Some pretty scenery...

I have an old phone the kids use to play their games. I just noticed recently it had photos on it from a year ago. I thought I would share a few. I love the train at Dollywood. When my husband worked at Dollywood, one night the engineer let him ride with him on the last ride of the night and even let him take the gears a few times. Hubby loved trains and that made his day.

The mountain in Virginia on the way to visit family in West Virginia.

One of the two tunnels we pass through heading up US 77 to get to Mom's.

Some of the mountain ranges of West Virginia we see on the way.

Our moment of joy when we know we are on WV ground and 1/2 way back home.

Not sure if I posted this the other day but this was the sunset from my back porch.

Have a great day.

These are a few of my favorite things...

… Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens 

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens 

Brown paper packages tied up with strings 

These are a few of my favorite things…

I have always loved that song. As I was cleaning the other day, I would clean and something would catch my eye and I would think of that song and how that particular item was one of my favorite things in my house. So I grabbed my camera and decide to take some pictures of a few of my favorite things around the house to share with you.

My Fenton hobnail milk glass flower basket. The candles mean the world to me because in 1989 my husband started work at a candle shop that hand carved each candle. He did both of these himself just for me.

One of my favorite tea for two sets. We always went to Toby's World of Gifts in Little River, SC when we would go to the beach. They had a room in the back that had tons of tea for two sets. One year hubby surprised me and picked this up and bought it for me when we were in there. 

These are my two favorite tea sets and they both mean the world to me. The one on the left was a gift from my son and daughter-in-law. It is from the Lefton Company and has my two favorite things....cardinals and dogwood flowers. The one on the right is my first official teapot and teacups ever. That is what started my collection. Hubby bought them for me for Valentine's Day. They are Royal Dalton Old Country Roses. I had always wanted them and we were in their store at a local mall and he said "Do you want them? I'll get them for you." I hesitated about a nano second and said YES!

This set was when I bought my Bombay & Company tea cart and wanted one entire complete tea set. I have had this about 30 years. I still love it as much now as I did then. It was another gift from Hubby.

One of my favorite candy dishes that I love. It's vintage but other than that I don't know the history on it. Ironically enough, I never put candy in it because I don't want to risk breaking it when I reach for candy.

It sit on my coffee table with another vintage candy dish and a flower arrangement I have had for a long time. It was from Walmart but it has daisies, which are my favorite flower. FYI the little book case by the chair are my favorite books. Some are for my exchange at McKay's but a few I will never part with. Especially one called Karen from 1952. That's a blog post for another day.

Of course you know my Pyrex shelf is going to fall into my list of favorite things. Most of the pieces on this shelf are either Town & Country pattern or the Harvest Wheat pattern. These are a couple of my favorite Pyrex patterns.

But my all time love from the list of Pyrex patterns is the Colonial Mist. Special memories of the bowl set on the right. I love the little rooster in top of the bowls on the right. The regular mixing bowls in the came in solid blue with white flowers but they also made a set of alternating blue bowl/white flower next size would be white bowl/blue flowers. So I want to find the ones with the white background as well.

I have posted several times about my three tier stand and I redid it for a few holidays. But I have fallen so in love with it with my kitchen stuff that I won't be trading it out for holidays anymore. I still need a couple of things to fill the bottle shelf around the back side.

I also have numerous tea for one sets all around the house. But the one on the middle shelf is my favorite. My daughter-in-law is one of the best gift givers you will ever find and she got this one for me one year from the grandkids. This whole setting makes me happy because my younger brother actually made the corner shelf for me, even cut out the little hearts. He is very talented. 

I love the blue and white pitcher and bowl. It belonged to my mother-in-law who has been gone around 27 or 28 years now. I got if for her one year from Home Interior and when she passed away, it was the one thing we asked for that belonged to her. 

I got this cat at some yard sale for around a dollar, but I just absolutely adored it. I still do. It has the colors that are in my bedspread.

And last but not least is the top of my refrigerator. First, I love this because the brown pitcher belonged to my Mamaw Eden who has been gone since 1988. Me and my cousin Patty bought it for her and when she passed Patty got it and then gave it to me. Then the two chickens on the shelf belonged to one of my grandmothers as well, but Mom can't remember which one. I have had them forever.

Well, there you go. Some of my favorite things. Things that make me smile.

What does $5 buy?

What does $5 buy? Well, if you go to Dollar Tree you can find many, many things to get for your $5 budget. It just depends on what you are looking for. I don't eat a lot of jelly, but if I get the little jar for just $1, it lasts me just the right amount of time. If I buy a $2-$3 jar at the grocery store, it goes bad before I eat it all so this is perfect for me. There are more examples, but what I want to show you today is some cute items that my $5 would buy if they have them in stock at my store. 

The first are these gorgeous cosmetic pouches. They are good for more than just make-up. You could use them to hold phone charges, medicine, first aid stuff, gums/mints, etc. Just tons of ideas. And in this case you get TWO for the $1.00. What a sweet deal!

They also have some cosmetic cases that are nice looking. Not sure how big they are, but I don't wear a lot of cosmetics so these would be perfect for traveling for me. I especially love the teal and navy floral one in the front right.

I bet this  hand sanitizer smells great. Plus they are so cute with their cases.

This is a neat idea for taking drinks in my beach tote down to the beach. Lots of water or lemonade in the bottle.....

