

I've been thinking of painting my kitchen cabinets. I don't have any really good pictures, but here you can see a little bit of them while William finishes cooking. I think he was helping me make Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. William is my son's best friend and he is currently serving his country in the United States Army and I'm very proud of him.

Here's another shot of my kitchen cabinets, except this time my son is cooking! He's baking brownies as dessert for the Scalloped Potatoes and Ham dinner :0) And please overlook the stray tortilla just sitting there on the counter. Not sure how that got there. The boy was probably making himself a burrito or something :-)

So as you can see, my kitchen cabinets are ok, but I've been wondering if I should paint them white to kind of brighten up my kitchen. So I did what I usually do, is I went window shopping in the Mall of the Worldwide Web aka the Internet!

And I got so involved in lusting after the pictures that I'm about to show you that I forgot just to look for plain old white painted cabinets. Here are pictures of some of the most beautiful and unique kitchens I have ever seen, Iwanna any and all of these.

Hot Tamales!!! Wow, is this kitchen hot? I love it. Not sure that I would have the guts to choose a color like this. But I do love it and I know my mom would love it, her favorite color being red. Don't those yellow lemons look great in this kitchen?

Here's an open kitchen with no cabinets at all. This kitchen may be even gutsier than the red one because you would have to maintain the order on the shelves or it would be total chaos! But I do love how open it is, how bright and I love the bead board. What do you think? Would you like everything in your cabinets out in the open for everyone to see?

How about the island on this one? I would have to get more friends so that I would have enough people to sit around this massive island. But it wouldn't be too hard if I offered margaritas and chips and salsa. Any takers?

You know what I liked about this one? Not the warm yellow color, but the little nook that holds those adorable little teapots. Someone in this home must truly love their tea!

Are these not the most gorgeous glass front cabinets ever? I love them and the rest of the kitchen as well.
I don't think I would ever want to cook anything in this next kitchen for fear of dirtying it. Isn't it fabulous? I love the way the island is set and the detailing around the sink. I know there's a term for it, but I just can't think of it now. The only think that comes to mind is alcove, but I don't think that's it. Anyone?

I don't think I would want this next kitchen, but it was so unique that I just had to share it with you. This is made of Burl Wood. Isn't it beautiful? It almost looks like marble.

And here's one Iwanna really bad. It's one of my favorites. I love the brightness and the openness and the color of all the items on the glass shelving.

And this one takes my breath away. . .isn't it breathtaking? I guess that's why it takes your breath away right? Can't you just imagine cooking for the upcoming holidays in this kitchen?

Well that's it for this weeks Iwanna Wednesday. What things do you find yourself wanting for your home or yourself...Iwanna's don't have to settle, we can Iwanna anything and everything!

Happy Birthday little sister!

My sister, Happy Birthday

She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child. ~Barbara Alpert

From your sister..........Alicia

Rainy Day Farms Giveaway

Want to let everyone know that Rainy Day Farms is having a giveaway. We all love giveaways don't we? Head on over and get details on how to win these . . .

And if you don't win them there is a link where you can buy them!

Melissa's Three, Happy Birthday

My littlest niece Melissa turned 3 on September 30th and we celebrated her birth this weekend. It seems like just yesterday that my sister Lisa and I were on our way to San Francisco for a weekend getaway when we got the call that our sister-in-law Norma had just gone into birth!

We were about 15 minutes outside of San Francisco and we debated if we should turn around and go back home. We decided that we would continue on and have the weekend of our lives so we could tell Melissa what a great time we had on the day of her birth and how we would always remember it!

That was three years ago, how time fly's!

So today, I'm joining up with Mary at Little Red House for her Mosaic Monday, and with Sally at Smiling Sally for her Blue Monday. I've used photos from Melissa's birthday party on Saturday to make my mosaic. This is my first one ever and I had already done it when I noticed that Mary had a tutorial on her blog on how to do them. So next one will be perfect, this one is a beginners mosiac :-) But anything is beautiful if Melissa is in it.

In the first picture Melissa is hitting her Pinata. This is a Mexican tradition. The Pinata is a cardboard covered papier mache candy and toy holder. The children take turns whacking the pinata with a big stick until it breaks and candy scatters all over the ground and they swoop in and grab it all up. We usually start with the birthday girl and then the smallest to the biggest child gets their turn.

The second picture is of Melissa giving a big hug to her cousin Isabel. Isabel was in awe of Melissa's Snow White costume. Melissa's mom is lucky that Melissa's birthday dress serves double duty as a Halloween costume as well!

Melissa had two pinata's this birthday. Apparently her mom bought her a Snow White Pinata and Melissa didn't want to break that one, so the third picture is of her sitting next to the pinata she did not want to break.

