You don't want to miss this...all of us plus at least 30 vendors coming in to sell a wide variety of very cool items-oh boy!!!!!

Small projects for big event

In thinking for over a month that I was completely moving out of the shop plus The Strawberry Days on Sunday, I've been pulling out every dang thing that's not being useful or giving me a buzz to look at and slapping on paint, or not, to get it ready for my yard sale booth on Sunday. Above is my new coffee table thanks to a great trip to Nene's yesterday. She was getting ready to take it to the dump (I know, it didn't even make her cut!) when I asked about it. It was immediately mine. Brought it home, washed out the spiders, webs, and eggs, dried it, and popped that bad boy under the Hoova, and voila!!!! I totally heart it. I swear these are the kinds of tables they sell at Round Top for $400. Another bonus is that more of my beautiful Mc-K-C rug shows even more. The cool off-white piano bench that was there is now FOR SALE at the shop...

...I got this as a project piece from one of Nene and my's secret places I got for the shop. The wood was raw pine, like it had been stripped and left-I loved it. But the upholstery was bright red with tiny gold stars. I didn't feel like taking the time or money to re-do too much so I spray painted the whole thing, upholstery and all, off-white which makes the fabric still soft to touch but also makes the fabric look like old, faded pink. I liked it so much I plopped in at the table in our family room and it looks too good and comfy and actually useful that I'm keeping it-for now. I don't have to be quite so frantic now that I'm not thinking of Sunday as THE LAST DAY I'LL EVER SELL ANYTHING. Whew! Better hurry to the previous post for explaination.

Is it wrong?

Don't think I haven't noticed that my challenges haven't gotten a lot of response from y'all 'cause I have. Okay so on this one the prize won't just be a life but an actual package of little goodies in the mail. Comment on your opinion then I'll pick randomly after Sunday...big doings on Sunday-remember-The Strawberry Days at The Pink Cabbage? Supposed to be my last day...

...So is it wrong to tell your fellow co-op'ers at your shop that you are moving out, let them throw you a fabulous dinner party and give you gifts, then change your mind at the last moment to stay? No kidding, I've known people who've done such outrageous things and now...I'm one of them!!!!! Yikes!!!! I don't know what I was thinking but I guess it was "all or nothing at all". I'm moving into the smallest area in the shop, the small closet (by small I mean 4' X 2' ?) and a small wall outside of it. I pickled tink over the deal Jody made me that I would have to be too stupid to refuse. Fortunately I'm really dumb but not completely stupid. I'm Oh So Lucky! See you Sunday...

P.S. I plan to have a party for the shop girls treating them after I finish my workroom re-do. Don't you think that would be a good way to balance things a bit? No pot luck, just lucky pots full of food!

Happy Birthday Ben Zoom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday, Bennie! It was Bennie's birthday Saturday and party on Sunday. THREE YEARS OLD-wow. He was a month early but fully cooked; we had a great time talking about him not being born yet before his due date. Matt and I were visiting there and when ever someone asked how old he was Maya would tell them he wasn't born yet; the reactions were great. I guess the fam is back to celebrating only his birth certificate birthday only; I like both. Is he a doll or what? Hugs, cuddles, and love, Kissy

Oh my, just for little ol' me?

Last night was my farewell pot luck given to me by the Pink Cabbagites. It was so fab, so overwhelming with wonderful women, wine, and tons of fun. We started at six with a short business meeting regarding our Strawberry Days Event coming up on May 31st-fundraiser for American Cancer Society. Then we had time to have cocktails, but by the time to eat it was also time for Idol to start. The majority of us had been watching all season but the gals who either aren't big fans and, one who'd never seen it, were good sports and even got into it I think.

Idol dominated but during adverts WE dominated and still had time to laugh and play.

And be "secretive"!?

You can see by all the photos that we had a great group...of course it's always a great group...it's a great group of women. Sniff, sniff...I'm not going there yet, I still have 'til the end of the month.

