Tales From My Empty Nest

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me!

2011-03-15T05:12:00.001-07:00

On Monday night after taking my Mom for her eye appointment at Duke, we had a pre-birthday dinner for me at one of my favorite restaurants. My husband, my Mom and Dad and my sister went with me to eat. It would have been complete if my sweet girls, son-in-law and Adelaide's boyfriend could have joined us too!
This is my mini mousse birthday treat!!! One of my favorite things is DESSERT!!!!! In case you haven't figured it out by now, I LOVE sweets!!!! At this restaurant (Southern Lights), they serve a "mini" dessert for just $1.50. I love them, because it just gives you a taste of something sweet after your meal, without getting so many calories! I chose chocolate mousse, but they have lots of other yummy choices. They all come served in a glass that looks like a shot glass.
My beautiful "older" sister. We are 11 years apart. Love you Sis!!! So glad we can be with each other and celebrate together this week. I love spending time with you!!! Can you believe that my Mom, my sister and I all wore the same colors today? We didn't plan it that way, it just happened. All day while we we are at Duke with Mom, people commented about us being color co-ordinated. So funny!!! Turquoise and blue are my favorite colors!!!
My sweet Mom and Dad!!! Love you guys. You are the greatest and have been the most wonderful parents! Mom got a great report from her eye doctor at Duke! Her "bad" eye has not changed and her "good" eye has almost perfect 20/20 vision. Praise God!

More fun is in store for today and I have received so many calls and emails already this morning. Adelaide texted me right after midnight on my birthday and Lauren was first in line to wish me HAPPY BIRTHDAY this morning. Love you girls. Wish you were here!

Sister Time!!!

2011-03-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

I get to be off work this week, since the family I nanny for is on spring break! I love my job so much and I have an awesome family to work for, but I am looking forward to the week off and some much needed rest and relaxation!!! As you know from my lack of posts since Christmas, I have been going full steam ahead. It will be nice to have a fun week to do some things for "ME"!!!

My sister came down on Sunday and will be here until Thursday and I am so looking forward to our week together! We spent our first day doing a little bit of shopping.... Stein Mart, Goodwill & Big Lots. Followed by dinner at one of our favorite pizza restaurants, Elizabeth's.

On Monday, we will start out taking my parents to breakfast. (One of my Dad's favorite things to do!) My sister and I have to take my Mom to see her eye doctor at Duke Hospital. On the way down there we are stopping at another favorite Goodwill. Can you tell that we love to thrift?

We are packing a picnic lunch to eat when we get there and her appointment is at 1:00 pm. On the way home we are stopping in Burlington, NC at a new thrift store that is operated by Hospice. I have seen the ads on TV and it is huge!! I can't wait. We have dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants, Southern Lights, on Monday night and my Dad and husband will join us.

On Tuesday, us gals are going for manicures/pedicures and then taking my Dad to lunch at another favorite restaurant, Lucky 32. After lunch I have to go get fitted for clothes that I am wearing in a fashion show later in the month. I will post about that later. For dinner on Tuesday night we are going Mexican. My Dad LOVES Mexican, especially the margaritas. We are also going to a yummy dessert place, called Maxie B's for cake. I forgot to mention that Tuesday is my birthday. I think the whole week is going to be a celebration! Aren't birthdays fun?

On Wednesday we plan to have another fun day of shopping and eating, but we haven't totally decided on our itinerary yet. That night, the 6 ladies from my old church, who I have been friends with since our children were born, are all going out to dinner for my birthday. My sister is going with us too. We are going to an Italian restaurant called Bravos.

On Thursday we are going to Kernersville to do some more thrift shopping and we are eating lunch at Miss Pegg's Tea Room. Then I am sad to say that my sister will be leaving to go back home. She lives about 2 hours away in the mountains. It is still winter there and she was so excited to see the daffodils and flowering trees blooming. It really looks like spring here in my city!! I am so glad.

If any of you have sisters, you know how much fun it is to spend time together! We will both enjoy spending time with our parents, as well. Although Mom and Dad are both getting older, they still enjoy time with family and doing special things. These memories of our week together will be special to all of us.

In the picture above, I am on the left, my sister is in pink in the middle and that is Mom on the right. Bless her heart, Mom NEVER smiles when you try to take her picture. I don't know what is up with that. Oh well. She always has a puzzled look on her face.

Have a blessed week! I am sure enjoying this taste of spring weather. It was 77 here today on my car thermometer. On Monday it is only going to be in the low 50's though. We are still on a roller coaster ride with our weather. Oh well, at least it isn't snowing!

Enjoy your week and if you have a sister, think about all the fun times and the great memories you have shared with each other!!!

What's on my mind today!

2011-03-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

Since I have been AWOL from blogging for a bit, I thought I would copy the items from a Simple Woman's Day book that some of you post and comment on them. I love reading these posts on other people's blogs!

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW... it is pouring rain! But it could be worse. Up in the mountains where my sister lives, it is snowing today. I am so ready for spring, so I hope we don't get any more snow. My daffodils are in full bloom, the trees are budding out, forsythias are blooming, etc. And we have had some warm weather too recently. Although one week it will be really nice (highs near 70, but then the next week it will dip back down into the 50's). Oh well, hopefully the worst of our winter cold and snow is over and spring is just a short time away.

I AM WEARING.... a pair of black slacks, a bright colored cardigan sweater with a tank top underneath and my pearl necklace and earrings. Since it was raining this morning when I went to church, I just wore pants instead of a dress.

I AM REMEMBERING.... how much I love spring time. I am not a cold weather person, so I always look forward to spring and then afterwards, the arrival of summer! In the city where I live, we have such beautiful dogwood trees, azaleas, daffodils, tulips, etc. and the city is gorgeous in the spring time. I love being outside and look so forward to the warmer weather. Don't forget that the time changes next weekend.

I AM READING... Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is a wonderful book to inspire us all to be more passionate in our love for God in our everyday lives. I would highly recommend it!

I AM HOPING.... that my youngest daughter, Adelaide has a wonderful time on her spring break this week. She is on a cruise with 7 of her sorority sisters for some much needed rest and relaxation. Where she is in school, they have had a terrible winter with lots of snow & cold weather, so they were all ready for a break from the cold. Bon voyage, sweet girl!

ON MY MIND... are my aging parents. My Mom will turn 87 in April and my Dad will be 90 in June. As I have stated previously, I am having to spend more and more time with them to help keep them independent and living in their own townhouse. It is so hard to see our parents aging and for the roles to start reversing. Us as the parents and them as the children.... I am just so thankful that I am close by and can help out. I will certainly cherish those memories of times spent with them, although they can prove challenging at times.

FROM THE KITCHEN... I have not cooked at all this weekend. We have eaten out, since my daughter and son-in-law were here. We also took my parents out to eat several times. I do love to cook, but sometimes I enjoy doing other things instead. Tonight I am going to make soup to share with my Bible study group tomorrow and I am also going to make banana bread. My sweet blog friend Angela (Love Being a Nonny) posted about this delicious banana bread on her blog and it is wonderful. I had never had banana bread with coconut in it, but it is so good. Check out her recipe. You will love it and Angela too! She is precious! (We have actually met each other several times.)

AROUND THE HOUSE.... there are always more things to do than I ever have time to do anymore! That seems to be the story of my life these days. My "to do" list is a block long, but I'm just not stressing about it. Right now I prefer to spend my time with my family and friends and if things don't get done here at home, the world is not going to come to an end. Last year, I did get my upstairs cleaned out in preparation for getting new carpet and that makes me feel so much better and more organized. My project this year is tackling my basement (which would be like your attic). Mine is a mess! My new favorite word is "Simplify". I am trying to do away with everything that I don't use or need. I am tired of all the "stuff".

PLANS FOR THE WEEK.... include working from Monday until Thursday (my usual work week). I am having dinner on Tuesday night with 3 of my girlfriends. I will spend time with Mom and Dad this week. Friday night I will be going to my card making class. I love making hand made cards!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.... is milk glass. My dear friend introduced me to milk glass and I have been hooked ever since. Sherian had a shower for Lauren when she got married and everything used for the shower was milk glass. It was gorgeous!!! I since decided to start my own collection and have been collecting ever since. I have found some of my best pieces at Goodwill. In my hunt for milk glass and also my love for old things, I enjoy going to thrift shops and yard sales.

CSN

2011-02-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

CSN Stores has graciously asked me to work with them to review one of their products and I will be so thrilled to do so!

Never heard of CSN???? CSN offers an amazing array of products, from swing sets to chandeliers. I'm sure they have something to fit your needs.

There are over 200+ stores to choose from at CSN:

furniture
decor
kitchen
dining
bed & bath
home improvement
patio & garden
baby & kids
lighting
exercise & fitness
luggage
pets
shoes
rugs
jewelry......etc. etc. etc.

As you can see CSN has ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that you could ever want!

***They have hassle free returns & FREE shipping on just about everything!!!

I'll be back to do a review soon. Be sure to keep an eye out for it, and in the meantime, be sure to check out their website.

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

I've Totally Lost It!!!

2011-01-31T17:47:00.000-08:00

In the winter I love to wear my Dansko's. I have a black and a brown pair. Well guess what? Today I decided to add a little excitement to the day and I ended up wearing one of each!!! Didn't I just mention in a past post how busy I have been lately? I know I have totally lost it now!!!

I had to be at work today at 7am, so I was up and out of the house really early. I had my shoes in the hallway and just ran by and slipped them on in the dark and took off out the front door.

I got to work (remember, I am a Nanny) and proceeded to do my usual morning routine at their house. The Mom was there, but was busy doing her thing trying to get the oldest child out the door. We talked, but she or the children never noticed my shoes.

I took the youngest child to pre-school and WALKED in the building! No one noticed my shoes or if they did, they were polite and didn't say anything.

I then went to the dry cleaners and it is one that you walk in to (not a drive-through). Again, no one mentioned my shoes.

From there I went to the grocery store and was there for about an hour. Still no comment from anyone about my shoes. I had not noticed them either! LOL!!!

After grocery shopping, it was time for my morning Bible study group. It was while we were discussing our book, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, that I looked down and noticed that I had on two colors of shoes. I pointed it out to everyone and we all had a good laugh!!! And believe it or not, every lady there admitted to having done that at least once in her life.

I am amazed at God's sense of humor and how He brought laughter and smiles to our Bible study group this morning through something as simple as my mismatched shoes!

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY ADELAIDE!!!

2011-01-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

Adelaide turned 22 on Monday, January 24th! I can't believe my baby is that old. It just seems like yesterday that she was born.
What a joy she and her older sister, Lauren, have been in my life! I am so blessed to have such wonderful daughters, who are as beautiful inside as they are outside.
I am so happy to be their Mom!

I hope you had a wonderful day, Adelaide and I'm sorry we were not able to be together! I look forward to celebrating with you real soon. (For those of you who don't know, Adelaide is a senior in college and will graduate in May!) Where have these past 4 years gone?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweet girl!!! I love you!

Love & blessings,
MOM

Belated Christmas Update!

2011-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I'm sorry for not posting in FOREVER, but I have just been a bit on overload since early December and blogging has had to take a back seat. Nothing bad....just more on my plate than I could handle. Not enough hours in the day! I hope you all understand.
This picture was taken of our family on Thanksgiving day. From left to right is our son-in-law Thomas, our oldest daughter Lauren, my husband Tom, our youngest daughter Adelaide and me.
This is my parents when we were attending a local church Christmas musical this year. I am so blessed to have Mom and Dad in my life, but they are really requiring more and more of my time to function on an every day basis. I am not complaining at all, but with working full time and helping with their care, it has really taken up a huge portion of my time. My Mom is almost 87 and my Dad is almost 90.

With Christmas thrown in and other family commitments, plus 4 friends who each lost a parent, I felt like I was on a roller coaster that wasn't ever going to stop. Something had to give and I just decided to quit blogging for a bit. I needed to get reorganized and focus on some of these other things in my life.

A big THANK YOU to all of my sweet blog friends who sent messages, emails, etc. to check on me and make sure everything was OK. I read some blogs on occasion and commented when I could, but not as much as usual. I sure appreciated your thoughtfulness! Thanks so much!! I love all my blog friends and I have missed you all.

Our family had a nice Christmas and for the first time since 1969, we had a white Christmas. We received between 6 to 7 inches of snow on Christmas day. I took this picture on my deck rail in the back yard. This little snowman measuring stick was made in my pre-school class many years ago, but I still love using it when it snows.
I love the house blanketed in snow. I put wreaths on all my windows with red bows. You can't tell from the picture, but I burn a single electric candle in each window on the front and the back of the house. There are also 2 lighted reindeer and a spiral Christmas tree next to the front door. I love to fly decorative flags and this particular time I was flying Santa Claus!

For those of you who don't live in the North Carolina area, we have had 3 major snow storms here in the past month. Needless to say, we are all looking forward to spring! Enough snow!!! They are calling for possible precip on Wednesday, but I am hoping for just rain.

Work for me has been a bit crazy too, recently. The week before Christmas, the family I work for had an older daughter who got married out of state, so that made things busy! Then these past 2 weeks at work, both of the kids have been sick and now the Dad has pneumonia. I am just praying that I stay well.

This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to get away for a ladies weekend with some of my girlfriends for some much needed REST & RELAXATION. It was most welcomed and I enjoyed my time away so much. Now maybe I can regroup and get on with life.

God may throw us a few curve balls every so often, but He promises us that He will never give us more than we can handle. Life may be BUSY, but it is GOOD and I am glad to be back with you all in the blog world!!! I have missed you all. Enjoy your week.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Winter Wonderland!!!

2010-12-04T22:16:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, the weathermen in our area said that we MIGHT get a few snow flurries, but nothing to get excited about. The joke was on them. At noon it started snowing and it snowed the rest of the afternoon. We probably got at least 2 inches of snow. Luckily, it did not stick on the roads, so everybody could continue on with their plans, but the ground got covered. The trees were gorgeous and everything certainly looked like a winter wonderland.
This picture is at the Battleground Park, which is right near my house. I loved the way the snow looked on the trees!
The local Christmas tree lot blanketed in snow! Even the big Santa got covered in snow today. People were scurrying around trying to buy their Christmas trees in the snow flurries. It was so festive!!!
In Mom's backyard, her little squirrel was looking everywhere for something to eat. He kept digging in the snow looking for the bird seed that had spilled from the bird feeder. I love to watch the birds and the squirrels!
I took this picture while we were out and about today. I loved the old gate and the trees covered in snow in the background. While Mom and I were out today, we were amazed at God's beauty all around us... Even simple things were so gorgeous covered in snow!

Today was such a fun day. I took my Mom out for the day and we enjoyed our time together. We started out at a local church bazaar. Then we went out to lunch. From there we went to a local "Vintage shop" that has the most gorgeous stuff. They were having their Christmas open house. I bought an old vintage Santa to add to my collection and a hand made Santa ornament. (You know I love my Santas!)

From there Mom and I went to Furniture Land South in High Point to look for a leather recliner for my Dad. High Point is where they have the furniture market twice a year, so the selection there is incredible! ( A bit overwhelming, actually!!!) We found the exact chair that my Dad had and it was on sale at a great price. We were both doing the happy dance over this chair!!!!

Saturday night Tom and I went out to dinner with some of our friends to our favorite restaurant to celebrate my good news and also our friend's birthday. I had a great day!

The only sad note to the day was that my youngest daughter, Adelaide, was supposed to have her White Rose Formal dance with her sorority and it got canceled due to the bad weather where she is in school. The girls had rented houses to stay in where the dance was being held. They were already there settling in to get ready for the dance, when they got news that things had been canceled. Luckily it will be re-scheduled for sometime in January or February, but I know all the girls were really disappointed. Adelaide had a beautiful new dress to wear and she was looking forward to going with her new boyfriend. Oh well, you can't control Mother Nature!

Our first snowfall of the year was so pretty today! I wonder if this is an indication of what is to come this winter?

Early Christmas Gift!!!

2010-12-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

I will always remember Christmas 2010 as a very special year. I received the wonderful news today that my CT Scan was clear and there is no evidence of cancer!!!!! Talk about an awesome Christmas present!!! I was beyond thrilled!

And to top it off, my oncologist even called to tell me in person. How about that? He is an amazing doctor and I am going to miss him. When I go on December 17th, he will dismiss me and I will no longer need the services of an oncologist.

As you can imagine, I am doing the "happy dance" here at my house today. God is good and I give him all the glory for my healing! He evidently has great plans for my life! I have 2 amazing daughters to love and spend time with. That is #1 on my list. Life is wonderful!!!

Hope all of you have a blessed holiday season. Take time to enjoy those you love and make lots of memories this Christmas!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

We Interrupt This Holiday Season For.......

2010-12-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

A CT Scan!!!!!

On Friday morning I have to get my semi-annual CT Scan. I have to report at 8am to start drinking the contrast and my actual scan is at 10am. The good news is that if this scan is clear (normal), then I will be released from my oncologist's care when I visit him this month. Isn't that wonderful? I am so excited and I pray that I have good results again this time!

I do have mixed feelings about not seeing my oncologist anymore, as he is an incredible doctor! I have seen him for the past 7 years, so we are like family!

I will more than likely not get my scan results tomorrow, but I will let you all know whenever I get them.

We have a nice weekend planned. Friday night my hubby and I are attending a Christmas party with our Sunday school class from the church we used to belong to. Then on Saturday night, we are going to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate one of the friend's birthday. I also have some things I am going to be doing with my Mom. We hope to get to some craft shows/bazaars this weekend.

I hope you have a nice weekend and that your Christmas plans are coming along very well.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Thanksgiving Memories

2010-11-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

Our family had a wonderful time being together this year for the Thanksgiving holiday! The time just went by too fast. Adelaide was home for a week, but it seems like she was just here for a few days. Lauren and Thomas got to stay from Thursday until Sunday. I loved all the activity, chatter and laughter while they were all here. Now my nest is quiet again and I sure don't like it that way!!! I miss my girls already!

