Wizard Of Oz House

Take a look at this cute house I saw a few minutes ago!!!

I went to the door to ask permission to photograph but no one was home!!!

Well ahhhhhhh.......thanks!!!!

.........I really like your house.........

HOOOOOOOWWWWWW CUUUUUUTTTTTEEEEE!!!!!

Great Idea for the lamp post!!!

It was so cute that I didn't even want to mess up one of the leaves on the way to the door!!!!


Even the Hitchin' post was decked out!!!!

So if I don't get to post tomorrow.......

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!

Kids and Fall

I love Fall!

I don't think my kids love it as much as I do, but they will.

When they grow up, I know they will remember their goofy mother at the farmers market

looking for just the right heirloom pumpkins

and buying 25 mini pumpkins for their friends to paint at a birthday party.

The picture below is of our two youngest children.

Jonah our youngest, is 7, in the second grade.

And Deidra, our only daughter, is 12.

We were at the Fall Festival at their school.

I don't think I have to tell you they were NOT thrilled that I was making them pose for pictures.

It was hot and they wanted to play with friends.

Oh well, you know how 'us' mama's can be!!!

Here is Jonah, fresh after face painting. Oh, to be young.....

Face painting could make one so happy!!!!

Life is good!

We celebrated Deidra's Fall Costume Birthday Bash

a couple weeks ago and I thought you might enjoy a few pics.

Above is the invitations that my husband (aka big daddy) printed out.

I wanted to add a polka dot ribbon or something and I stopped at the dollar store on the way home and couldn't find anything....so I improvised.

When I got home. Deidra and I dragged out some artificial leaves and jute and just went to town!

I think they really turned out cute!

She took them to school (20 of them!!!!) to give to her friends.

Then.....it decided to rain, rain, rain, and to become so cold and windy!!!!

We had to move the event to the front yard...

(BOO HOO)

So the back drop for the pics isn't what I had imagined it would be...

And we had to staple the tablecloths on,

And everything kept blowing off the table,

So the decorations were mimimal (not me AT ALL)!!!

but the kids didn't seem to mind!

(or they were too cold to care!)

The Doctor is in.

Arrrrrrr........

One of the tables had the stuff for smores, paint your own pumpkins, and beads to make your own necklaces.

Another table before the cupcakes were put out.

(ok, you caught me!!! I'm bad....I bought the cupcakes....

they are not homemade!!!!!!

I ran out of time!)

Sue me.

Table with fix it yourself caramel apples (beautiful, wonderful apples from the farmers market)
with all kinds of cool sprinkles and nuts to choose from.

Beefy Nachos and Cheese

Hot dogs (if you didn't want to roast your own)

Some if the scary (and not so scary) guests.

Deidra is the tall blond (princess) in the middle back with the

crooked crown.

The front of the house where they could cover up with blankets

and giggle.

Awwww, cupcakes magically appear!!!

Some of the girls thawing out in the house for awhile.

My sweet husband built the girls a fire for marshmallows, wieners, and warmth.

Fall decorations.

Girls hangin' out.

Happy 12th Birthday to Deidra!!! We love you!!!!

Glass Dome from Newly Discovered Thrift Store!!!

Oh my Goodness!!!!!!!!!

There is a wonderful Thrift Store less than 6 blocks away from my office and I just found it today at Lunch!!!!!!

I have been passing right by it to go to my other Thrifts that I visit! Its just a little back off the road and I had no idea it was there!!!!

I even noticed, when I was checking out, that it was voted the #1 Thrift Store in North Alabama in 2008!

Here is picture as I was going in!!!! They had some great stuff and they seem very affordable AND everything seemed organized.

I like that!!!

Here is my 'find' for the day!.............

Wow! Can you believe it at a thrift store! $2.92! I've always wanted one of these, but I've never broke down and bought one!!!

You can see in the pic above that it's missing something on top

but that is an easy fix with a finial or something 'inventive'

OR maybe not anything!

