An award

I am very honored that Lynn over at Cottage and Creek Cottage and Creek nominated me for the for the 'Stylish Blogger Award' .. Lynn gave me this nomination on Feb 5th.. I am sooo late in responding, not because I am not grateful. I just spent two weeks staying with my oldest granddaughter in the hospital. I am trying to get back into the swing of things. ... Lynn thank you so much, couldn't have come at a better time!

The criteria for receiving the Stylish Blogger Award is:
• Thank and link back to the person(s) who bestowed the award
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Nominate 15 other awesome bloggers
• Contact these bloggers and inform them about the award

Here are the 7 things about me:

1.  I am a nurse of 30 plus years who recently became retired (by a lay off).. yes a lay off in Nursing ..never thought I would see that one

2.  I am the mother of two beautiful and talented women.

3.  I am a grandmother of four .. three girls and one boy, ages 4 years, 19 months, 10 weeks and 12 weeks!

4.  I always wanted to be an interior designer.

5.  I am a Christian and depend on the Lord in every aspect of my life. 

6.  My oldest granddaughter has Cystic Fibrosis. I believe we will see a cure in the next few years. (what a miracle that will be!

7.  I have been married since 1976 (yes I was only 13 y/o .. lol) 

I'm passing on the Stylish Blogger Award to the following:

Creations from my Heart

Three Pixie Lane 

Confessions of a Plate Addict

Mustard Seeds

Home Maker on a Dime

Relatively Unique

Dearest Home

A Stroll Thru Life

French Country Cottage

Savvy Southern Style

Something Nice and Pretty

Cottage Dreams

My Romantic Home

It's a Wannabe decorator's life

chic on a shoestring decorating

Thanks sooo much for recognizing Southern Home Sweet Home. This was a great kick start for me.. I hope the new and old bloggers nominees will enjoy it as well. 

Bevelry

Looking for Spring

I am finally back.. I don't know about you, but I am more than ready for spring. My dear 4 year old granddaughter just spent two weeks in the hospital .. Seems that all the viruses start thinning out out once spring arrives. I sure hope so.
While getting ready for spring and moving things around (you know how spring makes you want to rearrange things in your house to get a fresh look? ).. anyway I ran across these old binoculars and thought they were perfect to remind me the birds should be coming home soon. The case is very worn probably because of they were pulled out so often. Don't you think because someone loved using them long ago? .. The pocket watch, binoculars and pocket knife were passed down in my husband's family with no story.. What we do know is my husband's great grandfather sold locomotives all over the world in the 1800's and early 1900's. He passed away  from a heart attack running to catch a train in 1920....for those of you not from the South.. passed away is what Southerners say when someone dies... don't ask me why... guess it sounds less harsh.

I love the worn look on everything.. that's part of the story I think.. I wish we could have an instant replay of what he saw with those binoculars.. He must have used them often traveling the world.

    

Why did I ever let items like these sit in a drawer? Every item tells a story... maybe I have just starting thinking differently since I have gotten a little older, mature. See the scratching on the inside of the pocket watch case?. I would imagine my husband's grandfather decided to sign his name in it. (he was an only child so it is a pretty safe bet he did it) How do you think it got there, any ideas?..

Here is the outside of the pocket watch..  can't you imagine him riding the trains, checking the time and watching the view with his binoculars?  Wonder if he check the time on his last run to catch the train? What a life he must have had. If only old items could talk.. but they do kind of tell us a story don't they?

I would love to have you join my blog!

I am joining

you will love these blogs

Vintage Inspiration Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Inspiration Friday

Feature yourself Friday

Thank you ladies for hosting these parties!!

Stay with me

Guys I hope you will bear with me a couple of weeks without an update ... My dear four year old has been admitted to hospital for 14 days. I really do want to do this blog ... It is very good therapy. Hope you won't leave me.
Sincerely
Beverly 

Saving Memories and adding Valentines

I am not a sophisticated blogger by no means. I blog to take my mind off realities of life. It forces me to  think about other things. It would be easy to stop now but I promised myself I would not quit.. (hope that works out.)

 Historically Hubby and I are not a Valentine people, never have been .. is that pitiful? This week I decided I wanted to decorate for the occasion. Searched high and low in my favorite shop Home Goods  and ...nothing.. Finally I did find some vintage downloads on Etsy that I loved. Got Hubby to downloaded them for me .. big mistake.. "how many on a sheet, what are they for?" And the standard question, "did you pay for those?" Yes, they were only around $4.00 so I think I am safe. So I got out my glitter glue and started decorating. This is how they looked before.

Four to a sheet, pretty but doesn't glitter always help things? I stayed on the lite side with the glitter,  not easy for me. I also used a stamp, since my penmanship is not so great. I have seen some of yours on blog land that is unbelievable.
Here are some little tags I bought from another site. Just cut them out added card stock on the back, then glittered them up.

They look cute tied on things.

Back to the faux postcards.