This picture is from left to right: Thomas (son-in-law), Lauren, Tom, Adelaide & Me
Lauren's little dog, Chi Chi, climbed up on my Santa pillow and took her nap. Our dog, Holly, and Chi Chi enjoyed their time being together too.
Dessert..... the most important part of the meal!!! My Mom's famous coconut cake with 7 minute icing and a fresh pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Yum!
This is my sister, Cecelia (we call her CC) and me. There is almost 12 years difference in our ages. Love time spent with my sweet sister!!!! Glad she only lives 2 hours away.
Hanging out in the den after lunch. Watching football, napping, working on the IPad, playing with the dogs, etc. A great time was had by all.
My brother-in-law, Larry and my sister, CC.
My Mom and Dad. Daddy must have just told one of his famous jokes, because it looks like Mom is fussing at him. They are such a cute couple! Glad I still have them in my life! My Dad had been sick this past week, so we were glad he was well enough to join us for lunch on Saturday. Our family had to wait and have our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday, since my niece and her husband had to work Thanksgiving day. And then, wouldn't you know it, my niece got sick and they couldn't even be with us after all. We were sad that they didn't get to come.
Lauren and Thomas. They have been married for 3 1/2 years. I am blessed to have a great son-in-law and he is such a wonderful husband to Lauren!
This is Adelaide and her new boyfriend, Nick. He is a very nice young man and we like him a lot. He will graduate from college in December and is presently looking for a job. They are a cute couple together!
Since the house is already decorated for Christmas, I used my poinsettias on the table for our Thanksgiving meal. I was glad that we could all sit together at one table, so we were able to talk and visit with each other.
Here is the table from the other direction. We had lots of delicious food. We all helped with the food and it wasn't too hard on any of us. I always host now, since it is too overwhelming for my Mom to have us all at her house for a holiday meal.

That night we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The famous movie about the Griswold family. It is so funny! Our family loves to watch this movie each year. It is a tradition to watch it on Thanksgiving weekend. Although we know the movie by heart, it always seems funnier each year when I see it. In some ways, our family is like the Griswold's. There is always something going on around here. LOL!!!

I hope your family had an awesome time being together over the holiday and making memories!!! We sure did! I just hate that the time went by so fast, but I have Christmas to look forward to now. Plus, once Adelaide is finished with this semester, she will only have one more semester of college and will be graduating in May of 2011. I can't believe it!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

2010-11-25T07:08:00.001-08:00

Thanking God today for all my many blessings!

I am thankful for:

- A God who loves me unconditionally!

- 2 daughters who have brought me more joy than they will ever know!

- A wonderful husband who I have known since I was 15 years old. We have been
married for 34 years.

- A son that I never had (my awesome son-in-law)!

- My health. I am a 7 year cancer survivor.

- The greatest parents anyone could ask for. I am so blessed to still have them in my
life!

- A very special sister (and her family)! Love you Sis!!!

- My home.

- My sweet pets. Dog (Holly), cat (Sassy) and canary (Sunny)!

- A great job and a wonderful family to work for.

- My freedom to live in a country where I can worship a God that I love.

- Great friends. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends. I am especially
thankful for my blog friends.

- The joy in my life every day!!!! Thank you Lord!

- I could go on and on............

I saw a saying on a church sign yesterday and it said it all as far as I am concerned:

THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR EACH DAY!!!!!!!

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

Christmas Decorations!

2010-11-24T15:12:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I got my whole house decorated for Christmas. Inside and out!!! I don't usually get everything out before Thanksgiving, but this year, I decided that I wanted to enjoy myself during December and not be stressed with decorating. I was pooped last weekend, but now that it is done, I am so thrilled that I have that all behind me.

I have ALWAYS loved Christmas and everything that comes with it! I collect Santas and they are all over my house. My favorite Christmas item is my Nativity Scene that I got as a child. I remember Mom taking me to the five and ten cent store to purchase each piece. The pieces were made in Italy, but back when they were purchased over 50 years ago, only cost around 25 to 35 cents each.
This is another favorite Nativity Scene too. It was made at church by my girls when they were little. It is so precious to me, because they signed most of the pieces on the bottom. Each piece is made out of a block of wood and felt. This Nativity sits on the floor underneath the table where my other Nativity is.
I made this Christmas banner when I was a child. I loved making things like this when I was younger and I am so thrilled to have my handmade things to pass on to my own girls. Both of my Grandmothers taught me how to do handwork. This banner is made out of felt, sequins and beads.
An end table in my den. I love the Mary Engelbreit saying... For Christmas, give your heart! My Grandmother made the fabric tree. Adelaide made the little pottery glove. And I love the little pottery Nativity.
This is one of my many Santas. His vest is made from an old quilt. I made the cross stitched pillow many years ago.
This Santa is made out of a bowling pin. He sits by my front door. A friend of mine painted him for me. Isn't he cute?
I love Anna Lee figures and these are a few from my collection. I love my Santas!
This is a tree that is in my entry foyer. A lot of the ornaments are handmade. (Many of them I made). More Santas and his elves are on the banister. Santa even hangs his hat on the post.
My gold & white table in the living room. It looks like a hodge podge in the picture, but it really is pretty. My white/gold Santas, glass Nativity,trees, angels, ornaments, etc. In the very front is a baby Jesus that Adelaide made at church when she was just a toddler. Baby Jesus is a wooden icecream spoon.
I love this old Santa. It is hard to tell from the picture, but his coat is made out of an old quilt. He is sitting by a corner cabinet that was my Grandmother's. The chair he is sitting in is old too.
This is my Santa collection on the top of our entertainment unit in the den. I have loved collecting my Santas and many of them have wonderful stories behind them. My husband is a Postmaster, so a lot of my Santas are mail related. I try not to buy as many Santas anymore, but I can't resist. I usually have to add a few each year.
I made my carolers at church many, many years ago and they sing in the breakfast room.
My tree in the den. Again, a lot of these ornaments were made by me through the years. I crossed stitched the alphabet picture on the wall. I love it!
My mantel in the den. I knitted the stockings (all but the meow one).

Sorry for the picture overload, but I wanted to show lots of my things. I still have some other pictures, but I will wait and post those later. As you can see, I totally love Christmas and all that comes with it. We haven't put up our live tree yet.

I hope you have enjoyed my Christmas decorations! Christmas is such a joyous time of the year. The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Holiday Decorating!

2010-11-17T17:20:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, I am still here. I have just been so busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I did try to post this past weekend about my Father's trip to the World War II Memorial, but the computer would not let me upload the pictures that I have on the computer of his trip. Every time I tried to load them, it would post "error". After working with it for hours, I finally gave up. I'll try again when I have more time.

I am hosting my family for Thanksgiving this year, but we won't be eating until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, since my niece and her husband have to work the holiday this year. We will be having both of my girls, my son-in-law, Adelaide's boyfriend, my sister and her husband, my parents and my niece and her husband. There will be 12 of us!

I will roast the turkey and fix some of the food. My Mom and sister will bring some things too. That way it is not hard on anybody. Although the food is a wonderful part of Thanksgiving, I especially enjoy our time together. Looking forward to having everyone here for the holiday.

In getting ready to host my family, I decided to get my house decorated for Christmas. I have already started working on getting out my decorations. I brought all my storage bins upstairs last weekend. I have to pack up a lot of the items in my house in order to put out Christams stuff, so I have already begun to do that. My goal is to get everything put out by Sunday night. (Except our real tree).

Adelaide is coming home on Monday and I want to have everything ready and be able to enjoy my time with her while she is home. Plus, for one year, I also want to enjoy December and not have to be doing so much. I want to enjoy the Christmas season this year and not be so frazzled.

My girls and I have ALWAYS loved Christmas!!! We get so excited decorating the house and making things so festive. I collect Santa Clauses and they are everywhere in my house! I put up a real tree and I also have trees in each room of the house. They aren't large trees, but they each have pretty ornaments on them (many of them made by the girls or myself). I have something "Christmasy" in each room of the house (bathrooms included).

So think of me this weekend. I will have the Christmas CD's cranked up and will be spreading a little Christmas cheer throughout my house!!! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..........

Blog Friend!!!

2010-11-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I had the opportunity to meet my long-time blog friend, Angela.
(Love Being a Nonny) We had the best time and we talked non-stop the whole time we were together!!! I met her at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. She and I don't live but about 30 minutes from each other, but just had never gotten together before. We both stay so busy with work and our families, but I am so glad that it finally worked out for us to meet each other.

Angela is as pretty and sweet in person, as I knew she would be. We just had so much fun being together and talking with each other. Angela has 3 grown children and 2 of the cutest little granddaughters that you have ever seen. She is expecting another grandchild real soon. If you have never read her blog, go over and say hello. She is one precious blog friend that I am so glad to have the privilege to know.

Angela and I have some other mutual blog friends and we said that it would be fun to meet them too. If you have never met any of your blog friends in person, I would highly recommend it. I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of my blog friends.

Sorry for the delay in posting our meeting on Friday, but my computer froze up on me on Friday night, our college daughter paid us a surprise visit on Saturday and Tom and I had a reunion to go to on Saturday night. We have had such a fun weekend!!! And to top it off, I was on vacation last week and just enjoyed being here at home. It was great!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I can't believe that it is already November. Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be here before we know it, but I love the holidays!! Such a festive time of the year!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Flight of Honor!!!

2010-10-30T03:32:00.001-07:00

My 89 year old Father is leaving this morning to fly to Washington, DC on the Flight of Honor with 104 fellow World War II Veterans. It is sponsored by our local Rotary Club. They will tour the WW II Memorial, The Korean and Vietnam Memorials, the Navy Yard, the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Air Force Memorial.

It will be a day to remember for these WW II Vets. They range in age from 82 to 96. I am so proud of my Dad and all these men who served during the war to protect the freedom that we have today in this county.

I pray that they will have a wonderful and safe trip and that it will be very memorable for all of them. More pictures to come.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

Beach Trip - Part 1

2010-10-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

In early October, I went to the beach with my sister and some of my girl cousins. One of my cousins has a lovely home at Kure Beach. If you remember, that is where we went on our vacation this summer. One day, we drove over to Wilmington and ate lunch and shopped. This is a view of the riverfront. There are lots of great restaurants and shops along the water.
One of the local sightseeing boats. Wilmington sits on the Cape Fear River.
My shrimp and grits! This version was a bit different, but delicious!! The grits were fried, instead of creamy.
This is my older sister. Her name is Cecelia, but we call her CC. She is a wonderful sister and we love spending time together. She and I live about 2 hours from each other, so we are fortunate to get to see each other a good bit. Nothing better than time spent with your sister!!!
From the boardwalk area we could see the Battleship North Carolina. It has been restored and is a tourist attraction now. We did not go on it. Just looked from a distance. I toured it as a child.
Here is another view of the riverfront area looking back towards the big bridge coming into Wilmington.
It would not be the south unless moss was hanging in the trees.
Isn't this a cute place to eat? Look at the people eating out on their own private balconies. This restaurant was right on the river front. What a wonderful view!!
This was a view from the bridge as we were coming into Wilmington. Such a pretty city. I didn't get any good pictures of the old houses, but Wilmington has lots and lots of beautiful restored houses near the downtown area.
This is a picture from my beach chair as I sat out on the beach one afternoon and read my book and watched the world go by. At the beach, I love to sit and listen to the roar of the ocean waves and watch the seagulls running along the sand.
Notice all the people on the pier. It was wall to wall people!!! Needless to say, the fish were running and there was not an empty spot to stand and fish. We loved walking down to the pier and checking on the activity in the evening. Lots of fish being caught.
This guy and his friends sit on the end of the pier and wait for people to feed them fish that they don't want to keep. It was fascinating watching the pelicans eat their fish snacks!
A view of the beach from the pier. Even though it was October, the temperatures were in the mid to high 80's and there were lots of people swimming and surfing while we were there.
During the 2nd weekend of October each year, the Blues and Jazz Festival is held at Carolina Beach (next to where we were staying). It is a big event, but we did not go. Leon Russell was the headline artist this year.
I loved these big plants that were along the boardwalk near the beach. It is hard to tell from the picture, but they were huge!!!

As you can see, we had a wonderful time at the beach. It takes so long to get my pictures uploaded that I will do this trip in 2 parts. More to come!

Fall Fun!!!!

2010-10-27T03:35:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know that I have not dropped off the face of the earth!! I have just been super busy! October is an awesome month here in North Carolina and the weather has been gorgeous, but boy, has it been busy. I had to go back to work on Monday, just to get some rest...... just kidding, but I'm sure you know the feeling sometimes!

I started off the month celebrating the 7 year anniversary of my cancer surgery, followed by my oldest daughter, Lauren's birthday. That was followed by Mom's second detached retina surgery and a girl's trip to the beach with my sister.

The next weekend my husband and I went to the mountains to attend Parent's weekend and we took my 89 year old father tailgating and to the football game at my daughter's college. Adelaide also announced to us that she has a new boyfriend and we got to meet him. We like him a lot!!

That weekend I attended a blogger brunch with around 15 fellow bloggers. It was so much fun! If you have not met any of your fellow blog friends, I would urge you to do so.

After Parent's weekend, Adelaide came home the following Wednesday and stayed until this past Sunday for Fall break. We had an awesome time having her here at home, but we ran non-stop the whole time she was here.

This coming weekend, my sweet Father goes on a Flight of Honor to Washington, DC to visit the World War II Memorial and I have all my family coming for the weekend, so we can be at the airport for his return celebration on Saturday night. Then throw in Halloween on Sunday night and the month will be complete. Not to mention the fact that I have worked this whole month too and am still trying to get my house back in order following having my new carpet installed earlier in the fall. I am pooped, but life is good!!!

I feel so blessed to have such a full life with lots of fun things to do and a great family and awesome friends to share it with! I promise to go back and share some pictures of my beach trip, Parent's weekend, the new boyfriend, the blogger brunch and I will also post about my Father's trip. There just have not been enough hours in the day recently. But guess what? I get to be on vacation next week. Yea!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

PS I almost forgot, 2 of my sweet blogger friends had Grandbabies this past month too.
Suzanne and Valerie! Congratulations ladies!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Holly!!!

2010-10-14T03:24:00.001-07:00

Today is our sweet little chihuahua's 11th birthday. Santa brought Holly to Adelaide when she was in elementary school. Although Holly is Adelaide's dog, she lives with us, since Adelaide can't have her dog at college. Holly really misses Adelaide and she gets so excited when Adelaide comes home to visit. Here is a picture of the two of them relaxing at the beach this past summer!
This is a picture of our dog Holly and her cousin Chi Chi. Chi Chi is on the left and Holly is on the right. (Chi Chi belongs to my oldest daughter, Lauren) Both dogs are almost the same age, but Chi Chi is much more gray colored. They love each other. It just so happens that Chi Chi is here visiting us this week, so I'm sure the two of them will have fun celebrating today!! We LOVE you Holly! You have brought so much joy to our lives!!!!!!

Girl's Weekend at the Beach/Update on Mom!

2010-10-07T02:43:00.000-07:00

My sister and I are headed out this afternoon after I get off work to spend the weekend at Kure Beach, North Carolina with our girl cousins (on my Dad's side)!!! Won't that be fun? Rest, relaxation, good food, talking and laughing will be the highlights of our weekend. Who knows what else we will get into. I will be sure to take lots of pictures. This is the same beach that Tom, Adelaide and I went to this summer, so I am so excited to be going back in the fall.
The weather is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend, so I am thrilled!

My Mom came home from Duke on Wednesday and she is doing good! Praise God!!! The doctor felt like the surgery went well, but we don't know anything yet about her vision until things settle down in her eye. Still praying for some recovery of vision and that her retina will not detach again. She goes back to Duke in a week for a follow-up.

I hope all of you have a delightful weekend filled with those special things that you love. Enjoy doing whatever makes you happy and spending time with those folks that are special in your life.

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!!!! TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

2010-10-04T21:28:00.001-07:00

Blogger wanted this picture first, so I am not going to argue. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful Lauren! Your birth was a joyous occasion for me and your wedding was an equally joyous event too!! You were a radiant bride and I loved every minute of your special day. As I saw you walk down that isle in the church, I remembered so vividly the joy I had on the day you were born. I was one happy Mama that day!!!! You were so tiny and sweet with that head full of dark hair and those pretty blue eyes. You melted my heart the first time I saw you!
Twenty-seven years ago today I became a Mom and my precious Lauren was born!!! I had always dreamed of becoming a Mom and my dream came true with the birth of my first born child. I was so happy!!!! Lauren has been (and still is) the JOY of my life!
Happy Birthday, Lauren! I love you and you have made me very proud. I am so happy to be your Mom! We have had some great times together and I look forward to many more wonderful times together in the future!

Lauren is a very smart young woman and she will go far in this world. She has a Master's degree in accounting and works for a large accounting firm here in NC. Lauren has ALWAYS been very independent and strong-willed, so it was quite a challenge raising her. She never gave us a bit of trouble, but she was just so headstrong and she usually knew more about things than I did. Lauren's mind is like a sponge and she remembers everything that she reads. One hint... don't try to argue with her, because you will never win!

To tell you how independent she was, she taught herself how to ride a bike. We came home from the mountains one Sunday and on the way home, she asked me if Tom could take off her training wheels when she got home. She immediately rode the bike, just like she had done it all her life. She taught herself to tie her shoes too, and would not let me help her at all. I guess she just watched other people. Then instead of letting me potty train her, she just got up one day and told me she was ready to wear "big girl" pants and she wore them from then on! She also walked at 9 months old! Lauren was a very determined little girl and still is to this day, which a wonderful trait. It will suit her well in life!!! Love you sweet girl!!!

Lauren was always very grown up and she was way beyond her years in everything she did. She kept me on my toes, but I would not have had it any other way. Lauren is a delightful young woman with a big heart and a love for life. She puts 100% into everything she does and she always does her best.

