I'm The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA

Do you guys remember that song? I had Donna Fargo's record and 8 track tape, in later years a cassette and now I have the same CD. She made a lot of money off of me because of that song!! I have played that song over and over and over thru the years to celebrate different things in my life that either happened to me, I accomplished or I obtained. Some of those celebrations were: my marraige, the birth of all my offspring, graduation from nursing school with honors. Those are the big ones. Then there has been so many many others times that God has been so good to me and I will play that song in my head.

Well I have been singing it for the past few days now because we have purchased a fabulous mobile home for our little retreat near the lake!!! A friend of ours has been living in this home for 6 years and is building a new house and she has been so gracious to let us have first choice on her mobile.

I am so excited about this house. You see we have a nice 7' X 17' (when opened) pop-up camper sitting there now. No electricity, no water, and we use a porta-potty concealed behind 2 big tarps tied to trees for privacy. Get the picture!! Now we can really camp in style. 14' X 70' with 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms, kitchen, living room ... LAUNDRY ROOM, 2 big decks and the best part........it comes completely furnished right down to the beds. All of this for a really great price! Only a couple grand more than we paid for the itty bitty popup a few years ago.

One of the beds that she is leaving is a beautiful full size 4 poster bed that will soon be white to look just like Stanley Furnitures "Isabella Poster Bed" that I have been drooling over for many months since I started my new "romantic cottage shabby chic look" ;) .......Robin has given me the set of bunk beds that she has had stored in our garage for many years now for another bedroom. The bunk beds are already white and it has a trundle bed also. I will have plenty of room for all the kiddos to come and spend the weekend with us there!! Then there is a twin bed for the other bedroom too!!

I have to stay focused now and not get too crazy too soon because my friends have to finish their new house first. So in a couple months I will have my little dollhouse that I have always wanted!! I have to frill it up enough so the boys won't be so inclined to stay the night there to keep from driving home after a long night of hunting!! Trust me that has already been mentioned because my husband and his friends coonhunt all around the lake!! Do you think they will like to crawl in to a white 4 poster bed with Laura Ashley sheets, pink with roses? Of course they will!!

OK so now you know the little things in life that make me happy. Hand me down furniture that I can paint is right up there near the top of my list!

Gotta get busy and finish all my painting and decorating and sewing for this home first. Or do I ? Now really do we ever really "get finished" ? I don't think so. What would there be to do with our time if we got finished?

I hope you all have a really great day!

My Daughter Leslie!

This is my baby girl Leslie hanging clothes on her new clothesline that her hubby built her for her birthday last week! Look at her tree farm!!
This is her garden. She has been really busy making pickles!
The back view of her place!
Emma playing in the clothes! Look at that great big barn. It really should be on my property!
This is Colton striking a pose!

Travis did a great job on the clothesline now didn't he? She is really enjoying it too!

Leslie is really busy this week with Bible School at her church! I am so proud of her! Both my girls really make me proud!

Vintage China? Who Knew??

These just happened to be upstairs in my garage for 7 years now and in my attic at our other house for about 7 years too. Can you believe that as much as I love dishes I let that happen?
There are 53 pieces! Look at that sugar bowl. Isn't she "Sweet"?
This set is so vintage it is possibly older than me! These were made in Japan between 1940 and 1968. (could be younger by a hair than me ;) and they were sold by Sears. They are Harmony House "Platinum Garland".

My parents house burned down many years ago now and a neighbor of their's gave them this set. Of course they recieved many sets of dishes from many friends and neighbors and my Mom said that she wasn't really into anything this fancy and decided to give them to me. Well I am not sure what kinda mood I was in but I really thought they were just about the ugliest dishes at the time I had ever seen!! Yuck! So off to the attic they went and it wasn't until we were preparing for our recent yardsale that I actually got a good look at them and decided that they were in fact not ugly but very beautiful indeed!!



It could have been the fact that I had always decorated my house in some sort of Country theme and this new Romantic Chic Theme has mellowed me out and Femmed me up a little!! It could have been the fact that at both houses I could not get to them because of having only a ladder to reach them and trust me this ole gal doesn't do ladders very well at all. But more than likely the reason was that in the basket in which they were given to me were these HORRIBLE SILVER METALLIC 1980"s placemats that were covering up the beauty of these dishes. Grant you the platinum trim probably looked pretty good with the silver in the 80's but it gagged me for years!!



