First Monday Trade Days & Grilled Hamburgers

SO.....

Yesterday we drove to Canton to see Steve's mom.

 This was a First Monday Trade Days weekend, soooo, guess where we went?

ANNETTE''S HOUSE

Yep, we were out there bright & early, Texas gets pretty hot this time of year.

We weren't looking for anything in particular, just browsing.

We gave Nate his allowance straight away to avoid the inevitable Grandma, Grandma, Grandma routine.

Can't have nagging while I'm trying to shop!!!

First, off to the sheds, this is the area Annette likes. I don't recall her buying anything for herself though.

HUM!!!

WE ALL REMEMBERED TO WEAR OUR HATS

STEVE WAITING PATIENTLY

Note Steve's bag, he always carries cold water, wet bandanna ETC.

We had a cooler in the trunk of the car with partically frozen gallon jugs of water for refills.

Steve is always prepared.

HEATHER & NATE WITH CUTE BAG

I found this cute shopping bag for Heather.

Paris cafe scene on one side, GIRL driving her Vespa on the other side.

(Her boyfriend is on the back of her Vespa, I just love it when the girl gets the lead role!!!)

  Heather looks so cute in her hat.

MY GIRL HEATHER

We saw lots of cute things in the sheds, most of it was way overpriced.

(I like to look at the vendor displays.)

Annette did find this cute skirt for me, only $5.00.

CUTE SKIRT

I'm Thinking RIT DYE!!!

Maybe splotches of yellow as the first color,

then some blue to get green? I'll work it out!!!

I'll post the finished work of art,

HA, HA.

STEVE & MOM

NATE POSING WITH HIS BOUNTY

ANNETTE RESTING

Nate bought a ring for his mom, adorable bracelet for his cousin Lauren & a dangerous looking knife for his other cousin Brian, plus a few toys for himself.

Next we were off to the grounds where all the junk lives.

We love our junk!!!!

Heather found some gorgeous dishes that I neglected to photo,  forgive me

I'm still new at this chronicling stuff! Saw lots of cool stuff, I just couldn't make up my mind,

although there were plenty of vendors who wanted to me to!!

We walked & walked till we wore ourselves out.

Time for lunch, so it was back to Annette's house for hamburgers & air conditioning.

I brought some potato salad & pickled veggies, Annette provided the rest.

Hamburger meat, wheat buns, tomatoes, onions, all the stuff you need for a really great meal.

Oh yea & the grill, can't grill without the grill!!!

OUR CHEF, STEVE

Steve bought this cell phone holder.­­

 While Steve was grilling, we women were in the kitchen preparing the rest of the meal.

 STEVE, ARE THEY DONE YET?

WHAT!!!  I HAVE TO GET UP & HELP?

Nate was off exploring this, this & that.

THIS &

THIS

&  THAT!!

Table set, food prepared, some thanks to our LORD & time to eat!!!

TABLE SET, YUMMY FOOD!!!

We gratefully enjoyed our meal served on Annette's way cool Fiesta ware, cooled down with some ice cream, cleaned up & it was back to the grounds for more junking!!!

Too bad you can't get a pass for the parking as we had to pay again.

Annette stayed behind, it was way to hot for her to get back out.

So here we are again, probably close to 100 degrees, what can I say, we're die hard junkers!!!

We head to the trees for a little shade & some serious junking.

MY NEW SHAWL

REPLACEMENT GREEN VASE

I found this great shawl, now gracing my bathroom (looks great hanging in front of my shower curtain) & this vase, also in the bathroom. I used to have this exact vase sitting on a shelf, until the shelf tried to commit suicide. (Didn't work I picked that puppy up, used screws this time & hung her right back up!!! I dare you to try that again you bad shelf.)

 

THE BAD SHELF

BAD SHELF BEHAVING HERSELF

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well we shopped till we couldn't shop any more.

I did find a bakery rack that I'm going to use for my soap curing shelf. I've looked online for this unit & they cost close to $200.00. It was mine for $35.00

No photo because we haven't picked it up yet, we were driving Heather's car & the shelf is about 6 ft. tall.

She wouldn't let me put it on the roof, go figure.

So, that was our great adventure in Canton.

I have to go & make soap now or maybe a visit with the

RIT DYE!!

