Isn't it really the simple things that turn out to be the best?
This weekend, Mike and I had the opportunity to be home alone, together, without a particular agenda.
Oh, he ran a couple of errands and made a bacon and sausage delivery. I zipped over to a fabric store in hopes of finding the perfect companion for my Granny's quilt.
Those were not a part of a formal agenda. We could have stayed home and told the world where we were and if necessary, it could come to us.
We watched a little television. We napped. We ate delicious take-out and home-cooked foods. We talked. We just relaxed and enjoyed one another's company or spent time alone while the other was doing.
Truly, it was simple and wonderful!
It was rejuvenating.
I hope you have a simple week...or can handle the bluster of your life simply.
Monday, October 6, 2014
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Country come to town...
A month or so ago, my mother lined up a crew of us to help her move the remaining furniture out of my Granny's house. The crew was a family team.
Time was squared away to help out. However, some folks missed out on the chance. My husband, Mike, and my sister, Brenda, and my niece, Rebecca, had to work. Bless their hearts.
My son, Bryan, and his family had already made reservations with some friends to go on vacation to the beach. Bless their hearts.
Bridgette and Corey were gearing up to go to the hospital for little Luci's birth. Corey was mowing grass to get ahead and Bridgette was resting every chance she could. Bless their hearts.
So, I hooked my truck to Mike's trailer and awaited the call from Mom to let me know when the remainder of the crew were headed to Granny's house. (I don't know who was more excited that I got it all hooked up and ready to roll... Mike, or me!)
The day was one of those where all you had to do is step outside your house and immediately you were sweating. My brow was dripping before I even got out the drive and had the air conditioner cooling the cab of the truck.
When I pulled up to the curb, both Daddy's pickup trucks were parked in the driveway and the back seat of Mom's car was already full.
In no time, Nathan, (niece Rebecca's husband) Adam, (niece Megan's boyfriend) Megan, my brother-in-law, Dwayne, and niece Madalyn were soon hauling out chairs, end tables, coffee tables, and more onto the front lawn.
Now, bear in mind that this is the neighborhood directly across the street from a ritzy golf course. So, I'm sure folks were peeking out from behind the drapes in the neighborhood all up and down the street.
I'm sure we looked a bit like the Clampets from the Beverly Hillbillies. I even teased Madalyn that we could strap one of the rocking chairs to the roof of my truck and she could ride there when we left.
Here is how we looked when we rolled out of that ritzy neighborhood:
We had dressers, mattresses and box springs, headboards and footboards wedged in between, end tables stacked atop one another, coffee tables strapped upside down on top of dressers, and yes, that is a baby bed on end in the bed of my truck.
Daddy's pickup trucks were loaded in a similar manner:
My Granny's house stands empty now with handymen working to get it spruced up and ready to sell. All of her beautiful belongings have been disbursed to members of the family who cherish the gifts she left us but more-so we cherish the memories we hold of her and the matriarch she was to our family.
The funny thing is that many of those same furniture pieces were hauled from my Granny and Granddaddy's farm down to this ritzy neighborhood exactly the same way they were hauled away from that house. Some of them even in that same little red Ford truck shown in the photo above. I'm sure the neighbors were thinking many thoughts about our family and us loading all our belongings into old pickup trucks. Probably one of those thoughts went something like, "You can take the folks out of the country but you just cannot take the country out of the folks." Bless their hearts.
As we rolled down the street, I'm sure there were more folks than me who were humming the tune and mumbling the words,
...so we loaded up the truck and moved to Bev-er-ly...
Bless their hearts.
Time was squared away to help out. However, some folks missed out on the chance. My husband, Mike, and my sister, Brenda, and my niece, Rebecca, had to work. Bless their hearts.
My son, Bryan, and his family had already made reservations with some friends to go on vacation to the beach. Bless their hearts.
Bridgette and Corey were gearing up to go to the hospital for little Luci's birth. Corey was mowing grass to get ahead and Bridgette was resting every chance she could. Bless their hearts.
So, I hooked my truck to Mike's trailer and awaited the call from Mom to let me know when the remainder of the crew were headed to Granny's house. (I don't know who was more excited that I got it all hooked up and ready to roll... Mike, or me!)
Bev's truck to haul your junk. I don't work cheap!
The day was one of those where all you had to do is step outside your house and immediately you were sweating. My brow was dripping before I even got out the drive and had the air conditioner cooling the cab of the truck.
