Day 3 Done - Time to rest

Well, I just finished Day 3 of my mini Staycation with my friend Sherrie. Monday, we visited McKay's and AC Moore. Tuesday, we went to antique stores all day. Yesterday was our final day of getting out of the house while the weather is still pretty. We made it a short day, but we both needed a few things from Walmart and Sherrie needed some Corning ware lids for some of her bowls. So we went to the local Corelle Outlet. 

Every time I go in there, I look at the new Pyrex Charms sets. I love the dotted, but I only want the red dotted one. However, you have to get the whole set and it is anywhere from $25 to $35 anywhere you find them. I'm just not going to pay that to get four bowls when I only want one of them. But I look every time to see if the set is on sale. It wasn't.

So I figured while I was in there, I might as well head back to the clearance section where I usually pick up my random plates. I walked up and there was only one shelf in clearance and it only had three items on it. But guess what one of the items was....

That's right, my red dot bowl...by itself....on sale....at clearance pricing. Check out what I paid for it!!!!

That's right. My one bowl I've been wanting for just $1.97 and wow did I snatch that baby up fast. So glad Sherrie decided she needed some lids. After we left there, we decided to treat ourselves to Steak and Shake for lunch. We both had cheeseburgers. I had french fries and she had onion rings and we split them equally so we got the best of both worlds. This is my favorite place to go when I want a good cheeseburger.

Afterward, we went back to Sherrie's and booked our hotel for our 2nd annual beach trip. Then I headed home and just vegged out and relaxed. Today is my last day off of 5 days off so I go back to work tomorrow. Not sure what my schedule will be next week, but we are going to start picking back up to normal hours after February 1st. I must say it has felt good having some time off during January. And having some beautiful 60° days to enjoy it on. It made me even more excited about thinking about our beach trip.

Now to just figure out what to do with my day today. I have kept the house clean all week. I have kept up my laundry and all the closets are cleaned out. I may get out some material and start working on making pillows. It's time I tackled how to work my sewing machine.  Have a great day!

Well, what a day...

Yesterday started out with my antiquing trip with Sherrie. We hit just about every antique store on Hwy 66 in Sevierville/Kodak. Mine was mostly a browsing expedition to scout out best buys on a few things I'm looking for.  But I did pick up two items. I am not sure if this is a little sugar bowl or a little candy dish, but I just fell in love with the deep blue color. It matches my carpet. It was only $2.00 so I went ahead and got it even if I'm not sure what it is.

Would you pay 50 cents for a memory? Well, I did. It was spontaneous and it was crazy but it was just 50 cents and I sat it on a shelf in my bathroom.....When I was about 8 or 9 there was a friend of my brothers that was around 6 or 7 and he had a crush on me. His mom sold Avon and he would get her sample lipsticks and little vials of Here's My Heart perfume and give them to me. It was so sweet. Flash forward to the 80's and I met and married Allen. We worked with a girl who sold Avon. Our first Valentine's he ordered me some Avon jewelry and some Here' My Heart perfume. He never knew how much I had loved it growing up. Over the years they quit making it and I started wearing other fragrances, but I always associate Here's my Heart with making me feel special. When I found this little Here's My Heart container, I knew I had to have it.

One booth had their stuff set up like a bedroom with things done in pink. I told Sherrie that as much as I liked my beach bedroom, I still missed my pink and sage green bedroom I had about 10 - 15 years ago. She asked me why didn't I redo it. I got to thinking, and I still have the quilt and pillow shams because I never could part with them. It was my favorite set I had ever owned. I also realized I still had a lot of pink and sage green in my house. This is what my bedroom looked like when I left home yesterday morning. 

We got home at 2:36 and I went straight to work "shopping" my house for pinks and greens. I pulled out my quilt and pillow shams and 58 minutes later, I had a new look in my bedroom.

And I filled it with so many memories. Like these little flowers in the green vase. They are a peachy pink but I keep them because one year, Allen bought a beautiful basket and bought a bunch of these flowers. He made an amazing flower arrangement in that basket and stuffed it full of Mounds, Milky Way and Junior Mints and had it waiting as my Easter basket on Easter morning. That was a lot of work to make sure I had a happy Easter. Men don't usually do that. The little tea cup and the candy dish we found one time when we were antiquing together.

One year, he bought me this tea pot for Valentine's day. The pretty candle holder with the flowers on it was a gift from my son's family one year. There is a funny story with it. Do you see the little doll figurine beside the flower vase? Me and Allen played video games at Fanny Farkles in Gatlinburg until I got enough tickets to get it. Over the years, the little bear at her feet broke off and won't stay glued on but I never lost it. At one time, the little girl and the candle house thing sat in my bathroom. My granddaughter, Alexis, would take the little bear and put it in the little house every time she came over. They go home and a few days later I would see my bear was missing and I would look in the candle house and there it was. Then when my granddaughter Shelby came along, Alexis taught her how to put it in there as well. I will never, ever part with those two things because it's the stuff memories are made of.

