DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS AND DON'T MESS WITH MY......

I would like to dedicate this post to my cousin, Suzanne.
She has this sweet demeanor, is a lot fun to be around kind of cousin we all wish we had.
That's what she wants you to think...

*The following story is graphic and may not be suitable for all readers.*

Suzanne came down from Dallas last week; I told you about that in a previous post. And, I remember singing her praises in that post because she is someone I don't see very often but love it when I do because we always have so much fun.

That was before I found "the surprises" she left me when she went back to Dallas on Friday.
You probably noticed that I didn't say "the presents".......one would think that she would have left presents for me since my HALF BIRTHDAY is MARCH 1st and that's just around the corner.

Mom and I returned home from the airport and went about our afternoon. That night the Tank took us to this dive in Center Point for supper. Therefore, no reason to go into the kitchen, into the fridge.

It's a blur right now, specific days and what happened when is all a blur as I write this, but the story can still be told.....It wasn't until I went into the kitchen to get my medicine out of the fridge that it all started *like a horror movie*.

I went to the icebox and THIS is what greeted me.....

And I'm not talking about the asparagus. Unfortunately at this point I thought the cleaning ladies had put it in there; never did it cross my mind that Suzanne would have done it. It was kind of funny, but not so much. Just a, "Hey, mom, look at this."

And when the cleaning ladies came today it was obvious when I brought up 'the heads' that they didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. "Darn!" That's when I had to give it some real thought....thinkin'.....thinkin'.....thinkin'.....

Next stop a day or so later was the glass cabinet and I find.....

Now I'm startin' to think that I'm really losin' it.

I ACCUSE my 82 year old mother (don't let her age fool ya).

Then I ACCUSED the Tank. He looked at me with this blank stare. *Always a sure sign that he either A.) Didn't hear me or B.) Doesn't have a clue.

So, since they both denied messin' with the heads I thought to myself, "Maybe I did it.". Oh, surely not.

That's when it hit me....Suzanne was the only other person that's been in our house since last Friday. So, by the process of elimination, I determined that it was Suzanne, in the kitchen, with the baby heads.

And, yesterday when mom walked into my studio with the rolling pin is when I laughed out loud and KNEW I had to blog about this mystery!

HOW IN THE WORLD DID I MISS THIS???

Frank would say it's because I don't spend enough time in the kitchen.

Have a fabulous day and know that you're loved!!

xoxo,

.....Jan

P.S. I LOVE my icky baby heads and I collect them. Whole bodies, heads, I'm not picky. I'm decorating our workroom (ie. laundry room) in the Icky Baby Head theme. Cool.

MY FAVORITE PLACE TO GO TO RECHARGE

Where do you go when you need to recharge your batteries?

There are many answers to that question; even for me.

Bed to sleep (you'd really understand that if you have fibro'), my studio, stick my nose in a Somerset Studio zine, blog surf, read the Bible or something inspirational, just to name a few that I'm sure are coming to your mind as you read this.

But, there's one place that I go every week that I'm in town and/or able, that's my favorite and most effective place for me to recharge and that's church.

And, before I get into that I'm going to give you a little tidbit of information that I didn't know until a few years ago. I don't remember who told me, maybe it was Jack Rothenflue, my old pastor. Well, HE'S not old, well, he is kinda old because he's older than me, but what I meant was that he was my "past" pastor. (That was for just in case he read this. Yikes.)

Anyhow, I just hung up from calling my current (and, actually "young") pastor (we'll talk more about him in a minute) to ask him where in the Bible it says what I'm about to tell you.

His response, which made me laugh out loud, was that he really couldn't look that up while he was driving. You see, I didn't know he was in his car. That made me laugh.

Okay, I'm giving you too much information *so me* - getting back on track, there is scripture in a couple of places in the Bible (and, please, it's not important that y'all email me with the scriptures. Send those emails to Oprah. Oh, my, there's a blog post for ya.)

that infer that when we go to church on Sunday morning *for me*, it's not to fill us up, it's not to refresh us, it's to WORSHIP THE LORD. Put aside your concerns, your troubles for an hour and simply focus on worshiping our Lord. It's what He wants us to do.

