Adding a few spring touches

Good evening everyone. It seems as though it has been forever since I have last visited with all of you.
I have been busy but enjoying my time at home very much. I am so thankful every day to be home. No one would ever understand how miserable I was so being home is such a blessing.
We have yet another busy week ahead of us this week. Darbee lost the filling out of her tooth last night, so a dentist appointment is scheduled for Wednesday. We are also scheduled to go and visit a private pre-k near our home on Thursday. I am very excited and praying we like what we see. I have heard nothing but good about this school and hope things work out as I know God will see fit.
I am still working on my house. It is still a major work in progress. I almost have the living room and kitchen done. I am waiting for hubby to get out my spring decorations from the attic so I can add those around and I will post some pictures.
I did a little tweaking in the kitchen today. I have this old enamel top table in the middle of my kitchen floor. Hubby and I found this at an estate sale several years ago. I found the red chairs to go with it at Ikea.



This is the only room of my house that really isn't prim. My walls are bright red and my floor is black and white checked. I love the colors and add prim touches where I can. I have thought about painting it, but can't convince myself to. It's so bright and cheery. I added this old wooden box that my daddy made to the middle of the table today. It is filled with burlap and rag balls. I added the glass candle holder I found at a local thrift store and a few pieces of greenery. A nice spring touch. It looks nice and cozy when the lights are off in there.
That's about it for today. I spent most of my afternoon pricing clothes for a local consignment sale that I consign at. Whew! That was a job. I just love consignment sales. I hit them all around our area. They are so much fun!
I hope all of you have had a great day.
Until next time......



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A getaway with the girls

Good evening ladies.  I hope this evening finds you happy and warm.  It has got suprisingly cool here in GA tonight.  I know many of you have snow or are expecting snow, but none of that here.  Only wishful thinking. 

As all of you have read, I am no longer working.  It has been a VERY stressful last two months.  Now that it is over, I needed a getaway.  Who did I call?  Nana of course!  Hubby had to work, so last Wednesday, my mom, Darbee Rae and I hit the road for a girls getaway to Pigeon Forge.  We enjoy our trips together and were all excited to get away.  We had lots of plans to shop, eat, and enjoy our time away.  Darbee Rae had her own plans of arcades, rides and finding a new baby doll.  :)

On our first night there, we enjoyed a delicious supper.

Can you tell that Darbee Rae enjoyed her spaghetti?  Ha!.....

and took Darbee Rae to an arcade.  She deserved it after riding quite a while to get there.

She had so much fun. 

She played and played and got quite a few tickets. 

We headed back to the room early. Darbee Rae loves being in a hotel and playing in the room.

We hit the road bright and early on Thursday.  We had major shopping to do!  Ha!

We visited several primitive stores in the area, the pattern store, and several of the outlets.

We made a pit stop at The Apple Barn and enjoyed a delicious snack of cinnamon apple donuts, apple pies and fresh cider. 

Darbee Rae LOVED the cider.  It was so good.

Darbee loves to shop too.  She is such a trooper.  She likes looking in the "prinitive" stores and helping mommy and Nana find our special treasures.  She never complained not once. 

So...what did she get as a reward that evening?

Yup...another visit to a different arcade.  And boy are we glad we did!  We found a Price is Right Plinko game that was so much fun.  Nana and I played it forever!  We had so much fun.  They paid tickets out the wazoo!!  Nana even hit a 1,000 ticket jackpot!

I promise, we spent less than 25.00 and look at the result.

Yes...we actually WON that many tickets!

Can you see how surprised and excited Darbee Rae was?  Ha!

She was so tickled to get to pick a neat prize.

We ended up with close to 4,000 tickets!  She got a really cool light up princess wand and a super neat limbo machine.  She got a lot of little prizes also.  A fun night indeed.  Lots of wonderful memories.

Everything up there closed pretty early since it was the off season, so we were done shopping kinda early.  What did we do?  We hit Walmart of course!  We shopped around Walmart and picked out some snacks for the hotel room.  You can't have a girls party without snacks right?  Hehe...

Darbee Rae picked out cupcakes but guess what we forgot?  Yup...forks.  Oops!

What does a determined girl do?

Yup..you pick the icing off with a straw!  Ha!

When all you eat is the icing, that's all you need. 

