White vase and vintage hankie

I'm adding this little white vase and vintage hankie to the give-a-way box. The vase is 6" tall. I haven't shown everything that is in the box - don't get excited, there is nothing of great value, just a few little things I've picked up here and there over the past few weeks.

When I started this I only asked that you leave contact info with your comment, and I want to keep the mailing to the US. There have been a few comments that were left with no blog link or email address - if you are one of those people, please leave another comment with contact info. I really don't want to leave anyone out. (and hey - if you leave another comment you will get your name in the hat twice, assuming you also leave the contact info the second time and I can connect the dots!)

Okay - that is it for July. I'll announce the winner in the next post - sometime on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Give-a-way box

Since we are getting close to the end of the month, I thought I would show you a couple more things going in the give-a-way box.

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The little sign is 4"x 8", just to give you an idea. I picked up the little pink hanger awhile back. I actually picked up one for myself, then before I made it out of the store, I went back and got another to give away.


This one is mine - and so is the little pinafore. It actually hangs in my office/sewing room, but I took it downstairs to take a picture because I thought it might show up better on the blue wall in the bedroom than on the fugly beige wall up here.

Aren't the little roses sweet?

Since I don't usually post on weekends, I'll most likely post the winner on Monday. I'll take all comments that are posted up until the time I get ready to draw a name.

Fiesta!

A couple of weeks ago the hubby and I went to Galveston just to see how things were looking compared to last year when we went. Things are looking much better! Seemed to be a lot of people around. A lot has been cleaned up and new trees planted. Still a lot to do, but much improved.
While we were there we went to the little shop that sells Fiesta. (it is on the strand - I have misplaced the card with the name of the store - I'll come back and post it when I find the card)
Anyway - I picked up this little creamer

It is supposed to be 'rose' but it looks like it might have been 'double dipped' - it is much darker than the other pink dishes I have. (it was on the 'oops' shelf) I love the color though - I would have bought more if they had anything else the same color!

I also picked up this little heart shaped dish. It only came in a limited number of colors (eight, I think) so I picked the ivory. When you see this color alone it looks really close to my yellow ones, but it isn't. The yellow they have now is much brighter than the one I have. (I really should look up the color name, but light yellow works for me)

I'm trying to get my give-a-way things together so I can find a box. I'm debating if I should show a few more things that are going in the box before I actually draw a name. Whatcha think?

You get what you pay for

* Update

For now it looks like AOL has decided I'm not a spammer after all and my email is working again. I was still receiving email - EVEN SPAM - when I couldn't send! Now let me see if I can get an actual post ready for today.


For some reason AOL has decided to block my email. As far as I can tell, I can still receive email but I can't send anything. Something about rate limits - I looked it up and NONE of those things apply to me - I've never been in a chat room and I don't send bulk emails etc.

I can't figure out how to contact tech support w/o signing up for a paid account so if you don't hear from me, I'm still trying to figure it out. If I can't work something out toot-sweet, I'll change my email contact and ditch aol completely. (which means a crap load of work since I've had an aol acct since we first got internet however many years ago that is and most of my email still goes there.) If you happen to know how to contact AOL w/o having to pay them 4.99 a month for tech support, shoot me an email at tzednick(at) suddenlink(dot)net. Put something in the subject line so I know it isn't spam!

Acorn Scissor Case finished

Yes, they are few and far between, but I do have a small finish to show!

I picked up this Lizzie Kate kit some time ago - it is possible that it has been in my stash since before blogging. Anyway - I pulled the threads and took it with me last time we went to J'ville. I got a little stitched while we were there but I've been finishing it up in the evenings.

That banding is kind of hard to work with when it is already attached - or maybe I just have fat hands and it is just hard for me. I did have an uh-oh. I was almost completely finished with 'autumn' when I discovered I was stitching with the wrong color. I had two choices - pick out all the over one stitching or live with it - I'm living with it!

The little acorn fob came with the kit and I picked up a pair of orange scissors - they are a perfect match.
Cloudy and lots of thunder-booming going on here but no rain to speak of, at least not right here on our street.

Little things

Isn't it funny how the little things can make a big difference?


This what our entry door looked like after I painted the walls yellow, but before I, um- hubby, painted the door.

And after a little white paint! I think it looks so much better.

Lamps on parade

A few weeks ago, I showed you the desk I repainted and put in the game room. It needed a lamp but when I went to Home Goods that week, I struck out. (which is odd, because I usually have to talk myself out of buying lamps I don't need when I go in there)

Anyway - last week I went in and found this lamp for the desk.

(Ignore the fugly beige walls behind - the paint roller hasn't made it upstairs yet)
I couldn't believe this lamp was only 19.99 - including the shade!

So, I bought this one too. (slightly different, but also 19.99) because this table really needed a bigger lamp.

Ignore the ugly table - I'm either going to have to paint it or get rid of it, but I haven't got that far yet. Anyway - this is the lamp that was on that table - too small, right? You can't see them in this picture, but that lamp is on top of three books so it is smaller than it looks. The new one is much better. So, what do I do with this little lamp?

