LOOK AT HER NOW!!!

Just snatched this picture of my sister Carol from her daughter in law's Facebook page.

I began my blog with a posting back in Feburary with a shot of the helicopter that was bringing in her organs for her transplants...... God is so good! So many people were so dedicated to keep her in their prayers. She's up and around, still improving! I got to be with her a bit last month on our spur of the moment trip to Florida.

She'll be flying up to Alaska the first part of September to visit our mother and sisters and friends she left behind back in March of '07 when the doctors thought it was 'just a matter of time'.... She was doing so poorly and wanted to go back to Florida to be with her kids ... But, look at her now! Glory to God!

I've got some really amazing sisters who have overcome some very tough medical (and other) situations. I am blessed.!.!

OH MY GOSH!!! It's time!
My friend, Gilda, called me the other day to see if I was ready to have my slip-cover made for my sofa. She owns an upholstery business (Harrison Upholstery here in Houston) and she 'slips' in the projects she and I have, if I have something, when they're between jobs, like the fabric hasn't come in for the waiting jobs or such, that's when she gets our stuff done. YIPEE!
In my last post I showed my chairs from my sister. I took the fabric over to Tony to get the seats done, he used to work for Gilda.... He does wonderful work, but you have to"catch him". I haven't been able to get ahold of him since I dropped off the fabric.
A couple years ago we found a lady selling two of these sofas on Craig's List for $50 each. I've said they look like they must have been designed for a bordello. They're a really nice size and the shape is beautiful. I steam cleaned mine but they're so tired and dreary looking......
Anyway, my slipcovers are being made, at this very moment!!!!
I'm using Ralph Lauren's "Meadow Way" fabric....
Oh, I'm so excited! And next, Gilda is having her's unpholstered in a pink velvet type of fabric. And eventually, slip-covered in one of the "Shabby Chic" prints.
Can't hardly wait!!!
Pictures coming Sooon!

Searching

I went to the fabric store today to see if I could find what I have in mind for my chairs...
I spoke with Tony, he does fabulous upholstering. He's done some of my other stuff. I just want a simple white for the seats.... I'm painting the chairs white, soon .... Lowes was down to just 5 cans of paint in the white I like and it'll take me 2 plus cans for each chair.

I also want him to make some tie on cushions so I was looking around online for an idea of just what I want.

White and pink with ruffles..... I found lots of things with ruffles but no cushions like.

I have an unusual wicker chair that needs a new ruffled cushion, too.

Just look at all of these sweet things from online....

Ruffles. Pink. White. Lace. Perfect!

I have this really fantastic sister, Tammy. She's down in New Smyrna Beach, that's where we stayed last week.... With her and Uncle Applesauce. (When Iggie was little she loved applesauce and ate it at least 3 times a day... Tammy's husband, Morris, picked on her about it .... he's really good at giving her a hard time...... so Iggie decided to name him Uncle Applesauce and for her, it's stuck!) Anyway, he manages the restaurant, Aunt Catfish's
"Down South River cookin'..... More Than Just Seafood" http://auntcatfishontheriver.com/
It's really, really good.... On the river in Port Orange.
Somewhere along the way they redid the dock and Tammy had some of these chairs they replaced and when I saw them a couple years ago I fell in love with 'em......... And she said I could have 'em. Until Miss Ann and I went to NSB last week, I had no way to get 'em back here to Texas.
I'll be painting them ,guess what..... WHITE! Now wasn't that sweet of Tammy to give them to me?!!!

I'm so excited and anxious to get them painted.... Just waiting a little bit till it cools down out here. I'll be posting pictures again when they're done................

An Uxpected Blessing

Sometime Friday before last Miss Ann called telling me she was going to make a trip to Orlando to see her grandsons.... She knows that's the area I'm from and she wanted to know if Iggie and I wanted to go along. We'd leave Saturday afternoon get to Orlando Sunday and then we'd be off to NSB over on the east coast to have a three or four day visit with my family...Well YES!!! That wasn't anything we had to think over for more than just a short- short!
The drive down was fine, so nice to get to spend time with such a special lady... We took care of what she needed to and made it over to my sister Tammy's Sunday evening.... Just in time for Grandma's Chicken and Dumplings.....(recipe coming!) It really made Iggie cry, she was so excited!
We went over to the beach Monday so they could swim, I think it was Miss Ann's first time over that way. This litttle bird was busy keeping up with a couple guys catching bait fish for the fishing they were gona be doing later.......

This is Miss Ann and Iggie (later, at the end of the trip) when we stopped in Ft. Walton Beach on the way home. Beautiful beach!

