Mojo On!

I'm having a ball with my new booth, "La Tee Da" at Angel's Antiques! I have stifled my creative side for the past 8 years (since AA was born) , but I've felt a need to satisfy this creative yearning that has moved in and taken over! I've been without my camera (long story) for a few days, but I've got it back and will post pics tomorrow of what I 've been doing. But I just decided that I'll take a picture of my dining room just to prove how hard I've been working. Fabric, trim, two sewing machines, paint, glue, scissors...you name it, it's in there. The greatest thing about my dining room is that it can be shut off from the rest of the house. So I can just shut the door and no one knows that it looks like a bomb went off in the next room.


I sew at night after the kids have been tucked in. I can't get to sleep at night because my mind is "on", thinking of things to make and sew. I am in love with the cutest-ever puppy appliqued pillows! I can't wait to show them to you. It makes me want to have another baby (a boy!) so that I can decorate a nursery with a puppy theme. Don't worry...I know better.


I have been hitting the thrift store every day, looking for something that I can turn into "something special." It has been a ton of fun. For those of you who are familiar with Auburn, Heartstrings closed and donated everything that they had left (displays, merchandise, etc) to the thrift store next to K-Mart. We drove by the thrift store today and I heard Sunshine say to herself, "I love that store." Great...I'm sure her dad will love that!


So here are some pictures of my dining/work room and also a picture of the chair I bought yesterday for $5. ( I have a feeling it was a display at Heartstrings).


Have a great day!


Thanking God today for this creative energy that has "got me going" and for my dear friend who encouraged me to do this!

Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime.

Days like today make me ache for summer time!

My "post before last" ("I'm Blushing") caused a little chaos among myself, my mom, and two of my sisters! Holley finally said, "The only thing I said was that you can't post a picture and call it "ghetto" when you really are ghetto! You can look in the mirror and see that AAA's room is a mess." Everyone needs a sister to "tell it like it is."

So not only am I blushing that I posted pictures of my washboards, but I'm also blushing because I, apparently, am from the ghetto.

So here is a picture of what AAA's room looks like everyday. Okay, not every day. Not even every other day. But this is what it looks like on a good day. And I scraped the paint off the mirror!

Smiling heart and a snaggle-tooth smile!

Kit Kat is five years old. My L'il Man is seven years old. Kit Kat has lost two teeth. L'il Man has lost none. Ouch!

The first thing KitKat said when she woke up without her tooth was, "L'il Man is going to be so jealous!" He overheard her and barked back, "No I'm not!" I said, gently, "Buddy, it's O.kay if you're jealous." He said, matter-of-factly, "I'm not jealous. It's one of the Ten Commandments."

My heart smiled.

Thanking God today for reminding me that they do listen!

I'm blushing

I'm embarassed. My mom came to town yesterday and told me that one of my sisters (I know which one!) said, "Tiffany is so crazy...posting pictures of her washbaords on her blog?!"

I wanted to crawl under the table! Was that weird that I posted that?? I like looking at other people's blogs when they put pictures of their stuff in their houses, so I just thought that

it would be fun to do the same. Anyway...

Have a great day!

No wonder we're in a recession!

Kit Kat lost her second tooth the other day. She is amazed when she goes to bed with her tooth still in her mouth and she wakes up without a tooth and there is some money under her pillow! This is the second time that her tooth has fallen out (so she thinks!) while she is asleep. If you've been reading my blog long enough, you already know that KitKat is "high drama for her Mama! " Remember how I "ruined her life" while we were in Disney?! Enough said! Well try to imagine her with a really loose tooth. She won't eat, she'll hardly drink, and it is a nightmare trying to brush her teeth without touching "my tooth that is loose." So we have resorted to pulling her teeth while she is asleep!! And she doesn't even flinch! And she wakes up happy!

But that's not the point of this story. While at our house the tooth fairy only gives $1 a tooth, he/she/it gives $5.00! at our neighbor's house. Try explaining that to KitKat. I think that all the tooth fairies out there need to get together and agree upon an amount that we will pay for our kid's teeth. And if a Tooth Fairy pays more than that, then their child should be sworn to secrecy about how much money the tooth fairy left them. Or that Tooth Fairy needs to loan me some money to leave under my child' pillow. I bet that even the Tooth Fairy is in line for a bail out!

My Treasures!

I love a good garage sale! And thrift stores and flea markets! And even an occasional "side of the road" junk pile! I think I come by this naturally. I can remember being in high school and driving with my mom. She'd slam on her brakes and come to a screeching halt. As soon as her foot hit the brakes, my hand would reach for the handle on the side of the seat and I'd lay my seat back as fast as I could so I wouldn't be seen. Wow - things have come full circle. The other day I passed a really great pile of junk! I turned my car around and drove by it really slowly so I could get a better look. Yes!! Good junk! I strategically parked my car and carefully loaded my precious cargo into the back of the van. I heard my four year old say to my five year old, "I wonder why Mom likes trash?"

