Guess Who Has Their Learner's Permit?

Well, the baby of the family has her permit. She had to take the Old "Paper" test (the computers were down) and she received a perfect score! I even like her picture on the id, of course she doesn't.


This is scary! I really hate this part of being a parent! I am too nervous for the actual teaching part. I did the HARD part of taking her to get her permit and being interrogated by the DMV. (Trying to prove you are you are a legal citizen of the U.S. requires a lot of documentation.) Dad is going to have to handle the teaching part!

I was talking to son #1 this weekend and he told me as a kid he didn't understand why I was nervous, but now at the ripe old age of 28 he understood completely!

Congratulations Jessie! Be a safe and courteous driver! I know you will do good! Love you!

Be back soon!

It's Halloween and No Cricut?? No Problem!

I think everyone in blog land has a cricut machine, or some other die cutting machine that does the vinyl also. While I would love to have one to play with, I just don't know how much I would use one. I wanted to create some Halloween plates that simply had a vinyl black cat on it. So I did it my way!

I assembled my supplies.


Found a Black Cat Graphic on the internet and printed it off


Cut roughly around the black cat graphic and cut two pieces of clear contact paper a little larger than the cat.

I applied mod podge to the back of the graphic and placed it on top of one of the contact paper pieces. Put it on the clear contact paper side, not the paper backing.


Then I peeled the back off the other piece of contact paper and slowly covered the cat with the contact paper.

I waited for the mod podge to dry, about an hour. Then cut around the shape. I didn't bother cutting out the whiskers. I wanted the cat really black, so I painted over the shape and allowed it to dry. I forgot to take a picture of that.

Aren't they Cute!


Then I added some google eyes. Much better!


Then I just peeled the back and stuck them to my plates. I stuck a ribbon bow at the top with rolled up tape.


The best thing is, I can change these out with the season!

Be back soon!

Jessie's Witch Project & Great Thrift Finds

I have been trying to get this post done for awhile. I have been really busy with Jessie's Birthday, Mom & Sister's weekend and an October 15th deadline for individual tax returns.

This was a Halloween project that I was going to do, but Jessie took over when I screwed up on the painting. I bought this flat sided fish bowl (at Goodwill of course) and I wanted to paint the inside, I made a mess of it and that is when Jessie took over.

She painted the outside with glass paint, which was so much easier. That was when she claimed the project as hers. She did the rest.

I purchased the witch headband at the thrift store and a big bag of yarn with the black and gray yarn in it to add to the hat. She added wiggle eyes. I made some clay that you bake to harden. Jessie made the shape of the nose, wart, mouth and tooth. After baking she painted them and attached it to the bowl with glue. I put a strand of 50 Christmas lights inside to illuminate her.

And here she is:)................


So Cute!! She now sits in our Bake Center. I removed the little lamp that you can see sitting behind her.

My great thrift finds??? You know that bag of yarn I bought for the witch hair? Well I sold the rest of the bag in 2 separate auctions on ebay for a total of $28.00!!! I didn't realize it but this bag had some Tilli Tomas silk yarn in it. That doesn't mean anything to me except it made me some money. I had no idea who Tilli Tomas was before, but now I will look for her at the thrift stores!

I had the HP56 toner cartridge on my shopping list for a couple of weeks. I wanted to use a gift card I had at Office Depot. I just couldn't seem to make it over there, it wasn't on my usual driving route. One day I stopped in at the little thrift store down the road from my 2nd job and guess what was waiting there for me???

Just the cartridges my printer takes! Two twin packs packaged in a plastic bag for $4.99!! That is about a $95.00 savings!!! Yahoo!!!

I was beginning to feel real lucky, until Hubby's office computer crashed and then my laptop at home crashed two days later! Do you think I can find those at the thrift store??

Be back soon!

Pottery Barn Knock Off - Galvanized Metal 3-Tier Stand

Pottery Barn image found here.

I have loved this galvanized Metal 3 Tier Stand for over a year!!! Pottery Barn you rock! The buffet in my dining room has a galvanized top, so this belongs in there!! This is something I wanted to keep on my informal dining room all the time and change the display with the seasons. Unfortunately I didn't like the dimensions of this stand. It would be too tall and too wide to use for a centerpiece on my dining room table.

I thrifted two silver trays and I was ready to go! I collaborated on this with hubby, who told me to get a threaded rod from the lamp department at Home Depot. He didn't like my idea of just using glue and a dowel. Something about structural support etc, etc..... So he measured and drilled, and drilled, and drilled some more. He used some pvc pipe to increase the diameter of the center post and added a top ring with something he found in our "Parts Bucket" Here it is before painting.

Here it is after spray painting with a hammered galvanized spray paint.

Not quite the finish I wanted!

