Rainy day

When I walked outside this morning the sky was full of rolling gray clouds and it was raining.



I try never to complain about days like this because our summer was so dry. Our grass was so dry it crunched under your feet when you walked on it. We still have patches that look like this:



but lately God is blessing us with much needed rain. It has been very warm here this week so the birds have been fluttering around and singing and our grass is turning green again!!



The mountain in front of my house looks beautiful to me even in the foggy rain.



It never ceases to amaze me when I walk out on my front porch and look up at it. What is even more amazing is that I don't see all those electric wires either until I take a picture, then there they are!! I seem to just block them out and look beyond. They are a necessary eye sore so please try to look beyond and see what I see! Some people have to travel for miles to see this view that I can look at any time and I'm very thankful.

I'm just staying in today where it's nice and cozy and do a few much needed chores around here. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

More favorites

I wanted to share with you more of my favorite things. But first, please take a minute and go here to see why I had such a restless night!! I begged and pleaded with her not to do it as you will see if you read my comments to her on the last couple of posts, but she stubbornly persisted. To each his own, I guess. Christie, this has been great fun and laughs!! :)) (Seriously, folks, I really do fear for her sanity!!!)

Anyway, I want to share my button collection with you. I've always loved buttons as far back as I can remember. I use to play in my mother's box of buttons, fascinated by the different colors all together and the feel of them as I sifted them through my fingers. My collection came about, not over many years time but just a few months. I started with my own jar that I intended to add special buttons to as I found them. My DH got in on the game and suddenly everywhere he went he would come home proudly carrying another jar, or box or even garbage bags full. I kid you not. I have bags of them that are still on their original cards. If I had them all displayed, my little "button corner" would become a "button room"!! I have been teased unmercifully about them...like..."Hope, do you think you have enough buttons there?", or "Hope, I'm missing a button on my shirt. Do you have any idea where I could find one?"...things like that. I just turn a deaf ear because I really do love them all:





Be honest now, wouldn't you just love to run your fingers through these:

feed sacks and memories

Okay, so this morning I was visiting over at Lib's as I do just about every morning while I have my coffee. The thing is, she always get me to thinking which I don't do well in the mornings!! :)
Her post today was all about her stash of material for crafting and what she was seeing when she looked at it. She was seeing future crafts such as dolls, snowmen, etc. I, in my morning stupor, and just having taken a few sips of my coffee, was literally looking beyond the stack of fabric in her picture and trying to find those dolls and stuff that she was seeing! He! He! So funny when I finally woke up and realized!! Anyway, I feel so connected to Lib in so many ways. She brings things to my mind that I haven't thought about in years! Today it was feedsack material and old quilts.
A few months ago Dave and I were doing our usual junkin' at a nearby flea market. I always visit one lady's booth just because her things always catch my eye. This particular day my eyes fell on a small stack of material laying on a table. I knew immediately that it was feed sacks which I was very familar with. I had to have them, not because I had plans to use them but just to have and look at and feel.
When I was young I always considered our family to be poor, at least by everybody else's standards in our little town. One of the reasons I felt this way was because I never had store bought clothes but clothes that my mother sewed for me and I so longed for and dreamed of a dress straight out of the Montgomery Wards catalogue. Back then our feed for our hogs (Daddy called it "chop") came in pretty sacks, not like this one...



but like these:



Being the youngest of the family and having 3 older sisters, I always got the hand-me-downs, which were "made over" for me because I was always tiny! Ha! Those days are over now!! I do remember one time that I got the pretty new feed sacks all for my own outfits. I didn't realize then how talented my mother was. She even made her own patterns that she used! She made two outfits for me, one with a red skirt and a white shirt with tiny red flowers on it and another was a green skirt and a shirt with yellow and green flowers. The skirts were made with circle tails which would flair out when I twirled and oh did I love to twirl!! After I wore these outfits to school a couple of my classmates (the ones I considered to be rich) showed up at our door begging my mother to make them outfits like mine! I couldn't believe it!! They could have store bought dresses and they actually wanted ones like MINE! They had even talked their parents into buying the sacks of feed, giving the chop to my Daddy for his hogs so it wouldn't go to waste, then having the sacks for their much coveted outfits!! I never looked at my clothes in the same way again!!
When I had outgrown my clothes they were then recycled again into quilt pieces. My mother was a very frugal woman and wasted nothing! Here is one of my favorites, probably because I helped to make it when I was about 8 years old:



There is a story behind this quilt which I will save for another time. I've rattled way too much today. Lib, thanks for the memories!!!

