Lazy snow days!

As everyone has probably seen on the news, Atlanta had a snow storm and shockingly the town came to a standstill!  I love snow days when everything just stops and you feel so cozy holed up in your home.  I spent all day yesterday in my jammies just drinking tea, eating cookies and watching HGTV.  Yeah since I no longer work then any day could be a jammie day for me but it's extra special knowing everybody in town is enjoying it with ya.
Yesterday as I passed thru the bedroom I was just stuck by how much I love this little arrangement on Mark's chest of drawers.  I picked up the old ironstone pitcher at an estate sale a few years ago for $1 and I just love, love the patina on it.  The picture I found of my grandparents when I was home visiting my folks and that's the frame my Great Grandmother had it in.  Finally the bear is my last Stieff bear that I bought in Germany.  He is a new one that has been distressed and he's sweet little face is what hooked me. 

 

 

It's snowing in Atlanta!

I just have to chuckle whenever there is any kind of winter weather predicted for the southern states because everyone just panics.  They were cancelling schools last night before even the first snowflake fell.  Those that didn't all out cancel school for Tuesday/Wednesday, they were announcing the schools would release at noon.  The grocery stores were wiped out of milk, bread, ect.... and the gas stations had lines a mile long.  Silly people just don't seem to realize that snow usually only lasts 24 hours at the most around these parts.  The tv has had "winter storm" coverage on all day long with nothing else being shown.  Too funny!

Mark has returned from his travels to Germany and is in TN this week.  Clarice and I had to stay home because we had a couple of stress cracks in the drywall that have gotten worse this winter.  On Sunday Mark decided to fix them by patching the Sheetrock, mudding it again and painting in 2 guest rooms and bath.  It ended up being a much larger job than he imagined and then the paint didn't match....go figure.  Anyhoo, I stayed home to repaint the rooms and between the taping, priming and painting I'm worn out.  I swear it takes a million trips up and down the ladder and my thighs, shoulders and neck are sore enough to confirm that.  But hey I'm Wonder Woman so it's all done and cleaned up so bring on the real estate showings.  I was so afraid that we'd get a request to show the house so I hustled my buns. 

I have been busy crafting all kinds of stuff but they are all for swaps so no pics yet.  Well actually no pics at all unless they post them because I forgot to snap any until I had them all packed up.  I hope everyone will like what I sent because I really enjoyed putting it all together .

I went on a blog hop this weekend that Vicki at 2 Bags Full hosted.  I just kinda stumbled into it and found some new amazing talented people that I'm now following.  The blogging community is just so welcoming, inspiring and the friendships travel with you no matter where you go which is important when you move as much as we have. 

Ok that's all for now because I'm gonna settle in for a long winter's nap after a cup of tea and warm oatmeal cookies fresh from the oven.  Hope you guys are all snuggled in and safe this winter evening.

Sunny and cold here in Georgia

Mark was called to Germany this week for meetings so Clarice and I are home alone! Wahoo!!!  There's been a little too much time together lately especially when Mark's under tremendous stress so this time apart will be much  appreciated for all of us. I dropped him off at the airport yesterday and then had a little retail/thrifty therapy.  It was a good day but I'll let you be the judge.  I have a huge thing for pewter/silver baby cups so I added these 2 to my collection for 55cents each!  That's right boys and girls, I said 55 cents.  My collection started with my Mom's cup which is truly an ancient antique (ha,ha Momma just kidding) and then I acquired my youngest brother's and Mark's then I started picking them up at estate sales but these are the first ones I found at a thrift store. 

 

 

I also found this cute little flower frog for $1.00 so of course, it had to come home with me at that price.

 

I also scored these wonderful pewter weighted candlesticks

 

 

And lastly my favorite find was this double candle stick because I've never seen one like it before.  Anyone know anything about this one?

 

All this prim goodness was bought for less than $20 so what a terrific score!

 

I have been looking for a "coffee table" for years to put in the living room.  I have tried several different things thru the years but when I saw this little table at an estate sale a few weeks ago, I knew I'd found it!  This estate sale was the same one where I got the cross stitch stuff so I got a good deal on the table.......I got it for $15 and I think it's just perfect especially at that price.

