Things That Make Me Happy Part II

Before I get started, I want yawl to know that I haven't been posting or commenting on your blogs as much as I usually do because, 1.  My laptop's, charger is on the fritz and I have ordered a new one. 2.  The PC is in the part of the house where the central unit is out and even with an electric heater running wide open, it is still pretty cool back here.  3.  I keep up with what all of yawl are doing on my iPhone, but it's hard to comment and post from the little screen.  4. The charger should be here sometime this week...and I'll be back to my regular posting and commenting.  Now on to Things That Make Me Happy Part II

 

This little silicone thing that I bought from a friend's child, who was selling stuff for his school.

 

 

I love my piano.  It is the fulfilment of a dream of mine to have a digital piano.  I just don't play it enough.  I don't take the time that I should.  Over the piano hangs a vintage poster that  I bought years ago for five bucks.  It reminds me of my uncles when they played music.  You can see one of my uncle's guitars next to my piano.

 

I love these old hats.  I bought them at the auction.  And I really love the picture.  I bought the print for 10 cents when I was in the third grade.  I had it framed when I started work as a nurse.  It has followed me everywhere.  These are in my powder room.

 

This is my tricycle that I got when I was about 4 or 5.  And now it is repurposed as you can see in the powder room.......

More favorites later......love you all and have a great week.

These Things Make Me Happy

 

  

These Little Golden Books are from my childhood.  They are hung in the master bathroom (I know they are framed cheesily in Wal Mart frames......but hey) and I love them.  I grew up to be a nurse and even though David is a city boy, he is a country boy wannabee and is never happier than when he is on his tractor.

This some kind of shoe thing that was in the attic of my family's log house ever since I can remember.  It has followed me around for years, with no particular use except to just be.  Then when we built our new house, I decided that I would repurpose it for this.....I love it, but I wonder what my ggggranddaddy would think......

 

 

David found this old Chlorox bottle at an old house place where he hunts, the silver plate tray came from an auction.  The Chlorox bottle hold hand soap and the tray organizes some of my stuff.

 

These puppies playing on my bed make me very happy....this is the only picture of them playing that wasn't so blurry you could tell what they are.

 

This picture of Elvis is one I gave David for his birthday and used to be in his shop.  It now resides in our closet.  He is propped up behind clothes and stuff.  He makes me smile when I open the closet and see him hiding there.

 

I had these cabinets built with glass so that I could enjoy looking at my dishes that I collect....Fire King cookware and those old fleur de lis dishes that came in either detergent or when you bought gas......I only now realized as I'm posting that you can't see them from the glare.....sorry, but you get the idea.

 

 

And last, but certainly not least, my beloved David taking a post hunting, post prandial mid-day nap.  I plan to post more pictures of Things That Make Me Happy later.

Pictures From My Past

My friend Chris over here at "I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage" tagged me with a meme.  I had to think a little bit about my favorite photograph and I came up with these two.  These are two favorites of many.

This is the first one.  It is framed picture of my Mama holding Avery (#4 grandchild, who is the first child of my daughter) Look at those precious hands holding her.  I just love looking at those precious hands.  Those hands held me, comforted me, wiped my tears, sewed innumerable clothes for me, and cooked wonderful meals for me.  Once I said the thing that all kids say to their parents...you don't love me,  I'm adopted.  Her response was, look at my hands and look at your hands...they are exactly alike.  True enough they are.  But my hands will never be as precious as hers.

The second one is of me and "Tippy Toes".  I think I'm about 35 or 36 here.  I would soon be going through major surgery and 1 week after coming home, go through a devastating divorce.  This little cat was named after my very first cat.  Tippy Toes was an immense comfort to me, I remember lying in bed at night feeling so alone and that the world that I had previously known had disappeared.  Then I would feel around under the covers with my foot until I found her, and as soon as I felt that velvety black coat of hers, I would know that I was not alone.  The anxiety would leave me and I would eventually drift off to sleep.  She was an immense comfort to me. 

These two pictures are side by side on my dresser and I look at them everyday before I leave for work.  They always make me happy.

Conversations

Good friend L. when she came over and took the grand tour of the house.
L.  Why don't you have curtains in your bathroom?
Me.  I just haven't been able to find any that suited me.
L.  Do you take baths in that tub?
Me. Yes.
L. How many people have you killed?

Picture of one of the windows over the tub....the other is to the immediate right.

