Sad but True

I don't remember ever purposely taking a trip to Collins, MS, but have traveled through there many times over the years.  A favorite stop has always been to an antique mall located just off the highway. The building is huge.  I could spend hours in there.  Last Saturday, B.J. and I drove the 35 mile route north for the first time to specifically browse through this store. To our surprise, it was going out of business.  The vendors had very little of their stuff left and what was still there was picked over.  It was sad to see all the empty stalls.  I'll miss you, Antique Galleria.

(These pictures are from their website.  It looks nothing like this in there now.)

Add to Wish List

1. Camera - Last week my son sent me a picture of a camera he found on e-bay.  I DID ask him to be on the lookout for one, but I am also aware that he has been reading my blog.  And I'm pretty sure he was trying to tell me something.  ALSO, I thought I was charging my battery last night.  This morning: Nothing.  No power.  Nothing!  Not sure which one has left me high and dry:  the camera, the charger, or the battery.  Maybe all three?!  This is not exactly something I wanted to have on my wish list, but not sure I have a choice anymore.

Now then!  To continue on with my REAL wish list, promising to have pics posted by this weekend if I can resuscitate the Canon.      

There are many rooms in my house that are screaming makeover.  But I can hear my bedroom over all the others,  "Me first, me first!"  "Enough already.  I want this more than you do.  Just remember you didn't get this way overnight so this is not going to be an easy fix. Oh, yea and then there's this ugly little matter: B-U-D-G-E-T."   I'll do what I can but I'll not make any promises.  OK, are you ready, here's what I want for you:"     

2. Chair, table, or something to put at foot of bed

3. Paint walls

4. Paint ceiling

5. New bedding

6. New carpet (which is unlikely to come off my wish list this go round)

7.  Accessories

8. Remove exercise equipment/clothes hanger

9. Paint dresser

10. Hang t.v. on wall

11. Pillows for bench

12. Lamps

13. New curtains

14. Make collage of family photos

15. Artwork        

Again, as soon as I have access to a working camera and as soon as I can swallow my pride, I will  publicize the atrociousness of my bedroom in it's current state.  And then I will happily share the makeover and the cost with anyone who may be remotely interested.  Until then... 

Picture Perfect

I think I'm on to something!!

Not sure. But what I am sure of is that picture frames are expensive! By the time you purchase frames, have mats and glass cut, you can plan on spending a small fortune. I bought these pictures for (as you can see) $10.00 each.

The rabbit ones are cute, I know. I have four and each print is different. How adorable would they be in a baby's room? But since I don't have a baby's room, I have another plan: A plan to re-purpose.

I hope very soon to have many wedding pics to sort through and choose from.  I will attempt to replace the prints with black and white wedding photos. Hope it works out. I'll let you know as soon as I know.

Oui ,Oui, Mademoiselle

That's what I said to the lady (except in English) when she asked me if I wanted this oil painting after telling me how much she would take for it.  My thrift store find for the week:

Linking with Southern Hospitality Thrifty Treasures

The Ugly Trunk...ling

Once upon a time, long ago there was an old man who purchased many, many trunks.  Stacked to the ceiling these trunks filled his room.  One day he called his children together and told them he would like to give each one of them a trunk of their choice.  There were so many to choose from: tall ones, fat ones, skinny ones, ugly ones, pretty ones, old ones, and ancient ones...  The eldest son and his wife stood staring at the tower of trunks not knowing which one to claim as their own.  After much consideration, a decision was finally made.  They loaded their ugly little trunk ling up and headed home.

Oh, there were those who whispered and gawked.  They wondered why this couple chose the ugliest trunk of all.  "Why not bigger, better, prettier?"  " What are they going to do with that ugly old thing?"

The couple laughed.  They knew.

Day after day after day the little trunk ling was given a fair amount of attention.  Until one day all the loving care paid off.  It was cleaned, painted, and shined like new.  It adorned beautiful fabric for it's lining and new leather for it's handles and stood as a thing of beauty in the couple's home.  Those who whispered before now stood in awe of the transformation.  

For many years to come this beautiful trunk served the couple well storing such things as blankets, Christmas ornaments, and so much more.  It proudly showed off books, photos, and other trinkets the owners felt worthy to display. The owners often wished their trunk could talk.  If only it could tell them about all the places it had been, the things it had seen, and the people it had belonged to.  Oh, the stories and secrets it held inside!

Trunk ling was as loyal as any friend could be.  It moved with them from house to house.  It survived babies, toddlers, and teenagers.  It tolerated crayons, play-doh, barbie dolls, Legos, Nintendo games, spilled drinks and food, and dirty tennis shoes in the most humble way, until one unusually quite evening when the owners realized their trunk once again stood neat and tidy displaying nothing more than the prettiest of books, cherished photos, and other display-worthy trinkets.  The games, crayons, play-doh, dolls, match box cars, homework papers, smelly shoes along with the children were all gone. 

AND THEN...THERE WAS...

THE LOVELIEST OF ALL WEDDINGS!!

Their only son had a new bride and a new home.  The parents wanted to give the new couple a gift:  One that held memories, one to be cherished, one that would stand the test of time, one that would see them through many wonderful happy years together as their love and family grew.  What COULD they give?

The couple laughed.  They knew. 

    

    

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Or Not!

BUT...this morning it sounded a lot like Christmas.  (at least it did in my car)

Usually during my thirty minute commute to work every morning I listen to K-Love, but this morning I could not pick up the station clearly. So... I got an idea: Turn my a/c up as high as it would go and pop a Christmas CD in.  I listened to Barry Manilow In The Swing Of Christmas.

I can't really say I got In The Swing since everytime I looked at the thermometer it read 90 degrees (and this was before 8:00 am). But it was fun anyway.

When I use to taxi my children around, the fuss they would put up when I tried to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving was relentless. It was never even worth me giving it a try. But now... I'm free to be me!!  And "me" wanted to listen to Christmas music on this 24th day of August 2011 and so by golly I did!

Who knows, maybe I'll go home and put up my Christmas tree!!??

Happy...

ONE MONTH anniversary to my son and his beautiful new bride. Love, Mom

Eager Beaver

My husband has "jumped" on this new venture bandwagon with me. I think he is more excited than I am. And he proved just that over the weekend!

 I got out of bed bright and early Sunday morning to get my day going before my son and daughter-in-law got up. They were home for a short visit before starting back to school. (They live in Oxford, MS and are both in their senior year at Ole Miss.) I walked into the kitchen sometimes between 5:30 am and 6:00 am to find my latest project on the counter top getting a brand spanking new coat of paint by guess who. Yep, you guessed it! None other than the Beaver himself.

So...while there are no BEFORE pictures to post, only the AFTER pictures, you'll just have to take my word on it when I tell you how hideous it was (well, you know...BEFORE)!  It was actually the mirror off of an outdated dresser and the wood was very very dark.  After removing the mirror, replacing it with a chalk board, painting, sanding, and then painting and sanding some more, WALLAH:

Since we already had the paint and other supplies to transform this piece, the entire project cost us $5.00.  Can you believe it?  $5.00!!  We purchased it at a local flea market and the man selling it came down from his asking price of $10.00 before I could even get the money out of my purse. 

I was going to give him $10.00!!

BTW: I did not get mad at Mr. Eager.   We're in this together! And hopefully we will have many more projects in the future to take BEFORE pics of. 

SO UNTIL NEXT TIME...

Wow Us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style

Country French

Although I'm not sure what my home decor preference is, I do know that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, these rooms in my newly purchased Country French magazine.