A bit of fluff, quite messy really...

2011-01-14T18:06:00.001-05:00

My first post

New Haircut

2010-07-31T01:00:00.001-04:00

I've been wanting a short 'do for a long time

awhile back I finally took the plunge & cut off all my hair!

I've learned how to style it too so my new haircut has made my daily life easier.

Let's face it, I'm up at 4:20 AM and must leave by 5:20 AM

so easier is mandatory *smiles*

No more french braiding!

No more ponytails!

No more worries about putting my hair up for work!

Best of all - No more NON style!

I have a style now *smiles*

So what do you think? Do you like it?

Birthday Cake!

2010-07-25T07:39:00.003-04:00

Do you bake your own birthday cakes?

I do!

Or sometimes the Hubs will buy a ice cream cake cause they love those

but I love white cake with white buttercream - always have!

So this year Hubs said "I want to help!"

So we baked my birthday cake together *smiles*

I've been wanting to try a ruffled cake!

It was easy peasy!

Use your rose tip & go back & forth all the way up in a narrow swatch then do that over and over and over again till you're all the way around your cake. Pipe a border on top to cover the edge and you've got a pretty, sweet, feminine, girly cake!

$10 Pedestal

2010-07-17T01:00:00.000-04:00

You know how Hobby Lobby sells those faux wood pedestals for about $100? I've always wanted one but there was no way I'd ever spend that much on one, not even with a coupon or sale price so I waited patiently... Remember I worked for Hobby Lobby while waiting for my dream job to be built. My patience was rewarded after 2 1/2 years!

All the furniture items that Hobby Lobby sells comes in boxes which the employees put together. Now some people just naturally have skills at putting together things whereas others do not and whomever had attempted to put together this particular pedestal ending up stripping out the screw parts in the particle board type stuff it was made out of so no amount twisting it was going to hold it together. At this point most store managers would say toss it down the dumpster but fortune smiled on me as I had a repuation for wanting anything broken beyond repair and it was offered to me for $10!!! Naturally I knew my ober skilled hubs could fix it *smiles*

Both ends of this pedestal needed repair and hubs used lots of wood glue and clamps to hold it together while it dried and set up. I waiting patiently...

Here it is looking all pretty and sturdy!

Not bad for $10 huh?

Gosh I miss Hobby Lobby!

Now if only I could get a new Ikea couch for $10...

a quick Charleston lunch

2010-07-10T01:00:00.000-04:00

Much earlier this year I had the chance to go to another food show in Charleston SC. Now I've mentioned several times before how much my husband and I love Charleston, it's simply our favorite place ever so a quick mid-week expenses paid trip to our favorite place is a no-brainer, absolutely ! We are there! So this is us on our way.
After lots of food show stuff on the first day and a huge customer appreciation party that evening we decided to spend our second day going downtown and having a quick bite of lunch before making the return trip home. The day was sunny and clear with a cool breeze, perfect weather! I wish we could have explored more but since we both had to work the next day we enjoyed this little slice of Charleston till our next visit.

If you've been to Charleston then you can imagine how rare it would be to have a picture of this particular location without another person or vehicle in sight! Charleston mid-week is a slightly different city from Charleston weekends.
One of our favorite local casual places to eat is the Noisy Oyster. Their food is always yummy, excellent service and reasonably priced menu.

Forgive my awful photo! But this is one of my absolute Charleston favorites, She-crab soup! See the melting butter pool? Yum!

And another Charleston lunch favorite of mine is the Shrimp Po'boy sandwich with cheesey grits and red rice!

I have to visit Charleston several times a year or else I feel displaced and disquieted. Charleston calls to me, I can't explain it but I just know I have to be there. I feel a harmony within when I visit and wish I could live there all year round never leaving.

A Summer Evening Party!

2010-07-04T07:33:00.003-04:00

Recently I prepared a little selection of nibbles for an investors meeting.

I had a great time coming up with my menu!

Mini Blue Crab Cakes with Remoulade Sauce

Black Bean Hummus with Whole Wheat Pita Chips

Antipasto Skewers with Pickled Okra

Firefly Sweet Tea Peach Soup Shooters

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Lightly Sweetened Iced Tea

Coffee

The strawberries were the favorite of the evening, everyone commented on how huge they were!

The anipasto skewers were drizzled with a Balsamic Vinegrette and had mushroom caps, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella, dried apricot, kalamata olive and sundried tomato with basil - YUM

I used the Magnolia Bakery in NYC recipe for the Red Velvet Cupcakes - they were oh so easy to pop into your mouth!

I also put out a bottle of Toscani Caramel Syrup for those who enjoy flavored coffee

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the Chilled Peach Soup Shooters, I just put the shooter glasses into a large rectangle dish with crushed iced water and drizzled each shooter with a honey yogurt swirl, they truly were unique, pretty and oh so trendy!

a photo-less post and a lot of anxiety

2010-06-06T08:19:00.003-04:00

After sharing in my so very long ago last post about the loss of a special friendship I've had some anxiety about continuing blogging. I don't know why... I think in my case the reasons for anxiety doesn't make sense after all I've been shown nothing but kindness and loving support from blogging friends and their comments but yet it's there physically manifesting as weird expectant feelings of impending doom in the pit of my stomach along with a racing heart as I comtemplate posting an update... *smiles*

So what have I been doing?

A whole lot of work for one thing, my job has taken off and grown steadily but just last week it's exploded as a local competitor sold out and all their little friends were frantically searching for a new place *smiles* We bought a car just after the first of the year so I'm no longer sharing my 3 hour round trip commute with my dear hubs in his vintage '86 Ford Ranger pickup but I now have bi-weekly car payments which drastically cut into my discretionary spending money. Our son is about to graduate college and is looking for employment while I daydream about having an empty nest *smiles* My dear husband and I are in the early months of a major life style change as we reject the word diet because diets have never gotten us anywhere and we are losing weight and feeling great eating cleaner, healthier and more wholesome foods. I've suffered from some unbearable foot pain and will start seeing a massage therapist soon for treatment. Hmmm, what else? Went to Charleston SC to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary in March only to come down with a wicked case of Noro-virus which pretty much ruined our visit. I managed to walk around the city I adore for a bit on our last day, otherwise I was too weak to get out of the car for the other days. That's about it friends, nothing major, just regular day to day living going on with a grateful heart for the blessings we enjoy in our lives.

I've been keeping with you guys on google reader though even if I don't comment. I've turned into a major lurker *smiles* I've been watching... lol I'm so proud of you guys for all your creative endeavors! Miz Darlene I'd love to know if your chicken spaghetti is a hit because I have an even simpler version of this dish that I serve at school which everyone loves and I'd be happy to share it with you. And Miz Susie I'd love to know how your daughter's allergies are coming along... what on earth do you feed that child since she is so limited? I have little friends with allergies too and I'm very curious how you and your sweet girl handle it.

OK anxiety is slipping away and I'm starting to feel better...

maybe I'll even get around to posting a little more often with some photos... I'm working on a Jane Austen inspired altered canvas tote bag that has cost me ZERO dollars in the making *smiles*

And Thank you friends for your sweet comments while I've fallen off the face of blogland!

Weighing on my heart

2010-01-01T08:45:00.001-05:00

During a trip late last summer to my favorite town resulted in a loss of a friendship of many years standing. I've been on a journey of intense self discovery since, rethinking my own personal definition of friendship and what value it holds in my life. Asking myself if I am the toxic friend, the friendenemy. My attempts to repair this friendship have fallen upon deaf ears. Chances are it's truly over. I never once thought this was all her fault, this misunderstanding. But it's not all my fault either although I willing took the responsibility of apology upon my own shoulders. I'm not convinced I handled it in the proper format but I tried. I tried as much as I'm capable of trying. Let me explain this. It's hard to put yourself out there when you fear failure or rejection. No one enjoys having their feelings hurt or stomped on. While my apologies and attempts were genuine and sincere I did not give in to her demands of a post mortem rehashing of said events. I felt it would not serve either of us well. So instead I apologized, I apologized with contrition, I apologized with love and remembrance of years of friendship and finally I apologized the last time with an economy of words and simplicity, the final plea of can't we just be friends again? Only this weekend I asked her will we ever speak again? and yet she is unmoved.

I somehow thought once we got through the apology stage then we could move on to the why did this happen stage and we both could then acknowledge our own parts in it , we'd somehow be friends again. I thought by offering my apologizes and an willingness to accept the majority of the blame that it would create an safe haven of forgiveness where our friendship could survive while we worked thru our differences. I was wrong. This is not what happened. My apologies have been rejected. It seems I'm not worth having for a friend after all these years.

This hurts. Have you ever been the last one chosen for a team? Have you ever been rejected and found lacking? Have you ever looked around and thought is it me?

I can tell you it's much easier to lose new friends, easier on your heart than to lose an old friend. While new friendships can be destroyed easier than old ones, when the old ones are lost they cut deeper and leave a bigger hole in your heart. The new ones don't have such a hold on your heart like the old ones do. It's much easier to let the new friends go, to move on, to say it's not me, it's them... but the old ones? Oh let me tell you, it's hard to hide from the truth.

So after yet another rejection of my attempts to open a dialogue between us I've about come to the conclusion that my wise friend Miss Barbara was right in her advice, all that I can really do at this juncture is to pray for her.

I wrote this post a year ago in December of 2008. Since that time the friendship has not resumed, we have not patched things up, spoken, anything. I did happen upon a semi-hidden blog post she wrote within days of the falling out, me and all my faults were the topic and she goes so far as to say that she had been building me up falsely, feeding my ego and how she created this monster that I had become.

Wow that's pretty toxic... You can imagine how you would feel to have someone you considered a dear friend write such things about you... on a blog no less! to know that they were systematically set upon a course of feeding you a line of bull -- for what purpose I have to wonder? I was sick to my stomach when I read that blog post of hers. Then I realized that I didn't recognize this person she was speaking of... these horrible things were not me, although she wrote it about me MY SPIRIT REJECTS IT!!!

Well I'm back to the sage advice of my friend Miss Barbara, wise woman that she is... pray, pray, pray... so I have been praying for her, she deserves nothing less than happiness in her life and if that means sans friendship with me then so be it. At some point in the future should our paths somehow cross I love the memory of the friendship I thought we were sharing enough to speak warmly and embrace her. I wish her well and pray for her often. It's my misfortune that I apparently cared more for her than she for me.... and that's okay. It has to be, after all what choice do I have in the matter? And why would I want to seek a relationship with someone who clearly found she much preferred to play games with me by lying to me?

I'm moving on... and while I'll still have odd little pains in my heart for this former friend when I think of her I'm forgiving us both. Myself for being weak albeit human and having an off day that resulted in this loss and her for apparently being months ahead of me in killing this friendship.

I have been the recipient of many blessings this year, a loving family that loves me just as I am, a new boss/old friend making a dream come true with a position that no one else but me was ever considered for which makes me feel that there's something redeeming and worthwhile in me after all, the new friends I've made at my new job, my old friends from my old job, my blogging friends and online friends who accept what little scraps of time I'm able to give and my childhood friends who have found their way back into my life after all these years of separation, can you imagine my joy? what a blessing they are! the friendship my husband and me share with a particular couple who we are slowly socializing with more often... yes there's been lots of blessings in the friendship area of my life.

May the new year fill your heart and life with love, real, genuine, true, abiding love.

Kitchen Desk Makeover

2009-10-11T10:14:00.000-04:00

I thought y'all might like to see how I personalized my desk at work. I'm in a kitchen so there's certain drawbacks like the pebble-y white walls & all that stainless steel which gives off a definite vibe of cold & hard but trust me it gets plenty hot in there.

I also have my super easy to clean VERY RED floor to coordinate with, what a challenge!

Here's my blah before, I started to work on covering my binders.

Would you look at those blue plastic boxes *sigh* I want to paint them so bad and my boss totally doesn't care but I can't decide on a color. I was thinking black but I'm very open to suggestions, maybe a nice almond or heirloom white would be a better choice...

What do you think? What color would you paint them? Or leave them alone?

I got a scrapbook paper kit from my dear friend's store, Scrapnesia, and added a few more sheets to go with it so everything would coordinate without me having to pick and choose a bunch of papers on my own.

The papers have reds, browns, blues and a few have a tiny bit of yellow and green but I haven't used those papers yet.

Spray adhesive is my new friend! It made covering those ugly green hanging file holders a breeze! They look so much better now and I can still do a bit more personalization to them if I choose, maybe some trim or a tag on the fronts...

3 drawer plastic chest from my attic with paper lining the inside fronts of the drawers, great place to store my bandages & burn cream packets!!!

The desk blotter I've had for a long time, it was a clearance find at Hobby Lobby. I love that I'm able to use it here as I never could at home. The baskets are from my scrapbook room, ones I painted black and hot glued fabric inside of, perfect size for pens and sticky note pads.

I wanted to decoupage a pen cup holder thingy I haven't gotten around to it yet.

So what do you think? Definitely better right?

Thanks for looking! Have a wonderfully blessed week!

a little outdoor fall nesting

2009-10-03T08:12:00.000-04:00

Hi Y'all... Welcome to my mess!

This is our backdoor area which we use a lot more than our front door as we park back here. I scrubbed the green funk off the siding & set up a workspace. It was such a beautiful afternoon to work outside *smiles*

Then I dragged down from the attic a fraction of my decorations, most of which were bought on final clearance last year @ Hobby Lobby

I opened bags and thought to myself "I don't remember buying this!"

This plain grapevine wreath had been hanging around my craft room awaiting inspiration. I came across this very ugly swag in my mess of shopping bags and wondered what possessed me to buy it, it was THAT ugly but somehow wired together with the grapevine wreath I can tolerate it *smiles*

A handicapped scarecrow glued between the two definitely helps ~ a mini pumpkin hides his missing legs!

Looking better already!

I absolutely adore pumpkin topiaries & have wanted one forever! I found this urn at Dollar General on summer clearance marked down to $10 ~ too bad there wasn't two!

I just wound one of my clearance garlands around and around then set the pumpkin on top, no wire, no hot glue, easy peasy to take apart later.

My window boxes have been an eyesore for the last several years. They need serious help, one even fell down while I was decorating it. Dear hubby had to come out with his drill and a very long screw to fix it. Hopefully next spring he will build me some new ones or revamp these. I just stapled some wimpy cheap garland around the edges and stuck a scarecrow in. As we're off the road a little the view isn't so bad from a distance *smiles*

We rarely use our front door so this thing banging against it each time we open it won't be such a bother like it would have been at the back door.
And that's the end of my fall nesting outdoor tour, from back to front door *smiles*

Potluck Bridal Shower food

2009-09-19T08:54:00.004-04:00

I miss blogging! I miss visiting all the wonderfully creative and beautiful blogs of my friends, I miss commenting on them every day and feeling like a part of the blogland community. But I know many of you struggle balancing work, family, and blogging too, so I know you understand where I'm coming from. Between our single vehicle daily commuter lifestyle and the rigors of family life there's not enough hours in my day. I fall asleep within minutes of going to bed... who won Big Brother??? But here's the joy, I'm loving my career path! All the passion and excitment I felt years ago when I entered this field has been renewed. I'm happier with my work life than I've ever been before, what a blessing. And since I have been blessed with a wonderful although very small family, it's all good. Small challenges like a single beat up 83 small Ranger pickup truck to make an hour+ one way commute in is NOTHING compared to my daily joy with life in general. Frugal lifestyle aside, I feel like we are living rich and I anxiously await each day to see what unfolds...

