Festive Weekend

Yesterday, Gadsden celebrated First Friday, a monthly event with antique cars, food vendors, the stores staying open later, live music, arts and crafts tables and thousands of people strolling down Broad Street!
This time we ate delicious barbecue, roasted corn, homemade ice cream and enjoyed watching the street dancers which are there every month! Sometimes people join them who are very entertaining to watch, and that was the case yesterday! Much to my husband's annoyance, I could watch them for hours! Friends were in town visiting their family which lives around the corner from us so it was extra fun for us!
Today, I have been getting ready for Easter dinner at our house with 18 people coming each bringing something to share. I am making family recipe home made meatballs, sauce, some pasta and some additional foods coming are greek salad, chicken gyros, ham, eggplant parmigiana, rolls, desserts, vegetables, deviled eggs, etc, etc!
Hope you all have a happy and blessed day tomorrow!!

Lovely Weather and Missing Christina, Suj and Kavi!!!

Spring has sprung around these here parts! The birds are chirping, flowers and trees are blooming and the bumblebees are out! We mowed and fixed up our back yard last weekend so that we could enjoy that area while the weather is so pleasant and to get ready for Easter guests. A tablecloth covers the stained plastic table on our deck along with cleaned up plastic chairs which I was looking forward to using,to sit on, to sip some coffee, listen to the birds sing etc. etc. Well there was a very militant , fat and fuzzy bumblebee hovering over the table who would have none of that! I swear it was looking directly at me with a mean bumblebee face that said, "this is my turf, lady, you better scram", and scram I did! Even inside the sliding glass doors looking out it was "glaring" and hovering right outside with a "you better not come back out here" stare! Really, I am not making that up, even my family saw it when I called them to look! My husband went out bravely, waving his arms about while us girls stood inside the doors yelling, "you're gonna get stung!", but he didn't, the bee kind of scattered back and forth. A little while later I thought I would brave the great outdoors so I could sit on the deck steps and listen to the birds sing just before sunset. I was actually too intimidated to sit at the table that the bumblebee had claimed and then I noticed that the bee was scaring off some wasps that were checking out the roof eaves for possible real estate. Curious I am, if there is some sort of hidden hive around that we will have to deal with! Any bee advice would be greatly appreciated!
Now my daughter Christina of Consider The Coffee, has been in India for a week with her husband Suj, and son Kavi and I miss them soooo! They have two more weeks to go and it has been very trying on my two year old grandson who is having trouble adjusting to a 9 1/2 hour time change! He has been very clingy to his parents, but his grandparents and aunties there want to enjoy their time with him, and the whole thing is stressing Christina out, so...if you are praying kind of people, please pray for them! The top picture was taken on the roof of the in-laws building!
Happy Easter!!! (just in case I don't have another chance to post before then!)

Party Over Here!

With Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and birthdays and barbecues on the horizon, what better way to decorate your house, porch or yard, than some fun and unique pennants? A made a few myself out of scrap book paper, twine or yarn, alphabet stencils, a hole punch and permanent marker. I may try making one for our back yard with cut up plastic tablecloths that can be purchased at the dollar store! Be inspired to buy one or make one yourself! The possibilities are endless!

what I got at the "My mother's treasures" yard sale

2 vintage tablecloths and vintage fabric

Vintage counted cross stitch "Fruit Salad" and 5 knitting needles

a display I could use to show my wares at a craft fair and 7 embroidery hoops...

For a grand total of......$8.00!!! Not too shabby!

what to do...what to do...

OK, so...My daughter Christina will be in India until almost three weeks from now, and although it is the usual time frame between visits, it feels much longer. Knowing that she is on the other side of the world with her wonderful husband and delightful 2 year old son, makes it seem like an eternity. I usually call her everyday and I always say hi to my little Kavi and that is just not possible for these weeks ahead. So.. I must patiently wait for an occasional e-mail updating us on the visit with family there. Suj's family only gets to see Kavi once a year, and he has changed so much, I am sure they are partying down with him in Mumbai!
I figured that if I try to distract myself with projects, perhaps the time will go faster, so I rearranged some shelves, cleaned some corners, mopped a floor, planted some flowers...but...that was all just on the day they left on the plane, so...almost three weeks left!
I have been contemplating what to do with my second etsy shop, "The Lilly Of The Valley" which is at bare bones now with a few hand stamped gift tags. Angela from
Pickles on Pizza recently opened a vintage etsy shop and is doing real good and loving it and she had suggested I might try selling vintage too. I also love to thrift and garage sail and I already have several frames and pictures that I have no room for on my own house walls, so maybe...
I also crocheted some pillows and throws for my own house and could possibly make some to sell...hmmmm
well, that is what is on my mind today, after showering, I am going to a yard sale that is described as "All of my Mother's Treasures" which advertises all sorts of crafts supplies. Should be interesting to see what I can come up with! Have a great day today!

Springy Scarves!

These scarves are light and airy and in the most cheerful spring hues!

A Salvaged Road Trip

So....today me, my husband Ray, daughter Jenny and friend Rachel went on an almost 2 hour road trip to Huntsville to eat lunch and browze through a fancy outside mall. Well, all week long I have felt rumbly stomach things and had some "issues", but yesterday I thought I was doing better. You see my husband had an awful stomach virus last week, really bad and I thought I had just gotten a milder version of it. Well, just as we arrived at our destination and went in to a restaurant I started to feel queezy and like something was rumbling around inside, so after eating , the girls walked quickly through an Antropologie store and then we headed towards home! I felt really bad, but the mall didn't seem all that promising to us anyway!
The GPS led us home a different way and when about 8 miles from our home on a backroad we passed a yard that shot waves of adrenaline through my soul resulting in a turn around and look see! It was like a scene from "American Pickers" which I have recently become addicted to. Piles and piles of junk for sale! An old fashioned enamel covered stove originally caught our eyes along with several metal gliders, chairs etc.,etc. After being greeted by a fine gentleman named Clint we began to peruse and ask the prices. My husband found some old Coca Cola crates for ten dollars each but he didn't want to spend that so Clint pointed out some Pepsi crates for only five each and Ray snatched up 5 of them. He likes to use them for storing paint bottles for his auto exterior paint business.
After asking about several different things, my heart became set on an old Singer sewing machine base with an enamel table top for forty dollars! I love it because it reminds of two things about my Grandpa: he used to be a tailor and had an old, not electric, Singer with the foot pedal, and he also had a few enamel topped tables at his farm. So good feelings from this purchase! Just like in "American Pickers" there was an old rusted car in the yard, a 1956 Packard that had been a hearse that was cut down to be an ambulance for the army. And....of course....an out building filled with tons of "stuff", a word that Clint jokingly said should not be used for his precious inventory! Of course I accidentally said it about three times, and he reminded me of it each time by saying, " now don't go calling my things, stuff!" A really nice gent he was and only 8 miles from my home! We will be stopping by there again!
Incidentally, I didn't feel rumbly the entire time there but upon leaving the rumbles returned!