The watch....

Somewhere along the line we started collecting the Disney Artisan watches. Disney produces watches (sometimes with art, sometimes without) in a limited way. It is a fun thing to collect because it isn't big and a subtle way to enjoy Disney. You can visit Disneyland and stop at the Fortuosity Shop on Main Street and watch them working on art that will become a watch face. You can order a one of the kind watch or get one of the current specials they are featuring. (holidays or other commemorative events) They even have one day issues! I especially love the band of these watches.

Cute "hidden Mickey"! Occasionally you find an unexpected gem on eBay, like the one above! What is so special you might ask? Well....I use to work a PBX switch board exactly like that when Gene and I started dating! When I saw this watch on eBay, I was amazed. Why would such a watch be available? Why would they produce them? and...I need to have it! Gene, being the wonderful husband he is bought it for me for Valentine's day. I wondered if it was an "art watch". The face looks like some of the ones they produce. (some have dials with the Roman numerals and some do not) It certainly looks unusual. But, I could tell it wasn't a recent one because the band didn't have the hidden Mickey.

After I won the auction, I contacted the seller and asked for a little more information about the watch. This was his response:

"Long ago I worked at Disneyland, and many Cast Members
would produce an edition of department-themed items
(watches, pins, cups, etc.) for fundraisers so they could have
holiday parties and other internal celebrations. I bought a
couple of these watches In 1997 from the Disneyland PDX dept.
One, I were occasionally; the other was stored away (but is now
yours). FYI, at some point, a few years back, the Disney
company put a stop to this type of merchandise fund raising,
because it usually involved the use of Characters (like Minnie) -
- as well as profits being made by someone other than Disney.
So, they put a stop to it. Their Team centers then began
selling department and job-themed items to incur the profit
and control the development of such items......."

Wow! We stumbled on a piece of Disney memorabilia! I was (and am) so excited about this find. But why would I want it? (other than pure "coolness" of it) Well, as I mentioned earlier, when Gene and I started dating I worked 2 jobs. One of them was at a Title Company as a receptionist. Why they had an old PBX board (I'm not that old, y'all!) I do not know. We were so in love that he would call and talk to me for hours at work. I could talk because I had that head gear on and no one even noticed. When people would call in I would let him listen in to my conversations. (he had to remain quiet!) Even now I can still remember exactly how to operate that board! So you see, it was a perfect Valentine's gift made just for us!

There was a wedding! There was a special gift!

My day began (well sort of) with a quest to find a "hidden Mickey" in Fresno. On the 99 after the Olive exit and before the Shaw exit. If I could find said Mickey, I could have a prize!

Well, you know me and boxes! (hello...my name is Pandora)

There was a wedding today of a dear friends son. We drove the 99 to Madera to attend the ceremony. Of coarse, you see above that I did find the "hidden Mickey"! Right where Sarah said it would be! So I earned my prize! But first....

A kiss....but on to my prize!

Sarah (pictured so beautifully above with my lovely daughter-in-love Kelly), is such a lovely young lady. Her infectious smile causes me to smile every time I see it. We share fun things together. We text, send pictures (mostly of our dogs), talk about what to wear to weddings and play a fun game called "words with friends"! (anyone wanting to play me my name is pampensiero, start a game!) But, I digress....my prize...But first this....

Then there is Luke. Luke, or who I affectionately call "Lucky Luke" after the cartoon he and my son use to watch as little boys. When I think of Luke, I think of 20+ years of service to our Lord. Luke has been part of my life since the beginning. He might not remember being young but I do. Luke is the son on a wonderfully faithful and supportive family at our church. Luke grew up with my son and although he was a year older, they shared many things. They cut their first CD together! I still listen to it and cry every time! They both love the Lord and music. I am so thankful that both boys grew into men who love God and husbands that love and cherish their wives, a rare thing in today's world. Luke married Sarah! But, I'm still digressing....

My prize! There it is...given to me by-

Luke and Sarah! I just had to add this picture because I love it! They say they were soaking wet from splash mountain, but this picture captures them perfectly and I love looking at it!

You see, some time ago, a collection was started for me! My BFF asked "what can I get Pam for he birthday"? My husband answered "get her a silhouette from Disneyland"! Thus a collection was born. I currently have 29 and over 1/2 are from friends. My goal is to go around my kitchen.

Inside the lovely package was my latest addition-

I am so touched that Luke and Sarah would take time out of their personal trip to Disneyland to do a silhouette for me! I just love it! Thank you so much!

And there they are! Up on my wall!