And some sliced pickles in the snack cup on the bottom. I have eating juicy pickles my whole life when I am out in the sun a lot because I don't get that hot, dizzy feeling if I eat pickles. Who knew that I was ahead of my time in finding out pickle juice keeps you hydrated.

I love little signs with saying and these are really cute. I love the Everything Starts with a Dream one.

Yes, lots of good things to buy for $5.

The beach girls...

One of my sweet readers asked me the other day what the story was behind the little girls on the figurine. Well, here you go...

Many years ago after our kids were all grown and married, my sister and her husband came down to visit and from there we all went to the beach together. That was around mid-September. That October I was buying presents to put in the box I did for my sister for her birthday. I found this figurine at my daughter's work. So I got us each one to commemorate the first trip we ever took to the beach together.

I loved it because it was the beach obviously, but more importantly the little girls look close in age like me and my sister. Mom used to make our clothes a lot when we were younger so we did have some matched or similar made outfits. These little girls don't have on shoes and we grew up in the country so we were always barefoot.

In the figurine they are on the seashore where there were little shells in the sand and the littlest girl is holding a seashell she found. When we went to Panama City Beach the first time, we took a cruise on the Captain Anderson out to Shell Island. We got to get off the boat and spend an hour on the island which is uninhabited. We walked around and gathered shells and got in the crystal blue water of the Gulf Coast. 

After we got back on the bus, we went out to where the dolphins play and we got to watch tons of dolphins. We were 400 miles from Mexico, which is the closest either one of us will ever make it. We were late getting back to shore because a couple on the boat misjudged the time and didn't make it back like they were supposed so the boat had to wait on them. We were about 100 miles from shore when we were boarded by the Coast Guard. This was just a couple of years after 911 and they were worried we had entered into international waters and had been hijacked. They walked the boat with their guns on to make sure everyone was okay and they followed us back into the harbor. 

It was scary and thrilling and something to laugh about for years to come. Add all that to the fact that the figurines is from a line of products called "Mama Says" and the fact this one is called "Take Care of Your Sister."

Add in the fact that me and my sister are 13 months apart and have always been close and best friends. The verse quoted on the bottom, Romans 12:10 says Be devoted to one another in love. Rachel and I have been devoted to each other since we were born. Two closer sisters would be hard to find. She will be 63 in October and I will be 62 in December. We can't imagine life without each other. Now I guess you can see why the little girl figurine means so much to me. I am glad I was asked for the story behind the little girls. Thank you Linda for asking about the story of the little girls. As the late Paul Harvey would say... 

Now you know the rest of the story. 

Happy Monday

You just have to do the happy dance when your boss, who you are also friends with, brings you a little something she picked up on her days off. Meet Henrietta Hen. Check out the apron, the little chest, and the flowers in the back. All things I love. She even looks like she is smiling. a perfect fit for me!

She now holds a place of honor on one of my vintage Pyrex shelves.

Thank you my friend. I will treasure always.

Sunday's songs...

Some summer projects

I am loving these plastic canvas coaster patterns and the beautiful yarn they have used. 

I do believe a trip to a yarn department at Hobby Lobby is in my future.

So happy!

I just love that moment when you have been looking for something and you may an impromptu stop to see if you can find it. And BAM! There it sits. You know I am collecting pie birds. I have been going back every week to the same store to try to find a black one. They finally had one. Now keep in mind, these are reproductions not true vintage. A local shop carries these for $5 each. But some guy who has a booth in another store has been beating me to the punch and buying them up almost as soon as they get them in. He resells them for $15 and no way I will pay that. But I beat him yesterday and got the beloved black one I have wanted.

He looks adorable on the shelf with the yellow one.

Well, I have four now. So the search continues. My next goal is to get the orange one. 

I did find a pie bird online that I fell in love with. Since this post today is hooking up with Ms. Debbie's Friday Foto Friends, I thought I would share it. Ms. Debbie just imagine baking hubby a pie with this in the middle for the pie vent. Isn't it adorable?

And I also would like to find this one. It has eye lashes! How cute is that. Seriously, eyelashes on a pie bird. Just too adorable.

And on another happy note.... I get the pie bird at the same place I get the reproduction hen on the next salt dip. As I was getting the pie bird, I looked down and found the clear glass one I have been wanting and right beside that was the milk glass one. My friend got the milk glass a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with it since I have milk glass mini cream & sugar and toothpick holder set. 

Happy dance. They look cute on my shelf.

While I was adding my new items to the kitchen, I decided to stick a couple of flags in my flowers and put out my $1 place mats for July 4th. 

I finally am getting motivated to start with my home office now that I got the little desk I wanted. So I put a few things on top my shelf.

And moved the chest over by the shelf and fixed up the top of it. I love my wooden chair I got a few weeks back.

I am happy with that part of the room anyway. The rest is still a national disaster as I am sorting, clearing and tossing things. Check out the pink bucket. I have decided that is where I will keep the bazillion pens, pencils, and markers that I accumulate. I am obsessed with a good pen and change my pen depending on my mood. I do want to get some beach colored fabric organizers to replace the black and white ones, but these will do for now.

You can tell it's been a great couple of days off. I had three of the grandbabies and we vegged so much that I didn't get a picture with all three of them. But we went to the movies and just hung out around the house the rest of the time. Back to work today but it's still Friday and that always brings some excitement to the day. So have a great one!