The Joys of Life...

I've taken a break from blogging about junk for a few days, but not to worry, I've got some great finds and ideas for this coming week. But today I want to talk about some friends of mine. Yesterday I went to the wedding of my BFF's (Penny) Daughter. I've know her daughter since she was 3. Our kids grew up together, and she is truly my BFF. The wedding turned out to be a reunion of sorts, for a group of us ladies, who went to the same church in our 20's, and at the time, had young children roughly the same age, and our common thread is our friend Penny.

As I look at this picture I'm reminded of the heart break that many in this group have gone through. Two of these ladies lost their husbands, one to brain cancer, one to a military plane crash. One of these ladies lost her 14 year old daughter to Leukemia, 2 have had, and survived breast cancer. Yet by looking at this picture, you see non of that tragedy here. All of these strong women have gone on, endured their tragedy, re-built their lives, and have true joy today. Look at the smiles on their faces, none of that tragedy is present on this day. In the words of my daddy, on the day he told me he had Leukemia "life goes on". And this is so true, as shown by this photo of happy and joyful women. The other thing in their lives that helps them endure all pain, is their faith. I don't usually go in to faith issues on this blog but I was reminded yesterday, through these strong women, that with the comfort that comes from our Lord, all things can be endured, and there is joy on the other side of the tragedy.

The wedding was beautiful, My son was the photographer and he took more pictures at this wedding than he's ever taken at any other wedding. He got some great shots. My Husband and I even got on the dance floor for the first time. It was fun to watch the young folks doing their swing dancing, and line dancing, and I wish the Bride and Groom the most joyous life together.

to see more of this wedding go to my Son's blog, here

Have a great and wonderful Sunday
Margo

My very talented Son

A little self promotion here. My Son, the almost college graduate, is quite the wedding photographer. He put together this promo video of a wedding he did on a very very hot day last summer. I must say that I am rather proud of his skill. The video shows some footage of him actually taking the pics, and then shows how the pics turned out. It's got great music too. Get ready to tap you foot and enjoy this beautiful wedding.

Baby got a hair cut, doggie updates

My" low-rider" half golden, half basset, baby girl, got a hair cut this week. I just have to share these pictures because she looks so sweet, and clean, and tidy.



I think she lost 10 lbs at the groomers, and she looks wonderful, and is shedding much less.
Now if I could take 10 real pounds off of her (and me) we'd all be healthier.
You may be wondering what happened with our foster greyhound that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Well Szechuan, really needs to be in a house with a doggie door. She's got old lady bladder issues, so we had to pass her onto another rescue house, and it is working out better over there. She lives with 3 other greyhounds, and has free access to the outside anytime she needs to go. We really grew attached to her for the week we had her, but our home and lifestyle was not the best for her needs. She is happy. Here is a great picture for our memory book.

She's the white/red on the left.

And here is my new best friend.

It's a roomba, automatic robotic vacuum. I didn't think I would really use it, but it's great. If I'm leaving for awhile, I'll just stick it in a room, and let it go. When I come home, it's turned itself off and the floor is clean (for the most part). With all the dog hair I deal with, I think I'm gonna love this thing. It's funny to watch too.
I picked up one of the doggie beds, and set it on top of the other one, so the roomba could do it's thing. Gigi decided she liked the double bed thing. Kinda like the princess and the pea.

And she wouldn'tget up.

Well that's my doggie update. I might make this a weekly feature, as my dogs are an endless source of entertainment, work and yes, irritation. Kinda like kids.
Have a good one.
Margo

I knew one of you would come through for me.

Do you remember last week when I mentioned that I was looking for this.

Well Valorie and Michele of the Red Shed just happened to have one. Now It's mine, as soon as I pick it up.


I knew someone would come through with it. Now to get it picked up, and figure out exactly what I want to do with it.
Thanks Red Shed Girls.

Ball project #5, 6 & 7

Guess I'm on a "roll" here. This project was inspired by something I saw at Judy's. It wasn't this exact thing, but it was close.

I just took a frame with the hanging wire still attached, and hung various sizes of balls from different length hooks. Couldn't be any easier.

For project 6 & 7 go to Ki's (balls on bottles) and Mindy's (balls on chain) blogs

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Home Tour Continued, and Ball Project #4

My goal for Saturday was to get all the decorations up. This mostly meant my tree, but also some of the table displays that i was inspired to do by visiting Judy's sale (see post below).

I got this industrial spool holder at Judy's. Actually I got 2. This one I'm going to use for display inside. The little kissing angel is a vintage piece I picked up at the good will. The shreaded paper you see is actually old music that I put through a paper shredder, I use it in lots of things. I clipped a candle to the top with one of those candle clips I picked up at the Gresham sale.

I picked up some aluminum tree branches at Judy's and the metal urn at Ethel's.
I stuffed the urn with shreaded music and poked the branches down inside. Since then I've added a silver ribbon.

I was inspired by the horns at Jodi's sale and came up with this little display. Those are old auto or bike horns and some more aluminum branches.

