Gold, Gold, Gold!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Yesterday, Dwain and I drove across the Sorlie Bridge and went to the St. Joseph's thrift store in Grand Forks. I was looking for a utensil holder. I previously had a nice plastic one that was tall enough to fit my spatulas, my favorite big knife, slotted spoons, tall wooden spoons, potato masher etc..

I've had the stainless steel kind but I never liked it. My kitchen is decorated in vintage shabby style so I wanted something other than one of those types of utensil holders. St. Joseph's has one of the largest kitchen sections I've ever seen in a thrift shop so I knew that I would find something to our liking.

 I always take peek in the spoon and fork section because I always find the cutest little spoons. I use them for various things and I recently visited one of the blogs that I follow and she used hers for little salt bowls so she can just grab a small spoonful of salt while she's cooking. I do that as well so when I saw these cute gold spoons, I had to have them. They cleaned up nicely and look great.

 My love for fake gold (I like to call it "ghetto gold") jewelry, knows no bounds. I grab the beautiful pieces they have, be it bracelets, necklaces or earrings. I never leave empty handed from a thrift store without some piece of lovely jewelry. I found these beautiful leaf motif clip-on earrings. Did you see the price? I grabbed them off the rack because another lady was admiring them. I've already worn them today! Dwain and I took our new dog Ella, to the vet this morning to have her stitches (she was spayed) removed and mommy had to look nice!

 When I saw this beautiful gold heart locket, I knew that I had to have it. I can't wait to put a picture of Dwain and Ella in there! You can't beat that price!

 I have many pendants, hearts, diamond, turquoise with crystals but never enough gold chains to hang them from. I saw this lovely piece and fell in love with the clasp. I used to design jewelry many years ago and I still have gold and sterling silver split rings and bails for when I find a piece of jewelry that needs a bit of repair. I cannot wait to put one of my diamond pendants on this necklace.

 More gold? Yes indeed! This is what I am now using as my utensil holder. When Dwain and I saw it, we immediately said in unison, "My family used to have that very same gold pitcher!" It is very heavy glass with bubble orbs all around it. I'm not sure who the maker is but I know that you too, have probably seen these in your lifetime! We paid $5.00 for it and I love it!

Both Dwain and I admired the public life of Diana, Princess of Wales and when Dwain was stationed in the Air Force near Sandringham House, he was able to see the Royals during their Christmas visit to the estate. Since the anniversary of her death occurred five days ago, I thought it would be sweet to have this bracelet with the nickname the press gave her, "Shy Di." When I first saw it though, my first instinct was to snip off the 'i' with the little rhinestone  and leave the 'D' since it is my initial but no, I couldn't do it in the end. It's perfect they way it is.

Well, that was my shopping haul for this weekend! Hopefully I can make a good shopping visit sometime next week. I am wanting to find some vintage embroidered pillow cases for my guest room. Wish me luck!

The Children In Books, The Children In My Home

 Last week, I posted that I had bought some school primer books at a yard sale in a picturesque little town called Shevlin. I don't know why but I truly adore these books! I read them from cover to cover. It must be the art work inside. Innocent children playing, speaking cordially to one another, girls baking with their mothers. I am lucky that I got to partake in these timeless moments in my childhood. I actually studied the book, More Than Words, in elementary so I vividly remember the book and the stories inside. The other four books were way before my time but the art inside is incredibly beautiful. Children are rampant with manners, not such a lost art but harder to come by these days.

This past weekend, I again took care of Piper and her two brothers. It was a bit hectic since Dwain and I just adopted Ella, our new dog. Ella was in pain and recovering from her spaying procedure. We tried really hard to make a stressful situation for her be as calm as possible. We had picked Ella up on Saturday and due to an emergency, the kids had to stay the weekend with us. The kids and I colored, sang songs and we ate meals together at the table. We talked about everything that popped into their cute little heads. They are all adorable and I love when they use their imaginations. We love to color but I can't draw worth a flip! Piper used my decorative edged craft scissors and made a some beautiful snowflakes and hearts for my refrigerator. 

I decided to draw a beach scene for Dwain. It's still summer and even though I am ready for fall to come, I drew a sail boat drifting along the sea shore. Ahh, the lazy days of summer are almost coming to a close. I'll take them all with a side of kids, a dog and a box crayolas. Heaven.

