A busy weekend

 Friday was an awesome day and it ended on a very happy note. My niece Amy is expecting a baby in late summer. She called to tell me... It's a Girl! We are all very excited. Congratulations to Amy and Darin. Can't wait for Baby Girl to arrive!



Also on Friday, since I did away with the beach theme in the spare room, I decided to do what I planned to do last summer. Make my master bathroom a beach room. Poor room, it has been 3 themes in the past year. But I think I'm going to like it as a beach bathroom. I am experimenting right now, but I did decorate the corner in my corner tub. I'll see what else I can incorporate as I go along.

Saturday, Hubby and I went to historic Jonesborough. It is a quaint town and we love to go there to go antique shopping. The trip was awesome. We had an wonderful time, but were a little sad to see most of the antique stores were out of business. But we still did get to go in a few.

I have to admit that we would have done better had we just stayed here and went to our antique shops. Out of three antique shops guess how much Pyrex we saw?  Four bowls. That was it. A set of three butterfly gold nesting bowls setting inside one Town and Country large Cinderella bowl and they were selling it for $30 for the set of 4. The price wasn't bad, but this wasn't what I was looking for. They had some strange items in these antique stores and absolutely nothing I collect. I did see some cute animal vases but the prices were outrageous so I didn't buy any. 

As we were leaving, we saw that their Food City had Pepsi on sale by the cube. Our Food City doesn't carry Caffeine free in the cube so we stopped and bought a carton of it. It was a $1 cheaper for 24 than what we pay for 2 boxes of 12. We got a good chuckle out of the fact that we spent $20 in gas to drive an hour and 20 minutes to save $1. Was't my most defining moment of my shopping career but you gotta admit it is a tad funny. 

On the way back we stopped several places and did some odd and end shopping. I had a baby shower to go to on Sunday so I picked up my gift for that. We have been needing a new set of sheets. One store we stopped at had microfiber sheet sets on sale. The queen size set complete with fitted, flat and 2 pillow cases was on clearance for $15.00. They were originally $69.00. I couldn't believe it. I snatched them up. I have never had microfiber sheets, but I can tell you after sleeping on them I will never buy anything BUT that type. They are super soft and the fitted sheet is elastic on all four sides so it fits the mattress really snug.

I got my Pampered Chef order in. I am loving their new small slotted spatula. It is so lightweight. And I must say that I have never had a spatula that felt as good as this one. I can't wait to fry an egg or fix a grilled cheese and use my new spatula. I also got a new recipe book that has some awesome recipes. And I love the little cutting board. All these were my freebies from my party so I was very happy to get them. 

Sunday morning I went to Sunday School and church. We had quite a crowd in our class. We are starting to plan a program for Mother's Day. 

Sunday afternoon, I attended the baby shower for the daughter of one of my friends. It was beautiful. They had it really decorated very nice. She is having a girl as well. There were about 80 people at the shower. She really got some fantastic gifts. I had a great time.



They had the best cake I had ever eaten in my life. I asked where it came from and it was the bakery at Sam's. I am going to have to start getting my cakes for special occasions there. It was awesome.

That had a sweets bar and little pink bags for you to fix up your own goody bag as a thank you gifts. I picked up a few things that appealed to my sweet tooth. 

After the shower, I came home and did a few things around the house and had a light supper and settle in to watch the Academy of Country Music awards. I have to admit I was a little surprised at the entertainer of the year. The award went to Luke Bryan. I like his music but I just felt that Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton or Jason Aldean were the more obvious choices. Judging by Luke's reaction, I think he was as surprised as I was. I'm happy for him. I do love when the entertainer of the year honestly didn't expect it. And you could tell he didn't. It was a very moving moment.



Today is going to be another busy day. I have a lot going on today and the this evening a friend of mine and I are doing a combined open house for Scentsy and Thirty-One. Hope to have a great turn out.

Happy Sunday

Everything wonderful in our lives come from God. I have had a very blessed week. This song says it all.

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me.

I am loving the new bed...

The last couple of days I have posted about my "new to me" day bed that I was given from a dear friend. I posted pics of some day bed bedding I liked and I talked about going shopping for bedding sets. Well, the wait is over. We picked up the bed yesterday. We spent most of the day going to different stores trying to find the perfect bedding set. One would have too much of this or not enough of that so we gave up yesterday and came back home. We moved furniture around and put the bed together. Hubby suggested I just put a blanket on it for now and then I remembered. I had a beautiful quilt and pillow shams that I bought years ago at JC Penny. In all my moving, rearranging and yard selling, I had never parted with nor did I use it anywhere. But I loved it too much to ever get rid of it. So I got it out and washed it up so I could use it temporarily for the day bed. 

