Wicker Trunk

Remember this trunk in the guest room of the Southern Living Idea house I shared last week?   Here it is in case you missed that post….

 

I was lucky to find that truck at Ikea when we went later that day and happily loaded it in my buggy!    At $59.00 I thought it was a great buy and although I didn’t have an exact spot in mind where I’d put it, I subscribe to the notion that you should buy what you love for your home, and you’ll find the perfect spot for it!    When I go back to Ikea I’m going to buy another one to use in one of the guest rooms (just as soon as I get it cleaned out – you could call “Hoarders” right now and I’d qualify!!)…..I want to use two twin beds with this truck in between.

Anyhooo, here’s where it landed at my house:

 

 

I love it!  (I don’t know why my floors look so red…they aren’t red at all).    I shopped my house and used things I already had so this new vignette didn’t cost me anything

 

Love the strap

 

You can’t really tell but this trunk is huge!   It will provide some good storage for me

 

My nephew sent me these antlers from some of his collection….I love free!

And here are more of those free antlers:

 

 

 

What a busy bee I’ve been…I made a skirt for under my kitchen sink (promise I’ll share) and I’ve repainted my porch bench a gorgeous neutral color.      I’ll be sharing both projects in the next week or so.

Next weekend we’re having my mama’s birthday at the lake….she’ll be 92!    A lady at her assisted living cottage turned 100 this past week!!!     Then I’m leaving on Sunday to spend a week at my BFF’s place at the beach!   

Toddles Poodles!

Me Likely Monograms!

Being a Southern girl, I love anything monogrammed.    I think it’s in our blood.    So now that I’m retired, I’m eager to finish up some projects that have been left halfway done.    I decided to tackle my bathroom first.     It’s probably more than 1/2 done but just needs a few finishing touches before I share.     Just like in the rest of the house, my bathroom and master bedroom is awash in creamy neutrals.    While out shopping yesterday I stopped in one of my favorite monogram shops and found a darling linen towel that I left to have monogrammed.     I picked it up today and love how it turned out!

I need to iron the ruffle but I couldn’t wait to hang it up to see how it looked

 

 

My shower curtain is a pretty linen curtain panel that works well as a shower curtain (I have a heavy duty liner behind it).     I’m adding a cream colored ruffle to the bottom to give it a custom look.   That’s the plan anyway!

I also want to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who left such supportive and encouraging comments on my retirement announcement.     I’m still pinching myself about this new change in my life.     Today I was able to take care of some personal business and drop by my daughter’s office with lunch for her.     I think I’m going to like this retirement thing!

Mini-Announcement–I’m Retired!

Last week I hinted about some drama going on in my life which was work-related.    Due to said drama, I am now officially retired!    (Unless I find something part-time I love doing).     At this time I can’t go into a lot of detail about the drama (and it’s juicy) but I promise I will at the appropriate time.    

Since this is my first week “off” I’m trying to figure out how to fill up the day.    So far I’ve been shopping and eating out!   But of course, that can’t last forever.    I have lots of plans for purging and cleaning my house and working on never-ending projects.      Also, I’ll be making a much anticipated trip to the Ikea store in Atlanta soon for my new slipcovered sofa….but I need to sell my old sofa first.    

My BFF has a place at the beach and I'm heading down there sometime this month to spend some time with her.    I also want to keep the twins once a week….since they turned 8 it seems like they have grown up overnight….it won’t be many more summers they won’t think hanging out with MiMi is fun!

I’ll be taking my mom for our annual visit back to the home place in Lowndes County.   

I’ve been planning our meals better and hubby loves having a home cooked meal every night as opposed to us rushing around and eating out.    

I plan on starting to walk around the neighborhood early in the morning before it gets too hot….and I want to join a ladies’ Bible study.

As you can see, I have lots of “plans”….I just hope I don’t get too bored not having someplace to go every morning.

Right now I’m off to change sheets and clean bathrooms…..not fun but necessary!

Enjoy the day!!!

Words of Wisdom

 

Can you relate to this?   When I found this on Pinterest and I just had to share….this is s-o-o-o true of my life this week.    Lots of drama…will share soon (does not involve anything between me and husband)

Around The House

Ever since we had our den repainted back in March (!) I’ve been trying to lighten things up with accessories…some new and some repurposed.    I’ve been pretty lucky finding things that are affordable lately so I thought I’d share a few of my favorite finds with ya’ll today.

Please keep in mind that I didn’t stage anything and it’s far from being finished.    I’ve still got to sell my old sofa and buy a new one from Ikea and I have a piece or two of furniture that will be repainted.

By and far this demijohn basket is my favorite recent purchase….found it this past weekend while out of town for $20.00!!    Yes, I know it’s missing the glass jug but ask me if I care!

The texture and size are so wonderful….I moved the big lantern from here (you can catch a glimpse of it in the background) and put it on this tray on my coffee table.

 

Isn’t is gorg?