When I heard that I had to think about it for a bit. I went to church to worship, yes, but I also went to fill my tank for the week. Now what was I going to do??

Silly me, I was going to do the exact same thing I had been doing. . .praising God for all He does for me, for all my blessings, for all of my challenges that make me stronger, for my ability to minister to others that are hurting, to worship Him for His mighty-ness, for His Holiness. And, I found that even though I had changed my perspective of Sunday mornings, my tank was still filled for the week. In fact, it was topped off. WHOOP!!

Pastor Jay being a regular person, ordering lunch. We posed this picture because I told him at lunch that the picture I took of him praying over communion wasn't his best. LOL

Gosh, what a segue into talking about my pastor.............talking about gas and now talking about Jay. (yes, I'm smiling)

I have a wonderful pastor in Jay Dozier. A huge part of what makes him so wonderful is that his wife, Amy, is a friend of mine and his three children are my heart. Jay is also a very close friend. . .you know, the type that if he/they moved away we would still have a relationship. That's the ruler I use when I think about how good a friend someone is...just another one of my tidbits:)

Jay is a great pastor because He allows God to use him as a vessel. He's also a great pastor because he sincerely cares about the congregation. He is strong in the Bible, follows the scriptures in his sermons, his decisions and his advice. Makes mistakes (he is human, remember) and acknowledges when he does and fixes what needs fixin'.

AND, he prays........A LOT........totally cool.

The photos in this post aren't the best, but they give you an idea of my church. And remember that post I wrote entitled I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE on February 11th? So many, if not all, of the ideas I talked about in that post fit in church so well. Go back and skim it and you'll see what I mean!

Oh, and there's something else I just want to tell you about my church because I think it's so wonderful. . . . .we honestly don't care what battles you're fighting - you are more than welcome in our family and we will help you fight those battles. We don't care how you dress, we don't care about your past.

We care only that you love the Lord, Jesus Christ, and that you believe that He is the Son of God and died on the cross for your sins.

Period.

xoxo,

.....Jan

A visit from my cousin. . .CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE DID??

"CAN YOU GUESS WHAT WE DID??" ??
Oh, good grief.......Ummmm, let's think about that for a minute.......
what would we have been doing???...........
walking the pasture looking under rocks for rattlers?
cleaning out my flower beds without gloves so we can be sure and 'dig' into a grub with our fingers?
spending the days at Wal-Mart looking for photo ops?

If you guessed any of the above you would be wrong *and you don't know me very well*.
*okay, Wal-Mart's a possibility*
The correct answer would have been "SHOPPED".
Oh, yes, we shopped and I'm going to share with you the spoils of our days out AND introduce you to two of my favorite places.
Shall we begin??
Oh, yes, let's!!!

We started out in Fredericksburg which is a town that visitors to the Hill Country often make their place to stay - the shopping is amazing and, of course, can be a wee bit pricey because of the tourists, but it is fun to shop there! We started out with lunch and then went to the Rebecca Rather bakery, Rather Sweet, to buy a goodie.
*SIDE BAR: Rebecca has put out three cookbooks. I would HIGHLY recommend her first one for anyone that likes to bake as she has her desserts in there along with some of her most popular entrees. The cookbook is titled The Pastry Queen. You can buy it on Amazon and like Barnes and Noble.*

After we bought our goodies, I took them to a shop that I had been wanting to go to but was saving for my cousin's, Suzanne's, visit. It's off the Main Street which was wonderful; the prices were so good it was heaven. And, we had the whole place to ourselves because they were closed, but the sweet owner, Pam, let us descend upon her while she was working.

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

These chairs, of which she has in all colors, are made by a company called Torrans, http://www.torransmfgco.com/, and, from listening to Pam, are the best out there. Her prices are below retail and she ships. You should call her, you know you want to.

Very cool vintage jewelry and handmade jewelry all throughout the shop.