The gifts were not even something I'd thought of and was so pleasantly surprised as with the beautiful tulips above...

...the big, beautiful pink and white bouquet, wonderful hydrangeas-one of my faves, and the elephant tea pot of which this is my third of the same design, each one a little different-now an official collection!

And my own gift to myself yesterday-the pink metal organizer which I installed onto the cream "island" table in the kitchen. I has a rack under each knob, for plastic wrap, foil, waxed paper, paper towels. It was at (all together now...) THE PINK CABBAGE.

The only way Jody would let me "host" the party at my house was to promise not to do a thing. Well I didn't if you don't count repainting the hallway, rearranging certain things (not like me at all), and clean like never before. What better inspiration to not just play but really clean-really clean-closets and all. Not that I thought anyone would look in a closet but I was just inspired. I only have one "bad" room left-my work room. It will come after the Strawberry Days; I'll be working on getting my things together for that. Okay...back to the food. FOOD, picture Homer Simpson laying on the couch with drool dripping out and that's a good start for last night's profferings. Huge shrimp cocktail, spinach dip, crab dip for appetizers...then onto shrimp salad, Greek salad, spinach and strawberry salad, fresh crescents. Then cup cakes and chocolate whipped cream yummy. Did I mention 238 bottles of wine? It was all so fabulous and I feel so honored that they went to all this trouble for little ol me. Okay, I also know that we all love any reason to have a get together and party! Thank all y'all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Yawk

So we were already ready for more time out of town so we headed north this time to Longgggg Island to see Pool's (that's how they pronounce it) cousins. They are sweet and fun and we enjoy being with them.Louise, left, was really in a good mood-I think she had just gotten tired of waiting for my camera to finally work...the batteries were really low. Anyway...Louise, Joseph (14), and Liz (Joseph's mom). Donald and Louise are actually Paul's cousins but we are right between their and their children's ages.

The guys getting to see a re-run of the Yankee game from that day. Paul's the only Yankee fan; Joe, Joseph, and Donald are Mets fans and Matt doesn't like baseball. A-roid still hit the walk-off home run in the re-runs-yay!

We stayed with Donald and Louis in their pretty home...

...with their wonderful picket fence with Matt swinging on the other side... ...on this gorgeous tree-lined street.

We went up early Friday morning for Paul to have a meeting then we drove around the area seeing some sights. I woke up Saturday morning and started crying. I immediately wanted to go home and asked Paul to check out the train info so I could go. I just wasn't myself. Then I figured out it was because Kristen's graduation had just started and I was really missing not being there. Paul found a live stream of A&M PBS of the graduation so we could watch it. I know it's a terrible photo but I was screaming at the time that I took it. Kristen was wayyyyyyyy at the end being a W, so we had been anxious and fired up for a while when she finally made it. It still took me an hour or so to stop crying but I was back to myself soon thereafter and stayed in town to enjoy another day and a half. Can you just imagine when weddings and grandchildren start coming?!

I shouted, "Pull over!", just in time for us to get a parking space for this little art show in Babylon. There is a plethora of fab little villages all around on Long Island. Paul and Matt thought I'd have plenty of time to look around when they dropped me off and went driving around by the water. Ha! I still wanted to show them some of the great things I discovered there when they returned for me. I met a woman whose daughter lives in a tiny town on the Chesapeake Bay near where Nene and I did a whole-house decorating job for over a year. Small world!

There was a nursery/flower shop right on the edge of the art show and I had lots of camera fun there...

...all the glorious colors and the women who ran it were wonderful. Everyone was sooooo darn friendly everywhere we went. You do have to pick up the driving habits quickly in order to get around; it's just a little difern't.

I talked with these folks for a while about a youth center they started a couple of years ago. What a great idea. Of course I realize that it's a little easier to get things done in a small place with a tight-knit community and nice corporate support, but it still takes a few folks with initiative and dedication to children. It was very inspiring.

More color from the nursery...

...