When I pulled up to the curb, both Daddy's pickup trucks were parked in the driveway and the back seat of Mom's car was already full.
In no time, Nathan, (niece Rebecca's husband) Adam, (niece Megan's boyfriend) Megan, my brother-in-law, Dwayne, and niece Madalyn were soon hauling out chairs, end tables, coffee tables, and more onto the front lawn.
Now, bear in mind that this is the neighborhood directly across the street from a ritzy golf course. So, I'm sure folks were peeking out from behind the drapes in the neighborhood all up and down the street.
I'm sure we looked a bit like the Clampets from the Beverly Hillbillies. I even teased Madalyn that we could strap one of the rocking chairs to the roof of my truck and she could ride there when we left.
Here is how we looked when we rolled out of that ritzy neighborhood:
We had dressers, mattresses and box springs, headboards and footboards wedged in between, end tables stacked atop one another, coffee tables strapped upside down on top of dressers, and yes, that is a baby bed on end in the bed of my truck.
Daddy's pickup trucks were loaded in a similar manner:
Heirlooms swaddled in quilts.
Bungee cords, pieces of rope and twine, and ratcheted straps holding everything in place.
My Granny's house stands empty now with handymen working to get it spruced up and ready to sell. All of her beautiful belongings have been disbursed to members of the family who cherish the gifts she left us but more-so we cherish the memories we hold of her and the matriarch she was to our family.
The funny thing is that many of those same furniture pieces were hauled from my Granny and Granddaddy's farm down to this ritzy neighborhood exactly the same way they were hauled away from that house. Some of them even in that same little red Ford truck shown in the photo above. I'm sure the neighbors were thinking many thoughts about our family and us loading all our belongings into old pickup trucks. Probably one of those thoughts went something like, "You can take the folks out of the country but you just cannot take the country out of the folks." Bless their hearts.
As we rolled down the street, I'm sure there were more folks than me who were humming the tune and mumbling the words,
...so we loaded up the truck and moved to Bev-er-ly...
Bless their hearts.
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Shopping With The Best!
A couple of weeks ago I saw a blog post which touched a nerve for me...
It said Lets Go Shopping Together...
Well, rarely do I have to be begged to do something fun like go shopping with somebody. With the added thrill of getting to shop with an infamous rock star shopping diva, well, I was practically dancing on the ceiling. Quickly, I sent off a message to say that I would be there with bells on!
Then, I picked up my phone and called my daughter-in-law and told her that I was going to need a partner in crime on October second.
Can you believe it?
She didn't have to be wrestled to the ground or thrown up against the wall and pinned there or even just sat upon till she gave in and said yes she would go!
So...
I bid my time till the infamous Thursday in October...
Then, my little red truck and I squealed out of town leaving only a vapor trail behind and headed to Clarksville to The Hayloft at Port Royal's Fall Barn Sale.
I rolled into my son and daughter-in-law's driveway on two wheels and was on their front porch before that red truck stopped rocking to see if my daughter-in-law was ready to shop.
Amazingly, not only was she ready to shop...
my son and grandson were going to join us for a big night out at the Barn Sale!
We only had to go down the road and around a couple of curves past several bare corn fields (the corn had been picked a week or so before) and a few soybean fields.
Then, there we were...
Standing on the grounds where I would meet KariAnne Wood for the first time...
in the flesh...
face-to-face...
and we would shop...
together!
My family and I wandered through the barn
zig-zagging in and out of booths.
We touched loads of items of beauty...
things like jewelry made from silverware handles, hand-painted second-hand furniture, tied-rag bunting swags, mongrammed burlap door hangings, upcycled wood signs, barn-wood frames, felted wool dryer balls, beaded bracelets, paper-cut art and prints, beautiful old trunks, and so much more!
We dreamed of ways to use items and how each would enhance the decor of our homes.
Jessica and I kept our eyes pealed for the most infamous shopper who would be threading her way through the booths.
Then, it happened...
I saw her just down the pathway in front of me!
So, I dashed over to her...
...and put my hand upon her shoulder...
...and called her name...
KariAnne...
And she turned around looking just like a rock-star-come-to-life...
and smiled and invited me to join her on a shopping foray!
(Can you believe it?)
I almost did a cartwheel right then and there! (Well, my heart did do one but my body knows I am way too old for that silliness and told me to just smile instead.)
