It’s my 1 year Blog Anniversary!

I can’t believe it’s been one whole year since I began this little blog experiment.  I knew so little and have learned so much.  I discovered a love of blogs and blogging and have grown quite fond of my little corner of the World Wide Web.  In honor of one year I decided to change my blog banner and title.  This blog has grown and changed in the last year and I wanted the banner and title to reflect those changes.  The items in the picture are all either vintage or merely bring me great joy and sometimes both.  I want to make special mention of the flowers.  They are my wedding bouquet made by my sweet, lovely little sis and they bring me a great deal of joy.  I would like to take a moment to thank all of you who have visited in the last year and especially those of you who leave comments and well wishes.  You are all dear to me.

JOY!  CREATE IT!  SEIZE IT!  SHARE IT!

Attack of the Honey Bees

I kept my nephews Wednesday and Thursday lastweek and then we babysat/housesat for some friends over the weekend. Again, I kept my nephews on Monday and Tuesday. I had been looking forward to a bit of break and a chance to catch up on reading and household chores. Just when I thought my wish was coming true and I could relax the honey bees arrived!

One little bee doesn’t seem too threatening. Now try to imagine around two thousand of these little honey bees in your kitchen and laundry room. This has been the adventure of the day. I stepped into the kitchen this afternoon only to discover a couple dozen bees. I immediately stepped out and called my dear husband. He came home from work for a few minutes to help assess the situation. Now, I am more than capable of handling such situations myself, however, Hubby and I are both allergic and in my moment of panic I forgot about our pest control contract. So hubby came home, and we called our pest control service to ask for help and they suggested we sit tight until Saturday. I attempted to calmly explain that that would not work for us. So, they agreed to come at around 6:30 PM. We closed the kitchen door and hubby returned to work. Let me just take a moment to say how grateful and blessed we are in my husband’s current employment. He is close to home and works with some wonderful people. Later, when he returned home he went to inspect the kitchen and noticed some bees outside the kitchen window. He went outside to check and found a cloud of bees. He dragged me outside to see for myself. This cloud of swarming honeybees went from the ground up to about a foot and half above the roof and from the house to just past the wellhouse about fifteen feet away. The cloud had vanished by the time pest control arrived. They found them in the laundry room. Apparently they had found a way in and had decided to take up housekeeping. A bomb or two were set off and we were immediately and unexpectedly evicted for the night. Again, we are blessed to have wonderful friends, one of which immediately offered a bed. We are hoping the bees will be gone by tomorrow evening and we will be given the all clear by pest control. Life is such an adventure!

Editor’s Note:  We were given the all the clear on Friday night and are safely back in our house.  Cleaning up is turning out to be a real hoot!  All the kitchen surfaces must be cleaned as well as all the dishes.  Also, most of our clothes were hanging in the laundry room and now all of them must be washed.  We’ve been working in the kitchen and are nearly ready to begin in the laundry room.  We did get tickled upon realizing that the cleaning supplies which we keep in the Laundry would need to be cleaned before use.  This led to the purchase of cleaning supplies to clean our cleaning supplies.  Things are a little chaotic, but we are blessed.  No one was hurt, clothes and such can be washed, and we have wonderful loving family and friends.  I want to thank all of you for your well wishes and sweet words!

Puzzle Art

I just love this puzzle art by Kent Rogowski. He bought puzzles that were all the same brand and created new pictures. Click here to see more of his amazing work.

Linky Love

I have recently found a number of blogs that have quickly made their way to my favorites list. I thought I’d take a moment to share a little of their goodness with you.

Wonders Never Cease is written by Becky Ramsy, a writer and a mom, who hopes to inspire herself and others by keeping “track of the wonders I find in life.” She has a beautiful blog that is both humorous and inspiring.

Thrifty Decor Chick is written by a lovely woman named Sarah. She quit her full time job to persue her passion and now works part time as a decorator. Her blog is entertaining and full of thrifty decorating ideas that anyone can do at home. Sarah proves this by doing the projects herself.

Ever think about your failed craft projects? Ever feel like your the only one who fails? Ever wonder what happens to others’ failed projects? Well, wonder no more. Craft Fail is an open blog designed to share our failures. I love this idea! I know I learn ever so much more from my mistakes, then from what I get right. Now we can share, laugh, and learn together!

Heather writes a blog called Pretty Petals. It is full of delicious eye candy from a very talented lady. She shares her love of vintage and crafting in a fun way. She has also recently been featured in a publication put out by Somerset Press called Maire. The theme of this publication being Marie Antoinette, of course.