Wedding Veils

 The Kennedy Brides

When I was a teenager, I found a lovely maroon leather journal with empty pages at a thrift store that my mother took us kids to. I think I paid about .50¢ for it and I already had plans for what I was going to put inside. Brides. My hometown newspaper had a lovely bridal section where the brides photos were place in a row (just like the Kennedy ladies above) with their newly married last name; Mrs. John Doe, Mrs. Thomas Jones...etc. It was my favorite past-time to cut out the large squares of beautiful bride portraits and paste them in my journal. 

Brides from the seventies and early eighties had such lovely gowns and most of all, the most astounding wedding veils. I was obessesed with wedding veils. Long, short, waist length, it didn't matter what the length it was as long as the top was extraordinarily beautiful. Three years of devoted clipping, I wound up with a full journal of brides from Lubbock. Some of the brides were my high school friends or my friends from my neighborhood. There was nothing more beautiful than seeing a pretty young bride with a voluminousness veil of white, delicately studded with pearls, sequin and flower appliqués dangling as if catching a bit of air to make them mobile. I'd like to think that I started my first homemade Pinterest board! 

By the time I got married in 1994, I had stopped clipping photos thirteen years before. I still loved looking at my bride journal and from time to time would hear that some of the lovely brides were divorcing. Sad, but that's life. 

When my husband and I moved from Lubbock to San Antonio in 2003, I tossed it away. I can't explain why I did that. I think I was in a cleaning beast mode. I regret it of course but I can recall the memories I have of those clippings. 

One day, about ten months ago, I was thrift store shopping at Gramma's Attic and it was getting close to Halloween day and I wanted to see if I could find some costumes with angel wings. I needed as many pairs of fairy and angel wings that I could find for my photography business. I was lucky and struck gold when I found four different wings. Two butterfly-like ones and two angel wings. As I entered another aisle, a Hefty ziplock bag caught my attention. I opened it up because I could see there was some delicate looking tulle in there. It was a wedding veil. I bought it and the wings and now the veil sits in my guest room. It has an abundance of pearls and little dangling flower buds. White satin rosettes form a little tiara-like effect and the body of the veil is interspersed with beautiful little cabochon pearls. I wonder to whom that veil once belonged to. I'll never know but I'm sure that she once had a beautiful portrait taken of her in her wedding finery and that her veil was her crowning touch. Every once in a while, I try it on and think about her and what she thought when she first put in on for her wedding day. It's in good hands. I like being its guardian.

My thrift store wedding veil find

Weekend Beauty and Some Rain

My sister Laurie's zinnia's that my mother and sister Cyndi planted for her in May. Laurie's husband Mike, brought her the seed packets from Japan. I love and adore zinnia's!

Zinnia's from my sister's home in Alaska

            Happy Sunday to you! Dwain and I are enjoying a relaxing day. We had major thunderstorms last night and discovered to our horror that our front living room window was leaking. We also discovered underneath the molding of the window frame, that the wall/drywall was soft and a bit mushy. We set out to dry it and this morning, seemed to be drying out pretty well. I'm sure at some point we will have to repair it and purchase a new window. Not gonna be cheap since our front window is about ten feet wide. Boo!

Where's the butter? Yum!

 Too cheer us up and to stop thinking about the leak, I got in my kitchen and started cooking up Dwain's favorite meal. Oven baked chicken, pork n beans and good ol' corn on the cob. Nothing like biting into a corn cob that is slathered in butter and lightly seasoned with salt. Something about corn makes me happy. I don't know if it's the long dark green leaves or the silky tassels but when I get a whiff of corn fresh off the farm, I want to skip and prance around like a little girl! I even like cleaning corn although nowadays, I use the microwave to loosen the leaves and silk. Works great!

Fleur- de- lis decor for a blank wall over my staircase

 I forgot to include this giant fleur-de-lis wall decor that I purchased at St. Joseph's when Piper and I went shopping last weekend. It is 30' tall and will find it's home on a wall that is over our staircase that leads to our laundry room. The only "work" I'm going to do to it, is apply guilder's paste in King Gold around the draped part in the middle. I feel it needs to have some 'pop' there. 

