~ My Winnings, Pinkeep, Summer Decorating ~

Good gosh it's been hot as blazes here in Central Virginia! I think I heard on the news the other day that it has been one of the hottest Junes on record if not THE hottest! The heat does not agree with me, as many of you know I'm a lover of winter, put it together with the hot flashes I'm experiencing and it is NOT a good combo let me tell ya!! egads it's miserable!! Well enough complaining, on to better things....

In yesterday's mail I received my giveaway winnings from Kath WOOHOO!! Everything was made by her and is absolutely PERFECT! and the doll was an added bonus! it is the first doll she ever made all on her own and it is cute cute cute! Thank you SOOOO MUCH again Kath!! I love it all!!

Next I wanted to share the latest pinkeep I have made for myself! hey I'm on a roll! it was designed by Jenny of Country Rustic Primitives!
Lastly I wanted to let you know that I've updated my Picture Trail with lots of new pictures taken from around my home. There's a whole new album of Summer Decorating as well as newly taken pics of our Family Room. There's a link to it over there in my sidebar too. I know how much we all love pictures and I hope that you will enjoy mine!

Have a great Thursday, a happy Friday, and a joyous weekend! ♥

~ The Best Birthday ~

Thursday already? really?....these holiday shortened weeks always confuse me! I just wanted to do a quick post to say THANK YOU to all who wished me a Happy Birthday the other day! Thanks to facebook for letting many know it was my birthday and to a couple of very sweet bloggers, I got more birthday wishes than I've ever had before and it was fun! I heard from friends both old and new and even got a birthday wish from my high school sweetheart on facebook, how fun is that! I have never announced my birthday to anyone so it has always come and gone without any fan fare but I must say that receiving so many Happy Birthdays did indeed bring me joy! Also, I received a very special surprise in the mail! Kris gifted me with a pinkeep made by her hand!! I was really surprised!! Isn't it lovely? There was also a very nice birthday card included, Thank You ever so much Kris!! What a special special surprise!!
And my dear friend Karen from across the pond sent me gifts of lovely English chocolates, yum!!, a magazine with loads of pictures taken around where she lives which is fun to see!, a lovely birthday card with well wishes from her family, so sweet!, a wonderful rag ball she made, and a beautiful pea fowl made by her hand as well!! wow! Stunning aren't they? Thank You so very much Karen!!
I even received a gift from my boys which is quite rare as they are much like their father and don't posses the art of gift giving shall we say, LOL
They gave me the 24 scale die cast car of Dale Jr.'s # 88 NASCAR. It is one that has been missing from my Earnhardt collection. My oldest son Robert also picked out a lovely card for me. He always picks the best cards! A great card picker he is! My husband also gave me a card and the smaller version of this car so now my collection is up to date! Thank you guys!

I also wanted to share with you a picture of my very first handmade! But first I need to thank Jenny for all of her help! She is the one who encouraged me to try my hand and sent me everything I needed to begin out of the kindness of her heart! She also was so kind to answer all of my beginner type questions and basically taught me how to cross stitch through email and even a phone call so Thank You Jenny!! Yep, I did it! I started this cross stitch back in December, and was hoping to have it completed to display for Valentines Day but procrastinated. I bought an inexpensive sewing machine thinking that I might possibly start making things to sell and was so intimidated by the thing that it sat in it's box for months until last week when I finally decided that I was going to figure out the thing come hell or high water so I sat myself down with the instruction book and proceeded to successfully thread the bobbin, thread the machine, and began sewing up my first ever pinkeep! A few days prior, I experimented with some walnut ink crystals I purchased from Wendy and am pleased with how the fabrics took the stain so voila! here is my first attempt at cross stitch and a completed pinkeep!
It is rag stuffed, I bought some muslin to cut into pieces and boy let me tell you that I am amazed at how much fabric it takes to stuff something so small!! I have always loved the feel of rag stuffed handmades and now have a new appreciation for it! I still haven't figured out how the heck do some of you get things to feel so solid? As much fabric as I have stuffed in there it still feels cushy and I would like for it to feel firm like many of the handmades that I have purchased! So any and all tips would be much appreciated and welcomed!

