NEW BLOG BACKGROUND

Check out my new blog background and header.  Isn’t it awesome?  Tammy from A Primitive Place ~ Tammy made it.  She has several backgrounds available, if you are interested.  Being new to blogging, and also being computer challenged, I was having trouble getting this beautiful background to work on my blog.  I emailed Tammy and she worked with me until it fit my blog – she also created the header for me, since I haven’t done any Christmas decorating yet and did not have a photo that looked good with her beautiful background.  Tammy, I can’t thank you enough for the time and talent you put into making my blog look great.

Now I need to get busy and get my decorating done so I can post some pictures.  Actually, I have been getting ready.  Earlier in the week I packed away all of the Fall decorations.  Wednesday was spent cooking and getting ready for Thanksgiving.  On Thursday we enjoyed a wonderful day at my parents home – all of our children and grandchildren were able to join us – and nothing makes this Mama’s heart happier than having all of her family together.  Today I cleaned house, bought and planted some poinsettias, and helped DH set up the big Nativity scene in the front yard – DH helped plant the poinsettias, made a primitive stable for our Nativity scene and one for our neighbor’s, and mowed the lawn.  Tomorrow is inside day – DH will set up the trees and check the lights for me while I am unpacking decorations; then I will be decorating the trees and working on the displays.  I feel very blessed to have a husband who helps me.


I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration and are enjoying your weekend.

With a Grateful Heart,
Sue

ANTIQUING AT RENNIGERS

My favorite place to go antiquing is Rennigers Antique Market, located on over 117 acres north of Mt. Dora, Florida.  In November, January, and February they hold an Antique Extravaganza that brings in more than 1000 dealers.  I have been looking forward to this weekend for months.  

I usually have a list of things I am looking for, but today I didn’t.  I told my husband – let’s just take our time and browse and see what we find.  Well, we did find a few goodies – a crockery jar and pitcher, a small pewter pitcher, a unique round muffin pan, 3 rolling pins, 2 wooden bowls, some beeswax dipped pears, and an awesome wooden chocolate box. 

 

Close up of chocolate box.  The chocolate box is in great condition and has the logo “Daggert’s Chocolates” imprinted on the front.  



Close up of other goodies.  The lady I bought the pears from said they were made from cinnamon dough and then dipped in beeswax – I think they will look great displayed in a wooden bowl.



GRATITUDE
I am so grateful for my husband – he is truly my best friend.  He is always willing to spend a day helping me look for treasures  - and he even carries them for me.

I hope you all are having a blessed weekend.

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue

RECEIVED MY WINNINGS

I was blessed to win the drawing for Tuesday’s Display Chain #5 from Misi of 1890 Gable House Musings.  I received my package in the mail this week.  It was a tombstone peg rack and a sweet silhouette to hang from it.  I have ordered a couple more silhouettes from Misi – don’t know if I will display them on the peg rack or not – depends on how it looks.
 
I hung it in our Bedroom on a wall that has been empty and waiting for just the right thing.  I will add to it when I find the perfect item for this space.



Thank you, Misi!  I love it.  (The ponytail girl looks a lot like me when I was a young girl.)

GRATITUDE
I am blessed to have met so many wonderful friends through blogland.  I am truly grateful for each one of you.

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue

TUESDAY DISPLAY CHAIN–“YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE”

This week’s display theme – submitted by Amy of Cottage Prims – is “You Light Up My Life.”  With winter setting in and the night coming earlier, we were asked to share early lighting, candles, lanterns or even new light displays.

The only early lighting I have is my collection of oil lamps.  Several of these were given to me by special people in my life.  One belonged to my grandmother, one came from a great aunt, my mother gave me a couple for birthday gifts, my DH bought some for me “just because”, and one belonged to a dear friend who lost her battle with cancer.

This is my oil lamp display.  It sits on top of a cupboard in our Dining Room.  



This is the lamp that belonged to my grandmother.  She used this for light when the electricity went out.  If you look closely you can see her frugal solution for replacing the used wick -  a piece of old fabric.



