A very special birthday....

I sit here and look of pictures at a smiling little boy who turns 18 today. My first grandson, Garret. I will never ever forget the feeling I felt holding him in arms that very first time. 

Like any little child, he liked to look in the mirror and watch himself make faces. I did catch a great one of him looking at his smile. I remember this picture so well. He had had a bath and had his jammies on. But it was summer and warm and we went out to sit with Papaw on the back patio and his feet got so dirty that I had to stick them in the sink to wash them when we came back in.

He always loved smiling for the camera when he was smaller.

One year we went to my mom's around his birthday and we had him a birthday party up there as well so he ended up with TWO parties that year.

He loved helping out in the kitchen. This was my first time making home made biscuits. Come to think of it, that was the only time I ever tried them. He helped by rolling out the dough. We got a little crazy with the flour. 

Those eyes and that smile of his could always bring great joy to me. 

This was his dinosaur stage which lasted a very long time. The child was the most knowledgeable person about dinosaurs I ever met. He's chipping away at a rock that was supposed to have fossils in it.

One of his many outings with me and his Aunt Di. This one was at Dollywood.

One of our outings to Rain Forest Adventure. He volunteered to hold a snake. Which made me want to freak out but he had no fear whatsoever. Of course, this is the same child on another visit who volunteered to hold a tarantula as well. Fearless.

Family gatherings at our house were always so much funny because you had no idea what he would say or do next. Of course, that's still true today.

One of his many funny photo faces. 

Sometimes it would take many tries to get a good smiling photo and sometimes, you just took what you got and were happy he even let you take the photo.

He's an outdoorsman for sure. Today, he loves to hunt and fish. That's his favorite past time.

One thing you can always guarantee is that there will be laughter when he's around. I don't remember him ever being a difficult or moody child. He enjoys life and lives in the moment.

Although the teen years was when he started his serious "don't take my picture and I'm not smiling if you do" stage. That's when you sneak in to a room, snap and run and be happy with what you get.

Fortunately, that stage didn't last long. 

Of course, I can't promise he was smiling for the camera every time I got that smile. It just meant I got better at catching the right moment when he wasn't looking.

It's easy to get him to smile nowadays and I think that's because his girlfriend Hannah makes him smile. It's hard to believe he's dating and heading off to college this year. But one thing I do believe and that is that no matter how old he gets, he will always be Mamaw's little buddy. Happy birthday, Garret. I hope you have an amazing 18th birthday and wish you the very best as you journey through the next stage of your life. 

What a great day!

Didn't get to post this morning. I had to be at work at 8:00 this morning for the first time in a long time. I was training on some new things I will be helping with. The day flew by and I'm super excited. And I actually got off work while it was still daylight for a change. We had some snow on the mountains the past few days. I love working in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.

Candy dish maniac

I mentioned yesterday that I apparently like to collect candy dishes. For years, I have been picking up little vintage candy dishes, glass bowls, relish dishes, etc. As I go on my antique/thrift store trips I find many more I like but I don't buy them just to buy them. They need to hit my fancy or match a room or something. And they have to have an amazing price. Here are some I saw online that I find are very beautiful in my opinion. If I could find just one or two of these this year, I would be so happy.

I love the cut glass effect in this one. It's not your usual sandwich glass pattern, but I love it.

This little pale yellow one reminds me of a carousel top.

I love the blue/green carnival glass.

Be still my heart! PINK! And I just love the pedestal legs.

I have seen this one before. And while I do like it in the blue, I'm not sure I would love it enough to buy it. Unless the price was unreal.

I don't normally go for the amber glass, but oh my gosh it has bees and beehives on it.

This is a unique yellow color.

This is pretty. I like the reddish pink with the clear.

Of course I love milk glass and have many pieces of milk glass so it's only natural that I like milk glass candy dishes.

 

Now this is just too cute for words. I'm not sure it is a candy dish or a sorbet bowl, but it is adorable.

And another pretty pink. I see this a lot in the amber and the dark green, but never have I seen a pink one.