Fringe benefit of working with children is the sweet spontaneous hugs they give. Imagine that...

We had a little staff meeting with a potluck bridal shower tossed in. Here's my contribution... yummy chicken salad with grapes. I've never made it that way before and this recipe certainly was a huge hit, definitely a keeper!

More cupcakes, white on white! The little cupcake decorations were super easy to make once my brain got to thinking! I've seen so many adorably sweet cupcake decorations but really didn't have the time or computer skills to invest in making them. So I bought a few packs of K&Company 3 D wedding stickers from the local Mightly Dollar store along with some Sizzix die cuts and toothpicks. What do you think? Not too bad for being made "on the fly" and it gave me lots of ideas for other cupcake picks to make *smiles*

If you want to make your own just sandwich a toothpick between a sticker and a diecut or punch. Press together carefully, easy peasy!

Next post will be some fall decorations *smiles*

Have a wonderful weekend!

Labor of Love

2009-09-05T09:15:00.000-04:00

Allow me a moment to gush about my first two weeks on my dream job.

Yes it's all that I hoped for & more, so much more!

My boss is simply amazing, she is so inspiring! She has provided us all with the tools & environment necessary to succeed. I can't tell you what a blessing it is to work for her, she truly, genuinely, sincerely appreciates all of our efforts. I don't expect pats on the back or atta'girls because I believe as a professional that I have the drive, motivation & integrity to do my job to the best of my abilities without extra rewards or praise...

but gosh, it wonderful to be told how great of a job I'm doing!

She paid me the nicest compliment while introducing me to her accountants explaining how I was the perfect chef for this job because not only am I great chef but I'm a germophob who likes to save money!

In honor of my thrifty nature I'm doing a little bit of rework on these adorable bibs for the babies and toddlers. They are pvc free vinyl like fabric with a cute little crumb catcher pocket across the bottom but the tee shirt style neck holes are way too small to go over their heads.

I promise you these bibs will be thoroughly washed before being used but trying to get a picture without Indy-bug on them was a trick.

I'm just going to open up the back seam, do a little fold over or in as the case may be and stitch a piece of velcro on them so they will be useable.

Oh the fabrics are too cute ~ see the little purses & monkeys! I have 20 bibs to work on...

And this weekend is the Hendersonville Apple Festival ~ And I'm hopeful for a bit of fall decorating time ~ And of course time spent with my family ~ Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Jane Austen Obsession

2009-08-30T05:52:00.000-04:00

I have a not so secret obsession with Jane Austen. Pride & Prejudice is my favorite book, I've read it atleast a dozen times finding something new each time I read it. I have read her other works as well, several times but I keep coming back to P&P and currently am reading it again.

Of course I love the movie adaptations...

each one "just as it is"

I even have a VHS tape of this early version of Pride & Prejudice, too bad my VCR died a few weeks ago cause I'd dearly love to watch it again!

Who makes the best Mr Darcy? That's a topic for heated debate in many circles. I have my own favorite *smiles*

Given the opportunity to travel back in time to experience life as it was then, I think I would choose this time above all others. It captures my imagination completely!

A favorite family activity is to trade movie quotes and since I'm so obsessed with all things Jane, my family are good sports and well versed in Jane Austen inspired movie dialogue, perhaps it's the countless hours of having an adaptation playing in the background *smiles* We can exchange quotes in the form of conversation for atleast a half hour or longer before exhausting our reportoire. My darling husband particularly has a knack for quoting Jane, he even sends me text messages of a Jane nature. Oh how I adore him!

My favorite Jane Austen quote "I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them."

What is your obsession?

Toolbox Makeover

2009-08-26T04:12:00.001-04:00

***Edited to join in Kimba's DIY Day over at ASPTL***

I'm sure all you DIY-crafting diva's out there can appreciate the impatience I feel when I just have to start another crafty project, I'm in a hurry and I can't find my tools, you know the ones Husband says are mine to use so I'll keep out of his! Like the ugly blue hammer when I'm just dyin' to have a pretty sweet pink hammer! I spied a green plastic toolbox way up on a shelf in our garage so I grabbed a broom and proceeded to knock it down. I've been wanting to do this project forever and after being inspired by a few blogland ladies I went for it. Now I love green but this just wasn't rockin' my DIY-diva world ya know?

I was in such a hurry after rooting thru hubby's stash of paint that I didn't get a true before shot but you can imagine it easy enough. Hubby has this hobby of making 16th century Japanese Samauri armour out of plastic barrels (yeah I know!) so he has a stash of Krylon Fusion for Plastic spray paint. Since I was going for an improvement over the green the only color he had that I would consider was burgandy. The photo is showing it more red than it really is.

A few coats later and Oh this is so much better now! Then I added little embellies of my own, not much, just a touch, afterall this isn't a for show toolbox but a real honest to goodness working toolbox!

You can even see where I messed up the one on the left side but that's ok 'cause Nester tells us "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful"

Open House!

2009-08-22T09:20:00.003-04:00

This has been a crazy 3 days for me! Every day I'm up at 4 am, preparing for my day, searching for recipes or working on my menus or initial food order. Then I'm grabbing up a mess of papers/notes/binders and I'm out the door. I've had a couple of 7 am morning meetings in McDonald's at the half point of my commuter journey just so I could keep in touch with my HL friends before I drive on to my school. So exciting but tiring hours with my commute even longer than before. But dear friends let me tell you it's worth it! It's so worth it! I've smiled more at work in my first 3 unofficial days than I have smiled in the last month atleast! Wednesday night once I got home I quickly grabbed some decorative items and serving pieces to use at the school for a small open house Thursday evening. Our conference room/breakroom is lovely. My photos don't do it justice. And yes I scrunched up the fabric in that tacky fashion! This is what happens when Chef has ten minutes to set up *smiles* No one cared! They were interested in the food!

I knew that chalkboard tray would come in handy, I grabbed it at the last minute going out the door ~ good thing I remembered the chalk!

What's that in the chaffing dish? Why it's good ole' batter dipped, deep fried green beans with spicy ranch sauce! Yum! These were a huge hit!

Thank you to my dear husband for snatching up that piece of granite display when they were discontinued at his work. He thought I could display food on it, SMART man my husband! And the cracker spread? Roasted Red Pepper, super easy and very yummy. I'll give you the recipe!

Not as beautifully presented as I would have liked but it was well received and most importantly my new boss *Cindy* loved it! Now for that Roasted Red Pepper Spread...

1 jar of roasted red peppers drained

about 16 oz of cream cheese but you could certainly and very easily with great results get by with less then just increase it to taste and consistency that works for you!

a touch of fresh lemon juice

some paprika

granulated garlic

and that's about it as far as I can remember because I literally just cut up the cream cheese and tossed it all into the robocoup and blended. then I tasted it and added a bit more of garlic and wished all the while I had ordered more spices for my kitchen! If I had had it there I would have added a few shakes of Tabasco for the flavor and bite ~ not for heat! But everyone loved it and it had a nice balanced flavor.

I've discovered that sometimes simplier really IS better.

And this is how I do it most times, I just toss it together and wonder afterwards what was it I put in that? So I promise in future to take more care to semi accurately recall proportions and such for y'all.

Wicker Bookcases Makeover

2009-08-17T06:10:00.003-04:00

I've joined the party at Kimba's of A Soft Place To Land fame DIY Day, A Picture is Worth a 1,000 Words 2nd Time Around, Southern Hospitality Today's Thrifty Finds & Twice Remembered's Make Your Monday & Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday!

I love my wicker bookcases ~ got 'em for free too, now THAT is Thrifty! Friends offered them to me after helping them move to their new home. My husband pretended not to hear their offer ~ shame on him! They were destined for a yard sale & I just couldn't let THAT happen!

They look a bit of a hot mess with junk piled up in front of them.

I adored the fabric when I hot glued it to their backs ~

I thought I was clever.

Now I've fallen out of love with this fabric and was yearning for change...

Of course the only real choice was BURLAP!!!

For less than $5 ~ an updated look

Be still my heart...

I have fallen back in love!

Makes a nice neutral backdrop for my treasures ~ they really pop now!

Just a touch of rustic texture to go with my wicker.

P.S. I put the faux greenery back up! I had to, it helps to keep the kitties off the top!

My Dream Kitchen Reality

2009-08-14T04:14:00.000-04:00

For quite a while I've been involved in a project that I couldn't say too much about and it was killing me because it's so exciting. I've been dying to share it! Forgive me as I indulge in a very personal post about me as a real person and not just a craftin' decorating blog surfin' kitty lover but mostly it's a post about the incredible blessings I've received. I promise there's pictures of something I created further down *smiles*

Remember when I went to the Sysco Food Show in Charleston earlier this year? I didn't exactly explain why I was there, what purpose it served other than I was helping out my friend Cindy with her project. Here's Cindy's project.

Now y'all know me as a Hob Lob lovin' gal... but what you don't know is way before that I went to school to fulfill a dream of becoming a Chef. I ran out of money half way thru school and decided to learn the rest on my boss's dollar. And I did... I learned a lot. I also learned that a woman with a teenager son and husband who traveled for his career at the time wasn't an ideal candidate to climb the corporate kitchen pot rack to the top ~ super long hours, late nights, weekends, holidays, basically no real family life.

I worked here and there... Met some incredible people along the way, made friends, kept in touch. But I couldn't find just the right fit for me and my family so I ended up in retail. I never meant to stay there so long but it just sort of happened. What was supposed to be seasonal work to get me thru the holidays till I could find something in my field turned into years. I got lazy, I quit looking, I shopped the sales *smiles*

Then I got an email, I've had the same goofy email address since 1996. It was from one of the friends I've made along the way in my working life ~ Cindy! She was in the planning stages of making her dream come true and God Bless her (!!) she invited me to join her. And by joining her, my dream came true!

Hello... I'm the Chef!

Welcome to my dream kitchen I designed!

My pot rack table, how cool, I can't wait to see if all filled up!

My beautiful hot line where the magic will happen!

The giant monster back in the corner is my HIGH temp heat sanitizing ware washer!

My beautiful floor!

My desk!

My pot filler!!!

Top left is my steamer and on the bottom left is my baker's DEPTH combi oven! Be still my heart!

I went shopping yesterday for my smallwares and once they are delivered then I'll share some photos of those. And I met with my purveyor Jack from Sysco and dazzled him with my menus I've been working on. The whole experience has been exciting and a dream come true. Thank you for coming on my little kitchen tour, I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much I have enjoyed sharing it with you!

Burlap Pet Placemat

2009-08-12T07:40:00.002-04:00

***Edited to add: Join the party at A Soft Place to Land's DIY Day***

Oh how I've been itching to do this project ~ I had everything so once again a ZERO CASH project *smiles* Here's what I used:

craft paint
burlap scrap
foam stamps
iron on vinyl

I bought the whole bolt of iron on vinyl off the clearance rack for a great price & saved it ever since ~ why?

Just cut your piece to fit your item, peel the paper off, place it sticky side down on top of the right side and hand smooth.

Then take the piece you pulled off & lay it over the top & press

That's it! Easy Peasy!

Indy-bug loves his new placemat...

Shhhhh, we won't tell him he's gotta share with Miz Sissy!

Two seconds later & look who shows up at the food dish?

Miz Sissy!

How to Make A Roman Shade from Mini Blind

2009-08-07T09:33:00.006-04:00

**Edited to add: Join the party at A Soft Place to Land DIY Day, A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words 2nd Time Around, Southern Hospitality's Today's Thrifty Treasures , Twice Remembered's Make Your Monday , and Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday***

Are you like me and love the look of roman shades but are too intimidated to attempt making them? When I found this project on Little Green Notebook I knew it would be my salvation to the despised decorating peril of plastic mini blinds.

Mini blinds sacrificed for the greater decorating good instead of evil?

YES!

Supplies needed for this makeover:

plastic mini blinds
tape measure
fabric glue
scissors
fabric

***Edited to add ~ This was a ZERO CA$H project as I had all supplies on hand. The fabric was end of a clearance priced bolt, purchased several months ago for about $5 without a project in mind ~ just for my stash! Mini blind was older than dirt but recently destroyed by one very rambucious Indy-bug kitty. A very thrifty repurposed project ~ the best kind!***

Carefully cut off all the ladder sections of string being careful not to cut the lift cords.

Remove the plugs from the bottom, set aside, and remove all the extra slats.

As my blind was already shortened to my desired length, I just took that measurement and divided by 9 (the desired length of folds) to arrival at my optimal remaining slat number of 5.

Retie lift cords evenly, trim excess, and push back into hole.

Replace plug covers.

I'm showing this next step without fabric because it's just easier to see.

Lay your fabric face down, fold fabric over an inch or two for a nice finish across the top of your shade then place your blind face down making sure to keep fabric folded edge flush with top of blind.

Measure down 9 inches or desired fold length and place a slat, continue measuring and placing slats until you reach the bottom of the blind.

Using fabric glue attach your folded fabric edge to top of blind. Then apply glue to each slat and press to fabric to adhere.

***DO NOT glue the lift cord, stop and start your bead of glue on the slat about an inch or so from the lift cords so they can work freely. This is a vital key to success***

When you reach the bottom trim your fabric leaving enough to cover the bottom slat and wrap over slightly. Glue in place carefully avoiding the lift cords.

Trim your fabric down both sides leaving enough to fold over making a nice hemmed edge. I left about 2 or 3 inches on mine.

Make a neat fold at the top carefully leaving the sides of the blind mounting bar free of fabric because it must be able to slide back into your mounting bracket.

Glue in place.

Continue gluing side hem all the way to the bottom of the blind.

Make a nice neat fold at the bottom, repeating what you did at the top.

You can add trim to the bottom if desired.

Wait for glue to dry then hang in place!

I loved how it turned it. I'm planning to do my living room blinds as well. I think I'll do those in burlap and attempt to line them as well.

Front Door Makeover

2009-08-06T06:40:00.000-04:00

Back in the 90's I had this whole country Victorian thing going on! This door was long overdue for an update. Once again I challenged myself to use stuff I had on hand, so this was a ZERO CASH project ~ my absolute favorite kind!

So the paint I'm going to use is a bit on the creamy color side, like a golden cream instead of white because that's what I had and it's interior paint but I'm not going to worry about it. This last paint job lasted entirely too long!

Printing out the numbers should have been a lot easier but I ended up with this overlapping cut & taped mess, it worked. No transfer paper so I read in blogland how one lady made her own by scribbling across the back with a pencil, it WORKED!

