For the Birds...

I brought out a few 

spring decorations

the other day..

and realized that I am a nut-

a bird nut,

that is.

I had no idea what a 

birdie gatherer

I had become.

I hope you enjoy

seeing them

as much as I am enjoying

having them all around.

This one was from a good friend...

I picked it up at a little tea shop in town

and then talked myself out of it

and layed it down.

She saw me do it 

and went back and bought it

and gave it to me for my birthday.

Thanks Geri!~

I think this one is from my favorite decorator...
Babs!
who also is my favorite
sister-in-law
Thanks Babs!

These darling little plates
came from my favorite
daughter-in-love
for Christmas!

Thanks Lisa!

I think I snagged this cutie
at the local flea market.

Thanks Mona~!

This one came from a local shop
The Home Place
a lovely place to lose yourself
if just to find a pretty little bird.

The little mercury glass birdie
came all the way from
St.Charles Mo

have to go back there!

I have no idea
where the white ceramic one
hiding up there in the urn
 came from,
but she has a mate around here somewhere!

I think maybe this nest came from
Sandstone Gardens
in Joplin Mo...

oh so much loveliness there!

The bucket came from

Hope Depot.
Yep.

Pier One.
5 dolla.

There's the missus,
over in yonder cage.
("Help, I'm stuck in here!")

I'm thinking about adding some fluff
to her nest..
she looks cold!

Here's a scary looking one..

from Nell Hill's in Atchison KS.

Thanks Babs for taking me with you
I LOVE THAT PLACE!!!!

Here are two little cuties 

from 

The Dollar Tree

Another sweetie from

Lisa...

I love her fat self.

Not you Lisa,

little birdie fatness!

These two are from the Nell Hill line.

they caught my eye
at Sandstone Gardens

and I like tiny things.

This is also from Nell Hill-
also from Sandstone Gardens...

can you tell I had fun there?

I have some other bird plates
still in storage
but I think I have enough gathered about
don't you?





from my nest to yours...

have a great day!

Finally!

This morning I woke with this on my brain.

These lovely pressed leaves.

Do you remember this fabric, Kellie?

I can still hear you saying that

it would make a pretty shower curtain.

I never used it

on the last house,

but I always loved it,

especially

since it was $1.00 per yard

at the designer fabric shop.

Woop woop!

As soon as I got up,

I rushed out to the garage

and rummaged through the boxes

until I found it.

It has all the luscious greens

that have been rumbling around

in my brain 

for months.

Greens, teals, rusts, golds and purples.

I have always loved this fabric...

it has a lovely soft feel to it.

I think it will have a home in the guest bath

maybe a shower curtain?????

Then I remembered

this one...

I loved this toile.

It was the wrong color 

and sadly, I didn't use it.

I even tried tea-dying it

to get it to the color I wanted.

That failed.

I'm not sure now

what color I was going for...

but when I lifted it out of the reject box this morning,

I saw...

that it is the perfect color t0

use in this room...

I also remembered the soft blues and yellows of this quilt
and wondered how a king quilt would
look on this queen bed....


when I looked in the remnant box
and found these scraps from the 
Dream House #1 bonus room....


well, let's just say


I did a little Happy Dance.


That quilt looks lovely on the queen bed
and I am thrilled to be able to use it again
with all my sweet 
soft yellow and blue and cream
pretty things
in the second guest room.


So perfect 
with the old oak furniture 
that I painted creamy last year.

That big gust of wind

you hear is me

sighing...

a big sigh of

design relief.

Every time  hubs

would come home 

from a long day at the ranch,

all grubby, dirty and tired,

I would be seen sitting at my desk

eyes glazed over,

my desk covered with

tattered paint chips and

stacks of magazines.

Lots of random ideas

floating around the room,

but no cohesive plan.

Sheets of blank paper stuck up on the wall,

waiting for the inspiration 

to come.

Waiting for the colors

to start working together.

One day,

my smart, beautiful, talented, creative

artistic, sweet, funny

daughter

named Kimberly

said something like this:

How did you do this last time?

Didn't you just start with fabrics?

Why don't you  do that again?

Wise Kimberly.

Hobby Lobby.

Whammo.

Bammo.

Why didn't I do this sooner????

I found three fabrics

that left me swooning and 

best of all, 

they were on sale...

When I got home,

I gathered up all my paint swatches

and spread out all the fabrics

(I bought only one yard of each, just in case)

and

it all started falling together.

I am about to hyperventilate
just telling you about it.


Imagine my glee
when I spotted this.

It is a lamp.
It is huge
It was a splurge.
I was nervous buying it,


but I knew in my heart
that it was lamp love.


It made me nervous to think about 
showing it to Hubs...
How will I explain


Lamp Love?






I shouldn't have worried.


When I unveiled The Lamp
his words were...




" I really like it!"




Be still my heart! 


The love of my life
likes the 
Lamp I love!


Time to dance the


happy dance!


Hubs likes to imitate me doing this dance
He hasn't seen me this happy in months!


I love it when a plan comes together....

I am especially happy to figure out how to 
integrate some of the pretty things
from the first house
into this one.
I want to be thrifty and repurpose 
all those niceties
that made Dream House so special to me.


Being able to blend the old and the new
has been the big stumbling block in my head
and I am so relieved
to be able to move forward

Finally.


I'm going back to Hobby Lobby today
to fill in some of the gaps,


I hope something that you have been
laboring over
comes together today
and you can dance 
that 


Happy Dance


too!


ps. thanks, Kimberly...
I love you!

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

I'll bet you've been wondering

what's going on out at the house...

This is going on.

Lots of messy insulation.

This is a milestone, folks.

See this stuff?
It's messy.
It gets everywhere.

More messy messy.

These guys will be back tomorrow.
and then...
somebody will sweep
up the mess they left.

I wonder who Jim will get to do that job.

I mean really.
Who would want that job?
It's so messy.
What?
You want me?

What about my desk?
It's a mess...

What about all that work stuff on my desk?

What about that mess in the dining room?

What about my hair?

Now there's a mess.

Please.
Isn't there someone else?


Please...don't make me go...






What about March Madness?????


Somebody?
Anybody?

to be continued.....

Spring Break

Spring Break

What does spring break mean to you?

It has meant many different things to us

over the years.

This year spring break started 

peacefully enough.

Then things became 

INTENSE.

INTENSE CRAFTING.

INTENSE TEA PARTYING

INTENSE PIANO PLAYING

INTENSE HAND WASHING

INTENSE SNACKING

INTENSE READING

INTENSE LOVE

I love spring break, don't you?