364 days to go.....

For those of you who follow the Auburn/Alabama Iron Bowl game every year, and for those of us who are Auburn fans, it's gonna be a l-o-o-o-g time until we meet the Tide again. Man, that was a real train wreck to watch! My SIL is the only Alabama fan and his hiney was in Tuscaloosa while the rest of us sat at home, trying to stay warm and dry. By the end of the game, David, Shannon and I were just sitting there staring at the TV in stunned silence.

Well, we had 6 years where we beat Alabama and the tradition had to be broken at some point, but did it have to be so-o-o-o bad????!!!

Some Yummy Thanksgiving Favorites

Can ya'll believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away? It seems just yesterday it was August here in Dixie and we were sweltering and now here we are smack dab in the middle of November and baby it's cold outside!

Thought I'd share a few of my favorite receipes that I ALWAYS make at Thanksgiving. This year my sweet daughter is playing hostess in her brand new gorgeous house.....of course she wants everything perfect, including getting out the Christmas tree this weekend! I'll be at her house this weekend "helping" her hang a "wall of fame" (grouping of family photos, etc.) and other than a few other things, that should be about it for now.

Anyway, here are my old standbys that never fail me:

CORN CASSEROLE

2 large cans yellow corn

1 large and 1 small package yellow rice

2 cans cr. of mushroom soup

1 package shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Combine the corn and cr. of mushroom soup in one pan, adding water from the soup cans to the corn just to make it soupy and not dry. Cook over medium heat stirring until the soup and corn are throughly mixed and heated.

In a separate pan cook the yellow rice according to the directions.

After the rice is done, combine the corn and rice together in a large bowl until they are blended together, then transfer to a glass casserole dish. Top with 1 package of sharp cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts.

Easy as pie and takes no time. Depending on how many people you are serving, you can add or delete ingredients as needed. The above receipe should serve about 8 people.

BROCCOLI SALAD

1 bunch broccoli (chopped with stems)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 sweet onion (chopped fine)
1/2 cup bacon bits

Sauce:

1 cup mayo

1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. vinegar

Combine first 5 ingredients in bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the sauce ingredients together, then stir the sauce into the broccoli salad until thoroughly mixed. Best if refrigerated for several hours or overnight.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

Filling:

2 large cans sweet potatos, mashed

2/3 to 1 1/14 cup brown sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 to 3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Spray a casserole dish with pam. Mix all of the above ingredients and put into the dish.

Topping:

1 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. flour (can be self-rising)

1 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. butter, melted

Mix ingredients together and sprinkle on top of potato mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I wanted to share a little of our Thanksgiving traditions with you. If any of you are traveling next week out of town, please be safe. One of my sisters and her family will be in Paris (guess that's one of the perks of being married to an airline pilot!) The rest of us will celebrate here in good ole Alabama!

Love You Forever

Several years ago on Christmas Eve my sister gave me what I considered to be a very strange gift.... a little paperback book entitled "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch. Her gifts always reflect a lot of thought for the person she is gifting so I thought that she had either (a) given me this book by mistake or (b) finally flipped out! I thanked her and put the book aside.

Later that evening after cleaning up all the wrappings and general mess, I picked up the little book to see why in the world she had given me such a strange present. Little did I know that I could not read through the book without crying my eyes out! Anyone who has ever read this book knows exactly what I mean.


The book begins with a mother rocking her new baby and singing to him:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

From there, it follows the child as he grows up, following every stage and how the relationship between mother and child changes......from a two year old toddler driving his mom crazy, the pre-teen years when the little boy never wants to be home for dinner, never wants to take a bath, and says bad words when his grandmother visits! But every night the mother checks on her little boy when he's sound asleep and sings the words of the song to him.

The little boy grows and grows until he becomes a grown man and moves out. Sometimes the mother drives across town to her son's home, crawls in the window and holds her son and sings her song to him.

Eventually the mom gets very old and calls her son to ask him to come see her because she's sick and old. She tries to sing to him but is so sick she can't finish her song....