I recycled my used painters tape *smiles*

This was really easy to do, I could have used a pencil to trace around but mistakenly thought I needed something more like a stylus to use and since I couldn't find mine I used the end of a round paint brush instead. A pencil would totally work.

Ok this is where it stopped being an easy project and suddenly became a pain in my you know what project. I am not Miz Susie Harris, I just can't do that kind of painting, paint a house? you bet. paint a room? sure. trim work without taping off? yeah no problem, but these numbers gave me a fit!

So no "I'm ready for my close up" shots, this is as close as I'm willing to show afterall this is supposed to be an improvement *smiles* It's not THAT bad but it's a tad wonky & I'm going to try to touch it up a bit more but I was anxious to show off.
Linked up to Kimba's DIY Day!

Chalkboard Tray

2009-08-05T09:04:00.000-04:00

I've had this cheapy Dollar Store tray for years. It's looking worse for the wear! Since I've been seriously wanting to copy all the cute chalkboard trays I've seen all over blogland, this tray is a perfect candidate for a makeover.I had all necessary supplies so it was a ZERO cash project

LOVE THAT!

I seriously love the spray paint trigger! And here it is all done displayed on my island!Naturally I had to bake some cookies to properly show it off!

And the little green saucer is stamped Fireking on the back

and it cost me 10 cents in a yardsale!

Burlap Framed Pear

2009-08-03T08:04:00.007-04:00

*edited to add link to Make Your Monday @ Twice Remembered* & *Miz Rhoda Today's Thrifty Treasures @ Southern Hospitality*&*Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch*&*Second Time Around @ A Picture is worth 1,000 Words*

I spotted this at a church rummage sale and thought what a fancy frame. I immediately thought of a project I've seen all over blogland recently. Did you see the price tag of 10 cents?

Trusty black spray paint to the rescue, left over burlap, hot glue gun and sacrifical faux pear ~ ah much better!

I just love the results!

Porch Makeover

2009-07-30T09:13:00.000-04:00

Just over three years ago this is what our home looked like after we moved back in after having rented it out for five years.

And this is what it looks like now after our 4th of July mini porch makeover. All over blogland ladies are turning their porches into beautiful outdoor rooms. Just cause I was faced with a less than perfect "before" doesn't mean my "after" can't be beautiful

We spent just over $100 cash & purchased rug, black side table, animal print pillows, candles, drop clothes, ring clips, some hardware bits, fabric, foam, potting soil, hanging baskets and flowers. I shopped the house for picture hanging wire, table top water fountain, black spray paint, ficus tree, little metal & glass round table, birdhouse and chains for hanging baskets. The red wicker barstool came from dumpster diving in North Charleston last year. My husband bought that oak rocker from an junk~tique shop in Lake Lure about 19 years ago with a broken runner and made a new one to repair it. The swing came with the house so it's atleast 19 years old.

A weekend's worth of work & $100...

Blocking the ugly view across the road

&

spending quality chillin' time with my sweetie

Priceless

A few words

2009-07-20T08:41:00.003-04:00

I've been lurking... not really commenting much but trying to keep up with everyone's blogs. My lack of posting is because my heart hasn't been in it lately. There is stuff weighing on my heart that I've wanted to share but didn't have the words to express. And there's been something life changing going on as well that I've not been free to speak of. But first I'd like to tell you about a very dear friend and co-worker who passed away last month after a brief illness. She was only 47 years old. We worked together, every day, she's been a part of my life these last 3 years and I miss her terribly. I have some powerful emotions mixed up in her passing, feelings that I'm trying to work thru, come to terms with. Vernessa had a smile that would light up the entire store, she had a quiet humor, and a kindness that touched many.

And her passing has made me realize that it's time for me to move on as well. A major project that's been brewing in the background for months is starting to take shape and will be finalized very soon. Until then I'm not free to speak of it but soon, very soon I'll be able to share all about this amazing ride I've been on.

Don't delete me yet. A few more weeks and I'll be back.

Framed Silverware Copy Cat

2009-06-03T07:39:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the glare! Y'all know I'm camera challenged around here.

The shadowbox frame was dirt cheap because the glass was broken

The faux silverware was free out of the trash from work ie: broken wall decor

The mini frame in corner was free, same as the silverware

I purchased a pack of vintage sheet music months ago on sale at local antique shop

Basically I ripped and tore the sheet music down to size & distressed inked the edges

Hot glued the faux silverware after careful eyeball meausuring

Stamped our inital on a piece of cardstock and glued the whole thing to the corner

It now lives on my wall above the sideboard in the dining room

shhhh... don't tell anyone but I've still not painted that sideboard yet

for shame!

I think my next post will be about the color crisis I'm having choosing between

black

creamy white!

I seriously need help!

2nd Time Around: Pleater & Ice Bucket

2009-06-02T07:36:00.004-04:00

This is my first time participating in Diane's A picture is worth a 1,000 wordsI really want to learn how to smock. I had a tiny lesson months ago while I was in Statesboro Ga working on their new Hobby Lobby... remember that? It seems like a lifetime ago! So imagine my surprise and delight when I found this Amanda Jane 24 needle pleater in my favorite local antique shop. I couldn't believe the price! Only $15 !!! What a steal!

Years ago as a young military wife I tried to collect Princess House crystal but sadly my family budget didn't allow for many purchases. I have a chip n dip bowl, trifle bowl, and a set of brandy sniffers... Now I have a crystal ice bucket! Found at the same antique shop in it's original box with plastic tongs for $10 !!!

Isn't it pretty? I just love it. I have it boxed up because I learned my lesson with crystal when fat Miz Sissy-kitty single pawed destoyed 7 of my 8 antique stemmed dessert cups. I can still remember the unmistakeable sound of shattering crystal, it tinkles very pretty!

Thank you for visiting me and allowing me to show off my bargains!

I adore giving a new home to old treasures

Burlap Window Mistreatment!

2009-05-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Crazy for Burlap Party hosted by Miz Rhoda of Southern Hospitality!

I have a dirty secret... This is the window on the door to my dirty secret - our back room! The main entry into our home and it's disgraceful! There's nothing welcoming or gracious about it, it is what it is, a collection site for everything from power tools, appliances, wood, discarded junk, clutter, exercise equipment, you name it and it's probably buried in this room some where!

I seriously need an intervention where this room is concerned.

So while on vacation last week I decided to take 30 minutes and whip up a mistreatment for this window. Afterall if ya can't hide it ya should decorate it right? *smiles*

Here's the view from outside, see the cute burlap?

Left over from my chicken wire frame projectI'm definitely going to spruce up the outside soon *hanging head in shame*

Here's the inside view... Still have to add insulation and dry wall. The cute fabric is an embroidered linen of sea shells, turtles and starfish from Robert Allen.

And here it is rolled up from the outside

I see now that I need to paint this door since the primer coat isn't looking so great

And rolled up from the inside

This is a metal clad door but for some reason those magnetic curtain rods wouldn't stick to the door. I didn't want to put holes in it for a regular rod so I used velcro to attach it. I used two different kinds, the sticky kind and the sew on kind from our favorite store Hobby Lobby.

If you want to make something similar but haven't a clue how I'd be happy to talk you thru it!

Thanks for looking!

Mini Chalkboard Frame & other Simple Projects

2009-05-26T07:12:00.002-04:00

Ever since The Boy broke one of my yard sale rooster plates I've been wondering what I could replace it with. A recent trip to the Habitat Resale store got me a plastic frame with chipboard cutesy print for 50 cents. I sprayed the chipboard with chalkboard paint. What do y'all think?I was obviously on a creative roll, my next project? Do something with our crocheted initials that I've had forever. Using my distress ink pads and a background stamp I added subtle detail to the cardstock. So subtle y'all can't see it in my bad picture! A bit of ribbon, a cut out of a stamped house imagine that so reminds me of Mr Darcy's Pemberly *sigh* ... and a sweet metal embellie from Karen Foster that says it all for me "Family"

I love the ease of clip frames & I especially love how cheap you can find them at Big Lots! My beloved HL sells them just not in this size/shape...

Gosh it feels wonderful to actually finish something! I can't tell y'all how much I've been missing playing with my crafty bits. Just simple projects that I didn't allow to overwhelm me. I focused on keeping it simple, not getting bogged down in too many choices. Simplify - my word for 2009 *smiles* Sometimes it's way too easy to get bogged down in what if's... what if I did this instead of that, ya know? And next thing ya know time is up & you've made nothing but a mess. I feel lousy when I do that! It's so discouraging. So please don't do that to yourself, a simple completed project is so much better than a complicated unfinished one!

Old Sheldon Church Ruins

2009-05-21T08:23:00.001-04:00

I've longed to visit this sacred ground for years, since 2003 in fact when I first learned of this place. Back then I only had a vague description of it's location but the longing stuck with me. Two years ago while visiting with friends in the Charleston area I thought I'd finally have my much anticipated visit. I did some google searching and discovered it was about an hour or so away from where we were staying. But it wasn't meant to be at that time...

We spent last week on vacation discovering Hilton Head Island. I was determined to finally see this church and on the way down we stopped by this magnificent place. It was all I imagined and more. I could just feel the history as we walked around. It's a lovely, beautiful place tucked away down a very shady narrow two lane country road.

Vacation!

2009-05-08T09:49:00.003-04:00

We're going on vacation y'all & I'm so excited! We never go anywhere but that's about to change cause we're headed to Hilton Head Island SC on Monday for four days... I've never been there before so I'm doubly excited My dear sweet husband drives, it's his job so I'm going to do the driving on our little trip. And guess where I'm going to take us along the way... To see Old Sheldon Church ruins near Beaufort SC. Isn't it just hauntingly beautiful? I can't wait to see this holy place in person. Looks romantic doesn't it? I've wanted to go there for the last 7 years at least...

I'm going to keep this very real friends and tell y'all maybe we should spend money on my dental work or a much needed hoopty mobile. We've spent years postponing vacations for various reasons, all of which are mostly forgotten when we think back on it. But then I remember what my dear friend Rosie, Rose Big Pond - Marquez told me after a particularly rough patch in her family's lives. She said she wished they had taken more vacations together because they would have those memories forever. I've sadly lost touch with my dear Rosie, how I wish I could find her. But her words ring true in my ears!

Excitement of anticipation has been so sweet these last 3 weeks as we've planned our vacation... It's gotten me thru some tough long days at work. Just thinking about walks on the beach hand in hand... Quiet moments together... Sunrises on the water... Swimming in the ocean...

And the memories of our early days together, when our love was brand new. Y'all don't know this but we met on a little island very far far away... We spent our first months of married life on that island and being at the ocean recalls those memories for us. That will be the sweetest part of this trip, recalling those precious early days while making new memories.

Where have I been?

2009-04-22T07:25:00.005-04:00

You guessed it, Hobby Lobby! So much going on at my store and it's been a roller coaster ride. My blogging has definitely suffered. Then this past weekend while I was walking our new dog Dallas (pictures coming soon!) I found some road graffiti in front of our house.

I wish this was what I found but sadly it wasn't... What I found spray painted at the end of our driveway was so foul, so dispictable, so vulgar that I can't even speak it, I shudder to think of it still... Why would anyone do such a thing? After the police came and later the country road dept, it's slightly better but that's an overstatement. The county worker said in his 16 years on the job he's never ever seen anything like it... NICE All day Saturday cars slowed to read it and most likely wonder why we were "gifted" with such vulgarity. We do not think we were the intended recipients of the graffiti... We're nice neighbors! Honestly! There's a young couple across the road who have been having their own little drama going on and we think it was intended for one of them. But I have to say I wouldn't wish this vulgarity and vileness on anyone!

The upside was several of our neighbors came out to show their support and talk it over with us. We had an opportunity to connect and in some cases reconnect with our neighbors that our commuter job lifestyle has inhibited for the last several years. So I'm focusing on that blessing in the midst of the *other* foolishness.

How was your week?

Meet Indiana Jones

2009-04-02T08:31:00.001-04:00

Whatcha doing Indy-bug?

Indy! Get down! Bad Kitty!

Cute Chicken Wire Frame

2009-03-31T09:10:00.002-04:00

I was inspired by a new piece I saw come off the truck a few weeks ago at my favorite store *wink*wink* So I got a package of this from Lowe's.

I've been hording this piece of burlap for years... why? Frame was purchased dirt cheap because the glass was broken out of it ~ again, from that favorite store of ours..

I had this stuff already so I just cut a piece almost the exact size of the backing board which by the way really REALLY needs to be a bit smaller than original size so everything will fit.Would you look at the size of that glue stick!!!
After I glued my fluffy bit down I cut a piece of burlap slightly larger than the board so I could wrap it around and cover nicely.

Then I wrapped my painted chicken wire around that. I didn't glue that down, why bother?

Get a load of the mess I work in!

Added a decoupaged MDF bird from Mike's with a painted clothes pin attached to the back with hot glue. Bird directions: trace the back side on to the back side of scrapbook paper, cut out. Meanwhile paint what will be backside and sides of bird with paint, let dry, apply paper with Modge Podge, smoothing out, cut off excess with craft knife, sand edges for distressed look, go over entire piece again with Modge Podge, then embellish to your hearts content, hot glue clothes pin to the back of bird... Enjoy your craftiness!

I ~giant sparkly heart~ comments!

Thrifted Easter Bargain

2009-03-15T07:19:00.001-04:00

Sweet bargain from my local Habitat Resale shop. I almost passed this bargain up because they were on an Easter decorations table a) I haven't found my stash of Easter decorations yet & b) felt guilty at the thought of buying more. But I took a closer look they were marked... HALLMARK for only $3 !!!!!! Well I quickly decided I could afford a few Easter decorations this year *smiles* Now where are my candle tapers?

Before & After

2009-03-11T10:35:00.001-04:00

My home is old, as in 100+ years old & it started life as a simple country church. Then sometime in the 1930's it went onto the tax rolls as a duplex type dwelling complete with two front doors! I can't imagine how a family of 5 & another family of 6 managed to live in this home side by side when our small family of 4 are always bumping into each other! Sometime in the 60's it was remodeled into a single family dwelling & we purchased it in 1992. There's lots of little things that I love about my home like it's solid oh so heavy wood doors & crystal door knobs. And a few odd things like the whiff of pipe smoke I occasionally smell (none of us smoke or have friends who smoke in our home) & this odd little shelf over the stove area of our kitchen. I've decorated it with lots of old jars collected from my husband's grandmother's barn, I've had ceramic pieces displayed, currently it's spices. But whatever I've done it's always been a hodge podge mismatched collection that always looked cluttered, never pretty. I'd sure love me some pretty for a change!

On my day off last week I shopped somewhere else other than Hobby Lobby *gasp* I know! Don't tell on me please! I went to TJ Maxx to look around since so many of y'all rave on & on about the great deals you find there. I found this plate for only $3 !!! I *heart* damask & I especially *heart* black and white. So I was thinking what if...