I could not have made it through my cancer experience without her. She helped keep me strong and she was my encourager. Lauren kept friends and family updated on my progress via the Internet.

Here are my two beautiful daughters with my Mom. Please remember Mom as she has her eye surgery today on Lauren's birthday! I pray that her surgery goes well.

Lauren and Adelaide are the joys of my life. Being a Mom was the highlight of my life and I loved staying at home with my girls when they were young. I have so many wonderful memories of times spent with my girls.
As they have grown up, I now am their friend as much as I am their Mom. We love doing fun things together..... going shopping for Lilly, getting manicures and pedicures, going to Barnes and Noble, traveling together, going out to eat, laughing and talking, etc.
As I'm sure you all have figured out by now, I am head over heals in love with both of my girls and I would do anything for them. I treasure all the time I have with them.

Lauren, I hope you have a wonderful day, despite the fact that you have to work today. I know Thomas will have something fun planned for you tonight. I'm sorry I can't be with you today, but you will receive your second birthday surprise in the mail today. I'm glad you enjoyed your first surprise I sent the other day. You know how much I always love celebrating birthdays. We will just have to have a belated celebration with cake and ice cream when we are all together later in October.

Enjoy your special day and know that I love you very much!!!!

Love & blessings,
MOM

Anniversary and Update!

2010-10-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay in posting..... but things have been a bit crazy around here lately. Today I am celebrating the 7 year anniversary of my cancer surgery in Philadelphia, Pa. at Will's Eye Hospital. I have done so well following my surgery on October 2, 2003, and as a matter of fact, my oncologist is going to have me do one more CT Scan in December, and if it turns out good, I will be dismissed from his care. Isn't that wonderful? Woo hoo!!!

As a cancer survivor, I feel so blessed. Life is good and I enjoy each and every day to the fullest! I cherish my time with my family and I love my time spent with friends (both in my personal life and in blogland)!

An update on my sweet Mom. She found out the other day that her retina has detached again and she will require further surgery this Tuesday, October 5th at Duke. We hated to get that news, but we have faith in the doctor and are praying for a good outcome for her. Thanks for all your prayers these past few weeks for her. (Poor thing, this will be 2 surgeries in less than a month.)

I have been working in my house trying to get things back in order upstairs in all the bedrooms. It has been a lot of hard work, but we certainly love our new carpeting. It is so fresh and cushy-soft! I will post some pictures when I get everything finished and back in place. I am putting the finishing touches on the furniture that I am re-finishing. I think it is going to be real pretty! I am no expert, but I think it is turning out good.

Today has been a perfect fall day! My Mom and I started off going to some yard sales and I found some great treasures. I got some beautiful old linens, some milk glass and some Christmas things. Mom and I went to lunch together and for dessert we had a sweet potato turnover with butter pecan ice cream and toasted pecans. It was delicious and so "fallish"! Tonight my husband and I are going to dinner with 3 former neighbors of ours.

I have had a wonderful day celebrating my anniversary. The only thing that would have made it perfect would have been having my girls here, but hopefully I will see them real soon. Hope you all are having a great weekend and doing whatever makes you happy! I can't believe that it is already October! Christmas will be here before we know it. Take care.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Surgery Update!

2010-09-21T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! My Mom made it through surgery just fine and when they called me at 1:30pm this afternoon, they had checked out of the hospital at Duke and were heading to eat lunch. I could not believe that Mom felt that good, but that was great!!!

The doctor removed the "oil" from her eye that had been put there during the detached retina surgery and he also removed some scar tissue. She has a patch on her eye and that will be removed on Wednesday morning at 8am. She will then see the doctor for a follow-up visit in a week.

I am not sure if she will see immediately after they take her patch off tomorrow or if she will have to regain her vision over time. I am praying for good results!!!

After her visit in the morning, Mom and my sister will come back home. My husband and I were in charge of my Dad. He is real independent, so he did just fine. We took him out to dinner and he loved that.

Thanks so much for all your sweet comments and prayers for my Mom. I know she felt very uplifted today! God is good!

The little boy that I Nanny for turned 4 today, so it was a busy day at his house. I was glad to have that to distract me, since I stayed in town to keep a watch on my Dad.

Here's hoping that you all had a wonderful day!!!

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

Mom's Eye Surgery!

2010-09-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to update you on my Mom. Her surgery is Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at Duke University Eye Center. The surgery is scheduled for 11:15am.

My sister is taking her for the surgery and I am staying here to take care of my Dad. Mom is having outpatient surgery, but they will spend the night at a local hotel, since Mom has to be back to see the doctor first thing the next morning.

We are hoping and praying that the doctor will be able to restore some of the vision in my Mom's eye. (For those new to my blog, my Mom lost the vision in her eye after having had cataract surgery last December.)

Thanks to all of you for your concern about my Mom. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this time!

I know I am behind on my posts, but I hope to get caught up soon. I have not gotten to post about my trip yet to see my blog friend, Penny. And I want to tell you all about my new carpet.

Take care and have a great week!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

New Carpet!!

2010-09-17T06:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note as I wait for the installers to come to put in our new carpet today! YEA!!!
We have waited for so long to have the upstairs of our house re-carpeted. I have 4 bedrooms, a hall and my stairway that will be carpeted today.

You would not believe the mess that my house is in! All our personal items, etc. are all boxed up and downstairs. I have made a million trips up and down the stairs cleaning out each room to get ready. I will never get this place back in order!

If you remember, my husband painted 3 of the bedrooms this summer and they look so pretty. We still have to paint the hallway and our bedroom/master bath.

I am so excited to be getting this done, as it has been a long time coming. I am so ready to get my house back in order and have a nice clean, fresh upstairs!!!!

We are switching 3 of the rooms around and my office/sewing room will now be in the biggest bedroom. That is going to be great! I will have room in there for my computer table, my sewing table, a couch, and a chair and ottoman. It will be my private getaway room!!!

The computer has to be unhooked, so I will be offline for a bit. I will see everyone as soon as we are back up and running. Have a delightful weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Update on Mom!!!

2010-09-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the sweet comments and prayers for my Mom today. It was a long, hard day at Duke for her, but she did great and the doctor recommended surgery for her to see if she could get some improvement with her vision.

They don't know how much damage there has been to her eye, but he wants to try the surgery in hopes that he can restore some (but not all) of her vision. When she had her surgery back in January, they put oil in her eye and some of that oil has leaked out and is covering her cornea and causing a cloudy film over her eye. She also has a lot of scar tissue in her eye, that the doctor wants to remove.

After all of this is done, he hopes that she will see better, but he said that she would never have the vision that she had prior to the cataract surgery. He told her that if she did not have the surgery, that her eye would continue to get worse until she was totally blind in that eye. Needless to say, Mom was willing to have the surgery to prevent this, but also hoping to regain some vision. Anything would be better than what she has now.

The great thing is that they have an opening for her surgery a week from Tuesday on September 21st. We were thrilled that she will get to have her surgery so fast. And hopefully will be on the road to recovery real soon.

We really liked the doctor at Duke and feel like he will be the answer to prayer for my Mom. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

My Sweet Mom!

2010-09-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

Just checking in. I had an extremely busy weekend and I promise to post about my trip on Friday to visit one of my blog friends, but I have not had time to upload my pictures.

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be taking my sweet Mom to the Duke Eye Clinic in Durham, NC on Monday to see if there is anything they can do for her to regain the vision in her eye following cataract surgery last December.

For those of you new to my blog, she had cataract surgery last December and never has been able to see very well out of that eye after that. She did have a detached retina that developed in January, but she had surgery to repair that and she still cannot see.

Her retina specialist here in town referred her to Duke to see if there is anything they can do for her to fix her vision. I pray that there will be something that the doctor can do for her and that she will be able to see again.

Mom is 86 and I so want her remaining years to be the best ever! She can drive during the day light hours, but can't drive at all at night. Plus, she has a hard time doing things with just the vision in her one eye. This has certainly affected her quality of life!

I will keep everyone posted on what we find out and I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. I hope everyone has a great week!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Remembering 9-11-01

2010-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

Remembering 9-11-01

Praying for all those who were killed and their families!

God bless the USA!

Road Trip!!!

2010-09-09T20:12:00.001-07:00

Don't you just love these gorgeous hydrangeas? They have nothing to do with fall, but I just love them and I wanted to post their picture again. I love all kinds of flowers for that matter. Flowers make me happy!!!

I love all my blog friends too! You are all a happy part of each and every day to me. I enjoy getting to know each and every one of you via the Internet. I am so excited to be going on Friday to meet another one of my blog friends in real life. We will be having lunch together and then shopping. What fun!!!

I have met 2 blog friends already and this will be the third friend I will have the opportunity to meet. I can't wait! I hope you all have a wonderful day and I will post about my visit real soon.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Happy Fall Y'all......

2010-09-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

Today is a bittersweet day as we say good-bye to summer and hello to fall. I have had an amazing summer with my family and friends, but I do so love fall and am anticipating lots of wonderful things to do in September and October. That is one thing I love about North Carolina... we have 4 beautiful seasons to enjoy!

I love my little pumpkin decoration for the door that I picked up last week. I have it on the back of my front door for all to see as they leave. I enjoy decorating for the different seasons.

This Labor Day weekend I have been busy working around my house. My husband left from work on Friday and headed down to visit our married daughter and spend the weekend with her. He helped her clean out her office and take some stuff to Goodwill. He always enjoys that Father/daughter time with her! He came home on Sunday afternoon and is here today, since he is off work.

I have not left the house since Friday, so I have gotten a lot done here. I am packing up the upstairs bedrooms and moving everything downstairs in anticipation of getting new flooring installed soon. What a job!!! I never knew anyone could accumulate so much stuff! My dining room looks like a flea market!! I am in hopes that when I move the stuff back into the bedrooms, that I can sort through some of this stuff and clean out a bit. In my older age, I am getting to the point where I don't want so much "stuff". I love my collections, but I don't want a lot of other stuff sitting around.

I haven't had a very exciting Labor Day, but it has been productive and I feel good about what I have been able to do. I have enjoyed my time at home by myself. I guess we all enjoy having "me time" every now and then.

My sweet little "Grand-dog" Chi Chi came to visit me on Sunday. Chi Chi is on the left and Adelaide's little dog, Holly is on the right. Aren't they sweet? They love sitting with each other in their beds. They take turns. One minute they are in Holly's pink bed and then another minute they have jumped over into Chi Chi's "mink" bed. They were so excited to see each other.

Lauren, Thomas and a friend of theirs drove up for the afternoon and evening to visit a friend who was here from DC. They all had dinner together at his parent's house and I babysat Chi Chi.
I loved seeing Lauren and Thomas, even if it was just coming and going. I never miss a chance to see my sweet daughter and son-in-law.

As I think back on my summer of 2010, I have many wonderful memories of happy times spent with family and friends. It was a laid back summer with many trips to the mountains and the beach. Adelaide was home with us all summer and that was such a blessing. I always enjoy having her home from college.

We enjoyed going to the beach music festival each week, watching TV together, shopping, eating out, talking and just hanging out. Although the weather was super hot and humid where we live.... thank God for air conditioning. Adelaide and I had a new favorite summer treat, a frozen yogurt shop, that we visited quite frequently. You select your yogurt ( 7 flavors) and then put all the fresh fruit and toppings on it that you want. Yum!!! Oh, the joys of summer.

I now am looking so forward to cool nights, crisp days, wearing sweaters, football games, pumpkin bread, apple pie, the changing leaves, pumpkins, scarecrows, etc. etc. Fall is a glorious time of year and filled with lots of activity. There is the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner!

I hope you all have a blessed Labor Day and a wonderful week ahead, enjoying this beautiful fall weather. Good bye summer! See you next year!!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Women's Brunch at Church

2010-09-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, my Mom and sister were in town for the weekend and we attended a Women's Brunch at my Mom's church. We had a wonderful time! This is not the best picture of Mom, but it was the only one I had of us.
There were 100 ladies in attendance! We had brunch and then heard a member of the church speak on her cancer experience.
This is my good friend Nancy who prepared the food. She is an awesome cook! We had homemade scones, 2 kinds of quiche, oven roasted potatoes, cheese grits, French toast w/mixed berry sauce, fresh fruit, juice and coffee. Nancy and her sister love cooking and have even authored their own cookbook. Nancy's sister is the pastry chef at our local country club, so these gals know how to cook!!!
This fresh fruit bowl was delicious!

A view of the buffet table. Don't those scones look good?

Last weekend my Mom came down to see her eye doctor. My Mom, sister and I spent Friday and Saturday "thrifting". We went to almost all the thrift shops in the city where I live and we found some of the best treasures. I collect milk glass and I got a lot of pieces to add to my collection. I was thrilled. I also picked up a lot of other odds and ends. I love to thrift shop! The thrill of the hunt is so much fun. Plus, I love to buy things and then re-do them.

As you can see, we had a wonderful ladies weekend, doing just what we love to do. Eat and shop!!!

Here's hoping you all have a great Labor Day weekend. I am at home by myself this weekend trying to get my upstairs packed up and ready to have new flooring put down. I feel like I am moving, because I am having to pack up all the knick knacks and store them downstairs, so the flooring men will only have to move the furniture. I can't find anything around here now. It will be worth it in the long run, but it has been a lot of hard work. I will be glad to have everything back in order. I am not a neat freak, but I do like some order to my living. This place is a wreck!

My dining room looks like a storage building and my living room is full of new mattresses that I have for 2 of the bedrooms. I would love to have the flooring put in and the rooms put back together by mid October. Because at that point, Thanksgiving and Christmas will be just around the corner. Always something going on when you own a home.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

Love & blessings from NC!
Melinda

Lauren's Pine Tree!

2010-09-02T22:21:00.000-07:00

When my oldest daughter, Lauren, was just a little girl (around 3 or 4 years old), our church gave out pine seedlings to the children during children's church. Our youth minister, Mark, encouraged the children to take their little seedling home and plant it. I don't even remember the story that went along with the seedling, but Lauren was fascinated with her little seedling and wanted us to help her plant it.

My Dad suggested planting it at the mountain house, as he felt like it would have a better chance of growing up there in the cool mountain air. He helped Lauren take her seedling from the paper cup that it was in and plant it next to the fence in the back yard of the mountain house.

Lauren will be 27 years old in October and this is what her tree looks like today. You can see how big it is now. Isn't that amazing?
When we were in the mountains this summer I had her stand by "her" tree and I took this picture. The first picture shows how tall the tree is.

I showed the picture to Mark and he couldn't believe that the tree had actually lived. (I'm sure most of them probably were never planted or else they died).

If you have small children or young grandchildren, this would be something fun to do with them and watch it grow over the years. We will always enjoy the memories of planting this tree and Lauren can tell the story to her children one day.

Wallpaper Anyone?

2010-08-29T15:01:00.001-07:00

You all remember my parent's adorable little mountain house ? Well, there is one thing about the house that I wanted to show everyone. It has always been so fascinating to me! My father lived in this house as a child and they were extremely poor. The house was heated by a wood stove in the living room and a wood stove and fireplace in the kitchen. My Dad said that the floor boards in parts of the house had such big cracks in them that they could see the chickens underneath the house.

On the walls in the house to keep things warmer in the winter months, my Grandmother papered the walls with newspaper. When some renovation work was done on the house many years ago, one of the walls had some newspaper that was still "readable". It is so much fun to read the old newspaper. I tried to take some pictures, but the flash glared in them, but I think you can still read the paper.
This is an article about John Ringling, the Circus Czar and his death in 1936.
This picture shows an advertisement from a clothing store. Ladies suede jackets were $6.98. Men's pajamas were 98 cents. etc. Take a look at that old car too!
The newspaper is bordered with molding and it was protected with polyurethane to preserve it to be enjoyed for many years to come. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the old timey "wallpaper". Now you know what to do with your old newspapers!!!

More Mountain Vacation Pictures!

2010-08-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, the house that my parent's live in at the mountains is the house that my father lived in as child. It is the house that I visited my Grandparents when I was young. This is my Hoosier cabinet that I gave my Mom to use in the kitchen at the mountain house. It is hard to tell, but I made Mom a quilted table runner to go on the shelf of the cabinet. Look closely and you can see Mom's delicious peach-blueberry pie that we had for dessert. It was so good!
This is a picture of the old stone fireplace in the kitchen. This is how my Grandparent's kept warm. At one time there was also a wood stove in the kitchen.
Here we are (My Mom, Dad, brother-in-law and sister) getting ready to eat our delicious meal that Mom fixed for us!!! If you look on the wall, you can see a quilted wall hanging that I made my Mom. It has a cow on it.
Doesn't this look good? NC barbecue, field peas on cornbread, barbecue potatoes, tomatoes & mozzarella, cucumbers, fresh corn on the cob and a yeast roll. I ate too much!!! And as I mentioned earlier, we had peach-blueberry pie for dessert. And of course, being the Southern folks that we are, we had sweet iced tea with lemon to drink!

Here is my sweet Mom getting our dinner ready. She is a wonderful cook!!!
I just love my sister's front porch. This is just one end of the porch. There have been some good times out on this porch over the years.
Here is the other end of the porch. My favorite (and my girl's favorite too) is the porch swing. We love to sit on the porch swing and read!!! So relaxing!
I love this sign that hangs on the porch. Come and join us and "sit a spell". We certainly had fun sitting out on the porch last week.... talking, laughing, watching the world go by, working on our crafts (I was making a rag rug), reading, playing with the dogs, etc.
In the town near where my sister lives, the buildings have murals on them that have been painted by various artists. I only took a few pictures, but there are a lot more murals . This mural depicts the mountain music that is so popular in this part of the country.
Aren't the fall trees pretty? It won't be long and the trees will look like this in the mountains.
This mural depicts the New River that is in the area. In the bottom of the mural you can see someone riding in their canoe.
This mural is on the side of the cheese factory. I love the cow!
I had some pictures yesterday of my niece's flowers. Here is a picture of her adorable log cabin. Her whole front yard is wildflowers and it is just gorgeous!!! Speaking of canoes, she and her husband love to canoe and kayak. You can see the canoe in the front yard.
On the first day I was in the mountains, Adelaide and I met her sorority sister, Rachel, and Rachel's parent's for lunch. Our tea was served in Mason jars. For lunch we had meatloaf, veggies and cornbread. Yum!!!

