blogging without expectations.....

I haven't been here as frequently as I once was.

Life is happening at a lightning fast pace right now. More details to come.

But I wanted to share a quick little idea.

 I am at a point in my life where I am simplifying many things.

Mostly I am recognizing that I don't need to get better organized, I just need LESS STUFF.

But I want that STUFF to really make me smile when I use it. (I almost used the "make me happy" phrase but that is wrong. STUFF cannot make anyone happy)

I have come to recognize that I will shuffle through the stack of assorted bowls in my cabinet to use the same styled one for my cereal every time. Why have twelve bowls I don't use ---- well hello - get rid of them. Instant improvement. Multiply that idea by thousands and you will find where my brain is at this point in time. PURGE PURGE PURGE.

Back to the post.

I found this Vintage Brass Tissue Cover at the thrift store.

It's been sitting around here and there and I just kept moving it.

I also use the folded fabric softener dryer sheets and I just keep the little box sitting on the dryer. But you know, I want my STUFF to make me smile.

And then a flash of momentary brilliance. I word it that way, because sometimes these things don't work exactly as planned. But this one did.

Pretty Brass Tissue Box with a hinged lid. Prefolded dryer sheets. A perfect eclectic combination that I think will make me smile often. And it is a big improvement over the recycled baby wipe box.

See.....

more to come.

snowcation

So, I live in the south of the good old USA. 

Yes, that South. 

The one that completely had gridlock in Atlanta a few weeks back with all of 2" on the ground. 

And we just had a huge double whammy of a snow storm for here. 

This is unusual and I was super excited. 

Cabin fever --- nope absolutely not.

I also got out with my camera and cell phone and took a load of pictures as well. 

Like about a mile and a half worth of a long walk.

Even with all these pictures, my favorite sight is not in here. 

The red birds (cardinals) eating off my front porch was my favorite. Just beautiful, but the pictures were through the screen and while they make me smile, they just are not good enough to publish. 

My "big barn" from the back side. 

This is the most photographed barn in the county. 

All those vines are Trumpet vine and when it is full bloom,  IT IS STUNNING.

There was a time that I would have hated being out in the weather. 

Cold hands, feet,  ----- hated it. 

I really probably owe my children a big apology for that. 

But things have changed for me, living fully, INTENTIONALLY brings me out and into doing big, beautiful, new things. 

I am not who I used to be. 

Life means so much. I am so grateful. I love who I am becoming. 

It took having cancer twice to have this kind of appreciation for all kinds of experiences. 

The neighbors fenceline. 

It is beautiful here, and I smiled as I remembered Molly and Ben having their save the date pictures made here by little sister Abby. 

I am so glad those girls are close to each other. 

See those curved steps. 

I love those. 

The smokehouse out back. 

It sure would clear up this view if I took down that little cedar tree. But I happen to love little Charlie Brown trees and I cannot bring myself to cut it. 

And my RED porch swing. 

I don't know if I have shared that story. 

I had this unfinished porch swing. 

For Christmas, the man asked,  "what do you want for Christmas?'

I answered "my porch swing painted red."

For Valentines, he asked "what do you want for Valentines?"

I answered "my porch swing painted red."

For my birthday - same question

I answered "my porch swing painted red."

For our October anniversary - same question

I answered "my porch swing painted red."

For Christmas, the man asked,  "what do you want for Christmas?'

I answered "the same thing I wanted last year." 

And what seems like an eternity later, (reality about two years), I come home one day. 

And my porch swing is painted RED. 

I do love it ---- RED. 

And I have spent hours in this swing. 

and now for my favorite image from the storm. 

The wedding candolier has been sitting on the porch corner 

Waiting to be hung. 

There it was immersed in the snow and it is quite lovely. 

I spent hours making this and so many other details for Molly's wedding. 

 One of the many labors of love to give her a special wedding day. 

I hope she knows how much of myself I poured into that day. 

The wishes for more help instead of feeling so alone, and the hopes she never feels that way.

But in pouring myself out, I was able to focus on beautiful things.

The prayers lifted for her and her future. 

The tears shed as I feared over disappointing her.

The joys I felt as I knew she was moving forward with a special man. 

I do hope both of my girls see the beauty of this place as HOME. 

I do hope I get the chance to spend many more beautiful moments with them in this place. 

My Snowcation was a wonderful reflective time. 

