Buddy Time . . .

Last Thursday was a fun day!

Kari, Ethan & his buddy, Nathan, met

at my house for play time.

They enjoyed snacks . . .

story time . . .


sunshine & shadows . . .


and posing for a photo . . .


take #1


take #2

take #3

FINALLY!

Ah-h-h . . .

Finally, refreshing rain!!!

How nice to see & hear rain!

Love to see cars splashing through rain puddles.

Huge raindrops hitting the brick wall.

Wet sidewalks & streets.
Right now it's 68 degrees, feels like autumn is in the air!
We suffered through 115 degree heat index last week.

Ah-h-h, refreshing rain!

Hope it's nice where you are today!

Last Of The Rearrange . . .

Happy Monday to you all!

I hope your weekend was a good one.

We finally got a break from the extreme heat.

This is the last of the rearrange project.

The hallway got a mini rearrange.

This collage of Bobby & Kari's wedding has been

in this spot for a while.

The hall tree was moved from the dining room

to the bottom of the stairs, a much better

location for guests to hang their coats.

The two pictures look nice here.

Changed the table vignette.


I found this great vinyl chalkboard at TJ Maxx.
It's on the wall as you walk into the living room/kitchen area.
I write something different on it each day.

This fun mirror found a new place on a different wall.

These two chairs traded places with the love seat.

The large picture & wall sconces were new purchases

from Hobby Lobby. Lucky for me the picture was 1/2 price.

I paid full price for the sconces. Wouldn't you know it,

they were 1/2 off the next week. I figure since there were

only 4 of them the day I bought them they would have

been gone by the time I made it to the store.

I created a toy storage area behind the love seat.

The garden urns came from the master bathroom.

I'll probably never move the Thomas Kinkade picture.

The shelves of the TV cabinet were rearranged.

This side displays some of our favorite books.

Family pictures and another Thomas Kinkade picture are on the other side.

The next project I'd like to tackle is painting the master bathroom.

Have any of you ever painted over wallpaper?

I need some advice about what kind of paint to use.

Weekly Words To Live By #18 . . .

Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow;

it empties today of its strength . . .

~Corrie Ten Boom

Visit Tracey for more words of wisdom . . .

Piano Room . . .

Welcome to the piano room!

You may have seen my July 25th post last summer about
this gorgeous piano. If not you can search

the archives to read all about it.

Mary and I found items from all over the house
to spruce up the look.

One of two comfy chairs where you can relax

while listening to music from the piano

or the 'old fashioned' record player.

I've had this chair for 30 years.

The curio cabinet holds my collection

of figurines.

The wedding shelf.

I can't believe I've had this plant for 2 years

and it's still thriving.

The next, and last spaces I'll be showing are the living room & hallway.

I'm excited that Ethan & his buddy, Nathan, are coming today

for a playdate at my house.

Have a terrific Thursday!

Dining Room . . .

I'm so happy you came by to take a look at my dining room!

The rabbit & vegetables in the wire basket

give the dining room table a touch of French country.

The china hutch is almost 30 years old.

small side table

The mirror was a 10th anniversary gift

to my parents in 1958. It had been in a

closet for several years.

This is the only new item in the room.

I found it at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 price.

Love the scripture!

I really like this vignette, the up light really makes the difference.

I cleaned and rearranged all the shelves in the china hutch.

My Mother's candlewick dishes.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Tomorrow I'll show you the piano room.

Rearrange Redecorating . . .

After living in this house for 6 years it was time to rearrange and redecorate. You've probably heard about shopping your own house before you buy anything new. This is exactly what I did 3 weeks ago, but I couldn't do it by myself, so I got some help from a semi-professional decorator, my sister, Mary. The past several years she's been helping decorators. Recently she's been helping decorate a 6,000 sq. ft. home in Houston.

Mary came for a visit 3 weeks ago. We had only planned on redoing a large wall in the piano room, but the ideas started flowing and one thing led to another. It's so nice to have someone who doesn't see your house everyday come up with creative ways to make a new look without spending big bucks. So, over 3 days the hall, dining room, kitchen, living room & piano room got a face lift.

Today I'm showing the kitchen. If you visited me for the 'rooster party' last week you've already seen some areas of the kitchen.

The kitchen kind of took on the theme of a French kitchen. Everything was something I already owned with the exception of the black rooster from Target you saw last week and what you'll see in the last picture.

This is my Mother's flatware that's been hiding

in a cabinet for 12 years. I thought it would

be neat to display it on the cake stand in

white pitchers and an old glass icebox storage container.

The salt & pepper shakers are Candlewick

that belonged to my Mother.

Now we can use these more often.

The red lamp came from the guest bedroom.

The red topped chest used to be in my classroom.

I had stored it the guest bedroom closet.

We added some wall sconces & topiaries that
used to be in other parts of the house.




Enjoy Your Meal !

We found this at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off.
I've never been good on ladders, so Mary took over and got the job done.

Come back tomorrow to see the dining room.

Hope you're staying cool!

Here in Oklahoma we're having temps of over 100 everyday this week.

YIKES!

Another Birthday . . .

to my Hubby, Bob!

Are you enjoying your coconut cake?

photo courtesy internet, his cake is from Sam's ; )

Weekly Words To Live By #17 . . .

This is dedicated to all you teachers who will be

returning to the classroom soon.

It's also dedicated to all of us who are retired teachers.

I kept this quote on my refrigerator for years.

It showed up again when I was cleaning

my kitchen desk the other day.

I always feel warm and fuzzy when I read it.

"Most of us end up with no more than

five or six people who remember us.

Teachers have thousands of people who remember

them for the rest of their lives."

~ Andy Rooney

Visit Tracey to read more words of wisdom . . .

Cock~A~Doodle~Doo . . .

It's a cock~a~doodle~doo party!
Barb

is hosting a rooster party

Welcome to my

rooster and hen party!

Most of my collection is in this old

cabinet in the kitchen.
I found this big guy in my favorite flea market in Branson, MO.

The little green salt and pepper shakers were
a gift from my parents.
The colorful roosters were found in the attic of my
parents' shoe store many years ago.



This proud pair also came from the attic.
The small rooster & bowl full of eggs
were gifts from my sister, Susan.



Rooster plates were a gift from my sister, Mary.
Sister, Susan, gave me the dish rack.



Love my platter and pitcher that I bought at
a cool little shop in Stillwater several years ago.

My rooster lamp came from a Hallmark store
in Stillwater, OK.

I found this clock at Hobby Lobby on clearance a few years ago.

I bought my newest rooster at Target
this summer.   It was on clearance for $10.

Now, don't forget to visit Barb so you can see all the

blogging friends who are participating in the party.

Random Monday Memories #9 . . .

Remember making an apron in Home Ec? I still have my 8th grade Home Ec apron sewing project tucked away in a closet upstairs. It was my first sewing project and the work was very poorly done. Thank goodness my sewing skills improved over the years. I love the fact that aprons are back in style. I should wear one more often!

The History of

APRONS

The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.

But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids..
And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.
Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think anyone ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

Weekly Words To Live By #16 . . .

The best way to cheer yourself up is try to

cheer somebody else up.

~Mark Twain

Nothing cheers me up more than getting

a thoughtful card or note in the mailbox.

I'm challenging myself & all of you

to spread a little cheer & sunshine

this week by way of 'snail mail'.