I adore her for not directly asking me. I guess she didn't want to insult me or embarrass me! Never mind that I "ooh" and "ahh" over the junk and trash that she brings me (you know, then pen caps, the bolts she finds in a parking lot, the bottle caps, etc.) That's different, it's not trash...it's treasure.

(The pictures above are some of the really good "trash" I've found. The picture was $1 at the Salvation Army! I added the frame, but it was seriously only a dollar. It was an AU student's art project. He made an "A". If you recognize it, I'll sell it back to you! The next pic is of a vintage scale I picked up for $3 at a yard sale, and the old parsley tin and miniature Chianti bottle were each $1 at Roland's Thrift store in Opelika. And the red scale next to the parsley was $1 at a yard sale!) FUN!

Whatever!

Yesterday morning, at 8:10 to be exact, a tornado hit Auburn just a few miles down the road from us. The sirens had been blaring off all morning, Belle had been howling, there was a raging river pouring through our back yard. Four hours later, the sun was shining, the kids were outside playing in their flip flops- and it was 74 degrees. This morning at 6:15, it was SNOWING! I mean, it was a blizzard by Alabama standards. I can honestly say that I've never it seen it snow as hard as it snowed for as long as it snowed. It was constant snow fall from 6 a.m. til at least 2:30 p.m. Then at 4:30, the sun was back out. I thought it was raining again ,but quickly realized that it was the snow melting! Only in Alabama can you have a tornado, sunny weather, and snow all in a 24 hour period. Whatever!

The above pictures are my proof that it really did snow in Auburn today! There were lots of snowmen! KitKat was touching her head and pouting because she had just realized that her hat was missing. And what a hat it was! When she layered all of her clothing this morning and put on her hat, she asked, "Do I look pinkalicious?" (Help.)

Thanking God today for being a God of surprises! What a wild weekend!

Are You There, God? It's me, Tiffany

I think I've already mentioned that I am in a small "bible study" group with the neatest group of moms. We are reading a book, "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World." The chapter that we recently discussed reminded me of a discussion that M and I had long ago. About ten years ago, before M and I had children, we were walking the dog one afternoon. It was a beautiful spring day and Belle, our lab, was so happy that we were taking her on a walk. M said, "I wish we had a tennis ball to throw to Belle." Then I looked up and said, "God, it sure would be nice if we had a tennis ball." We took about ten more steps and guess what... a tennis ball was just lying there in the grass. I said, "Thanks, God!" M said, "Oh yeah - God took a break from world poverty to get you a tennis ball." I said, "Yes he did!" M likes to point out that we were right behind the tennis courts and that's why there was a ball sitting there. I like to believe that God answered my prayer.

Sometimes I feel selfish asking God to "please help me find my keys" or "please drop me a tennis ball" or "Please let me make it to the gas station before my car goes dead." But it's been pointed out to me over the years that God wants that relationship with us. He wants us to come to Him with the small stuff, just like we want our own children to come to us with the big stuff and the small stuff. It's about the relationship. We don't want our own children to be too afraid to come to us with their small, everday concerns. We want them to know that we love them and we want to know what is on their hearts, big or small. And that's how God views us, as well. He wants us to come to HIm, to share our hearts, our concerns about the car running out of gas or how the world as we know it will come to an end if we can't find out keys to make it to our hair appointment. He wants to know our hearts.


So today, as I prayed that the chicken would thaw quickly so that I could get it in the oven before my family melted down, I was reminded that I don't have to be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for a little help with the chicken thawing. I might even go so far as to ask the Lord if He might arrange so that my friend could win the lottery!


Thanking God for always being there!


(On a different note, but along the same lines. My dad teased my mom, "No wonder God never answers my prayers. He's too busy looking for your keys!" Ha! )

When I was posting my pictures from yesterday's post, I ran across a few other pictures that I had taken of my youngest sister's baby's room. These pictures are worth posting.

The window treatments were easy to sew and relatively inexpensive. They are stationery - she has roller shades underneath them that uses daily. If you can sew a straight line, these are for you! They are simply one straight panel sewn with lining (Imagine a pillowcase). I actually left one end open (just like a pillowcase) and put the open end around the board that they are attached to). The ties are simply 3 inch wide satin ribbon. The bows were made separately (nothing fancy, just a bow like you're tying your shoe laces), then attached with a safety pin. Oh - the other great thing about these window treatments is this: since they are for decoration only, you can cheat on the amount of fabric that you use. In other words, if we took the bows off and let the fabric hang, it wouldn't cover the length of the window. So we were able to use less fabric than needed.

I think her whole room turned out darling!

(The other picture is of my older sister's little boy's room - it is a lodge theme and she has all of his cowboy boots arranged in order- from smallest to biggest - on his shelf. It is my FAVORITE thing in her house! I love it!)

Enjoy!

I can't believe I forgot to mention baby Lucy! Isn't she getting big?? She was dressed in "sherbert" in honor of her brother's ice cream birthday! Too sweet! (Landon told his mom, "I wish Lucy had been born a little after my birthday so she wouldn't get all the attention at my birthday party." Bless him!)

