Friday Is for Vintage and Inspiration....

Red Front Doors always inspire me, and my door this morning hit by the dappled sunlight reminded me of the upcoming Christmas season. An image to remember from my nest if I move to Iowa, as anticipated.

Today I want to record an outstanding find on my e-line journal. A way to remember things when I look back later...

Since it is a Vintage find, to add to the fun, I am joining Debra in her fairly new Friday Posts of sharing Vintage Inspiration.





http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/


This post is highlighting one of my favorite thrift stores. Salvation Army Family Store. The particular store I shop is fantastic. The manager is wonderful and will always work a deal with you....(if you ask!)

NOTE *** the following is simply a quick side recording a steal of a deal***
This past week they were in the midst of a huge 3-Day Storewide Sale Clearance.
Here is the "inspiration" part of my post. I found these two pair of clogs there.
They were $3.99 a pair. Now I am VERY picky about buying shoes at a resale shop.
They either have to be New with tag, or look like they were worn once...maybe.

This is a pair of brick red CLARK'S leather clogs. They look brand new, but had a couple of scuff marks on the bottom, so I know they were worn at some point. I LOVE THEM. so comfortable. If you know Clark's, then you know they are very well made and an expensive shoe. (wiped the inside out with clorox wipes and sprayed them with Lysol and let them dry outside! ) done.



The second pair is M. PATRICK. They are wonderful soft smooth leather uppers with stitching and the insides are like eggcrate foam. My feet feel like they have died and gone to heaven! OH how I love these. These too, are pricey shoes. They have never been worn. The soles are brand new. WHO could give these up??? A sample from a shoe salesman???... my gain!



Okay...on to the vintage part. I'll quit droning on about shoe comfort. (this becomes very important to a girl at 50!)

Found 3 of these beautiful little ornaments in an old yellowed Christmas box buried under garlands of tinsel in a Rubbermaid bin. If I hadn't squatted down to dig, I would never have found them. They are BEAUTIFUL! The box was .50.
The glass balls have white snow etched trees on the outside and the bird itself is painted on the inside of the ornament...How????


Those who know my love of all things aviary-related know I was tickled to find these little treasures...

Here is my Vintage Find. I love this piece. I have wanted a "green" piece for a while, but just never found one that I could afford. Thank you Salvation Army.



I know it is probably worldly to get excited over material things...but when I saw this piece that had just come in (I was told) and saw the tag and figured the sale price out...I got butterflies in my stomach...just saying! You can't take it with you...but to find something "for a song" to enjoy while on this earth...I do get the pitter-patters when I can pay with cash from my little skinny wallet.



Be Inspired to go Treasure Hunting in the Thrift shops and stores. You never know what you will find on a special day. The items inside are thrifted too...



I want to highlight this VERY SPECIAL TREASURE. It is a herringbone quilt lovingly handmade by an Aunt on my hubby's side of the family. THANK YOU AUNT CAROL! What a talented lady! I have wanted to display it but have no bed to put it on right now..(where it would not be abused!)
This piece provided the perfect spot for now.


One last look at my Vintage Treasure find and Inspiring you to keep your eyes open and keep on thrifting. One day that exciting piece will pop up and you will get butterflies too!!!! In closing.... the icing on the cake today in my little cottage????..... A warm furry white body gracing my nest. For us...a house is not a home without a dog...or two....or three!!!


***p.s edit I forgot to share this part...
This was tacked to the inside back of the cabinet at some point.... (looks like 70's to me) I took the back off and pulled it off to reveal the green wood. If I ever alter that, I would probably add a toile pattern of paper or fabric. For now I am blissfully leaving it in its original state.
Hugs to all my bloggy sisters. Have a wonderful Autumn Crisp weekend. Thank you for popping in to visit my online journal of life here.

God Bless You!

Wednesday Whites from Summer days...

Late joining in today, but here are just a couple of white thrift finds from this past summer.

Join Kathleen at this link if you like viewing unique and pretty whites in the yard and house.



http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/




Just for summer floral memories...the last of the lovely hydrangeas from 2010. Such lovely colors with the cooler temps of September. Now dried for Winter pretties.


Here they are bringing a bit of color to the Front Living room. The green wire holder with bucket container was a Goodwill find. The lovely wrought iron plant stand was a lucky find on Craig's List. Don't underestimate the ability to find thrift store prices on this resource...You would be amazed!




These two little chippy wicker and iron banded wall pocket/baskets were found at a little clearance sidewalk sale this summer! so CHEAP!..Brought them home and added some of my dollar store brown paper shreds and topped them with some colorful distressed eggs. I love them hanging on the shutters.