So my sister Cyndi, who lives in Texas, has been on a decorating binge. She is taking cues from Libby Langdon and has been acquiring pieces of furniture, trays and decor. She transforms them and has truly given her pieces a new lease on life. Above, she had sent me the photo of the end table which most of you I know can imagine the dark hideous wood that it was in it's former life. Cyndi decided to paint it a creamy white and highlighted the wooden inserts in gold paint. I think it looks rich and luxurious. Her sofa table was purchased from Varagesale for a few dollars. Well, due to her present love of trays, be they metal, wood or sterling silver, she now has ME addicted to finding trays to make over. They make the perfect vehicle for creating a lovely vignette.

Last month, Dwain and I stopped in a little town called Shevlin and we noticed a large yard sale was going on in front of a large warehouse. I immediately found this wooden tray. I liked that it was heavily carved but the wood was just too dark for me. The tile was perfect so I wasn't about to do anything to that. I didn't want to paint it white since I am currently loving an Old World decor style. I still have a shabby/cottage guest room and my kitchen is a kitschy vintage/cottage-y style but for the rest of my house, I totally removed everything shabby chic looking and really leaned towards dark rich and comforting colors.

I ended up using Rustoleum Metallic spray paint for the tray. I taped up the tiles in painters tape and happily sprayed away! I think it came out looking pretty nice.

While we were there, Dwain noticed a small wire trailer that was chock full of library books that had been discarded from the Shevlin Library. Wow! There had to have been over 150 books. They had a sign that said you could have the whole lot of books for $50.00. There were some great books with beautiful dust jackets and then I saw them.....vintage school primers. I bought six of them. The art inside of those books are just adorable. I love storybook art and I just couldn't pass them up. I have quite a collection of vintage school primers. I haven't photographed them but I will do that tomorrow and post them on Tuesday. I'll be sure to include photos from the inside of the book. 

I hope your weekend is ending on a pleasant note and that you are enjoying a restful evening with loved ones!

Be a thrifty treasure hunter and save the landfills.

Thrift Store Shopping With A Purpose

Last week when Dwain and I had our friends children stay with us, Piper and I went thrifting and she found some lovely outfits and my favorite item was a little plastic glitter rainbow purse. It had a nice long chain on it and Piper adored it. 

I found some great items that met my list of requirements for the week. 

1. ✔ I have always wanted a grand cake stand but I could never afford the prices at the antique malls. It had to be vintage and heavy. I could only ever find the stands without the top. When Piper and I went to St. Joseph's Thrift Store (my favorite place, by the way) I found my cake stand. It was sitting on a table and it was amazingly beautiful. The topper is extremely heavy and you definitely need both hands to pick it up. The top weighs five pounds. I know this information because I weighed it on my cute Counselor family scale! The cake stand and lid price on the tag said $35.00, then 15.00 and then unbeknownst me, when I carefully took it to the register, I was informed that the store was having a half-priced sale! Whoa! I finally got it for $7.50! I dusted off my shoulder in pride, truly proud that I had not only found a perfect crystal cake stand but got it for less than ten dollars!

2. ✔ Counselor scale. I had the very same scale right before I moved here but I arrived with some missing boxes. Unfortunately, the scale was inside the missing box. I actually found the exact same scale at Gramma's Attic and since that particular thrift store has their items at a very fair price (I'm talking inexpensive, really!) I snagged it for $6.00. You can even negotiate the price and they always agree to what you are willing to pay. Now that's my kind of thrift store! Isn't the scale just adorable? The bunny and rocking horse decal are in great condition! I put my handmade Laura Ingalls doll on top of it. She's cute too! I found her about twenty years ago at a rummage sale.

3. ✔ Sidedoor window curtain. Yes, I have one of those front doors that has that retched side window attached to it. I can't stand it but unless Dwain and I plunk down $1235.99 for a brand new door and sidedoor window, I'll have to do with painting it over (the whole door and molding)and making it look new but being thrifty at the same time. I'm embarrassed to say this but I had a pink flat sheet covering the sidedoor window. Well

 lucky me, St.Joseph's had a lovely dark oyster colored panel for that long but short width window. It was brand new and still in it's original plastic zippered bag from T.J. Maxx! I got it for $2.50/$1.50!