Since I did come with my family, I politely stammered and told KariAnne that I would be right back and dashed off to fetch them.
When we caught up to her again, she embraced my family and complimented the beauty of my daughter-in-law, Jessica. So, I knew deep in my bones that KariAnne is more than a rock star...
She must also be an ordained angel with an eye like that!
We followed along for a bit as she was shopping with a couple or three other lucky patrons.
KariAnne pointed out several things we had missed on our first stroll through the booths and we picked up a couple more treasures.
We tagged along behind and enjoyed the evening before the rumblings of my grandson's cute little belly nudged us toward dinner.
Just before we veered off from our heralded shopper, she commented at how she had noticed that my son, my grandson, and I shared the same deep chocolate dancing eyes.
Yep, genius-ness in action there!
We took our beauty and dancing eyes and headed back down that country road past a few soybean fields and the bare corn fields toward home clutching our treasures and the warm memory of shopping with the best...
Thanks for the thrills, KariAnne!
P.S. I'll share a little more about treasures uncovered at The Hayloft at Port Royal Barn Sale in another post.
It said Lets Go Shopping Together...
Well, rarely do I have to be begged to do something fun like go shopping with somebody. With the added thrill of getting to shop with an infamous rock star shopping diva, well, I was practically dancing on the ceiling. Quickly, I sent off a message to say that I would be there with bells on!
Then, I picked up my phone and called my daughter-in-law and told her that I was going to need a partner in crime on October second.
Can you believe it?
She didn't have to be wrestled to the ground or thrown up against the wall and pinned there or even just sat upon till she gave in and said yes she would go!
So...
I bid my time till the infamous Thursday in October...
Then, my little red truck and I squealed out of town leaving only a vapor trail behind and headed to Clarksville to The Hayloft at Port Royal's Fall Barn Sale.
I rolled into my son and daughter-in-law's driveway on two wheels and was on their front porch before that red truck stopped rocking to see if my daughter-in-law was ready to shop.
Amazingly, not only was she ready to shop...
my son and grandson were going to join us for a big night out at the Barn Sale!
We only had to go down the road and around a couple of curves past several bare corn fields (the corn had been picked a week or so before) and a few soybean fields.
Then, there we were...
Standing on the grounds where I would meet KariAnne Wood for the first time...
in the flesh...
face-to-face...
and we would shop...
together!
My family and I wandered through the barn
zig-zagging in and out of booths.
We touched loads of items of beauty...
things like jewelry made from silverware handles, hand-painted second-hand furniture, tied-rag bunting swags, mongrammed burlap door hangings, upcycled wood signs, barn-wood frames, felted wool dryer balls, beaded bracelets, paper-cut art and prints, beautiful old trunks, and so much more!
We dreamed of ways to use items and how each would enhance the decor of our homes.
Jessica and I kept our eyes pealed for the most infamous shopper who would be threading her way through the booths.
Then, it happened...
I saw her just down the pathway in front of me!
So, I dashed over to her...
...and put my hand upon her shoulder...
...and called her name...
KariAnne...
And she turned around looking just like a rock-star-come-to-life...
and smiled and invited me to join her on a shopping foray!
(Can you believe it?)
I almost did a cartwheel right then and there! (Well, my heart did do one but my body knows I am way too old for that silliness and told me to just smile instead.)
Since I did come with my family, I politely stammered and told KariAnne that I would be right back and dashed off to fetch them.
When we caught up to her again, she embraced my family and complimented the beauty of my daughter-in-law, Jessica. So, I knew deep in my bones that KariAnne is more than a rock star...
She must also be an ordained angel with an eye like that!
We followed along for a bit as she was shopping with a couple or three other lucky patrons.
KariAnne pointed out several things we had missed on our first stroll through the booths and we picked up a couple more treasures.
We tagged along behind and enjoyed the evening before the rumblings of my grandson's cute little belly nudged us toward dinner.
Just before we veered off from our heralded shopper, she commented at how she had noticed that my son, my grandson, and I shared the same deep chocolate dancing eyes.
Yep, genius-ness in action there!
We took our beauty and dancing eyes and headed back down that country road past a few soybean fields and the bare corn fields toward home clutching our treasures and the warm memory of shopping with the best...
Thanks for the thrills, KariAnne!
P.S. I'll share a little more about treasures uncovered at The Hayloft at Port Royal Barn Sale in another post.
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