I have one last round of pictures that I will post another day and I think that will be enough mountain pictures for one week.

Mountain Beauty!!!!

2010-08-23T20:26:00.000-07:00

My mountain vacation last week started with dropping this sweet girl off at her apartment for her Senior year in college. I can't believe that she will be graduating in May. I miss her already, but I know what an exciting year she will have as a Senior!
After getting Adelaide settled, I went to spend the week with my sister. My parent's house is next door to my sister, so I got to see them too. August 22nd was my sister's birthday, so we celebrated her while I was there! We also had some fun times sitting out on her porch. (more pictures to follow another day)
My sweet parents love to sit out on their porch too. This house belonged to my Grandparents when I was a little girl and I have vivid memories of my Grandparents sitting out on this same porch. This is the cutest little house and it is full of memories of times spent with my own Grandparents when I was a child. My Mom loves flowers, so the porch is covered with her flowers. She even has a fountain on the porch.
Here is a close up of my Mom and Dad. My Mom is 86 and my Dad is 89.
On Sunday, we attended an old time singing and Homecoming service at a local church and they had a covered dish lunch afterwards. Lots of our relatives go to that church, so it was fun to visit and the food was delicious. This creek flows right behind the church. They hold baptisms here during the summer I am told.
We visited the local Farmer's Market and these vegetables were so pretty I wanted to share them with you. We ate lots of good food while I was visiting in the mountains. (more pictures to come another day on that)
Wouldn't you love your yard to look like this? This was at a motel in the area.
North Carolina grows a lot of the Christmas trees that are shipped all over the United States each year. The mountains are covered in Christmas trees and it is so pretty. Each year our family cuts our own trees, as they grow all around my parent's and my sister's houses. We have even cut them before in the snow, which is so beautiful and so festive!
In this picture you can see the New River, which is not too far from my parent's house. We love to go tubing on this river in the summer. The water is a bit chilly even in the summer. And this river is older than the Nile River, so it has been around for quite a while. You can also see the Christmas trees in the background.
We pass this barn each time we go to my parent's and my sister's. I just love the look of this old barn. More Christmas trees in the background.
When you look at this picture, you realize why the mountains are called The Blue Ridge Mountains. They have a blue cast to them on most days. On this particular day, it was extremely foggy. On a clear day, you can see forever from these overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This is a view of my niece's front yard. Don't you love the old chair? She lives in a log cabin and the whole front yard is a wild flower garden. It is just beautiful!!!
This is a picture of my niece's front porch. I love how she took the old work boots and planted "hen and chickens" in the boots. She has a green thumb and all her plants are gorgeous!
This barn is near the house too. I love the quilt painted on the front. This was another foggy day.

I hope you have enjoyed some of my pictures. I took so many that I decided I better divide them up and share them with you over several days. I didn't want to overload you with pictures. You can see from the pictures why I love the mountains so much. It is truly "God's Country"!!!!! I feel so relaxed and rested after having spent the week there.

**My mountain vacation pictures to be continued another day!

Mountain Vacation!

2010-08-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

My vacation in the mountains is coming to a close. I will be returning home on Sunday. I don't have a laptop, so I am using my brother-in-law's computer and will have to wait until I get home to upload my pictures for you gals.

On Monday, I got Adelaide settled into her apartment. She has been busy this week with her sorority meetings, so I have not seen her. I have enjoyed spending the rest of the week with my sister, brother-in-law, niece and her husband and my parents. We have eaten until I feel like I will burst, but all the summer veggies have been so good!!!! Plus, my Mom is a wonderful cook.

A lot of our time has been spent sitting out on my sister's front porch enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery and cool breezes! When I was at the beach last week, my friend Sherian taught me how to crochet rag rugs out of fabric and I have been working on my rug this week. It is turning out to be so pretty. I love it! I will post some pictures later for all of you to see.

We had one day of rain while I was here, but the rest of the week has been so nice. It almost feels like fall is in the air too. I am so looking forward to fall.

Tomorrow is my sister's birthday, so we will get to celebrate before I leave to drive home. I have enjoyed my week of staying up late, sleeping late, eating lots of good food and just enjoying time with my family. Making wonderful memories to cherish for a lifetime!

Hope all of you have a nice weekend doing what you love!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Willow House Blog Party!

2010-08-18T16:32:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Lauren, is hosting a Willow House Blog Party on her blog. Willow House is the new name for Southern Living At Home. Please do not feel obligated, but if you are interested I will let you know about the specials. I have ordered from Southern Living at Home in the past and their items are gorgeous! The Willow House Representatives name is Callie.

*10% off your total order if you spend up to $50

*15% off your total order if you spend $50+

* 1 half-price item $39.96 or less if you spend $40

* The chance to be entered for a $40 gift card (everyone who places an order will be entered; and if you become a follower of Callie on facebook or her blog, willowhousemom.com, you will get 1 extra entry; and if you blog about the party you get an extra entry)!!!

To place an order, go to callieparker.willowhouse.com and then choose "order".

Select "Find a Host" and enter my daughter MRS. LSJ Mrs. (First name) & LSJ (last name)

Callie will have to go back & adjust the prices for your order to reflect your discounts!

Please email willowhousemom@gmail.com if you have any questions with placing your order!

Lauren's Willow House Blog Party will be closing on August 28th. Thank you so much for looking!

Have a wonderful week!

Back to College!!!

2010-08-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

My sweet girl is heading back to college today and I am sad to see our wonderful summer coming to an end. Adelaide will be a senior and that is so hard for me to believe. It just seems like yesterday that her Dad and I were taking her up and getting her settled into her dorm. I can remember how excited she was!!
This is going to be a really busy semester for Adelaide, because not only is it her senior year, but she is pledge Mom for her sorority. She will be in charge of all the new girls who pledge and join the sorority this year. I know she will do a wonderful job and the girls will love her. She has worked real hard all summer getting ready for the new girls. She has lots of wonderful things planned.
We had such a great summer!!! We spent time in the mountains and at the beach,we went to the Beach music festival, we went to see Michael Buble', we enjoyed "girl time" together, Adelaide did a 6 week internship at a local children's hospital and she had a Nanny job for 2 sweet children. Although she has been home since the first week of May, the time has flown by.
Adelaide got to attend 3 weddings this summer. I went to one of them with her. I posted about it earlier.
I am blessed to have such wonderful daughters! For those of you new to my blog, Adelaide is my youngest daughter. My oldest daughter, Lauren, is married. They are both the joy of my life!!!

I am a bit sad today to be helping Adelaide move back up to college, but I am so happy for her as she enters her last year of college. She is an amazing young lady and she has a lot to look forward to this year! I wish her all the best this year and I pray that God watches over her every step of the way!

My nest will be empty again, but I have lots of projects to keep me busy. I will be counting the days until fall break, when Adelaide will be home again. I might even sneak in a visit to see her at college before then! I can't stand to be away from my girl too long. Holly (her little dog ) will miss Adelaide too!

Have a wonderful fall semester, Adelaide. I had such a great summer with you!

I Met a Blogging Buddy!!!

2010-08-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

This past week, I went to the beach with my dear friend Sherian for some "girl time". The highlight of my trip was thrifting while we were there and getting to meet one of my blog buddies! One of my sweet blogging friends, Donna, lives in the area and manages a thrift shop. I emailed Donna and we arranged a time to meet at her awesome shop! It is always so exciting to meet a blog friend in person after reading their blog for so long.
Donna was just as sweet and precious as she is on her blog and I enjoyed so much getting to meet her in person! She has children who live near me. Hopefully if she is ever up my way, she will give me a call and we can see each other again. I would love that.

Donna's shop is very nice and the proceeds benefit a teen shelter/home in the area. It is a home where teens live that have had to be taken away from their parents. Not because the teens have been bad, but where the parents were sent to jail or were involved in drugs,etc.

I found some treasures at the shop and 2 things I will need to refinish. I got a really neat old shelf and also a table that I want to use to put a plant on. Sherian and I spent the entire day thrifting from one shop to the other. We were in heaven!! Then on Saturday we attended the largest flea market in SC at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. More on that later. It was an awesome show and we found lots of wonderful treasures.

Donna, I so enjoyed getting to meet you and visit. Your lunch recommendation was wonderful and we had the best seafood.

Ladies, I would highly encourage you to make an effort to meet your blogging buddies if you live nearby. It is so much fun to get to connect in person and see each other!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Going to the Beach!!!

2010-08-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

The beach is calling my name again and I am so lucky to be able to get to go back to the beach for the rest of the week with my dear friend, Sherian!!! I can't wait. We are leaving after I get off work on Wednesday. I am so excited, I can't stand it. I love the beach!!!

We are going to have "GIRL TIME"!!!!! We have not gotten to see each other as much this summer, so I'm sure we will be talking non-stop the whole time trying to get caught up with each other. We are taking some of our crafts to work on, I have my book (Eat, Pray, Love) I am trying to finish before the movie comes out on Friday and we are both taking our dogs! We plan to eat out... who wants to cook?

I am looking forward to sitting out on the beach, walking, and just chilling out!!!

And the most fun thing of all, we are going thrifting!!! Saturday is the biggest flea market in SC at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. We will be there with bells on! We went last year and it was awesome! We really got some great treasures!

We are also going thrifting on Friday and I am going to get to meet one of my blog friends who lives at the beach. I am so looking forward to that. I love meeting blog friends in person. It is so fun. I'll keep it a surprise, but I promise to take plenty of pictures and will post them after our visit on Friday.

When I get home from the beach, I will leave on Monday to take Adelaide back to college and I am going to stay with my sister and my parents for the week in the mountains. I am so looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation.
I won't be on the computer that much, but I will try to stop by and visit every now and then while I am on vacation. I would miss you all too much!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Beach Vacation 2010

2010-08-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

In July, we spent a week at Kure Beach, North Carolina (near Wilmington) and had the most relaxing vacation. The weather was perfect!

We stayed at my cousin's beach house.
This is the guest cottage. Isn't it the cutest little house?
Here is a picture of the upstairs TV room.
I love this shower. And the bathroom is huge!!! The windows look out onto the ocean!
There is a lot of art in the house, but this picture is my favorite. I love these ladies in their "old timey" bathing suits.
This is a cottage that sits behind my cousin's house. I just love this cottage!
This is the boardwalk that runs along the edge of the beach. You can walk on the boardwalk all the way to the pier. At night it is lit up.
This is an old fishing pier that is right down from the house.
Adelaide and Tom out on the boardwalk walking down to dinner. Isn't the sky pretty?
Holly went with us to the beach. This is her friend, Mr. Turtle!! Our canary, Sunny, even went with us on vacation. Sunny loved watching the seagulls at her perch by the windows. I forgot to take her picture.
Dinner out. Who wants to cook on vacation?
We spent our days chilling out on the beach reading books, taking walks and people watching! The weather was gorgeous!
I love watching the seagulls. This guy was enforcing the laws!!!
I loved feeding the seagulls. All you have to do is throw out a bit of food and they all come swooping in to get their share.
This is a view underneath the pier.
I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sand sculpture that we saw when we were out walking one day.
Adelaide and Tom getting ready to walk to dinner.
Checking out the fishermen on the pier. We loved walking out on the pier after dinner.
These big pelicans were all over the end of the pier waiting for people to give them fish. They were so much fun to watch.
I love turquoise, so this was one of my favorite houses in the neighborhood.
I thought these houses were real pretty too. There were so many colored houses at this beach.
This is the local park at Carolina Beach (next to Kure Beach). There are paddle boats to ride. On this day, we went down to a Farmer's Market/Craft show. There are musical events held at the park during the week and they even show outdoor movies on Sunday night.
Lauren and Thomas came down to join us for the last weekend we were there. They were on their way for a week of vacation with their friends, but we enjoyed having them with us for the weekend. I love my daughter and son-in-law!
My 2 Lilly girls!!! We were waiting to catch the ferry at Fort Fisher to ride over to Southport to eat dinner. I am so blessed to have such beautiful and sweet daughters!
The cars drive onto the ferry for the ride over the river to Southport. The seagulls follow the ferry as it crosses. We got out of our car and walked around to enjoy the scenery.
This is another ferry that we passed en route. They go back and forth about every 30 minutes.
We are all wearing our Lilly today. Any clue as to whether we love Lilly? It was a bit windy. Excuse our crazy hairdos!!
This is our favorite place to eat at the beach. It has been written up in Southern Living and lots of other magazines. It looks like a fishing shack and the part where you sit and eat is out over the water with open sides. The food is so good!!!
Provisions is famous for their shrimp and crabcakes! A bit messy, but delicious!!

As you can see, we had the most amazing week at the beach! We didn't do a whole lot, but that was the beauty of the trip. We just enjoyed our lazy days on the beach and our time together as a family. We enjoyed eating out, watching movies in the evenings, working a 1,000 piece puzzle and just being together! We all got some much needed rest and relaxation and made some wonderful memories!

2nd Annual Rooster Party

2010-08-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I am participating in the 2nd annual Rooster Party hosted by Barb at Bella Vista. I only have one beautiful rooster, but I still wanted to join in on the fun! My rooster sits on a high shelf above our entertainment unit in our den. As you can see, I have lots of other collectibles on my shelves too. I'll have to post about those later. The collection on the lower shelf is all Noah's Ark stuff.
Isn't he a fine specimen? He keeps watch over the activities in our den. I was lucky enough to find him at Big Lots many years ago.
This is another view. He looks like an expensive rooster, but was very inexpensive. I have always loved him. He reminds me of the rooster that my Grandmother had at her house in the mountains when I was a child.
And yes, I do know the difference between a chicken and a rooster, but this little gal was feeling left out. You see, she lost her husband last year and he was a fine specimen too. My hubby accidentally knocked him off of our kitchen counter and he was beyond repair. Maybe someday I will find another one just like him.

Check out the Rooster Party at Barb's blog. There are some beautiful pictures!

Another Great Giveaway!

2010-08-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

My sweet blog friend at The World From My Basement here in North Carolina is giving away this adorable wristlet. Check out her blog for a chance to win.

Basement Bags Girl is a teacher/entrepreneur and is quite talented. You have until August 9th to enter. Good Luck!

Blog Blessings!

2010-08-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Since I began blogging almost 2 years ago, I have been blessed to win so many wonderful gifts via generous giveaways. Just recently I posted about a giveaway at Monogram Chick's Blog. My blog friend, Donna registered and won, so that meant that I won too, since I posted about it. Donna and I both won a beautiful white shower wrap and a lovely cosmetic bag. I love this waffle-weave fabric that the items are made out of. It feels so good and will be great for trips!

Head on over to view Sarah's wonderful store, Monogram Chick. She has some great monogrammed items for wedding, baby, birthday, graduation or to just pamper yourself. Sarah is so sweet and her work is so nice! Your items will come packaged up very pretty for gift giving. Please remember Sarah for gifts. You will be very pleased!!!

Just last year I won a market tote from Sarah and I have received so many compliments on it. She monogrammed it with my first name and I love it!

Earlier this summer, Laura Ingalls Gunn (Decore to Adore) had a great giveaway from Andrea at the French Basketeer. I was the lucky winner of that giveaway and got to choose a beautiful French tote. This is the one that I chose. It is so pretty and such a great size for use as a purse or for traveling. It is real sturdy and I love the leather handles and trim.

Be sure to check out Andrea's website if you need any kind of tote for yourself or as a gift. You will not be disappointed.

I also won a $100 gift card recently from a giveaway that BlogHer hosted. The gift card was provided by Coffeemate. Thank you Coffemate. I will enjoy my gift card.

Ladies, be sure to take the time to register for giveaways. You just never know when you might be the lucky one who wins!! I am going to sit down and make a list one day of all the things I have won since I started blogging. I have sure been lucky to win some wonderful things over the past 2 years.

Most of all I feel so fortunate to have made so many delightful friends via my blog reading. Thanks to all of you who read my blog and comment on a regular basis. I love you all and you are such a blessing in my life. We have laughed together, cried together, prayed for each other, shared recipes, helped each other with decorating tips, shared craft ideas, uplifted each other in tough times, as well as offered words of encouragement. We have been there for each other and I appreciate that so much!

I hope all of you are having a great week. I can't believe that it is already August. The summer is flying by! Take care.

Love & blessings from NC,
Melinda

Proud to be Southern!

2010-08-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Raleigh, Adelaide and I found this adorable sign and we both had to have one. I love that bench too, but I knew it would not fit in the car! Having been born and raised in North Carolina, this sign just suited both of us to a tee.
In case you can't read the sign, I am writing it here for all to enjoy. It is so cute!!!

The South
\the 'sau'th\, noun

The place where....1) Tea is sweet and accents are sweeter.

2) Summer starts in April.

3) Macaroni & cheese is a vegetable.

4) Front porches are wide and words are long.

5) Pecan pie is a staple.

6) Y'all is the only proper noun.

7) Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy.

8) Everything is Darlin'.

9) Someone's heart is always being blessed!

Isn't that the sweetest sign you have ever seen? We just loved it. I am going to use mine in our guest room. I am a true Southern woman at heart. If you ever hear me talk, my voice is a total giveaway. I talk very Southern! I wouldn't have it any other way.

Darlins, I hope y'all have a blessed week!

Great Giveaway!

2010-07-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

Head on over to Miss Mustard Seed's Blog for a chance to win a whole box of gorgeous antique items for your home. You won't believe all the beautiful things that she is putting in her giveaway box. If you love old things, then this giveaway is for you.