Well so much for the quick post, LOL It turned out to be longer than I thought! Over the long weekend I accomplished putting away my spring decorations and have begun my summer decorating and I'll be sure to post when I'm done! Enjoy the rest of the week and have a great weekend!

~ Congratulations & Curtains ~

Well that's another American Idol overwith for another year and CONGRATULATIONS LEE!!!!!!!!!!!....he really is what the show is all about and I can't wait to hear his album!!! Crystal is so very talented and I wish they both could have won!!! The show certainly won't be the same without Simon Cowell will it and I wonder who the heck will they get to fill his seat! Hopefully it will be someone in the music industry because having someone who isn't just seems odd to me...like Ellen for example....sure she's funny and all that but what exactly is the point of her being there??....oh well that's just my take! Tonight So You Think You Can Dance begins and I enjoy that show too but American Idol is my favorite.

Also, for those who have been waiting for the Tobacco Cloth Panel Curtains to arrive, they're here!They arrived yesterday afternoon and in all three lengths! Thank you again to Pam for permitting me to use her picture!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and remember to fly your American flag proudly to honor those who have served our country so bravely!

~ American Idol and New Wares! ~

Well as I had predicted, it will be Crystal and Lee in the American Idol finale! I've been pulling for Crystal all along but after Lee's Tuesday night performance, I don't even care which one of them wins!! Wow was he ever awesome! He had his best night ever! He's the same age as my oldest boy so I am finding myself with a soft spot for him. I think they both should win!!

I know some of my blog buds like to shop with me so I wanted to be sure and let you know that there are New Wares! There's several new pieces of Treenware, new florals and berries, a new primitive candleholder, and a few other fun things! The only thing that isn't actually here yet are the Tobacco Cloth Panel Curtains and they are supposed to arrive by the end of May or first part of June. I decided to stock them after Pam posted pics of her's on her blog because people were asking me if I could get them so they are on the way! I thought they looked so lovely in Pam's home that I asked her if she would allow me to post her picture of them on my web site and she so graciously said yes! So if the picture looks familiar, that's where it came from! Thank you Pam!!

Can you believe that Memorial Day is almost here? Yep, it's almost summer and time to change our decor around! I've got a fresh batch of really nice red geraniums that look fantastic in an olde crock too!

Well that's all for now....tomorrow is Friday so have a great one and a joyous weekend too!

~ Happy Mother's Day, Make-Do Chair, Happy Birthday, American Idol, & a rant ~

Yep, all that the title says in this one post (it's a long one) only in reverse order! LOL....first the rant....you know those commercials for those male dysfunction meds?....yeah those....well there is one in particular that is currently airing that drives me especially bonkers!....it's the one where two gray haired folks are supposedly painting interior walls when all of a sudden they both reach for the paint roller at the same time and oooooo aaaahhh the urge hits them!....yeah cuz nothing says romance like working and sweating in raggedy paint clothes, right?!! puhleeeeze!! give me a freakin break will ya!!

Ok now with that out of the way I feel better!....next, American Idol....I just want to say that I LOVE THAT SHOW!!!!!!!!....it really is my very most favorite show on television!!!!!....no violence, no sick people, no people in peril, just PURE ENTERTAINMENT!!....gotta love it!!....and this season is particularly awesome because let me tell you these folks are stars and they didn't even know it!!....what talented young people they are and it's so exciting to watch before your vary eyes a young average life change into something extraordinary!!....personally I am rooting for a Crystal vs Lee finale!