...and more and more. There was no end to the great neighborhoods, views, and houses. We loved the relief especially when coming from "Clone Home Central", it's so refreshing and a great time of the year since they are just getting their color like us. All in all it was a nice change of scenery and fun with the family (we are lucky to have them and they are the closest we have).

New Highlights before and after and one new thing-oh boy!

Okay, four new things on the front porch-same prize...

...three new things, one you can't see-what a fun challenge!

New item. I really wish I had taken before pics, only Nene saw how bad it was when I bought it. The little white table next to the chair was completely broken and rusted outside at Lucketts. I got it for a song, brought it home, and fixed it and painted part of it. I left some of the rusty spots 'cause I like the way they looked. The "statue" is part of the lamp that runs through the middle of the table. I already had the shade on another lamp...yada, yada, yada...how perfect is it? It's always so much fun to get something for almost nothing, especially when you love it when finished. Okay, you've earned a real post. Next up...Longggg Island.

Shirley, you do not. The wonderful bed from Hell and staying busy.

Just so any folks out there think that I'm just a shallow girl dabbling in only decorating and other mere whimsy. The things you read about here are sandwiched between many marches against war (4000 years +, I believe), Doctors Without Boarders (typo intended), Whales Without Borders, and finding Palestine a reasonably-priced piece of real estate (2000 + years, I believe).

Har, har...it was one of my longest-time bff's, Julia, who noticed, through my blog posts that I'd been trying to save the world, albeit a small area at a time, still too focused and overwhelmed by the injustice in the world. I was about 20 minutes away from being a certified Professional Civil Rights Activist when she spoke up. She suggested that I try keeping it more local than global. Was it she who first said, "Think globally, act locally."? Of course she was right...but I get credit for listening...and I've lightened up. I'm glad I did the Jena Six thing and wrote letters to the editors of our newspaper every other week, and worried about people I cared about whether I knew them or not. I still fully believe in the mantra I grew up saying every morning before school started, "...with liberty and justice for all.". But I'm not solely responsible and I can't feel guilty about the ones that fall through my cracks. Sooooooooo, this is what I do in between saving the world one well-decorated home at a time, starting with my own and being a semi-pro civil rights activist.

This is a Highlight's Magazine moment...do you see the difference between the above photo and a couple of other previous photos? If you guess the right answers, you win a life. Bueno suerte.

I bought this bed from the woman I was consigning it for. She had said that it'd been retro-fitted to be a queen bed. It was stained oak but, not having any qualms about not being a purist, I slapped some cream colored paint all over it. I instantly loved it! Then it dried and it was time to put it all back together. Oopsy, the woman was wrong or confused; the bed was not ALL the way retro-fitted. It had been made longer but not wider with the rails, durrrrrr, you can't make a bed wider than the headboard and foot board for a box springs to fit in. So I dragged the box springs out into the front yard with my saws-all and cut it down. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME...IT ONLY WORKS IN THE MOVIES WITH LOTS OF SMOKE AND MIRRORS. Return it or invest further in a double size box springs? I'm guessing you got it by the photo above that the decision was the latter. And I heart it...how could I not, right? My Mother's Day gift-yeah!

Another Highlights before and after quiz. Same prize but you may enjoy the process more than anyone wants to know. I have finished above assemblage...for now...it's perfect, eh?

Here is the "Can you guess the new collection?" portion of our challenge. This should be easy for the ones who have just dropped their training wheels recently. Surely I'm not the only one who likes seeing things from different angles on a regular basis or sees how a little to the left can make something previously seemingly ordinary extraordinary. Surely.

But I haven't just been doing things for myself. Above is a chandelier I took from builder's brass to beautiful cream and added a little edge with the clock face, deco dictionary pages on the arm sleeves and a little class with pretty shades, voila.

And decoupaging this bust was a little challenging but turned out better than I worried with a little "atta girl" encouragement from Nene.

Another project piece that's been laying around for over a year. See, having this deadline of moving out of the shop has pretty much lit a stick of dynamite under my butt to get these projects done and out there in case an adoptive parent is looking for them before June 1.