I just love her blog and she is a pro at refinishing furniture. She always has such great decorating ideas. This giveaway is in celebration of reaching over 2,000 followers!!! She is one talented lady and the wife of a youth minister. Busy lady!!

Check out her blog. You will be glad you did. Have a great day!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Summer Wedding!!

2010-07-27T20:53:00.001-07:00

Don't you just love weddings? This past weekend, Adelaide and I attended a beautiful wedding at this adorable church in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Banner Elk is in the Blue Ridge mountains. One of Adelaide's girlfriends was getting married.

I loved the view of the church from the parking lot. There is a huge butterfly garden, then a row of hydrangeas and the church in the distance, with a gorgeous Carolina blue sky. It could not have been a prettier day for a summer wedding!
There were butterflies everywhere in front of the church in the butterfly garden. So pretty!!!
As we approached the church, a bicycle built for two was parked outside. It was decorated with white balloons. A bicycle built for two was also printed on the wedding invitation.
Don't you love the JUST MARRIED sign on the back of the bike?
There were 2 of these beautiful wildflower arrangements on the doors of the church. There is a wildflower farm somewhere in the area that the family got the wildflowers for the wedding. You get to go and pick your own wildflowers to use in the bouquets, etc. I think that is such a neat idea.
On the ends of the rows of chairs in the sanctuary were Mason jars filled with wild flower arrangements. That was such a cute idea!
I loved the windows in the church. They were so pretty!
Here are 3 of the bridesmaids. I really liked their dresses. You can see their pretty wildflower bouquets.
The bride and groom. I caught them in a serious pose. The groom is Canadian, so they will be moving to Canada.
I loved the little bride and groom figurines. They are so cute!!!
Adelaide and some of her girlfriends posing with the bride and groom. Adelaide is in the pink dress standing next to the groom. All these girls were in high school and Young Life together. And the bride, Sara Katelin, is the first girl in Adelaide's age group to get married.
This is Adelaide and her friend, Sarah Kathryn. They were roommates in college their sophomore year and they are sorority sisters (Kappa Delta). I love their Lilly dresses!
This is Adelaide and me with our dear friend Sherian! I am wearing my Lilly dress too. My girls and I love Lilly.
The happy couple leaving the church after the wedding and the reception.
Congratulations and best wishes to Sara Katelin and Randy! Best of luck as you start your life together in Canada! May God bless your marriage.

As you can see, we had a wonderful time at the wedding. It was fun for Adelaide to see old friends from high school. I spent the weekend with my sister and also got to spend time with my sweet parents. Adelaide enjoyed time with her girlfriends over the weekend. It was a gorgeous weekend, but the weather was extremely hot for the mountains. In fact, Saturday's high temperature set a record.

I hope you enjoyed the wedding pictures. I always love attending weddings and this one was so special. The bride's father is a minister and he married them.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Off to the Mountains!!

2010-07-23T12:33:00.001-07:00

Hey all, Adelaide and I are off to the mountains this weekend to attend a wedding on Saturday. One of Adelaide's friends from high school is getting married. It will be so much fun to see her high school friends. These girls were all in Young Life together.

We will get to see my parents while we are there, as well as my sister and her husband. One thing that we are looking forward to is some cooler weather. It is still going to be hot for the mountains, but much cooler than where we live. Our temperatures at home are supposed to be near 100 degrees. That is a bit toasty!!!

I have all my pictures uploaded from the Michael Buble' concert, the 4th of July and our beach vacation and I promise to get them posted soon. This week has really been busy since returning from vacation. Where is the summer going? I can't believe July is quickly drawing to a close.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend doing whatever you enjoy and spending it with those people who make your heart sing.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

On Vacation!!!

2010-07-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful week doing whatever makes you happy!! Our family is off to the beach today for a much-needed week of rest and relaxation. We are going to a North Carolina beach.

I am looking forward to just chilling out..... walking on the beach, sitting in my beach chair and reading my book, looking for shells, watching movies at night, going out to eat, laughing, talking with each other and just having a great time being together!!!

I am taking a break from the computer, so I won't be making comments on your blogs. Take care and I will see you next week!

Oh, the Michael Buble' concert was amazing!! He was awesome!!! I took some pictures, but did not have time to post them. I will do a post when I get back. If you get a chance to see him in concert, by all means, be sure to go. He was so good!!!! And it doesn't hurt that he is so handsome and just plain cute! He loves to talk to the audience too, which was fun!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Favorite Bible Verse

2010-07-09T08:03:00.001-07:00

I am linking up with Kelly today at Kelly's Korner. She is hosting a favorite Bible verse party.

My favorite verse is:

I Thes. 5:16-18

Be JOYFUL always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I have this verse on my computer, so I see it every time that I am on the computer.
It reminds me of the many blessings that God has given me!!!

Love & blessings from NC,
Melinda

Let the Vacation Begin!!!

2010-07-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

Today was my last day to work until July 19th!!! I am so excited to be going on vacation with my family on Saturday for a week at the beach, but on Friday night Adelaide and I are going to see Michael Buble'!!!! Won't that be awesome? We are so excited! Adelaide and I are going with our dear friend Sherian, and her sister Pam, who is from Houston.

The concert is in Raleigh, so we are heading down there on Friday afternoon and we will eat dinner out before the concert. It will be fun for the 4 of us to be together. I'm sure it will be non-stop talking and laughing the whole way down and back.

I have featured one of Michael's songs for you to hear, in case you aren't familiar with him. This is one of my favorites. Michael has a girlfriend, but he is still cute as a button and I love his music. Can't wait to see him in person and have a fun girl's night out with special friends!!!

Then on Saturday, Tom, Adelaide and I will leave for a week at the beach. My married daughter, Lauren and her husband, Thomas, will come join us for the last weekend that we are there. They will be just starting their week of vacation with another couple, so we will enjoy spending a little bit of time with them too.

I am planning on doing nothing next week but chilling out... reading on the beach in my chair, walking on the beach, looking for shells, eating out, sleeping late, watching movies, reading magazines, etc. Just being lazy and enjoying my family! I hope all of you have a wonderful week.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

4th of July in the Mountains!

2010-07-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

This sign says it all, doesn't it? We are heading to the mountains of North Carolina for the 4th of July weekend. My sister and her husband retired and live in the mountains of North Carolina. My parents have a home there as well, that they live in during the spring, summer and fall. We live about a 2 hour drive from them and we go up every chance we get. Not only is it about 20 degrees cooler up there in the summer, but it is God's country and is sooooo beautiful there. We love it!!!
We will be spending the 4th of July with my family in the mountains. This is a view of my Mom's porch. We all love this porch swing. My girls have lots of memories of good times sitting in this porch swing when they were growing up. They love to sit here and read. You can hear the water in the creek when you sit on the porch. It is so peaceful! There is a mountain behind the house with cows grazing on it and the mountain in front of the house has Christmas trees growing on it. That is where we cut our Christmas tree each year.
Here is another view of the porch. My Mom loves flowers and she has them everywhere. She loves to decorate for the 4th . Her little sign, God Bless America, lights up at night. Mom even has a fountain that sits among these flowers, but it isn't on in this picture.
This is my parent's house that they live in during their time in the mountains. It is the home that my father lived in as a child. (Remember he is 89 years old, so this house is old too!) It is where my Grandparents lived when they were living. We used to visit them here and I have so many wonderful memories of times spent with my Grandparents, my aunts, uncles and cousins. This house used to be heated by a wood stove. My grandmother cooked on the wood stove in the kitchen. There was not a bathroom when I was a child and we had to use an outhouse. We took our baths in a metal tub in front of the wood stove. (There is a bathroom now, thank goodness!)

Doesn't this look delicious? This was our 4th of July meal last year. We will have the same type of cookout this year. Hamburgers and hot dogs, with all the trimmings and lots of yummy desserts.
Here is a picture of some of the family that was there at my sister's last year for our 4th of July cookout. There is my sweet Dad in the bottom left of the picture.
This is a view of my sister's beautiful farmhouse! I just love her porch. She has a porch swing and lots of rocking chairs. We love to sit out on her porch too and rock away the evenings. So peaceful!!!
I love the houses all decorated for the 4th!!!
My Mom and Dad's house and my sister's house are next to each other, but there is a field between them. My brother-in-law has a big garden and my Dad has blueberry bushes and apple trees. I love it when we go up in the summer, because we get to eat lots of good food from the garden.

There is also a street festival that goes on this weekend downtown, so we will enjoy going to that. Lots of great music, street dancing, crafts, food, etc. It is called Christmas in July and it promotes the Christmas tree industry that is so big in this part of our state. A huge portion of the Christmas trees that are sold, come from North Carolina.

I will take pictures and do another post of our trip this weekend, but I thought you all would enjoy seeing pictures that I took last year, so you could see where we were going to be. Now you can see why we love to go up so much. It is so pretty up there and so nice to have the cool mountain breezes!

I hope all of you have a wonderful 4th of July being with family and friends and celebrating the freedom that we are so proud to have! Thanks to all of you who have family members who have fought or who are presently fighting to give us that freedom. Praying for travel mercies for all those traveling and may you have a great holiday weekend filled with lots of rest, relaxation and wonderful memories.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

My new "old" French chest!

2010-06-26T16:56:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday, Adelaide and I had the afternoon off and we went shopping. We found this beautiful old French dresser and it was calling our name to come home with us!! I loved it, so we decided to get it and use it in our guest room.

We have been painting our upstairs this summer and we are in the process of changing 3 of the bedrooms around. Am I crazy, or what? Adelaide has a really large bedroom and she offered to move to a smaller bedroom and let me have the larger room for my office/computer room/sewing room. I was thrilled!

I will have enough space to have my computer table, sewing table and a couch, chair and ottoman. It will be my new workroom (hang-out)!! I am so excited. Adelaide will take the room that is now our guest room and my old office will become our new guest room.

Since the new guest room is the smallest of the 4 bedrooms, I will use minimal furniture in there. I bought a new queen-size mattress today for the guest room and with the new French dresser, it will help bring the room together. After I get all that in and set up, I will see what else I might need. I don't want the room to be cluttered.

For Adelaide's room, I am re-doing an old French Provincial bedroom suite that I had as a child. I have had fun working on it, but I have a new respect for all my blog friends who do this for a living. It is hard work! I have learned a lot though from reading blogs, so I hope it all turns out OK. I can't wait to get it finished. I will post pictures when we get it finished. I am working on 2 twin beds, a nightstand and a dresser.

As if we don't have enough going on with my husband painting the rooms, I have decided to take up all the carpet, so that I can more easily paint the trim. We are getting new carpet too. I went and priced that on Friday. I had sticker shock, believe me! Thank goodness they have 0 interest for a year, so that will be a big help.

For my office, I have a couch and a chair/ottoman that I am going to have re-upholstered. I will pick out some of the $3 fabric that I posted about earlier. We are also having a small wing chair re-upholstered for Adelaide's bedroom. As I have free time (what is that?), I need to go shop for fabric. I have already called the upholsterer and gotten prices and fabric yardages for each piece I am having done.

Needless to say, my whole house is a total wreck. You can't even walk in my dining room, as that is the holding room for all the excess stuff that is packed up from upstairs. The upstairs rooms are a mess from where my husband has been painting.
It will be worth the mess and aggravation when it is all finished, but in the meantime, it is driving me crazy!!!!!!

My master bedroom and bath need to be re-done too, but that will just have to wait until I get all this other stuff done. I can't have the whole upstairs torn up at one time. I think I might lose it for sure.

One of these years, I am going to have a summer where I don't do anything. I am a glutton for punishment, but I so want to get my house fixed up and be able to have guests. Things were getting a bit shopworn around here. I still had the original carpet in my upstairs that was put in when we built the house in 1987. It is a bit worn, to say the least. In our downstairs, we put in hardwood floors many years ago and really love it. I have tried to get my husband to let me put hardwoods upstairs, but he wants carpet.

I wish I could twitch my nose and everything would be done. Just like Samantha on Bewitched!! That would be wonderful. In the meantime, I need to keep my sanity and just take a day at a time and get as much done as I can. I have faith that it will all come together.

I took some wonderful pictures at the last Beach Music show on Thursday night and while trying to upload them, I deleted all of them. Me and my techno skills!!! Oh well, so much for that post. It was a great concert. The Chairman of the Board played and they were awesome! It has been so hot this week, I felt like I was at the beach. Today I got in my car and the thermostat said 108!!! As I started driving it cooled down to 95. Woo hoo!!! I'm not complaining though, just stating a fact!! After I just about froze to death this past winter, I swore I would not complain about the heat.

I hope all of you are having a very nice weekend, doing whatever makes you happy! I did a bit of yard saling this morning and found some really nice treasures. I love yard sales each Saturday morning and seeing what amazing things people want to get rid of . I found a beautiful milk glass bowl to add my collection and it was only $1. Love that! Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Life is Good!

2010-06-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

Today is officially the first day of summer, but I am amazed at how fast the time is going. My daughter came home from college the first week of May and I can't believe that she has already completed her 6 week internship at a local children's hospital. Today she started her Nanny job for the rest of the summer.

Aren't my roses pretty? I took these pictures at night, so the roses would show up really well. I just love my roses and they have done so good this year. These are hybrid tea roses that I planted many, many years ago.
These blooms were huge!! And such a gorgeous shade of pink!

On Friday I had to go for my semi-annual CT Scan. I do not have the best veins in the world and I sometimes have a bit of a problem with my IV, but this time was the worst. To start off, it took the lab tech 3 tries to get my blood drawn. Then I went back for my CT Scan and the 2 ladies working the CT machine stuck me 8 times before they could get the IV to go in my veins. I was about ready to walk out and say, "forget it". I felt like a human pin cushion.

It was not the ladies fault, I just have terrible veins. Needless to say, despite all the headaches involved with getting my CT Scan, I got great results. The scan came back normal and there was no evidence of cancer.

My oncologist has told me that if I have another clear clan in December that he will release me and I will not have to have any more scans. Isn't that great? I was thrilled!!!
In the past 7 years since my cancer surgery, I have had more CT Scans than I care to count. The first 3 years I had them every 3 months, then I switched to every 4 months and now I go every 6 months.

I feel very fortunate to have gotten along so well with my cancer. God is good!!! Each day is a joy and I look forward to living it to the fullest each and every day. I enjoy life, my family and my friends (in real life and in the blog world) and count it a blessing to be alive! I have so enjoyed all your blogs and being able to form friendships via the internet. I consider it a privilege to laugh with you, cry with you and pray for you, as we all travel this road we call "LIFE".

So you see, life is good! I had a wonderful weekend with my husband, girls and my son-in-law. They are such an important part of my life and bring so much joy to me! I missed being with my parents and my sister, but I will see them over the 4th holiday.

I only had to work a half day today, so I am in the basement painting furniture. I can't wait to get it finished and set up in Adelaide's room. I am closing with my favorite verse...

I Thes. 5:16-18 Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Happy Father's Day!!

2010-06-20T09:54:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day to my sweet Dad, Bill and my wonderful husband, Tom!! You are such important men in my life and I thank you both for all the support and love throughout the years. You are the best!!! This is a picture of my Mom and Dad at the Angus Barn in Raleigh, where I took them for dinner one night.

As a child I loved playing games with my Dad. We went on lots of wonderful family trips together. My Dad is such a kind and patient man and he has always adored my sister and I, as well as his grandchildren. He spent every possible moment with us and also his grandchildren. Daddy even loves all his "grand pets"!!!

My father served in World War 2 and is very proud of his service in the war. As I stated in an earlier post, he loves to tell war stories and he is constantly telling "tales" and jokes. He loves to be the life of the party with his story telling and jokes!

We were not wealthy, by any means, but I felt rich in the love my father shared with us and the wonderful times we had together. At 89, my Dad is as young at heart as ever and enjoys each and every day. He loves to work his crossword puzzle each day in the newspaper and at night he always has to watch Jeopardy.

Dad had a very strong work ethic and was able to retire from his job early. He actually has been retired longer than he worked. I'm so glad that he has had such a wonderful life. We have been blessed to have him as the head of our family. Love you Dad!!!
This is my husband Tom and I as we celebrated his 56th birthday in June. As I have mentioned before on my posts, we met in high school at the age of 15, so we have practically grown up together. Tom is a hard worker and has a strong work ethic, as well. He has enough years to be able to retire, but has not decided to throw in the towel yet, as they say. In all his years of working, he has only missed work a few times, so therefore he has accumulated years of sick leave. That is pretty impressive!

He has been a great husband and father and we have had some wonderful times together as a family. Tom is a mean pool player and loves to shoot pool!!! Tom adores his 2 daughters and enjoys spending time with them.
The girls were both here this weekend, along with our son-in-law and we had the best time being together.

I hope Tom and my Dad have an awesome Father's Day and feel very loved. I hope all of you have had a great day celebrating your Fathers or remembering fathers who have gone on to heaven. Thanks to all the Dads and the wonderful blessings that they have been to their families!

What's On My Mind Today!

2010-06-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

One of my blogger friends, Jennifer over at Trading Ashes for Beauty does a post once a week from the Simple Woman's Day book called what's on my mind. I always like the open ended statements and her comments that she posts each week. Jennifer, I am going to borrow your idea and do the same on my post today.

I have let the week get by and have not posted all week. Sorry guys!! It has just been one of those fun, but busy weeks.

I AM THINKING..... of my wonderful family and how fortunate I am to have such a great family. God blessed me with 2 beautiful daughters and a husband that I have known since I was 15 years old. We have shared 34 years of married life together. Lauren, Adelaide and Thomas are here this weekend for Father's Day and we have had so much fun being together. It seems like all we have done is eat! And we have done lots of talking and laughing!

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW...... the sun is shining bright and the temperature is up in the mid 90's. It is HOT!!! But hey, I am not complaining one bit after the cold weather we had this past winter. I am inside with the AC on, so life is good!

