Junk Asylum

Yes…they make a place for us “junkies”!!!

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend away as a family. A night of lounging poolside at a hotel, a visit with old friends at church this morning, a trip to the pumpkin patch in the afternoon, and then we wrapped it all up with a short stop at a road side treasure trove!

It’s been a long time since I came home with any sort of antique, chipped wood, paint-falling-off treasure. It seems with all of our remodeling and renovations that it just hasn’t “fit” into our schedule, our budget, or for that matter our home.

Until…I spotted it…a sweet white table that in the past I would have picked up and loaded in the car before anyone could dare snatch it up before me. But not now….now all things must have purpose, be L-o-v-ed, and have an anticipated home before calling it MINE!

 
While trying to ignore my attraction to the table I saw this on the floor. It reminded me of those new “As seen on TV” make your own tortilla bowls….anybody tried those by the way??? It had a tag that said “bird bath,” but I thought who could keep such beauty outdoors?! (Perhaps Asylum is not just a play on words…)

Well I knew that I owed it to the table to at least remove the predictable Pyrex bowls from it’s surface and try this combination…

I fell in L-o-ve…

After consulting with my cowboy and deciding I could get rid of a small bookshelf near the entry that I do NOT L-o-ve…it was paid for and loaded in a hurry! He looked pretty handsome carrying on out the door too I must say.

Do you L-o-ve it too?

Linking to:

Cowgirl Up Tuesdays
 Nifty Thrifty Treasures
Overflowing with Creativity
100 projects under $100
Tabletop Tuesday

The Family Reunion

I must share a condensed version of this short article from the book SWAG…

“Not even an act of God can stop the family reunion. If you have a family, they will come. This is because every family has at least one perky person who is in chare of reunion plans. The perky planner has enough energy to make the activity director on a cruise ship look dull. This is a woman who owns a badminton set and carries nametags in her glove compartment… (Love you Aunt Kathy)

…it is your familial obligation to pack up your immediate family and you’re obligated to sit outside…while you shout into half-deaf ears to identify your particular branch on the family tree. There will be a forced feeding about noon. Your great-aunt will back you into a corner to try a spoonful of her famous potato salad, which she proudly maintains has been loaded into her care and ready for the family reunion for three days.In a futile attempt to identify something safe to eat, you will whisper furtively to the one cousin whose company you still enjoy as an adult “Who made this?”

You will be hugged until you gag. You will be asked embarrassing questions…you will speculate about your genetic connection to this um- attractive group of people, and you will indulge in a few minutes of secret fantasy that you are really a long-lost member of an obscure royal family who was somehow dropped into the heart of America.

Then like every year, there will be one moment when you are actually glad you came. You hold a frail, aging hand for perhaps the last time while you recall an almost forgotten fragment of memory from your childhood, or you will look out and see your kids playing with cousins they see once a year as if they are long-lost brothers….and you will remember what part of you came from this family.

Hands

When I think of my grandmother’s hands I can still feel the texture of wrinkles and see the maze of lines that held my attention in awe that a hand could look so different than my smooth hand of a babe. I remember noticing the web of lines start to appear on the hand of my mother and thinking how fortunate I was that mine didn’t look like that. With long graceful fingers I even considered a career in hand modeling.

I glanced down recently to see the marks of age on my own hands. As I think of all the tasks I use these mothering hands for each day I see the beauty in aging hands. I only wish I had asked more often to hear the tales my grandmother could have told about how she used those hands for toil, provision, discipline, and love for her family of 7 children. I know how important it felt to hold those frail hands when she was too frail to tell the tales. I think I’ll try more often to let my own busy hands rest long enough to hold the hand of my mother. When my kids grab at my hand for something I’ll pause and listen to the rhythm of life that leaves an imprint of its music stamped right their on our hands.

New doors!

Remember our Dream Date to the auction?! Well we picked up a set of French doors while we were there…

I’ve been waiting impatiently to finish many other projects before putting them in our dining room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our dining room connects to our back yard. Because our home is part of our apartment building, we walk all the way around our building to get to our back yard…but – No More!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wonderful sister and bro-in-law came down to make it a 24 hour project…thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

The conference.

The destruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The work crew.

I considered briefly installing a garage door.

All framed up and apparently my cowboy’s pretty excited about that.

Even I’m getting excited now.

Look at my floor!! (I mean…thanks guys for the hard work.)

The jury’s still out on what color to paint the doors. Have to love it inside and out.

We even did the “As seen on TV” magnetic screen. L-O-ve it!!!

Now I need to hang wall accents, put up trim and make my drop cloth drapes that I saw here.

But for now….

I’m L-O-v-ing it!!!

Welcoming Baby…

You don’t have to know me for long to know that I L-O-ve any reason to throw a good party. I especially love themed parties or seasonal parties or elegant parties or casual parties or well any occasion that calls for making things look pretty, serving delicious delights, and then standing in the corner and watching everyone celebrate!

I recently had the chance to not throw a shower! My cousin’s sweet daughter (she’s 15) threw a shower for another of our cousin’s who is soon to enjoy the blessings of parenting while still facing the challenges of adolescence. I’m blessed to share with you the joyous celebration! Once this child would have been brought in to the world in secret shame. While it certainly was devastating news and the sweet Christian young lady was certainly overwhelmed by feelings of such – we can embrace her and our soon-to-be new family member in L-O-ve! And embrace we did --- keep in mind this beautiful shower (which also had great games) was thrown by - well to us – a baby…

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”

“Before you were born, I set you apart.”

“It is He who made us, and we are His.”

“Thy words are sweeter than honey to my lips”

“His children shall have a place of refuge”

         “He who made you, who formed you in the womb and who will help you;”

“Do not be afraid…I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring”

“For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to mea re your thoughts O God!”

Summer days

As temperatures drop and days get so busy, I miss this…

 

We’ve been unbelievably busy, but I guess we will just catch up one blog bit at a time….

Home for sale Pictures

 

  Entryway/Living Room/Hallway accessing Laundry room and 1/2 bathLiving Room     Dining Room looking into kitchen and living roomDining room looking toward upstairsKitchen looking into living room/dining room    Full bath on main level

Main level bedroom 10x10

Mud Room/Pantry