I don't know if anyone would notice!

I love it!!!!!! SCORE for the new Thrift Store!!!!

A make-do bow

Hello My Friends! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

My husband dropped by my office today on his way to visit his dad in the hospital who has just had hip replacement. His birthday is tomorrow and he had his gift for me to wrap.

Now again......I'm at work.

This is what I had with me at work wrap the present........

Some wrapping paper I bought 1/2 off last year at Christmas at Hobbly Lobbly.

I did have the normal office stuff, scissors, tape, etc (thank the Lord).......but no bow.

My husband said he could just grab a stick on bow somewhere on the way.

I told him definitely not! That's like a clip on tie! LOL.

So then I had an idea.........

I saw this.............

Our candy dish!!!!!!!

So here is the finished product..........

It's amazing what a little clear tape and staples will do!!!! (Imagine what I coulda done with some hot glue!!!!!!

Necessity is definitely the mother of invention!!!!

Oh, and he loves candy!!!!!

Today's SA cute finds

Here's a couple of cute things I picked up at the Salvation Army today.

Very pretty, Large, Heavy White Compote (I guess that's what it is). Has some crazing on it (which I love by the way) and is marked on the bottom. Needs a good cleaning but I think its very pretty. Marked $4.00.

Here's the mark, might be hard to read, but maybe someone can recognize it?



Cute medium size berry reindeer basket. It was new and still had a $15.00 Hallmark tag on it. SA price........$1.50.

This cute little childs chair was only $1.00!

They had a couple more things there I would have liked to have had but were marked too high. I hate that. I think it's all according to WHO is doing the pricing! After all, it is the Salvation Army!!!

Earring Organizer

Hey, I saw this idea in a magazine a few years ago and it works perfectly in the small top drawers in my bathroom. If you can't tell, It's made from an empty large cardboard egg container (like 2 1/2 dozen). It works wonderfully and I even put the single earrings in that I have misplaced the match (in the hope of finding it one day). This idea would also be perfect for small craft items like beads and such. And the best part about it.....it was free, recycled, and the eggs were Delicious!!!!

Another wreath re-do

This is another wreath I re-did this Fall. I picked it up at a local thrift store a couple weeks ago just like you see it in the picture below. I wanted it for a while, but they had it marked at like $9.95 at a thrift store!!! What are they thinking!!!! So I just waited, then asked NICELY (that's the key I think) if they might take less, since it had been there a while (another key). She said they would, and would I give $5.95. Still a little high to me, but it was a good size and I could use the grapes on it as well.

I left everything on it just like it was above.

Added more, including some of the orange ribbon stuff from my last wreath project....

And here it is on the front of my house, just pretend you don't see my husbands work truck on the side of the house (he was loading stuff from the back). Cute right?





This is just a little vignette in my yard. I've had this little chair forever! and it looked really cute with the little pumpkins I thought.

Claudie Bell singing with the Angels

Hello everybody!!!!

This weekend has been a full one to say the least!!! My husband's last surviving Grandparent, his 'Grandmother', has gone to be with her Heavenly father and to receive her Reward for a life spent serving God. She was 90 and passed within minutes of us leaving her side Friday night. It's a joyous time... in that.... not only is her struggle her on Earth over, but several relationships are beginning to be restored due to the family fellowship over the weekend. I know Ms. Claudie Bell is proud! I didn't have the privilege of knowing Grandmother when she was healthy, but by all accounts, she was a strong woman when it wasn't cool to be. My husband's paternal Grandfather died when his dad was 12 years old and as I heard this weekend, they didn't have "a pot to pee in" (it was said a 'little' differently, LOL). She worked 2 jobs at a time to make ends meet and married again, years later when her kids were grown. She was so strong willed, that at Christmas, when we were there to visit her, she couldn't talk but she was smiling.... when she eased a little bell she had hid (from under her pillow) to show us. They thought they had hid it from her because she was driving everybody crazy ringing it when she wanted some attention! Also, a couple weeks ago, when no one thought she could get out of bed anymore, her daughter heard something down the hall. Not only was she out of the bed (with the bed rails up) she was using the baby gate (they had on her door to keep the cat out of the room) as a walker! She was coming to the kitchen to 'help' with dinner!!!! So she was a pistol till the end and will be missed by all.