I AM WEARING.... a Lilly dress in my favorite color, blue! I wear pants/capris, but I especially love to wear dresses and skirts in the summer. And I love to wear flip flops/sandals. Right now I have on my Jack Rogers.

I AM REMEMBERING.... how special my parents and my sister are and what great times we have had together! I am so fortunate that my parents are still living and we all still enjoy spending time together. My sister lives 2 hours from me and my parents have a second home where she lives in the mountains, so we all get to be together a lot. I wouldn't have it any other way. Family is very important to us and we so enjoy being with each other.
I AM READING.... My Bible. I am waiting on my copy of The Help to arrive and I can't wait to start that. It is supposed to be so good. A great summer read! I also spend a lot of time reading your blogs. Love my blog reading each day!!!!

I AM HOPING... that I will have one more clear CT Scan in December and if so, I will not have to have them anymore and will be released from my oncologist's care. That will be awesome. I just had a CT Scan on Friday of this week and it came back normal. Praise the Lord!! Despite having cancer I am so fortunate to have been blessed by God in so many ways. Each day is a joy and I try to live it to the fullest!

ON MY MIND... I am thinking about how fast the summer is flying by. Adelaide has already been home for 6 weeks from college. The time is going too fast. I am so enjoying my time with her at home and do not want it to go so fast. She just completed an internship at Brenner's Children's Hospital and will start her summer Nanny job on Monday. She wants to be a Child Life Specialist and work with children who are terminally ill or have had surgery/trauma in their lives. She will be so good at that!!! I know that she blessed many children while she was there this summer. I can't believe that Adelaide will be a senior in college this year.

FROM THE KITCHEN.... We have been eating out all weekend, but on Sunday morning, we plan to fix a big breakfast for Father's Day. Friday night we ate at a wonderful restaurant downtown and then walked to a yummy cheesecake place and sat outside and ate our cheesecake and listened to jazz music. For lunch today, we ate at our favorite deli and tonight we are going to our favorite Italian restaurant and Thomas' parents are going to join us. In case you haven't noticed, this family LOVES to eat. And I do love to cook, but this weekend, we just wanted to be together and do other things besides be in the kitchen all weekend.

AROUND THE HOUSE..... things are in a mess!!! We are painting our whole upstairs, getting ready to put in new carpet and changing rooms around. What fun!!! In the process, I am cleaning out, throwing away and trying to get re-organized. So things are a wreck right now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, thank goodness!

PLANS FOR THE WEEK..... Thursday night is the last beach music for the season. But it will be a great one, because Chairmen of the Board are going to play. It has been so much fun going each week!!! I love beach music, although I never did learn how to Shag. I will be working this week from Monday through Thursday. I am also refinishing an old bedroom suite for Adelaide that I had as a child. I hope I can get it finished this week. I have enjoyed working on it.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS..... are hydrangeas! I love this color blue!!! I would love to have a whole yard full of hydrangeas and be able to pick a bouquet whenever I wanted one. This bush is on the side of my house. So pretty!!!
Have a nice Father's Day weekend!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Busy Bees!!!

2010-06-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

I am loving all the gorgeous hydrangeas that are in bloom here in North Carolina right now. The ones in my yard are purple! I took this picture while I was out shopping the other day. This blue is my favorite color! So pretty!

I must apologize for not posting all week. Wow, did this week fly by! For one thing, I had something to do EVERY night this week after work. Monday night I had dinner with girl friends, Tuesday night Adelaide and I attended a bridal shower, Wednesday night I went from work to babysit, Thursday night I went with a girlfriend to Beach Music to hear the Band of Oz. Friday night Tom and I went out to dinner. That makes for an extremely busy week to say the least.
Tuesday night Adelaide and I attended a bridal shower for one of Adelaide's high school friends who is getting married this summer. These are all Adelaide's high school Young Life friends and the lady (Susie) on the right was their Young Life Leader. And guess what? Susie was in college when I was in high school and she was my Young Life leader. Isn't that a small world? (Adelaide is the 4th one on the top row in the navy/white dress)

Susie is an amazing lady and she loves her "girls". At the shower when each gift was opened by the bride to be, Sara Katelin, the person who gave her the gift got to bless her and also give her a bit of advice about marriage. That was really a very special part of the shower. It was very touching. Also, at the end of the shower, Susie prayed for the bride and so did a lot of other people.

It was so wonderful to see all these young college girls who have grown up in Young Life and who so love the Lord and want to put Him first in their lives. There were also lots of Moms at the shower too, so it was a fun time for all. Lots of good food, fellowship and time to love on the bride and wish her well. The bride and groom will be moving to Canada when they get married.

On Friday, my Monday morning Bible study group (minus one gal who was out of town) got together for the day and went thrifting, shopping and out to lunch! We had the best time and we talked non-stop all day. Who would expect anything else? We don't meet in the summer, so we get together at least once a month and plan a fun outing, so that we can be together. We went to the Tea Room in Kernersville, NC, near where we live. It was delicious, as always! (Susan, Nancy, Terre, Jane & Me)
This is a nightstand that goes with a bedroom set that used to belong to me when I was a little girl. I'm sure you remember this old French Provincial style. I have had this set in my basement. (2 twin beds, a nightstand and a large dresser) Adelaide decided that she would like to have this set in her bedroom, so I am refinishing all the pieces. Over the weekend I got the pieces primed and they are now ready to paint. The beds and nightstand are going to be done in the white shabby chic style and the dresser is going to be a blue color. I think it will all be pretty when I get it finished. Luckily I only have to work 3 days this week, as the family I Nanny for is going out of town for a mini vacation. That will give me some extra time to hopefully get this furniture finished next weekend.

We got beautiful Shabby Chic bedding from Target that has mostly white in it, but it does have some touches of blue. The walls for Adelaide's room are painted the palest of blues. It is so pretty and so soothing! I love it! My sweet husband painted Adelaide's bedroom last weekend and this weekend he painted our guest room. The next room to paint will be my office/sewing room/upstairs den. There is nothing better than a room with a fresh coat of paint on the walls.
This is Holly "wishing" for some banana pudding!! And no, we don't sit with our dog at the table on a regular basis. Adelaide has been gone all weekend to the mountains to attend a wedding. Since Adelaide got home tonight, Holly has not wanted to get out of Adelaide's sight. When we finished dinner, Adelaide let Holly sit on her lap while I was cleaning off the table. Holly put her little paws up on the table like she was waiting to be served some dessert.

Here is Adelaide with Holly. Adelaide had a wonderful time visiting her roommate, who is at college this summer going to summer school. Adelaide enjoyed being back in her apartment for the weekend, visiting with friends and going to the wedding of one of her guy friends from high school. She said that everything was just beautiful. We love weddings, so I know she had a great time.

As you can see, things have been busy here, but we have had a great week. Needless to say, my house is a wreck and will probably be a mess until we can get all this painting done. The next thing is getting new carpet in our whole upstairs. Won't that be fun? I can't wait. I am so tired of this old carpet. And it is going to be fun to re-do all our upstairs rooms.

We are keeping our same master bedroom, but the 3 other bedrooms are being switched around. Since Adelaide's bedroom is the largest, she is letting me have that room for my office/sewing room/den. Our old office will become the new guest room and the old guest room will become Adelaide's new room.

My husband and I are going to get a king-size bed and our guest room will get our queen bed. Our poor married daughter and her husband have a hard time sleeping on our double guest bed. They will love the queen!

I also have a couch, chair and ottoman that will need to be re-upholstered, so I will have to go back over to the $3 a yard fabric store and look for fabric to have those pieces done. There are never enough hours in the day, are there?

Anyway, we are making progress and I am happy to be getting all this stuff done. It will be a while, but I will take pictures when we have everything finished. Right now it is a wreck!

On top of all this work inside, I went to Home Depot to get my paint the other day and they had all their perennials on sale for 99 cents and I came home with a trunk full. I had to plant those too. I couldn't resist!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Thanks Dad!!!

2010-05-30T20:20:00.000-07:00

As we celebrate Memorial Day, I wanted to take the time to thank my sweet Dad for his service to our country during World War 2. My Dad was in the Navy. He is so proud of his time spent in the Navy and I love to hear his war stories! This is a picture of me with my Mom and Dad. Daddy will celebrate his 89th birthday on June 10th.
Here is my Dad with our cat, Sassy and our dog, Holly. In case you can't tell, they adore my Dad and they fight to see who can get the most attention from him.

Our local Rotary Club sponsors flights to Washington, DC for Veterans to go up as a group and see the memorials. The Veterans are given the royal treatment and have the time of their life together as a group. They take 6 flights a year. 3 in the fall and 3 in the spring. And the trips are free to the Veterans. Our family nominated my Father to go, but he will not be able to go until this coming fall, due to a long waiting list.

When they go each year, the news coverage is so touching. To see all these older Veterans getting onto that plane and the smiles on their faces is priceless and will bring a tear to your eyes. I can't wait for my Dad to go. It will be a trip of a lifetime for him.

As we reflect on Memorial Day, let us remember all the men and women who have made such great sacrifices for all of us to be able to live in a free country and to worship a God who dearly loves us. We are so fortunate and we owe so much to these men and women! Thanks Dad, for your service during World War 2. I love you!

My New Baby!

2010-05-30T06:31:00.001-07:00

This is my new baby, Sunny!!! A yellow canary! Isn't he/she/it sweet? I don't know the sex yet, but I think it may be a male, since it chirps and chatters a lot. I hope it is, because male canaries sing and have the prettiest voices. From here on out, I will just refer to Sunny as a male.
My Bible study leader has 2 canaries and they had 4 babies on March 6th. I had always loved Nancy's birds and when she offered me one of the babies, I was thrilled. Growing up I never had a bird, so I was not sure how it would be taking care of a bird, but I have loved it!
Sunny's cage sits on a bookcase between my computer desk and a window and I enjoy watching Sunny when I am in my office on the computer. Sunny recognizes me when I come in and comes to sit on his perch in the corner of the cage closest to the computer. Sunny will look at me and cock his head and chatter at me. It is so cute!! I can talk to Sunny and he will listen just like he knows what I am saying.

I have had Sunny for a week, but have grown attached to him already. It is very easy to take care of for all the joy that I have gotten from having him. Sunny loves to take a bath, so several times a week, I put a dish of water in the cage and Sunny has the best time bathing. It is so much fun to watch Sunny having a good time in the water!

Since my girls are out of the nest, I now have my little animals to keep me company. We have our chihuahua named Holly, our cat named Sassy and our little canary named Sunny!! Life is good!

Memorial Day Giveaway!

2010-05-28T20:22:00.001-07:00

My blogger friend Sarah, over at Monogram Chick is hosting a wonderful giveaway for Memorial Day weekend and I want all of you to have a chance to win! She is giving away a really nice spa wrap and cosmetic bag. Aren't they cute?

Check out her blog and sign up, but be sure to let her know that Melinda sent you over to register. If you win, then I win too.

You see, I posted about Sarah's Market basket giveaway last year and my blogger friend, Nancy, at Bacardi Mama won. We both got awesome monogrammed market baskets!!! I have loved my market basket. Sarah does a beautiful job with her monogramming and my item was packaged so pretty when it arrived.

Remember you may want to check out her site for graduation and wedding gifts or just something special for yourself. The drawing will be on Tuesday morning, so hurry over and sign up.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Graduation Weekend & Anniversary Celebrations!!!!

2010-05-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, May 15th, Tom and I celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary and we also celebrated my sweet son-in-law, Thomas' graduation from college. We went to visit Lauren and Thomas for the weekend and had the most fun being together. I got my pictures loaded in backwards, but what else is new? We will start with pictures from Saturday night and go back to Friday. Sorry!
Here is my delicious dinner that night after graduation. I had filet medallions with mashed potatoes and we also ordered lots of other yummy sides to share, but I forgot to take pictures of those.
Adelaide and Lauren were looking as beautiful as ever! I am so proud of my two girls. They are the joy of my life!!!
Heading into the restaurant. Lauren, Adelaide, Tom(my husband in the pink shirt), Brent(Thomas' brother in the blue shirt).
Del Frisco's is the restaurant where we ate after graduation and it was so good!!! The service was excellent and we had a wonderful time celebrating Thomas! After dinner us gals dashed over to Belk to take advantage of a Lilly sale and we all got some new Lilly clothes for summer. We only had about 40 minutes to shop, but we didn't let that stop us from doing some damage. We all managed to pick out some great new outfits! What fun!!!
My sweet family. Us girls all wore our Lilly dresses for the graduation. In case you haven't noticed by now... we love Lilly.
Lauren and Adelaide!
Lauren and Thomas. Don't they make a cute couple? They just recently celebrated their 3 year wedding anniversary on May 5th! I can't believe that they have already been married for 3 years.
Another shot of us with Thomas. We are so proud of him. He worked full time and finished his college education.
Thomas with his parents. Mom (Cindy), Dad (Mike) and brother (Brent).
Thomas is so thrilled to be finished!
Lauren giving Thomas a big hug after graduating! Way to go Thomas!!! We are so proud of you!
That is Thomas shaking the chancellor's hand on the screen.
I just had to include this picture. On the morning of graduation, Lauren and I got up and took our showers to get ready to leave and we both came out wearing the same Lilly dress. It was so funny!!! Since I did not bring many clothes, Lauren changed and I wore the blue dress to graduation.
Our family loves sweets, so needless to say, we had to have a special cake for our special guy, Thomas, for his graduation . This cake had fresh strawberries in the buttercream icing between the layers and it was delicious!!!!
On Friday night we celebrated at another great restaurant called Firebirds. It is Lauren and Thomas' favorite restaurant for hamburgers. We had to wait at the bar until our table was ready. I can't believe it, but Adelaide is now 21 and can join us at the bar.
Cheers!
The happy couple... Lauren and Thomas!
Thomas, Lauren, Tom and Adelaide. I am so blessed to have such a great family. Love you guys!!!
Isn't this neat? This is a huge glass jar of pineapple slices at the bar. They soak these in liquor for 21 days and put the slices in drinks that people order. It looked so pretty sitting on the end of the bar.

I did not get pictures on Sunday morning, since most of us were still in our pajamas, but Lauren and Thomas treated everyone to a delicious breakfast at their house. They fixed eggs benedict and Lauren made her famous Hollandaise sauce, which was awesome!!! I had gotten fresh strawberries at the farmer's market, so we had those too. It was sooooooo good!!!

As you can see, we had the best time being together last weekend and celebrating our anniversary, as well as Thomas' graduation from college. I love my time with my family and making memories together.

Beach Music!!!

2010-05-20T20:05:00.000-07:00

When the Beach Music Festival starts each year, it really feels like summer has arrived!!! It is held each Thursday night (for 7 weeks) in the city where I live in North Carolina. It is a fundraiser for the Children's Home Society in our town, which is an organization that handles adoptions. For those of you not from the South, beach music is HUGE in the South and most Southerners love to Shag to beach music.

The group playing tonight was called Legends of Beach and the lead singer was Jackie Gore. The saxophone player in this picture could really play that sax! You can see some of the people dancing on the wooden dance floor in front of the stage. There is another dance floor further back for others to dance on. A lot of the folks just enjoy listening to the music sitting in their lawn chairs on the grass.
Here is a view of part of the crowd. As you can see, it is very well attended. Beach music is held downtown in a nice park- type area. Lots of room for people to spread out and enjoy talking and visiting with each other. There are also local restaurants who have free food to share with those in attendance. They also sell beer and soft drinks.
Here is another view of the dance floor by the stage with folks Shagging! There is a varied crowd, both young and old. I saw lots of people I knew and enjoyed not only listening to the music, but visiting as well. You all know me, I love to talk!
These little guys were on the back stage and everybody cleared off to let them dance. You can't tell from this picture, but they were really dancing up a storm!! They were so precious!!!

It was a fun evening! I had a great time. Adelaide (my daughter) was also there with her friends. They were going out afterwards to celebrate her friend, Sarah's 21st birthday!

In June, some of the more famous beach music groups are going to play. The Embers, Chairman of the Board and the Band of Oz will be playing. I can't wait!!! For $7, it is a fun evening with friends and the money goes to a great cause. Don't you just love all the fun things there are to do in the summer?

Graduation Weekend!

2010-05-14T08:15:00.001-07:00

My sweet son-in-law Thomas is graduating from college this weekend and we are so excited to be celebrating with him! We are going to their home for the weekend to attend the graduation on Saturday and to take part in the celebration. We are so proud of Thomas! He has been working full-time and going to college. He is like the son that we never had and he is so good to my daughter. Thomas is a wonderful husband!!!

On Saturday night we are eating out at an awesome restaurant and Thomas' parents and brother are joining us too. It will be a fun weekend of making Thomas feel so special and loved!

Oh, and one last thing to celebrate. Tom and I will be having our 34th wedding anniversary on Saturday. We met in high school when we were 15 years old, so I feel like we have grown up together. We don't want to take away from Thomas, so our celebration will be low key.

Prayers and blessings to my blogger friend, Kat, whose daughter Bree is getting married on Saturday in Florida. I wish them all the best! Congratulations and best wishes to Bree and Jay. And Kat, you are going to be the prettiest Mother-of -the-bride ever!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Congratulations Mom!!!

2010-05-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

I talked to my sister tonight and she said that my Mom won at church today for the oldest Mom in attendance. Mom is 86 years old and still going strong. She still drives, takes care of her home and cooks. I hope I am doing that well at 86!

Mom also won for the Mother who has been married the longest. She and my Dad will celebrate 68 years of marriage this fall. Isn't that great?

As I stated in my last post, I am so proud of my Mom! She is the greatest, and has been such a great example and inspiration to me. Congratulations Mom and I love you!

I hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day, doing exactly what you wanted to do and spending it with those you love.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Happy Mother's Day!!!

2010-05-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

A Happy Mother's Day to all my blogger friends who are Moms! I hope you all have a very special day and that your family celebrates wonderful you today. And for all those who still have Moms who are living, I hope you have a wonderful day with your Mom.