Cassie (#2 gchild):  Nonna, do you know what I enjoyed most about today?
Me:  Thinking, the trip to Wal Mart, Pizza Inn......(she was a tremendous help to me cleaning out my Mama's house Saturday) No what?
Cassie:  Just being with you.
Me:  What? Wanting her to say it again.

Cassie: Just being with you.

David:  Gotta move my cameras (the ones in the woods)...corn feeders blah blah....scrapes yada yada....deer stands....blah blah blah.....scope.....camouflage.....food plots....yada yada yada...gloves, boots, rifle, insulated socks, under armor, antler rattler thing......doe urine.........
Me:  Sigh..........

Bear With Me, I Have A Lot Of Stuff To Tell You

First of all as you may have heard, somebody mistook Mississippi for Minnesota.  It has been down in the single digits here.  And the bad thing about it, we didn't get any snow to speak of.  It snowed for a few minutes and stayed on the ground for a few minutes.  At work we were hanging around the windows ooohhing and ahhhing like crazy.  The lake behind our house had a thin sheet of ice on it, and our neighbor who was living here when the lake was built said this was a first......15 some odd years and it has never frozen.  It is slowly going away now.  Yesterday morning when I woke up, I saw geese sitting in the middle of the ice and since I couldn't see them moving, I thought they had frozen to death in the ice over night. Dummy.  I got out my binoculars and I could see them moving their heads...so I thought they were trapped in the ice.  Dummy.  And of course when I looked later they were gone.  Dummy.  They had just been enjoying themselves.  Here are some pictures of the lake.

 

 

Now the other thing is this.  The central unit that heats the west side of the house is out.  The heating dude came over and said blah blah blah warranty yada yada yada parts in Tuesday blah blah blah...Long story short we go get two electric heaters because the west end unit heats the living room and the two guest bedrooms and DIL and 2 gchildren are coming to go hunting. (Crazy in this cold)  She wants to prove to son who is now back in Iraq that she can kill a deer.  (I hate hunting, but there is nothing I can do about it..why can't they hunt with their cameras?)  Still the temperature in the house has never gotten above 64 with the east side unit going semi-full blast.  Had to be careful, we didn't want to burn up the fan motor or something.

Also the Christmas decorations are still up.  And I'm not going to sweat it.  David has to get the boxes down out of the attic for me to pack them up.  And he has to move the tree out.  Remember, nothing is more important that hunting.  I'll let you know when I finally get them down.

Now the other thing to tell you is that my mother's house has sat empty since my uncle went to the nursing home 3 months ago.  My Mama has been dead for 3 years.  For the first year I wouldn't even go in the house.  I just pulled up to the house and my uncle came out, and he visited me.  The second year I would go in for a few minutes maybe, but he mostly came to my house.  Only after he went to the nursing home would I actually go in there and look around.  The house was just like they left it.  They both could have walked right back in and picked right back up where they left. Sigh.

I knew it was wasting money not to rent it but I was procrastinating about getting it ready.  Last week I got a call from friends of an elderly couple that their house had burned.  Friday night David, Amber and I put all the keepers in one of the bedrooms, bagged up all the junk and then yesterday Cassie and I (#2 gchild) cleaned up the kitchen and vacuumed etc.  They moved in last yesterday afternoon.  It was bitter sweet.  And it was time.  It was just what I needed to get me motivated to do it.  They will only be there 2 months, but the money will help me pay for my uncle's private room at the nursing home.

Cassie was invaluable to me.  She could reach all the things that I couldn't--like in the corners of the bottom cabinets.

As I was cleaning, I turned on the cassette player and there was a tape of Mama and me singing...I listened and smiled.  It was such a sweet memory.  And then as I listened further, there was more on there of her singing Amazing Grace a cappella.  I called my brother and played it for him.  He was speechless. 

Another sweet thing happened Thursday.  I met the gas man at the house on my lunch hour so that he could turn the gas back on.  I went into one of the bedrooms and opened a file cabinet..and there was my baby book.  I opened it and found this picture...it had been years since I saw it.....and it is the only picture I have of her holding me as a newborn.

Some of the treasures that I found.

 My Grandmother's butter bowl and my Mama's juicer.

 

My Mama's cranberry sauce server.

 

 Almost like new Faberware-that I really needed.

 

Brand new iron. Sigh......it makes me wonder if she put it up under the cabinet and forgot about it....I just don't remember her using it....
I guess I have goofed off enough and now it's time to get moving........more later.