Sort of bare though so I shopped the house, remember these?Put them together & see what y'all think...Now I'm not going to use plate stands for them. I just wanted to see what it would look like. While at work I picked up some plate hangers and over the weekend hung them up carefully measuring and eyeballing to make sure it would look right. Here's my after picture!
What do y'all think? Good idea?

Mistreated windows

2009-03-06T16:11:00.001-05:00

I needed a change! The black & khaki homespun ruffled panels I was making do with had to go! So a bit of leftover dec fabric, some quick sewing, and left over crafting ribbon and this is what I came up with. If I knew what I was doing I would have made a mini roman blind type thingy but since I don't know this is it! *smiles* I tried it on a curtain rod but I hated how it looked so I got my dear Mr Darcy's staple gun & with some help from The Girl we stapled it up over the sink... You can't even see the staples really... But you sure can see the uglist kitchen sink light fixture in the history of all kitchen sink light fixtures - for shame!I did use a rod for the back door though...
It was so hard getting these pictures! My camera doesn't want to work half the time *smiles*
I just love this fabric because it feels old fashioned to me & my house is definitely old.
So what do y'all think?

Keep Calm & Carry On

2009-02-22T08:54:00.002-05:00

Have you been admiring this phrase as much as me? I've been seeing it all over blogland & wanted my own. Here's my version... tell me what you think!

What makes my heart sing is it required me to use my stuff! I know! Imagine my delight... Ladies, I am truly blessed with crafting stuff & my own little space to work in but I am not blessed with time to play. When I finally do find a moment I'm quickly overwhelmed by a) the mess my craft room is in or b) the sheer volume of choices. I end up creating nothing & feeling like a crafting failure. I've been feeling like that a lot lately, for weeks and weeks in fact. My secret shame. No one should feel that way. This past week I spent a little time out there working on clearing & organizing. It's not done but most importantly it helped me to feel a connection to my creative space. So Saturday afternoon when I decided to go play with my things I was able to actually make something... *smiles* My heart was singing! Silly I know... but don't you ever feel that way too? Get bogged down in too many choices & perfectionism? This simple totally copy-catted sign represents me overcoming my creative block & actually doing/making something. For that it makes me happy & I'm totally ignoring the fact that the first R in Carry isn't perfect.... It's part of it's handcrafted charm!

for me?

2009-02-20T07:23:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I got this award! I am so honored! I mean really.. .Me? Have you met me? For some reason Melissa over at Little Things In Life gave me this award and I'm naturally thrilled and grateful to be thought of. I just wouldn't think I'm high on anyone's list of recognition for the Dardos Award but Melissa being the sweet and generous soul that she is thought so. Thank you Melissa! I am so unworthy but I thank you all the same and will try to live up to your award!

“The Dardos Award is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.”

I know there's been some talk about whether to participate in passing awards along. It takes time to select people to award and really when you think about it all of us who read each other's blogs daily know that we're all at the top of the list for any award that comes along because we all deserve it, why else would we read a blog if it wasn't worthy of this and many other awards, right? So how can I choose? I can't. I just don't want to slight anyone and I know I'll miss someone in the process. So if you've not received this award and would like it please take it and post that you received it from me with my heartfelt best wishes.

Hi Y'all

2009-02-18T09:17:00.003-05:00

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm alive and well but just busy. I feel so guilty for not updating my blog regularly with pictures and stories of my latest bargains scored. I have not given up on blogging I just suck at it. Right now I'm all stuck into a work pattern that isn't working for me or my family. We are a commuter family of four with two cars between us and varying schedules add to that a 45 minute one way commute. It's tough and it consumes a larger portion of my time than I feel is mentally or creatively healthy. For several years we've been on a path of eliminating debt and living as simply as we can by necessity not so much by choice *smiles* which I guess means we're in a better position to weather these tough times than other people may be because I can live without a Starbucks Iced Coffee and the latest craft crap and not feel a single ounce of guilt for it *smiles* We're trying to save up to purchase a junker or as we call them in our house a hoopty! And I'm considering a return to my field as in career not plowing. But that's a post for another day... Right now I just want y'all to know that I'm still here, I'm just struggling to be a Wonder Woman. I'm reaching out for simplicity and embracing the abundance in my life with gratitude. And perhaps soon that will include another vehicle, if not then I'll enjoy the commute time with darling husband and dear son and stop worrying about things that I can't control like time to blog and decorate. So forgive me for not posting regularly, I'm trying, I really am. And anyone with hints or tips on tossing that golden lasso and having it all, please share!!!

Charleston SC Sysco Food Show 2009

2009-02-07T08:26:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone! I thought you might enjoy a few pictures from the food show. We had a great time and ate loads of delicious food. Here I am with Cindy.

Gleaming equipment! Be still my heart!Paper products cause everyone needs some of thoseCoffee...I can't live without it. Iron Brew is crafted in the Carolina's and is very rich with smooth finish, good stuff! I brought home sample bags of their newest flavor "Sticky Bun"

Don't those burgers look yummy?

I wish y'all could have tasted the roasted portabello ravioli I ate, OMGosh, was it divine!There was loads of cheese, a wonderful sage Derby that was such an odd shade of green as well as some favorites like Boursin. All there for the tasting.OK two words... LOBSTER BISQUECindy whom y'all met earlier makes the absolute best sweet potato casserole EVER but we both agreed this one was ITNow for some sexy...

Maybe after all that we need a little healthy...

Am I the only one who loves seeing produce?

Edible flowers, how beautiful are those?

I remember these knife cuts from my practical examination!
Who knew I could have bought them...

What I didn't get a picture of was these slices of corn on the cob that we ate raw. This corn was unbelievably tender and sweet as sugar.

After all that healthy we need some more sexy...

Nothing speaks to me like Chocolate and Raspberry combined

All beautifully presented.

Lots of sampling going on!

I ate a tiny piece of an orange cake confection, ohmyWORD sooooo goood
And here's my friend who made it all possible for me & Cindy to attend...

Meet Jack!

A Hint...

2009-02-02T07:28:00.004-05:00

Here's a little hint at what type of trade show I'm going to....

Tomorrow is the big day, I can't wait, I've been several years ago and had a total blast. I have to wonder though with the economy being what it is how much stuff will be sampled and given away this year. I'm trying to pack this morning before work because it will be a late night for me, Mondays are always are. It's our freight day at work and I have so much stuff to price and put up. Then it's two days of fun in Charleston *my favorite city* and then back to work *sigh* Oh & I'll be testing a little something I made especially for this trip... a drawstring shoe bag! Don't ya just hate packing shoes in a protective grocery bag? Now I'll be packed in style *smiles*

Guess where I'm going...

2009-01-31T11:23:00.001-05:00

First a little background as I've not shared any of the particulars except with just a very few before now. I've been consulting on a project for the last year at the request of a very good friend. Part of this project happens to be in area that I'm knowledgeable and she values my input greatly. As things are really beginning to take shape with this *project* my expertise is needed even more than before. Decisions are being made and implemented, decisions that reflect a rather sizable commitment of resources (capital, land, materials, etc). Serious stuff. About a week or so ago another friend whom I especially requested to be connected to the *project* called me asking if we would like to attend a trade show, which in turn would greatly enhance our decision making process. I quickly agreed & put in for the time off work. My friend and I will be headed to Charleston next week where I'll continue to consult and advise her on her *project* It's pretty heady stuff to be sought out and asked for my opinions on a project of this size but to actually see my ideas taking shape and being implemented, well let's just say it's rather humbling. To Our Father be the glory.

a Simple Confession

2009-01-21T10:15:00.002-05:00

***edited to add - I'm sorry! I should have mentioned I didn't take those birdy pictures! *smiles*
I have a confession to make, I hope you don't lose all respect for me when I admit this but I'm not a huge fan of exercise. I guess I'm just your basic lazy person. I know all about the health benefits, etc but still I have never managed to establish a regular exercise routine. I have good intentions but rarely follow thru. Once again I'm trying to change that. A dear friend named Tracy recently bought a new piece of exercise equipment and challenged me to matching her in exercise time or atleast matching half of her time. Being a closet competitive person this was just what I needed to get my ever enlarging bee-hind in gear. My dear sweet Mr Darcy cleared out some room in our catch-all enclosed carport for my treadmill and I started using it Monday.

I managed 30+ minutes for three days in a row now and I'm so proud of myself. Despite the bone chilling cold of the uninsulated, unheated carport and seeing my breath I hung in there. Another confession, it wasn't so bad! I could do this regularly but whatever mechanism that's in my brain that stops me from doing it will have to be disconnected first *smiles*

This beauty is what I saw when I happened to glance out the back door while walking

And I saw one of these too along with three others that I can't identify. All were a blessing to me, sort of a little reward for my efforts enduring the cold and overcoming my laziness in order to love myself. That's how I'm looking at it, this exercise business, it's a manifestation of loving myself enough to do what will make me stronger and healthier. A Simple Abundance moment

Blushing

2009-01-14T08:48:00.001-05:00

My first awards for 2009 and I still can't believe I got one, let alone two! How cool is that? Especially since we all know I'm blog post and photography challenged! Have ya'll met Tardevil? She's lives in a house divided which she shares the special funny antics of a life lived with opposing college loyalties on her blog "Confessions of a 40 something mama queen"
You definitely should go by and give her a visit, she's a real hoot!

These friendship awards are for bloggers who are not into self-aggrandizement. I confess I wasn't 100% certain of the definition but I had a pretty fair passing idea of what that meant. This award is for bloggers who are more interested in establishing friendships than self promotion. I love sharing ideas and seeing bits of everyone lives, what's meaningful and special to them, sharing our trials and failures, being able to laugh and jump back in with another project. It's just a great big gab fest with your best girlfriends and that's what I love about the bloggers I call friends. They are women who are more interested in sharing and caring than selling, they sometimes deep down wonder why so many people leave comments on their blogs cause they just don't understand truly how sweet and wonderful they are. And they are always ready with with a warm wish of encouragement or a gentle scolding when needed *smiles*
So thank you Tardevil for this very special award and I'm geniunely sorry it took me so long to post and pass it along! And Miz Sweetie of Sweetie's World who gave me the second award which is for the same thing as the first, bloggers who are interested in friendships more than self aggrandizement.
Obviously there's a few people who come to mind when one thinks of friendship in a non self-aggrandizement way and those ladies whom I lovingly pass this award on to are:

The imperfectly wonderful and incomparable Darlene of Darlene's Days whom everyone knows and calls friend!

Miss Linda of Linda n Jake who shares her adventures with her sweet fur baby Jake

Miss Brandee of Very Berry Nice whom you just have to love inspite of her beautifully self decorated home because she is truly just so "very berry nice"

Miz Melissa of Little Things In Life who shares the cutest projects and is a smocker extraordinaire

and of course Miz Daphine of Just Stuff who shares her sweet wonderful adventures as she overcomes her pet related fears and raises her beautiful family

And Miz Rhonda of Scooterblu's Whimsy another beautifully self decorated home but you just love Miz Rhonda cause she's so darn sweet

The above mentioned Tardevil of Confessions of a 40 something Mama Queen

Finally Miz Sweetie of Sweetie's World who is a new friend but truly knows what it means to live, laugh and love every moment of life

I know I missed atleast 10 of friends who deserve these awards as well so please grab it and post it on your blog with love and friendship wishes from me! Please be sure to visit these ladies too and leave a comment cause we all know we live by the comment count on our blogs *smiles* I know I do!

On a personal note about my dental saga, I'm currently saving $$$ to have it removed by an oral surgeon so please pray for a speedy enlargement to my dental work fund *smiles* For now the antibiotics are working and the pain is lessening which is a blessing. And thanks Miz Darlene for the gentle scolding, now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we should be next door neighbors!

Where have I been?

2009-01-12T07:46:00.001-05:00

Life in retail can be brutal... After suffering thru 3 months of cranky, rude holiday shoppers I was faced with inventory! Each and every roll of trim, ribbon, cording had to be counted... Every bolt of fabric weighed and recorded. After a week of lots of prep work and counting the inventory team arrived bright and early Saturday morning! We all were so happy to see them! And on my one day off I got to go sit in one of these! Lucky me huh? I feel about dentists the same way I feel about doctors, they are to be avoided! There's just something about having my head lower than my feet while reclining in a chair, having a bright light glaring in my eyes and my mouth open all the while with sharp instruments and someone else's hands in it causing me to lose all ability to communicate clearly that bothers me.... Call me crazy!
Remember my Statesboro trip? I lost what I thought was a filling while eating a very sticky granola bar. I just suffered with it, figuring I'd get things checked out sooner or later. A week ago the pain started and didn't stop but due to inventory at the store I wouldn't leave my post to have it checked. Then I discovered my sweet dentist is no longer seeing patients, gosh had it been that long since my last checkup? I guess so... I found a new one who I'm not afraid of *smiles* but now I'm facing a trip to the oral surgeon!

So that's where I've been this past week, at my store doing lots of inventory type things while suffering from the worst toothache you can imagine, popping Advils like crazy just to survive.
I promise I'll be around to visit and leave comments on everyone's blog just as soon as I can. Until then I keep thinking about all I have to be grateful for... a very understanding family and boss who promises to work with me while I take care of this bothersome problem, a healthy baby kitten who is growing by leaps and bounds, a fast internet connection so I don't feel disconnected from everyone, and plenty of Advil *smiles*

Choose Your Word

2009-01-03T07:45:00.001-05:00

I was reminded by a post of Linda's about choosing a word for the year. I've done this before and I really like how it seems to focus my endeavors when I could so easily be distracted.

What am I hoping for this year? What do I feel I need to work on? Where do I want to be in my journey? What word sums it all up?

My word for 2009 that I'd like to share with you is SIMPLIFY

It so happens I've used this word before a few years ago but I feel the need to use it again. Simplify to make simple or simpler: as a: to reduce to basic essentials b: to
diminish in scope or complexity : streamline c: to make more intelligible

I'm known as the organized one in real life, I've made maps of my attic, my spices are alphabetical, all my clothes hang on white hangers in rainbow order, light to dark, with subcategories of short to long sleeves, but still it's not enough! I have to tame this consumer diva inside me that wants more, more, more possessions and things, all that end up cluttering my home and life and leaving me dissatisfied with my blessings I've received. Enough! Time for me to Simplify so I can focus on more important things like spiritual growth, family, friends, creating.

Won't you join me in choosing your own word for the year to help you keep your focus on your goals? Please share your words with me! I'd love to hear them!

SA - Welcome to you!

2009-01-01T10:03:00.005-05:00

Have you found your copy of Simple Abundance yet? No worries, here's the beauty of this type of book, each day of the year has a little something written so you can pick up and join in any time! I learned that it's better to skip to the end of the month and read the review first as it sort of outlines the gist of what you're reading that month but you truly can jump in on any day. I'm going to give you a very brief sort of over view in my own words what this book is about.