I love this room in the morning. I tried to capture the mood it has in this photo. The sun rises on this end of the house and really this is the only room that gets a decent amount of sunlight... I love to see the sun shining across the worn wood floors. Most mornings you will find the pooches in here. It is my favorite room to walk through and feel the warm spots on the floor. I love my little cottage house.



Another favorite find this past summer...



Wonderful rustic Gothic frames with rusty wrought iron embellishments. Distressed White with just enough blue showing through to go with my blue room. This too, was also a fantastic lucky find on Craig's List. The seller was just TOO nice. She lived 40 minutes out of Charlotte, but had a boss who was coming to one of their associate companies and she got her to bring them to Charlotte for me to meet and pickup. How much nicer can one get???? Craig's List is not really a lot of scams and shams...All of my buys have been great, and the people were super....and the prices were unbelievable. Both Justin and Kam got their very recent vehicle purchases from Criag's List ads. (that's an upcoming post!...soon)


This is a full view of both. The decor on the wall in the middle is all thrifted from Goodwill.



Last white of the day...a furry one again...sleepy Woobie.

Please continue to say a prayer for our fighting Military heroes. This war continues.... Many families are now experiencing what I just went through for the last 7 months, and I feel an ache for them in my heart. It is still a fresh memory...I thank my Lord that Justin came home safe from the battles going on over there every day. They are protecting our freedoms and security 24/7. God bless them and bring them home.

I think "DUH" would be appropriate here....

So I started blogging way back to try and become a little more transparent and open about me...Not so private...

Okay.

I have been extremely non-stop busy in the last two weeks since my honey flew away...
Every time I kept checking my "feeds" when I got a chance in the morning, or late at night...there was NO bold type to show a new post...

Hmmmm. I guess everybody else is busy or away from their compys...like me, and does not have time to blog this week.

I have been having problems with my server too. Finally I did a reboot yesterday evening... When I checked my feeds last night...."""!!!!"""", EVERYBODY was BOLD!. It did occur to me that it was ironic that every bloggy sister I follow was on a blog-break at the same time, but I was so busy, I didn't question it.

Can I just say....(and get this over with) DUH!!!!!

Okay, I am going to catch up slowly but surely. So now I know...Life did not suddenly stop COLD for everybody in the bloggy world...my computer was pulling the big one on me....

I have just confessed to a brain blip moment. But Life has been so busy, I hope everyone will understand. I didn't check out of your lives...I just fell behind.

Hope everyone has a GREAT TUESDAY, and I will begin catching up today...

HUGS to everybody!!!


Two weeks down....Many to go....Missing my man...

L~O~V~E

For My Man.



Has it only been 5 days??? Please tell me it's been longer...It seems like a month...
Wish Scotty could "Beam Me Up" to Iowa City...




I






MISS






YOU






MY






BABE!!!!





I love you, Kurt. You alone hold the key to my heart. When I think of people who are "Doing Hard Things"...you are right there. I appreciate all you are walking through right now to take care of us. You are my hero! God Bless You.

Blogland Blessings

Who Knew???

I once didn't know what a Blog was....I had to have it explained to me that the name was short for a Web Log. Then I had to have a Web Log explained to me. THEN I had to get enough gumption and motivation to begin one myself, being computer illiterate.

How in the world would I ever have guessed that I would meet and make so many wonderful acquaintances and beautiful friends via the world wide web?



Yes, face to face friendships are still the gold friends...always there for you. You know who they are.

But the Bloggy Sisterhood is alive and well and thriving. There are so many girls out there who I have connected with and who have reached out and touched my life and my heart across the miles and through my computer screen...indeed...who knew?



You all know I love you muchly! I love to visit with you whenever I get a moment to pop in! It is fun to see what's happening out there with you.

We have shared our smiles, our embarrassments, our griefs, our heartbreaks, our hilarious moments, our unbelievable circumstances, our tears, our fears, and asked for support and prayer and encouragement. And we have done it! Rah!
We have reached out with our typed words and our heart's messages and touched one another and joined hands in sisterhood. We keep each other strong and motivated.
Yay for the Bloggy Sisterhood!!! And I Love my Military and Marine Moms circle of support out there!!


Today I just want to highlight this very special lady who is one of my dear Bloggy Sisters Some of you also count her as one of your own, too. Dear treasure of a friend, Dianna. She has been such an encouragement to me through Justin's deployment, along with many others. She would email me with her cheering upbeat words, and comments on my posts, and send me sweet messages via my snail mail. I would find them in my mailbox exactly on a day when I needed them!!! What a dear prayer warrior sister.
Recently she sent me a "secret" sister gift in the Mail. It is just so precious.


So sweetly wrapped. I pinned the adorable cherry card to my board in my kitchen.



It is a beautiful mini china dish Christmas ornament with a snowy bunny scene. Do you think I put this away til Christmas? Not on your life! I love it too much. It is displayed at the top of my floor easel that holds a print in my Dining Room.