She is so much like Nana and I.  Nana had her bag of crafts that she worked on in the car on the way.  Darbee Rae wanted her own crafts.  She has been asking me for quite some time to find a craft she can do.  She is a bit little for any of the kid needlepoint kits or the potholder weaving kits.  I have no clue!  Do any of you ladies have any ideas for a four year old?  We made do the best we could. While in Walmart, she also picked out some "crafts"  that she could do. 

She picked out several packs of beads and stretchy craft lace. 

She had to pick out her own pouch to hold all of her supplies too. 

What a cutie.  She made Nana a beautiful necklace.

On Friday, we shopped around for the earlier part of the day then headed over to Clinton, TN.  Most of you know Betty from Thru My Back Door.  She is a precious lady.  We met her and shopped at The Speckled Hen.  What a wonderful store. 

There was a first for me on this trip.

Yes...I had my first encounter with a parking meter.  I wasn't sure how to work it!  Ha!

It was the neatest little town with lots of primitive and antique stores.  I can't wait to go back. 

We also met Betty's daughter Deb.  What a sweet family.  I am so happy to get to know both of them.  We went out to supper at a local restaurant that served delicious home cooking, The Golden Girls.  We enjoyed a fun evening of fellowship and laughter.  It seemed as though we had been friends forever.  If you haven't ever stopped by Betty's blog, check it out.  You won't be disappointed. 

We enjoyed our last night in the hotel room by being entertained by Darbee Rae.

She found the Gideon bible and pretended to be a singer at church.  

How sweet. 

To say we had fun is a major understatement.

I love both of "my girls" dearly.  We made wonderful memories, laughed, talked, shopped, played and were just together. It was good.  It was what I needed.

We packed up Saturday morning and headed out...take a look at our car.

Ha!  Can you find Darbee Rae in there?  Hehe...you can see the back of her head if you look close.

Do you think we had fun?

Oh yea...it was wonderful.

Until next time......

Fun Family Night Out

Darbee Rae has been a very excited little girl for the past few days.  The circus was coming to town and she was so happy to get to go!  Every year, a circus comes to our town for one night.  It is always a great show!  Darbee had been looking forward to it for several days.

Hubby took 1/2 of the day off so he could go with us. 

She picked out a unicorn as a small souvenier.

I loved watching her face.  She was a little scared when the lions and tigers came in.

We were so close!  We were literally only about 15 feet from them! Yikes!

She sat in awe at the girls on the high ropes.

And laughed at the silly clowns.

Here's a pic. of me and my sweet girl. 

I love her so much!

Here she is with her cotton candy in hand.  Yum!

She and hubby enjoying their cotton candy.

Do you think it was good? Ha!

They had face painting which she decided she wanted.  After seeing the other kids with theirs done, I couldn't say no.  They were beautiful!

She reminded me of a little porcelain doll!  They were so good!

We really enjoyed the animals.

There were camels and elephants and puppies. 

We finished off the evening by meeting aunt Maudie and her family for supper and exchanging small Valentine's gifts.  We always enjoy getting together with them.

Tomorrow, we are headed out for a girls getaway to Pigeon Forge.  I am so excited.  I am happy to get away for a few days.  I think I deserve it right?  Ha! 

Hope you all have had a great Valentine's day. 

Until next time.....

Would you like to join me for a sweet treat? Tutorial included...

Hello Everyone!  I am so happy to be able to post in the middle of the day!  I have enjoyed my first day at home so much.  I have done some cleaning and a little playing.  Darbee Rae has enjoyed staying in her jammies and watching cartoons all morning.  She has played with her toys and helped me with some cleaning.  She also "fixed" her hair.  I must tell you I nearly had a heart attack when she said,"Mommy can you help me."  I turned to see this. 

Yikes!  I can't begin to describe how tight that comb was wrapped in her hair.  Yes...she did a good one.  I nearly panicked.  All I could vision was having to have all of her long hair cut off.  I sat her down and carefully tried to untangle, unwrap, pull, etc. her hair out of the comb.  It took quite a while and left many knots in her hair, but I did get it!  Hooray!!  She has been ordered not to brush or "fix" her own hair again.  What a scare! 

I did get a little crafting done for Valentine's day.  Thanks to Pinterest, Darbee Rae and I made a super cute little surprise for her Sunday School teacher, Nana and aunt Maudie who we are meeting for supper tonight. 

Would you like to join us for a sweet treat?

Nah...you can't eat this one, but it is sure cute!