Basically this is a road map to living a gratitude based life, exploring who you are as a creative being, embracing your caregiver role as wife and mother thru loving your home and creating a warm, inviting environment where you're not bogged down in clutter. It's a road map to learning what's really important in our daily lives and finding your authenticity in your daily round, setting aside time and space to reflect upon our spiritual journey as women. While the author doesn't specifically mention a particular faith you can easily incorporate your own personal faith and beliefs with this. So if you're looking for a scripture specific day to day journey this won't be it but I personally find it goes along nicely with my Bible study.

I'm going to share with you the six Simple Abundance principles so you can get started even if you don't have the book. Those six principles are Gratitude, Simplicity, Order, Harmony, Beauty and Joy. And I found the first week's worth of reading online here: January, Part 1

What I'm going to do is share periodically where I am in my journey towards Simple Abundance and if you happen to blog something related to your Simple Abundance journey I hope you'll title your entry using Simple Abundance or SA so we will know it's a SA post. It's my wish we take this journey as it comes, letting it unfold naturally and incorporating the bits that are meaningful to us and not worrying about the bits that are not.

Welcome to you!

More thoughts on Simple Abundance

2008-12-30T07:50:00.004-05:00

Look what I found! A workbook to go along with the Simple Abundance book! It's on Amazon but I think Barnes & Nobles has it too. I remember last time I was doing Simple Abundance that I wished for a bit more guidance in doing the various exercises so I think this is going to be a wonderful resource to have. Do you have your Simple Abundance book yet? Whatcha waiting for? I'm so looking forward to doing this with everyone because I'm hopeful I'll make it thru the entire year this time knowing I have others with me, sharing and supporting as we embark on this wonderful journey together *smiles* Last time I did it very sporadically and didn't even make it to summer *sigh* We can live simply, abundantly, creatively, and most importantly with gratitude for the many blessings we have. Sounds divine doesn't it? I'm so excited!

Bits of Randomness...

2008-12-29T07:35:00.005-05:00

See the peeling color on that one ornament? I thought for sure Indy-kitten would manage to knock that particular one off the tree but sadly it's still intact! I didn't go tree decorating crazy this year with two kitties in the house, one still very much an active and overly curious kitten.

Whatcha think of my tree skirt? I whipped this baby up one evening... easy peasy. Next year I might even line it before using again *smiles* Remember Nester says "IDHTBPTBB"

I'm on the home stretch now... Work is gearing up for our inventory. We have an early date so the agony won't go on and on well into January as in previous years then it's freedom for me! Well maybe not freedom but certainly a less stressful work life which I'm fully intending to take advantage of. Am I the only one behind on around the house projects? There's the sideboard to paint... Remember my $8 for the pair shadeless lamps? I gotta paint those. There's quite a few sewing projects laying around. Oh yeah, some reading...

I purchased several copies of this book off ebay quite awhile ago and shared them with particular friends who I thought would benefit from the message. I certainly embraced it for awhile but sadly slide away from it. Time to start afresh, a new year and all. Won't you join me on a journey towards a life filled with gratitude and joy found in Simple Abundance? We can share our progress. Just an idea. Think about it. Let me know.

More ChrisTmas Decorations

2008-12-21T09:45:00.001-05:00

Last year I really over-did my mantel. I thought it looked fabulous but looking back on the pictures I'm asking myself what was I thinking? So this year with limited time and resources I went a simpler route. Perhaps too simple? I like it and I especially like that my mantel doesn't scream Christmas and can live as it is well into January without me cringing at the sight of Christmas decorations left up past Epiphany. Love the metal tree votive candle holder which is a Family Dollar circa 2002 find but I still haven't picked up some LED fake candles for it. Sold at Hobby Lobby, that store I'm in practically every day all day long, working my fingers to the bone, far too busy to snatch up a pack with a 40% off coupon...*sigh*

Mr Snowman was a Hellmart clearance find maybe back in 2003, I love him so much! His colors match my decor perfectly, I could decorate an entire house with his color scheme...Oh wait, I did decorate my entire house with his color scheme *smiles* And the bird is resting in the last remaining intact stemmed crystal dessert cup that Miss Fatty Catty Sissy managed to destroy.

My apothecary jars... If you're one of my three regular readers then you know that I'm a jar filler challenged person. I'm been in treatment, taking injections for it, I'm trying really hard to overcome this challenge I have... Am I there yet?

And finally a new purse for the holidays, so what if it's been lying on my sewing table buried under more sewing for weeks? Better finished a week before Christmas than a week after I say!

ChrisTmas Sideboard!

2008-12-19T10:23:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to finally post some pictures for y'all! Sorry about the quality, my digi camera still isn't working properly, there's some sort of trouble with the flash but I took all the shades off my dining room chandy to brighten it up enough to take a few pictures so I hope y'all will forgive the quality - I tried!

Now y'all know how I've dreamed and pined for a sideboard and while it's not fully finished (we're going to do that after ChrisTmas) we're still enjoying it! I have it fully loaded!

Here's my do it yourself covered lampshades I made awhile back using the self adhesive shades I bought from my all time favorite store can you guess it's name? Hobby Lobby! I got them on sale for $6.99 each 50% off so they were cheap-o! The fabric is silk and left over from my dining room window treatment so no cost there, the trims were purchased last year at a greatly reduced price due to an inventory overstock reduction sale and if I told you how much I paid you wouldn't believe me and/or would hate me. Now the lamps were purchased from a church rummage sale for $4 for the pair. I knew when I saw them they would be perfect for my sideboard and I think they turned out very nice! What do y'all think?

Now the self adhesive shades are super easy peasy to cover but and I should capitalize this BUT there's a trick...They tell you in the directions to cut your fabric one inch larger all the way around the pattern which is true, you should do that now here's the big BUT, BUT before you glue the excess to the inside of the shade be sure to trim it first otherwise you will see the shadow of the excess fabric each time you turn your beautiful lamp on! I made that mistake on my first one and since I had hotglued the fabric to the inside of the shade I had quite a time trimming and pulling off hotglued fabric so it wouldn't be visible when the lamp was turned on. For the most part I fixed it but I wouldn't look inside my shade too closely if y'all know what I mean!

My beautiful metal shelf! I bought this last summer along with some other things that I've shown y'all already, things that I used to perform a mini bathroom makeover...Remember? This shelf wasn't purchased with a home in mind other than mine but for $4 how could I not buy it? It's been living in my bedroom on the floor beside my dresser till recently when I had a brilliant idea to hang it here next to my jumbo oversized ober expensive mirror...Regular Hobby Lobby shoppers should recognize this beauty! She was originally something like $149.99 and requires hollow wall fasteners to hang, she's hefty! I didn't pay nearly that much *smiles* More like 90% off so that's about $15 and change... Isn't she gorgeous? I love her!

Here's the view all decorated with mini village buildings, most are from Fred's and were on sale for $4.99 each. The quilted table runner is from Walmart clearance of fall stuff this year. The alpines were also from Walmart several seasons ago from their after ChrisTmas clearance. I don't think I'll put them on the sideboard again next year, normally I put them in front of my dining room mantel but wanted to try something different this time.

Now y'all please tell me what you think! I've had this basic arrangement of sideboard with big thing over it, something on either side with two lamps in my head forever... Now that I have it in reality I'm wondering am I on the right track? Is it semi balanced looking? What am I going to put on that shelf after the holidays??? And what should I put on top of the sideboard? Did I completely get it wrong? Suggestions and comments please!

2008-12-13T09:00:00.004-05:00

This weekend we're taking the Boy and the Girl here...

To see rooms like this...
I've been looking forward to this for months! I'm not letting a little cold weather, a persistent cough, and a drive of over an hour in a compact car with four people, three of whom are 5'9"(me), 6' (Mr Darcy), and 6'3" (the Boy) dampen my spirits. Who cares if my decorating isn't done? This is the Biltmore House people!

Things are still crazy busy for me at work and home. I'm still coughing and not feeling 100% yet but I am pleased to report that last night Mr Darcy, the Girl and myself worked on our living room Christmas tree. Progress! O course Indy wouldn't leave us or the tree alone! Have you seen Darlene's blog post on Midnight? Aside from her beautifully decorated tree/home and fur babies that actually get along it's like looking at my own home and our crazy kitten Indy!

Meanwhile I'm trying to whip up a quickie tree skirt from some left over silk I have and stayed up till midnight pinning my trim on. This morning found me sitting at my sewing machine furiously trying to finish up a new robe for my darling Mister D before changing my thread for sewing the skirt. Not quite there yet but close!

Progress thus far...

Living room tree up and decorated

Patriotic tree up and decorated

Sideboard (still unpainted) decorated

Dining room mantel decorated

Bathroom tree decorated

Outside of house decorated

Remains to be done...

Kitchen tree found and decorated

Handmade gifts to be finished

Stockings to be made

All boxes removed

*sigh*

And my camera is still messed up! I don't know what the problem is but the flash isn't working and since my rooms are dark it's making pictures impossible. My darling husband hasn't really shown me how to use his digi camera yet but hopefully I'll learn fast and will be back to posting pictures soon! I have so much to share!

Wishing everyone a wonderfully blessed weekend!

the unspeakable happened...

2008-12-06T09:22:00.004-05:00

Remember these beautiful thrift store stemmed crystal dessert dishes I found for only $8 ??? If I wasn't sick before this certainly pushed me over the edge, my fat kitty, Miss Sissy whom we rescued from her previous disinterested owner, decided to climb her fat fluffy butt on to my wicker bookcases where these beauties were temporarily living till I could find them a more suitable home and knocked every single one of them to the floor. One survived. My dear sweet and extremely patient husband, whom I call Mr Darcy, was in the attic with me putting down more flooring so we could store our Christmas and fall decorations in separate areas making our annual decorating easier. The sound of crystal shattering on the floor is unmistakeable even when one hears it all the way up in the attic! I'm sick, simply, utterly sick. I didn't even have the heart to fuss at Miss Sissy with my normal "bad kitty" speech. It was just too much for me. *sigh* Now if this had been my only recently purchased thrifted bargain to bite the dust this week then I would say it's been a bad week and not merely a horribly bad week but it's not. My dear sweet son who is a real Mr Darcy in the making is 6' 3" and has the bull in the china shop gait to prove it, day before yesterday he managed to knock a 3 plate holder off the kitchen wall along with the plates of course and one has a nasty unhideable chunk knocked off the rim. *sigh* Sometimes I really feel I can't have anything nice, even if it's thrift store nice. OK I'm done whining. I really am. I'm blessed and it could have been so much worse, these are only stupid possessions and matter nothing in the scheme of things. It's just hard when I'm already feeling so physically drained from work and a crud from Hades that is persisting in taking residence in my throat and chest. I'm sorry dear friends, please forgive my rambling. I had such hopes of posting lampshade pictures, sideboard decorated (albeit unpainted) pictures, pictures of something ... instead of nothing.

Ever get a song in your head that is the background music of your day? Mine is "It's the most wonderful time of the year" *smiles* Have a wonderfully blessed and disaster free weekend!

Life in Retail...

2008-11-30T09:26:00.002-05:00

I am exhausted after working long crazy hours this holiday weekend. And I'm coming down with some sort of awful crud. Please forgive my lack of blogging. I hope to be back at it very soon but for now I'm going to rest and try to get over this crud that is wearing me down. Many happy blessings to everyone!

Sideboard

2008-11-24T08:44:00.006-05:00

My sideboard is all cleaned, wood filled, sanded and ready to be prime coated! I'm so excited but my dear sweet Mr Darcy suggested I wait till after Thanksigiving before tackling the painting. I think he's afraid he won't get his huge feast lest I'm still painting. So I'm reluctantly going to wait till after Thanksgiving to finish it. In the meanwhile though I thought about buying some of these to cover with the red silk fabric that's on the bottom of my dining room window treatment, what do you think?

I scored a pair of buffet lamps in a yard sale up in Lake Lure for $4 !!! But they were without shades and sometimes you can spend way too much replacing shades. You know how I love a bargain and I can get these for $6.99 a piece then 50% off plus my discount so I end up with two for less than the price of one. I can't go wrong right?

Daydreams vs Reality

2008-11-19T08:52:00.001-05:00

One of the things I love most about my old house is it's dining room. I never lived in a home with a proper dining room, most had dining areas and some had eat-in kitchens. And when we purchased this home years ago my Mother was living with us so we used the dining room as our family room so there would be room for Mother. It was only after we moved back into our home about 3 years ago that I finally had a dining room. I've spent countless hours over the last 20 odd years daydreaming about this:And sometimes I'd daydream about dining rooms that looked like this:

Once we moved back in I especially started to daydream about these:
With all that daydreaming of mine what have I ended up with? Good question! This is what I ended up with, a thrifted, neglected, abused, unloved, very dirty, old, broken down sideboard purchased from the Summerville Flea Market for $50 a few months back. I have since decided I paid way too much! It lives on my porch and helps to round out my white trash decor to adore so we can fit in with our neighbors lest they find out we're not really from around here you know...
Sorry the picture is so small but trust me, this baby doesn't improve with enlargement! It's a big project and we've (my darling Mr Darcy and me) just started tackling it. In case you're wondering when the best time to start a big furniture rehab project is, let me clue you in, the absolute best time is as soon as the weather turns too cold to work outside and it's less than two weeks before a major holiday! *smiles*

I'm a WoW Widow...

2008-11-14T06:56:00.004-05:00

My darling Mr Darcy and The Boy play World of Warcraft together. The new expansion pack came out Wednesday night at midnight... Of course The Boy stood in line at Gamestop to buy their copies. The Boy stayed up all night installing both on to the their computers. My darling Mr Darcy took Friday off as a personal day in order to play the new game. After staying up all night he's resting now but I'm sure he'll be kicking me off the computer any time now. So since I'm a WoW widow I'm off to meet a friend for coffee then on to another friend's scrapbook store to play with paper *smiles* Are you a WoW widow too? Or maybe you're a golf widow or NASCAR widow or Football widow? what do you do when your menfolk are completely absorbed into their games/hobbies?

Mr Darcy goes a thrifting...

2008-11-12T17:36:00.001-05:00

My darling Mr Darcy took me on a thrifting adventure weekend before last. We drove over to the little foothills village of Landrum in search of the Habitat for Humanity Resale shop. We were not disappointed. I found these two ironstone plates for 75 cents each but when I checked out discovered they had been on the half price table! Can't beat that deal! I thought I'd hang them with my other two pretty plates I found on my birthday.
As I walked thru the shop I came to the linens section. I thought why not have a look and I started digging thru stacks of linens and found these animal print Euro shams, two of them for 25 cents a piece! Of course I had to get them even though I have nothing remotely close to cooridinating with them in my bedroom. And I found 6 beige cloth napkins for 25 cents each. I love using cloth napkins, don't you?

Now brace yourself for this next find. A set of 8 crystal stemmed dessert glasses for only $8!!! Perfect or almost perfect condition. Upon very close inspection I noticed one had the tiniest of little chipped area along the rim but this is nothing compared to the beauty of them. I would never have noticed it if I hadn't been looking really really close. Where to store them? Display them? *sigh*

A small apothocary jar for a dollar! Maybe it won't be as intimidating for me to fill up since it's small.