We went over to Ponce Deleon Springs near Deland for an afternoon in the cool, refreshing springs.... "This beautiful spring is named for Juan Ponce de León, who led the first Spanish expedition to Florida in 1513-as legend has it-in search of the "fountain of youth." Visitors might well regain their youth by taking a dip in the cool, clear waters of Ponce de Leon Springs where the water temperature remains a constant 68 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. The main spring is a convergence of two underground water flows, and produces 14 million gallons of water daily."

These pictures are from our afternoon on The Water Taxi that takes you around on the Indian River in New Smyrna Beach up to the Inlet between NSB and the lighthouse south of Daytona Beach. A nice, cool, leisurely ride to see the dolphins and manatee and the lovely homes in the area from the water side.

This is the lighthouse

Below is a shot into the river at the springs and




Molly, Ann and Iggie in the springs, They were having a great time!

This a

refurbished version of

the old grinding wheel

in the park at the Sugar Mill.





And this is a new friend... someone called him Fred..... We were sitting having lunch and snacks at the springs and he was getting just about close enough to join in....

He wasn't very big, probably just under three feet but we spotted a few others larger and louder in the river that the springs over flow into. Yeh, he was very close!

And people fuss about ants!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a great trip! I loved the company and the chance to be with all those very special family members. Grandma and Tammy cooked and cookedand cooked..... Yummy!! (more recipes coming).... and made us feel so special and so loved! Thank you both!!!!! AND "UNCLE APPLESAUCE" (he's a great guy, he just doesn't want anybody to know ! )

Thank you, Miss Ann for being such a blessing...... And thank you, Father, for putting us on her heart and for such a wonderful summer break!

Liberty Hill....population 1,409.... 1.9 square miles.... out west of Georgetown. Just a small town where we've been for a few weeks. OH - MY - GOSH... it's been soooo HOT! Everyday over 100 degrees.... and no rain. It's so dry out there. But ..... We had such a nice time. After living in Houston day to day it's nice just to take a break somewhere like Liberty Hill...........

Just down the way from Liberty Hill is Oatmeal. Oatmeal Texas. We saw a sign and had to go check it out. As far as we could find..... this is it! There's an Oatmeal Festival there in July but we weren't still there to find out what it's all about. Ya know how ya go into a town and see the sign that says, "Population ....." They don't have a sign. But we had to get this picture!

Pay NO attention to the dates on the pictures. We forgot to set the date!

We found lots of little shops out in that direction. We went into Marble Falls and Leander (Population in July 2007: 11,123) and Burtram and Georgetown and found the thrift shops and antique stores and found lots of goodies. Even found an estate sale just before we left in Burtram ( a total area of 1.1 square miles with 387 households).

These are some of my goodies. WHAT BARGAINS!

I fell in love with this "chenille" bedspread!

And the little birds, so sweet!

Bottles and buttons and hats.........

Look at the pink and black hat!

The pieces of china are mostly mismatched but they we 5 and 10 cents. look at the little pitcher, cute!






HOW could I leave them behind at that price??? Linens, too! Doilies, tablecloths, pillowcases, dresser scarves.... I still have more to unpack!

A COUPLE WEEKS N THE COUNTRY

I love the country look.... I want a kitchen like this.......And a place for a nap like this... Below:

Sunday House
While just 10 years old, this home is modeled after one of the 100-year-old "Sunday houses" sprinkled throughout the Texas Hill Country. Built by German-American farmers and ranchers who came to town on Saturday for supplies and spent the night for church the next day, Sunday houses were small second homes with outside staircases (to save space).

I haven't been doing any blogging because we've been out of town for over two weeks...... We're out in the Texas Hill Country. The town we're in make Mayberry look big!

We've been wandering around the area and been sight seeing and window shopping and hitting every resale shop, thrift store, estate sale and such that we could find.

I've taken a few pictures but can't load them on this computer, so that has to wait till we get home.

I have ooooodles of stuff to unsack and clean and soak and a few things to paint ..... So many goodies...... From lace to metal. Some of it on it's own isn't worth much but it'll spruce something up for sure. Some of it just needs a new color. (WHITE!!! My favorite!) And, some just a little cleaning and shining and a new place to sit.

I can't even remember what all I've found.

Next weeks gona be fun when I realize all my finds!

Even in the extreme summer heat.....

I haven't posted anything in a few weeks.... I have stuff I'm working on and I stay inside as much as possible with this heat.
Iggie's gone to camp as an intern this year and was kind nervous about no one else she knows going..... But, after she was there about 30 minutes she saw the pastor from the church we went to for years ..... He and his wife were bringing their daughter, Dusty. She and Dusty are 14 now and were together in the church nursery to Sunday School until 5 years ago. A REUNION!!!! They were both relieved to see a FRIENDLY FACE!