Being a Mom is the hardest, but most rewarding job a woman can ever have. I would not trade it for anything!!! I have 2 beautiful daughters that I am very proud of and being their Mom has been such a blessing to me. I love you girls!!!

My sweet Mom has been an amazing example to me of what a Godly Mother should be. She raised me in a Christian home, took me to church from the time I was born, loved me unconditionally, taught me how to be a loving wife and Mother by setting a great example for me and taught me how to be a wonderful cook and homemaker.

Most importantly, she taught me about the importance of FAMILY. Of always being there for each other and for loving one another through the good and the bad. We are a very close family and have done so many fun things together over my lifetime and have made so many wonderful memories.

Mom writes and sends lots of cards and letters to friends and family on a daily basis and has passed that love on to me. Mom is an amazing cook and her ministry has always been spoiling us with her great meals. She loves nothing more than fixing a wonderful sweet treat to have at the end of one of her meals. That is where I got my love of sweets!

I am so blessed to still have my Mother in my life and to enjoy her company so much. We are Mother and daughter, as well as best friends. We have always loved doing things with each other. Thanks Mom for all the great times we have shared together and also for the love you have showered on my own girls, as well.

My Mom just turned 86, but I hope I have many more Mother's Day celebrations to share with her. I love you Mom!!! I am blessed to be your daughter.

Since I seem to always be the one taking the pictures, I could not find a picture of me with Mom when I was doing this post. These pictures are of my youngest daughter, Adelaide with Mom and Dad on 2 occasions.

Mountain Getaway!

2010-05-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

I came up after work on Thursday to help my parents get settled into their mountain house for the summer. Now that they are older, it is a very stressful move for them to leave their regular home and come here for the summer. They always dread moving, but once they are here and settled, they love it. It is so much cooler here and they can enjoy being outside. Plus, my sister, brother-in-law and niece live here too, so Mom and Dad like being with them.

I pray that this summer will be a good one for them. As they are getting older, each fall when they leave, I know they wonder if they will be back the next summer. I am so thrilled that their health is good and that they could come back this summer. The house they live in is the one that my father lived in as a child.

I will help Adelaide get her things loaded at college and bring her home for the summer. I am so excited to have her come home for almost 4 months.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weeekend. Get outside and enjoy this pretty weather.

May 5th, A Day of Celebration!!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LAUREN & THOMAS!

2010-05-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

May 5th is a special day in our household! Three years ago today, my oldest daughter, Lauren, married the love of her life, Thomas. They were high school sweethearts (like my husband and I) and had dated 8 years before they got married. I have posted this picture before, but it is a favorite one of mine, so I am going to post it again. That was one of the happiest days of my life... the wedding of Lauren and Thomas. Lauren was a beautiful bride and we were so proud to be welcoming Thomas into our family to be our son-in-law! He is a very special young man and we love him just like a son!

Lauren got married while in graduate school, but completed her Master's degree and got a wonderful job with a large accounting firm. I am so proud of her accomplishments and I know that she will go far in her field!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, LAUREN & THOMAS!!!
I hope you have a wonderful day, celebrating your 3 year anniversary and that you have many, many more happy years of marriage!

May 5th is also the 4 year anniversary of my youngest daughter, Adelaide's, thyroid cancer surgery. I praise God for both of these precious young ladies and the joy they bring to my life!!! They mean the world to me and I am so happy to celebrate with them both today! God has blessed all of our lives and I am so proud of my girls!
Adelaide just finished up her junior year in college on Tuesday and will begin an internship this coming Monday at a local children's hospital for 5 weeks. Adelaide is studying to be a Child Life Specialist. After her internship, she will work as a Nanny the rest of the summer.
Adelaide and her little dog, Holly.

I feel so blessed to have such sweet daughters, who have not only been my daughters, but are like my best friends. We enjoy spending time with each other and making memories together! It is a joy to celebrate with each of my girls today. I wish we could be with each other today, but I hope to see you both soon. Praying for you both on this joyous day!

God's Beauty!

2010-05-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man's behalf! Psalm 66:5

These are just a few of the spring pictures I took this year. I love spring time and the beautiful flowers that bloom all around us. God's paintbrush on the earth is incredible and I marvel at His beauty around me! I hope you have enjoyed the spring colors in your area of the country as much as I have enjoyed them here in North Carolina.

I found this saying in one of my books and thought it was sweet...

A true friend is one who ignores your broken down gate and admires your garden!

Have a blessed day and a wonderful week ahead! Enjoy this gorgeous weather and God's beauty around you.

Lady Diana Exhibit - Atlanta Civic Center

2010-04-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our trip to Atlanta this past weekend was a visit to see the Lady Diana exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Center. It was an amazing exhibit!!! If you live nearby and can get to see it before it leaves Atlanta in June, by all means, please go see the exhibit. You will LOVE it! These banners were hanging downtown advertising the exhibit.
We couldn't resist getting our pictures taken beside the huge mural of Diana. Here are my girls (Adelaide on the left with the pink purse and Lauren on the right) posing with Diana.
I love this picture of Diana! Isn't she beautiful? And how about these beautiful women with her? My girls are certainly "Princesses" in my book!!!
This was a neat saying that Lady Di's brother wrote about her. It was on the wall as we walked into the exhibit. A very true statement, indeed!
Diana's crown was breathtaking!!!! Isn't it every little girl's dream to be a princess and wear a crown?

I took this picture myself, even though we were told not to take pictures inside. I couldn't resist. My girls just about had a fit, because as I was taking the picture, a security person walked into the room. I didn't see the person, but they didn't say anything. I guess I am a rebel in my "old age". I wanted a picture and I took it! After the girls fussed at me, I didn't try to take a picture of the wedding dress, but I later found some pictures online to upload and show you all.

These were 2 of the many outfits that were on exhibit that had been worn by Diana. I loved seeing all of her outfits and most of them had pictures of her wearing them, as well.
This blue cocktail dress was on exhibit, but this is a picture of her wearing the dress to the ballet.
This was a necklace that had been worn by Diana. The jewels hanging on the necklace could be taken off and worn as earrings. There were lots of other jewels that were on display too and they were all very beautiful.
I absolutely loved Diana's wedding shoes. These pictures don't do them justice. All the handwork and beading on them was so beautiful!!! I could just imagine her dancing the night away in these gorgeous shoes. Even the bottoms of the shoes were pretty!
Her wedding dress was amazing! And the train is 25 feet long!!! I so remember the day she got married and how I got up in the middle of the night to watch the wedding. I will always remember that day and how radiant Diana looked. She was loved by so many and was such a spectacular bride marrying her Prince! There was also one of the little flower girl's dresses too. On the screen behind the dress, they showed footage of the wedding and their carriage ride after the wedding.
I didn't get any pictures, but there was another room about her funeral. They also showed footage of the funeral and processional and it was so sad. In the background Elton John was singing the song, "Goodbye England's Rose...." It was all I could do to keep from crying. It was very emotional for me!

There was also lots of things from Lady Di's childhood, personal letters that she had written, one of her report cards, toys from her childhood, pictures, etc.

Another room had things about Lady Diana's charities that she gave her time and money to. As her brother said, she was a very compassionate person and she reached out to those who were in need and who were hurting. She held Aids children, touched lepers and had such a heart for those less fortunate.

It was a very personal exhibit and one that my girls and I truly enjoyed! I thank the family for being so generous and allowing these items to be shared with the public. What a wonderful way to share her memories with the world! It is evident that Lady Diana is stilled loved by so many. The exhibit was certainly a CELEBRATION of her life!

We Have a Winner!!!

2010-04-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

As promised last week, I am giving away a copy of the new magazine, Flea Market Style! My sweet husband helped me pick the winner tonight. I put all the names on pieces of paper and he picked one out for me. Drum roll please......
He picked Nancy at Bacardi Mama!!!!!! Congratulations Nancy! I hope you will enjoy your new magazine. Nancy, please send me your address so I can get your magazine in the mail.
Thanks to all of you who entered!!

So Long Insecurity - Atlanta Weekend!

2010-04-25T19:20:00.001-07:00

I can't begin to tell you how much fun my girls and I had attending the Beth Moore Conference in Atlanta this past weekend. It was AWESOME!!! 9,300 Sisters in Christ at this "ginormous" church. I have never been to a church that big. It was like a city in itself. It was HUGE!!! It was the First Baptist Church at Woodstock, Georgia. This picture doesn't even begin to show how big it is.
Here I am with my precious daughters! Lauren in blue and Adelaide in pink. We had the best Mother/daughter weekend ever!!! I have lots more pictures and I will break our trip up and post about the other parts of our trip this week. We packed so much into the weekend.
This is a view of some of the screens in our overflow seating area. We had great seats and could see Beth really well on the screens in front of us. I think we were actually in the best place, because our room (although large) seemed more intimate. Plus, Beth came to our room for 30 minutes during lunch and visited and answered questions. How cool is that?
This is what our room looked like. You can see Lauren (blue top) and Adelaide (white sweater) on the second row from the bottom. We were so excited, because lots of our blog friends sat around us. It was one big blogger friend party. Getting to meet blog friends and have pictures taken together. The girls saw lots of their blog friends, but I only meet one of mine. Kelly, from Kelly's Korner. (picture to follow)
This is just a portion of the main sanctuary where Beth was actually speaking. The room was so huge, I couldn't even get it all in.
Here is Beth with her beautiful daughter, Melissa (who lives in Atlanta). They came over to our room during lunch and answered questions up on the stage. We were able to go down and take pictures. Beth was so sweet and spent a lot of time answering questions and interacting with the ladies in the audience. She had on the cutest top and pair of jeans. She isn't any bigger than a minute! And I have never seen so much energy in any one person.

Beth is definitely on fire for the Lord and I am so pleased to report that the simulcast reached 300,000 women nationwide. Isn't that awesome! God is certainly doing great things through Beth and her Living Proof Ministry.
Isn't Beth just the cutest thing you have ever seen? I would say that she looks pretty secure in herself. Don't you? What better person to write this book! She had a wonderful message and she let us all know how important we are in God's eyes and how much he loves us!!!
Beth getting her point across. As many of you know, Beth does not stay still for long. She is up and moving all the time. If you have not read her book, So Long Insecurity, I would highly recommend it. I'm sure you will agree that we all have insecure moments in our lives. Through her book, Beth tells us how to be more secure women of God in our everyday lives.

One of the big highlights of our weekend was getting to meet Kelly of Kelly's Korner. We have all been blog friends with Kelly for a long time and have followed her infertility problems, her pregnancy and the birth of her precious daughter, Harper. I think all of blogdom knows who Kelly is and have prayed for Harper. Kelly was such a celebrity and so many people wanted to meet her. We got to sit near Kelly and a huge following of other bloggers. My girls got to meet so many of their blog friends.

Kelly was as precious, sweet and beautiful in person as she is on her blog. She was so gracious and made everyone feel so special. God blessed Harper with such an incredible Mom! It was a joy for us to get to meet Kelly in person. It meant so much to us to meet Kelly after having prayed for Harper. Our meeting Kelly was the icing on the cake to an incredible weekend of "girl time"...... talking non-stop, lots of eating, shopping, the Princess Diana exhibit, the Beth Moore conference and meeting blog friends. God blessed us with a wonderful weekend and one that we will remember forever!

More pictures to follow this week. Hope all of you had a great weekend!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Atlanta Here We Come!!!

2010-04-22T13:59:00.001-07:00

Adelaide, Lauren and I are leaving on Friday morning to go to Atlanta to attend Beth Moore's conference where she will be speaking on her new book, SO LONG INSECURITY! The conference will be all day on Saturday and there are 9,000+ women who will be attending.

On Friday, we are eating lunch at the famous Varsity Drive-in and then going to the Princess Diana exhibit. I can't wait to see her wedding dress. I remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch her wedding many years ago. I am so excited to see this exhibit.

Kelly (Harper's Mom) of Kelly's Korner is going to be there too and we are hoping to get to meet her at the conference. My girls and I have been blog friends with Kelly since before her baby was born. Hopefully we will get to meet up with each other.

I am so looking forward to spending the weekend with my sweet girls and hearing what the Holy Spirit has to say to us through Beth. She is an incredible speaker and I am so looking forward to hearing her message, listening to the praise and worship music of Travis Cottrell and his team and just being with all those precious Christian sisters in Christ. It will be a wonderful weekend!

Fabric Heaven!!

2010-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

I am having the best time this week on my week off! Today I went with 2 of my girlfriends to fabric heaven!!! I'm not kidding. Have you ever seen so much fabric in one place? And this building is really big. These are just sections of the building.

Oh, and guess what? I haven't even told you the best part yet! All this upholstery fabric is $3.00 a yard. I still can't believe that. You heard it right....$3.00 a yard!!!!
Isn't that incredible? And the fabric is not seconds. It if perfect.

They have sheer fabric for window treatments and it is $2.00 a yard!

Believe me, we were all on overload when we walked through the door. My head was spinning from the excitement. And guess what? I didn't even buy anything. I was too overwhelmed.
I do have some furniture that needs to be re-upholstered, so I will go back another day and see if I can find some fabric that would be suitable for my needs. I have some names of men to do the upholstery work, so I will give them a call and make some price comparisons. With fabric this cheap, it makes me want to re-do all my furniture. And believe me, a lot of my things are needing some attention.
We all decided that if you could not find a fabric to suit your needs here, then it could not be found. There was every color and type of fabric you could imagine. Linens, velvets, stripes, plaids, polka dot, tweed, outdoor fabric, etc. etc. And they had a pretty good selection of trims too.

If any of you are in for a road trip to North Carolina, let me know and I can give you more information about this great fabric warehouse. It is incredible!!!

Another Giveaway!!!

2010-04-20T19:43:00.001-07:00

Nancy, over at Bacardi Mama, is hosting a spring giveaway and if you win, you will have the most organized DVD's in blogland. You get your choice of one of these 3 items. I personally love the linen/jute box.
Be sure and check out Nancy's blog and enter her great giveaway. I really enjoy reading her blog!!!

Who knows, you just might win. After all, I have won some amazing things since I started blogging last year! A winner will be picked on April 26th. Good luck to all!!!
Thanks Nancy for an awesome giveaway!

My Lucky Month!

2010-04-20T18:31:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it, but I won another giveaway!!! Layla at The Lettered Cottage was having an awesome giveaway. If you are not a follower of Layla, please check out her blog. She and her husband, Kevin are so talented and I just love her decorating style. They are fixing up an old house and their ideas are wonderful and so inspiring! Plus, they are such a cute couple.

Anyway, Layla was giving away a $100 gift certificate to purchase a beautiful custom art canvas from Stephanie at Geezees Canvas Art. I get to pick out my picture/pictures and a verse/saying to be printed on a canvas. The picture above shows one of a little girl. The ones that she does for weddings are so pretty. You can also do one in memory of someone. The sky is the limit!

I told Stephanie that would be my problem... trying to decide on my picture and what verse or saying I would want on it. She said to take my time and I could have it done at any time.

Be sure and go to Stephanie's website and look at her beautiful work. You might want to order one for a wedding, graduation, Mother's Day, Father's Day, new baby or birthday gift. They are very unique!!!

Thanks Stephanie and Layla for making my day!! I feel so blessed.

Look what I won!

2010-04-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love winning giveaways and receiving the packages in the mail? I know I sure do!!! I recently won a giveaway and received this beautiful package from Crystal at Olive Rue. I was so excited!

On Crystal's blog, Vintage Remixed, she has directions for using her beautiful French inspired iron on transfers. She puts them on tea towels and tote bags. And she also has really pretty gift tags and photographs. I got this adorable tote bag with the angels on it, the tea towel with joy on it and 2 packs of gift tags (one has the Eiffel tower and the other has beautiful birds).

Crystal also included 2 prints of peonies and a lovely print of daffodils. I can't wait to find some pretty frames to put them in .

Be sure and check out Crystal's Etsy shop and see all the beautiful items that she has to offer. Thanks Crystal, for my wonderful gifts. I love them all!!!

Giveaway!!

2010-04-18T09:43:00.001-07:00

Hey ladies, I was able to get an extra copy of this wonderful magazine and I thought I would share it with one of you. The magazine is called Flea Market Style and it is full of wonderful articles, pictures and inspiration.

Two of my sweet blogger friends, Rhoda from Southern Hospitality
and Layla from The Lettered Cottage are featured in one of the articles. They are both very talented ladies and if you don't follow them already, go over to their blogs and check them out.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you enjoy thrifting, yard sales, flea markets, etc. I will pick a winner next Monday, April 26th. Good luck!!!

I am on vacation this week and will be traveling to see my sister in the mountains and then on to Atlanta with my girls to hear Beth Moore on Saturday. Since I will be gone, I won't be able to pick a winner until Monday, April 26th. Plus, it will give more people a chance to win. If you don't have a blog, leave your email address in your comment, so I will know how to get in touch with you if you win.

Have a great week!!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Baby Birds!

2010-04-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

God's hand in the details of the birth of baby birds is so amazing to me! How all the details are so orchestrated and the eggs are laid, the Mother sits on the eggs, the eggs hatch and the baby birds begin their life on this earth. Isn't that such a miracle?

At the home where I work, a Mother bird built a nest in an arrangement that was placed on the wall beside the front door for Christmas. We watched her painstakingly build her nest for weeks. A lot of the nest is built out of hair. The Mother bird then laid 5 beautiful blue eggs and sat on them for about 2 weeks before they hatched. I have not wanted to disturb the babies, but I can't tell for sure if all 5 eggs hatched or not. Aren't they just so precious?