So I did a little faux finishing and sealed it with a matte sealer. I threw on some of the fall decorations that I had stored in my buffet and a crow I had purchased at the dollar store. Those crows go fast at the dollar store. Do not attempt to find one in October when you are in the mood to decorate for Halloween.

I love the way it turned out!

I still need to accessorize it. I really want a candle on the top tier. I want to put some candy corn in the bottom pumpkin dish and maybe some other type of snack wrapped with that gorgeous orange polka dot ribbon Pottery Barn used! I think I have some some in my sewing room.


The best thing about my Pottery Barn Knock Off is my bottom tier is a ball bearing swivel plate (carousel or turntable)! The worst thing - I love the knob at the top of the Pottery Barn version. I really want a knob at the top of mine. I may make a second version of this..................who knows when of if.......

Be back soon! Jessie has been crafting!

Thrifting Intuition?

At the end of July I was thrifting and saw a gray metal cart with wheels. Price $6.99. It rolled really nice and smooth. But I didn't need a cart! I walked away to look at the books. Something drew me back, I kept thinking I had to have it! I picked it up and paid for it, all the time thinking Hubby will not be happy with this purchase! Where are you going to put it? What are you going to do with it?

I didn't even bother getting it out of the car when I got home on Friday. I just didn't want to hear all the questions.

Late Saturday afternoon I was taking Son #2 and his girlfriend Julie to a BeerFest in Nashville. (Hubby was on pick up duty) Julie gets in the car and looks at the cart. She ever so sweetly asked if I saw another one at a thrift store if I would buy it for her. She really needed one for her classroom to put her computer on.

Sunday we spray painted the cart a pretty blue color and off it went to Julie's classroom!




Thrifting Intuition is great! I need to just learn to accept that "Pull" even though I don't understand it!

Don't you love that sign above the white board?

Good News! Son #2 is now an employed teacher! He is teaching Science to 7th and 8th graders!

Be back soon! (with a Pottery Barn Knock Off!)

A New Dress - Thrifting Again

I bought a new dress at the Goodwill for 99 cents.

....and where will I wear this beauty????

No where! This is what I was after............


You see those rhinestone buttons? Those babies are super expensive in the fabric stores! So snip, snip. snip, snip and the buttons go in my Bling jar. The dress is donated back to Goodwill!

Yes I do have a Bling jar and I work hard to fill it up, as cheap as possible!

Be Back Soon!

Tip of the Day

buy a large burner ring (or two) for the stove to cover your pie crusts. Much cheaper $$$$$ than a purchased pie crust ring, and a lot better than burnt crust!

Pecan pie - a favorite around here! If only there was more pie left from the weekend!

Be back soon! (Hopefully with something crafty or sewing related!)

How to Tell You are a VOLS Fan

When doing laundry you have a separate pile for Orange clothing!

This photo was from Son #2 doing his laundry. I thought it was hilarious!

Be back soon!

Trash Room Treasure

Every floor in our office building has a trash room. Hubby and I were taking a few bags over and what did I spy sitting on the floor next to the bin???

Hubby told me not to take it! "It's UGLY!" he said.

Nothing a little spray paint over the weekend couldn't cure!



Perfect for holding some of my shabby fabrics! Actually, I am debating whether I should give it a whitewash or do some distressing, or both. It just looks too bright.

And just to let you know, this is not the first time I have confiscated trash from the trash room!

Did you see those vintage patterns next to it? I found the "mother load" of them at the thrift store last week! I was so excited! I just love looking at them!

Be back soon!

My first Tiffany & Company Purchase........

.........from a thrift store! Brand new with the tag still attached. This is a little bedside crystal pitcher that has a cup that fits in the top of the pitcher to use as a lid. I think it would be perfect for using in a guest room!


Do you see that aqua tag on it??? That is what drew me to the item. So what did I pay for this treasure????

What a deal considering I have seen these for years (just not Tiffany & Co.) and loved them!

I also found some nice silver trays at half off - $4.00 each.


You see that smaller one in the corner of the picture??? The one with the twisted edge?? Sorry - forgot to bring my camera with me to work to do this post. (On my lunch hour of course!)

Well I turned it over to clean it up and guess what??

Another Pottery Barn find! Somehow I am always attracted to this brand!

I need to get my silver polish out!

Be back soon!

Preparing for Mom & Sister's Weekend

I will be hosting Mom & Sister's Weekend this year. It is from October 7th thru October 11th. I was working on the menu for the long weekend. I was going to have "Soup Night" - Beer Cheese and Broccoli Cheese soup (can you tell I LOVE cheese?) I decided to test a recipe for bread bowls that I have had for years!