 

And I'll finish up with a picture of my favorite find EVER!

 

It's cold here so Donna D and I are going to a movie this afternoon so I need to get my shower, straighten up the house and get ready to go.  Hope you guys have a wonderful Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Musings from Tennessee

We made a quick trip home this weekend for some much needed girlfriend time with Donna Davis.  We left Friday afternoon and drove home during a terrible foggy day on the mountains.  I swear it was a good thing that Mark was driving because I couldn't see more than one car length in front of us. We made it home safely and went to Donna and Morgan's for a yummy dinner of homemade pizza Saturday evening.  It was the best pizza I've had in a long, long time and I ate myself silly. 

Then it was back in the car Sunday afternoon for the trip back to TN.  Clarice did great and slept most of the way here since it got dark really quickly.  She's just such a good traveler and never even gets out of her carrier. She just rides in my lap and as long as she can see out of the windshield she just naps, talks and purrs the whole way. We got back here just in time for Dowtown Abbey which was awesome!  I would have killed Mark if we missed it this week. 

I also got to stock up on my needlework/craft supply and bring it back with us. I have signed up for a Valentine swap so I needed to bring more crafty supplies here in order to create.  The bad thing was Mark didn't decide to tell me until 30 minutes before he was ready to leave that we were going.  I was rushing around trying to remember to pack my jeans and crafty stuff, that I forgot my watch and wedding rings.  We're not headed back home for at least another 2 weeks so I had to get Donna to go get my jewelry and take it home with her.  It just made me too nervous to know they were in my jewelry box with the house on the market and all.  It feels really weird not having my rings on but I do love the fact I don't have a watch.  Now I have an excuse on spending too much time wandering around an antique store since I don't know what time it is. LOL!

Enjoy your day and hoping it brings you blue sky, happiness and laughter to fill your day!

Winter Warm Up Finally

Well it's hit a whooping 28 degrees here already this morning so the warming trend is arriving.  Yea!!!!  My blood has thinned considerably since we lived up north so this below freezing stuff was killing me.  I let Mark take the car everyday just so I didn't have to leave the warm bed and brave the cold.  I just wish I could make the hot flashes happen on demand instead of willy-nilly then I could handle the cold better.  LOL!

We're still battling this croupy crud stuff but feeling better a little every day.  Last night was a rough one with my cough returning with a vengeance so I had to break out the tough "cough drops" of jolly rogers hard candies.  I hate cough drops taste so I always use hard candies instead and have Mark convinced that's best as well so we always have werthers or lemon drops around the house.  But this time the old fashion taste of jolly rogers were needed.  Do any of you remember going to the store to buy penny candy with your allowance?  I remember taking my quarter or fifty cents, getting a paper bag and sitting on the floor choosing the exact perfect mix of chocolate, bubble gum and fruity flavors.  I even remember when the store increased the cost to 2 whole cents per piece which was just mean!!!! What was your favorite?  Was it sixlets, laffy taffy, double yum bubble gum, jolly ranchers, green apple gum or ?????

I finished my last stitch project for 2013 earlier this week so here's a quick snap.  It's Merry Christmas by Blackbird Designs and the colors are just gorgeous in person.  Who'd have thought of these colors for Christmas except the uber talented Alma and Barb?  I can't wait to get it framed up  and it'll give me a chance to try the framing shops here in TN.  Sorry for the wrinkles but we don't have an iron here so it was just smoothed out by hand and not very well at that.

 

Now the terrible news is that I finished my project but brought nothing with me to start next.  Ugh!!!!  I have some charts here that I enlarged on Mark's work copier a few weeks ago but no threads or linens and there isn't a LNS.  What's a gal to do expect make a trip into Nashville to a LNS (man, I hope it's still there since I haven't been there in at least 9 years) or order online which we all know both of these options will cost me a small fortune!  A stitcher can never, ever just purchase enough stuff to complete one project.  LOL!