But the one I want the most and I have been looking for it for four years now. Is the carnival glass color in this thumbprint candy dish. It was made by Indiana Glass I believe. I find it EVERYWHERE in EVERY color.....except the color like this. But I will keep searching and someday find this. I will definitely do a happy dance on that day!

What I did yesterday...

Despite being so tired, I did get a few little things accomplished yesterday. I love to read. It is my favorite thing to do for relaxation. I wanted some little something to put on my book shelf. I found this subway art about reading. I printing it out on card stock, put it in an acrylic easel frame I had and decorated the top and bottom with some washi tape I had. Love having stuff on hand when I want to throw something together.

I put it in front of my books on my bookshelf. I never get rid of my hardback books because they are my all time faves that I can read again and again. But the paperbacks are always changing when I head over to McKay's Book Exchange.

I also gathered some of my candy dishes and put them on a shelf together (the ones I don't keep candy in). Turns out I apparently collect candy dishes now. Who knew.

I picked up this little sorbet vintage piece awhile back for just $2.00.

I put it in the living room with some butterscotch disks in it.

I stuck my Shamrocks in a milk glass vase and tied a St. Patrick's Day ribbon around it.

Then I temporarily brought my shamrock teapot into the living room from my bedroom. A cute little display for St. Patrick's Day.

I found two of my bunnies in the storage of my coffee table last night. I just sat them here for now, but I may change that up later. We'll see.

My grandson, Garret, and his girlfriend, Hannah, came by to see me last night. We had a great visit. Lots of fun. Lots of stories told. And lots of laughter shared. I am blessed that my soon-to-be 18 year old grandson still wants to come visit his Mamaw.

That's it from Mamaw's Place. Have a great day.

My life in humor today....

Just finished up three exhausting days at work. It's hard when we go from one show a day with just one or two groups to a 3 day show with tons of groups and then a two day show following that. I am worn out. Even my fingernails are tired. So I am envisioning how my day is going to go and this is pretty much what I expect it to be.........

Sunday's song

I don't care how old you are or how you have lived your life up to this point, but you will always be able to remember that moment you were baptized. This is one of my favorite songs ever. He talks about being baptized in the river and I was. It was called Mud River and for a very good reason. Horrible muddy clay. Dirty water. When my son, his wife, my grandson and my granddaughter were all also baptized in an old river it brought back some wonderful memories. Hope you enjoy this song as much as I do.

Friday find....

As I was heading to work yesterday, I stopped in the Dollar Tree in Pigeon Forge to pick up some cleaning items. Turns out there is an antique store in that strip mall now. Well, you know me. I just had to go check it out. It had some good things and some that didn't interest me. It had items at great deals and some that were way over priced. But I did find this little bottle for $2.00. 

It's filthy and needs cleaned up really good. But I love the way it is shaped narrow on the sides instead of perfectly round.

You may wonder why I would want an old dirty jar. Well, I have a plan. I keep seeing these odd jars at antique stores that are just dirty, clear jars but I can see the potential through all the grease and grime of the years. And a couple of local stores have prices like .50 cents or $1.00. I see them at yard sales for .10 and .25 cents. I always want some but never knew anything to do with them. Enter Pinterest. Place some of your favorite photos. I want to print some of my favorite grandkids pics and do this.

You can also paint them and add embellishments or not.

Paint them and use them as flower vases.

I really, really want to try some of the milk glass spray paint on some old bottles or vases with patterns on them.

You can now paint glass to make it like a mirror. Pick up an old picture frame at a yard sale and paint the glass into a mirror or for that matter just put fabric or scrapbook paper under the mirror. Add some unique bottles and jars and a few flowers and wah-lah...instant centerpiece.

 This is cute to me because everywhere I go I see old skeleton keys and wonder what I could do with them. How about something like this. You could combine the first idea of a pic of a loved one in a jar and then tie a heart charm with a vintage key for the "key to my heart" angle. 

Oh wait! Here's a great idea I just thought of. Combine putting paper in the jar with a skeleton key tied around like above. On the paper could be a printed out picture of your favorite quote about God opening doors. I love this idea. I've got to do this and let you know how it turns out. Now to go search for an old key.