Just checking in

Hi everyone! I just can't stay away too long, so I thought I would do a quick post and remind you that the drawing for the lace bag in post #100 will be on Sept. 5th. Still plenty of time to leave a comment. We don't have anything special planned for the Labor day weekend, some friends over for dinner friday night and then hanging out at home. I hope to get the living room painting finished! Yes! I am still working on that, I have NEVER taken this long to finish a room. I usually have the whole thing done in a day. I have been getting some projects done that I can't wait to share with you next week. I hope everyone has a wonderful end of summer weekend! What are you doing for Labor Day?

Ok, I know that I just told you I was so overwhelmed with the beginning of school I was taking a break. So I went out this morning for a little therapeutic sailing (Estate sailing that is) and I had to show you my haul. First, 2 more Victoria magazines for 25 cents each! You know I can't resist rebuilding my stash. The bluebird figurine was 10 cents at the sale, my friend Jan, bought this and gave it to me and said it was the "bluebird of garage sale happiness" which, clearly, it is.

I also got all these goodies. A couple napcoware turkey planters (can you say thanksgiving centerpieces?) and matching napcoware turkey salt & pepper shakers. 25 cents a piece! The old bowl, pressed glass cake plate and an adorable vintage cottage picture, (need to find a great frame) and even the huge doily for the table . Most of these items cost 50 cents. The cake plate and bowl were more but I loved them and with the money I saved paying 25-50 cents for everything else.....they were cheap too. This beautiful footed glass bowl..$1! See how the bluebird likes it? This sweet milk glass vase..50 cents!

As if that wasnt enough, when I got home this was in the mail for me! This is from Julie of Equus Villa, who is passing along this book and the recipe and main ingredient for swedish pea soup as well as this beautiful tray and the serving spoons. Thank you Julie! What a great day! Ok, NOW I am taking a break... no really........

A big thank you to everyone for the kind comments you left on my last post. It is a project I have had a great time playing with. Is anyone else stressing out over the beginning of the school year? my job begins again next Monday! I work for the school system and that is when my back to school meetings begin. This was my last full week of vacation! I look around and wonder what I did with my summer. Seems like nothing is finished, some things never really got started. I know that it shouldnt be a big deal, I still only work a few hours a day, but they are my most productive hours, late morning and early afternoon. It will all work itself out when I am back to being used to working, but right now I feel like I have so much to do before fall and winter get here! I see it in some of the other blogs I visit. So many of you are taking a "short break". I think that the next week may be a tough one for me so I will be taking a break too. I love blogging so much I know I will sneak something in next week, but not the regular posts I am used to. I would like to just wish everyone a happy week. Enjoy what is left of summer. The days are getting shorter, the kids are heading back to school (and so am I:>( ) This time of year holds its own joys, but the end of summer can be bittersweet. My youngest is a Senior this year, so it is my last season of "back to school" before college. I will be looking in on everyone ( I am such a blog addict!) Remember to leave a comment on post #100 if you are a lurker so I can enter you in the drawing next month! I will see you all soon.

100 :>)

Here it is, my 100th post.When I began this blog and saw others who were celebrating that milestone I just couldn't believe I would make it that far this fast.! And this is what I have been working on. I had quite a collection of lace and vintage jewelry that I was hanging on to. I knew I would think of something pretty to do with it someday but I didn't know what. I finally hit upon the idea of Lace Gift bags, embellished with vintage jewels and buttons and beautiful ribbons!

I think they would be great for giving fancy soaps or jewelry or to keep on a dressing table to hold little treasures. Leave a comment telling me what you would use these for, and I will draw a name Sept 5th for this bag....

filled with surprise goodies! This bag is approximately 9"x7" and embellished with a cuff of beautiful vintage lace and closed with a vintage rhinestone brooch. The medium bags in the top picture are approx. 5x7 and the smaller bags are approximately 5"x5". Thank you all for your kind comments and encouragement. It has been so much fun getting to know you a bit through your own blogs. Remember to leave a comment and for those of you who don't have a blog, please leave an email address where you can be reached in case you win!

99!