Cabin fever --- NOPE.

Loving my cabin sized HOME - yup. 

My life is beautiful.

Summer fun.....

It has rained in northeast Georgia for weeks now. Leaving us trapped inside A LOT.  Fortunately, Iv'e been quite busy playing in MaggieGrace World.

There has been play with glitter and glue.

Some serious paper and string play too.

A little bit of fabric and handwork fun.

Then there was one full day of pretty weather.

The table below was the bridal party table at my daughters wedding in December.  I have all this stuff still around the house. See that pretty "tin" piece under the lamps. Yes I even kept those. They were created from anaglypta wallpaper. I painted them with various spray paints to look like tin ceilings.

And my booth at Junk in the Trunk is in need of a new display.

I am also very determined to lose some "stash weight"

So I scrounged around and found a cutout from an oval whirlpool deck. I was going to paint it, but then I remembered that I had those wallpaper "tin" squares. And since my artistic focus is RECYCLED AND REPURPOSED, I decided to try and use those pieces.

I chopped of the bottom of the cutout.

I lay the "tin" squares out on it. (Making sure I had enough - let's just say I've been guilty of not doing this little step in the past)

Dappled sunlight on the front porch  - scissors - spray adhesive - brayer --a couple of hours in the muggy nasty heat and I had this. (to quote a comment from my facebook - a big knight's shield).

I stood back - and decided quickly that using those squares was genius.

Shelves for books were required and,  at my grown up girl job, we get pipe with these hardwood bands securing the shipments. So I snagged the chop saw and cut a few bands to length. A sample paint pot of a color called TWINE and painted the shelves.

I really wanted to mount them with L-brackets --- and again went to the wedding decor items. I took apart the barrel of bamboo that was outside the venue and reused the brackets and screws from that project.

Here is the resulting display.

Those huge shelves are on my porch ---- waiting for their move into my living room and dining room. One set is 7 feet tall by 11' long and the other is shorter but the same height.

They came from an old store building. See that story here.

I'm hoping this post  finds you having a beautiful life.

post traumatic stress syndrome

I have heard that this was possible 

We got the beautiful girl married off. 

Then "POOF" is it Christmas. I did not do my normal decorating. I WAS TOO TIRED. 

But I did put up a fake Christmas "BUSH" - a tiny little pitiful thing. It was so sparse that I went to the yard and cut branches from my cedar tree and tucked them in to fill it out. Then I used the glass balls from the wedding to decorate it. 

I did change the mantle though -----

I added the mirror from the wedding guest table to the center. 

I loved this mirror the second I put it together - so easy too.

I cut the motif from the center of a decaying lace curtain panel and using Elmer's spray adhesive - simply glued it to the glass of the mirror. It will peel off if I ever want to change it. 

Added my bronze Nativity to the center. A few more wedding detail items finish it out.

Here is a more detailed look at the mirror.

Happy New Year peeps. I have already chosen my 2013 word. Details about that next week.

clean up day

So - looks like I disappeared again --- sorry. We are running on a small crew at work, thanks to the economy. That has kept me busy during the weekdays. Weekends have been consumed with home improvement projects that have been hanging over my head for a LOOOONNNNNGGGG time.

I enlisted help that comes with big old toys..... just look.

Outdoor projects - the backhoe came with my favorite plumber who brought it AND a biscuit. I provided the coffee. After a quick breakfast on the porch swing, he unloaded and we jumped on the projects.

 First - an old and dilapidated chicken coop and a couple of abandoned dog pens.

Now - I love tractors - have since I was a little girl and the Crusty Old Guy allowed me to help him. That part was great, but the hard loading tugging, hauling, hammering, and everything else that goes with salvaging parts of the buildings. That was not so fun.

He dug a big hole in the back yard and we buried most of the stuff.



The corn crib was also falling and had to go.

 It is just an eyesore (the building to the right of the corn crib houses MaggieGrace world (Which needs attention soon too.)

 Oh and that's Rusty (we also call him Bucket) his favorite run is out by the corn crib.

The Man spent the morning with his friend Megan and returned with her oldest. COG let AJ drive the tractor too.

Dog pens first - then the tear down of the coop.

Removing the roof tin - yes I kept it - love the look of the rusted tin.  We found a 4 foot long black snake under the last sheet of tin we took off.

