In Like a Lion...Out Like a Lamb!!!

March certainly lived up to the old saying... In like a lion, out like a lamb!!! It started snowing here on Sunday, March 1st late in the evening and when we woke up on Monday, March 2nd, the ground was covered! We ended up with almost 7 inches of snow. Since I teach pre-school, I got to enjoy a day at home. I'm like a kid, I love snow days, so I can be at home and just chill out. My pictures have gotten loaded in the wrong order, but what else is new? You know me and my technological skills. LOL!!!

Don't you just love this adorable Bug convertible? It was my loaner car for the week, while I had my daughter's car in the shop. I had the most fun driving around with the top down. I had an old VW bug when I was in high school and college, so I loved driving this bug and reminiscing of high school and college days gone by. Maybe one day I will get another bug, but they are just not very practical, if you have a lot of stuff to take with you. I couldn't even get the dog carrier in the trunk. The opening was too small. Although the weather wasn't super hot every day, I still rode with the top down and just turned on the seat heaters. That works, doesn't it ?

I have always loved my bunny planter on my front porch? I have had this for a long time and I just think the little bunny is so cute peaking in the basket to see what is inside. My pansies from the winter are still so beautiful. I will plant something else in there for the summer that will take the heat better. Last summer I planted gerbera daisies!

Here are the snow pictures in the yard in early March and below are the same pictures taken today. They have gotten in the wrong places, but I think you get the idea. I am just not doing something right and the pictures keep moving around on me. Sorry!!

My daffodils have been so beautiful this spring, despite all the rain!! I have been picking them for the whole month and have had so many bouquets in my house, as well as giving some to my parents. Right now I have 3 gorgeous daffodil bouquets in the house to enjoy!!! They just remind me so much of the spring, new life and also my birthday. Daffodils are my favorite. They make me happy!!!


Welcome Spring!!!!!

These are my pots on the deck. Those pansies were hiding under that snow and came out and were more beautiful than ever. I will enjoy them for a bit longer and will then have to plant more heat tolerant plants for the summer. My deck gets full sun!!

Oh what a difference a month can make in terms of the weather!! March came in with a snow storm and is going out on a beautiful note. Warm weather, spring flowers, green grass, birds chirping, children playing outside, the sun shining, new life, and spring showers. I love the spring time. Don't you?

Another Great Giveway!!!

Isn't this the most adorable chalkboard? Wouldn't you love to win one just like it? Just visit My Flip Flopz to leave a comment and say that Tales From My Empty Nest sent you.

You can then post about the giveaway and earn 8 extra chances to win!! Giveaways are so much fun!!

Hurry, the prize winner will be picked on April 2nd by 8pm ET! Good luck to everyone who enters, but please tell them that Tales From My Empty Nest sent you.

Great Giveaway!

Please visit Monogram Chick for your chance to win black cosmetic bags. You must hurry and leave a comment on Friday, because it closes Friday night. You don't want to miss out on this great giveaway.

There are some great gifts on her website for upcoming weddings, birthdays, Mother's Day, and especially graduation!! Please be sure to check it out. Maybe this will be your lucky Friday to win a prize!!!

I Won!!!

On Monday I arrived home and had a surprise package from Jan & Tom at Rose Haven. I had won a gorgeous teacup and saucer in their giveaway and I was so thrilled. Believe me, the pictures can't even capture it's beauty. I am just so excited with it! Thank you so much, Jan and Tom. You made my day!!!

I have a small collection of teacups and saucers that belonged to my Grandmothers, so I will happily add this new teacup and saucer to the collection. I love hot tea, so it will be fun to drink out of it too. I will feel like a queen!

I stood the cup and saucer up, so you could see the beautiful flowers. I just love all the detail. You can't tell from the picture, but the edges of the cup and saucer have little indentions in them that are so pretty. Don't you just love the gold detail on the edge, as well? The pattern is called Primrose Dell and is Royal Stafford China that is made in England. I love it so much!!!

The tag is beautiful too and has been handmade. I don't know if you can read it or not, but it says, "laugh out loud". I am a happy and joyful person, so that suited me to a tea. Pardon the pun!

Isn't it fun to enter giveaways on other blogs? You never know when you might win something. My birthday was March 15th, so this was a belated birthday present to me. Please pay Jan and Tom a visit on their blog. It is so lovely. Thanks again for my gift!!!

Ladies' Getaway Weekend!!!

This has been one crazy, busy week and I am so excited to be leaving this morning to go away for the weekend on a ladies' get-a-way. Rest and relaxation, here I come!! We aren't going too far away, but it is an awesome retreat center and we have the most fun when we go. There are 12 of us who will be there. We share the meals and the food is incredible!! I am in charge of dessert (imagine that) for one meal. I think I can handle that. I made a homemade angel food cake and we are having fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Doesn't that sound like spring?

