Décor Inspiration: Stylish 50's Living Room

Isn't this stylish 50's living room a dream? I could totally see my family in this room! But regrettably this living room belongs to David and Kristin. And this talented couple were by the way featured at Retro Renovation back in January.

The first thing that I love about this room was their color selection. They used the different creams and greens together and then bang, they added red as a pop out color. All together it's a perfect 50's color blend!

The second thing that I appreciate about this living room setting was that although all the furniture is from classic mid- century design not all the pieces are all matching. And we can all agree that it was tastefully done!

And for any of you that might be interested in purchasing a similar sofa, I found the Florence Knoll Sofa to have a similar style like the one featured in this living room. But the less expensive version would be the Gus Modern Jane Sofa.

The third thing that I love about this room is how they incorporated a bold focal point which is the the big painting that is over the big sofa and they balanced it off by adding a larger furniture piece, which is the buffet right across from the focal point. I just wanted to share that point that I learned from my Interior Decorating School.

The fourth thing that I love are the wall paneling! Mind you these are not your typical brown panels from the seventies. These wall paneling brings both style and texture to the room.

The last thing that I must say is that this couple should have their own decorating show!

Now that would be something cool to watch on T.V.




Copyright © 2008-2011. Time Warp Wives. A Retrotimes Productions Website. All Rights Reserved. Picture sources from Retro Renovation.

Baking Cookies: Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?

"Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar? Bobbie stole the cookie from the cookie jar."

"Who, me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Couldn't be!"

"Then who?"

Cookie, yum yum cookie! We all know how children and yes, some of us adults totally love cookies. Some have gone through a series of obstacle course. They have climbed up tall walls, jumped a steep hill,  crawled through a muddy ground in order to take a bite out of that scrumptious piece of cookie. Even Bill Cosby's had included in one of his funniest retro stand up show the incident of the cookie situation. Trust me this show will make your sweet tooth fall off it's socket!

So we might not always know who have stolen the cookie from the cookie jar. But whatever happened to Anna's cookie journal?

Yes, The 1st American Cookie Lady is based on a cookie diary of Anna Covington that she handwritten for one of her children. The mystery of this cookie book was that it was never used. There was not a sign of a smidgen print on it's pages. And that for some unknown reason it kind of slipped out from the care of the family. Eighty Eight years later this unused cookie book ended up at Ebay in 2004 where it was auctioned out to Barbara Swell who is a food historian, an author, and who happened to have a baking career herself!

Barbara presents Anna's recipes exactly as they appear in the original diary. Anna had recorded 208 different cookie recipes between 1917 and 1920. You will enjoy reading through and learning about the different cookie recipes that was popular of that time.

In addition to that Barbara also added in the book helpful tips and hints on baking, updates for many of the recipes, fun cookie poems,  and over 150 vintage photos and illustrations.

Want to add a piece of history to your cook book collection? You are welcome to have Anna's cookie book with your milk.







Copyright © 2008-2011. Time Warp Wives. A Retrotimes Productions Website. All Rights Reserved.

Rules Of Étiquette: Whatever happened to Thank You?

I don't know when or where it started it, but whatever happened to Thank You?

Doesn't it seem to you that people nowadays are less considerate of others? Adult and kids alike are rude and so disrespectful. We live in a society that have become more and more self-centered. Instead of thinking how to help others, people everywhere are only thinking about themselves.

Expressing our appreciation to another human is what makes us human. But unfortunately because of our crazy schedules we can be so caught up in the moment that we could fail to show consideration and gratitude to others. Of course that shouldn't be an excuse to become inconsiderate and unkind to our fellow man.

I remember when my husband was visiting me in Miami. He was my boyfriend then. We decided to go to Hard Rock Cafe that was located at Bayside, which is like an outdoor mall next to the bay. We took the bus from Miami Beach to Miami. When we got to our destination we walked towards the front of the bus. And as I was about to step down out of the bus I thank the bus driver.

My husband thought that it was quite nice of me to thank the bus driver. I on the other hand thought, "Why wouldn't I thank the bus driver?" After all he provided a wonderful service for me. And by me thanking him I am not only appreciated his hard work, but I am acknowledging him as a human being.

Recently I heard of John a man that had set off to write 365 Thank Yous notes in a year. He had been going through a rough patch in his life. But instead of focusing on what he didn't have, he wanted to find some ways to be grateful for what he had. So he decided to write thank you notes to everyone that showed him kindness.

His thank you notes went to loved ones, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, doctors, store clerks, handyman and even to the Starbucks girl that prepared his coffee.

Not only did John put a smile on people's faces. But by showing his appreciation to others it actually had a big positive impact on his own life. It comes to show that there is more happiness in giving then in receiving!