I fell in love with these spider back chairs! I left them there in case one of you wanted to purchase them.

Darling clothing. Mom bought a linen top and I think Suzanne bought a precious lime green raincoat.

Isn't this so cute?? Pillows thrown on a vintage couch. I love the way Pam has her shop put together.

Vintage belts! Boy howdy, some of these brought back memories.

This little fellow is holding up a rather large piece of ceramic. I think it's supposed to be a vase, but mom bought it for me (and the other one for Suzanne) because I wanted it for my studio for pencils, scissors....oh, you know...

Okay. So, I sat on this couch and held this vintage photo album several times trying to decide if I should spend the money (I knew Suzanne would be at the ranch for another day of shopping; I had to be smart with my money) for this wonderful old album. I'd decide that, no, of course not, what am I thinking??, and I'd get up and continue looking around. Then I'd be back on the couch holding that darn album. I knew I could do something wonderful with the cover and there were some wonderful picture frames inside that I could use in several pieces of art...NO! PUT IT DOWN....................so I did; and I walked away.

A shot of the frames inside the vintage album that I gave up.

A close-up *taken in horrible light* of one of the frames in the vintage photo album that I passed up. *sigh*

So, guess what! We get home and we're unloading our bags and my mother pulls out the album and hands it to me. I saw SHOCKED. I never saw her do it and never missed it on the couch. I was so touched that, well, I teared up a bit. And, you'll be seeing some of those single frames in my Etsy shop someday *soon, I hope*. Thanks, mom!!

Now, remember, if you're interested in some of those wonderful patio chairs, Pam ships and it's cheap, I mean, it's very inexpensive - the shipping, and so is the price on her chairs. WHOOP!!

The next and only other place we hit in Fredericksburg was a new antique mall.

Mom stayed in the car with her book (totally cheating) so Suzanne and I hit the mall. It wasn't too big so we didn't ditch my mother for so very long.

I found three things that I felt I must have and I'm going to show those to you now - you'll love them, no doubt.

I SIMPLY LOVE good cabinet cards (verses bad cabinet cards....good grief). Well, I do, and I know exactly what I'm going to do with this one. Loved it, had to have it. It's circa 1911 - WHOOP!!

Ask anyone and some of them will be able to tell you that I collect icky looking doll heads, naked babies and appendages. Love 'em. In fact, when I went to the fridge about thirty minutes ago to snag a diet Dr. Pepper, I found one of my larger ickier heads sitting in there.

My mom. She did it. Real funny, mom. (LOL)

So, when I saw this little darling whose eyes close when she lies down, I bought her for my collection. I'm doing an entire room (the work room) in an icky baby doll theme. It's going to be great!

A Baby Ben DeLuxe clock by Westclox. It's seen better days but I collect vintage clocks and sometimes this well worn look really speaks to me. I loved it. I bought it. (It was a really good price - I got the booth owner all the way down to $8.00 so I was happy to purchase it)

That's it for Fredericksburg......we got out of there after shopping at only two shops. I think that's a record.

Thursday we headed to Boerne (Texas, in case you're not familiar with where I live) which is also a wonderful town for shopping, heading first to a cafe for lunch. Then it was time to hit some shops.

Are you *mixed media artists* dyin'??? This picture shows the front and back of the most beautiful rose napkins I've ever seen. You'll see these and others in my Etsy shop.

This precious garland is going to be glittered and hung along the headboard in

the June Marie Guest Room.

Isn't she precious?

These darling glittered vines are something else I found in Boerne. I think they'll be great in collages!

And, the silver glittered flowers on collages - WHOOP!!

Yes, this glass fleur de les (did I spell that correctly? lol) dome really is this big - it's REALLY BIG! I bought it on sale.................wanna guess??..................for $8.50. Oh, yeah, it's my birthday, it's my birthday.....

I imagine you're probably sitting down by now if you started out reading this post standing up because it's so very long (and fascinating). And, that's good; that you're sitting down, because I'm going to tell you about the above short and wide glass dome. It is from France, has "Fromage" etched on the front and was $83.00 retail.