The lady who gave these to my parents was an old maid school teacher that taught my Father, brother and I in elementary school and then she was the librarian for both my children in elementary school!! Ms. Julia Laprade. The only spanking that I ever got or almost got in school was from her! She swatted a really big thick paddle at me and missed my rear and it the metal on the side of the desk seat and you coulda heard it ring for miles!!! She even laughed afterwards when all the other classmates were laughing at her!!


As far as I know she is still living, I will have to check on that one. I am sure she would be happy that I am enjoying her china so much and I haven't even had a meal on them yet!!


This quest for new dishes has came because we are in the beginning stages of purchasing a great mobile home for our land near the lake. 3 bedrooms and 2 baths sure beats the heck out of a pop-up camper right??? So of course being the little "nester " that I am (bred into me from my Mom!) I have to make plans for such stuff as what kinda dishes will be in my cabinets and what kinda bedding and towels and the list goes on and on and on. The really great thing is that I already have enough of every household item there is to furnish 3 homes!!

The dishes above can be purchased from Replacements.com for an extreme fee per piece, such as $17.99 per plate ......but .....drum roll please......I just found 27 more pieces on ebay for $19.99 so I will have a 16 place setting!! Applause!!! Applause!!!

I hope you all have had a great weekend!!
Hugs to all,
Becky

My shabby chic pillows

I have spent the last several hours in my sewing room. Oh boy did that feel good or what? I made this little button tufted number out of matierial cut from a thrift store sham purchased for 25 cents. I couldn't resist the roses.
This bigger ruffled number is also recycled from an antique chenille bedspread. The rose fabric was new from Joanne Fabrics. I am sooooo happy with this one. I purchased the bedspread at an antique store for $10 knowing that I could use it for pillows but it turned out better than I thought. I have enough medallions to make many more pillows and lots of solid chennille too.
Back of the chenille pillow.
I wish the spread would have worked on one of my beds but I think this way it will work on all 3 of them just fine! I started working on the guest bedroom today. I have the new old white chenille bedspreads cleaned and on the beds and a little more decorating started but no pics until it's finished.

I will let you in on a little secret though. The pics above are of one of the beds in the room, the full size solid walnut bed that my dearest groom made me on our first Christmas 32 years ago. I am absolutely positively sure that it won't turn white in my lifetime. Robin had borrowed it for her guestroom when she first bought her house and it took a few months for her father to find out and he made me get it back immediately!! We have a whole building full of walnut lumber (and cherry and some oak also) drying now for many many years so he can make me a dresser to go with it but I guess it hasn't dried out enough!!!

Recipe for the pickles

Becky's Sweet Pickles

Syrup:

1 quart white vinegar

1 cup water

5 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons pickling spice

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Thinly slice small to medium sized cucumbers and place in large enamel pot. Cover with a brine mixture of 2 quarts cold water and 1 cup salt enough to cover the cucumbers. Let set for 2-4 hours. Drain and rinse lightly with cold water. Prepare syrup and cover the slices. Bring to a boil and turn off heat. Fill jars with pickles and seal with a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

You will have to guess at how many cucumbers you will need to make a batch. I had 9 pints of pickles and had at least a pint and 1/2 of syrup left over that I refrigerated for use today with more cukes. This was using one recipe of syrup but it took 2 batches of the brine to cover them.

Leslie made a GREAT sweet sandwich pickle last year that had brown sugar in it. We really loved them but I didn't have all the ingredients on hand yesterday so I decided that I would use the things that I like in pickles and make my own recipe. I think I might add some garlic to the next batch.

While I was making these I had the food network on the TV and Emeril was making a very similar pickle so I felt like I was on the right track anyway!!! Go Emeril!!

Happy pickling!!

Becky

Fun Weekend on the lake!

As promised earlier today here are the pics of Robin and Eric on the tube! Morgan you should really be proud of your mother cause she actually got off the boat!!
These cool cats are my nephews Brad and his precious little Brady. Brady is getting a little brother in another month!! Mom had to sit this trip out but Nana and Papa and some others were there with us on their pontoon boat!!
It was really hard to read Robin's expressions. Sometimes she looked as if she was laughing and sometimes mad or scared. We weren't sure if we should stop or keep going so we chose to keep going for a really good while!!
Scared? Who could tell??
Not sure what to make of this one either. I missed the best shot which was when we decided to cut the fun and slowed the boat to a stop. When you stop this tube with two people in it it will sink quickly and the look of surprise on Robin's face was priceless as she went down on a sinking tube!! Eric knew it would happen as did we but we all forgot to enlighten her to the fact!!! She actually was game for another trip around the lake and that time when the boat stopped Eric gave her a BIG push out before it sank and she went under anyway!! I don't think we broke her cause she was having too much fun.