Landrum is a quaint little town with several antique shops and artsy style shops, lots of fun to explore on a beautiful fall day with your schmoopy-pie! We had lunch at a rustic and dark little place named "The Hare and Hound", did I mention this was a horsey enthusiastic community? *smiles* It just added to the charm, my darling Mr Darcy used to show horses in his youth so he enjoys the whole atmosphere. I do too.

A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award

2008-11-09T15:50:00.003-05:00

Do you know Darlene of Darlene's Days? I bet you do, she has such a cute blog where she shares her daily decorating adventures whether it's a thrifted find she's made over into something totally fab or pictures of her dear daughter Lexi's adorable bedroom each entry is truly worth reading and copying. Now she's a sweetie, so sweet in fact that she was given the Perfect Blend of Friendship Award and passed it along to me! Imagine my surprise and delight. Be sure to visit her blog, she's a daily must read for me and I'm sure she'll fast become one of your favorite blogs too.

This award asks you to answer four questions.

Do you have the same friends since childhood? I moved several times growing up and lost contact with many friends but I've been blessed in recent years to be reunited with a few. Even though we live in different states we manage to keep in touch thru emails and it's wonderful.

What do you value most about your friends? Understanding. I think it's too easy to find fault with people and take offense. I value friends who try to understand where someone else may be coming from before judging, like the old saying about walking a mile in another's shoes.

Are your friends sounding boards? Absolutely! I tend to obsess over things and by talking things over with them it helps me to have clarity. I value their opinions and experiences.

What is your favorite activity to share with friends? Shopping is pretty close to the top of my list but I think time spent just hanging out and creating is pretty wonderful.

Now I am supposed to pass this along to three of my blogging friends they are:

Susie at Bienvenue

Rhonda at Scooterblu's Whimsy

Debs at Langfordlass

Be sure to stop by their blogs, you'll quickly see why I think they are wonderful blogging friends! And don't forget to visit Darlene of Darlene's Days who honored me with this special friendship award.

This One's For Darlene!

2008-11-06T07:50:00.002-05:00

I started this project just before I left on my grand Hobby Lobby Adventure to Statesboro GA. I finally finished it Monday morning! This is NOT a difficult project but things are a little crazy in my home lately... I don't remember being this busy when my child was little. Here I am today with two over the age of 18 (The Boy and his fiancee The Girl), two kitties inside, two puppies outside, a divine Mister and a never ending TO-Do list... Of course the twice daily round trips south (each 45 minutes one way = 3 hours daily commute) doesn't help much when it comes to creating more hours in my day to create and play.

If anyone has the answer for all of us struggling crafting diva's please share! Cause I ain't figured it out yet... *smiles* Have a wonderfully blessed and creative day!

Pumpkin Carving with Indy

2008-11-03T07:17:00.001-05:00

The Girl loves to carve pumpkins and she loves her new kitty, Indy so naturally we had to combine the two...

What is that?

Oh that face!

My turn, let me have him!

The Girl says it's from a Batman comic book...

She would know...

She's a huge Dark Knight fan so I'm taking her word for it.

I may not recognize it but I still think it's pretty awesome looking

*smiles*

Meet Indiana Jones...

2008-11-01T08:22:00.001-04:00

The newest addition to our little family...

oh that face!
My pleasure to introduce "Indy" short for Indiana Jones...
I know, he's darling, so precious, so little... my heart melts!Here's Indy snoozing with Pop-pop
Here's Indy snoozing with The Girl
Aww, he's such a little bit of fluff...
A black Tabby-kitty
That face!

The Girl has tiny little feet so you can't really see how tiny he is.

I worry we're going to step on him so I'm always watching my feet as

I'm walking around our home.

Sometimes it helps to have a new love to help you get over

losing an old love... Nothing could ever replace our sweet Slyvester

but Indy is a loving balm on our broken hearts.

Finally Some Fall Decorations

2008-10-31T08:45:00.002-04:00

I am so behind! If anyone has tips on how to manage blogging, work, commuting, home caring, family, friends, crafting, thrifting, decorating, errands, etc please PLEASE comment! I have no idea how some of the bloggers manage to do it all... They must be Wonder Woman! I am not, so here it is October 31st and I'm finally sharing some pictures of my decorations.

Before picture of mantel in dining room...

After a few changes...

Definitely more "fall-ish" don't you think?

A little corner with my scarecrow...New fall garland I got at a huge discount last year. I've been so anxious to put it up!

I love this detail about our home, having this whatever you call it opening to decorate.

A closer view of the garland, there's even feathers in it! I love those feathers!

On this wall I used to have some old OLD family portraits but decided I needed a change so they are safely tucked under my bed and I hung up this painting instead. Not really my taste but I sort of thought the fields and house fit my harvest theme I had in mind.

Remember in the before mantel picture - my faux P.O.O.P.I.E. or anti-P.O.O.P.I.E. greenery basket? I can never remember if P.O.O.P.I.E. is good or bad - any who, I stuck a black glittered crow on a stake in it and stuck it on top of a trunk along a short wall in our dining room. I probably should have just stored the greenery for the season and found something else to stick the stake into ....

My dining table... I love dressing this table up! If I have my table all set pretty then my guys are discouraged from using it as a dumping ground...
I should find some candles for those candlesticks. They were purchased in a Charleston yard sale for a buck. The green handled flatware is from Bi-lo grocery store, fifty cents a piece, the apple ramekins are from WM's Better Homes & Garden Collection and were about $4 each. The leaf plates were found on an end cap at WM for $3 each and of course my black wicker chargers were from my beloved Hobby Lobby Garden 2008 clearance... You don't want to know how much I paid for them!
I have these black wicker book cases in my dining room that I hot glued some fabric to the backs of so I would have a way to display a few things in there since I don't have a china cabinet. Then I made my dining room curtains and the fabric totally doesn't match, this is more of a muted burgandy and my curtains are a rich deep brick-ish red burgandy so I've been debating what to change it to. Any suggestions on color or pattern?
Another shelf with a metal basket weave bowl from Cracker Barrel, I love this bowl and have candle cup holders to match but I haven't found them yet in my attic! Pumpkin on candlestick in hallway... I had no idea where to put this since I had my dining table all done up with my pumpkin soup tureen so I stuck it here.

Remember the before shot of my mantel? This is where all that stuff ended up!
Normally I do a very fussy mantel with lights, loads of garlands, the village tucked in and ribbon galore but this year I went a simplier route due to a severe lack of decorating time.

Now y'all know how these apothocary jars challenge me! I don't have beautiful and bountiful collections of bits to fill it with, I swear I'm drinking wine as fast as I can to get enough corks *smiles* just kidding... but my Girl said she loved the pinecones in it so ....
All you talented tassel makers look away! Look away! My pathetic attempt... Usually I put a little pumpkin up here on the seat but I couldn't find it, I swear every year there's a box or two of decorations that go missing till I root around for the next holiday's decorations and then I find them too late to use!
And that's it, my pitiful attempts this year but there's always Thanksgiving to redeem myself, and maybe this year I'll manage to find my light up pilgrims before the big day instead of after...

Sad Friday

2008-10-27T08:14:00.001-04:00

I had a horrible Friday, simply awful and tragic. While pulling out of my driveway to go to work I discovered sweet Slyvester laying in the road. He'd been hit and killed just moments before. I quickly pulled over and picked him up to carry him home, where he would be safe until we could bury him. You can well imagine how devestating this was. I stroked him and spoke to him even though he was no longer in this world then my son and I prayed over him.

I tried to go to work, crying the whole way there and my assistant manager sent me home. She's an animal lover as well and knew the pain I was in. At home my son and I talked about how much we loved Slyvester and how best to break the news to Caroline. Early afternoon I went to pick my husband up from work and we stopped at Lowe's to purchase some lumber in order to build a nice box for Slyvester.

Early evening found my two guys building in the garage. And awhile later Caroline's Mom and her Mom's friend Robert arrived. My husband, son, Caroline and me all wrote special messages of love to Slyvester in his box and placed items that were special to him in it. His cushion Caroline made, his food dish my son had bought him, a rose from our yard, ribbon from his favorite toy... My guys dug a hole under our big tree outside my kitchen window, the tree Slyvester loved to climb. And we all held a memorial service for him in the gently falling rain. My son said a few words, followed by me and then my husband. Caroline threw the first spadeful of dirt into his grave. What a brave girl!

Perhaps some would think this was alot to do for a pet but in our home, our pets are an important part of our family. Slyvester meant the world to Caroline and Caroline means the world to us. I put a metal cross on his grave to mark it and will make a wooden plaque soon with his name. This was our Friday, very sad and tearful.

Slyvester

Beloved Kitty

October 24, 2004

October 24, 2008

Home Away from Home

2008-10-22T07:49:00.007-04:00

I stayed at a very nice, new hotel while on my Lobby Adventure. We were paired up with roommates and my first one snored... My second one was a young 20-something who grinded her teeth while sleeping, and my third roommate...

Was neatness challenged... !!!
There's no place like home!

The Lobby Part Two

2008-10-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

Can y'all stand a few more Lobby pictures? I'm going to spare y'all the other depts and just share my side of the store ~ Fabric and Needlework...

Look at all that yummy ribbon, so pretty and neat...

Total eye candy of ribbon-licious!
You can just imagine how long all of this took to sort out...
The crate is filled with boxes full of glass dividers.
I went thru an entire crate just in Needlework alone.

Needlework up next! A whole lot of nothing... Yarn that I know almost nothing about...

More yarn but I learned quick let me assure you! Oh this pole was a huge problem for me!

Next post ~ My hotel room!

Adventures in the land of Hobby Lobby

2008-10-17T09:08:00.006-04:00

Hello...Remember me? I used to blog once then I went on a

grand Hobby Lobby adventure to Statesboro Georgia...

Let me tell you a little about it or better yet, I'll show you!

This is what a new store looks like before it's fit for the customers to see...

Loads of boxes piled almost to the ceiling! In the middle right you see a man in a red shirt, that's store manager Bob, Hi Bob! This view is from the aisle behind the registers looking towards the lobby doors...Scary huh?More boxes, can you believe it? Where on earth are we going to put all this stuff?!?!

This is the view of what we affectionately refer to as the "Pit", it's the area behind the registers where all the lovely Home Accents items live on those glass tables. Doesn't look so lovely now does it? This shot below is taken from Seasonal looking towards Floral cause I know there are some of you girls who know their Lobby Floor Layouts very well and if dropped in a store blindfolded could easily find their way to any section! Now here we have a view of a Seasonal aisle...What made this particular store set up so rough according to those who have been on more than one is the fact we were setting three seasons vs just one like say Garden. This is the Fall Aisle, one of several...This is a view of a Christmas Aisle but as I would learn in days to come there is actually Wave One of Christmas and Wave Two... Wowser!

More Christmas! Looks like the North Pole threw up in here!
This view below is the scene from the side wall in Seasonal, again looking towards Floral... Now the next picture down will surely scare you!

This is what made me extremely nervous working... See all those boxes? How would a person get thru those? Over the top of 'em? Who knows! But fortunately they didn't remain like this for very long...
I have a few more pictures to share in my next post. I'm just so dog-gone happy to be home again! While this was a great learning experience for me it also was tough to be away from my family for so many long work filled hours. Sometimes those hours were filled with other people's drama too which only added to me missing my family and friends, people who live relatively drama-free lives by comparison *smiles* Isn't it funny how different people handle their stress? I learned things about the people I was around that I really didn't need to know *smiles* When you get that many women together, well, let's just say it ain't always pretty how they behave if you know what I mean...
My method of dealing with the less than nice people I was stuck with was to return to my room and watch HGTV on the flat screen tv! What a treat since I don't have cable at home! *smiles* OK dear blogging friends, this concludes today's tour of Adventures in the Land of Hobby Lobby! Big Hugs to each of you as I've missed you so SO much!

au revoir

2008-10-05T09:11:00.002-04:00

Sadly another post without pictures, where has my time gone? I meant to upload some but time has escaped me. It's been wonderful to be home these few days and I'm certainly dreading my departure this afternoon. I'll never agree to such an assignment again! What should have been a week and a half turned out to be two and a half weeks plus another 5 days on this go-around. On the upside, I learned a lot, met some great people... On the downside I got to know some people better and I missed my family horribly.

My plans when I return:
Never leave again!
Unpack once and for all.
Make a trip up to the attic for my fall decorations.
Start my Christmas gifts to make list.
Do something about my big honkin' furniture rehab.
Upload some pictures.
Prepare my home for cooler months (pantry, bedrooms, etc).
Blog, blog, and more blogging whether it's reading, commenting, or posting!

OK friends, my deepest apologies for once again posting without pictures. I hope ya'll can forgive me and now I'd much rather be here with ya'll then off on this never ending adventure. Take care everyone and have a wonderfully blessed week. I'll check in when I can... until then "au revoir"

Am I home ?

2008-10-02T06:56:00.002-04:00

The ordeal of travel is temporarily over, I got home late Tuesday evening. It was like a scene from the tv show "Wife Swap" my reunion with my sweet Mister Darcy. Then the next morning I got up and drove my 45 minute commute to my store and worked, all day long! And I'm going to do the same again today, I don't feel like I've had a day off in forever and I'm really just wanting to hang out all day in front of the computer catching up with my friends who live inside and staying in my pj's... Maybe tomorrow....a day off for me? Let's hope so!

a little update from me...

2008-09-26T22:30:00.003-04:00

hello everyone! another post and no pictures *sorry* it's been a week since I posted and still I'm not back home, still on the road doing the Lobby thing. I've worked so many hours that my overtime has gone into overtime *smile* I'm praying sometime Tuesday I can head towards my beloved family cause I've sure been missing them something terrible! and ya'll too! I droll over the idea of spending an entire day planted in front of my computer catching up with everyone's wonderful blogs and decorating adventures.

Today we had what is called a "soft" open meaning we opened the doors to the public but didn't advertise. People were so excited to see the new store they were over heard on cell phones calling friends and family "hey Hobby Lobby is open NOW" *giggles* I can't tell you how proud I felt to be a part of it and see how this one store brought such happiness and excitment to a small community. People were saying things like "I've been waiting forever for ya'll to open a store here" or "I'm so happy you're here" just nice things said by nice people, this is a great community. And I got to be a part of it..

Hopefully soon I'll be back home where I belong but until then know that I am so missing reading everyone's blogs. Have a wonderfully blessed weekend!

Hi Ya'll

2008-09-19T21:25:00.002-04:00

OK just a quick note to say that I miss ya'll so much! You can't imagine the withdrawal I'm suffering from, withdrawal from my family & friends, my sewing machine, sunshine, free time, computer time, crafting time, you name and I'm suffering from missing it. I am not suffering from lack of working hours though spent on my feet *sigh* But I'm learning a lot and have met some interesting people. No tree fluffing though, maybe this weekend *fingers crossed*

And I learned the future of the road teams is short, seems corporate is trying to put together a permanent team based out of OKC that will fly into a Lobby-less town at a moment's notice to put a store together and as I've no interest in relocating or being on the road 10 months of the year, I'm going to just be thankful for this opportunity to see how it all works.