I wanna thank everybody that has left me a comment!!! You are all so sweet!!!! I laughed out loud when I read the one about the songs. I know most of them are random, they just all are songs I love and they make me happy when I hear them. I've read that it's not such a good idea to have music on your blog and I might take it off later, but for now, I think I'll leave it on. If someone doesn't like it, it can be turned off.

Well OK, gotta get some work done, I'll be posting soon! Thank you all so much for following me!!! I hope I can continue to inspire and keep learning as I go! It's a rainy day here (not a Monday) but I'm not gonna let it get me down! LOL

Luv Me a Good Yard Sale!!!

Ok, Saturday morning, on my way to school, I hit a wonderful yard sale! Not ONLY was I the first one there (whooooohoooooo!!!!), the people that were having it were so interesting!!!! They had been missionary's in Africa years ago and are getting ready to go back! I think I bought everything she was getting rid of that she had brought from their travels there! And you talk about cheap!!!! There's nothing worse to me than seeing things I love, want so bad, and would treasure, and them being out of my budget! So this one was a SCORE!!! I snapped some pictures of PART of my new treasures...........

Above is most of the things from Africa. My FAVORITE is the tray. She said a friend, a little old lady, had given it to her and it was made by her son. It is hand carved out of one piece of wood! It is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! It was.......are your ready?.........$2.00!!!!!!!! The baskets are made by hand and I got them for like $1 each (one might have been 50 cents)!!!! The candles were not made in Africa she said but I thought they blended well with the other stuff. They are really big candles and I can turn them around to the other side if I want to and it has a wilderness scene. I plan on burning them since I heard that an unburned candle is really sad looking. I burn all my candles now and its beautiful. I was always guilty of 'saving' them for company! Aren't we important too? I just try to find most of mine at yard sales so I don't feel like I'm 'burning' money! LOL. The 2 textiles in front are handmade as well and were 25 cents each I think and one is a hanging tapestry. I'll post it when I get it hung on the wall.

The pic above is a side and bottom view of the hand-carved tray.


Above is another shot of the baskets.


My goofy husband demonstrating how one of the baskets is to be used. He's so funny!

You can see on this pic how its made from one solid piece of wood.


This is a close up of some of the detail work on the inside of the tray.


More detail work.


Decorating books. 50 cents each.


Frames, some were 10 cents each. A small hot glue gun and new sticks, both $1.00, some small pine cones and filler for 10 cents I think. 2 metal marshmallow/wiener roasting sticks, both for $1.00


2 brand new feather pillows!!!! She said she had gotten them for a gift and had never used them!!! Wow!!! Hey, with 6 kids, pillows are a hot commodity at our house!!!!





As are sheets. Here are 2 full size sheets....and they were.....FREE!!!!! Awwwwww........don't judge me, we've all slept at hotels, the sheets are not new there!!!! After hot water and bleach....these will be great! And this woman was neat and clean, I woulda slept at her house!!!! LOL



These are a couple more of the books I got, one for devotions for the kids, 50 cents, and the other a vintage friend book for 10 cents that will be darling to pass on in a friend gift basket!!!

This was interesting, she said some of the Africans will make anything out of practically nothing. This box was made out of shoe polish tins. I thought one of my boys would like this for storing little treasures (you know boys.....rocks, little cars, pennies, frogs, LOL).

Here's another shot. It was 50 cents I think and also included with it was an elephant candle holder made out of the same material that I will try to post later.

There is some other things I got here that I will give for gifts, etc.

So, as you can see, I got some great things, and met some really wonderful, interesting people! Wow!!! I luv me a good yard sale!!!!