I move it over and replace this little silver lamp that is on the table at the top of the stairs.

I didn't notice the tape measure in the mirror until I had downloaded the pics to the computer. Now I need a new home for the little silver lamp - so I took it downstairs.

And replaced this one that was on the chest of drawers in the master bedroom. I recently changed the mirror above this chest and thought this lamp now looked too small. (I've also been wanting to paint that chest but wasn't sure what color - now that I have the mirror hanging there - white it is!) More about where the other mirror went later.

Now the little silver lamp is at home on the chest.

Wanna see what the little cross stitch says?

The lamp that was here got moved to another table - I forgot to take a picture of that one.

Here is where I tell you that the lamp that started this whole thing is no longer on the desk. It is still in the room, but after we moved all the furniture around in there, I needed a lamp on the other side of the room (more about that later too). I was hoping they might still have one of the black lamps at Home Goods, but of course they didn't. They did have a whole new group of lamps but I resisted and came home empty handed. They are killing me with the lamps! I want to change lamps on a weekly basis! The desk is not empty, but I don't know if that is the lamp that will stay or not - only time will tell! (it is one I already had, but not shown in any of these pictures.)

Have a great weekend.

How I spent my birthday

Hubby brought me flowers

Baby boy and his bride left me a message on my computer

Then we took a little trip
For those of you that don't live in one of the 19 (mostly southern) states that have Blue Bell ice cream, I'm sorry. :(

They don't allow pictures on the tour (how did my baby get so tall?)

So I took a few outside, after the tour.

He's a city boy

At the end of the tour you get a scoop of ice cream - they have a total of fifty some-odd flavors (so said out tour guide) and they probably had 20 or so to choose from for the 'free' scoop. Ashley had vanilla, I had triple caramel - I can't remember if Jason had the triple caramel or the new flavor - which is what hubby had

It was immediately put on the shopping list for the next trip to the grocery store - we needed milk this morning. :)
After the tour we drove around and went in a few antique stores, then came home and cooked on the grill.

and made home-made orange sherbet.

the four legged kids going after the ice that dropped on the patio.

We also stopped at a little quilt shop and I picked up a couple of fat quarters to put in the prize package. I need to gather all the goodies together so I can see what size box I am going to need. If I was a really organized person, I would have had all these things together but I'm not and I didn't (but I knew where they all were) so when we started moving all kinds of stuff around over the weekend well . . . I'll find it all though! Of course there are still a few days before the end of the month, so I could still add more!
It was nice to have Jason and Ashley here. They went back to Kilgore yesterday. We will see them again the weekend before they leave for New York - which is quickly approaching. Not sure I'm ready for that, but I don't guess that really matters.

A lot to do

and very little time to do it!

Baby boy's bride called last night (late) and said they are coming today - yeah, but it means my plans for the day have changed. Had I known they were coming today, I would have gone to the grocery store yesterday (now I get to go in the rain) and I would have spent the day cleaning up the mess we made on Saturday instead of making a bigger mess that I now need to get cleaned up today. Long story - I'll get into that in a later post. I will just say in the attempt to get more organized, all the crap from my office/sewing room closet ended up in both the guest rooms and my guests might want a bed to sleep in! Why is it so hard for me to have an organized house? Oh well - I'm glad they are coming and can't wait to see them. I'll just be even more disorganized than I was last week. It's happened before, and it will certainly happen again!

Anyway - I hadn't really decided what today's post would be but I thought I had better get it in early and since I doubt I'll get to post tomorrow, I'll do my birthday post today!


Me - see, I used to be cute!

First birthday - I still have that stuffed toy and that rocking chair. Both a little worn, but then so am I.

The chair used to be another color - orange, I think - and it is ready for another make-over. It has been on my list of things to do since before we moved.

I could have saved myself a picture if I had thought to move the poor, pitiful looking stuffed animal to the chair and taken one pic instead of two. One of these days I'll get around to trying to clean his face again. I can't remember what I tried before but it didn't work. I would rather have it dirty than take the paint off. Again - on the list of things to do - eventually. Yes, it is a long list.

I hope I have a chance to do a little blog visiting this afternoon - just depends on how quickly I move. If not, I'll catch up again after the kids go back to Kilgore.

Better get moving!

A day late and a day early

I totally missed it yesterday - that was my 3 year blogging mark! Good thing I wasn't planning my give-a-way on that day. :) I was busy cleaning and sat down for a quick post and it just totally slipped my mind until last night.

Now, so that I don't forget (or just don't get around to it since I don't always post on weekends) Lets all say happy birthday (tomorrow) to my daddy!


Handsome, huh?

Not sure of the years on these pics, but I'm guessing early 1960's.

And here he is a couple of years ago with hubby and #2 son. He is attempting to teach hubby how to drive the tractor - you will have to ask the two of them how that worked out!

Happy birthday daddy - I love you!

Don't forget - I'm celebrating my bloggy anniversary and my birthday month (I was a nice birthday giftie for my daddy - a few days late) with a give-a-way at the end of the month. If you leave a comment anytime during the month, your name goes in the pot. Easy-peasy!