We all work work on different things. Some of the ladies scrapbook, one lady does watercolor painting, I will be quilting and I also am taking my knitting, some ladies do nothing but chill out and look at magazines or read books. It is a fun time and we all enjoy talking and being together. We get up when we want to, go to bed when we want to and there are no husbands and children wanting our attention!

I will not be back home until late Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, I will be behind on my blog reading and posting, but I guess we all need a break sometimes, don't we?

I hope all of you enjoy this beautiful first day of spring and have an amazing weekend.

Love & blessings to you all!!!
Melinda

55 Random Facts About Me!

In celebration of my 55th birthday on March 15th, I am going to take a cue from my daughter, Sweet, Sassy and Always Classy and my blogger friend, Jennifer, at Diary of a Southern Belle and list 55 random facts about myself. This will be a long post, but hopefully you will enjoy learning some new things about me. Here goes!!!

1. I love the Lord and I look so forward to church each week and also my Bible study groups. I am involved in 3 Women's Bible study groups.


2. My father's family is related to Daniel Boone (way down the line somewhere).


3. I have 2 beautiful daughters who got me into blogging. I love spending time with them! My oldest daughter is married and my youngest daughter is a sophomore in college.


4. For my graduation gift from high school, I got to travel to Europe for a month. I visited Rome, Florence, Pompeii, Brussels, Amsterdam, London and Paris. My favorite country was Italy!


5. My favorite color is blue.


6. My favorite drink is sweet tea with lemon!


7. My favorite food is anything sweet! I love desserts!!!


8. I hate snakes. I'll take a bug any day over a snake.


9. I have a degree in Home Economics Education, but I have taught 3 year old pre-school for 16 years.


10. I was a stay-at-home Mom before I taught pre-school.


11. I met my husband in high school when we were both 15 years old.


12. When I met my husband I had long hair that I could almost sit on. That's what caught his eye! (That was the style back then)


13. I love to cook and I especially like to bake and make sweets. (cakes, cookies, pies, etc.)


14. Since I love to cook, I love cookbooks and also collecting recipes. I like to just sit down and read cookbooks.


15. I love the mountains & enjoy spending time there. My sister lives in the mountains and my parents have a home there, as well.


16. Over the course of my life, I have tried almost every kind of craft you can think of. I especially love to sew and make quilts, and I enjoy knitting and scrapbooking.


17. I have always enjoyed spending time with my parents! I talk to them and/or see them every day. My Mom will be 85 in April and my Dad will be 88 in June. I am blessed to have such wonderful parents.


18. I have an equally wonderful sister! She is 11 years older than I am, but my parents wanted it that way. My sister just came and spent the week with me for my birthday. We had so much fun!!!


19. I love to walk, but I never run. I don't like running at all.


20. I am a happy person and I enjoy life. I look for the best in each day and try to live life to the fullest!


21. I love anything Lilly. I have bought some great Lilly outfits on EBay.


22. My natural hair color is brown, but I have to color it to hide the grey peeking through.


23. I stay up late and I get up early. I don't require a lot of sleep.


24. I enjoy reading, but I stay so busy, I don't read as much as I would like to.


25. I love fresh flowers. I especially love daffodils!


26. I love anything chocolate!


27. I could eat my weight in fresh fruit of any kind. (And I love vegetables too).


28. I like meat, but I am equally as happy without it.


29. I don't care for fish, but I do love shrimp, oysters and crab.


30. I am still having hot flashes!!! When are they ever going to end?


31. I have been married almost 33 years and I can still wear my wedding dress. (I don't like it though..it's too out of fashion. LOL!


32. I love pasta.


33. I don't like negative people.


34. I love to watch TV with my daughter when she is home from college, but as a rule, I watch very little television on a regular basis. I am always doing other things.


35. I am actually one of those people who loves to do housework. I put on some good music and clean up a storm.


36. I love traveling and seeing new places. Just say "GO" and my bags are packed.


37. I enjoy our pets. We have a cat and a dog. (chihuahua)


38. I love Christmas!! I have 25+ storage boxes of Christmas items that I use to decorate my house for Christmas.


39. I have a collection of Angels.


40. I have a collection of Noah's Arks.


41. I love to listen to K-Love. ( A Christian radio station.) I enjoy praise & worship music!


42. I am a cancer survivor!!! I had surgery on Oct. 2, 2003. Praise God I am doing great!!


43. I love the summertime. (flip flops, skirts, sundresses, going to the beach with Sherian!)


44. I love homemade ice cream. My favorite is banana.


45. I love to fly flags and I have one for every season/event.


46. I enjoy sending cards to people. (My Mother does too, so I guess I got that from her)


47. I enjoy reading blogs! Aren't they fun? I have made some amazing new friends and learned so many new things! Thanks blogger friends!!!