 

I also recently ordered two gray and white striped pillows from here and found another pillow at Hobby Lobby that will be perfect on the slipcovered Ikea sofa (hope to make a trip to Atlanta for that soon)!

 

Just ignore the pillows behind the new ones….that sofa is out of here soon! Can’t you see my new pillows on a white slipcovered sofa? I can’t wait!!!

I also ordered this mirror from the same catalog…

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It’s hanging in my foyer and its beautiful!   The description says “brown” but it looks just like this photo…more of a distressed gray.   Of course, it means I’ll have to paint the chest under it….another unplanned project!

 

Here’s the pillow I got at Hobby Lobby…I used a 40% off coupon

 

For now I put the striped pillows in the chippy white basket I bought on a recent flea market trip for $4.00!    My sweet granddaughter Taylor was with me that day (while her mama was getting her hair cut) and spotted this old basket….I loved the size and color

 

This platter isn’t new but I was playing around on Pic Monkey and just wanted to throw it into the mix

 

I lucked up and found this sweet little driftwood sailboat at World Market….I love that store!

 

I’ve been wanting one of these monogrammed plates and finally picked up the last “J” at Hobby Lobby the other day

 

Here are a trio of oversized white platters I am going to hang on my wall in the kitchen….I’ve had the one in the middle for a while but the other two are new from this past weekend (need to get plate hangers so they can get hung up)

 

And last but not least are a trio of old tarnished silver trays….the one in the center I sprayed black a while back.    Notice the large bottom tray has a missing handle?    It fell off the wall the other day and the handle broke off…so I just turned it where it’s not as noticeable until hubby can fix it

I know this post is all over the place but I wanted to share some of my goodies with you today

I’m about to head out to spend part of the day with my sweet mama….we’ll probably take her out to eat BBQ later.

Happy Memorial Day!

Wish You Were Here

Husband and I decided to get away for a few days this Memorial Day weekend….here’s a few snapshots I took to give you an idea of our pretty surroundings…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll leaving you with this pic from our room….and I’m heading poolside right now!

 

 

Happy Memorial Day weekend!!!

How Great Thou Art

I love that song, don’t you?   The words confirm how great our God is so when I saw this prayer on my Facebook page today it really spoke to my heart….I have a lot of things going on right now (mostly at work) that I’m real unsettled about.     I’ve been whispering this prayer all afternoon.

 

I hope this prayer might speak to some of you as much as it did me.      

Happy Happy Birthday!

Eight years ago my daughter gave birth to the sweetest babies….boy and girl twins!    We have been (overly) involved with them from day one but we wouldn’t have it any other way.     Tonight we went to eat Mexican (their choice) and here they are wearing a sombrero and getting christened with whipped crème…..Jackson did not like it at all…..look at that expression!

 

 

Taylor was much more receptive….in fact I think she would have been insulted if they hadn’t sang Happy Birthday and made her wear the hat!

 

 

I just found this picture from a couple of years ago….I think they were in kindergarten….I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone

 

Happy birthday Taylor & Jackson, we love you to the moon and back!

Mimi & Pop

Going to L.A.; Mother’s Day and Happy Birthday

Whew!  What a title but I thought I’d lump everything together.   Yep, I’m going to L.A. this weekend to visit my BFF who I haven’t spent any time with in almost 2 years!    And L.A. is Lower Alabama (sorry to disappoint…wish I was going to the real L.A. too)!

My BFF’s name is Judy, just like mine, and we’ve been best buds for going on 30 years now.    She is my “other sister”.      Here we are at the beach a few years ago…

 

My BFF Judy in all white and me in black and white

 

and this is her cute as a button house….I’ll be sure to take lots of pics!

 

My real sister Betsy is celebrating her birthday this Friday…I found this photo of us taken when we were little….

that’s Bets on the left and me on the right (what’s up with my hair?)

I’ll be coming back home Sunday to spend time with my sweet mama….she’ll be 92 in June!    We took her out to eat last night because I won’t be here Friday night to attend her annual church Mother’s Day banquet.   She gets recognition every year for being the oldest mother with the most family members present!

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend and you get to spend time with your special mother!

 

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Chalkboard Terra Cotta Herb Pots

 Since I've been taking care of my mom at the nursing home rehab (hopefully we'll have good news next week) I've been lax in getting things done around the house.   So I decided to repost this little chalkboard project I did last summer.  

I'm hoping to get back to some projects soon...but right now my mom is my #1 priority.

I decided I’d make myself some little herb pots to sit on my kitchen window….it makes me look like I’ve gone all organic in the kitchen!   So I headed to Michael’s and got these three little pots and picked up three larger ones for another project later.    Then I got some herbs at Home Depot.    I wanted to get some that I might really use while cooking.    I’m going to add lavender or rosemary because they smell so good.   


I’m going to replace the little plant info stickers with plant markers….something like these….

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(Please forgive my unstyled plate rack and shelves….most of my dishes were in the dishwasher and I took these early in the morning before I left for work….thus an empty cabinet!)

HAPPY MAY 1ST!