When the son gets to him mom's house, he picks her up and rocks her, singing:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
my Mommy you'll be.

When the son gets back to his house, he goes to little baby daughter's room and begins singing to her:


I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Life has come full circle...

I'm crying as I'm typing this....if you haven't read this book, please do, but have lots of tissue handy!

Biloxi Bound Weekend

Staying here.....






Dining here....






Sleeping here....

Suite (sweet) dreams!




A few years ago hubby and I started visiting the Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi area. While he likes the excitement of the casinos, I enjoy finding new places to shop. This weekend we are getting away for a few days before the hectic holiday season begins.

The Beau Rivage in Biloxi is our favorite place to stay. The hotel is absoloutely beautiful and it was restored to perfection after Hurricane Katrina. There are quite a few restaurants inside the hotel/casino area as well as a promenade of shops. In the years we have been going to the area, I am quite familiar with the shops in the area but I'm always seeking out new ones and this weekend will be no exception. I've even "googled" some flea markets in the area and plan on checking them out.

Have a safe and wonderful weekend!

For Your Viewing Pleasure....

It seems like it's taking FOREVER to finish up our bedroom and kitchen re-do. Started both projects at about the same time a couple of months ago and I'm STILL not quite finished! I'm waiting on my drapes for the bedroom, I have to make a roman shade for the bathroom, and I haven't decided where to place all my architectural pieces.....but I decided when I started these rooms I was not going to rush anything and only use things I loved. I had to wait quite a while for the headboard from Ballards, and while I was waiting on that, I had the bedroom and bathroom painted and started looking around for just the right things to use in the room.....



So here's just a little peek at the headboard with the bedding and monogrammed shams. The wall color is Sandy Hook Gray....not a true french gray but a deeper shade of gray. At first, I wasn't really sure about it but now that I'm bringing in all the shades of white and textures, it is really growing on me.



I was concerned that the creamy pintuck upholstered headboard would not blend with the all white bedding but it turned out really good. The headboard appears somewhat yellowish here but in reality it's a creamy white.





The large white mirror I got at a local flea market for $40! I'm sure it was probably a gold color at one time but the vendor had painted it gloss white. I really love it. The white lamp on the table was originally green but it got the white spray paint treatment. Picked it up at a little yardsale last summer for $5.00!

Here's a floor lamp that I got antiquing and junking with Rhoda last summer. It had a wooden base and pretty green shade....so I repurposed it for this room by spray painting it and swapped out the shade for another one on another lamp.

Added some sparklies to the shade for bling!

I think it turned out really pretty.

Here's a little bench at the foot of our bed. It had a tapestry cover on it so I just covered it in this pretty linen fabric. It will go under the windows when the drapes get hung.

And here in all their glory are my prized architectural pieces. I had planned on using the large piece over our bed but for some reason, it didn't look quite right, so I left the star mirror there. I just love this piece so I want to give it a place of honor when and where I hang it. The large white angel piece I found in a spare closet.....forgot I had it! I had already painted it white several years ago when the cottage look was coming into vogue. I'm hoping to get all these placed real soon.

I got this bracket for $2.50 and I wish you could see the color. It's kind of a washed antiqued gray and I think I will use it on the narrow wall next to the white floor lamp and hang a picture over it.

I've not jumped on the "birdcage bandwagon" even though so many of you have but when I saw this birdcage at the same place I picked up the bracket (above) I just couldn't pass it up! You can see the price, plus it was 10% off! It was painted dark green but of course, it's getting the white spray treatment. I think I might use it on my bay window in the kitchen.

Keep your fingers crossed those drapes come in soon so I can get them hung and finish up the bedroom. Then I'll post a lot of pictures!

Great Auction Finds and Faux Mirror Project

We attended a "Trade Day" auction this past Saturday which was essentially an outdoor flea-market type thing where different vendors sold various merchandise. To be perfectly honest, most of the stuff was "junk" but I was lucky enough to spot a few "diamonds in the rough" to bring home.

