Some updates....

Over the past few weeks, I have been so busy that I have missed posting some things. Thought I would bring  you up-to-date. I showed you a couple of weeks ago the package with my new shower curtain. Here it is finally hung up.

My bathroom is beach themed with sea shells, tans, browns and blues so this was a perfect fit. And at $11 it was a bargain. 

I have a baking dish that is old. Allen had it when we got married 35 years ago and said his Mom had given it to him. Not sure where it originated. It's my favorite thing to bake brownies and cakes in, but it doesn't have a lid so I have to cover the finished product with Reynolds Wrap so I rarely use it.

Until now. I went to a Pampered Chef party and they now have a stretchy silicone "lid" for 9 x 13 pads. It even has an air vent in it in case you are baking something that needs covered, but  needs to release moisture build up during cooking. It can withstand temps up to 450 degrees. I am loving it. 

I also ordered something that was cheap but has become one of my favorite kitchen items. Toast tongs. They are bamboo so won't burn or scorch when you get your toast out.

Do you ever use flat bread? My favorite way to use it is for personal pizzas. It's delicious. I spread some Ragu Traditional Pizza Quik sauce on my flat bread, cover that with browned sausage crumbled up and then cover the whole thing with colby Monterey jack cheese. Bake it at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. It is delicious. You can substitute your own toppings and your own cheese, but that's the way I like it.

I have been looking at charms to make me a charm necklace. One thing I wanted was an initial and something beachy. I went to Hobby Lobby and found my B for just $1.99.

And this has a star fish which I love, the blue bead to remind me of the ocean, the red to remind me of the sunrise/sunset and the pearl for the sea from an oyster. It was $2.49 with 40% off coupon so I got it for $1.49

I already had a long chain that I use to change out charms on so I used that. I am so happy with the result.

But for times I don't want a bunch of charms, just more of a 1 charm medallion style, I bought this and can change it out onto the same chain. This one was also final cost of $1.49

I see all these people who take a piece or two of furniture and cover it with a piece of wood or counter top to create a desk or work space. Something similar to this.

Since I still can't find a work space for my desk that is big enough that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, I've been thinking about what I could do. The other day, I happened to remember that we used to have a TV in the middle bookshelf unit so we took the shelf above it out so it would fit and I have never put that shelf back in. So I went looking for it. The wood is not an exact match and it isn't long enough, but for a temporary fix I was able to lay it across my file cabinet and my printer stand and have a big work station and temporary desk until I can find what I really want. 

So far it is working out a lot better than the tiny desk I had. 

I went to work yesterday and a friend of mine was back from her trip to Nova Scotia. Check out what she got me. A thimble for my collection and a tiny moose since Thirty-One has a moose pattern now. How cute.

Well, there we are. All updated. Now to leave you with a little mid-week humor. This cracked me up.

Happy over-the-hump day!

Unbelievable

As you know, I love my Pyrex. I've been collecting it quite a few years. I have paid as little as .05 cents for one bowl and as much as $18 for one bowl. When I had to pay $18 to get one bowl to complete my set because it was so hard to find. I almost gave myself a heart attack. I went back and forth on whether I should or shouldn't. I had to go back to the store three times before I finally broke down and paid that much for one bowl. But it completed my set. 

On an average, I pay about $6 - $8 for most of my vintage bowls. It never ceases to amaze me when I see people on my Facebook groups that are selling one piece for $40 - $50 AND it sells immediately and people continue to keep asking if they still have it. I am always in shock and think "Are you kidding me??? $50??? FOR ONE PIECE?" People are just crazy. 

But the craziest thing I have seen in my Pyrex collecting days....well in my whole life for that matter was a couple of bowls for auction on a Goodwill Shopping site. It is the Lucky In Love pattern (left) and the Butterprint pattern (right).  The Lucky in Love came out in 1959 as what was believed a promotional pattern. It has been so rare that rumors began that it was never actual in existence. But every so often over the years somebody would find the pattern and it became known that it was real....just very rare to find. How rare is it today? So rare that the person selling this put in on Goodwill's auction block for $9.99 for both bowls with a little over $2.00 for shipping. They posted it on July 27 at 6:20 a.m. By 6:29 a.m. bidding was up to $101.00. My mind was reeling. Granted, they are getting two bowls for the $101 but everybody knows they the bidding is that high because of the rare piece, which isn't even a really big bowl.

The auction ended yesterday and the total sale price....are you ready for this.....are you sitting down....do you have any smelling salts near by because you are going pass out on this one. Here's the final auction amount on Goodwill....

No, you are not seeing things. It went for $6,501.00!!!! My mind is blown. Even if I was the richest person in the world, I would never pay that for a bowl. I don't think I will ever see anything that shocked me as much as this does. I do wish I had this bowl because I would auction it off in a heartbeat.

Good Morning, Monday!

I had a great two days off. But it's back to work today. Monday is ready for me even if I'm not ready for Monday. But I do get to do something different at work today. I get to work at the Dixie Stampede booth that is located near the train station in Dollywood. This will be fun working at Dollywood for a change of pace. It's a beautiful day and not really humid so it's going to be a great day to be outside.

