You Say - Sunday's song

Birthday time

I want to wish a happy birthday to my youngest granddaughter, Shelby, today. She has come a long way from that little girl who loved her binky and wore them like accessories. She had so many with sayings, but since she was a little chatterbox, this was our favorite. To this day, we still say there are times we wish we had the mute button.

She's all grown up now and today she turns 14. She will be a freshman in high school. Not sure where those years have gone but she has become a beautiful young lady who has developed a strong personality. She knows what she wants and goes after it. She loves being creative. She is so loyal to her friends and family and she's always got their back. It's been wonderful watching her personality grow over the years. She definitely marches to the beat of her own drummer. 

Happy birthday, Shelby Rayne. I hope you have an amazing day. 

It's just Around the Corner

Today my daughter found a fall leaf in her green grass at the end of July. She is a fall fanatic so she wants to know if you can count this as it being officially fall.

Then I saw on Facebook where Hocus Pocus 2 is going to make its premier on September 30th.

But what sold me on the idea that we are getting close to fall was the fact that candy corn is in a large display in Walmart. That settles it, fall is upon us.

 

Wacky Wednesday

 

Sliding into Second Base

Apr 14, 2016 — - A runner sliding into second has to make "a bona fide attempt" not just to slide into the base, but also to "remain on the base." 

Life is like sliding into second. You have to make decisions and live with the results. But whatever you choose, sometimes you always feel like you are sliding your way through. Hitting the good points and hating the rough patches.

My past seven years have been that way. I lost my husband in November 2015. Nothing was ever the same. There were times, I would have those deep middle of the night melt downs. I sometimes shed quiet tears and sometimes my body was racked with pain and I thought I would never be the same again.

Without my family, I couldn't have made it. The grandkids kept me sane and happy. My kids were always checking on me without making it look like they were checking on. I changed jobs, made new friends, took new adventures. 

Somebody said something to me recently about me being happy all the time and did I not miss him. Well, yes of course I miss him. We were married for 34 years. But I had two choices. Sink into depression and mourn for him the rest of my life or pick up the pieces and create a new path for myself.

I chose to take a new path. It's not been easy, but it's been worth it. I will forever miss him and will always have my memories tucked away. But now I have a new life. It's not better. It's not worse. It's just different. I don't have to answer to anyone. I make my own decisions. I do my own thing. I still go full speed ahead. I don't always stop at first for fear of moving ahead. I slide on into second and see where I can go from there.

Sunday Drives

 When I got my license to drive, Mommy and I would take off on Sunday after church and lunch and head out to some country road for a drive. We would just pick a road and see where it went. We had some great times and made great memories. When me and Allen got married, we did it sometimes too. And when the kids grew up and got married, we did it even more often. Between the beautiful scenery in West Virginia and in Sevier County and the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, we've seen some beautiful sites. So today, let's take a drive down some country roads. I've been on some of these and some I just discovered online and would like to travel to some day. But for today, let's head out to the country.

Just some food for thought....

 

Pyrex Mania

Vintage Pyrex is one of the most collectible kitchen items with so many women. And not everybody collects them in the same manner. Some will go for anything in a pink pattern. Patterns don't matter, the fact it is pink is what matters.

And on the flip side of the pink collector is the turquoise collectors. They want any of the patterns in this shade. Butter prints, snowflake, even some patterns of vintage that are not Pyrex go into their collection as long as the color is right.

Then you have the collectors who want to get every pattern in each category such as casseroles in various shapes and sizes in any pattern.

Then some want to collect it in any pattern in any style.

And then some only collect the most rare of the rare. There is a casserole dish, Lucky in Love pattern, with a lid that is so rare that most collectors thought it was a hoax. It was apparently a promotional piece that was made in 1959 with a small limited amount of them made. It was listed on Pyrex patterns and hisotry websites, but no one ever seemed to have seem one in person. Until 2017. In August of that year, someone dropped one off at a Goodwill store and it went on the Goodwill Auction site.  I saw it the day it was posted for auction at a starting price of $9.00.  I checked on it every other day or so. Then the price had excalated to over $800 in bidding. I was hooked. I checked every day (sometimes 2 or 3 days) and was watching the last 5 minutes of the bidding where it sold for a whopping amount of $5994.00 which cause the Pyrex world to go nuts. 

My love and collection is in whatever I see that hits my fancy. I love the mixing bowls, Cinderella bowls, fridgies, casseroles, everything. And I'm not set on one color theme or pattern. I just love what I love, especially when I find it at a bargain. Now you can go to many sites and just buy whatever you want if you don't mind paying whatever the asking price is plus shipping. But for me, there is no thrill in that. No different than running to Walmart to pick up p.j.'s. I get my thrills from a.) it being a bargain and b.) finding it "in the wild" in antique stores, thrift shops or yard sales. Nothing beats the thrill of seeing just what you want unexpectedly at a price that is considered a bargain. Currently, here is my wish list of things I would love to stumble on in my hunt. Keep in mind, I don't care if I have to build my collection piece by piece until I get a set. That's what makes it fun for me. Well, here's my current wish list items.....

 

Aren't they all lovely? Guess it's time to pound the streets trying to find some good bargains.

Things that caught my fancy...

In random searches on the internet, I stumbled across some things that caugh my eye. These little bowls that look like chickens are from the 1960's. They are Glasbake, made by the Jeanette Glass Company. 

I see this every Christmas on Pinterest and think I want to make it. But I can't paint straight lines, much less squares. I guess I could just pain them off white. 

This is the #1 Pyrex mixing bowl set on my wish list right now. One local antique store has them for $175 but I refuse to pay that when I know I see them other places for $12 - $20 per bowl. So individually they can probably be found for less than $80. I'm a patient person on my Pyrex wish list. It's no fun collecting if I just buy it and spend way too much money. I am more about the hunt and the joy of finding a bargain.

How cute! Talk about super simple craft. And my son has pine trees like crazy in the woods behind his house I am sure. And I already have the little noses in wood.

You know how everybody is doing the 3 tier shelves and I do love them. But oh my gosh, 3 tier baskets!  I actually have a basket like that bottom one. Guess who's is going to try to make this? ME!

My son has a tons of wood behind his house so I am sure I can go nab some acorns. I won't go too deep in the woods though because he also has bears in the woods. But getting these and painting them would be so cool. I would put them in a pretty little candy bowl just for looks.

I have posted this about 3 years in a row as something I want to do. I can never find cable knit mittens except online and they are $20 - $30. I don't even pay that much for my gloves that I wear. I think I may look at some thrift stores this year.

These are so cute. They are nothing but fabric in an embroidery hoop and then "prettied up" with jute and felt. 

Last fall, I made some of these and sold them for $5 each. I made $150 in 3 hours after I posted them on facebook. I used some of that same paper and jude and beads. But I never thought to make the paint on the handles look vintage. Going to make some more soon and do my paint like that.

And last but not least, Cousin Itt from the Adams Family in strings of orange lights. How cool would that be when trick or treaters come around. 

Well, there is my Top 10 things I am loving right now. Which ones do you like on my list?

 

My little pretty vase

It all started when I saw a post on Facebook where somebody had put an artificial forsythia branch in a Pyrex beaker. Mom had one of those bushes. It sat right outside my bedroom window and was so beautiful. So I posted the Pyrex idea on Facebook. Lo and behold my niece had one that was brand new. She came to visit me and brought it with her.

I tried it with daffodils for awhile because nobody carries forsythia flowers.

Then one day, I was in Dollar Tree of all places and they had a branch of it. I snatched it up and came home and put it in my Pyrex vase.

It now sits proudly on my Baker's rack. I just love it.