I scream! You scream! Ice Cream!

If you are looking for a CUTE birthday party idea, my youngest sister just had the cutest ever birthday party for her 6 year old son............an Ice Cream Party!

Mainly the kids just played in the yard (that's my kind of party, if I'm the hostess...no arranged activities!). However, she did have a few activities planned: Pin the Cherry on the Sundae (too cute...sorry, no pictures), and "Find the Cherry." Each child was given a paper plate with a cherry on it. She sprayed Whipped Cream on the plate and the kids had to find the cherry without using their hands! Too cute ! (See photos above!) They LOVED this. She served ice cream and let the children add their own sprinkles and toppings, and the cupcakes were baked in ice cream cones (again, no pics...sorry). But my favorite part of the whole party was the favors. They are sugar cones with Double Bubble bubble gum in them (see photos!). She put the gum in smaller cellophane bags and placed the bag inside of the cone, then put the cone and gum in a separate cellophane bag tied with a cute ribbon.

(And i had to add the cute picture of Mimi that Sunshine took, as well as the picture of Sunshine and my brother -her uncle- hugging on each other because, well...how could I not?!)

Hope you get some ideas from this!

Have a great day.

Thanking God today for family and birthdays! Happy Birthday, Landon!

I have made some really fun purchases lately and wanted to share them with you! I recently read that if you have a blog, you should stick to one "theme." Oh well - that's not going to happen here. So if you don't want to see my purchases, come on back tomorrow and I'm sure I'll have a funny kiddo story!



The first picture is of the old scrubboard collection I have in my laundry room. I like to collect inexpensive things that I have to hunt for - so I decided that anytime I found an old washboard at a yard sale, thrift store, or flea market, I'd buy it if it cost under $3.00! And this past weekend I was able to add to my collection.



The second picture is of this bottle that I found at the thrift store for $2.49!! I was so excited!! I bought three of them last year at Scott's for at least $25 each. They may have been more - I can't remember. But I do remember wondering if they were worth it. Anyway...I added the new bottle to my collection. Right now they are all on top of the refrigerator in my laundy room, but I'm thinking that they need a new home! (BTW, I have no idea what these bottles were for - I'm assuming they were wine jugs. Does anybody know?)



And just for fun, I added a picture of a lamp in Li'l Man's room that is made out of one of those bottles. I found this one at a flea market in Alex City for about $12! Score!



Oh - I almost forgot - I'm opening a booth at Angel's Antiques. It opens Sunday, March 1st!

Weekend FUN!

I am just "in my element" when I'm surrounded by family, old friends, yard sales, and thrift stores!

This past weekend M and I had dinner with my BFF from college and her husband at one of my all-time favorite restaurants. We dropped our children off at my parents on the way into town and met up with Jeff and Ann a little after 7. Ann and I were trying to remember if we had seen each other this past summer and finally decided that it had been the previous summer since we had last seen each other!! Yikes! We can't wait that long next time!

Have you ever had a friend that you just wanted to share with everyone so that everyone else would feel as blessed as you do?? to everyone you know?? Well that's my Ann! She's so sweet, so fun, such a great friend, wife, and mom, and I'm so proud that she's my BFF! We met about 18 years ago when we were both waiting tables in Tuscaloosa at Storyville. I guess you could say we bonded over salads, chicken fingers, fried cheese, and Chocolate Mess! We spent too many nights playing pool and shooting darts at Jackie's (does anybody out there remember Jackie's Lounge in Tuscaloosa??). She knows more "dirt" on me ...and she still wants to be my friend!

We have been through graduations, boyfriend break-ups (then getting back together and breaking up again), weddings, pregnancies, and babies! I am so thankful for such a rich, meaningful friendship!

I'll post more about the rest of the weekend later. Can't wait to share with you about my nephew's B'day party and the cutest party favors ever (see pics above)! And my really awesome yard sale and thrift store finds! But right now I'm thanking God for good friends, old and new!

On Second Thought...

I felt guilty about my last post, so here's a picture of KitKat acting like the Princess that she is can be.

I was actually going to end this post here, but remembered a conversation from earlier today that I thought I'd share with you. She told me that I was the best mom ever, and I told her, "You're the best 5 year old!" She yelled at Sunshine earlier in the day, "I don't even like you!", so I took this opportunity to tell her, "KitKat, mommy just wants you to be sweet." She replied, "One day I was sweet all day. I don't even know how I got into all that sweetness. I'll have to think about it and try it again. Maybe Auburn was winning a lot." I hope Auburn has a winning season until she's 18!

Sunday afternoons in a college town can be a ton of fun...especially when there's an Auburn/Georgia basketball game! KitKat, AAA, and two of AAA's friends and I tried to be one of the first 1000 fans so that we could all get a pink Breast Cancer Awareness T-shirt. We weren't one of the first 1000, but we still all received a nice blue and orange sunglass holder which can be perfect for holding a ...........tiara (even though she obviously is not acting like a princess!)!