Last year we had Leslie and Travis on the tube but I did not have this handy little digital camera at the time. We needed a video camera for that trip cause of Leslie's giggling all around the lake that could be heard all over the county. It was surely contagious and priceless!! We will get them back out somehow this summer!!

Becky's Sweet Pickle Recipe

I found these beauties in my garden and I am thrilled! Haven't had Cukes for homemade pickles for several years, but I might make up for it this year!!
I didn't have enough for a really big batch of 14 Day Pickles so I studied my cook books and online recipes for a good while and then decided to make my own recipe. Yes I know that is very risky!! Danny just walked in and saw a small bowl of them on the table that wouldn't fit in the jars, and he said they were great!! So I guess it worked.
I made 9 pints and my kitchen is full of that wonderful popping sound that is music to any canner's ears!! I have also froze 13 bags of squash and picked another bucket full to freeze later!!
I had to act like a housewife today, ya know back to the real world, after the wild and crazy weekend we had on the lake. The pic above is my darling on the tube, no I am not driving the boat, Brad our nephew is. We met up with them on Sunday for a lot of fun.

This is SIL Eric skiing! He and Robin went down with us on Sunday but they had to leave early so she could go to work that night. We stayed til 8PM!!!

I have to post the pics of the 2 of them on the tube. Really cute!!!

Ok so I'm off to eat supper.....home raised fried chicken, fresh half runner green beans, squash and macaroni salad.....pickles on the side ;)

til later!!
Becky

This little Hoosier followed me home today!

Oh Yes he sure did! He was calling for me from a couple counties over for 2 days now. He spotted me while shopping for the enamel table top that I adopted and he was sure that I would give him a good home. Oh how I wanted him to come with me that day but you know how the adoption process is. You have to go thru the home inspections and financial specs and make sure that both parties agree on the entire process.

Well we were both in agreement, somewhat anyway. I agreed to give him the best homelife possible, a warm and dry place to stay and the cleanings needed. He agreed to pay the fees for the adoption!!

A pretty good team don't ya think?

Now isn't he cuuuuute? He is only 24" wide!! I have never seen a Hoosier that small. Of course I am not sure if it is really a Hoosier or not but it is definitely a Hoosier type.

Do you see the white and black enamel pitcher on top? Well it had to follow me home today too. Along with 2 pots that are old but never used with the new sticker inside of both and a slew of other B&W enamelware to debue soon.

Boy is my house trashed right now, tooooo much antiquing this week. I promise I will do better next week. We are boating and camping at the lake for the next 2 days. I need to be home working on my decorating though!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Vintage porcelain enamel table top

OK Now that's what I was talking about! This was in my plans for my kitchen island but I had NO IDEA that I would ever find it. This topper from an old table (dated July 1949 on the bottom) was found sitting by itself in an antique shop yesterday.
Looks vintage with the fresh goats milk being strained on it. Probably not the first time milk was strained on this table, right?

I did a little dance when I spotted this and went thru the looooooong store in almost a run to ask for a tape measure to see if it would fit and when it said 39" I just knew it was not long enough. I spent another 30 minutes trying to figure out if there was another piece of furniture in my house that it would fit on to make a kitchen island and couldn't think of anything. So I gave up and left it there, boo hoo.

I went on down the road about 10 miles into NC and called my hubby on his cell and asked where he was. He said "In the driveway". What? ..... Oh please run inside and measure the dresser in the middle of the kitchen floor. Ya know the one that really needs a white and black enamel topper to make a really cool island. He did and guess what it measured 38 1/16 inches long!!!!! I knew the width was 18" and this is 23" wide so I have a lip to pull a bar stool under. I turned that truck around on a dime I mean to tell ya and was back in a flash to get this!!!! It was $28.

I put it on myself too!!

I love it! I love it!

It has enough of a ledge all around that I could hang some nifty things under it, like maybe some spice jars hung by the lids screwed to the top and crocheted pot holders. Maybe some vintage red handled kitchen tools ? What ya think? Any ideas?

I also found 2 great white cotton chennile bedspreads, one twin size and one full size perfect for my guest bedroom upstairs that has those 2 size beds in there.

All in all a great day antiquing don't ya think?

Seeing Blue!!

And boy do I mean "BLUE" I got out and finally picked 9 quarts of blueberries this morning. It was lovely weather and the picking was easy! Cleaning them up is so time consuming though. I usually lay a few handfuls out on a terry dish towel and kinda roll them around to get the stems off and then pick out any bad ones and pickup the rest and put in a bowl then, of course after I have a good bit in the bowl I wash and drain them. Today I have put them on baking sheets in the freezer to flash freeze then into ziploc bags and froze them. With this procedure I can get out the exact amount that I need for a recipe without wasting too many berries each time.