48. I am a people person. My children tell me I could go to Mars and see someone I know to talk to.


49. Speaking of which... I LOVE TO TALK to people!


50. I don't like conflict.


51. You can tell I am from the South. I have a very Southern drawl.


52. I love spending time with my girlfriends!


53. I like to be organized.


54. I wear a size 7 shoe.


55. I was born in North Carolina and have lived in the same town all my life.

Whew, that is a lot of information about ME!!! I hope you enjoyed it. Take care and have a blessed week!

Happy Birthday!!!

Sunday, March 15th was my birthday! I turned 55. My sister informs me that I am now an official senior citizen! Sorry I did not get to post about this earlier today, but it has been a bit crazy around here, but in a FUN way.
My sister has been here visiting since Wednesday. Both my daughters were here, as well as my son-in-law and one of their friends. I had 10 people here for dinner Saturday night and then we all went out for brunch on my birthday!
My youngest daughter has been working on a project all weekend on the computer, so I have not gotten to post.
I will upload my pictures from the weekend and let you see the birthday festivities as soon as I can get that done.
I love birthdays and being with my wonderful family! We had such an awesome weekend, despite the rainy weather.
More to come about my birthday.

Great Giveaway!!!

My sweet blogger friend, Preppy 101, at All Things Southern & Preppy is hosting an amazing giveaway to celebrate her 200th post!

She is giving away some wonderful items from Whitney Caroline Designs. You will want to head over and check things out on her blog.

Hurry, because the deadline to enter and leave a comment is March 17th.



Please let Preppy 101 know that "Tales From My Empty Nest" sent you to visit her blog.

Good luck and have a blessed day!

Fabulous Friday!!!

There is nothing I love more in the spring than my beautiful daffodils!!! They have always been one of my favorite flowers. I think mainly, because March is my birthday month and daffodils aways remind me of my birthday! Plus, I have daffodils planted all around my house. I pick them and have bouquets of daffodils in my house all during the month. I just love fresh flowers in the house. Below is the same bunch of daffodils all covered up with snow on Monday. Quite a change from Monday until today. We are expecting highs up near 80 over the weekend. I can't wait!!

Adelaide came home from college on Thursday night. Our dog went berserk!!! I have never seen Holly act so crazy in my life. Needless to say, Holly was thrilled to have her "Mother" home. Wouldn't you just love to know what Holly thinks about Adelaide and where she has been all this time, since she saw her last?

We went out last night and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant and Adelaide and I talked non-stop for the rest of the night. She was so excited to show me the 3 beautiful new Lilly dresses she got on EBay. They are so pretty. I had to show her my new Lilly purchases too. I will have to take some pictures and post about our purchases at a later time. Isn't EBay fun? We have both gotten some really nice purchases.


Today we are meeting my parents for lunch and then going to get pedicures and manicures. I can't wait! Sandals, here we come!!! We are also going to do some shopping. Adelaide loves Target, so that will be in the works sometime this weekend. We have not seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, so we are going to the movies tomorrow too. So much to do, so little time.


Adelaide leaves Monday to go to the beach for a week with 4 of her girlfriends. Our dear friend, Sherian, is letting Adelaide and her friends stay at her beach house. Isn't that so sweet of her? They will have such a good time doing "girl things" and just getting some much needed rest and relaxation after a hard few months at school. One day the girls are going to Charleston, South Carolina. Won't that be fun? I wish I was going.



I am so excited to have Adelaide home for the weekend. Next weekend my other daughter and her husband will be here, so I can't wait. I so love having my girls and my son-in-law visit. They are the joy of my life! And next weekend will be my birthday, so we will be celebrating! I will turn 55 and I guess that puts me in the senior citizen category. Oh well, you are as young as you feel and believe me, I don't feel 55. I am just so thrilled to be alive and be celebrating all the joys of my life. Have a blessed weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Wonderful Wednesday!!!!!

I had parent conferences today and they were great! I am blessed to teach some wonderful 3 year old children and their parents are equally as nice! The conferences went very well, but I am glad to have that behind me.

Tonight a group of teachers from school are getting together at my associate's house for dinner and to celebrate conferences being over. Won't that be fun? We love to eat, so I know the food will be delicious. And it is always fun to talk with each other, since it is hard to do that at school with the children around.

I got a text from Adelaide today saying that she is coming home a day earlier for spring break. She will be home Thursday evening!!!! I am so excited. I am in high gear this afternoon putting the finishing touches on the house. We have so many fun things planned to do before she leaves with her girlfriends for the beach on Monday. Our little dog, Holly, will be so thrilled to have Adelaide at home. Holly misses her "Mother" when Adelaide is away at school.

The temperatures are getting so much warmer here and the snow is slowly melting. I can't believe that by the weekend our temperatures are going to be in the 70's. Bring on the spring time weather. I love it!!! Take care and have an awesome day.