 Then the corn crib. Now this looked like it could fall at any time. So the crusty old guy simply swiped that wall out of it expecting the crash to follow.

wellllllll ----

Dammit ---- that's what he said ---- it will not fall.

So we back up and regroup and made serious progress with that big yellow destruction device.

Hauled all the debris to the back field and buried it. Covered it all back up. 

Leaving one confused dog. He wandered around for a few days looking for his barn, but he has recovered from the shock now.

 It sure does look a lot better.

I have a LOT more to accomplish, but we are headed the right direction.

After a long day of hard manual labor, we took off to my favorite Mexican place.

For a few of these ---

And lots of smiles and laughter.

Thank you Crusty Old Guy, I sure like hanging around with you.

Hope you guys have a great day.

stuff......

 warning - lots of poor quality cell phone shots because i was simply too lazy to go get the camera.

I'm working - on a lot of things - getting ready for the art market -- coming up fast (NOVEMBER 12)

There are notebooks ---

 The one above is my favorite for right now.

 But this one is fun too.....

There have been nature walks - and this little heart is being sent to my buddy MaryAnn who is facing some medical challenges right now. OBF - I freaking love you.

The above photo (spookified at picnik.com) is the scuttle door that leads under my house ----

On Sunday, I discovered a leaky water heater under the house. Yay, that's some fun money to spend.

Thank goodness this guy, also known as the Crusty Old Plumber, is my friend.  He scurried under - well not exactly - he took the door off, and chiseled out the stone from the bottom of the hole (my house foundation is solid granite), then scurried under and hooked up a new water heater under there.

Public Service Announcement and Sarcastic Statement Warning - I sell plumbing. The correct terminology here is WATER HEATER, not HOT WATER HEATER. When I answer the phone at work to the question "do you sell hot water heaters?" I answer it " no, we sell cold water heaters." No reason to have a heater for hot water. (smarta$$ remark moment over.)

The Crusty Old Plumber took the time to visit with me last night too. He polished all the silverware for bracelets and collage spoon pendants while I was working on composition books. He is so good to me and I am blessed to have people in my life that make me do this.......

I'm talking the kind of laughter that often leads to a phenomenon that we even laugh about. I have two kids - other mama's or ladies of my age can probably relate to this statement.....

Sometimes I laugh so hard the tears run down my legs.

Yesterday that laughter was hard to come by, because this precious boy left us.

His name was Licorice (Ikish) and he was old old old. He came to us an abused, adult dog about ten years ago. He never lost his fear of men, but me and my girls were always loved by him. For the last several days, he had quit eating and drinking and just lay around. Crusty Old Plumber used his backhoe yesterday to bury him when he found him dead in his pen. I'm gonna miss him.

I hope your life is full of very special people. Mine is. 

A visitor

Saturday found me doing really fun stuffs.

First off - a radio broadcast as advertising for the store. Tim and Wendy are great fun to hang out with. Thanks to then for having me as a guest.

Then I visited with a friend.

Then headed home to fix banana bread with the way over ripe fruit on the counter.

At that point I realized that I needed to find some keys. I had put those "Just where I would remember" and apparently that was not effective. So I started looking and upon climbing on the chair in my kitchen and then discovering just how filthy all the stuff on the top of the cabinets had become. My Saturday plans took a side step into a serious kitchen cleaning adventure. I took everything off the top of the cabinet - I scrubbed and washed and reworked the display and storage ---- wow.

Then I invited a friend to stop for coffee and banana bread -

We took our drinks to the front porch - perched in the swing.

Our conversation goes like this........
He: you didn't do a very good job getting your buddy to understand.
Me: what
He: He's really close to you right now.
Me: (heavy sigh) Dammit where is he.
He: You mean you haven't spotted him?
Me: (now looking around seriously) WHERE IS HE?
He: On that big ol' tree right there.
Me: (realizing that my view is blocked by the porch post) Well damn - but he's still in his space.

Here is a picture of my buddy - previously know as Mr Black Snake - his new name is Steve (inside joke here)

I have spoken of sharing my studio space with him often - as in here.

I am not afraid of him - he just has to obey the rules and stay away from the house.

We continued our conversation and he sat and watched us for a while - then on up the tree he went.

It was a beautiful weekend - Hope you had one too.

checking my list......

working on old stuffs is rewarding.  Finishing old projects is rewarding. Finishing old stuff and having exactly $1.21 in current money spent. Whooo Hoooo how wonderful is that?