I also have saved out enough for some kinda dessert
but I am not sure what it will be as of yet. I will now try each day to pick a gallon or so and
"put up" some more in the freezer and can them. I will make some jelly and pie filling too.

It is not hard work but I was really slow getting to them this year cause of my other projects!! Thank Goodness blueberries are OK on the bush for a good long while once they are ripe!!

We have started getting squash and zuchinni along with potatoes out of the garden too. I should get my first cucumber either this afternoon or tomorrow!! Looks as if there will be lots of cukes and that is what I wanted for lots of pickles!! Oh yeah swiss chard is now ready too.

Danny is on vacation from his regular M-F job this week but of course is on his own bulldozer but he will be home earlier than usual. (he says but we will see about that!!) I am thinking meatloaf, squash, swiss chard and new potatoes for supper tonight and maybe a blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert!! Sound Good????

Take care!
Becky

Wet and Smoky Sunday

Well we tried yet again today to have an enjoyable sunny Sunday afternoon on the lake but no such luck. As soon as we launched the boat a huge cloud came over and we knew if we were to get any swimming done it better be done soon. As soon as everyone but me had gotten in the water the rain started coming down. So back in the boat.
And off we go down the lake trying to outrun the storm. Emma loves going fast so the wind is in her hair!!
OK for another quick dip!! He is such a little fish!!
Then Katie Barr The Door the sky opened up and we ran for shelter under Union Bridge, just around the cove from where our truck and trailer was but it was raining too hard to try to get there until the rain let up a little.
The boat would turn around and around and each of us would get our turn getting drenched by the steady stream of water coming off the bridge above us. We felt like we were on a water ride at Carrowinds that turns certain riders into the streams of water and some of the riders stay dry!!

We did however wait out the storm and the sun came back out for about 30 minutes of swimming and then another downpour. We had stopped by our land that is 2 miles from the lake, and had a picnic lunch on our picnic table by our camper and then went back by there and ate again on the way home. Good times!!!!

We made it home and backed the boat in to the driveway and was getting ready to open the truck door to get out and I think all of us noticed at the same exact time that the boat motor was ON FIRE!!! Well Danny may have been very tired but he was able to hurdle over the trailer and get to the motor asap and get the cover off and get it out immediately before much damage was done. Some of the wiring had caught on fire and hopefully after the wires are replaced we won't find any further damage. The boat had ran better today than it ever did and Danny was so happy with that. I was afraid we had had our last attempt at a sunny boat ride today when I saw the smoke!!

Yardsale is over!!

The dreaded yardsale was definately a success. About $1000 total sold between my 2 daughters, my granddaughter and I. My total was $385 of junk sold!! Danny was very happy that $385 worth of space is now freed up in his garage. He would have probably just paid me that much to take it to the Goodwill months ago!!!

It looked as if 4 new families were moving in to Robin's house when we each pulled up with truck loads of boxes and totes strapped down and loaded to the gills inside plus we were pulling very large very well loaded down trailers of goods too!! A couple truck loads were already brought in early. This is not counting the amount of stuff that Robin had herself. When we left out tonight we had well under one third of what we brought maybe even less than that. {{{SIGH}}} Wow it is so amazing to see the things just roll out of there like we were giving away gold!!!

There are definately some very well dressed babies on the horizon. Leslie had soooooo many baby clothes that still had the tags on them and all kinds of baby furniture and toys. Large riding toys and every piece was sold except a mere basketball goal!!! Sorry but it didn't find a home!!

Danny was so amazed himself at the type of things that I sold that he thought I wouldn't be able to pay anyone to take off my hands. We had a couple ladies fighting over a "Free" box of picture frame pieces. One lady asked for them and as I was going to mark them "taken" another stepped up and said "I have also got the box of "Free" frames in my car"!!!! She had to get them back out and give them to the other lady but I guess she wasn't too upset cause she bought every door, lattice board and anything else to do with building that we had and then sent her son back to buy more!!!

A few years ago the girls and I owned a ladies consignment store in Floyd and we were able to see soooooo many of our regular customers and get caught up with them and so many were begging us to start up some type of business because they love us. The girls and I have so much fun when we are together and we are each so social that people love to come around us and I am soooooo proud of that!!! We had really made a lot of friends and it was so good to see them this weekend!!! One lady "Jean" was our very first customer in our store and never missed a day coming in the whole time we were there and she came to our yardsale both days and bought others with her when she came back as she did with the store!! She gets the award for faithfullness!!