4. ✔ Valances. I was very lucky to find two sets of much needed valances for my home. Our front living room window is quite large and we have cloth vertical blinds hanging but the window needed a touch of something other than the rack where the blinds hang. I found five pieces white muslin with tabs for $4.00/$2.00 and I think they are adorable! The next valance I found is a single piece and it is quite long. It is floral with pleated fold that shows a sections of homespun inside. I can tell that this valance was custom made by an upholstery seamstress. The fabric reminds me of Brunschwig and Fils.  Yeah, I still like that type of decor, just not a lot of it! It was $2.00/$1.00 I am going to put that piece in my dining room window or maybe even in my kitchen. Stay tuned...

5. ✔ Something cute. I always look for something that tickles me pink after I have checked off my list of wants and needs. I love looking in their spinning rack for high end perfumes and cosmetics. This time I found a sandwich baggie with some silver metal letters. It was $2.00/$1.00!

I grabbed them, put them in my cart and when I got home, I filmed a short video on Viber for my sisters, Laurie and Cyndi to show them my bounty. I didn't even notice that the baggie had writing on it. When I dumped out the letters, I saw: a, g, m, e, I and a small i. Hmmm...oh! It spells Imagine! Wow! How cool is that? Then I tell my sisters on the video, "Hey girls, guess what? The letters spell I.m.a.g.i.n.e!" My sister Cyndi had no qualms in telling me, "Hey dingbat, the bag you just took the letters out from, says that the letters spell out I.m.a.g.i.n.e." she said, cackling. 

I had to laugh.

The collage below shows some beautiful papier mâché clowns that my best friend Shannon gifted me with last weekend. I was so incredibly touched by her kindness and maybe it was her way of thanking me for taking care of her children. She didn't need to thank me because it was definitely a good change of pace for Dwain and I. I would do it again a hundred times over. 

The precious clowns are vintage and have a stamp that says MEX so I'm assuming that they were possibly made in Mexico. Ay carambia! They are truly colorful and fun. They are also very fragile and I will be their guardian until I bequeath them to my niece Mikaela. I hope she likes clowns. I don't like real clowns, never have but something like this is much different. What a treasure of a friend I have for thinking of me. I truly love that woman!

I am almost finished with my green shelf (now a pale grey) that I bought two weeks ago. I just have to run to Hobby Lobby to find the perfect drawer knob. Hobby Lobby has the penultimate selection of beautiful decorative knobs. That is the only place I purchase knobs from. Go take a looksie. You will be astonished with the choices you have!

Until next time! Be a thrifty treasure hunter and save the landfills.

Drawing, Coloring And Playing With Buttons

So Sunday is finally here and all the kids are gone. Piper stayed with us until last night after we finished watching the movie, Up. I really love that film and Russell is my favorite character. It's nice to be able to laugh at sincere comedy and funny dialog. Dwain was astonished when he discovered last year that I had never heard nor seen, Up. While taking a course in psychology last fall, he brought Up home as homework and together we watched it on his laptop. I cried of course and Dwain became misty eyed. I don't have the DVD of it yet so I was in luck when they decided to show it again today. 

Dwain and I slept until after one o'clock p.m. We were exhausted. I can't even imagine how our friends cope with lack of sleep but I hoped in my heart that the days the children were with us, they were able to have some much needed rest. 

Today was beautiful and sunny. Dwain made us eggs over easy, bacon and biscuits with grape jelly. After our late brunch, Dwain sat and read the news and I sat down with my drawing pencils and sketched for half an hour or so. Afterwards, I felt like coloring...yes, coloring. I have an old Barbie coloring book from 2000 and a large box of two-hundred crayons. There is something so calming about coloring and the scent of the crayolas takes me to a happy place. The scent and the clicking together of map colors also has a special place in my memory bank. Those sounds and scents are nostalgic to me because they are things that I vividly remember from my childhood.

I didn't realize it earlier today but I must have been searching for things that bring a serenity to my soul. After our supper of tacos with all the fixings, I went into my guest room and went straight for my button jars. They make me think of my mother Rosa, as she always had cookie tins and jars full of buttons of different sizes, colors and shapes. I remember running my fingers through the tins or jars just to hear the "snick, snick" of the buttons falling on top of each other. I stuck my hand inside one of the mason jars and my fingers scooped up the buttons and I let them fall back into the jar. A sense of calmness came over me as I kept moving the buttons around the jar. 

For four days, I had had sensory overload while the kids were here. I suddenly realized that to unwind and get the chaos of loud voices out of my head, things that had comforted me in the past were still able to have the same effect on me today. Drawing, coloring and buttons. Who would have guessed? Not me.