Love this gal! Pop over and visit her here!

Dianna is on the right, with her grandson in this pic.

http://bitsandpieces-dianna.blogspot.com/


Loving all the support and love coming across the miles from all of my bloggy sisters. HUGS to all of you.

Life is full of hard times, hard paths, and hard choices. When the bad comes your way, reach in there, and find some good in it and pull it out and carry it with you as you walk your way out of that hard time! You are Strong Women!!

I would like to thank Suzanne from Privet and Holly for her beautiful written words about Warriors today. It touched my heart, and my tears flowed freely. Truly all of us have some Warrior strength and potential in us. We sometimes don't know how strong we are until we are faced with some of life's ultimate challenges and we feel the power to rise up and face the foe even in our weakest moments. My Warrior son has this quote on his Facebook page.
"God doesn't test those who don't have potential."
I love it.
I love Suzanne. Please pop over and read her inspirational post. And thank you my bloggy sister for your amazing gift to reach out and touch others through this blogland world. Hugs to you.

http://privetandholly.blogspot.com/2010/10/warriors.html


To all my sisters....May God be your anchor to hold on to when the winds start to blow.

Have yourselves an outstanding, beautiful day.


IN MEMORY...My favorite Autumn picture of my much missed sweet little girl, Annie Grace...

Another White Wednesday.....

Haven't done one of these in a while...My posting time has been limited, and I have only been recording things about my Marine since he was foremost on our minds and in our hearts and OH SO MUCH awaited for... We really could not think of much else...

But as each day came and went, we tried to stay about our business, and with all the goings on and changes taking place with Kurt's employment and LOADS of petsitting in August and September, and trying to relieve my dad from his load with mom,...so many things...we stayed on the run.

I did manage to pick up a few things now and then over the summer when I was running errands and stole some quickie moments in a Thrift... so I thought I would post some more Whites over at Faded Charm's White Wednesday with Kathleen:
http://fadedcharmcottage.blogspot.com/


Here was one thing that was a fun find!






This came from a gal on Craig's List. She was the same one I told my readers about much earlier in the year. She was my kids' old Pediatric nurse, and we got reunited after so many years through a CL purchase. She recently had this item and I bought it from her. Nurse Anne said it was a Wine Jail. It is VERY heavy solid Iron. It was dusty, and black with a little rust when I got it from her, but I sprayed it white and roughed it up a bit (or I believe it is properly called "distressing"...)Then I put my magazines in the Living Room in it and a decorative green glass bottle with pretty designs on it, and a mini chandy. I do like it. What a thrifty deal!




I (((LOVE))) this braided rug. It is white cotton with blue scrolly designs on it, and SO soft...yet very durable. I saw it in a back corner at Salvation Army covered up by other dark rugs... It was taped up and said TWO rugs for 49.95. I unrolled it to see it was ONE rug. I took it up front and asked about the price. The manager said since it was only one, that would make it 24.95 and then since it had been in the store for a little while (HIDDEN waiting for me!!!) it would be 12.50. I said SOLD! Brought it home, steam cleaned it in the driveway, and promptly put it to rest in the Living Room. I love to feel the soft, thick, nubby rows under my bare feet.





This adorable mini bunny lamp was at Goodwill for 1.99 and I saw the potential in the drabness of it. It had a dark wood base and a green and red checked blanket the rabbit was resting on, with a brass post. The boring white shade was too big for it. I told him I would rescue him! :-) ~~ Brought him home, sprayed it all white. (left little bun-bun alone) and added the fringed shade. Put him in my private little corner where I blog. He is always smiling at me. I think he is grateful! :-)




My bedside Night stand is a two level magazine and book case. The top is just always overloaded and piled up. With my lamp and waterbottle and kitty pencil cup and kleenex and lotions and magazines and Bible...CROWDED..! I saw this pretty tower and loved the finial and leaves on it. It was also only 1.99 at my favorite tiny Thrift shop and was a brown metal. I thought of my nightstand when I saw it! Again, you know...I painted it white and put the kleenex and pens on it to free up some room. I like this one too!!!

I'll end with this one. This is the one find Kurt walked in and said..."I like that!"
(me too) Only now I can't do it....bwah.....


Another Goodwill find laying upside down waiting for me! Love that store.. such low prices...Kurt texted me from Iowa City last night and said he had seen the Goodwill store up there near where he was. I replied back...."NOW you're talking!!!"

Thanks for popping over to visit. Hope your day is wonderful and full of Fall sightings! Pumpkins, Leaves changing colors, people wearing sweaters...I am ready to make some pumpkin bread. Got to find some fresh cranberries!!



Hugs to all. Please pray for our fighting Military heroes protecting our wonderful and free lives over here. God bless them.