Taking these photos gave me another "gulp" moment, oopsy, how'd that reality check get in there? Shoo!

The "Cabbagites" are giving me a going away dinner next week; I'm so honored. I forced them to have it at my house so I'm sure to not have to clean again for several months. Of course I'll take party pics.

Unless one of my mamma's Three Stooges get adopted soon, I'll have them to keep me company during the day. School is out in a month, Matt and I are going to Texas for a few weeks (Can you say, "...hotter than July"?), and there's always the pool until school starts again. Then I have to decided what I want to be when I grow up. That gives me time, right? Oh I'll still be doing my art; I have several options for venues, but I think I'm going to want to do more than art and be a housewife. We'll see. Until then, we are off to Longgggga Island and NYC this weekend. Yep, photos not optional.

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!

It's a wild, wonderful ride isn't it?

Have a great day, with love, Stephanie

Be Full My Heart...The Best Mother's Day Gift

This came in the mail yesterday and, of course, the first thing I had to do was burst into tears. My heart is bursting with pride for Kristen but also for my son who has been her boyfriend for almost three years.

I hope some day she will be my daughter legally but I'm happy just to have her in my life and to have know her as I do. Not to take away any of the very hard work she's done the last four years but I'm also proud of my son, Lucas, for quitting school and going back to work full time to support Kristen through this last year of school. And I also have the personal guilt of pride that our family-us and Lucas' dad and step-mom, Jim and Tammy-have also helped whenever we could, however we could, when they really needed it. They would wait until the they were out of options before they would call. She's family and that's what families do. We love her and are so proud of her. Congratulations Sweetheart! P.S. She's taking finals this week while fighting the flu (remember the swine flu in Texas?). P.S.S. Those of you who don't know about Texas A&M-it is a very hard school to get into and harder to stay in and even harder to graduate with honors.

Happy Mother's Day to me...again

If you recall or want to go back or don't care, last year I drove over to Hagerstown's Ribbon Outlet and then to Leesburg to the cottage on Saturday, the day before Mother's Day as my gift to myself. I asked the guys to go with me but they didn't want to...just as well I'm sure. I didn't realize that Mother's Day was this Sunday until I heard an advert on the radio on the way over to Leesburg on Wednesday to pick up some leftover things from the show I did with Chick's Picks by Hillary. So I made a side trip to Historic Leesburg to the cottage and low and behold found something to get myself for Mom's Day. Not at all surprising. The above antique bike and attached wagon had my name all over it. Truth be told, this was the original idea I had for the big red bike I put in front of the house. I was going to install it on the knee wall between our breakfast nook and family room but decided that was pushing even me in my decorating oddity. But this was much more "normal". Yes, I got grief but it has long since stopped effecting me. I had to go back on my drive back through to get the nice geraniums they had with them and Nene gave me the alphabet balls last week; I got the cute birdcage at Michael's to display them in.

Here's another view through my fab domino, poker chip, and wire chandelier that I got from Nene a few years ago. I'll admit that there seems to be enough going on in this area now that I can turn my attention elsewhere. Speaking of the cottage...

...while I was there, co-proprietress, Linda, told me that their shop was highlight in-eight pages-of the June issue of Romantic Homes. Now if it's been a while since you picked up an issue of RH it has morphed into a grand inspiring magazine. It has almost taken the hurt off of ME's Home Companion shutting down, and, it comes out every month! I hope I don't get in copyright trouble for this; I'd like to think this will make y'all all run out for your own copy instead of just seeing it here. It's so much better in person and, what's even better, is the shop in person. Grown up lady (age wise, obviously not mentally) candy store. Here are the photos and write up; it's so exciting to see friends so worthy get what they deserve.

Congrats, Linda and Ann for the recognition you deserve; we in this area are so lucky to have you close by and know you two such sweet and talented ladies.

P.S. The drive from anywhere is beautiful and Historic Leesburg is a great treat up there with Carmel, Salado, etc.