Through Poetic Home Grace Light shares her love of vintage home decor and antique collectibles. This is a beautiful blog full of happy and unexpected treasures.

While you are checking out all of these wonderful links visit Apartment Therapy and see all the beautfiul daffodil bouquets! These are so pretty! I just love daffodils!

Wheelbarrows and Cheese Dreams

Sometime ago I showed you a couple of Betty Crocker Cookbooks I found at the flea market. I promised to share a little from each book at a later time. Here is the first of many installments. All of the following pictures came from the pages of Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book circa 1954.

I love the idea of an afternoon tea party. It sounds like so much fun!

I have encountered popovers while reading such things as Little Women. I hope to find out now just what a popover is and how it tastes.

The following two pages will give one all one needs to know about proper lunchboxes and preparing the proper lunch. My husband is quite excited as now I will know how prepare him an appetizing, 4-star boxed lunch.

Some helpful instructions for making a wonderful sandwich.

Ever thought of cooking your food in a wheelbarrow? Now you can make that dream come true!


Hubby says, “Talk about a meal on the go!”

Ever wonder just how long some standard menus have been around?

A grill cheese sandwich will never cross these lips again! From now on I will eat only “Cheese Dreams!”

I hope you have enjoyed this little journey through a cook book. All kidding aside, I found some lovely recipes and ideas in this little book which I am looking forward to trying. Remember to always look for gems of joy!

Kinetic – Week 6

I learned two things this week. First, it can be helpful to look a week ahead and be certain of your schedule. I thought I had a Mon/Tues routine as usual and discovered that it was a Mon routine and then Tues/Wed routine. As a result I missed Monday’s routine. Secondly, I set about to do Tues/Wed routine Tuesday night and again encountered a lighting problem which affected my score. However, hubby discovered that it is possible to tell the eye toy camera that you are in a low light situation. Under options, you will find a eye toy options button. Here you can set it to a dim room or a bright room. We set it for a dim room and it has a made a world of difference. Whether daytime or night, I should now be able to complete all workouts. My overall score for the week was a C. A bit lower than last week, however, there was a great learning curve. Because of this I proclaim this week a success!

Happy Easter!!!

A Very Profitable Outing!

I was quite excited to discover, Friday night, that my favorite flea market is now opened until 6 o’clock. I was equally excited to find this lovely little cameo music box hiding among the booths. Following the flea market we visited another favorite haunt, Big Lots. I am not sure if Big Lots is a national chain or just here in the south, but if you like old movies and have one near you then you simply must pay them a visit. From time to time they get in a new crop of movies which sell for $3 apiece. Right now they have a wonderful assortment of old movies. We found Cary Grant, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelley, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Greta Garbo, Viven Leigh, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Red Skelton, and Doris Day. We also found a copy of The 3 Worlds of Gulliver with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. I mention this for anyone, like myself, who happens to enjoy Harryhausen movies. We couldn’t buy everything we found, but did come home with a wonderful assortment of old movies. I am ready for a movie marathon!!! As we are leaving the parking lot and discussing the amount of money just spent, hubby spotted another treat – First Place Records! An honest to goodness record store in Texarkana, Texas. It is owned and operated by a record collector and lover of music, Johnny L. Cunningham. We had so much fun visiting with Mr. Cunningham and talking music and LPs. He has a wonderful collection and is quite knowledgeable. We managed to keep our purchases at a small handful.

You can find First Place Records in the Oaklawn shopping center on New Boston Road. It is located next to the Oaklawn Opry and is facing Big Lots and the Attic. It was an exciting, profitable, and lovely evening!

Peep Trivia

These little bunnies are my all-time favorite Easter candy, so in honor of the season here’s a bit of Peeps trivia courtesy of Real Simple Magazine.

1. It takes 6 minutes to make one Peeps chick.
2. Original Peeps have a shelf life of 2 years.
3. More than 5 million Peeps are produced each day.
4. Peeps have been the most popular nonchocolate Easter candy in the US for more than a decade.

A Lovely Package

I returned home last Wednesday from a day spent with by littlest nephew and found a lovely package waiting for me. My dear Uncle Charlie and Aunt Linda had sent me a lovely package of LP’s. Just a little something for the collection. Included was disclaimer stating the selection did in no way reflect the views or opinions of the senders. I was quite pleased with the selection, especially the Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar albums. This little piece of the 80’s brought back many childhood memories.