I ended up moving the wing back chair out of the kids room and back into the living room since it matches my furniture in there. 

Then I moved the little stand in the kids room into the corner.

And put my quilt rack Daddy made in front of the window. 

Here is the before picture of the room when I just had a hodge podge of furniture to give the kids a place to set and watch TV. When they spend the night we have to move the furniture around and put the air mattress in the floor for them to sleep on. 

BEFORE

And now with the new bed, they can watch TV in comfort and we will just pop out the trundle at night and have two places for the kids to sleep. Here is the after picture. The great unveiling. I am so in love with this room that I may disappear into it to read a lot. I said the bedding was temporary. Well, once I got it all put together I changed my mind. This is going to stay this way. I love it. 

AFTER

Don't you just love the finished product?

Happy birthday hubby and changing up the decor

First things first. I want to wish my hubby a happy birthday today. He wants to go do some running around today and go out to eat. Hard to tell where we will go or what we will do. But I know we will have a great day. He did say he wants to take me to look for bedding sets for the day bed. 

Do you know what the four most feared words are in a marriage? In my household it is "I was just thinking." Scares hubby to death when I say that. Well, I said it last night and he got that deer in the headlights look. The one where you know he is furtively glancing around to look for cover because he doesn't know what is coming. Turns out it wasn't that bad. I had been thinking about my beach room and how thrilled I was to be getting a day bed. Then I started thinking about how I really never did get my beach theme going good because I never did add much stuff to it. The room has a floral border of wallpaper around the top and we never did paint or anything. And the one wing back chair I have in there is floral. So I decided to change it up some. I am going to change the whole theme of the room. I'm not sure that it will have a "theme" but I am going to make it more of a vintage room. I already have the wing back chair (which I may get a cover for because I'm tire of the flowers) and I have some vintage lace curtains on the window. 

I am considering switching the beach items to the master bath, but not really sure. I put a couple of things in there to try it out to see if I'm going to like it. 

I have or should say had a flower display in the corner of one of the sinks. When we moved it had cracked in half in two places so I super glued it back together and put it somewhere where I knew it would be safe. Turns out it wasn't that safe. When I picked it up to move it, it fell apart again and it landed inside the sink and shattered to pieces. I was so upset. My daughter-in-law got this for me years ago and it has always been one of my favorite floral arrangements. 

Hubby had a great idea. I pulled the plant out and was going to save it to find a new planter to put it in. 

I thought it was a bunch of loose stems, but it turns out it is one piece. 

Inspiration hit. I remembered a basket I had in the closet and went and got it out to see if it would work and see if I could use it in the room I'm redoing. 

I swapped out the black lamp that had been in there with my favorite lamp in the house. I placed the flowers beside it and I am loving the way it all turned out. My redecorating has begun. 

Doesn't this look like a cozy corner to set and read in on a rainy day? 

My week so far...

My week has gone by so fast so far. I worked Monday until about 9:30 that night and I worked on Tuesday until about 8:00. It's been crazy,  but crazy good. I've been so busy that I've just jotted down notes on things all week and now my desk is a mess.

Yesterday, I took the day off to take three of my grandchildren miniature golfing. Colby (the 2 year old) was so funny. His daddy is a baseball coach so Colby loves anything to do with ball, but he is really big on baseball. He would take the golf club and knock the ball down the green, as any good miniature golfer would. Then he would drop the golf club and run as fast as his little legs could go and chase the ball. When he got it, he would turn around to me and yell "Mamaw, CATCH!" and try to throw the golf ball back to me. I think he was mixing his sports just a little bit. It was hilarious. 

He is growing up so much. We walked into Wendy's and first I was asking Garret and Alexis what they wanted to eat and Colby says "Want a burger and sweet tea." A true Southerner with his sweet tea.

I'm so excited about something. I mentioned to a friend that I had been looking for a twin bed frame to created a "day bed" in the spare room. It turns out she has a day bed with a trundle that she never used. She is actually giving it to me...with the mattresses. I am beyond thrilled. She is a very dear friend and has such a kind heart. I am going to go pick it up tomorrow when it isn't raining. But today, I moved everything out of the way so I'm ready to set it up and get the room decorated. I'll have to take before and after pictures. 

Hubby is taking Saturday off this week and we are finally going to go antique shopping in Jonesborough. We are waiting till Saturday because the weather is supposed to be in the 70's and no rain. Hope that is true. I love going there. It is a very historical town and I love the brick side walks and the horse drawn carriages. 