Blue bottles

At the old house I had a bottle tree. I had blue, purple, green and clear bottles on it. I brought the bottles with me, but left the post. It was buried in the flower bed and we were short on time and I really didn't know when or if I would get around to using my bottles again. Anywho - a while back ago I thought I would give a shot at putting them in the front flower bed. We had two pieces of rebar in the garage that we weren't using so I had hubby cut them in half and I put three bottles out in the flower bed.


They were kinda low and didn't show up much, but I left it like that for a bit to see if anything was said about my garden art.


Then we went and got another couple of pieces of rebar and I put out two more blue bottles. I like 'em! This picture was taken awhile ago and the plants in there have gone wild - I guess it was all that rain we got, but everything has grown! Including the weeds. I tried to weed some last night but the skeeters like to have carried me away so I only got about half of it done - maybe I'll get more later today. I still have more bottles - I don't know if I will add to this 'bush' or maybe start another. After the mowing and weeding is done, I'll try to get a newer pic of the flower bed.

For now, I hear doggies moving about downstairs so I better go make sure they are staying out of trouble.

I am way behind

on all things bloggy - well, on all things in general!

We went to J'ville for a several days and I tend to get behind on everything when we are gone that long.

I made a cake to take with us - daddy's birthday is coming up and since I knew we wouldn't be there then I took the cake early. He was eating the last piece as we walked out of the house to come home!


I also took a set of pillowcases I made for his bed - I didn't get a picture of them there, this one was taken here before we left. They matched pretty good considering I bought the fabric with nothing to compare it to except my memory (which is totally unreliable!)



We got to see baby boy and his bride on Saturday. They are doing well - I'm still processing the fact that in less than a month they will be living in New York City. We also got to see #1 son on Sunday. #2 didn't make it to town this trip but I'm trying to get them all together before J&A leave for NY. It has been a long time since they were all in the same place at the same time and who knows how long it will be before it happens again.

I'll be making an effort to catch up with blogland and with the house the rest of the week - heck, it may run into next week!

I am still planning a give-a-way for the end of the month. I've added a few things to go along with the banner - do you want to see what is in the pile or would you rather it be a surprise?

Bluebird Pincushion

Bluebird Pincushion
by Blackbird Designs

I stitched this little pincushion on the trip to Minnesota in May but I just got around to actually finishing it into a pincushion. I used the called for threads and a piece of unmarked fabric I had in my stash. One color designs make good road trip projects!

Raining here this morning - at times heavy, at times just steady. Not sure how long it is supposed to last but I think the yard has had enough for now. (not that we won't have to water next week - don'tcha love Texas weather)

Need Snow

I finished the snowman pillow - I'm a little shy in the snow department though!
I will just leave it w/o stuffing until it gets closer to time to display. Still don't know if I have a pillow form or if I will have to make one.

Breakfast for four

I tried to get a pic of all 4 together but they kept moving - there are 3 babies.

They would like to have 'take out' but they can't get the cob off. (they managed to get one, but not the other two)

This one is behind the tree branches but if you look closely you can see them

I took the first two pictures through the glass in the back door - when I opened it just enough to stick my camera out they took off.

Hope you had a great holiday weekend. We had a yellow and blue 4th of July - meaning we painted the dining room - pictures soon. Sunday evening we sat out on the driveway and watched as the neighbors shot off fireworks. (should have taken the camera outside - oops) There were several fireworks displays around town, but it was nice to just stay home and not fight crowds. I'm really not into getting in the middle of a crowd to watch fireworks!

I knew you were coming

So I baked a cake!

Okay - no one is coming, but when I went to the store the other day I thought #1 son was coming for the weekend and this cake mix just jumped in my buggy. He found out he is going to have to work and can't come but I baked the cake anyway! No company means we might paint the dining room so hubby and I can have a cake break between coats of paint. :)


A few weeks ago I made this banner. I actually had it cut out and ready to sew before Memorial Day - I'm kinda slow sometimes.


When I made this one, I made another just like it - and I'm going to give the second one away. I'll warn you ahead of time, I've made exactly two banners so don't expect too much! The ties could have been a little longer but that would have required another trip to the store and I was in the mood to sew so I worked with what I had. Yes, I know, it will be after the 4th, but call it early for Labor Day!

This 15th of this month will be 3 years of blogging for me - actually just a few days before my birthday so I'm going to have a July giveaway. I have no idea what all will be in the give-away, but the banner will be part of it.

I'll take the comments from the whole month and pick a winner around the first of next month.

Two things - since I have no idea what all will be in the package - meaning I don't know what the size or weight will be, I need to keep it in the US for mailing. The other thing is I have to be able to contact you if you win so if you post anonymously be sure to leave an email address with your comment.

Weather update -
Wednesday 100% chance of rain - we got very little
Thursday 80% chance of rain - we had slow, steady rain parts of the day, nothing terrible
Friday - 60% chance of rain - we are getting drenched! It has been raining all day - at times very heavy. Kinda wet here!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is my parent's anniversary.

Happy anniversary mom & dad.

Love you.