I walked around the house with them for 30 minutes last night. Nothing worked. It was still bugging me today and suddenly I remembered the box of "junk" as I called when Hubby brought it home from his Aunt's estate this past summer. YES! I am soooo glad I didn't get rid of it. I love the pen. There with it was a box of tips.. While I was digging thru the treasure box, notice the name change? I found the watch and glasses.

i

Looks like a step back in time doesn't it? Makes me wonder about the person who used the items so many years ago. I wonder if they wrote love letters. Maybe they were Valentine people.

Thanks for stopping by. I would love to hear from you guys.

Have a good weekend.

I am Joining the Parties at

Feathered Nest Friday

http://www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Flaunt it Friday

at

    http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

and to

Show and tell Friday

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Kitchen redo

So our house is nothing fancy. It is a 16 y/o builder spec house.. which usually means no upgrades were added when it was built. I had no cabinet space to speak of which you ladies know can be a real sore spot. I decided this past summer enough was enough. I took my savings out and told hubby I was redoing the kitchen.. of course he really didn't see the point, but told me as long as I stayed within my budget it was fine with him. After hundreds of estimates and elbow grease we got it done.. and boy do I love it! It is definitely one of those things I will not regret .. ever!

So here are the before pics

we started with white linoleum floors, we put in the hard woods after a dishwasher flood. See the door closed off, that was to the dining room .. tell you about

that room later. That is the sum of the cabinets! The one on the end is a cheap cabinet from Home Depot for utilities.. not even for the kitchen. 

Hubby tore out all the cabinets..

A look at the table area.. a lot of change there went on as well

in they go!

We had those installed.. job too big for us!

Here is end result... I am in love!

Remember the dining room door? Look at the space I gained

I have a large eating area so I decided to get rid of the "dining room" more to come with that room

Made the drapes with fabric from Joannes, the hutch came out of the dining room. It belonged to my husband's Aunt. We plan on doing a redo to it this summer. We hunted everywhere for a light fixture to match this one. We couldn't find anything so we bought one, took the fixtures lamps off and painted the plastic screws black so they wouldn't be noticeable. 

Thanks for taking a look!

 I am linking to

Savvy Southern Style Makeover and Boring to Better at

http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/2011/02/picture-makeover-and-boring-to-better.html

she has a great blog!

I am joining

Metamorphosis Monday at

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

The Princess needs a cure

My oldest granddaughter just turned four. What a wonderful age.. this is the time in her life she can imagine and believe she can be anybody or anything. Her current goal is to be Rapunzel.. She told her Mom she had to have a "Rapunzel" birthday party.. (Her "Pops" and I had recently taken her to see the movie Tangled). Disney movies start a whole new identity for her most of the time. Since I do a lot of sewing, I got the bright idea to make her a Rapunzel costume for her party... just to make sure could get into character.. (you know how that works). The party was magical for her.... I really think she thought she was Rapunzel. As a matter of fact we were instructed to call her by her name "Rapunzel." She refused to wear shoes... "didn't you know the Princess does not wear shoes?" My bad.

It was a lot of work but so worth it to see the joy on her face when she saw the costume.. four year old's are such grateful littles...

And oh yeah, I managed to fit a Belle  into the week.. she loved both of them.. .
 but.. Rapunzel won out.. it was her favorite..

Our little princess had such a wonderful birthday this year.. it will be something I never forget.. such a change from last year.. we never know what year to year is going to bring around here.. last year she was sick and  hospitalized for two weeks her birthday party.. my dear little granddaughter has Cystic Fibrosis (a life threatening genetic disease that affects the lungs and other organs).. so I was more than happy to spend the whole week this year sewing for her so that she could be the Princess on her day..

 In April we will be walking to raise money for a cure in the Great Strides Walk. Please join me in finding a cure ....   My dream is to see her healthy .. Rapunzel needs a cure! 

You can learn more about Cystic Fibrosis at:

http://www.cff.org/AboutCF/

Thrift store trip

So I thought about quiting this blogging thing, but then I found out oldest granddaugther (4 today by the way) likes to look at my pics on the blog.. so heres to you sweet girl. I guess I will keep at it for a while since I know at least one person is following..
I went on a venture to the local thrift store before Christmas.. my sister in law is always talking about the great deals she can find.... and.. some other bloggers do a wonderful job at finding great things for their homes.. so I thought I would give it a shot.. What a wonderful first try I had, I scored as a matter of fact. .

Four whole bucks!!! I love it.

These guys were $ 3  for the short one and $4 for the taller?? go figure but they are really cute in the guest bedroom.

 China bowl (that actually matches my serving pieces) I really don't think this was ever used.. I paid $4 for this piece..

And my very favorite find!!! This was a little more at $15 but...

I know the canvas is pulled and the frame is chipped but I just love it!

So needless to say I have been back several times since.. and... NOTHING. Oh well, I will keep trying.

Oh yeah, can't wait to share my lastest finds on ebay.

Have a great weekend.