Summer Days and Sidewalk Chalk

 For the past three days, Dwain and I have had three little guests in our home. We had a girl who is ten, and her two little brothers who are six and three. Not ever having the honor of being a mother and always wishing that I could have been one, I was definitely looking forward to having children in my home. I wouldn't say my life without children has been drab and colorless but definitely and most obviously, I've missed out in having little arms hug my tummy and having them bury their heads in my neck and seek out that little nook of safety. 

Well, that is exactly what happened. They sought me out and were stuck to me like little chickens to their mother hen. I noticed that the little ones were very eager to learn new rules although they did falter a couple of times. Things like screaming at the top of your lungs is not acceptable at Casita de las Campanas (little house of the bells.) Also, leaving snack bags on the floor is frowned upon as is leaving drinking cups where they can be kicked over and have their contents spilling out through the plastic straws. Children can absorb information like a sponge because I noticed that they both picked up on the behavioral corrections that were required at my home. I rewarded them and gave them attention and love because they genuinely wanted to please me. Rewards? Little sandwich bags full of grapes and two pieces of Pez candy. Thank goodness for Pez!

Their big sissy is so adorable and she and I bond very well. I love her very much and I will happily admit that I love to spoil her. She is my buddy and get this; She loves to thrift shop! She is a tiny pixie child and incredibly beautiful. She is very artistic and a very bright child. I get stopped by people to ask if she is my daughter and if she is modeling or in commercials. I say "no" to all questions and let them know that her mother would never allow her to go down the path of fame. I agree with her mother. Piper loves everything Rainbow Dash and we both look for clothing or purses with anything that's got a rainbow. I think this child's love of rainbows says a lot about her character. She is a very happy young lady and she is a little mama to her little brothers. They both look up to Piper and try to please her in the same way they seek out to please their mother. She is spending an extra night with Dwain and I. Her brothers left yesterday and I miss their voices, footsteps and the sound of my refrigerator being constantly opened and making the chimes go off. I smile in misty-eyed remembrance even though it was just yesterday that the boys left with their parents.

The day before yesterday, the kids and I went outside to the back yard to play. They love electronic devices and even the little one likes playing Lego Jr on the tablet. To get them away from that, we went into the garage and I took down a container of sidewalk chalk and a large bag of colorful balls for them to throw around. Piper drew my name on the patio concrete and the boys drew "lines" all over the patio in bright colors. They happily climbed the crabapple tree, we got creative and used large tree branches as walking canes and then rolled and tossed the balls to each other. We hopped, skipped and jumped. They tried to catch our bunny Maxima but she was too fast and hippity-hopped herself over to the peony bushes to hide. The kids proudly showed me that they could do somersaults and cartwheels. Afterwards, when we were needing a bit of rest, we all lay on the grass and Piper, who popped right back up, ran over near the fence and brought us each a dandelion. They made their wishes and blew. As I watched the little white florets fly above us, I hoped with a mother's heart that all their wishes would come true. I blew on my dandelion but I didn't make a wish. It had already come true. I glanced over at "my kids" and they all ran into my arms. For once I knew what it was like to be a mother and suddenly life was a bit more colorful.

Raspberry Jewels From Alaska

My baby sister Laurie lives in Alaska with her family. In addition to her two beautiful daughters, she's also got chickens, dogs, bears a husband and a moose. And RASPBERRIES! That's right, fresh raspberries fresh off the vine. Aren't they lovely? The colors variate and I'm positive that they are delicious! My sister sent me this photo from her phone the other day. She's got wild raspberries growing in her yard and wanted to share what she had found. They look yummy!

Summer is such a beautiful time of the year and having fresh picked fruit from your own yard is so fascinating to me. When I was growing up, we had cherry trees, green apple tree, peach trees, pecan tree and one pear tree. Our neighbors, the Yates, had the tree that I call, Food of the Unicorn! The pomegranate! Those little pips inside are like little red ruby jewels just waiting to pop their decadent nectar inside of your mouth. How wonderful it would be to sit on a blanket in your own backyard, eating fruit from your trees or bushes and reading a good book. Sounds good to me!