What a big cheater I am. Here I have already teased everyone with my project and I have this one silly post to go before my 100th and I can't think of anything exciting to do with it! I am so fixated on my 100th post! I will say thank you to all the lovely ladies who have joined me on this adventure and left encouraging messages, inspired me, tutored me and helped me in so many ways to develop a blog that allows me to stretch myself and, in itself, prods me to grow and experiment and reach out. Thank you! This is a fantastic experience and I would recommend it to anyone:>) It is a grey rainy day here in Michigan. About 65 degrees. We need the rain and the coolness is nice, but it does tend to make me want to sit down with a good book or a movie and vegetate. Can't do it. I have trim to paint in the living room and this morning I am taking Victoria in for her school registration. I have a few little errands to run so I can unveil my 100th post too, so no books today! Now that I only have 2 weeks before I go back to work I feel like I have just now started to get things done. I have about 6 different projects in varying stages in the basement and my dining room table is still covered in all the things you see in my last post! I guess I better get off the computer and get busy. Since I hate to do a post without a picture, I will leave you with the board by the computer. My inspiration board you might call it. Filled with cards the girls have made for me, photos of my family and other bits and pieces of messages from loved ones. It makes me smile:>) See you soon!

98

I am sorry that my posts have lacked any deep and meaningful thoughts in the past few days. I do still have them once in a while, but I have been pretty consumed with the project I have come up with. It isn't anything earth shattering, but I had thought my creative mojo was gone. Vanished from disuse, dried up and blown away. Bummer. I guess it just took a little time to rev up again after years of mommy neglect. Anyway, what you see above is the mess on my dining room (studio) table. Yes, we will be eating at the table outside for a while. Lets hope it doesnt rain:>). I am having fun, instead of cleaning my house or finishing the paint job I absolutely need to get done in the living room! It's always a choice between the creative and the day to day chores. Guess the chores lose out for a while. Stay tuned though, all will be revealed soon.

Just a tease:>)

I have been working on a project and having a lot of fun with it. It will be part of my 100th post give-away, but I can't show you yet. I think you will like it though:>) By the way, this is #97.

Butterfly

Don't you just love butterflies!? I have to admit that todays post is inspired by Penny thank you Penny for the lovely butterfly pic on your blog. I saw my tiger swallowtail this morning and had to share her too! Anyway, this is a quick entry as I am about to begin my day with taking youngest daughter out to look for work and some shopping for clothing for her senior picture which is two weeks away. I have learned the hard way not to leave it until the last minute! Anyway, like the butterfly I will be flitting about today, landing here and there, spreading my money like pollen.....sigh. Toodles.

This 'n That

Good Morning! This blog is not really about all my shopping finds, really it isn't, but I got something recently that just made my day. Digging around some of the yard sales and antique stores this weekend I scored a bunch of old Victoria mags. Divine! I subscribed for years, I had most of them from the late 80's to the late 90's and dug them out every winter when things were slower and re-read them. I just loved that magazine! Unfortunately they were stored in the basement and I lost most of them when our basement flooded! So I checked ebay, well they go for a small fortune! I got these for $1 each. They are probably the only magazine I would pay that for second hand. Anyway, I am a simple woman with simple pleasures and, as you can see, a bunch of old magazines is all it takes to make me happy (well, ok, and maybe some chocolate!)

By the way, I already have my subscription in for the new Victoria magazine, I sure hope they can live up to the old one!

I also got a little something in the mail yesterday from Phyllis at Shabby In the City. I won her give-away and got some gorgeous lace!

Thank you Phyllis! I know just what I am going to do with it! I have been wanting some great lace for a project I have in mind, can't wait to get it done now and show you! By the way, Phyllis has opened a new online shop with some beautiful items. You can check them out here.

I'm Back!

Thanks for all the comments on my last post. I am really behind in my emails since we were gone a couple days so bear with me. We had a great time on our anniversary weekend. The first thing we did was hit a nice garage sale on the way out of town. I got a few goodies (some pillowcases, a rose plate, a very old candy cookbook and some silver ice tea spoons, total $3.60!) and we had a good time looking things over. The picture above was the house next door. It was so pretty I just had to take a picture. It used to be a church! So gorgeous. That was just the side entry!
The Folk festival was only so-so. Music was good but it was very hot out and the "craft show" part of it was minimal. The one thing that I found really interesting was an area in the Folk Craft demonstration tent that showed tatting. There were some lovely ladies there doing demonstrations and even sitting down with some of the children and showing them lace-making and tatting and letting them try it themselves. I had always wondered how it was done and now I have seen it. I gives you a real appreciation for the effort and hours spent decorating the vintage hankies and pillowcases that still decorate our homes!

Earl and I spent a lot of our time checking out antique malls.

This is one of the booths that really caught my eye while we were looking around. You can see it was filled with beautiful things (with outrageous prices!)