All in all I would say it was very successful but a lot of hard work!! I am sure we will do it again in the next 20 years!!

Goodnight to all!!
Becky

Shabby Bedroom Makeover!

The big reveal!!

Not!

It's only the first stage in the makeover completed at this time and I was really bored today because of severe thunder storms so I thought I would give a sneak peak!!

I am not in love with the quilt but it will do until I can find one that I do love. The double wedding ring quilt came from a yardsale and the sham from a thrift store. Of course that is the bed ruffle that I made last week.

The white mirror was a thrift store find that I painted of course. I have a really big trifold mirror that I purchased at a yardsale to go on top of the dresser but it is too tall. I plan to paint the red vanity/dresser white and put the mirror on it. I will get it in this room somehow!!

We added this room on and moved in a year ago. I love having a door out of the bedroom onto the deck but....THERE IS NO DECK!!!! (maybe soon :))

Close up of some of my little what-nots.

I do love my bedroom. Thank you honey!! I really loooooove my big walkin closet too!!! No pics of the closet cause it is sorta trashed while doing all this makeover stuff. I'll clean it up and show it off soon. I have two dressers in there that need to be painted white too!! The closet is big enough for my Dansko collection. While nursing I collected 15 pair!! I dearly love Dansko's!! For some reason my honey doesn't understand that. Go figure!!!

Thank's for stopping by!!

Becky

Just a quick update

Just wanted to let you know that I am still here. The hard work hasn't finished me off as of yet. I have been busy working on the bedroom for several days now. I have finished a bed ruffle for my king size bed that has been started for a year. Yes a year, that's nothing I have many more projects that have been started for way longer than that!!! At least I did get this one done. Right?? It was 36 feet of fabric to ruffle and took me the better part of one day to finish and get it on the bed.

I have been doing a lot of other little painting and decorating projects (none are worthy of pictures as of yet) and they are adding up. I almost have the bedroom finished. Well kinda finished. We still have one piece of trim work around the closet door that isn't up yet. We have bought the wrong trim 3 times. Yep the two of us together each time and our two peabrains couldn't pick out the right piece to match!!!

My biggest project for the week is getting ready for a yardsale on Fri and Sat at Robins house. Boy do I have a lot of goods to sell!!! I am in a purging mood too!!! I have to make room for shabby chic items!!!

I hope you all are doing well and enjoying the summer. God bless you all!! Thanks for stopping by!!
Becky

Before Living room makeover!!

I am soooo bad about forgeting to post a before pic so you can tell the difference in the makeovers. I am getting more accomplished since it has been put out here for anyone to see. I just hope not everyone decides to come here and see it in person cause it has been "staged" for pictures only. Just kidding !!! LOL LOL

now I am off to get that bath!!

Living room!

This is the ceiling fan that was here when we moved and it worked so dh could not see replacing it......but look how ugly it is. I did not put that funky looking butterscotch color paint on it. I promise I didn't.
OK now I did however put this funky paint on it!! WOW!! I love it and it's so shabby chic isn't it? I thought if he doesn't like it I will surely be able to get a new one then but he likes it too!! It wouldn't have anything to do with me being happy and him not having to hang another one now would it??
Freshly painted all but about a sq foot over the stove that I will finish when I start the next room. I cleaned the windows and all the trim work, not just Windex but a bucket of hot soapy water and clear rinse water and dried. Can you believe it I haven't done that in like forever!!! Inside and out I might add and the screens cleaned and scrubbed too!!! The floor mopped as I went and furniture dusted. The ceiling freshly painted too!!!! OMG I am tired!!!

I know I will be doing a lot of that kinda deep cleaning from here on out with all this white!!
I want to make slipcovers for the sectional, we'll see about that one day. I do plan to make some shabby chicish throw pillows soon.
I mustered up enough energy to make one valance out of the linen that I picked up yesterday for $3 a yard. The really good linen too!! I was hoping to make the ones for the big windows tonight after supper but I ended up back outside cleaning the rest of the windows and the walls on the front of the house with a bucket of water and a long brush that I found in the garage. Sometimes it comes in handy having big trucks around cause of the tools such as a long handled scrub brush!!! I just went to town on one window and before I knew it I had cleaned the whole front of the house!!

I'm off to the tub for good long hot soak. Maybe I'll get lucky and soak some of the paint off of me!!

Goodnight!!