Finding My Necessary Treasures

 As promised, here are my treasures from my Saturday thrift excursion to St. Joseph's. I always have a plan as to what I am needing as decor for my home. I have a very large home that I've only lived in for two and a half years and I need to fill it up with decor and furniture pieces. I have a little notebook where I jot down areas that need a wonderful piece of decor or a wall that needs a large painting or shelf. The first thing on my list was the top of our antique walnut book shelf. We needed something for the very top of it and when I saw these row houses, I knew they were coming home with me. I'm not even changing anything about them.

When I go to a thrift shop, the first thing I do is go to the jewelry section and search for gold bracelets. I have a large collection of beautiful vintage bracelets and I have always been lucky to find at least one that is unique and exquisite. This bangle had a lovely cable chain in the center and a cute dangling gold tag was suspended from a gold jump ring that said NATASHA. I see from a search that Natasha jewelry is sold at Nordstrom, Saks and other fine stores. I got it free along with the box of cards. What a deal! I had spent enough to able to look in their "Big Basket of Freebies" and got two free items. You just can't beat that!

The next item on my list was something for one of the walls in our dining room. We needed something large and I was really hoping to be able to find a shelf to house some of my vintage creamers. I went to the back of the store and found this on top of a dresser. It was only $7.00 and it is quite a large piece and very heavy. Are you laughing with me when you look at it? Yes, it is very 1990's country decor. Remember when everyone had hunter green and apple decor in their home? What a giggle! As you can imagine, it is getting a coat of white paint slapped on it. I will be using Annie Sloan Pure White and will shabby it up a bit. I've placed some items in the spaces for you to see. It is going to look beautiful on the wall. Yay, me!

I bought this sweet little duck at a Ross Store many years ago and I think it's just adorable, don't you? The tissue is so old and faded.

 My little lamb is special to me because I won it at an auction in San Antonio many years ago. It had a lot of bids on it but I was the winner. It is from the 1940's. I hope I never break it because I'd be really sad.

 Third on my list was something for a small portion of wall that is behind our staircase rail. I have a white oval mirror on there with a flying angel over it and it just need something else. So, I jotted down, "look for hanging wall candlestick holders." There were tons to choose from but I love things with a touch of whimsy and when I saw these lovely dangling apple candlestick holders, I threw them immediately into my basket. They were $1.50 apiece. Yep, hunter's green again! I had to laugh but of course they are getting a new fresh look. My sister Cyndi and I discussed various colors to use and after much deliberation, we decided on dry brushing Pure White Annie Sloan and then wiping some of it off. I will be using French guilders wax in King's Gold to give it some shine and make it look like a very elegant and vintage piece.

I couldn't resist grabbing this sweet pale yellow Baby Memories container that had beautiful envelopes, baby stickers and note cards to leave for your newborn. It is adorable and I love looking at the family tree card that was included inside. It was only $1.00!I am going to place it in our shabby chic guest room. I think it will look sweet on my dresser. I have lot's of cute things on it.

Lastly, we recently purchased an antique dining room table and I wanted a large milk glass bowl or vase for it but I just couldn't find the right size. I have a good collection of milk glass pieces thanks to my mother who loved to surprise me with tons of them when I lived in San Antonio Texas. Alas, I am now in Minnesota so I haven't purchased any milk glass since I've been up here. This lovely piece with the grapes and leaves motif was only $4.00. Now the problem is going to be finding something wonderful to put inside of it! I have a vintage crocheted doily tablecloth in pale blue and I think it will look very smart on top of it. So glad I found it!

I hope to have everything in place by Saturday. I'll be sure to snap some photos for you. It always gives me a sense of accomplishment when I am able to find the things that I need for my home. I believe in reusing the old and giving new life to it. I definitely love everything I purchase for making our house a home for the two of us.

The Books of Summer

The joys of summer are here and so far, it's been a great summer for my prom date and I. Do you recall the days in school when the school librarian would give a student who wanted to participate in reading books during the summer break? I enjoyed that so much and read many books during my elementary school years. As a result, I am now an avid reader and enjoy many genres of books. 

My favorite type of books are the wonderful 1930's - 1960's novels with wonderful artwork on the dust jackets or the sweet paperback novels meant for teenage girls of yesteryear. I love to head out to my favorite thrift store shops to search for those treasures and let me tell you, I go through every book to find those adorable dust jackets. I've read all the classics so now that I'm fifty-two years old, my focus is to read all those darling books and be charmed by their innocent content. 