I enjoyed looking at all the eye candy, but I have to admit that I have become a bit disillusioned with antique malls. It seems the prices are so high. I am not one of those people who buys something just to look at it. With an 1100 sq. ft. house you can't just fill it with tchotchkes. There isn't room. Everything needs to be something useful. If I paid $70.00 for a pink depression glass bowl (and it was beautiful!) I would feel awful if I dropped it or chipped it. You need to be told that I have broken more glass with my clumsiness than anyone has a right to. Besides, the black teacup sets I got in my last post, cost me $2.00! In the antique store they would be $30-$40. So I guess I am just a looker at the antique stores. I prefer to find that steal of a bargain and if something happens to it, so be it.

We also went to the farmers market. This was in Lansing, MI, home of Michigan State University, one of the biggest, best agricultural Universities in the world. There wasn't a whole lot there in the way of fruits & vegetables. I found that surprising, but there was a gorgeous little shop with lots of pretty things that I enjoyed looking at and getting ideas from. I wish now that I had bought some things, especially one of those cute little etched bell jars, they were so pretty! I will have to look this place up if we go back.

This was the sales table in the little shop. I am sorry you can't see it very clearly, but it was so pretty. It had all these little silver glittery stars hanging from the vine covered gazebo over the register. I LOVE GLITTER, have I mentioned that before? Maybe:>) Anyways, we wandered around and finally came to a cheese vendor who had all these amazing cheeses. We bought some mango and ginger Stilton (to die for!) and a "dangerously sharp cheddar" as Earl likes to say, since that is his favorite kind. So we shopped and had dinner out and walked around and just got time together to talk and reconnect. I think that is what keeps our marriage so happy. We never forget to take time for each other. A wonderful weekend, hope yours was wonderful too!

Garage Sale Goodies, and Ramblings

I want to thank everyone for the support and comments that I got with my "Rant" post. It was so good to hear from so many of you and the affirmation and kindness never cease to amaze me. Thank you! I stopped at just one garage sale yesterday and got all this great stuff , and more! Dont you just love when you hit the Motherlode!? By the way, I am coming up on my 100th post and I am planning a give-away to celebrate. It will be a chance for all you lurkers out there to step out and introduce yourself. I know you are out there, I was a lurker once too! So keep your eyes open in the next week andsee what I come up with:>) Hope everyone has a great weekend. Earl & I are off to visit a a local Folk festival with music and art, and then hit some antique stores!

27 Glorious Years!

Earl, twenty-seven years ago today I promised to love you forever. And I still do, and I always will. Thank you for the best years of my life and the kind of love that still sweeps me off my feet. :>)

I feel a rant coming on....

Yesterday, Kim at Daisy Cottage posted that she is the family photographer but hates having her picture taken and felt very uncomfortable putting a photo of herself up on her blog. Now Kim's blog is one of the first blogs that I discovered and it was one of the first to make my jaw drop with delight. She is creative, thrifty and comes across as one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. When you see the pic you also notice she is beautiful too. I can relate to Kims discomfort with putting her picture up. I have come to realize that I am one of those people who always looks at myself with a critical eye. I avoid having my picture taken thinking that someday I will "lose the weight." I don't see any of my good points I only see my flaws and consequently, I am in very few family photos of my children's formative years. Yes, my children almost appear to have grown up motherless! Why are we so hard on ourselves in this one area? I notice a lot of bloggers whose pictures end just below the chin or don't appear at all. How many of us use something other than our own photo in our profile? We value kindness, intelligence, thriftiness, and creativity, but really, do we put vanity and beauty at the head of all those things? It is easy to hide online. We don't have to show the dirty corners of our homes or the faults we are trying to conquer. Are we afraid people wont like us if they knew what we look like? I have heard it said that life begins at 50. I am 49 but I think I know what that means. I struggle with the aging process but I am beginning to be able to accept myself as I am. Extra chins, middle age paunch, boobs that are going south for the winter and all. Why? Because I realize that when my family looks at me they don't see those things. They see a mom/wife who loves them and who they love back. I realize that when I look at others I don't see the flaws as much as I see the kindness, the creativity, the beauty that God made in us all. We are all so much harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Of course there will continue to be pictures of myself that make me cringe. I will still struggle with my weight and appearance. I want to look my best. I refuse to hide anymore though. If I take a bad picture, so be it. Maybe it will be a catalyst for change, maybe it will be what I need to help me stick to my diet. Probably not though! LOL. Maybe I will just be more accepting of myself and learn to look at what makes me unique and beautiful as a person instead of what I don't like. I hope I haven't bored you all with my rant. Some of you probably love the way you look, or don't have this hang up at all. What a blessing that would be! As for me, I am off to have my picture taken for my profile. I'll add it to this posting later today, you see, I don't have any pictures of myself on the computer right now...