I'll get back to you with my decision later.

Till then,

Bonjour

F.O.R.D.

You have all heard it, maybe even said it,

F.O.R.D. FOUND ON ROAD DEAD!!!

NOT TRUE!!!!!

Well, I actually like my F150. This is my 2nd one to own. It gets me to my soap shows with all my gear stowed safely in the bed, plus you get the cute little half doors for access behind the seats. 5 speed manual for quick acceleration, what more could you ask for? Well, not this.

NOT A GOOD SIGN

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

ALAS, MY POOR BABY!

MAIZE, CORN &  COTTON COUNTRY

 

 

6:30 AM en route to work. B.F.E. Reagor Springs.
Dash gauges going crazy, electrical cutting off , engine dieing, coasting into Lone Star Drive-In.

*Racing & Rodeos*

YEE-HAW!!!

Frantic call to AAA.
HELP,  ( I knew there was a reason I pay $82.00 a month to T-Mobile) need a tow to the Ford House!

THIS IS MIKE

MIKE

Well, ever so clever, Mike shows up P.D.Q. & gets us all hooked up & ready to go. (We have history with Mike, keys, nuff said) He's driving an International with 630,000 miles on it. WOW!!!
Only cost $65,000.00 (BUSINESS MUST BE GOOD!!!)

This was the several years ago price, according to Mike.

At this point Suzanne drives up & Steve ditches me.

(Sorry babe, got to get to work, you can handle it from here.)

Not really, I told him to go & that I could deal with the rest.

Ford House here we come.
Well, Mike lets me ride in his super International & we have a great confab on the way, before you know it, destination reached.

Mike knows all the ins & outs of protocol at the Ford House so he had me set in no time.

A little credit card action to Mike (Knew I should've upgraded my AAA) & he's out of there. Thanks Mike, Au revoir!!

DO THEY THINK MY TRUCK WILL TRY TO ESCAPE?

WAXAHACHIE FORD HOUSE

CHRIS

Well, what can I say about Chris?

SWEET, POLITE, KIND, SYMPATHETIC?

YEP, ALL THE ABOVE....

Chris is my go to guy. GET-HER-DONE!

Chris says he'll call me later with the diagnosis A.K.A. $$$$$.

CHRIS. LOOKING SO PROFESSIONAL!!! (ORANGE SHIRT)

WHAT HAVE WE HERE, A RIDE?

 

GEORGE

 

MY HERO, GEORGIE!!

MY NEW CARRIAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well. George shows up to give me a ride to my new Carriage. Another F150? Bon!!!

(THANK YOU ROLAND'S NURSERY)

I finally make it to work in my new ride, do my duty, confab with Chris a few times & back to the

FORD HOUSE WE GO!!!

(F.Y.I. I do a little research during lunch & find my alternator about $35.00 cheaper at Auto Zone, HUM)

CHRIS

Well, I do a little confab with Chris, tell him about Auto Zone price &

Viola, Discount!!!

CHRIS THINKING ABOUT DISCOUNT!!

All in all my experience at Waxahachie Autoplex was good. Everyone I had contact with was polite & respectful.
This is the place I go to for my oil changes. I figure they know my ride the best, why trust a generic?
Here I have as relationship!!!
I could have chosen to view this incident on the negative, but what would that have accomplished?
Viewing it as an adventure made it one!!!
Thanks Mike & Chris.
& Girl who didn't give me her name, (we talked about working with the guys) & Abby.

Painting chairs & grilling

SO........

Where to start????

Ok, the paint project.

I found these chairs at my local thrifty shop about 5 years ago. (Only $5.00 each) Threw some white paint at them, covered the cushions in some black & white toile & called it good.

Well today it's going to get better.

So, off to the paint closet we went. What color should we use Nate?

blue, green, purple, red, orange, yellow? OOPS no yellow, we made that orange for the bee hive!!!

Red it is!!

New & improved chairs.

I found this fabric at Wally world for
$1.50 a yard. I still have some left so

it might turn up later in another project.

These chairs are for extra seating, so

I have one in the bedroom area & one in the dining area. I use the term area because we have an

open plan house so there are no rooms per se.

 Well painting wasn't the only thing we did today. We also grilled some shrimp kabobs, a rack of ribs & some chicken leg quarters. I say we grilled,  what I really mean is...