Today is my Daddy's birthday. He's been gone for 18 years and I miss him dearly. He would have been 94 today. Happy birthday in heaven Daddy. I am 60 years old and I don't think I have ever called him "Dad" my whole life. he was always Daddy. This is my favorite picture of me and him. Look at my curls. I was 2 years old here and Mom had to pin the back of my panties with a diaper pin because they didn't make them small enough to stay on me.

I'm taking the plunge and figuring out a way to create my own work space for my home office desk. I keep seeing these simple DIY desks where they just use wood tops to connect over file cabinets or tables/shelves to make a desk. I will let you know how mine turns out. This is super simple and give you a work space and file drawers. I "shopped" my house last night for furniture and I found some I forgot about so stay tuned for what I do for my table.

I posted this a long time ago and never got around to doing it. But I need to just bite the bullet and by some magnets and do it. It is so easy and so fast to do that I don't know why I keep forgetting to do it.

Another idea I want to do but can't seem to remember to find a TV tray at a yard sale to make into an ironing board. One of these days I will get these done and share my results. 

My daughter is in a fall/Halloween mood today and getting decor ideas. So she has me in the mood to head over to Pinterest for ghost ideas.

Happy birthday, Shelby

Today is my granddaughter Shelby's birthday. She is turning 9 today. Where have the years gone. 

She has always been able to show her sweet side with that precious little smile of hers.

And to hold a good argument when Daddy wanted her to go in but she wasn't ready yet.

She has her own sense of style and has been picking out what she wants to wear from the time she was 2 or 3 years old. And sometimes she shows a great fashion sense.

And sometimes....not so much. But her Mommy has learned to pick her battles with this independent child.

She can go from sweet and charming to "Oh my gosh, what is she getting ready to do now" in the drop of a hat. We learned years ago to beware when she got what I called her "watch out" look.

She can be deep in thought.... 

But has a playful side that you never know what's coming next.

She has some of her daddy's personality traits and some of her mommy's. But about 80% is pure Shelby that we aren't sure where she gets it from. But she does look exactly like her Mommy.

(L- Shelby, R - Her mommy Diana)

She is growing up so fast and even though she is 9 today, I still see that two year old princess from time to time. But as her mom pointed out last week, she thinks Shelby has been a 19 year old trapped in an 8 year old body for the past year. Shelby being 9 should be an interesting year for all of us.

Happy birthday my sweet princess. May you always dance to the beat of your own drum and never lose that wild, crazy, funny side we have come to love. 

Excitement!!

It is a Saturday. I don't have to work today for the first Saturday in months and months. I'm going shopping with my daughter...for the first Saturday in months and months. Can you see why I am excited? And it is a beautiful morning. I woke up to the sun coming up brightly.

There was still some low lying fog from last nights rain monsoon that came through.

But it soon burned off and the view outside was of a gorgeous day.

I need today. Yesterday was hectic and crazy and one of those days that everything make you go UGH!! But one of the men put it in perspective. I mentioned I was letting things aggravate me bad and that wasn't like me. He said the following words and it was just the perspective I needed to get me back on track: "Why are you letting things bother you? God is all over this. He let you wake up this morning, didn't He? You are standing here talking to me....on your own two legs, aren't you? What more do you need."

Wow, the power of words.

Pop up memories...

I love how Facebook pops up with memories every day for what happened or what you posted in past years. I thought I would share some of my memories from today over the past 7 or 8 years. One was this cute idea for a  Christmas project. I really like this. I would use pine and poinsettias for mine with some picks of "bling" Christmas stuff thrown in.

This sweet angelic face belongs to my precious granddaughter Alexis. It is the #1 fave pic I ever took of her. That smile just says it all. She is going to be 13 this year. This was taken about 7 or 8 years ago.

For the last three years at this time, I was at Thirty-One Conference. This was one of the amazing paintings we saw on the walls of old buildings in a shopping district in Columbus, OH. It's amazing.

I weighed the options of going to conference this year and opted not to go. One of the bags they got for their amenity is the new Retro Metro in the pattern that I am wanting. Each one got one with the inital of their first name. My first thought was, oh man I wish I had went. 

But that's crazy because the price of the trip was way more than the cost of the bag. And by ordering my own, I can get the embroidery on the front the way I want and I am wanting the new compass and initials design.

 It's all about priorities. I would rather save the conference trip money and go see my mom. I love this sign. It should be a reminder to everyone to manage to take some time to enjoy life. I think if you have read my blog for long, you know I try to squeeze every bit of joy out of life that I can. 

This also popped up. I have said for 3 years I am doing this. Ugh. I just need to DO it and quit talking about it. Only instead of the wood blocks I have seen it done with spray painted old hardback books stacked. Not sure which way I will do it. 

I could precut and stitch edges of little sweaters out of felt and let the kids do an ugly Christmas sweater at Children's Church. I want to have them a little Christmas party this year if it works out with my schedule. 

This is a cute and easy craft. Twist pipe cleaners, cover with netting and tie with ribbon...instant little candies.

My Alexis and Ms. Debbie are going to love these. I need to put together a craft night for my grandbabies and let them make some things for the holidays. 

And last but not least, this popped up and I wanted to leave you with a good laugh for the day. 

Have a great weekend!