Immanuel (The Kings' King)

Last night I went to the Christmas Cantata at my daughter Jenny's church. It was just beautiful and I wanted to share a little clip of them singing Immanuel (The Kings' King). Jenny is a deaf interpreter and is seen here sitting on the left of the stage signing the song as they sing. I am very proud of her and the work she is doing. She always has such a serene look on her face when she's signing. Her friend, Joy, also an interpreter, is on the right of the stage signing some of the songs. I could never get in a position to get a good picture of her signing but I did get a picture of the two of them before the service started:

They seem to have shadows around their heads, I'm thinking maybe halos?? and not my poor photography. Besides, the lighting was set up for the program and not my photos!! (Joy on left, Jenny right) These girls also are in a deaf ministry group called "Hands of Vision". It is really something to see when they are singing praises to the Lord with their hands. Very moving.

Some of the youth group did a little skit with the manger scene to go along with the singing program. My handsome grandson, Collin, was one of the shepherds. He is the one on the left. One of the shepherds seems to be a little camera shy!! :)

Ain't he just the cutest little shepherd?? You can't see them here but this boy has some killer dimples!!

I hope you enjoy watching this. This is my first time putting a video on my blog so let's hope it works! Keep in mind that this is just a little country church but I think they have an exceptional choir and many great voices!

Happy Birthday, Claire

Ten years ago I received a wonderful early Christmas present named Claire and she has brought much joy to my heart and life. If I could describe my grandaughter, Claire, in one word it would be VIBRANT!

I've already told you here what a good little Mommy she is to Pamela but there is so much more to tell.

This picture speaks volumes about Claire. She can be very feminine and stylish but at the same time she can climb trees with the best of the boys: (Click on picture to enlarge)





She is very artistic and sometimes looks as though she is lost in her own thoughts:





She likes to dance on mountaintops...





and sometimes in the rain. This time it was at Granny's suggestion because we were having a drought and after a little shower I told her she should do a rain dance so we would get more rain that we so desperately needed. I also love her because she plays my silly games! :)





Then at other times she can be very mischievious, like when she's trying to drown her brother in the pool :))





She enjoys clowning around with friends:





She has the cutest little feet:





She loves fudgcicles!







And just trust me when I tell you that she was the most beautiful Magical Winter Wind you would ever want to see:







HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL. GRANNY LOVES YOU DEARLY!!

A few more good men..snowmen that is

I have a few more snowmen to show you today. This little fellow:

A primitive stocking that Dave found recently while junkin'

I have several snowman throws some of which you can see on my house pics. These are just a couple of my many, many snowman throw pillows:

Dave's personal favorite is these little snowbells that adorn our tree every year for many years now:

Last but certainly not least, this treasure was made for me years ago by my niece, Kaycie. She wanted to make me something so she just used what she had available. She also knew I loved snowmen! The cute part is that she wanted to write the words in red but didn't have red paint. The next best thing was nail polish!! Cute way to improvise, huh?

I know, I know, enough with the snowmen until next year! Unless of course I find another one this year that just has to come home with me......

Snowmen, snowmen everywhere!

I was visiting my friend Lib's house today and saw the great goodies she received in Peggy's stocking swap. We talked about how we love snowmen. I started looking around my house and realized how many I've accumulated through the years. I want to share some of them with you, starting with my front porch:


My hobo snowman wreath on the front door:


One of my mantles..the trio of snowmen was handmade for me by my niece, Patsy, which makes it extra special to me.


A favorite of mine:


My latest addition:


Just a few of them for now. To be continued tomorrow......

Pamela

I would like to introduce you to my Great Granddaughter, Pamela (wink, wink)
Pamela has been in the family for about 7 years now but in a recent conversation with Uncle Dave, Claire (granddaughter) said that Pamela is actually 5 months old because she wants to keep her little. There have been times when I've felt the same way about my babies and grandbabies.
Recently Claire, Jenny (my daughter), and I went to an open house event of all the little antique stores in town. At one store Claire saw a double-decker baby bed that she liked. It was too pricey for Granny :) but at the last store we visited she discovered a vintage cradle in excellent condition except the bottom was missing. I knew it could be easily repaired and it was a bargain so we bought it.
Uncle Dave came to the rescue and replaced its dowels and added the new bottom. We will be adding some bedding and cute little handmade quilt that I have. Ta dah:

But that's not all...our neighbor, Wayne, saw the cradle and remembered that he had the perfect thing to go along with it. He came back carrying this highchair in all its precious vintage pinkness:

I hope Pamela will love vintage things as much as I do. Shhhh...lets keep it secret until Christmas Eve. I'm not sure if she reads my blog!! :)

update:

We gave Pamela her new bed and high chair and she just loved it!!



See, she is so comfortable in this bed: