Oh, happy day . . .

I love it when my roses  all start blooming.  It just makes my day to walk around the yard and look at them!   The new bushes I bought in Tyler recently are planted and have lots of new flowers and buds on them, so I just had to cut some.   Love, love, love them!!!  Isn’t that dark purple one fantastic?!

A little road trip . . .

This week my husband and I decided to hit the road and see some of the pretty scenery in East Texas – just a couple of hours from home.   So, we went to the

We were waiting until we heard from a friend who lives in Tyler that the azaleas were finally opening.  Our unusual winter weather had them off schedule!  We saw some beautiful flowers, lovely gardens and gorgeous dogwood trees then shopped for a few rose bushes for my garden.  Here is some of what we saw.

And my roses – not on the same bush; I just propped them up together.  The purple one is named Ebb Tide and the apricot is Easy Does it.

I also got another one called Dolly Parton.    I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to why!   When it blooms, I’ll show you. . .

Wishing you

 

a Joyful and Happy

 

Hope you are spending it with those you love.

A New Look

Several months ago I asked my (welder) husband if he would fix one of my antique iron beds so that we could use it with our queen size mattress.  It is a bed that I bought at an estate sale years ago and used it in a guest room for a while.  You can see another one in my guest room here.  When I had a booth in an antique mall I sold lots of iron beds and my hubby would adjust the length of the rails. 

I had to eliminate my large Euro sham pillows because they covered too much of the pretty headboard.  Here is the result . . .  and I love it!

 

Thanksgiving??

My husband has been on a dessert kick lately and has polished off (by himself, I might add) a pecan pie, peach pie and apricot cake in the last three weeks. 

Yesterday he requested another pie – pumpkin.  I said “what?”   He thought it sounded good, so here it is.  (You know the recipe – the one from the Libby’s can.)

My house smells like Thanksgiving and that’s okay with me!   I always have lots to be thankful for so this a gentle reminder.   How about you?  I hope you are thankful too.

I have been “missing in action” lately, but that is another story.  I’ll fill you in some other time.

Ohhhhhhh . . .

I so w the blue sky and fluffy clouds!!   It feels like Spring may be  around the corner.  The purple martin house is ready for the little guys to fly in. 

Pillow Talk

Recently I found myself in a neighborhood where I don’t normally go – not that far from me, but just not my normal stompin’ ground.  I went in Pottery Barn <<drool>>.  I knew I wouldn’t come out without buying something.  Actually, as soon as I walked in the door, they were putting out these pillows that screamed at me.  Bird, embroidered, colorful – need I say more!  They have lots of bird-themed items now so I knew I better leave quickly!

I remembered that IKEA was nearby and I hadn’t been there in a long time – only once since they opened -- so I headed in that direction.  As many of you probably know, the store is huge, packed and very organized.  If you don’t know what you are doing though, you wind up walking the whole thing almost twice just to get out!  (I’m sure there is a method to their madness because in the process of trying to get out, look what I found . . .

Two more pillows – embroidered, colorful.  And, I didn’t even know I needed pillows.  Happy accidents for sure!

P.S.  I think I need another one in front of these. . .

Good morning sunshine . . .

It just warms my soul.  I can take any cold temperature if the sun is shining.  Looks like we might have several days of sunnier and a little warmer weather.   Praise God!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

Be sweet to your sweetie . . . and have a happy day!

Can’t do anything about it, so

What a difference a day makes!

I’m so sorry that I complained about the weather yesterday.   Look what we woke up to this morning!

And this is the garden that I showed you in my previous post where herbs and daffodils were coming up.

People in Texas say, “If you don’t like the weather here, just wait a minute.”   How true!

I must admit that it is pretty and really exciting for the kids, but I think I’ll just stay inside, look out my window and have another cup of hot chocolate!

The good news is that it will be gone in a day or two.   All I can say to all of you sweet people in the northeast is “Bless Your Hearts”!   I don’t know how you do it . . .

Please be true . . .

Could it be that Spring is near?   I hate to be cranky about the cold weather that we are having when so many people are covered in snow, but, really, this is Texas!  Today I noticed that some brave souls are peeking out in my garden.  Are they fed up with it too?

I have a frozen birdbath -- and daffodils and herbs nearby trying their best to ignore it.

 

I can’t wait to be able to join them in the garden!  Okay, now a little sunshine would help too.  Guess I just better go shopping – there is nothing to do here . . .

Rearrangement

My silhouettes were bugging me!   I just hung them as my collection grew and they were just too randomly scattered.  So today, it went from this. . .

to this. . .

and I feel much better.  This is much more "orderly". (They look a little crooked from this angle, but I promise they are not!)  The frames were garage sale finds – not too special, but I didn’t care -- I was really just going for size.  They both have a red border in them, but I think after I look at it a while that I will paint the frames black and maybe leave the red.  Better?

Button, button . . .

I love buttons!   I am a sucker for a bag of buttons at an estate sale or garage sale.   Some day I’m sure I’ll find a real purpose for all of them.  This weekend I came across a fairly large bag and they were really dirty. 

So, they got  washed . . .

sorted . . .

and put in jars with the rest of my “collection.”

Thrift Store Find

Don’t you just love thrift stores?   I have to check my favorites whenever I am in the area and today I found this lily pad plate.  This picture does not do it justice.

I found it online for $42.00 – I paid $3.75.   Now, do I love it enough to keep it or should I try to sell it on eBay?   Keep it . . . sell it . . .keep it . . .sell it?   I just don’t know.  I’ll have to sleep on it.

A Lovely Giveaway

from Castle & Cottage Signs.  Go over there and comment to be in line for this hand painted sign.   Paula is also selling one on eBay with the proceeds to go to Save the Children to help in the relief efforts in Haiti.  Bless her!!

Pomegranate Wine

Today I was drawn to the wine section of the grocery store in the hope of finding a nice (hopefully blue!) bottle for my bottle tree (see my last post).  I came across this and the bottle wasn’t so special, but I had to buy it because I had never seen pomegranate wine before.   Have you?  It is pretty darn good!

Then  I “googled it and found out that pomegranate wine has 3 times more antioxidants than red wine.   I think I might have found a good excuse to drink wine . . .

My Bottle Tree

I have been wanting a bottle tree for some time and my husband surprised me a few weeks ago by making one.   We finally got it “planted” in the middle of my herb garden.   I almost hate to show it to you now because everything is so dead in the yard, but this will give us something to compare it to in spring when it has a better background and more “blooms” on it.   I have encouraged all of my wine drinking friends to save bottles for me and I’d really appreciate it if they would choose their wine by the color of the bottle – blue, please!  (Since I’m not a big wine drinker that makes as much sense to me as any method.) 

If you don’t know the folk lore of the bottle tree, it is a southern tradition, brought from Africa by the slaves.  Legend has it that evil spirits in the yard are trapped in the bottles at night, keeping them from the house, and the heat of the sun kills them during the day.   Evil spirits are not something I am afraid of, but I just love bottle trees!   Okay, everyone, start drinking (or I’d be happy with vinegar or any long-necked bottle.)

Am I blind?!

I bought this cute little hooked rug for my cherry laundry room yesterday.  The colors were perfect and I thought it was a real find (at Marshall’s) for $9.99.  This morning as I was leaving, I got a real surprise and the laugh of the day – where is the “i” in cherries?   How come I didn’t even notice it?   Also, the first “r" looks like a “p”.  Well, you know what, I still love it and now I will have a reason to smile every time I walk through my laundry room!   (My hubby offered to “fix” it for me with a marker – I declined!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.   May 2010 live up to your expectations!  (Are you a resolution maker?   I am . . .)  My resolution this year is to read at least a book a month.