Speaking of wonderful, I wanted to share this writing from Max Lucado.

God loves you with an everlasting love...

You are valuable to Him not because of what you do,

but simply because you are.

His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore...

He lives to hear your heartbeat.

He loves to hear your prayers.

If something is important to you, it's important to Him.

He has never taken his eyes off you - not for a millisecond.

He's always near...

So be kind to yourself.

God thinks you're worth His kindness.

And he's a good judge of character.

He thinks you're WONDERFUL!!!

By the way, I think you're WONDERFUL too!!!

Winter Wonderland!!!

We awoke Monday morning to a beautiful snow white world!!! Doesn't God have an amazing sense of humor? Snow on the first day of March!! I have daffodils in full bloom in my front yard and now they are all covered up with snow. This weekend it is going to be 70 degrees. This weather is crazy!! I enjoyed the snow and it was nice to have a day to hibernate in, especially since I have had a cold this past weekend. This picture is looking off my deck towards my neighbor's yard. The trees were so pretty covered in snow!Here are the steps leading up to our deck. My poor pansies in the pots on the deck were covered in snow, as well. Our little chihuahua, Holly, couldn't even walk in the snow, because it was too deep. She hates cold weather too! I have a bird feeder on my deck and the birds were there all day eating. I love watching my birds!!!

We got about 6 inches of snow Sunday night. It started snowing about dark and snowed all night. I stayed up late just watching the snow come down. It is so peaceful to see the snow falling at night. God's beauty is so amazing!! These are some of my deck chairs covered in snow.

Here is my snowman flag that I love to fly in the winter. His pail says, " Snow for Sale". I love to fly flags and I have one for almost every occasion.

Aren't the trees so beautiful with the snow on them? It looked like winter wonderland when I went out to go to the Post Office this afternoon. Our children did not have school here today and lots of businesses were closed, as well. I enjoyed a day of just being at home chilling out and getting things done around the house. I love days like that when I can just be at home and do my own thing, without knowing that I have to be somewhere.

I fixed a nice dinner for my hubby and then I watched the Bachelor, although I was shocked at how it turned out. I hope Jason made the right choice this time. He can't make up his mind!

Well, it's back to school for me tomorrow. But at least we get to go in an hour later. That will be nice, since there will probably be black ice in the morning. Wednesday I have parent conferences. I will be glad to have that behind me!! Have a wonderful day.

Daughters Are A Blessing!!!

I am so blessed to have such amazing daughters!! They are just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. They are the joy of my life and I thank God for them every day! They are not only my daughters, they are my best friends as well. We love spending time together doing "girlie" things and they keep me up to date on the latest fashions, makeup, etc. Where would I be without them?


This is Lauren's graduation in December from graduate school. She got her Master's degree in Accounting and is now working for one of the big accounting firms. She loves her job and we are so proud of her!! Here are my girls at a shower that was held for Lauren when she got married. That was such a special time in my life. Lauren's wedding was so beautiful and we had so much fun helping her plan for her big day. She and her husband had dated for 8 years, so he was already like a member of our family. He is a sweetheart and we love him so much. He is so good to Lauren and makes her feel so special. He is a wonderful husband!

This picture was taken at a shower that was given by my dear friends Sherian and Marilyn when Lauren got married. It was awesome and the decorations were incredible. Lots of pink and white. Of course!!! I will have to post about this shower someday. You all would love seeing the pictures, as it was so beautiful!

This picture was taken at a tea that was given by my dear friends Nancy, Susan and Diana. They wanted to celebrate Lauren's upcoming wedding and they gave this tea to kick off all the wedding festivities. It was so much fun and the food was so delicious. My friend Susan is the pastry chef at the Country Club here, so you can imagine how awesome the food was. I will have to post about the tea sometime. (Don't you love Adelaide's hair curly?) She wears it that way sometimes and I just love it!

This is a recent picture of my girls when they were home visiting. Aren't they just the most adorable girls? I think so, but I guess that is a Mom thing. I am so proud of both my girls. I had cancer 5 years ago and they were right there with me to lift me up and see me through. I couldn't have made it without them. Thanks girls, you don't know how much you mean to me. I love getting that phone call, text or email each day. It is always so good to hear from you. I also cherish our time together, now that they are not at home. We love to shop, watch movies, get our nails done, go to Barnes and Noble, etc. Anything to just be together.

Notice my Granddog, Chi-Chi, on the left and our dog, Holly, on the right.

I thank God everyday that he has blessed me with such wonderful daughters. As a Mom I could not ask for anything more. You bring joy to my life each day! Thanks for being the amazing young women that you both are!!! I AM SO PROUD OF BOTH OF YOU!!!

LOVE & BLESSINGS, MOM