The final picture is of Melissa with her mother, Norma. Norma was reading to her the birthday card that her Nana (my mom) gave her. We had a great time. Norma always has way too much delicious food.

So that's it. Be sure to pop over to visit Mary at Little Red House for her Mosaic Monday, and with Sally at Smiling Sally for her Blue Monday.

Hilmar Cheese Co. at Hilmar, California

As I mentioned yesterday, last weekend my mother and I rode the Amtrak, to visit my daughter in Turlock. We really enjoyed the train as it was the first time for both of us. We also did quite a few things while we were visiting, one of the best was visiting the Hilmar Cheese Co.

Hilmar Cheese Co., is located in Hilmar, CA a few miles from Turlock. In 1984, 12 dairy families got together to create the Hilmar Cheese Co. You can go here to get more information on the history, I'm not the greatest of historians, I prefer just being a humble visitor and photographer, so let's look at some pictures.

The picture below is of the entrance to the visitor's center. As soon as you walk in you are standing in the gift shop; and it has so many beautiful things, cheeses, jams, jellies, cooking supplies, various dressings and marinades and candy. I saw so many things I wanted I could fill up a year of Iwanna wishes at this place! There is also a Deli where they serve pastries, signature sandwiches, gourmet-style pizza, home-made soups and salads and ice cream. They have a full espresso bar and proudly serve Starbucks Coffees, Yum!

Let's go inside shall we?

I wish I had taken pictures of the gift area, but I was just overwhelmed by all there was to see and completely forgot about taking pictures, sorry :-(

Below is the cafe/deli. There was cheese everywhere and the best part was that you could sample every little type of cheese they made and it was so good. In the glass case there in the front under the chalkboard that says "Tri-tip Tacos" (yep people, this is California and we have Tri-Tip Tacos!), is a glass case filled with different types of salads. Macaroni al fredo salad, pasta salad, potato salad, all kinds. If you could see to the left of the picture and around the corner you would find another glass case filled with pastries which is where I scored my delicious Scone.

I have to admit that I let my daughter buy me a lovely Orange-White Chocolate Scone that I carried in my own two little hands all the way back home on the train to enjoy with my morning coffee at work the next day. It was sheer heaven. I love Scones and need to find that recipe. This one was as big as my hand and about two inches thick.

Here you can see their espresso and coffee bar. We had just had breakfast at the Hot Rod Cafe in Turlock (wish I had thought to get pictures. Next time, as it's a very unique little place as well) so we weren't too hungry. But April, my daughter had slept in and missed breakfast so she had a grilled cheese sandwich that was made with fresh Hilmar Cheese Co., cheese and it was so ooey-gooey wonderful that it was like a little bit of heaven in your mouth!


While I was there I had to visit the ladies room. And check out the tile work, isn't it so cute and so fitting?

A close-up, please feel free to click to enlarge and see more detail.


I just love the little cow tracks!

Once we were done with our shopping I had to go outside and take pictures of the outside of this gorgeous place.

This is the the west side of the Visitors Center. You can take a self-guided tour through this place and go through the whole process of cheese-making, but unfortunately on weekends after 11am the second floor is closed for private parties and there happened to be one when we visited, so we didn't get to take the tour, but you can do a virtual tour here. I took the virtual tour because I'm always interested in how things are made and it was interesting to watch and to see how there is no waste; even the water left after processing the cheese is taken to a water facility to be processed and used to water the crops which are grown to feed the cows!

I was a little confused by the fact that they say in the tour video that a cow must be a mother to produce milk. Ok, that makes sense, but then it goes on to say that the cows are milked three to four times a day? So what do the baby cows drink if all their mothers milk is milked out to make cheese? Anyone?

This is the same spot as the previous photo and I had to have a picture taken in such a beautiful spot. We were sitting in what was a little grotto, it was so pretty here and great photo-ops!

Here's another beautiful photo-op, so of course you know what I had to do right?

Why take photos of course. Here is my daughter April and her grandmother and my mom Tomasa.

And here I am standing by the waterfall.


There were a lot of lovely plants, but I especially loved this one. Anyone know what this is?

Here's a closer look.

And here's a parting shot taken from the car window as we leave the parking lot of the Hilmar Cheese Co. Visitors Center parking lot.

Hope you enjoyed the visit and feel free to go and take the virtual tour. It's a little sappy, but still educational. And if you're ever in the area, be sure and stop by and have a grilled cheese sandwich, mmmmmmm!

Fabulous Quilt Giveaway

Sweet Jeanette of the blog Sweet Jeanette is having a quilt giveaway. She's posted pictures and it is gorgeous! I hope I win it, but if I don't win it I would love to see it go to you. So please click below and go enter. And while you're there, snoop around her lovely blog. I guarantee you will love it!