I got this doll when my daughter worked for a doll store and I first got this quilt. My mom was doing a lot of crafting at the time and she made me a Sun Bonnet Sue to match the doll. When we were little, we always went to visit a lady next door. Ms. Gibson always had dolls on her bed and I have done it a time or two myself and actually have a few around the house.

I am very happy to have my pink and green bedroom back and have my doll back on my bed....even if I am 60 years old.  

I have a pink cat I got for a buck at a yard sale several years ago. Turns out his neck is perfect to hold my favorite bracelets. I thought this was a cute idea. You know me and my repurposing gene. 

And of course he goes great with the hand Alexis made me for my rings a couple of years ago. 

I also moved in my daisy planter that is one of my favorite arrangements I own. And since my Little Women doll Meg is the right color, I put her on top of the chest. So there you have it, a whole room redo in under one hour. I love when I get to shop my house and get a makeover without spending a dime.

Yesterday's finds

Well, I have to say my trip to McKay's was a huge success. I got 23 new books and my total after applying my trade credit was just a little over $4.00. You can't beat a deal like that. I read about a book a week, sometime 2 a week. So I'm good to go for anywhere from 3 - 6 months on reading material.

Check out my new purse. I am loving the colors. It looks like a Vera Bradley or a Donna Sharp but it is actually an off brand that I found at AC Moore and was only $12.99. What a deal.

I wanted it for my work bag because of all the interior pockets. I am really loving it.

I'm going antiquing today. I want to look for something to set on my dining room table. I usually do it like this but I want to change it up some although I will always keep the McCoy vase and flowers. My cousin and I bought the vase when we were real young to give our Mamaw Eden for Mother's day so I won't ever part with it.

My sister always has a pretty towel hanging over her mixer. Now that I finally got my stand mixer, I put the towel that my sister made for my kitchen over the mixer. I love it there. Looks good, doesn't it Rachel.

I'm off to enjoy my day! Have a great day.

Some ideas....

I want to do this. It is simply a cooling rack over top a basket or plastic tub and you just organize your lids...which are always the most disorganized item in my house.

I have one of these wall centers from Thirty-One and I don't use it that much. Even though I don't have children at home, I could use this to keep track of the many things I'm involved in. Right now, it just kind of hangs there. I'll update it this week and show you the before and after.

Isn't this pretty. It's called the Stems pattern from Pyrex. I would love to come across one of these somewhere at a good price. 

I saved this from Pinterest because I love how they used the magazine holders to hold water bottles and travel mugs. I am definitely going to do this. I have a lot of these and they don't fit anywhere without just standing them up and taking up a lot of room. I was so excited about pinning the bottle idea that I didn't notice it. Do you see what I see? A piece of butterfly gold Pyrex on the top shelf on the left side.

This is a cute curtain idea. Pretty assorted lace and linens. I'm not sure if they are hankies or doilies or dresser scarves, but I guess you could use anything.

Here's another one with lots of vintage linens. This is adorable. 

I found another idea for storage lids. This is the Thirty-One double duty caddy. That is a great use for one of them. I may have to get me one.

Heading out to McKay's to exchange some books today. It's rainy and dreary but supposed to clear out later. Have a great Monday.

Feel Good Music Morning

I love music mash ups and flash mob videos. Here are my favorites. 

The Marriage

For those of you who didn't know, Duncan Hines and Betty Crocker got married at my house the other night.

The result of their union was a delicious brownie peanut butter chocolate chip Brookie. It was heavenly and I highly recommend it. Just another one of those, mix the brownie and pour in 9 x 13 pan. Then mix the cookie dough and spread on the brownie. Bake for 25 - 35 minutes at 350° till it is done. Heavenly. 

I made this for my Pampered Chef party. The meal was the Chicken Parm Soup which my friend Nancy is helping fix.

Not sure why with all the hard work I did cleaning house and baking dessert my granddaughter is the one getting a foot massage. :)

On a side note, I am going antiquing next week and one of the things on my wish list is an old black rotary phone with the metal dialer. I just want it for a decor piece in my office. Wish me luck.

Have a great day

Friday Foto Friends

Friday Foto Friends

It was Monday morning and we had had some rain so it was a little foggy as I went to work. I had to meet a friend that morning before work and so I took the back road part of the way to work. As I turned to start down what I call the other Douglas Dam Road (not the one I live off of), I thought this is a little eerie and maybe not a good idea.

Then it came time to cross over the bridge over the French Broad River. Even eerier looking.

But what was scary was the view to my left is the dam from Douglas Lake. You couldn't even see the dam and it's not that far from the bridge. But to my right and immediately below me was the French Broad River. As you can see, all I could see was fog and a little shade of tree on the bank. It was so strange. I felt like one of those people having a UFO experience. (Not really, but it was very weird).

Then I made it back to Hwy 66 and you could see the sun trying to come out and it looked so unique I thought maybe I better revisit my UFO experience. LOL. 

But once I got into Pigeon Forge, the skies were blue and the fog was just laying low in the hills. It ended up being a beautiful day. 

But for a week that started out so foggy, it sure is ending well. This was the sky yesterday morning. It was beautiful.