Tarnished And Old, Perfection

The pig in the kitchen has some company now.

I added the new little transferware

dish to the top of the island.

It sits on a new (old) scale under a big cloche.

I have a thing for tarnished silverware

in case you haven't noticed.

I read recently you can use ketchup to

clean the tarnish off silver and copper.

Yeah, like I'm going to do that!

I'm starting to really like blue again.

I bought two pillow shams at a yard

sale recently.

Back around 1990, I started painting every

room country blue --And everything else too.

I even bought a plaid country blue couch.

Even painted the kitchen country blue!
When I look at pictures of that kitchen,
I just shake my head.

I didn't realize how depressed I was until
I got into a wreck and totaled my car.

I could see the crash coming and, literally,
my life flashed by in those few seconds and
all I could think was if I had another chance
I would change my life completely.

The car was totaled, but we were all OK.

I set about changing my life the very next 

day, and I painted everything forest

green after that. Seriously.
It's been 24 years since my "blue" period.

I think I'm ready to let that poor color

 out of jail!

Regarding Grand-Baby Watch:
This little one is 5 years old now, and she's
going to be a great sister if only her little
brother would decide to come out.


He must be like a fine wine...
I hope he's half as cute as big sister.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be over here this week:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Crazy Horse And Other Thoughts

Believe it when they say time goes by faster

in the second half of your life.

Wild Bill and I often talk about the great road
trip we took last year to Deadwood SD.

Then I looked at these pictures of the
Crazy Horse monument in progress and 
the date of our trip was 2012 not 2013
like we were thinking.


We took the picture from the road.
It wasn't hard to miss.

The South Dakota lakes were lovely too.

We're on 'Baby Watch' around here, which

has slowed down time considerably.

The youngest daughter and her husband were

due to have their baby 2 days ago. As you

can imagine, she is not a happy camper.

For some reason our family runs late

in birthing our babies.

My three girls were 15, 11 and 14 days late!

It's no fun passing the 9th month

and still being very pregnant.

It's a little like being ready to be released

from prison and then being told it will take

a few weeks before you can actually go...

Yeah.

It's a lot like that!

Thanks for stopping by.

Finds From McKinney

Here are two of my favorite finds from

when I was down in McKinney Texas

a few weeks ago.

The porcelain jar advertises my favorite

tea - English Breakfast. It's a reproduction,

but that's ok with me. It was just $12.

The jar is functional as tea should be kept

in a dark place to maintain the flavor.

I have been avoiding buying any transfer

ware because there's a fine line between

collecting and hoarding, and I think I

cross it too easily.

I was sure if I started buying transferware,

I would get obsessed with it.

But, this little rooster handle got to me so

I promised myself just this one. And at

just $14 it wasn't much of a risk.

Now the dreaded first dish has slipped in.

If you're like me, you know what I'm

saying...

Thanks for stopping by!

Partying here this week:
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Quackers The Not So Wild Duck

Our last house was a half mile from a lake.

Our house was one of the first to be built, so

the roads within the subdivision were free of

traffic, and we often road our bikes around 

the empty streets.

One day a wild duck zoomed around over

our heads and quacked at us.

QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!

It would fly up and zoom back down and

then fly just over our heads scolding us.

Quack...Quack...Quack.

We soon realized it wanted us to fly with it!

It followed us home that day and stayed

around the neighborhood for months.

We called it Quackers.

I believe it was a female and she loved to

be held.

Over the next couple of months, Quackers

would fly down whenever we were outside

 on our front patio.

Up and down the walkway Quackers would

march, quacking impatiently to tell us to 

turn on the hose!

Quackers would also stare at the hose until we turned

it on, then run as close to the spray as it could.

Crazy duck!

When we got tired of holding the hose and

turned the water off, Quackers would run and

splash in the water like a child.

When Quackers got tired of the water, hunting

bugs was next on the list...

We had a great time with that wild duck.

We believe someone raised Quackers and 

that they had some sort of personal flying

machine that they flew with Quackers.

After a few months, Quackers stopped

coming around. 

We heard someone in the neighborhood

turned Quackers in to a wildlife sanctuary. 

We really hope that's what happened.

We miss her every time we turn on the hose.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing at the following:

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com

Under Re-Construction

Whether or not there is such a thing as

"an offer you can't refuse..."

is seriously debated in our household.

Keep that in mind when I tell you three years
ago a builder offered us a serious reduction on
one of his spec houses. He had two houses he had
built on speculation and he needed to free up
money for another commercial project.

We bought the house and, as money allows, we have
been slowly completing the projects that provided

the serious reduction in price from the builder.

Our latest project was replacing the front walkway:

and extending the patio in the back of the house...

The front walkway seemed out of place for the
house. It had a modern appearance and was as
straight as a bowling alley. The builder put in
cement blocks, with spaces in between for
plants, which became a hazard more than a
walkway since the plants continually died and
left gaps between the blocks.


All that had to be jack-hammered out and carted away.
Good riddance!

We widened the stoop outside the entry.

We did this by removing the two planting areas

on either side of the old walkway that held two

 little trees, which never did well, and then

flanged the walkway at top...

 We also flanged the area at the bottom of
the walkway too as it leaves the main
sidewalk...

Then we changed the walkway from straight
to curvy to give it a more cottage-y look.

The crew placed two pipes cross-wise in
the walkway area to provide tubes under the
concrete for access for future lighting wires
and for sprinkler pipes and equipment.

Thanks for stopping by!
I'll be back when we're more completed.

Sharing at the following:

http://www.cozylittlehouse.com/

Too Early In The Morning

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to a ringing
sound. Phone...Phone...at 4:30 a.m.???

I stumbled to the kitchen where the cell phones

are. There was Wild Bill's cell phone
lighted up and flashing away!

I didn't have my glasses on...
but I could tell it was not a phone call,

hmmm, looks like a reminder alarm!

Soon, I stood by Wild Bill's side of the bed,

pissed at his carelessness, and shouted:

"Bill, Bill...WTF? WTF?..." 

Like a hibernating bear, his head slowly came

up and looked at the cell phone:

"Honey, that's yours..." he said.

So I scrunched up my eyes and squinted at

the phone real hard...

Embarrassed, but bravely I said:

"Well...Happy Anniversary!"

Wedding Day 1997 at The Hitching Post 
(where else would a Texan get married?)

Middle daughter's wedding 2003
(see how quick he turned my hair gray?)

Thanks for stopping by.

Main Street America, Part II

Here's a look at the inside of the models at

Main Street America

near Spring Texas, just North of Houston.

No one lives here, it's a village of empty model

homes built by home builders to showcase new

products and building/landscaping skills.

The entrance fee of $15 pays for upkeep and

on-site staff.

I was in 7th Heaven with all the

white kitchen cabinets and trim:

Here's my favorite kitchen sink:

This lighted, tray ceiling was lovely in person.

 The patio on this house was cement

covered with travertine tile, which

was also inside the house as well:

Since we were planning a patio extension

when we were touring the houses, we

loved this idea of a tile covered patio.

All the furniture and appliances have

price and model number information in

case you want to order something for

your own house.

Love these dishwasher drawers:

If you're down near Houston,
I encourage you to go see this
fantasy land village of model homes.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you enjoyed the tour.