Oh, yeah. Eighty-three dollars. Somebody shoot me.

That price was because it is from France. And, if you're wondering how do I know the shopkeeper wasn't fibbing about that, I have shopped in her shop for years and she knows me and I really don't think she'd lie to me. I always carry the Tank's Uzi when I shop for just that reason.

It was 75% off and I got it for $20.00. (That's a good price even if the shopkeeper thought my uzi wasn't loaded)

Tired yet??

Well, I'm exhausted, but there's more!! And, it's really cool...............precious, actually, and it'll go quickly..............you'll see what I mean...............

There's an antique shop in Comfort, Texas, called Blackbird Antiques that my newest junky BFF, Anne, took me and my mother to a week ago and I didn't have my camera with me or I would have taken the pictures then and blogged about it in my last post.   ...........So-o-o-o mom and I took Suzanne there to introduce her to Molly and Hudson....

The front of Molly and Hudson's shop, Blackbird Antiques.

Meet Molly and Hudson. Are they too stinkin' cute?? They're in the shop every day, either lying on their beds (they're sitting on Hudson's bed in this picture)or sitting in their living room or.......

 

This is Molly and Hudson's living room.

Are you dyin' here? All of M. and H.'s living quarters are set up across from the cash register area so that their "master" (the shop owner:) won't be too far away from them! So, check out this living room and we'll move on...

Hmmmm, looks like M. and H. are planning on having some wine and an appetizer before supper.

It's a dog's life.

Get this, on command Hudson will jump from his bed to the L.R. couch.

What a hoot!

Everyone is welcome in Molly and Hudson's home! They love having guests, especially the ones that scratch them behind the ears.

This is Molly and Hudson's nightstand.

The whole city knows that every well heeled pug has an armoire.

Molly's dresser....every girl needs a place for her vintage hats and perfume bottles. **don't forget that you can click on the pics to enlarge them. the attention to detail in M. and H.'s "home away from home" is amazing"**

Their kitchen table. (psssst...do you see the slot machine on the table?? I don't know for sure and I wouldn't want to start any rumors, but I think maybe, just maybe, that one of the pugs has a gambling problem. that is so sad.)

A red convertible *just like mine:)* for afternoon drives in the country. Molly has to drive because Hudson got his driver's license taken away by "mama" for using the car as a chick magnet.

**and, so you don't have to ask, none of M. or H.'s things are for sale. They JUST had a garage sale.

Well, sweet friends, that's it. I think this was the longest post I've ever done. I promise not to do it again! I wonder how many of you made it to the end....leave a comment, 'K?, so I can see.

I think it would be interesting.

Or sad.

Or FUN!

Have a fabulous weekend and know that I simply adore you all!

xoxo,

. . .Jan

I forgot to mention how much fun my cousin, Suzanne is......she's a hoot. When we weren't eating, we were pretty much laughing. I recall one moment during her visit where we honestly couldn't catch our breath.

I could have died and it would have been my mom's fault - but that's another post!

Suzanne's the best and we so enjoyed her visit!

SOMEBODY STOP THE MUSIC, I GOTTA GET OFF!!

Who am I kidding?? I don't want anyone to stop the music and I for sure don't want to get off the junking habit. Rehab might work for some junkers, but not for me. Oh, sure, I've tried to stop, but who am I kidding? I can't do it. I will have talked myself into no more junking and then I'll get the Fitch Estate Sales email. Oh, right, get off of their mailing list.....and hurt Rachel Fitch's feelings. I am not that kind of person.
And I can't just unsubscribe - I have a responsibility to stay informed about what is going on in the world. WE ALL DO. Geez.
There's so much more to it....there's the junk stores I drive by on my way to the Habitat for Humanity's Re-Sale shop. Temptation is always right in front of me.
I'm weak.
There, I said it. Happy??
I'M WEAK AND I CAN'T STOP.