How these little birds could have grown and developed in 2 weeks and turned into these sweet little fuzzy birds is so amazing to me! How could anyone not believe in God after witnessing this miracle of birth? Maybe it is just me, but these simple everyday events in life are so incredible and bring such joy to my life. I guess it doesn't take too much to make me happy!
Here are the adorable little eggs that the Mother laid and so lovingly sat on until they hatched. And during this time, it got really cold outside at night. I just love the picture of those sweet little eggs!
This is a picture of the container with the arrangement that the bird built her nest in. The nest is in the upper right corner of the arrangement, but it is tucked down inside the leaves and you can't see it from this angle.
If you will look closely, you can see the Mother bird on the top right corner of the lamp and she is watching me real closely. I am sitting in a rocking chair on the porch waiting to get a picture of her. I'm not sure what kind of bird she is, but she has red coloring on her body. You can see that more clearly in the other pictures.
Here the Mother bird has moved onto the gutter and is really checking me out to make sure I would not harm her babies. She never did attack me, but she was real cautious as to what I was doing on the porch.
This is a better close up shot of the Mother bird and you can see her pretty red color. I wondered if she was some type of wren, but I'm not sure.
I had one more picture of the baby birds, but after uploading it, the nest looked really gross from bird droppings on it, and I decided not to post it. I didn't want to gross you all out.
The family that I work for is going to Disney World this week, so I will be off myself and will miss watching the birds leave the nest. I am not sure, but I bet they will have flown out of the nest by the time I get back to work in a week. It has sure been fun watching them so far. I have never been able to watch birds that closely before and it was so neat.

I hope you all have been able to enjoy the spring time beauty around your part of the world. I have taken a lot of really pretty outside pictures of the flowers and trees blooming here in North Carolina and I will post those for you to see another day.
Have a wonderful weekend!

PSALM 150:6 LET EVERYTHING THAT LIVES SING PRAISES TO THE LORD!!!

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Sorry!!!

2010-04-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

I had 3 people who left me comments today and somehow I deleted them by mistake. I am so sorry to whoever it was that left the comments.
I LOVE comments, so this was not intentional. Somehow I just hit the wrong button.
If you left a comment and I don't respond back, you will know why. I'm sorry!

Two Great Giveaways & Congrats to Phil Mickelson!!!

2010-04-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

If you can be at your computer tomorrow to take advantage of this amazing giveaway, by all means, check it out. Tip Junkie, along with several other blogs is hosting a HUGE giveaway. At last count I think there was over $10,000 worth of prizes. WOW!!!!!
You have to register every hour during the day to win the prizes for that hour. There will be 4 prizes given away each hour. Doesn't that sound awesome?
I won't go into a lot of detail here, but head on over and check it out. Who knows, you just might win.

I posted about a giveaway recently and my sweet blog friend Kathy won. Isn't that great? She was so excited.

Linda, over at Coastal Charm is celebrating her 100th post by giving away this beautiful flower vase. Head on over and check out her blog as well. I enjoy reading her blog!!!

Hope every one's week has gotten off to a great start. For those of you who watch golf, weren't you just so excited to see Phil Mickelson win the Master's on Sunday? I was thrilled!!!!! My husband got so emotional seeing Phil win that he teared up and had to leave the room. For those of you who don't know anything about Phil, his wife and Mother have had breast cancer this past year. Plus, Phil has not played much golf this past year either. It was just so touching to see him hug his wife, his 3 beautiful daughters and also his caddie. I was crying too! Phil's caddie has been with him for 18 years, so he is just like family. Phil won over a million dollars, and I am so thrilled for him. But having had cancer myself, a million dollars is nothing compared to one's life. I hope this joy is just the beginning of wonderful things to come for Phil and his family.

A Random Act of Kindess & CatchingUp!

2010-04-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today after I got home from church, my cellphone rang and it was my sweet blog friend, Valerie from Oklahoma. Valerie was just calling to say hello and catch up on how things were going in my life. Don' t you just love those "Random Acts of Kindness" from friends, when they call for no reason just to say hello and let you know that you were on their mind?

For those of you who have been following my blog, you know that I went in October 2009 to meet Valerie in Virginia. She had flown there for a long weekend with her sister Pam to visit her niece, Kelli who goes to college in Virginia. Valerie and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to get to meet each other. I drove 2 hours to meet Valerie, Pam and Kelli and we had such a wonderful time. It was a weird feeling meeting someone for the first time that I knew so much about, but had never met before. We immediately hit it off and never stopped talking! We had the best day being together!!!
Here is a picture of Valerie, her niece Kelli and Valerie's precious sister Pam!! I took presents for everyone and it was just like Christmas.
Here is a view of a shopping area we went to while we were there. This city has 2 J Crew clearance stores, so we had fun looking for good buys at both stores. You all know me and my thrifty shopping!

We ate at the cutest place for lunch called the Farmbasket. Since it was the fall, the garden area looked so pretty. There is also a nice gift shop inside, but I did not include pictures from there.

Isn't this the cutest little garden area outside the restaurant/gift shop?
Valerie sent me this same picture from her camera along with a beautiful frame and I have it on my computer desk to remind me of the great day we shared together.
Valerie and I had to laugh... She said that her friends/family were cautious about her meeting me (a complete stranger) and getting in the car with me to go shopping, out to lunch, etc. Like I was going to kidnap her or something. We got a real kick out of that!!! They don't know us ladies in the blog world and how much we love our blog friends and feel like they are our true friends, even though most of us have never met each other.
It was just icing on the cake for me to get to meet Valerie and spend the day with her and to meet her sister and niece.

Valerie and I want to meet up again with each other sometime. We have a mutual blog friend, Joyce, that we would love to get together with in New York City someday. Wouldn't that be fun? None of us would get a word in edgewise, would we?
Oh, the joys of the blog world!!! I so enjoy meeting new friends and getting to know all of you better as we journey through each other's blogs. You ladies are a special part of my life!
For those of you who are new to my blog, you may be wondering why I am so slow in posting these pictures. Well, you see, I lost my camera cord that I use to upload my pictures. I searched until just recently and never could find it, so I ordered a new cord. I still wanted to post about my fun day with Valerie, so after she called today, I decided that there was no better time than the present. Besides, I didn't want to clean house today after all. In fact, right now I am putting on my walking shoes and heading over to the park to take advantage of this gorgeous spring day.

Thanks Valerie for your call today! I enjoyed so much talking to you in person and catching up on the things in your life. Oh, guess what? Valerie is going to be a Grandmother for the first time in October. I told her that last October we were meeting for the first time and this October she was going to welcome her grandchild into the world. How exciting!!! Her Grandma name will be Lolly. That is so cute!

Valerie, your call was such a bright spot in my day!! To those of you reading this, why don't you pick up your phone and call someone that you love and see how they are doing. I'm sure it will brighten their day too!!!!

Love & blessings to all,
Melinda

Hearts for Jack!!!

2010-04-08T22:29:00.001-07:00

Remember when I posted about winning this adorable heart pillow from Becky at Sweet Cottage Dreams? In case you don't, let me refresh your memory....
You see, Becky was posting about a wonderful project that her friend Kim at
Dear Daisy Cottage was sponsoring for a man named Jack who lost his wife recently. Kim wanted blog readers to make a heart and send to her, which would be photographed and then sent to Jack to hopefully help ease his pain over losing his precious wife Tabatha.

Please take the time to go to Kim's blog, Dear Daisy Cottage, and see all the gorgeous hearts that were made to be sent to Jack. It will bring tears to your eyes. I never even knew about Jack and Tabatha until I read about them on Becky and Kim's blogs, but I immediately wanted to be a part of this project.

Below, you will see the heart that I made to send to Jack. You can also see the picture of my heart on Kim's blog too. I was just overwhelmed at all the talented people and the hearts that were made for Jack. Isn't that a neat thing that was done for Jack? I can't wait to hear his response when he receives all his hearts. Most of us included personal notes to Jack for him to read.

I am constantly amazed at the outpouring of love and friendship in this big "blog world"!!! I never dreamed when I started blogging a little over a year ago that I would meet (online) so many beautiful, caring people who I would grow to love and who would bring so much joy to my life each day. We have all shared ideas and thoughts with each other, cried and laughed together, shared recipes, learned things from each other, prayed for each other and just had fun with each other!!!

I am so thankful that we are here for each other and I hope that there will be more projects in the future to participate in like this one for Jack.

2nd Corinthians 1:3-7.... He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.....
(We can find comfort and encouragement in the caring and support of our brothers and sisters in Christ!)

Laurie Gale Designs

2010-04-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Today when I got home from work I had this awesome package waiting for me from Laurie at Laurie Gale Designs. I won these beautiful earrings in a recent giveaway and I could not have been happier. They are gorgeous in person!!!! I can't wait to wear them!
Laurie makes wonderful glass beads and the process is called lampwork glass jewelry. You can read all about it on her blog and there is also a video that you can watch that showcases her lovely jewelry. She makes earrings, necklaces and bracelets and believe me, they are all so amazing. I would love to have one of each. I love all the colors!!!
Right now she is having a sale on some of her items. Check it out!

Thanks again, Laurie, I am so thrilled with my pretty new earrings and I hope all my blog readers will visit your blog. Laurie is a very talented lady. You can even take a tour of her workshop. And by the way, it is pink!!! Don't you just love a girl who works in a pink room?

Another Awesome Giveaway!

2010-04-03T07:17:00.001-07:00

Another new blog I was introduced to is having a giveaway and I thought you might be interested. Melanie at Pretties and Posies is hosting a giveaway of one of her paintings. Isn't it gorgeous? So springy!!!!

Melanie lives in Michigan and she has painted this beautiful picture of one of her favorite places, Old Mission Peninsula.

You have a chance for 3 entries, so head on over and check it out. The giveaway ends on April 10th. Good luck!!!

Tea Room with Mom!

2010-04-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Today I took my Mom to lunch at this adorable Tea Room that we had never been to before. It is in a town next to where we live. I looked it up online, got directions and we headed out for a fun day being together on this April Fool's Day! We had the most delicious lunch and the best time having "girl time" together. My sweet Mom will be 86 in April, but she still loves to get out and about.

In our excitement when our food came, I forgot to take any pictures of the food, but believe me, it was so good! Mom had quiche and salad and I had a chicken salad plate with fresh fruit. For dessert we had the best strawberry cake.

You can also have tea complete with scones, finger sandwiches, fruit, etc. There is a picture of the tea menu included further down in this post. We decided that we would try that next time. The people sitting next to us were having that and the service looked so pretty, as well as delicious!

I think I may have gotten carried away with my picture taking, but the house was just so neat. I wanted to share it all with you! The Easter bunny even hopped by to say hello while we were inside eating. Wasn't that nice of him?

After lunch we went to do some thrifting and I found a really pretty milk glass dish. We also went to the local Farmer's Market to look at the flowers/plants and Mom got us each a pretty geranium. The last three pictures on this post are of the flowers at the Farmer's Market. Nothing says spring like flowers! I hope you enjoy the tour of the Tea Room and our outing today. We sure had a wonderful time!

Duvet Cover Giveaway!!!

2010-03-31T21:24:00.001-07:00

This wonderful book has led to an awesome giveaway on the blog Dreamy Whites. Maria is hosting this great giveaway and you could win a gorgeous QUEEN-SIZE DUVET COVER by Annette Tatum Home Collection.

On Miss Mustard Seed's blog, she posted about a wonderful giveaway at another really nice blog called Dreamy Whites. I immediately clicked over to see what all the excitement was about and you won't believe the AWESOME prize!!! It is a $253 queen-sized duvet cover of your choice. And believe me, they are beautiful. The duvet cover is from The Annette Tatum Home Collection Catalog.

Maria, from the Dreamy Whites blog gives you 3 chances to win the beautiful duvet cover. The first chance you have is if you leave a comment. Your second chance is if you become a follower of her blog and the third chance is if you post about the giveaway on your blog. She will pick a winner using the random generator.

This is a wonderful giveaway and I hope you enjoy checking out these new blog sites, as well. Good luck to everyone who enters!

Hurry gals, because you only have until April 2nd at 9pm pacific time to enter!!!

Another Great Giveaway!

2010-03-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

Take a look at the wonderful springtime giveaway at The World From My Basement!!! As pictured above, a beautiful monogrammed shoe and cosmetic bag.
The Basement Bags Girl and I have connected in the blog world and she lives in the same state that I do... North Carolina.

She teaches and has a love of sewing, so she operates this business out of her home. Check out her site as she has some beautiful things!

You have lots of chances to win, so head on over and give her a visit. Who knows, you might be the lucky winner. If not, you will have found a wonderful, new place to shop online. Best of luck!!!

Uplifting Things To Do Today!

2010-03-27T15:05:00.001-07:00

As I reflect on this beautiful spring time around me, I was looking back in my journal and found this writing that I wanted to share with everyone today. The author is unknown, but I think it is well worth your time. I hope it speaks to your heart

Uplifting Things To Do Today!

Smile at a stranger.

Drop a coin where a child can find it.

Learn something new and teach it to someone.

Tell someone you LOVE them.

Hug someone.

Forgive someone who has wronged you.

Try saying, "I'm sorry" when you ought to.

Tell a child how great they are.

Sing a song about Jesus to yourself.

Keep a promise.

Call someone just to say hello.

Try listening more than talking.

Stand up for what you believe in.

Thank God for His beautiful creation.

Encourage someone who is feeling down.

Cherish today as if it were your last one.

Tell someone about Jesus!

Have a blessed Palm Sunday!

Birthday Memories Continued Part 2!!!!

2010-03-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

On the night before my birthday, Adelaide, my dear friend Sherian and I went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. It was so good and we had the best time talking and being together. Sherian has all boys, so I am thrilled to share Adelaide with her. Sherian is Adelaide's "other Mother". Adelaide and I could not ask for a more special friend!
The night after my birthday, a group of my girlfriends (that I have known for 25 years) took me out to dinner. We had a wonderful dinner and they showered me with some very thoughtful gifts. All these ladies are the greatest. We have raised all our children together and have been through both good and bad times. We all met at the same church 25 years ago. God has certainly blessed our friendships with each other.
This past Friday a group of my friends surprised me at breakfast. I knew I was meeting 2 friends, but 2 other friends showed up to treat me to breakfast as well. What a fun morning getting to talk and fellowship with my dear friends. The food was really good too.
Sorry for the 2 part post, but this is the only way I could figure out how to get all these pictures online, since they wouldn't load right the first time. If at first you don't succeed..... try, try, again!!!
This is another picture of the beautiful flowers that I received from my friend, Joyce at From This Side of the Pond. She was so thoughtful to send them to me and I am still enjoying them so much. Thanks again Joyce!!! I can't wait until we get to meet each other.
While we were in the mountains we got to go to a delicious spaghetti dinner/Bingo event at my sister's church. We had a buffet with all you can eat spaghetti, tossed salad, bread and a whole table of yummy desserts. (I should have shown you a picture of that!) This event was held in the community building next to the church where my Dad went to school as a child. It used to be a one room school house. After dinner we played Bingo and it was so much fun to yell B - I-N-G-O and win a small prize. My parents had the best time!!! And Mom and Dad won a lot of prizes.
My sweet friend Sherian gave me this beautiful planter as part of my birthday gift and it had hyacinth bulbs planted in it. After a few days, they bloomed and the aroma in my breakfast room has been amazing. The cardinals remind us of her sweet son Daniel, who is in heaven.
Right before my birthday I received this great package in the mail from my sweet friend, Valerie in Oklahoma. (Valerie Chris) She was so nice to remember me on my birthday. I love all my gifts Valerie. Thanks so much!!! The little Oklahoma magnet will remind me of you every time I see it on my refrigerator. Valerie and I got to meet each other last October. In fact, now that I have my new camera cord, I need to blog about our meeting and post the pictures. I will do that this week.
Valerie, Joyce and I are blog friends and we want to have a group meeting. We are thinking about meeting in NYC. Wouldn't that be fun?

Here is my sweet Adelaide and her little dog Holly. We got to see Adelaide while we were in the mountains visiting my sister, because Adelaide goes to college very near where my sister lives. As you can see, Holly was real excited to see Adelaide too.

I'm glad I was able to share with you some of my birthday memories this year. I turned 56 years old, but it was a really nice birthday. I am so blessed to have such awesome friends and family!! As you can see I was well celebrated this year. I still have not had my celebration with my Monday Bible study group. We have had some conflicts and have not met in the past few weeks. That makes it all the more fun. I can continue my birthday celebrations even longer.

And finally, thanks to all of you in blogland who were so thoughtful to send me such sweet comments and wish me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. You are all the greatest!! I hope to meet more of you as time goes on. In the meantime, we will enjoy our online friendships.

Love & blessings,
Melinda

Birthday Memories~Mountain Visit - Part 1

2010-03-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some of my birthday pictures with you, but the computer is not co-operating and it will only let me upload 5 pictures at a time. I will just do this post in parts and hopefully that will work. This is a picture of my adorable cake holder that my sister gave me for my birthday with my initials on it. She also gave me a matching cupcake/pie/deviled egg holder that has the same polka dots, but on the side, it says "eat more dessert". My blogger friend, Joyce sent me these beautiful flowers. The flowers were so pretty that I decided to take them to the mountains with us for the weekend and then back home on Sunday. Joyce, thanks so much! I have really enjoyed my flowers. They are still so pretty!
Here is a picture of a barn with a pretty quilt painted on the side. There is a driving tour that you can take throughout the countryside to see lots of barns with quilts painted on them. We are going to do that this summer and enjoy seeing all the pretty quilts. For those of you who don't know me well, I LOVE to make quilts.
On Saturday we went antiquing. What fun to look for some special treasures. I did not find anything on this trip, but I have found some great things there in the past. I have a collection of milk glass, so I am always on the lookout for new and different pieces.
Lunch with my parents, my sister and my Aunt Venita. (in the red top)
We had a great lunch and lots of fun being together and celebrating my birthday.

This is a picture taken from my sister's front porch. It is much prettier when the leaves are on the trees, but I thought you would like to see the Christmas trees that are planted there. North Carolina grows lots of Christmas trees that are shipped all over the US.
As you can see, we had a great birthday weekend being together with family last weekend. I will do a second post and share some more pictures, since I can't get anymore to upload on this post.