This one is my favorite, and inspired directly by Judy's sale

I just picked up this old lamp, not knowing what I would do with it. I actually considered selling it, not any more. I found the angel at a Garage Sale this morning

I picked up the shabby wreath stand at Jodi's sale and found this great, old looking, aluminum wreath (the perfect size) today. The star is also not old either, but very authentically old looking.

some random aluminum stars, fake snow, balls and ribbon and it's done & Greets me as I enter the house. The camera angle kind cut off the top of her hear, it all looks better in person.
I haven't hung my wreath yet, I need an over the door wreath hook I think. And I'll hang it from an inside door. for the most part the decorations are done. There's lots of stuff I'd like to do, but I need to call it quits. Time to focus on gifts now.

My weekend finds.

Look at these wonderful stained glass windows I picked up at a GS this weekend. They need a bit of repair, but only to the frames.

Here's the other spool holder fro m Judy's, and a couple of spools of string that I found at Ethel's.
And that old tube repair organizer I picked up at Judy's has really tidied up my work space.

And I picked up this little dice roller thing, last weekend in Canton, Isn't it fun.



Ball Project #4

For this project, all I did was take a chain, and start hanging balls from it. I used 2 sizes of hooks, and just loaded it up. When I was done, I tied a ribbon at the top.

Don't forget to order your Calendar


this is the only junkin calendar out there, and the supply is limited.
Calendars are in stock Each Calendar is $14.50 shipping included.
This Calendar features wonderful photo's by our talented bloggers. And also has Flea Market sale dates marked, as well as the usual holidays. This is a "must have" for any lover of junk.
You can view a preview of the entire calendar
here.

Judy Hill's house/sale tour and Ball project #3

I've been anxiously waiting to share all of this with you, but it takes a long time to load all those pics. As I said yesterday, My fun day started with a trip to Judy Hill's open house. Now I've never seen anything like this. Judy opens up her house, and just about everything inside (except her bed) is for sale. Can you imagine? I guess she's got a very understanding Husband.
And Judy has a true eye for not only finding unique items, but display as well.


Judy had a spread of food for all her shoppers.
I'm going to let most of these pictures speak for themselves. So many wonderful ideas


Proof that anything can be wall art. There was one of these on each side of that window

More great wall decor, I love this



Whod-o-thunk of hanging a tree on the wall? Then there is that pesky "end of the trunk" to deal with. Well Judy dealt with it quite nicely don't you think.

Old Ice box, no door, open display, love it.

I bought some of these aluminum tree branches

This is Judy


Ok, here's a project for you. She's removed the silvering from the back of this old mirror, to write messages


Here's Ball project #3, courtesy of Judy,
Curtain tie back.

This is an old fish tank



Love the Nativity in the old heater.

This is my other find, and it came home with me. Feeds my inner desire to be organized. It now resides next to MY computer.

I'm going to do this project. I have the lamp, now I just need some cute stuff for the inside.

Another mirror with the silvering removed over most of it. But she left just enough for a sweet message

This is Mindy, I only knew her from her blog, but when I saw her at the sale we hooked up immediately. After the sale we went antiquing and we both found some great stuff at Ethel's.
And she got some wonderful stuff at the Goodwill. She has blogged about it over on her blog so pop over there for more pictures. Also be sure to check out Teresa's blog for more pictures from Judy's sale.

don't you jsut love that funnel display she's stand next to. Like I said every corner, nook and cranny at Judy's house was full of fabulous finds, wish I could have brought them all home.
Can't wait till her next sale.

Whew!!!! I've had a busy day

My day started out as most days do, by going to work. I knew however, that I would be skipping out a bit early to go to a sale in a nearby town. I'll write about that tomorrow, that sale needs a blog entry of it's own. All I can say is... WOW! At this sale I met a fellow blogger and we headed back to my town to a shop called Ethel's (more about that tomorrow as well). Then from Ethel's we hit the Goodwill, where my friend (to be named tomorrow) hit the jackpot. Then back to my house, and by now it's 4:30. I knew I had a class at 6:00 so it was a quick supper and back in the car, and across town (only 20 mins) to my class. The class is my ornament project #2. Four of us met at a local florist shop called "The Flower Girl", to learn how to make these wonderful wreaths.

Creator, Allison, uses vintage ornaments and makes the wonderful, fun wreaths

These 3 belong to the owner, Allison, and are for sale.

We were to bring our own vintage ornaments and Allison, patiently guided us through the process. She's in the orange below.

It was a fun couple of hours, designing, hot gluing, and admiring each other's creations. We all started out with the same basic wreath, Allison provided the ribbon and glue, and some other fun vintage items around her shop, as well as the instruction and moral support. I think we all ended up with some really fun and special wreaths.

Allison's advise "It's not done, till it's over done."

Allison was a real good teacher. And we all had lots of fun, and got into the Christmas Spirit, eating great food, listening to Christmas music, and gluing, gluing, gluing. Thanks Allison for hosting this fun event. And to my fellow wreath creators, Jodi, Starla and Donna, it was fun.

BTW-Locals-Allison is having an open house tomorrow.
Her shop is just off University, just past the DPS office. Look to the left, you'll see a hair salon, and her shop is a little shed-like building next to it. It's a cute little store, and is bigger on the inside than on the outside. Sorry I don't have the exact address. Stop by, look at her goodies, have some food, and tell her I sent you.