And they have some amazing antique stores. 

They have a lot of quilt stores and even some that sell quilting supplies such as fabric. I definitely want to visit there.

It's hard to tell where we will eat because they have a variety of unique little restaurants. We usually eat somewhere to have a light lunch. There used to be a place that served pinto beans and cornbread and they had the best thick cut fried bologna sandwiches. I would like to eat there if they are still in business. Then I'm pretty sure I'll end the day in the sweet shop with a cup of chocolate ice cream. 

Naturally, I will be scouting for Pyrex. But it's been so many years since I was there that I didn't collect Pyrex back then. I'm not sure how their prices will be, but it won't hurt to look. I would love to find something in the turquoise scroll.

Or the barbed wire pattern.

But even if I don't find any Pyrex, I may find another Hazel Atlas piece. I would really, really be so happy if I could find one of their cowboy pattern coffee cups.

I'm trying to collect some unique coffee cups so I can use them for a vintage theme party some day. Cups and mugs are great items to collect because they can be used for so many uses. Obviously coffee, hot chocolate and tea. But you can also use them as pencil holders or toothbrush holders. I may just need to do a blog someday with all the uses of coffee cups. 

What it means to be a hillbilly country gal...

Hillbillies. Southern girls. Country gals. Call them what you will, but they are a unique breed of individuals.

They love their man and don't worry about being treated like the little women, protected and loved.

They have an independent streak a mile wide, yet appreciate anything anybody does for them.

They like their blue jean shorts and tank tops on a hot summer day, whether it is the style or not.

They love their flip flops and will wear them all summer for any occasion. But in reality, if you ask them, they would much prefer to just go barefoot.

They can walk in 4" heels or run barefoot on the gravel.

They are feminine with a touch of tomboy thrown in.

They are always "afixin' to" do something or planning on "heading over that way".

They can play with their dainty toy china tea sets or play a rousing game of tag with the boys.

They love to laze in the shade of the old oak tree with a good book, but get a gang of friends together and they will join in a friendly game of wiffle ball.

They can bond with the girls in their lives and forge friendships that will last for decades.

They know the difference between have a boy for a friend or having a boyfriend.

They will draw a line and dare you to cross it, then forgive you when you do.

They have heart and soul and compassion and understanding.

They like sugar and sweets and won't hesitate to enjoy them on occasion, no matter what the health experts say.

They love God, family, country. They respect their elders and say thank you and you're welcome. They say yes ma'am and no ma'am. They hold doors open for the elderly.

They go to church on Sunday and say their prayers before they go to bed every night.

They are the first to fix a casserole for a friend going through a rough time and the last to leave the funeral visitation when a friend needs them around.

They stop for funerals and worry about the bereaved in the funeral procession, even when they don't know the diseased.

They believe every word in the Bible.

Mom and Dad are always important in their lives.

They care about family ties and love their siblings.

Cousins are just as important to them as brothers and sisters are.

They make loving moms and grandmothers.

They know that Aunts and Uncles are very special people and they appreciate having them in their lives.

They work hard and give a good day's work for their pay.

They used their share of outhouses.

They love taking walks in the woods.

They love banjos and guitars and good old timey music.

They come from the hills and the hollers. They are southern born and southern bred.

Thoughts of spring....

I don't know why it is that once it starts feeling a little like spring, we get the urge to clean, rearrange, redo and tackle new projects around the house. But I have several things that are going to need my attention this year. One of the first things I want to do is replace our porch swing. It is a metal swing and the cushions on it are so worn and ragged. I want to replace it with a nice wooden one and some throw pillows on it. Doesn't this one look cozy?

I also need a new set of tables and chairs for the other end of the porch. I just need to decide what I want. I may be leaning toward wrought iron, but not sure. 

I may even go with something in wicker.

I need to do something on the back deck as well. It gets a lot of sun so I'll need a small umbrella table and chairs I believe. I would love to find some retro style like the old metal chairs Mom and Dad had. 

I am not sure what I will hang on the front porch this year. Last year, I had Boston ferns and I absolutely loved the coziness they made on the porch.

But a part of me wants hanging pots of flowers this year. Lots of vibrant colors. I'm just not sure. My ferns stay fresh and pretty all the way up until November. I don't think hanging flowers would do that. 

I also need some type of plants on the back deck. It is small so I can't do a lot. But I'm toying with the idea of window boxes on the railing. I love these from Windowbox.com

But I may just want a big pot with an assortment of flowers. 

I guess I have a lot of work ahead of me. I can't wait till the local garden centers start getting all their plants out.