All Aboard! Our first time ever on the Amtrak!

Last weekend my mom and I went on a road trip...and I didn't have to drive! I was so excited because I always drive. We took off to visit my daughter April who lives about three hours North of Shafter. She generously bought her grandmother and me tickets to ride the train! It has always been a wish of my mom to ride on the Amtrak and she didn't think she ever would. It's like one of those "bucket list" wishes. Something you want to do before you kick the bucket.

We left Saturday morning at around 8:30 from the Wasco Amtrak station.

Here I am happy and relaxed to be going somewhere I didn't have to drive to.



And here's my mom. You can so tell how excited she is!


It was so much fun. There wasn't a lot to see as the train doesn't take the same route Highway 99 takes, it's kind of on the outskirts so you just see farmland, but it was still nice. I was surprised by how many people ride the Amtrak. We went from Wasco, CA to Modesto, CA. The train stopped in Corcoran, Hanford, Fresno, Denair/Turlock, Merced then Modesto. I think I got the order right.

Fresno station was by far the most interesting. Before we got there we passed by a few little encampments of what I believe were homeless people. They were living under several different bridges and they had tent cities set up. Outside of almost each tent was a couch or some arm chairs and people all sitting around drinking morning coffee. It was surprising for me to see that. We usually see homeless people walking around in Bakersfield with their shopping carts and their other worldly possessions, but I guess I just never stopped to wonder where they go when the sun goes down. I wonder if there are tent cities in Bakersfield that I'm not even aware of. It makes you think, doesn't it? I tried to get a glimpse of them on the way back but I had forgotten exactly where they were.

We arrived safe and sound at the Modesto station where my daughter was waiting to pick us up. Ok...maybe not waiting because she was late :-) but eventually she got there and she took us to breakfast.

One thing to remember when you ride the train...take some snacks. My mom and I didn't on the way up and we got hungry. They do have a food car, but I'm sure you can imagine it was expensive. My mom did purchase some chips and soda's, but on the way back we were well stocked! We had a great time and I'll be sharing some of the things we did in later posts, but I just wanted to share this story of my mom's first time on the Amtrak...I'm glad I was there to share it with her.

Giveaway at Between Naps on the Porch

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch is having a give-away for Tassels from The Tassel House. Please click here or on the button below to head over and enter. You'll also get to see lots of lovely Tassels! Good Luck!

It's Fall Y'all and I'm late to the Party!

Wonderful Rhoda from Southern Hospitality is hosting a "It's Fall, Y'all" Fall Decorating party and I am sooooooooooo late to the party. I had technical difficulties (my Internet went out) and I had my party dress all ready to go and I just had to sit here...frustrated *sigh*.

But now my link to the world is back up and running and so here's the little bit of decorating that I've managed to do. It's been 100 degrees and above around here so I've not been in a "fall-y" mood.

First off. . . Castanet Casi! She's my Spanish Senorita plate dancing skeleton doing a lovely flamenco. Ole!


Here she is with Mr. Pumpkin Head. I think he likes to watch her strut her stuff, considering that big ole smile he has.

And here's her sister, Tango Tome. You can tell she's a tango dancer because of the rose she's holding in her hand. Once she starts dancing she will hold that rose between her teeth! And those are some choppers huh? Ole!

My leap-frogging Scarecrows. I bought these cute little guys last year after the Halloween season and I'm so glad I remembered they were all wrapped up and hidden in my linen closet.

Here they are again making friends with Sammy Scare Crow on the mirror.

My leaf plate, a thrift store find sitting nicely in another thrift store find...a plate holder.


Same leaf plate, with a much lighter background as I turned the light on.


Leaf plate with the candles lit and the leap frogging scarecrows in the background and some pumpkins scattered here and there.

What's fall without corn stalks?

I'm going to take down the plates on either side of the mirror and put the orange and black plates up, but I need to get a couple more plate hangers.

Another view, I like the way the color of my wall looks a pretty pale yellow. In actuality my walls are white.

Night time shot with the candles all lit up.


And that's it. Just the beginning I hope. I'd like to do a table scape. But ya'll head over to Rhoda's, Ya Hear! Lot's of folks over there have done some really beautiful decorating, you'll be amazed!

Thanks for coming by and please take a button...they're free. Feel free to become a follower as well and Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Iwanna Wednesday - Technical Difficulties

Due to Technical Difficulties (internet connection problems), the Iwanna Wednesday program regularly scheduled for Wednesday (duh), has been rescheduled for next Wednesday. Please bear with us until this problem is resolved. Thank you!