Steve grilled & we watched, although we did put the kabobs together.

        Yummy shrimp, pineapple chunks (from the canning day post)

& fresh jalapeños.

 (No Trisha, the pineapples are not in the mail yet.)
We cut some fresh rosemary & basil to lay on the fire, mixed up some olive oil & dried herbs to brush on the meat & viola lunch box gourmet for next week!!! Probably need to make some potato salad or something to go with the meat. Maybe tomorrow.

Earlier in the week I needed a sewing fix.

SO.

Darn out of time.

Nate wants me to go watch My Name Is Earl.

Till next time...

Bonjour

                                      

No More Rocket Man

OK...

No more Rocket Man! (You remember the song? Elton John, lonely out here in space.) Maybe I need more vitamin D.
Anyway, on to more upbeat things.

I was forced to buy a vacuum this weekend. No, I wasn't kidnapped, no one held a gun to my head, never the less I was forced. I don't have carpeting, just a few area rugs here & there. Mostly I just sweep the floors & rugs or borrow Ginger's vac once in a while. I couldn't take it any longer, the dog hair was taking over!!!

It was everywhere, clinging to everything.

So I get it home & after assembling said vacuum I set to work. Moving furniture, ( is that a dog under the bed? No, just a pile of dog hair!!!)) lifting cushions, (What's that, popcorn kernels?) checking window sills, (EEW, dead bugs, don't even ask me about the ceiling fans!!! You name it I vacuumed it. Sweat dripping down my back, hair plastered to my face. Steve got out fast when he saw that look in my eyes!!!

3 hours later I was finished. Well, with the vacuuming anyway.

Maybe I should get the carpet steamer out & spiff up the rugs!!

OMG, I was possessed, like some crazed June Cleaver, steaming my little heart out, only I wasn't wearing pearls OR a dress.

You know those pictures in the decorating mags? The ones with the spotless homes, cute little short haired dog, nothing out of place? Not real. Nobody lives there. My house has 1 German Sheppard, (Lady) & 1 Black Lab. (RED),  finger prints on the doors & dirty mini blinds. That's the real deal.

And since I DID NOT win the lottery I guess I 'll just have to deal, with the real deal.

Till next time... Happy cleaning

Bonjour

FAMILY

I MISS MY FAMILY.
Jamie, great story.
Kim, I got your face book link but I'm not very good at face book. Blogs I understand. (It's like building a website.) That I get.
Jen, Phil ,Gret & Princess, you guys are so cool, I wish I were there.
Trish & David, I'm waiting for a post, EM photos a must!!!
Kath & Pat, What? You take a trip to the moon?
Eve, You guys good with life, business OK?
Carol & Marty, Are you out there?
Mark, Tina, Josh & Tiff, You guys inspired us. We got a Pomegranate Tree for Nate!!
Jim & Mike????????????????
Heather & Harry, Moved away.
Ginger, Nate, Lauren & Brian still here, thank GOD.
Amber & Felix, Got the package. Steve opened it before I could photo the wrapping. I will photo & post the progress.
Love You All

That Snake

(OK, This is my snake belt, I couldn't find a good snake picture)

WELL........

We have/had a family of wee birds nesting in a little niche on the front porch.

So, can you guess where this story is going?

The other day I was viewing some late night T.V.,

had to go to work the next day so it was time to let the dogs out for a bit, then go to bed.

I opened the door & out they went, I turned on the porch light & waited.

OK, time to come back, opening door, calling dogs, dogs coming back in, trying to shut door.

Why won't this door close? What's that thing hanging over the door knob? Almost touching that thing!! Pulling hand back very quickly when I realize what that thing is.

Quite a bit of screaming going on now.

SCREAMING, MORE SCREAMING & JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE

MORE SCREAMING!!!

OK,

Calming, finally getting door closed, peeking under shade.

That snake had to be at least 2 feet long & it was fat as heck.

(I measured the door from the knob to the floor, so I am not exaggerating!)

It was draped over the door knob like some insane Freak O decoration.

I can't believe the dogs ran right past it.

Although they did sniff the door knob for several days after.

I haven't seen those wee birds since.

Till next time,
Bonjour

THE SNAKE

WELL...

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT SAID SNAKE!!!