Here is one of the treasures I found....a wonderful floor lamp with that great aqua color! I'm really finding myself drawn to this color more and more and I am using it quite a bit in my "cottage kitchen" makeover. I will have to get a light fixture for it but I just could not resist the vintage feel of the lamp. Don't know where it will end up but never fear....I will find the perfect spot for it!

Hubby spotted this architectural piece on the ground and pointed it out to me. The way the auction was operating Saturday afternoon was that everything was staged outside. The auctioneer would go from vendor to vendor so you could bid on stuff. When we saw this piece, a guy standing nearby said "I was hoping no one else would see this....am I going to have to fight you for it?" So naturally I replied "of course." I did point out to him that it was in bad condition and he surely didn't want it......and he, being a Southern gentlemen, did not argue with me! I picked up this little beauty for $5.00! It looks like it came off the top of an old dresser. There is a little damage to it, nothing that some wood glue and clamps won't fix. Right now I don't plan to do anything to it but clean it up and then hang it over our bed.

You can see the damaged area above

She's a beauty!

Here's another little piece I picked up for $5.00. It belonged to the owner of the auction and when I spied it, I asked him how much he wanted for it.....he said $5.00 and I said SOLD!

Love all the chippy white peeling paint....this will go over my narrow bathroom window.

This piece above the bay window is certainly not an antique nor an architectural piece yet I love the way it fills up the space over the window. I bought it at Kirklands. It's a metal piece that was finished off in a bronze color.....took the trusty white spray paint and instant "architecture"!

I've always wanted some of those oversize salt and pepper shakers to put some bath salts in but I've never found any in good enough condition that were reasonably priced. Friday I went to a new flea market and found this set which were in great shape.....look at the price!

I went to my local spa (Wal Mart) and got some extravagantly expensive bath salts......

...oh yeah, it cost about $2.00 a bag!

How pretty is this? For under $5.00 I now have some "pretties" for my bathroom

At the same flea market, I picked up this urn for a little over $6.00

I wanted to get a plant to sit down inside the urn that would survive my non-green thumb. Saw this great plant at Home Depot and it reminded me of the "rabbit's foot ferns" my grandmother used to have. Now that might not be the "technical" term but that's what I've always called them. You could rub the little soft "rabbits feet" spilling out from the bottom of the plant....this brought back some good memories of my grandmother (who did have a green thumb)

If you have been reading my blog, you'll remember my posting about my friend Linda's gorgeous cottage style home. Since I was already redoing my kitchen and bedroom in a white cottage style, seeing her home really inspired me and gave me some good ideas, which I have unashamedly (is that a word?) copied! She had a beautiful aqua painted round mirror in her dining room. I spotted this one recently at T.J. Maxx and while it was not wood, it was a very reasonable price and I thought I could give it the "aqua treatment" and hang it in the kitchen.

Here's how it looked before.....(nothing wrong it the white, I just wanted to use the aqua color on it)....

First coat of paint

Although I coated it 3 times, some of the white still showed through. After glazing with Ralph Lauren's tobacco glaze, it still needed something else so I took some matte black paint and just dry brushed it on. You can click on the pictures below to see how it turned out....like the original paint is chipping off and the "old wood" is showing underneath

I played around with several vingettes on this little table in the kitchen. While I liked the sparse look (see below), I eventually settled on placing the urn on this table. I first had the urn and plant on the kitchen table but hubby complains because he has to move it so he can see the TV (hate it) so I will leave the kitchen table bare for now.

Some of you astute ladies will remember my post on Linda's house and recognize some of the same design elements here as in her dining room

I love these turquoise plates I found at Pier 1 (on sale)....they only had four so I got them all. If I find any more of them I'll add to these.....the shape and color are so interesting!

Well, that's all for now. I'm finally in the home stretch in putting the finishing touches in the kitchen and bedroom and then I'll post pictures.

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