A Funny Little Bedtime Story

Last night David, the puppy girls and I were all snuggy bugged down in bed. We had said our good nights to each other when I noticed GinGin (the one on the right) rooting something with her nose.  Hmmm, it's pitch black dark and as I picked it up, I thought this is cold, limp and wet just like a piece of raw chicken, and at the same minute I thought where on earth did they get a piece of raw ccchhhiiiccckkkeeeeeennnnnn!!!!! SSSSSCCCCEEEEEEAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!! WhenI realized that it was a dead mouse, I threw it.  That's right, I threw it.  I got up turned on the lights and of course I couldn't find it.   And of course David hasn't moved and is lying there snickering.  GinGin and I saw it at about the same time.  She nose dived off the bed to retrieve her mouse, snatched it up and under the bed she went.  By this time I was cussing a blue streak.  And freaking out is putting it mildly.
My dear David who sleeps in the buff, had yet to move.  Soooo, I snatched the cover back, smacked him on his butt and said....no screeched..."get your nekkid @$$ out of the bed and get that /)@^^# mouse!
I tricked GinGin out from under the bed with a puppy treat, while David searched for, found and replaced the batteries in the only flash light, got the little dead mousey out from under the bed with a broom and deposited him in a plastic bag outside in the garage.  (Oh and he did all of this still in the buff.  I wanted to take a picture of him buck nekkid on his hands and knees looking under the bed.....)
But I was still beyond upset....here is a sound bite....it's all your fault blah blah blah....'cause if you had just got the mouse traps earlier this week like I asked you to blah blah blah..........but noooooooo.....nothing is more inportant that hunting....yada yada yada.....
Sigh.

Things I Bought At The Auction II

I told you I would share the other things that I bought at the auction.  At the end of the auction the auctioneer called for us to bring up things that we would pay $5.00 for.  And then he asked who brought it up, you raised your hand and your bid started at $5.00.  I got this vintage Monopoly game for $5.00, the tag on it states that it dates from 1951, it has the wooden pieces, money cards etc.  As far as I can tell it is all intact.  Some are selling on  eBay for around $15.00.  I wanted to start a little business selling some of my stuff on eBay, but I never have and David said a big no to this---so I guess I'll keep it.

 

I also bought this other vintage game. "Cootie"  The tag on it says that it dates from 1941 and the pieces are there...except one of the cootie eyes...but it may be in the bottom of the box.  I'll have to give it a better look.  The bidding started at $5.00 and somebody kept bidding against me and ran it up to $9.00.  I didn't care I wanted it...and it came home with me!!

 

This one of the plates I bought, it too was $5.00 ( with the stand included), it has a gorgeous thick gold rim.  I bought two others for $5.00 each, one has an etched magnolia and the other has flowers too.  Things ran a little high, normally I would have expected to pay $2.50 for each of them...but it's okay.  I wanted them!!

Let me know what you all think.  Did I do good?

Things I Bought At The Auction

I can't think of a better way to start the new year than by attending an auction.  As you can see here, the fun is just about to begin.  I was running late so I didn't get to look over everything as I usually do, but sometimes when they bring up the unexpected it is even more fun.

This is the first thing that I bought.  I had one just like this when I was a kid, in fact I think I got it for Christmas.  I think that it was a surprise, because I don't remember asking for it...or now that I think about it, it may have been a hand me down from a cousin.  But anyway this one is very similar, right down to the dents

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This is the next thing that I bought.  I spotted it right away.  Of course I was very cool when I looked it over, you must never ever let 'em see that you are interested.   It is a very large platter and the picture is the capital.  It appears to be quite old, with crazing and cracks...but I don't care.  I love it.  The picture below is an enlargement of the scene.  And the eagle and inscription is on the back.  There is also an hallmark that I can't read.  I'm going to try to make a rubbing of it to see what it says.  Do any of you know anything about this or have seen one like it?

 

I also bought some plates, but they are still in my car and I didn't take a picture.  I'll post pictures later.  Oh yeah and I bought a vintage Monopoly game and a vintage Cootie game.  I'll post pictures of them later too.

After the auction my friend Judy and I went to the Salvation Army and of course the obligatory late lunch at the Krystal.  (She loves those little bitty burgers as much as I do.) 

The perfect day...an auction, the Salvation Army and the Krystal......

The Best Is Yet To Come!!!!

Arfy New Year!!!!