One of my most cherished lamps is the one that belonged to may dear friend who lost her battle with cancer – it was a gift from her daughter.  Also in this picture is the Bible that my DH inherited from his grandmother, a pair of glasses that belonged to my great aunt, and a cup & saucer given to me by my sister.



I’ve enjoyed sharing my lamps with you and thinking about the special people who gave them to me.  I hope you have enjoyed looking this week.  Be sure to visit Misi at 1890 Gable House Musings and check out her display, along with those of the others that are participating.

GRATITUDE
We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.  ~Thornton Wilder

As each day comes to us refreshed and anew, so does my gratitude renew itself daily.  The breaking of the sun over the horizon is my grateful heart dawning upon a blessed world.  ~Terri Guillemets

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue

FANCY FLEA, EYECANDY IN THE MAIL, AND A LITTLE GRATITUDE

Twice a year a group in our town hosts The Fancy Flea - a vintage flea market – held on a closed street downtown.  The Fall event was Saturday and I decided to step out of my comfort zone and set up a booth – I love to buy but have never tried selling at one of these events.  

Several years ago (when we only had two granddaughters) I bought enough Raggedy Ann & Andy paraphernalia to decorate both of their bedrooms and a guestroom at our home – I went a little overboard!  Well, they have out grown Ann & Andy, and we have downsized, and it is time for someone else to enjoy these goodies.  So I decided I would give selling at the Fancy Flea a try.  I did sell some, but I still have a lot left.  Everyone keeps telling me I need to sell on ebay – maybe one day I will give that a try.

Here is a photo of my Raggedy Ann & Andy display.  I know – obsessive!



I also brought along some of the other things I have collected over the years and no longer want to use in our home.  Below is a photo of the other side of my booth.



And of course I couldn’t attend an event like this without buying.  Below is a photo of the goodies I found – a firkin, an inkwell with feather, an old book, a neat old basket, and a rolling pin with black handles.  All in all it was a fun day.



LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAILTHIS WEEK! 
I have read on other blogs and forums about the American Country series of books from Time Life - many of you use these for inspiration in your decorating.  Well, I thought I would see if I could find some.  I tried Amazon and did find many for sale and some at good prices, but before I ordered any I thought I would try ebay.  I just happened to find a lot of ten books for sale with a little over an hour left on the bidding time and I had the time to sit and watch and bid and slip in the winning bid at the last minute.  I was so excited – I got all ten books for just under $30, including shipping.  Now of course I am on the look out for the other ten to complete the set.  I love the challenge of completing a collection and the hunt is a great part of the fun.

These are the ones I received and I sure am enjoying all of the eyecandy and great ideas.



GRATITUDE
I am so grateful for my sweet husband who helped me in every way with the Fancy Flea – from loading and unloading the vehicle, packing and unpacking, getting up at 5:00 am to arrive and be set up by the designated time, hanging out with me all day and helping with sales.  He truly is the best husband and the love of my life.  I am so blessed.

I hope you all have had a blessed weekend.

With a Grateful Heart,
Sue

TUESDAY DISPLAY CHAIN–HOLIDAY CRAFTING

The topic for this week’s Tuesday Display Chain is ~*Holiday Crafting*~.  Misi asked us to show our crafting projects completed from previous seasons or in the works for this season.

I haven’t gotten my Christmas decorations out of storage yet, so I do not have any past projects to share.  And I have only just begun working on this year’s craft ideas.  I had planned to make a homespun rag-tied garland for a gift and had already gotten the supplies together and prepared the rag strips for tying when Misi posted this week’s topic.  This was the push I needed to get started on my project.  Then I saw the idea in A Primitive Place magazine (page 109) for a Rag-Tied Twinkle Light Garland and  I decided I needed to make one of these for myself – so I added another project to my list.

These are the rag strips ready to be tied.



This is the garland I am working on for a gift.  (I plan to add something else to this, but I can’t give the idea away yet – in case my friend reads this post.)



Here is the beginning of my Rag-Tied Light Garland.  I had started tying strips on a strand of  twinkle lights, but today I found mini silicone lights and knew this was what I wanted for my garland.  I tied a few strips this afternoon so I could show how it is going to look.  I plan to use this on my grapevine tree and love how it is turning out. 
 