Here's how you can make your own:

You will need:

*A box of bath salts

*An ice cream glass or any glass you choose (I found mine on clearance at Hobby Lobby)

*A poofy bath sponge (the poofier they are, the better they look)

*Straw

*Spoon

*Clear baggie for the bath salts

First, pour desired amount of bath salts into clear bag and tie. 

Place upside down in the bottom of your glass so that the tie does not show. 

Insert bath sponge into glass leaving some to "poof" over the top. 

Insert straw into one side of glass.

Then, insert spoon on opposite side of straw. 

You're all done!  You can add a decorative tag if you wish. 

Here's our kitchen table all set with our "sweet treats" for Valentine's day.  Can't wait to give them to their recipients.  What a fun little gift!

We have a busy afternoon planned including a circus that's performing here in our town and then meeting Aunt Maudie and her family for supper.  How fun! 

Enjoy your afternoon! 

Until next time.......

Letting go of the past and starting a new journey......

Good evening everyone.  I have missed ya'll.  Let me apologize now for my absence in blog land.  I feel as though I began this new blog and then left it!  That was not my intention, but life for me has been a bit crazy over the last month.  I have asked for prayer several times for my job situation and want to say thanks for all of your sweet comments and prayers.  Without prayer and all of my family and friends support, I would not have made it thru the last few weeks.  It has been so rough.
Let me give you a little background info to catch you up.  I went to work at a daycare here in our town nearly 6 years ago as a pre-k teacher.  It was my first teaching job and I LOVED it.  I fell in love with the little ones and put my whole heart into my teaching and into my classroom.  When Darbee Rae was born, I took a year off and stayed home with her.  When she was 9 months, I went back to work and went back there.  I was comfortable there and was able to work with the same T.A.  I worked two more years.  Near the end of that second year back an incident occured with Darbee Rae and her teacher.  Another teacher saw her grab Darbee by the shoulders and shake her while yelling at her to stop crying.  Can you imagine the hurt, guilt, rage, sadness, anger, helplessness that I felt?  My precious little one who was barely able to talk to me had this happen to her?  The teacher was fired and Darbee was moved to another room, but that wasn't enough.  I quit and stayed home another year.  I wasn't sure I would ever go back.  After thinking and praying long and hard about it, I decided to go back this year.  I knew the teacher for the 3/4 year old room and had heard so much good things about her.  They were all proven true.  Darbee Rae was very happy to go to school each day and has learned sooooo much.  We have had a great year.  She is so prepared to go into pre-k next year. 
Fast forward to a month ago.  My director called a meeting with the pre-k teachers and informed us that our center was being sold.  Things went downhill from there.  The environment there has been terrible.  The new owner wasn't greeted too nicely by my director making it very hard on everyone.  Darbee's teacher was accused by the new owners of stealing (when she was only packing up her own stuff). She quit last week leaving Darbee's class with a brand new teacher.  What did I do?  I panicked.  I cannot put her through the transition of a new teacher this late in the year and I am not willing to put myself as well as my hubby thru it again either.  The worry and wonder is not worth it.  The safety of my child is not worth it.  It has been such a mess. 
Fast forward again to this week.  I found out my director has been filling us full of lies for quite some time. She has nearly ruined our center.  It has gotten nasty to say the least.  News stations have been calling wanting to cover the story and everything.  My nerves have been shot.  I have not had the heart to do anything.  I knew something had to give. 
Hubby and I talked and prayed for the right decision to be made.  In the meantime, I was bringing Darbee to school with me and keeping her in my class.  I couldn't take her to the daycare.  I just couldn't do it.  We decided it was best if I got out.  I met with the new owner and explained my choice and worked a notice.  Friday was my last day and I couldn't be happier.  I am so relieved to be out of the stress. 
I am worried what might happen.  I am sure things will get much worse before they get better.  I just know I am happy to be out.
So...what to do now?  I plan on enjoying my time with my precious little one.  The clock is ticking away before she starts school.  It's hard to believe.  We will register her for pre-k next month.  I am going to enjoy these precious months before she too begins a new chapter of her life.  Mama, Darbee Rae and I are planning a girls trip to get away.  To celebrate.  To relax.  To shop.  I think I deserve it huh?  I am going to learn to do punchneedle.  I can't wait! 
Sorry this post is so long and hope I haven't bored you.  I promise to be more attentive to my blog and to get to know more of you!  I can't wait! 
Thanks to all of you for being patient and for your kind words.  I leave you with a few pics. of Darbee Rae during the few days she spent in my classroom.