Next subject....today is my baby's birthday....Happy Birthday to Michael!!....I've just finished baking his favorite cake, lemon with lemon frosting....yep my baby boy turns 20 today so I am officially done with teenagers HOORAY!!....and I lived to tell about it!! LOL....I am very proud of the young man that he is!....some of you may recall a post I made last year about him wanting a Corvette....well enough deliberation went on long enough for him to decide all on his own that it was a bit beyond his financial ability at this time so his second choice was a Z28 Camaro....they had stopped making them in 2002 until this year and since he can't afford new, he found online the very car he wanted, color and all, with low mileage, and it was in South Carolina....I think I made a blog post about our adventure driving there and back in one day too....that was in January....anyway....here is a pic that I took of him yesterday afternoon:Oh how he loves that car!!....and at 20, he is already is on his 4th car!....not because anything happens to them, because he just hadn't found one that he loves until now!....when he first started driving, I was still driving the car I bought new while pregnant with him and figured it was time for me to get a new car, which I did, and passed my Honda Accord, good ol' Miss Pickle, as I called her, down to Michael which he drove for about a year....how funny is that?....the car I bought new while pregnant with him was the first car that he drove? LOL....well he really wasn't all that wild about poor Miss Pickle, him being a Chevy guy and all, plus this was during his gangsta period listening to rap and all that crap, LOL....and the car he thought he really wanted was a Cadillac of all things, so he purchased an older one that had been a rental car:

....here's a pic of it taken in the parking area of a nearby Civil War Battlefield, see the cannons right above the roof of the car?....pretty cool huh?....if you can enlarge the picture you'll be able to see them.
anyway....here's a pic of him during what I call his gangsta period:I call it that because of the clothes that he wore and the music that he listened too....but he seems to be past that now, LOL....so he drove the Cadillac for about a year and decided that he wanted something a bit sportier....he was having a very difficult time finding something that would fit his budget and settled on a low trim level Monte Carlo.

I happen to think this is one of the best looking cars ever made, but he was never quite happy with it because what he really wanted was a Corvette! So he drove this car for not quite one year before the quest began for a car he could really love, LOL....I am happy that, for now at least, he is in his glory with his red Z28....I love you Michael!













Now the make-do chair....I have wanted one for a number of years and my wish has finally come true WOOHOO!! Both husband and I are self-employed and I am the bookkeeper for both businesses as well as the tax preparer for both businesses, and after a long and grueling tax season, husband said to me, "you should treat yourself to something for all your hard work"....well let me tell ya, you don't have to tell this gal twice!! LOL!!....so after giving it some thought I narrowed it down to a few possibilities....then I saw that Pat (Olde Bittersweet Farm) was preparing to have an update so I emailed her to ask if by chance was she going to be offering one of her very famous make-do chairs....she said that she wasn't planning on it but that she did have one really nice olde ladder back that she could make into one special for me!!....oh be still my beating heart!!....she asked what type of fabric I was looking for it to be done in and VOILA!!....it was to be!!....now before I show you pics....I must tell you that Pat is one of the sweetest, kindest, and most generous people I have ever met!....I only wish that I could actually meet her in person!....and when you go to her Picture Trail, have a drool bib handy because YOU ARE GONNA NEED IT!!....oh my goodness her home is GORGEOUS!!!!!!....and her husband makes the most fabulous treen items, you'd swear they were antiques!!....between the two of them, they are so talented, and offer the most unique and wonderful items!! Thank you Pat and Don for all that you do!! Now here is my dream-come-true make-do chair:
It is covered in linen and is BEAUTIFULLY MADE!!































I have been playing around with what to display in it
and have decided that this is what I like for now:I placed it next to the entertainment cabinet in the family room and moved the chair full of dolls I had there into the bedroom.Here's the chair in the bedroom next to the sideboard:
I actually really like how it looks with the chippy white sideboard along with all my other dark accents!
Ok so by now I'm thinking that this has got to be the longest post I've ever done and I'm hoping you're still with me! LOL....because with Mother's Day being on Sunday, I wanted to take this time to wish all the mother's out there a most Happy and Joyous Mother's Day!!....being a mom really is a rollercoaster of emotions isn't it?....joy, worry, love, worry, proud, worry, happy, worry, sad, worry, more joy and more worry! LOL....well I will admit to being a worry wort and from what I am told, that will never change, oh joy! LOL Happy Mother's Day!!