As you can see, my collection is well on it's way. I feel such love and joy when I walk into my kitchen and see all the wonderful people who grace my walls. I know who each one is, I know the story behind each one. Maybe it seems strange to some, but to me it brings back memories of friends, family and many wonderful things! For Christmas I received 3. My almost children sent 2 (Adam and Amy I love you guys!), a couple from my church (David and Carla) surprised me with one. I know I need to blog about all of these (not to mention Grace, Levi, Zach and Katie, Jessie, The Lathans, Skip and Peggy, Pat and Kathy -I know I am probably forgetting someone-it's not intentional). I promise to do a post about each one with the story behind it. I will try and be faithful about that. I want all who read this know that I truly love each one! This was my day today and wanted to share it.

So, thanks again Lucky Luke and Beautiful Sarah. My life is full with wonderful memories of you both! Stop by their blogs and see what is going on in their lives. Their blogs are linked to their names in this post and they are listed on the side of my blog.

As I type, I wonder two things...where did the time go and where are the tissues?

Mickey in my coffee!

Gene is perfecting the art of coffee making. The other morning I woke up to a fun piece of "art" on my coffee! What a fun surprise! Thanks Honey, you're the best!

Pick of the Week, 2 for 1

Admittedly, I am not a big fan of Martha Stewart. It has something to do with how she presents herself. Maybe because years ago she was telling us how to care for our roses and I started listening, because after all I have roses! Then she got to the part where we had to go out to our chicken coop and get some droppings. That just angered me. I don't know why. I mean.....does most of the world have a chicken coop or even know anyone who does? From that moment on, I really haven't liked her.

Even so, I have to admit, she has lots of good ideas. The other day while having my coffee and looking at the Mickey on my ceiling I ended up channel surfing. I stopped on her show because she was talking about orchids. My sweet Kelly has an orchid that she is trying to get to bloom, so I decided to see what they were going to say. (maybe it needed chicken droppings) :D In the show she started demonstrating a cookie from her new book. I perked right up! Cookie book, with pictures and everything in category, now THAT is something I could enjoy. I promptly found it on amazon.com and bought one for each of the gals in our family. Needless to say they loved them and my Kelly even cooked page 198 (Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies)! They were delicious and if I hadn't eaten them so quickly I'd have a picture! So, buy it now for all your chef friends and even yourself, maybe we can attain guru status! (especially if you add a chicken coop)

And while I'm recommending cookbooks...here is one you can use with your children. It is a really cute book with pictures and illustrative directions!

Thanks for the great birthday week!

As promised here's a report on my fun birthday WEEK! Gene and Kelly decided I needed to have an entire week of gifts, so they gave me a little gift each day on my desk! It was a truly fun thing! On my actual birthday my daughter Mary made us all lunch and we all got to enjoy her lovely home. Gifts centered around my need for supplements to my new dishes.
Here are my stove top salt and pepper shakers. Those are from Mary and her family. Help me now with a dispute we all have.....does the salt, or the pepper go into the less hole container? I have always done the salt in the fewer hole container, so you are careful not to put too much salt. It seems our family is pretty split on it.


Here is the butter dish from Gene and Kelly. They also gave me a delicious ice cream cake! I just love these dishes they make me smile! My wonderful husband gave me a not-so-common "O" necklace. I really like it since it isn't like every other one-

There were lots of other surprises too. I received some beautiful note cards, a really cute bracelet that looks like hidden mickeys, a purse you see me with above, a really fun singing M.I.C.....K.E.Y....card, ornament (I am always ready for ornaments, see December 2006 posts) and really touching blog spotlight from my friend Marti (not to mention the great movie from Amy). Thanks all!


All in all, it was a great time! Until I met "mak'in bacon" (that's what I call it/him/her)

John and Mary's Christmas dinner......That kind of freaked me out!

"It May Be Ridiculous"

Bill O'Reilly has made the statement "it may be ridiculous" his own, but I'd like to claim it today! We have been doing our Spring yard work, which at 93 degrees yesterday seems more like Summer than Spring. Anyway, we have been trying to make the yard easier to care for so we can take time to ....... do anything but yard work! (and hopefully help the neighbors with their wondering..."are they going to do something with their yard?" I just don't have a green thumb and with Multiple Sclerosis, I am not very good in the heat. Not to mention my poor husband doesn't really have the time to be dedicated with complex yard care. We don't have a very big home but a we do have a pretty big yard. Most of it is in the back, thankfully. The fence you see in the picture had a fence post that was rotted. So he replaced the post and decided to become creative. He arched the gate and placed a Hidden Mickey, all for my enjoyment. It seems Mother's Day came early! If you are observant, you will notice the Mickey trellis. There are some lovely roses climbing up it. If I am lucky, they will grow and not die! Then along the walkway we planted a plant called "Peter Pan". It may be ridiculous!

Now...if they only have Mickey bark!