 

Well Clarice is running like crazy thru the apartment trying to get my attention and play with her.  She stands in a doorway and jumps/bounces on her back legs while standing straight up.  We call it the kangaroo bop around her and it means she desperately wants some play time. 

Happy New Year

Better late than never, right?  I know I'm a week late to wish everyone a wonderful, laughter filled 2014 with less stress, less daily trials and more sunshine filled days!  It's been a challenging time for us since before the holidays but I have decided to turn this bus around starting today!  It's all about attitude and not letting life get me down anymore!

Mark's dad took a real turn for the worse the first of December and was hospitalized for a week in ICU with a blood infection.  It caused his blood pressure/pulse rate to be all over the place and kicked his Parkinson symptoms into overdrive so it was really frightening.  Poor Kay didn't leave his side for the entire week and she was exhausted and overwhelmed.  My heart just went out to her and I certainly wished we lived closer in order to help her more.  Jack rallied and went back to the nursing home but still continues to have some lingering effects from the illness.  The weather has been really bad in Arkansas already this winter which has created even more stress for Kay because she can't drive to the nursing home every other day to see him.  It's such an adjustment for them but hopefully this weather won't be around for too much longer.  Mark has a really hard time talking about his dad's health and just dealing with the entire situation so I just try to filter the info to him.  Not the best scenario but what are ya gonna do?

We had a very special Christmas this year and I personally think our best ever!!!!! We as a family made the decision that we all had enough "stuff" in our lives so this year instead of exchanging gifts that we all didn't need or pigging out on so much food that we'd waste half of it, we'd help a family.  It was such an uplifting holiday filled more with family memories than bright shiny packages!  We bought the kiddo's each one gift and they were happy with what they got and appreciated it more.  We spent more time talking than cooking and I know momma and daddy appreciated that more! This is a new family tradition that I'm thrilled to be carrying forward.  Mark and I flew home on Monday before Christmas so we spent a quiet week just being in our home and being together.  It was amazing! We decided to cook a small prime rib for Christmas dinner which was a first time thing for us.  Yummo and we nailed it first try even, thanks to the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond's blog.  We even took it out of the oven and decided to take a nap before we ate.  See I told you, best holiday ever!!!!! 

Then we packed up lock, stock and kitty to head back to TN.  Mark was battling a horrible cold which turned into pneumonia and of course, you guessed it if you said I caught it a week later from him.  So the New Year was rung in with Nyquil shots and early bedtime around the Harris house.  We finally turned the corner on this nasty croupy crap yesterday and think we might just both live thru it.  Clarice is so ready for us to quit waking her up all day and night coughing and blowing our noses so hopefully things will settle back into our new normal real soon.

In the meantime the world didn't stop for our illness and life went on.  The house listing expired and we made a decision to lower the price quite a bit and relist it.  I did some major restaging when I took down the few Christmas items we had out so hopefully it will sell in the next month.  We've had quite a laugh when we looked back and realized that all our homes took 6 months to sell and all sold in Jan/Feb/March so what made us think this one would be any different?  We just keep praying and know there is a plan and it'll all take care of itself soon enough but the human/control freak me wants it to happen in my time.  Can you relate?

And yesterday we had to make a heart breaking decision to let Gizmo cross over the rainbow bridge.  He's been sick since before Christmas and we had hoped that it wasn't too serious.  He had scratched his ear until he had a horrible infection that he was being treated for then he just quit eating, drinking and walking.  In other words, he just wasn't the Gizzy that we all knew and loved.  The vet decided yesterday that he had a brain tumor and that explained the excessive ear scratching/infection and the best thing for him was to end his suffering.  It was so hard on my momma and daddy who have supplied this funny little man with love and attention for the last year and a half.  He was such a loving, drooling, cross eyed, treat loving kitty that the kindest thing we could do was let him go.  I've always said he was my little man and he loved to be held on my hip like a baby so we could dance together.  He was Mark's birthday gift 12 years ago but he was my kitty.  Rest in peace my little man and I know that you are once again chasing chipmunks and rabbits with Hogan, Gertie and Maggie Mae.  Your momma and poppa will love you forever!