It's supposed to be so simple to take frozen bread dough and create the bowls. Well they didn't turn out exactly round and they were way too small! I guess I will have to try again! Darn! I will be forced to eat the samples again! Maybe I need to make the soup too!

Be back soon!

A Free Chair

My friend Janice brought me a chair that was "abandoned" in the hallway of her new offices. At least no one came hunting it down for the five minutes it sat there. Just kidding, she let it sit there for DAYS!



I loved it from the minute I saw it! I immediately thought I would paint it white and the back part that has scratched up leather I would replace with some neutral linen I had, maybe even add a little padding, and use brass upholstery tacks around the edge! Then I was gong to make a cute ruffled chair cushion with the same linen. It would definitely look fantastic in my sewing room! You can imagine it right?? It would look great! It did have a little flaw though....

the seat had a crack in it. No problem though. I would add a metal brace underneath to keep it from splitting anymore!

Here is where Hubby enters the picture! He unloads the chair from my car and say's it would be sacrilegious to paint the chair, this is an antique and should be restored to it's former glory, and I cannot put a brace underneath it, it needs to be totally reglued, blah blah blah...... So here it sits in my dining room, while we are at a standoff!

I created another of my stands this weekend, but this one didn't come out as I wanted. It was a metal candlestick glued to a cheese dome. For some reason it orange kept coming through the paint on the candlestick part.


I had started with spray paint, and then I used kilz (still there) and then I used bush on paint. Nothing will get rid of this orange color! I'm not quite sure what I could try next!!!

Random question? Why are pinwheel steaks not available in the spring, winter or fall? I really have to go out of my way to find these in the summer.

I marinate them in worstershire sauce and grill them! Ummmm a family favorite! I sure would enjoy them at other times of the year. I can never buy enough to stock in the freezer either. They only have a couple of packages at a time!

Be back soon!

Long Time No Blogging - I'v Been Busy!

I have been super busy the past few weeks! First was Son #1's wedding reception in Chattanooga. They had this super life size cutout of them from their wedding day! Here is my Mom standing with it. She looked so pretty!!!


and here is my Auntie Delaine and Uncle Roy from Michigan! It was so good to see them!
I was blessed to have a lot of my family, from all over, come to the reception! You just never get enough time to visit with everyone!!

Then it was a quick makeover of a thrifted skirt for my sister Gail for her 50's party! I also made her a super quick crinoline. It wasn't pretty, but it did the trick!


Then I made a 50's pennant banner for a picture backdrop and thrifted the 45 records from the Goodwill outlet! Looks pretty good to me!


Not to mention the Forth of July party the same weekend! Check out my daughter's recount of it on her blog! It was an exhausting and exciting time! Too much fun!!!

I also found another pretty mirror for the sewing room, while thrifting the forty five records, that I painted my favorite color - white! In this picture the painting is in process! It's amazing what 10 minute time blocks can accomplish!


I managed to get to a 50% off sale at a fabric store in town. I, of course bought Halloween fabric! I love the vintage look to these fabrics!


I also have been making some raggedy roses pins for some aprons I am making. They turned out really cute!

But beware of that glue gun!!!!


Son #2 made us a fantastic dinner on Sunday night with the catch of his fishing trip in in Charleston South Carolina, and some purchased shrimp. Barbecued shrimp with baguette bread to dip in the sauce, blackened red fish, new potatoes, and steamed veggies! It was an awesome meal!


See I told you I have been busy! I also started a part time job at night Monday thru Friday with weekends off.

And to my sister Tami, your pillows are on the schedule for this weekend!

Be back soon!

Hooded Bath Towels

One of our granddaughter's birthday party was this past weekend.

Some hooded bath towels were requested as a gift for Josie's 2nd birthday. I had seen some in a kids boutique for a pricey sum and decided to recreate them. I think they turned out super cute!


The two hardest parts of this job was

1. finding the START button on my embroidery machine! It had been about a year since I last used my embroidery machine and I had no problem remembering how to program what I wanted, how to position the fabric, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember (or see) where the start button was! So I spent about an hour looking for my manual, which was futile! I finally saw the big START button located on the opposite side of the programming screen! I felt so foolish!!

2. Trying to figure out how to fold these once I had finished them! Notice the two towels are folded two different ways. I went with option 1 (a little neater though) and tied ribbon around it.

Here is Josie

Notice her dress has frogs on it. Her mom bought this dress off Etsy and it is really cute! Josie loves Frogs!

Josie and another granddaughter Carley playing with balloons!


Josie wanted a frog cake for her birthday. So my stepdaughter Rebecca made the cutest cake!


Not only was this cake adorable, but it was delicious as well! Rebecca and Elizabeth have a business called The Bakery Next Door. You need to check out all the fantastic cakes they have done! Just look at the lily pad cupcakes surrounding the Frog!

Be back soon!