Do you think my sewing machine will remember me?

Hope ya'll have a wonderfully blessed weekend... I have heard a rumor that I may be headed home sometime Thursday or Friday.

Miz Hobby Lobby has almost left the building

2008-09-11T18:35:00.001-04:00

Remember when I asked for prayers on receiving a certain work related assignment? Well I got chosen for the team and my scheduled departure time is fast arriving. I'm so nervous. I've never been on one of these new store sets as they are called and to top it off our District Manager made me Lead Person for the department I'm working in for this set. Can you believe it? So much confidence in my untested abilities is overwhelming and I sure don't want to disappoint him!

So here's the deal, I'm going to be gone for maybe as few as 6 days and as many as 14 days working straight thru the entire time incredibly long hours, most likely something like 8 am till 8 pm or 7 am till 8 pm or something similiar. The store will be set with merchandise according to the current corporate layout and I'm in charge of my respective dept, fabric and needlework.

I'll stay in a hotel room along with my roommate whom I've never met before, having been matched up according to smoking or as in my case non smoking preferences then our days will be spent work, work, working on putting a new store together. Mucho overtime pay! Pretty exciting but pretty nerve wracking too as I'm a homebody and will miss my family so much! I wish I had a laptop I could take with me but sadly I don't. There is supposed to be a pc at the hotel according to their website so fingers crossed I can keep up to date with all of you although I won't attempt to blog anything during this time.

So this is my temporary farewell post till I return and can update on my grand Hobby Lobby adventure. I'm taking my digi camera so hopefully I can get some tree fluffing pictures and do a tutorial on it. Truly it's simple, so simple you're probably already doing it! I'm so addicted to seeing everyone's projects! *smiles* I'll miss ya'll so much!

If this assignment goes well for me then I may be on the next one scheduled for Spring in the Charleston SC area! I love me some Charleston *smiles* OK my darling crafting diva friends don't forget me while I'm gone and I'll visit ya'll on your blogs as I can *smiles*

Bye bye!

Copy Cat Rag Garland

2008-09-08T07:36:00.004-04:00

Darlene of Darlene's Days made a cute rag garland and posted a great tutorial on it. I also made one of these in very miniature form last year for my kitchen island Christmas tree but it wasn't nearly as full as the one Darlene made and I'm attempting to make. It's not finished, most likely won't be finished for a few weeks yet with my grand adventure looming on the horizon but I wanted to post this so Darlene could see I really am working on it *smiles*

Here's my cute fabric I bought to get me started, of course an iced cafe mocha helps the process tremendeously! Darlene failed to mention that part but I figured it out *giggles*

I moved from my dining room to my craft room so my table could go back to looking like this before I depart for Statesboro GA.

For shame my work area in my craft space is a disgrace.

Yikes! How can anyone work in this mess?

My dear sweet very own Mr Darcy drilled some holes in my letters for me. Too bad I haven't managed to paint them yet.

And here's a peek at my rag garland in process. I got to diggin' thru my stash and found some other fabric and trim bits to add to it. Can't wait to show it off when it's finally finished! Thanks Darlene for a great tutorial!

Sofa Wall

2008-09-05T09:07:00.003-04:00

When I first started working at the Lobby two years ago these tapestry panels were in the clearance bin! Since we had just moved back into our home less than 4 months before I was in desperate need of decorative things that were big, cheap, and in my new colors. This tapestry fit the bill perfectly and I eyed it for several weeks till my payday rolled around and I was able to buy it. A quickie hem job around the edges, a trip to Walmart for a cheap rod and ring clips to hang it. I had wall art! I still love this tapestry...

But it needed a little more oomph so I added some bullion fringe to the bottom and swapped out the cheapy rod for a nicer one that matched my window treatments.

A muslin casing sewn to the back and bye bye ring clips.

This is what she looks like now but I'm wondering if I should add some draped cording looping across the top to match the fringe? I've been debating that idea for months now...

Then a few days ago I got the call I live for... My boss said I'll make you a deal on the clearance aisle stuff... I quickly grabbed a buggy and off I went... I got three buggies full of stuff and paid less than $10 for it all. My discount applied on top of his incredible deal. I got these three wall keys and was wondering if I should paint them black and hang them on either side of the tapesty? Maybe one on the left side and two on the right staggered? Whaddya think? Opinions anyone?

Please don't look at my scarred up wood floor *sigh* When removing carpeting the renters had destroyed we discovered wood flooring! It's all scarred up and discolored, the carpet had been glued down and I used the most noxious smelling stuff in full protective gear to scrape the old glue off the wood. Hard to believe we owned this house for 14 years before we made this discovery. I guess in a way the renters destruction was a blessing in disguise. Cause I love wood floors even discolored and scarred up. One day we'll refinish them but for now I just live with them as they are. Ooops sorry, where were we? Oh yes, the keys? So what do ya'll think? Paint them? Hang them? Forget them?

A little mistreatin' going on...

2008-08-29T16:02:00.005-04:00

Before, tab tops that didn't quite reach the floor...

After mistreating with nice fabric and trim...

A little something for the door too

Nice new rod (clearance of course)

Wait, you say it doesn't look mistreated to you?

OK I confess I did sew them but wait, check out the next picture...

Now THAT looks like a mistreatment!
I sewed right over the tab tops!

*grin*

I've had these Kmart special Martha Stewart panels for awhile, they were my bedroom curtains when we were in corporate housing and I had the rusty red bedding and taupe walls. When we moved back into our home I decided they suited the living room more. But after reading all the do's and don'ts about window treatments, well I realized that they were far to short. I didn't have enough fabric in my stash to raise the rods up higher but with the addition they now bend onto the floor. I had so little of the fabric that I had to scrounge around and use some muslin scraps for the rod casing but all in all I think it's a definite improvement.

I pimped my 'dex! (what?)

2008-08-29T08:11:00.005-04:00

I made this project awhile back but thought I'd share... I know it's been all over the blogs and scrapping/stamping websites, I'm not claiming credit *smiles*

This is my roladex that I prettified with some Basic Grey paper and embellies. I started by making a template of the roladex itself so I'd have pattern to cut the scrapbook paper. I just simply laid it on it's side and traced around it, cut it out and checked for fit then used that to trace around onto my scrapbook paper. Oh the wonders of Modge Podge...

Here's the individual divider cards, did the same thing with them as I did the body, just traced around a card to make a template. The colors went well with my gold and red living room. Imagine all the possible applications for this project... perhaps a mini recipe holder for the kitchen? birthday and important date keeper? business card holder? favorite website bookmarker? lol I'm sure someone could morph this into something clever.

It's such an honor

2008-08-25T06:54:00.008-04:00

My first blog award, given to me by Darlene of Darlene's Days Darlene has a super cute blog highlighting her yard sale finds, her creative use of spray paints, and her lovely home that she has been updating with great finds and clever furniture arrangement. Give her a visit and be sure to leave a comment as let's face it, it's all about the comments people! I live for comments, don't you?

For this award I'm supposed to list six things that make me happy...

My family and friends (including bloggy land friends)
My pets
Creating
Daydreaming about creating
Shopping for creating
Working at the Lobby where I can do #3, #4, and #5
Honorable mention: Starbucks! I don't one very often, watching my calories *smiles* but it's a real treat when I do allow myself to enjoy one!

OK now I'm supposed to pass this award along to five more people and they are supposed to post it on their blog including who it came from and 6 things that make them happy.

Miz Susie of Bienvenue Susie is a very inspiring, uplifting, creative lady. Her tassels are to die for and she has such a lovely home. Not only is she loaded with creativity but she's a real sweetheart. Be sure to scroll back thru and check out her home tour!

Bella of a day in the life of bella Bella is another one of those inspiring, positive thinking ladies, who loves a good yard sale! She has been updating her home with lots of creative touches and occassional recipe. Be sure to give her a visit!

Shannon of Bless Our Nest this little girl is wise beyond her years in decorating style. Her post on bedding makes you want to dive right into one of her comfy, lovely looking guest rooms to snuggle up and never leave! Lots of inspiration can be found there, be sure to visit her please.

Blanca of For the love of my home is another one of those creative girls who can whip up a fabulous project after midnight when the kiddo's are sleeping! So many ideas from her blog and so little time to try them out *sigh* You must visit her!

Nikki of Project: Domestic Bliss another young creative hip chick who has so much going on in a creative sense. Great ideas, lots of style, sweet lady. Be prepared to spend some time scrolling thru her projects *sigh* so much creativity, I'm jealous!

Many thanks to Darlene for my first ever blog award, I'm so excited! And there were probably like 50 more blogs I could easily award this to, so many talented bloggers out there!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A little weekend update...

I've been hating my bedroom, no secret there. Been making do with my old bedding back from our corporate housing days when my bedroom was taupe. The despised bedding is rusty red and gold, lovely but it so doesn't go with Lowe's Leaf Green walls, this is the same green on the bottom half of my bathroom walls. Now I came up with some great alternatives, like black and white damask bedding which I think would be gorgeous in my bedroom and I'm sure to be very happy with it but it's pricey and I refuse to spend any $$$. So my next alterative was to shop my attic! I'll have to blog my attic one day, Oh My Word, that's a scary thought *smiles* Then one of my awarded bloggers, Shannon, of Bless Our Nest totally inspired me with her guest rooms. She blended her bedding for a mix matched look that totally rocks and looks so divinely snuggable. How can I get that look without spending? After some thought and a look around my calico wall at the Lobby, this is what I came up with. I present my $4 Master Bedroom makeover...

This quilt was given to us by my step MIL about 22 years ago. I'm sure she had it atleast 5 or 10 years before that, so it would be about 30 years old. It's a geniune Amish quilt. Step MIL gave it to us because of an ugly ink stain along the pie shaped scalloped border... *sigh* Well let me tell you, a good dousing with Grandma's Secret Spot Remover and soaking in the washing machine lifted the old, old ink spot out completely! I dried this lovely quilt draped over my porch railing on top of sheet. Our front porch either looked totally like redneck white trash or an antique shop, depending on how generous you viewed the sight (my big honkin furniture rehab is living on the porch right now). But the ink spot is gone, the quilt is no longer yellowed, and smells divine from being hung out of doors to dry.

Yes I know that white cord from the bedside lamp just jumps right out at you! I hate it. My table square is just a piece of fabric from my stash that I added some pom pom fringe all around to. The D. Morgan tapestry was a Charleston YS find that cost me $2, I spray painted the dowel rod black. The candle and candle holder were $1 each from the Lobby clearance aisle. The black wicker bowl on the bedside table was $2 (shopping on the clock, priceless). The crocheted pillow shams I've had for years. The vase on the pedestal is from Okinawa Japan and was given to me on my first Valentine's Day with my husband who wasn't my husband quite yet back then, we were married a month later, but I've kept it all these years and proudly display it.

I need to hang some black fabric behind this mantel too. It's an oldy though, I ripped it out of an old house years ago with a crow bar all by myself. The mirror was stamped with the year 1920. I spent one winter stripping and refinishing it, a labour of love. My finish of choice is tung oil. The antique dome topped trunk in front of the mantel is from the 1880's and had the original tray inside. I left the refinishing of this to a retired Air Force Colonel who had a refinishing shop outside Goldsboro NC. For two months I drove from La Juene every pay day to make a payment on the cost of the refinishing. Well worth it. On top is my baby blanket which is pretty remarkable considering our home burned when I was 11 and we lost pretty much everything. It had been used on my older brother and sister. Sadly I didn't have it when my son was born but someday my future grandbabies will be wrapped in it *smiles* Ooops you see that hanger?

And coffee mug? *smiles*

Shannon suggested I incorporate some brown into my bedding in order to help transition my lighter color quilt and bedding to the winter months. Still looking for some brown fabric to make Euro Shams out of but atleast I know my sheet is brown, does that count?

This is where I spent the money this weekend on my bedroom makeover, I bought 2.5 yards of homespun calico, $2.99/yard, discounted 30% to $2.09/yard then minus my 15% employee discount, $4 and change... Not bad. I have always loved this one. The lace I sewed to the bottom of the skirt was given to me from a work friend.

For the decking portion of the bedskirt I used an old twin sheet that I cut down to fit.

And that's it, my bedroom makeover. I still have some things to add, like the Euro pillows, some more throw pillows, but all in all it's pretty much done for now. My husband is happy we're back to using the quilt as he appreciates handcraftedness and has always loved this quilt. He said he thought my bedskirt looked really pretty with the quilt and how pretty he thought our room looked. Next will be an updated window treatment as well as something new for the canopy area. Still daydreaming on my options there... Maybe another trip to the attic will produce the eyelet panels I know that are somewhere up there *smiles* Thanks for looking! And thanks to Shannon for the inspiration!

YS Find

2008-08-21T06:38:00.005-04:00

*Edited to add: All the trees have been fluffed & I didn't know I was going to be doing it until I got there so sadly no camera! When it's time to get our trees out of storage I will show the very simple, very easy tree fluffing method we used at work. Unless of course I am chosen to be on the set team for the new store in September and I can get pictures of the tree fluffing there. You're probably already doing it and not realizing you're a professional tree fluffer-upper! *smiles*

I've been looking for lamps quite awhile without much luck. Remember the ys trip I made to Charleston awhile back to pick up my big honkin' furniture rehab? Well I scored on some great finds, one was a pair of very heavy lamps for $5 each. I offered $8 and the owner agreed *smiles*

They seem to be unglazed ceramic ? I totally hate the green bands on them and the white jumps out too much for my decor. I wonder what color I should paint them? Or if I could rub on something to knock that white back to a more antiquey golden color? And what about that green? Could I repaint that first and if so what color? My home is mostly golds, reds and touches of black, only my bathroom and master bedroom is green.

The shades are unfortunate *sigh* I so have to find new ones. I was thinking maybe some that are sort of retangle shaped, something I could recover in a gorgeous fabric...

Oh and this is my wicker stand I got a few weeks ago off the clearance aisle at work. My boss gave me a chance to shop on the clock again and let things go for next to nothing because he needed to get the Christmas trees out and leftovers were in the way!

Wanna guess how much?

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job?

*smiles*

Yesterday was tree fluffy duty for me. I got to watch the official Lobby DVD on how to properly fluff a Christmas tree! Then I spent the morning doing exactly that. My arms are scratched up but let me tell you girls it was fun! I had a great time and I got to hear some of the latest news from the corporate lady sent around to help train people on tree fluffing! Look out Statesboro Georgia and Charleston SC area, you both have Hobby Lobby's coming soon!

And fingers crossed I'll be on the set team *pray for me please to get this assignment*

Please leave me some advice on how to make these bargain's into beauties!