This table will be placed in my window today. It is old, but not antique. The man built this in high school shop class. It has been living on my front porch for many years. I got excited about jumping on this project so I cannot find a before and I didn't take one.

Look at the edge of the top and you will see the original finish. It was deteriorated from the weather. It really wasn't all that pretty, and honestly, I was kinda ignoring this for a long long time.

I am also aggravated by some plants by my kitchen sink - in the way. See below.

So I broke out this espresso paint. Now just for the record - the Rustoleum people have not one clue who I am. Nor have they given me any thing to give you this opinion - BUT I LOVE THIS PAINT.

I used the black on the Princess dresser ( go here for that project). It has held up beautifully. Easy to use. Easy to clean up. Again I say ---- LOVE THIS PAINT.

Now do not tell anyone - but I actually did the steps to this project. I washed it - and shhhhh - I sanded it. Only because the finish was so uneven and I could tell it would be splotchy. Then I dusted and tack clothed the whole shebang. I taped off the top. And took out the drawer. Mind you I spray painted the hardware with some hammered wrot iron paint and it was beautiful - then I discovered that one side of the handle would not tighten. So I went to hobby lobby and gathered a new rusted iron drawer pull.

The result - a beautiful, dark brown TILE TOP table. No worries if I over water. I am so very happy with this.

A better view of the new drawer pull.

Tonight I will clean said window. I'll add a hook to raise the curtain for more light. (New curtains are a future project.) Then move table and plants into place.

Check this one off the list. Thousands more to go.

Have a beautiful day.

Breathe...

Yesterday, out there in blogland - I discovered a recipe for cheesy chicken noodle soup. It's cold and icy here, school has been out all week, there is still a LOT of snow on the ground, and this morning the temperature was 9 defees F. So chicken noodle soup sounded like a wonderful idea. Well, it was okay. Needs work for my crew to love it, starting with the phrase "leave out the cheese." I'll be working on this recipe some more.

Any way --- its cold -- we have been cooped up for days - even the dog is miserable with cabin fever.

So a little redecorating is being planned.

My word for the year is ABUNDANCE. I'll be pondering on it for the year. MaryAnn and I chose BEAUTY for January and that has been a wonderful thing.

Then he said to them "Watch out! Be on guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an ABUNDANCE of possesions." Luke 12:15

So that my friends is where pondering has found me. I have stuff. Lot's and lot's of stuff. Stuff I do not needs. Stuff that is weighing me down. I have stuff that others thought would bring a smile to my face as they gifted me with it. Stuff that clutters my attic, my limited storage through out the house, my studio, my mind.
STUFF.

Just look......
I love my day to day mantle - have for years. Family photo, artwork I made, candles. Really pretty stuff. Sometimes I clutter surfaces with things that could be hung, because I have stuff hanging that needs to be moved.

My Christmas mantle made me very very happy this year. It wasn't over the top. There wasn't a ton of things. No formality at all. Simple and heartfelt.

I packed all that away and have had an empty mantle there for several days.

Last night College Girl came in. She had a dollar store frame, and a pastel drawing she had done. She asked me to help her frame the drawing. I made me happy, reminded me that warmth and sunshine will return. SO my early winter mantel is now done. Some would say this should be a summer mantel, but I'm loving this RIGHT NOW.

Take a look.

Yes, I am very proud to display her artwork in my house.

A few colored glass bottles - a chalk drawing of the beach - a shell.. MMMMMMM.

The tall green bottle was my mom and dads, it has been around as long as I can remember. The shell I gathered myself. The blue bottle is a tequila bottle I kept just because I love it. (think I'll hang a sand dollar on that one) and the red one was a Christmas gift from College Girl.

So I cleared an ABUNDANCE of stuff off there and gave this arrangement an ABUNDANCE of breathing room.

I'm thinking this is BEAUTIFUL to look at.

Happy Happy girl.

What cha think?

I'm planning a room redo (actually several) using the Pittsburg paints 411 series

with colors like silvery moon, veil of dusk, french grey linen, and photo grey. They are all a grey green and I am so very excited about it all coordinating through the house. www.voiceofcolor.com a slightly off white trim (maybe a pure white -TBD)

Have a wonderful day - I am looking forward to a wonderful warmer weekend.