Author Archives: arletelouise

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Holiday Home Tour

1 Errol and Mary DeRose:

The white tree is filled with small owls like this:

2 Martha Lopez had 3 trees:



3 Patty & Ed Bronder:

4 Felicia Byrd:


5 Lowell Brown and Chris Bark:

Chris Bark


The decorations are over the top. It takes Chris all of November to decorate their house. His collections move around each year so it feels like you’re always seeing something new.

This village covers the tub in the master bath.

6 Jackie Lyonnais:

7 Chere & Rick Decker:

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SABA Christmas party

SABA = Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates. Last year I was in charge of three after-school bike clubs at schools in West Sacramento and I’ve volunteered for their bike valet service a time or two – all sponsored by SABA. Bike Dog Brewing Co was the perfect place for a get-together.

A collection of Mixtes hang from the ceiling.

At left, Deb Banks, acting Executive Director of SABA and the owner of all the Mixtes. At right, board member Sue Teranishi.

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Craft Fair

at St John the Evangelist Catholic School. This is the best craft fair in the region. This year, Adrienne and I went on Friday night, the only time when there’s a small entrance fee. To avoid parking a mile away on this somewhat rainy evening, we arrived early and tailgated. I made warm chicken cordon bleu sandwiches and brought some peanut butter whiskey (with a splash of half & half) to share ahead of time.

It seemed like everyone who went in ahead of us went to the Maus Haus. It was 3-deep, impossible to get close.

Every usable space at this school became vendor spaces: classrooms, hallways, cafeteria, gymnasium, lawn areas. And we visited every one of them. By the time we were ready to leave, we checked out the Maus Haus again. Every mouse is different and they are so well-made.

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This week

I didn’t blog all week because I didn’t do ANYthing. Except for slowly digging out all my Christmas decorations and figuring out where to put everything. Justin came by to put up my outside lights. Thank you!


The tree went up.

For the last few years, I save the Christmas cards I receive for exactly one year, then make this hanging ornament. It takes 20 cut-out circles.


Old friends coming out from storage for a month-long visit – Thais made this for me when she was in high school:

I’ll stop now. I could bore you with many more decorated spaces.