Mini Makeover

2008-08-19T06:49:00.005-04:00

I was off Friday so decided to update my bath a little with some deeply discounted items from my favorite store *smiles* I heart the colors in these pictures and think they blend nicely with what I have going on so far

A closer view...

I had a chrome over the door towel rack which was fine when we lived in corp housing and my bathroom was decorated in white, ice blue, and black but it just didn't go with the warmer colors of our home. Plus I love me so wrought iron. I hung this about 4 times in various locations in the room before deciding on this spot. I even got out the spackle and filled the holes so my darling Mr Darcy wouldn't notice.

See under the sink there? I popped my chrome finish trashcan into this wicker basket. You seriously don't want to know what my boss sold that to me for *smiles*

This chest was my husband's from childhood, it's not antique, but it is his so love it all the same. It seriously needs some love though, I have this idea of painting it and doing the antiquey finish with some new knobs. Any suggestions on color? I have some left over upper wall paint and I will have some black paint soon for my big honkin' furniture rehab to end all rehabs...

The Poo Poo Palace now has a hidey hole, I hated it sitting out in the room! Oh and I learned that while silk is gorgeous and makes a lovely shower curtain it also watermarks... *sigh*

The metal kitty was last year's clearance at work and the blue bottle came from husband's grandmother's barn! Love that bottle. I had our extra rolls in a chrome basket but I think this one looks better. What do you think? Improvement?

Thanks for looking at my mini bathroom makeover/update!

Not yet...

2008-08-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

Sunflowers remind me of home. My childhood home. Back in Kansas. All those years ago. The garden my Daddy planted every year, including several rows of sunflowers. How I loved those sunflowers... Now my home is very far removed from the home of my youth. My people are all gone now, the old homeplace long since sold to another and barely recognizable the last time I saw it but still the memory remains upon my heart, each time I see sunflowers I see the little girl in braids running across the field to hug her Daddy after the school bus dropped her off. Or I see sister and Daddy sitting on the porch spitting shells from eating sunflower seeds. Or Momma sitting on the porch swing in her apron snapping beans from the garden with our dogs at her feet. I cherish these memories for they reside within me and no other. If I should forget them does that mean they never were? I shall not think of that, no, not yet, for I do still remember after all these years.

Weekend

2008-08-08T06:32:00.005-04:00

***Edited to add***

We're home safe and sound!

Many thanks to our friends, Dave and Tammy, for a wonderful weekend!

I'm headed to Charleston this afternoon after work with my darling Mr. D for the weekend!

We're going to pick up my major rehab project...

I'm so excited!

(this is us on vacation in Charleston last year at the Tall Ship Festival)

The Presidential Library

2008-07-31T06:33:00.004-04:00

Perhaps this was what you were expecting?

By the way, I made the shower curtain and window treatment!

This is my hallway. A before shot. Sorry it's not a long view. This small chest was my husband's as a child. When we were expecting our son years ago, I stripped and painted it white. Haven't changed it since. But oh how I've wanted to. Now it's living in the dining room, a temporary home as it turns out because I bought the big honkin' furniture rehab to end all furniture rehabs recently. But shhhhh, that's all I'm telling about it for now... well, I will mention it involves a trip to Charleston next weekend! Hate me!

Now here's the after.

I moved a bookcase from my living room and purchased another to match. I was inspired by a small space decorating magazine to make a library corner in your home. I've been wanting to do that for some time but hadn't quite figured out where until now. My sweet Mr Darcy installed shelves in our living room closet to hold our various media. It was jam packed with books too. I hated it. I'm a little on the OCD side about organizing... So this library project affected three rooms in my home. I'm proud to say the media is alphabetized... or was until darling Mr D rearranged his side of the closet, argh!
Remember the ugly chair? I had bought it with an idea of placing it next to the bookcases but realized when I got it home it's probably way too big even though I never tried it to see for sure.

Can't really tell it from the pictures but this is my patriotic "room". I have lots of red, white and blue items displayed on the shelves, most from the Lobby. My darling Mr and I both proudly served in the 'Corps but that's a story for another day. This is where I proudly display the "Presidential" pictures of the Big Man and my darling Mr. I even have an autographed one with "Best Wishes, George Bush".

More "Presidential" pictures. I had a grouping made but split them up on either side of the door way to the dining room since I put the two bookcases in here. The small red mail box is from 'the Lobby. Wish I knew where to put it so it shows off it's beauty. The trophy my husband got for being high shooter out of basic training. The gun cabinet I put fabric in, I hate it. The cabinet not the fabric. I've since painted a few frames black and had new mats cut for certificates so it's a little different from these pictures but you get the gist of it. On the wall opposite is three big closets and the bathroom door. On the ends is living room and master bedroom. This hallway is the heart of our home so I think it's a great place to display pictures honoring our family's commitment to our great country. I'd like to stencil some stars and stripes around the top of the room as a border. I have the stencil but it's just another project on an already too long list. I hope you enjoyed seeing this close to my heart part of my home.

Weekend found treasure

2008-07-27T06:55:00.002-04:00

As promised a peek at the treasures I found shopping last weekend. I've been wanting one of these for awhile. Haven't a clue where to put it.

Isn't she a beauty? Major vintage love on my part. All the keys work, she's fairly clean, the ribbon is readable. I love her. Would you believe $14 ?

I am fortunate to have a set of antique flatware found in the attic by my husband when he was a teenager and his family moved into an older home. Apparently the former owner left quite a few things in the attic, one of which was the flatware. My husband tracked her down and asked her just to make sure she hadn't left these things by mistake. She told him he could keep anything he found up there, said it was memories she could live without. Can you imagine? Poor soul! But what a fun treasure hunt that must have been for him! Years later he marries me and we start housekeeping with antique silver flatware, pretty posh for newlyweds. I don't use it for every day but I love it. So when I spied these pieces on sale half price I knew I had to snag them to help round out the serving pieces we have already. They don't match our set but who cares?

Since I've had rotten luck finding white plates at Goodwill I snapped these up the moment I saw them in the antique store. I love the creamy color, love the embossed design, love that they were half price! Plate hangers by Hobby Lobby of course!

I think the creamy white will look great against my Bungalow Gold walls in the dining room. If only I could be lucky enough to find a few more... Can I seriously get away with just hanging two till I do find more? What do ya'll think ladies? Can two work? I'm so bad they are still on my counter in the kitchen while I'm deciding so please help!

The rest of my loot was a wicker plant stand that I'm painting black for my front porch, a 1950's Singer Sewing Manual, major love as it shows all kinds of cool heirloom type sewing none of which I know anything about and a Griest button holer that fingers crossed will fit my vintage Singer. Quite a haul and my friend found a beautiful antique bed with rounded carved posts, headboard and foot board for $76 on sale! It's solid wood, heavy, lovely, and I teased her that it's actually going to be mine as it's for their guest room and I'm a frequent guest down Charleston way! Wished I'd thought to get a picture of it. Now we're talking about possibly making a quilt for it. Another project added to the never ending list. I'm not a quilter but I can do a rag quilt, which got me thinking... I truly need a bedroom makeover. Maybe I'll post pictures and open it up for suggestions and ideas.

Birthday Weekend

2008-07-24T17:52:00.007-04:00

Do ya'll do this... Have a decorating frenzy in your home when you know company's coming? This is what I did on my birthday last Friday after I got home from the doctor's office. A bunch of last minute arranging and trying to make things look pretty. A challenge for me! Of all the rooms in my home, my dining room takes my money and attention. I just love it. So it's probably never going to be officially finished as I'm constantly changing things around. Here's my dining table, see my black wicker plate chargers? Actually those are paper plate holders from Garden Clearance at Hobby Lobby. As well as that pointy thing in the middle. See my birds? Dollar Tree spray painted white... Don't you just love the ideas you get out here in blogland? I know I do!

Brace yourself, another challenge area for me is my mantel. I don't have a fireplace but I do have a collection of mantels. Sometime I'll show you the antique one in my Master. This one a friend gave me for helping them move, it weighs a ton! Some day when the house is paid off I want to have the chimney restored and a firebox put in. But for now I use black fabric.

Almost everything in the picture is from Hobby Lobby! On the left side I have two more floor standing wrought iron candle holders. Forgive my satellite clock I use it when I'm on the treadmill that you just see the edge of in the bottom right corner. The greenery basket has some twigs added to it by me and the black candle holders were from Walmart holiday clearance years ago. I found out I'm supposed to use the same sized candles on them, oops! I didn't know so I'll eventually get around to buying new ones. Would you believe I paid less than $9 for that black mantel clock? Hate me!

Here's a closer picture of my dear OLD friend and me, I'm on the left. We're both wearing some aprons I made since our guys were grilling, makes sense for us to wear them huh?

And we were doing the goofy thing of taking pictures of each other at the same time. You can see a little more of my dining room here. She's tied the apron on and promptly said she that's what she wanted for Christmas from me ~ an apron!

Next time I'll show ya'll pictures of the vintage loot I scored for my birthday, we went shopping earlier that day and I got to pick out some great to me treasures.

Goodwill Hunting

2008-07-22T19:24:00.005-04:00

I'm not the greatest at finding treasures at my local Goodwill. The Goodwill fairy hates me. Where others find lovely white plates to hang on their walls for virtually nothing, I find, well, nothing. Then I hit pay dirt. This is my ugly chair I bought from Goodwill weekend before last. I paid $25 which may have been too much but I felt it had great potential. Even better it fit perfectly into the back of my Kia Rio. No tears in the fabric, no stains, just a little loved, very comfy. I thought I would whip up a slip cover for it but reality is that's another project heaped on to my already huge pile of projects so until that magical time when I'm project free I'll just live with the hideousness of the fabric. Plus we have a white haired kitty named Sissy who sheds like crazy so no harm no foul if she sheds on this chair some. You know what's funny though? It actually sort of looks good in a corner of my dining room... plus my husband and dear friend both like it! Just as it is! Good to know I don't have to rush to make a slip cover for it especially since I just snapped up some sweet fabric for a new shower curtain! But that's a blog post for another day....

Today is...

2008-07-18T12:19:00.008-04:00

My birthday was spent waking up at 5 am so I could drive 45 minutes to my doctor's office for my annual exam without my much needed cup of coffee with cream! After that bit of unpleasantness I decided I deserved a treat...

So I went and got one of these!

Now my poor darling husband will be working quite late, such is the nature of the business he's in so no celebrations today, instead we'll celebrate tomorrow with a cook out and cake that I'm going to bake. Yes, I bake my own cakes but there's a reason for that. In another life I was a "pro" at all things culinary. My family circle is small, there's just the 3 of us plus our recent 4th addition of dear son's fiancée so my friends also serve duty as my family. One of my high school friends miraculously lives within a 3 or 4 hour drive depending on who is driving! She's coming up for the weekend along with her husband, this is my third birthday in a row we've spent together. I can't tell you how much that means to me. I am blessed we live so close to each other, YES, 3 or 4 hours is close and let me explain how this is so. We both grew up in Kansas! I moved to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains years ago after husband and I got out of service and they moved to Charleston SC area when her husband retired from service. Pretty amazing for two girls from the Heartland to reconnect years later within driving distance.

Here we are last year, we split the difference and met in the middle at Columbia SC for a day spent in museums with our husbands, I totally loved it! She's the one on the left, it's a lousy picture but we're going to fix that this year. AND (insert drum roll here please) I'm much thinner this year! I've lost 70 pounds! Hmmm, maybe I'll skip the cake... 'cause I'm sure loving my weight loss.

AND, it boggles the mind there could be more but she said she's decided to make my gift this year so I'm going to have to wait for it. I adore handmade gifts, I think they are the bestest ever so this news was thrilling to say the least and I'll wait happily for it. She's a pretty busy chickie with little time for crafting so I was rather surprised by her announcement and it means all the more to me knowing how valuable her time is.

So that's my big day or rather big weekend, a little birthday, some house guests, a bit of celebration! I know this was a rather personal post from me but I'll resume with my usual bits of messy fluff blogging next post, I promise!

Clearance Aisle Haul

2008-07-16T07:25:00.004-04:00

My boss is an enabler, he knows me well and uses that to his advantage...

My first task at work yesterday was to reduce the clearance aisle to 90% off and garden aisle to 80% off. Miss Barbara who is our floral dept lady and me armed with pricing guns went to work. After about an hour our boss walks by and says "ya'll shopping?" to which we reply "of course, we can work and shop at the same time!" He explains how he knew it wouldn't be a hardship for the two of us to do this particular job for him unlike the others who would only complain, plus it gave us an opportunity to shop a little on the clock! Don't you just love him?

My haul... Everything was minus 15% employee discount, I spent just under $25. In the back you can't really see the set of black wicker chargers in a basket and black wicker place mats.

The stretcher frames, there's a big square one in the back which I have plans to make into a square moss covered wreath maybe, those were free! Our frame shop guy, David, saves the customer cast offs for me.

The After

2008-07-13T10:10:00.001-04:00

Welcome to my crafting room, come on in!

I made the panels to hide all my visual clutter on the hutches.

A little velcro holds my table skirt in place, a overlapping front makes it easy to get to my hidden crafting supplies.

With all the cabinets there's very little wall space for pictures so I hung this right over the panels. It's light weight and easy to move.

I need molding!

Pretzel jars with decoupaged tops holding ribbon scraps and decapitated flowers.

These cabinets hold most of my craft paints, needlework kits, box full of hermafix refills, stencils and various crafting supplies.

Top of my dryer, basket catches left in pockets items.

My soap jar, I love it.

Utilizing every single bit of space I can to store my crafting supplies.

The shopping bag holds emtpy SU containers.

My husband brought the window home from a job site for me. I filled it with vintage papers and a picture from Charleston, my favorite city!

Shelf over the door, taking advantage of every available space to decorate.

A little curtain I made from some scrap fabric, love the Eiffel towers.

Hmmm, where to hang a picture?

There's a good spot!

I added a little embellishment to my punch rack, rub on letters spelling "ART", blue and white striped ribbon hot glued to the front and a little flower in the corner. Next to it is a iron work crown hook holding a decorative key and my decorated paint can key. I could never find one when I needed one so now I always have one handy.

Remember the breakbox eyesore? I painted it and got cute Eiffel tower magnets to hold some of my postcards, some were from my dear friend Debs, and others I collected while in Japan.

Thinking I'll make matching panels to hide my under counter paper rack.

I've since painted the baskets under the sink shelf thingy.

My busy corner filled with wicker cannisters holding supplies and pictures of family and friends.

One of my basket make overs.

Inside view of uppers.

My new under counter light hubby installed so I could see. Lighting is a huge issue with me when I'm working.

OK I have a few supplies....

This is on a tiny strip of wall between cabinets and hutches, I made the altered canvas and plan to do a companion piece for below the photo frame.

I love this basket, found in a local antique shop, hubby says it is from a Hoosier cabinet, love the red chippy paint even if it doesn't match my room. Perfect size to hold vintage papers and 12x12 papers. Ooops, missed hanging that wall hook up.

Thank you for visiting my craft room! I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. You are very welcome to come craft with me any time! I love company!