If you’d like to make a rag-tied garland check out A Primitive Place Magazine for instructions. 


Be sure to visit Misi at 1890 Gable House Musings to see what she and the other participants are working on.  I am grateful to Misi for this week’s topic – it challenged me to begin working on my projects.

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue

A COUPLE OF COMPLETED PROJECTS AND SOME GRATITUDE

With the help of my DH I finished a couple of projects to complete a wall display in our Living Room.  I had started with a framed stitchery of The Lord’s Prayer and added candle sconces found at Goodwill.  But this is a large wall and it still needed a little something.  My DH made a peg board for me and I painted, distressed and stained it.  I hung this to the left of the stitchery with a basket and a battery candle.  I also painted and stained a small shelf that I found a couple of weeks ago at the Antiques Fair.  I displayed the pewter pieces that I found at the Fair on the shelf and hung it to the right of the stitchery.

Here is the shelf before painting.



This is the completed wall display.



I also displayed the crockery pieces that I found at the Antiques Fair.  I added them to the shelf by our TV cabinet – the three pieces on the top shelf, the crock on the left of the bottom shelf and the jar on the left of the second shelf.  I am liking the way this display is coming together.

    

This is how it looked before adding the new found crockery pieces.



And one more thing.  I love the shape of this bowl I found at the Antiques Fair.



I displayed it on the Kitchen counter with lots of dried potpourri.



GRATITUDE
Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don't unravel.  ~Author Unknown

Today I took my Mom to the doctor because she has been having pain in her shoulder, neck and up the back of her head. I am so grateful that the diagnosis was muscle spasms and not something more serious.  With medication she should be feeling better soon.

I hope you are all having a blessed week.

With a grateful heart,
Sue

TUESDAY DISPLAY CHAIN - NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON’T

For eight years I have looked at the thermostat on our Living Room wall and wished it was invisible.  To me it was the focal point when you came in the front door.  It always stood out in any wall grouping I tried.  I asked my sweet husband if we could hang something over it – some type of box or a shelf with something hanging from it and he was never agreeable to any of my suggestions.  This was really bugging me because he usually will figure out a way to let me have my way.  Well, I finally came up with the idea to lean a ladder against the wall with a coverlet hanging on it and I guess he thought this was an okay idea because a few months ago he found a ladder and bought it for me.  It is an eight foot section of an old grove ladder and I love it – but I love him more for doing this for me.
Here is the way it looked before.



And here is the way it looks now.  I think it is just the perfect solution.



I would like to find some more coverlets to layer with this one, but at least I don’t have to look at the thermostat any more.  Thank you, honey, for making my idea a reality.

This week Robyn of Primlish is hosting the Tuesday Display Chain for Misi.  Robyn chose the theme "Peek-A-Boo" - ways you hide your things or unique ways that you store things.  Be sure to visit Primlish  and check out Robyn’s display, along with the others who are joining in on this week’s Display Chain.  

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue

NOVEMBER 1ST BEGINS A MONTH TO BE GRATEFUL

As October was coming to an end and I began to think ahead to November, the idea to be intentional about gratitude kept coming to my mind.  We always take the time on Thanksgiving Day to express what we are thankful for, but I felt I needed to do more.  So I plan for the month of November to keep a Gratitude Journal – not my original idea, I had heard of this before.  I plan to look for ways through out the day to be grateful and write them in my journal at the end of the day.  Some days I will share my thoughts in this blog and other days I probably will not.

Today, and everyday, I am grateful first for the love of my Heavenly Father who sacrificed His only Son for my salvation.

I am grateful to be married to my best friend.  My husband, Adolph, is the love of my life and the very best husband, Dad, and Papa.  I love you sweetheart.

I am grateful for my family – our daughters and son, their spouses and our grandchildren.  They are all such a delight.

I am grateful that I still have my parents with me and cherish the time I am able to spend with them.

I am grateful for friendship.  Friends that have shared in my life for years and new friends that I have met since I discovered blogland – you are all dear to me.

I hope you will take the time this month to reflect on what you are grateful for.  And I would love for you to share your thoughts with me.

With A Grateful Heart,
Sue