The three books in the photo are what I am currently reading. All are from either the Salvation Army or Goodwill. I just finished Come Be My Love and it was just charming. My next book read will be Lady Bird Johnson; A White House Diary. I cannot wait to start on this one because I am a Texas girl and she of course, is the reason we have all of the wildflowers down in the Texas Hill Country to ooh and ahh over. 

Mama Made Minks is a book that I found way back in the late eighties and I lost it when my husband and I moved into an apartment. Years later when we moved to San Antonio in 2003, I went to a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store and found a copy. I was so excited and eager to read it but never got around to do so. Now that I am a stay at home girl, I have all the time in the world to read these wonderful pages of words that had been closed for so many years.

Thrift Shopping at St. Joseph's

Good morning! It's almost six in the morning and I'm still wide awake. Yesterday I went thrift store shopping at St. Joseph's Thrift Store and I wanted to share with you a few treasures that I found. Today I will just tell you about them as I still have to photograph them. I did snap a photo for my sisters Cyndi and Laurie, of the cute toiletries that I purchased.

I  have always been lucky to find high end toiletries and cosmetics at this particular thrift shop. There is a You Tube make-up guru that lives here and she apparently donates tons of unused and unopened eye shadow palettes and lipsticks. I once purchased a still sealed box of Revlon Colorstay Lip Butters in all fourteen colors for $2.50. Today I purchased a cute bottle of Ralph Lauren Blue Eau de Toilette, a bottle of Simply Vera Wang body wash and two hotel-sized bottles of Bvlgari Creme Nourrissante for fifty cents each. All were unopened and sealed up. Our thrift store doesn't sell anything that has been previously opened or used such as body lotion etc...

I have found eyeshadow palettes from Tarte cosmetics and more lipsticks from YSL. Every week it's something different. That young lady must be overwhelmed with beauty products, lucky me!!

Come back Monday and I will have photos of my thrift store finds and what I will be doing with them. It's always such fun to shop!

Ooh, la la!

A New Beginning

Coming back to blogging after three long years. Does anyone still blog? Well, yes they do and I was very happy to see some old friends are still striking keys to their blogs. My life has changed quite a bit since I last blogged. I've been very lucky to have made some wonderful friends (true friends) through blogger and invariably, they asked if I would be returning to the blogging world. 

I knew eventually that I would but I just didn't know when. Coming back to look at what was my "former" blog was just a tad painful as it was all about my personal life with Mr. Timeless. I just couldn't bear to come look at it. Don't get me wrong, Mr. Timeless and I will always be family, we'll always be friends. He is in my heart forever. There was no way that we were going to let each other go into that wild blue yonder. We are connected by too many years, precious memories, mutual respect and admiration for one another. Mr. Timeless and I speak everyday on the phone or through Viber. He will always be Mr. Timeless. No question about that.

I have started a new life with my high school prom date and I am now living in upper northwest Minnesota. I'm actually 140 miles from the Canadian border, Manitoba to be exact. 

I love my town because it really is like Mayberry. So cheery and downtown is just like a storybook! I've been up here for two years now and I cannot imagine not living here forever. Alas, my prom date wants to go home. He was in the Air Force for twenty-six years and is aching to go back home to Lubbock where we are both from. I'm ready to go home as well but my town here in Minnesota is in my heart. I don't want to go but when you love someone, you make sacrifices for them and for their happiness.

Below is a photo of my aunt and uncle's love lock that they latched to the Love Lock Bridge in Paris. Mingo and Cindy went to Paris last year and took the perfunctory photos of themselves standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre and so on. It was my aunt's dream vacation. My uncle had promised her many years ago that he would take her to France. Someone made that promise to me but it never came to fruition. Sometimes dreams don't come true but you can keep striving for those dreams when you choose to move from the spot that you are in. My uncle kept his promise to my aunt because he loves her very much. Sadly, the city of Paris has begun the task of removing all locks from this romantic bridge where lovers come to immortalize their relationship. What a sad day it will be when there are no more locks with long ago lovers names written in marker or engraved on multi-colored locks. Where did the locks go?

I'd like to think that their yellow love lock is in some Parisian woman's boudoir and that she wonders who Mingo and Cindy are and where they might be from. I'm such a romantic dork but I like to think that all those locks were given away to people whom might have wanted a piece of the Love Lock Bridge for themselves.
                       Locks of Love