At this moment I want to Thank all of my lovely readers throughout these past several years for your loyal support! You have been wonderful to me.

Thank you so much!

Oh and by the way you can find that cute stationary telephone Thank You card at: Modcloth

Feeling inspired? Why not send a thank you card today? The rewards will certainly be priceless!





Copyright © 2008-2011. Time Warp Wives. A Retrotimes Productions Website. All Rights Reserved.

Home Experience: I Have a Mouse in My House!

Warning: This post is not for the faint of heart or for anyone who is terrified of mouse. Please use caution while proceeding.

For the past several months I had been a nervous wreck. And it all started when I found out that I had a mouse in my house. I couldn't think, breath, or sleep normally without thinking about this home invasion. I couldn't believe how this little innocent animal had me on the edge.

I felt totally disgusted every time I went to the kitchen to grab a glass or a silverware. "Did I wash it with enough soap and hot water? Well I am going to wash it again this third time just in case."

I even became obsessed and paranoid to the point that I thought that every noise or shadow was the workings of Mr. Mouse.

For many of you out there I may sound like if a wimp Don't get me wrong I love animals and being outdoors. I wasn't really that afraid of mouse before. As a matter of fact when I was younger I had many hamsters, which by the way are sweet and cuddly in comparison. But then it wasn't until later in life when I had encountered an experience that perhaps changed my feelings towards Ben forever.

The story goes like this...

It was a warm Summer day in South America. All of us children were watching cartoons. The windows and doors of the house were all opened while the warm air gently traveled through the living room.

Then out of no where there it was, this fierce looking cat comes walking through the front door. It was gray and a bit chubby and had a skinny long tail. The children all screamed, "It's a rat!"

The oldest boy runs to the kitchen and runs back with a broom. He charged towards the rat. The rat stands on his hind feet and utters a cat like hissing sound. And like a cowboy the rat then walks towards his opponent. The children scream.

The frightened boy continues swinging the broom towards the ugly intruder. Noise of broom slams towards the hard floors. The rat continues to fight back like a ninja. The boy uses all of his might and goes for the head.

After five long gruesome minutes the rat met his end.

The children are happy and proud of their big brother.

Well after this true and traumatizing experience I no longer liked these kind of animals. And years later after I read about the Bubonic Plague it really sealed the deal for me.

Going back to the mouse in my house. Hubby had put several small traps in our kitchen. First he put small pieces of cheese on top of the traps. But this little fellow seem to be faster and smarter than us. He managed to get the cheese without getting trapped.

Then we heard from a friend that peanut butter is the best choice of food, because it is sticks to the the mouse feet which would be harder for the mouse to run off.

Well after several weeks later the mouse was still living at large.

Then later as I examined certain evidences that I found one day on my kitchen floor. Yes, believe it or not I went down on my knees and observed what seem to be large droppings. That was when I realized that we were not dealing with Mickey Mouse, but instead we had an heavyweight one.

Hubby then confirmed my worst fears when he said that we weren't dealing with no ordinary small house mouse. That we had a case of a house Rat!

Yes, you can now imagine the flashbacks I had of the rat back home. The very thought of having a bigger rodent in my house was both very terrifying and disappointing. I  felt that I had failed as housewife for allowing such a thing to happen. What would our neighbors think if they knew we had a rat in our house?

Now that we knew what we were dealing we had to double size everything.

Hubby set up larger traps and scooped up a larger amount of peanut butter. During the following weeks the rat had triggered the trap a couple of times. It seemed like he was trying to figure out how to get to the peanut butter without getting trapped.

During the whole process our doggie was in the look out for the rat. He would bark to alert us when Ratatouille was around.

Then in one faithful night around 10 PM doggie came to the room and started barking. He wanted for me to follow him to the kitchen. Doggie went straight to the fridge and started to bark non stop. I knew that in that moment we had the rat surrounded and that it was the right time to get him out of my house.

I called Hubby and he got a flashlight and pointed it underneath the fridge to try to see if he could see the rat. I then got the broom while I squeamishly started to bang on the side of the fridge.

Then after a minute of me banging the fridge this huge gray fur ball comes flying out. It wanted to climb up the counter when doggie got a hold of it in mid air. Doggie ran out the kitchen towards the living room and ended up placing the mangled rodent on top of my Persian rug.

I had never seen my doggie so exhilarated and excited before. There it was in front of him his first prey. Then after I saw the dead rat on my rug I kind of felt sorry for him. He or she was kind of cute looking. 

By the end of the day doggie was happy. Daddy was sound asleep . And mommy, well she was left to clean the mess. But hey, she was relieved that the whole ordeal was finally over.



Copyright © 2008-2011. Time Warp Wives. A Retrotimes Productions Website. All Rights Reserved.