LOOK WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE GARDEN

Aren't these beautiful! They smell so nice, the bush gets huge and they're so hardy! Every morning there are new white blooms on the bush and as the day goes on they change from white to red. The blooms last for several days so there are red and white every morning, in the early afternoon, the blooms are pink and red .

The weather's so hot here so early this year.... it's been over 100 quite a bit already. Water, Water, Water! Just to keep the grass kinda green. This is how he Plumbago are doing, tho' They're soooo beautiful!

I wish it wasn't so hot but I know I couldn't move to someplace where the winters meant snow and ice.

Night Beauty

My sister, Tammy, sent me these photos of the Cirrus flowers growing around town where I come from in Florida. The night blooming cirrus - it's a very ordinary looking cactus-type plant. It climbs up trees and has bloom pods hanging off it that look remarkably like cat hairballs.

It's hard to imagine that such a homely plant can produce such spectacular blossoms.... Blooming just one night a year!

A couple years ago while I was down visiting at just the right time of year to see this beauty, we were out late at night waiting with our cameras an flashlight, smacking the mosquitos. It's worth it.

MY SUNSHINE

We went out this evening with Kristy ..... Trey And Emery's mommy, to the park out in Cypress. She had a photo shoot with a family and said if we wanted to meet her out there she'd take some pictures of Iggie.
She said remember the mosquito repellent and of course we didn't.... goodness, those things were horrendous!!! But she got some shots and sent us this one tonight.

Check out Kristy's page http://www.owensoriginals.blogspot.com/. She does some great pictures and has TWO FABULOUS KIDS!!!!!

YUMMY

These are a couple photos I clipped off the internet of just about my favorite place.... Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. IT IS SO BEAUTIFUL THERE! We're hoping to fit in a trip at least or a long weekend. I was just daydreaming.... But I do have a great recipe to share.I made this salad for the Ladies' Dinner at church last December and since everyone 's comments were, "This is the best salad I've ever eaten." I made it again for my family dinner for Christmas. Cherry Feta Tossed Salad
Dressing:
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
Salad:
2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sliced almonds
3 Tablespoons sugar
8 cups salad greens (I prefer the Spring Mix)
4 ounces Feta Cheese
1 6 ounce pkg. dried cherries

1. Combine dressing ingredients and shake or mix until dissolved.
2. For salad, in heavy skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add almonds and cook and stir until nuts are toasted, about 4 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar; cook and stir until sugar is melted, about 3 minutes. Spread on foil to cool; break apart.
3. In large bowl, combine the greens, cheese and cherries. Shake dressing; drizzle over salad. Sprinkle with sugared almonds and toss to coat.

ENJOY!!!

Shelf

I found this great shelf in the clearance section at Marshall's, I think it was.... Just what I'd been looking for!

I used a couple cans of spray paint and now......... It's just perfect.... Holds some of the little "gee-gaws" I enjoy looking at.

It'll take me a little while to get it just right. But it's a nice place to put the little things my grandchilden give me as gifts!

Sea Shells, Bows And Lace

I have two or three projects going that are still in the early stages. Nothing to show just yet. So I was looking thru some pictures from the web that I've saved for who knows how many years now and I thought I'd share just a few.
I love this simple Sea Shell Wreath. Shells and bows, a couple of my favorite things to decorate with.


Look at this wall...... Isn't it gorgeous? !!! I've thought about doing this but seems like I have so many other things I'd like to do before I tackle a job this big.

What a chair, huh?!! I am going to have one of these one day! In white tho'........ I LOVE WHITE!!

I'm blessed.... I have a very dear friend who has an upholstery shop and she loves the same stuff as me. I'm sure we'll BOTH have one.

And, just look at this chest. Soooo pretty. It inspired me to paint something similar on my coffee table in the front room a few years ago.

Sweet pretties.

I've been very busy out in the yard trying to get everything done before it all gets away from me. I have a couple projects going too.

I'll post some of the pictures when I get done.

In the mean time... I decided to move some things around inside. I have a couple busts and they're very different from each other. I can't quite decide where I want them, I think it's because I want to be able to see both of them all the time.

Isn't she lovely?

Over a year ago I had seen a bust in a little shop I love to go into up north of San Antonio, while I was out visiting my daughter. I decided not to get it because It was kinda pricey. (I think it's on ebay for over $200.00) MISTAKE. I went back and my daughter even went back hoping to get it for me but she was gone.

Isn't this one sweet?

I was out in S.A. again several months ago and went into Home Goods and found both of these for around $60.00. Good deal!!! They were both on clearance! They're both good size, this one's about 12" the other 14"-15".

I just love them!