Maybe tomorrow.

Our fun filled day

 OK, lets get started!

Our first stop was the post office to mail off a soap order.

(thank you Frances)

Business before pleasure, I always say.

Next on the agenda was Roland's Nursery for a little cook out.

Here's Roland (our host) preparing some of the eats.

That man really knows how to BBQ. The menu included baby back ribs, chicken legs, steak, shrimp

& fish fillets. Side dishes were potato salad, chips, cookies & cherry cheesecake. WOW!!!

Thanks Roland, everything was super scrumptious!

Now for a little browsing.

This is a photo of my soap display at Roland's. (L)

This is a photo of Steve with my new Crepe Myrtle.(R) We wandered around a little enjoying all the cool stuff Roland has, like....

This way cool tractor,

            

          fish pond & some cool painted gourds.

This is a photo of both my grandson's.

Nate showing off as usual &

Brian being his usual cool self.

After thanking Roland for the great eats & letting us use his place for

our photo shoot we were off to the movies.

The Soccer's Apprentice!!!

Way cool special effects, love story & Nicolas Cage. What more could you ask for???

Had fun conversing with the couple in front of us before the movie too.

It's almost 100 degrees here so an inside day was definitely called for.

 My guys in front of the movie Pic.

OK, back to reality!!!

Trip to the grocery store, stopping off to get the LOTTERY TICKET, &amp on to the house.

BUT WAIT, WHAT HAVE WE HERE???

IS THAT A COW IN THE ROAD????

Yep, that's a cow, well a baby cow, but still. This is not the first time we have seen this phenomenon. Pretty regular occurrence for out here actually. Usually it's a bigger cow though.

I guess the grass IS greener
on the other side.

Well, wish me luck on the LOTTERY.

Till next time...

Bonjour

Movie Day, Cookout - FUN

Well......

Today we're off to a cookout at Roland's Nursery, then off to the movies. We haven't been to a movie since the last Harry Potter!!!

Camera at the ready, WOOHOO.

I'll get back to you later.

Bonjour

Seriously, Serious Thoughts

So........

I ran across a blog the other night & was immediately drawn to it. There was only 1 post.
The content was her life & how being gay was affecting it.

I can relate to being different. I have always been different.

Being a leftie has it's challenges, being dyslexic has it's challenges,

being me & all that entails  has it's challenges.

There are people out there who want you to conform,
this is the trend of the world.

It reminds me of an Ayn Rand novel, ( I think the title was Atlas Shrugged ) or perhaps Ira levin's This Perfect Day. Everyone has to be the same. That's not the way the real world works, we are all unique as per God's design. I will continue to be me & I hope Zoya will continue to be herself.

The ones who try to force you to conform are afraid I think,
not willing to take risks.
Life is a risk, embrace it. Be you !

The Lottery!!!

I want to win the lottery, I have prayed to God to win.

I want to give the money to my loved ones, My Church,
to people who are losing their homes, anywhere it can do good.

Seriously,

Till next time

Bonjour

 P.S. Thank goodness for spell check! (dyslexic)

What I found thrifting

Well...

As I said the other day, I skipped out on work & went thrifting.

I love to find cute clothes for next to nothing. I found these Capri's at big thrift in Waxahachie for $2.50.

They're Newport News Brand. They're a little too big so I just pinned them at the waist. I should have paired them with a belt. (Next time.)

Next I was off to Soul's Harbor (also in Waxahachie,) They have a little bit of everything there, clothes, books, furniture you name it they got it!!!

I scored this bolt of fabric for $3.00

It's about 4 1/2 yards @ 49 " wide. Light  & dark pink with touches of green) It reminds me of a light weight chintz. Don't know what to do with it just yet but I'm sure something will turn up.

Also scored this way cool rolling chair for $5.00 (Looks circa 1950's to me) It's in pretty good shape, just needs some chrome paint. Maybe I will reupholster it with the new fabric.

I want it to match these. A totally cool Target find, on sale TYVM!!!

Also found a cool wrap skirt that I will post later.

Most of my home is furnished with used items that I have found here & there. I fix, paint, reupholster, & generally make old stuff new again. I have a few "regular store" pieces but not many. Why pay retail when you can customize used?

I'll post the progress on the rolling chair. 

Till next time.

 Bonjour