So, who wants to see what I got this weekend? WHOOP!!
I had a fabulous Friday!
It started out by being picked up by my friend, Anne.
We met in treatment.
Mom and I jumped in her car and we were off, flying down the highway like an olympian in the luge event. Our first stop was the estate sale. Anne wasn't too keen on going because it looked rather lah-dee-dah in the email description we got and we're more the rusty-junky-chippy look. But, we decided to support Rachel and stop by for the warm cookies she was offering to those in line.
While we were there we decided it would be rude to not at least walk through the house and comment on how nice everything looked.
When you go to Anne's blog and read her account you'll see the bit of junk she uncovered at the estate sale. I'll just say that she fed her habit enough that later she was able to drive by a wee small child playing with his little kitty in a rusty red wagon and she didn't even look.
(normally, she would have thrown that small kiddo off the wagon,slung the kitty into a tree, stuffed the wagon into her car and taken off leaving the poor little guy crying in the dirt and little kitty screeching and clinging for dear life)

But, enough about her, let's talk about me.
When we first walked in, I, pulling my mother behind me, made my way upstairs as Anne headed to the back of the first floor. We fought our way around the stupid people oogling over the satin covered furniture and sterling silver and sniffed our way to the good stuff. WHOOP!

I hit the motherload when I got to the top of the stairs and in the landing there were tables set up WITH BOXES SHOVED UNDER THEM. I headed for those boxes screaming at my mother to, "OH, GOOD GRIEF, GET UP AND WALK!!! WHY CAN'T YOU KEEP UP!!!".

As she was pulling herself up with the help of some elderly man's cane, I started pulling those boxes out from under the table..................................MOTHERLO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-AD!!

Not one, but TWO boxes of vintage Christmas ornaments. Oh, my gosh. I almost fainted.
Then, if that wasn't enough...

Tassles and vintage Christmas piks.

An amazing hat box with the coolest leather belt to secure the lid.

See?? And, it's from Coifashion (I'm totally sure that means something).

I found a Scrabble game *yes!* and added the tiles to the few I've already accumulated. And, in front of the Scrabble tile jar are the vintage Valentines I found at the antique mall. (Just wait til you see what Anne found at the antique mall................to die for!)

Don't you just love precious vintage Valentines??

Before I show you my next photos I must "introduce" you to my newest girl, Darlene. I've had her for a really long time but haven't had a reason to fix her up for photos until now. She came to me completely kinda white/gray and I had to add some hair color and make-up before she would agree to go to work. So, here's Darlene modeling the vintage hat I found at the estate sale. . .

Here's a close-up, two actually, where you can see the really neat net (what is the right word??) with the pussy willow like little places on it.....gosh, sounds so elegant.

 

You know, it takes a certain kind of woman to pull off a hat in a regal way and Darlene, she's that woman. She looks mah-velous, doesn't she??

I loved this chair when I saw it on the front porch of Blackbird Antiques in Comfort. I was so excited that I could afford it because I knew I would put it in the bird feeder area of the yard with

a plant on it. I think my birds will love it!

And, last, but not least, we ended our shopping with a stop at my favorite shop in Comfort (Blackbird Antiques is Anne's and my very favorite 2nd now that I've been there:), The Heart Cottage.

I was able to pick up some really nice small LOVE TOKENS enclosure cards which I show you below.

And, that was the shopping for the day. We did manage to fit in lunch at a wonderful cafe that I had never eaten at in Comfort and Anne and I ordered crab cakes. Mom, of course, helped me eat mine:) And, this is the coolest thing of the entire day except for spending it with Anne, while we were walking to our table, Anne handed me her phone and said that there was someone on the line that I needed to say "hello" to; that I knew the caller on the other end.....this will show you how small the blogging world really is.....it was Debra of Common Ground!! I KNOW Debra and I LOVE Debra! She has an amazing blog and she has an awesome daily Bible study. We had such a wonderful conversation!!

Oh, my gosh, I have to go!!! 24 is on! Yikes! Jack's in trouble!!

I love you, readers, and I'll talk to you again soon. And, all lurkers, please let me know you visited - I would love to get to know you if you're sane.

xoxo,

....jan