P.S. I cheated and wore my "cute" glasses.:>)

I've Been Nominated!

Dolly and Amy have nominated me for the "Nice Matters" Award! " According to Dolly, "This award will be given to those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!" How sweet is that!? I must say you couldn't find a more generous, helpful or just plain nice group of people than the ones I have run into in the blogging world! From Phyllis and Adrienne who were there to help me learn how to update my banner to Amy and Bertie and so many more who stop by on a regular basis and leave such sweet and supportive comments. I really appreciate you all! I am supposed to nominate 7 other bloggers and it will be hard coming up with 7 that havent already been hit but here goes! I nominate
Adrienne, Deb, Lallee, Lori, Heather, Jen, and Penny. They are all sweethearts with beautiful blogs that I really enjoy. Thank you Dolly and Amy! You make my day every time you stop by. :>)

Have you ever seen a hummingbird moth?

These little moths are about half the size of a Hummingbird. You can't see its wings because, like a hummingbird, they are just blurs when they hover. The first time I saw one of these last year I thought at first that it was the tiniest little strange hummer I had ever seen. They come out in the day and they go from flower to flower and drink nectar. In spite of how small they are they are much more substantial and heavier looking than most moths. My husband and I were just enchanted when we saw it and looked it up online and found out what it was. They hover, they are brightly colored, and as you can see, they have a little tail, but they also have antennae! That is what finally tipped us off what it might be. We saw this one outside the living room window yesterday. Since they are a bug rather than a bird, I was able to run outside and get pretty close with the camera without scaring it away.
Have any of you seen these?

Sunday Morning

My dear sister, Keeka gave me some wonderful, sweet wild blackberries that her girls picked at church camp last week. These are the best blackberries I have ever tasted! She also gave me a recipe to use them in and I made it for Sunday morning breakfast. Delish! These and a big cup of coffee will start your day off right! Here is the recipe:
Blueberry (or blackberry, or what about raspberry!) Cheese rolls
1 pkg. (8 oz.) refrig. crescent rolls
4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 cup blueberries (or blackberries, or......)
Preheat oven to 375. Unroll dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations together to seal. Combine cream cheese and sugar: (I added a small egg to make it more like cheesecake consistency) spread onto dough rectangles to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Top evenly with berries. Bring opposite corners together to seal. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar. Makes 4 servings. These are super easy to make and really delicious. I would add more fruit next time too. Have a peaceful and fun Sunday!

Meet another daughter!

This is my eldest daughter Lauren Kathleen. My sweet college student. Lauren is 19 and has been the joy of my life for most of that time (hey, we can't all be joy all the time! and 99.9% is a pretty good percentage :>)) No really, I love her to pieces and she loves me. Lauren is a lot like me and in some of these pics she resembles my younger self so much it is scary. Sometimes I think she likes being like me and sometimes I think she is just trying to be just herself. I guess that is what we all have to do eventually, find our own place in this world. Find out who we are and how we define ourselves.I am so proud of the woman Lauren has become, but sometimes I want to say,"come back over and sit on my knee, be my little girl again. " Lauren defining herself, redefines me too. I will always be her mom and I will always love her, but the relationship does change. She needs her independence. She needs to make choices and decisions on her own. She needs my trust that she can manage her own life without my constant advice. Some day I know it will be easier to step back and give her that space (please tell me it will !) but right now I struggle. I worry she will fall. I worry that I haven't taught her enough or the right things. I relate her success way too much to my own.
Lauren you are my heart beating outside my body. I hope I gave you wings big enough to take you wherever you want to go.

I would like to thank everyone for the kind and thoughtful comments on VIctorias birthday. What a great group of people you meet when blogging! Sorry I havent had time to post this week til now. VBS has taken all my time. It is one of those weeks that just fill every moment with one more little thing to do until you fall into bed at 11:30...and then can't get to sleep because you are running through the list in your head to see if there is something you forgot. I don't know if your brain works that way but I just can't seem to shut mine off sometimes. Anyways, The house is kind of a mess, I have about 40 little muslin bags to finish up tonight for tomorrows craft (bath salts in a little muslin bag) and my girls are throwing a going away party for one of their friends tonight complete with a cookout and hopefully a campfire later in the night. I should probably mention it is supposed to hit a lovely humid 96 or so today and possible thunderstorms tonight. Remember when I said our house is only about 1100 square feet?...... campfire? rain? Yeah. It's another busy day. On the other hand, my morning glories are spectacular this morning! See the tuteur in front of them? I got it painted but didnt get it set out in time for them to climb up. Oh well, they are managing without it :>) Next year...