The Excitement Is Building

 …The excitement and expectation of the arrival of Isabella Alaina. 

Our daughter Holly is 33 weeks along and doing so well, however the doctors do not expect her to go the full 40 weeks.  A week or so ago Holly and Richard were home (from Florida to Alabama) for a weekend filled with baby showers.  They received tons (really) of wonderful and thoughtful gifts, hugs, love and well wishes from lots of family and friends.  It could not have been any better.  Here are a few photos shots from one of the showers.

The door hanger I made which was hung on the door at the church

Thank~You favors

 

Daddy's Love Bug

Watermelon drinks in frou frou jars

with stripey paper straws

Richard and Holly with God's blessing

As you can see by the invitation insert above, we asked

that everyone attach a book instead of a card to their gift,

leaving a special note to Isabella inside.

She got lots and lots of books that we will enjoy reading to her.

 

This is the book I chose for her. It also reminded me

of Holly....when she was little, she loved to go!

I called her Holly-Go-Phillips!

On Monday we arranged a photo shoot for maternity shots of Richard and Holly.  They turned out so darn cute… thanks to the magic of Framed and Frazzled Photography.

She also took the shots at the baby shower too!!

~One of my faves~

~Too Sweet~

~~LOVE~~ 

After a FULL long weekend, Richard, Holly, Isabella and fur baby Willow returned home to Jacksonville and low and behold they got caught in the flooding from Tropical Storm Debby.  A portion of I10 was closed with water over the interstate so they had to detour which led them to an accident on I75…an 18 wheeler had overturned stalling traffic to a dead stop for miles.  Now use your imagination here with me and picture a 32 week pregnant woman sitting in stalled traffic in the pouring rain with a dog who has a small bladder.  Yep you guessed it…..they got out on the side of the highway in the rain….Hey nature calleth!  They finally made it home through more flooded back roads etc. which turned their 4.5 hour trip home into an 8 hour long tiring ride.  But God is good….He got them safely home….Amen.

Jackie and I have just returned from the 4^th of July long weekend visit, where we finished out Isabella’s nursery.  Well almost finished that is…they still lack the floor covering. They just purchased this house and the carpet was so bad it had to be ripped up....leaving a cement floor for now. 

There was a lot of painting, hot gluing, burned fingers,

and creating before it all came together. 

Happi Tree designs and the door hanger that I made.

This is the chest of drawers that we used for Holly when she was born.

Of course I had to strip it down to the wood and repaint it.

These are Holly's bonnets and baby shoes and

Richard's cap and his baby shoes.

This is a birdie mobile that I made.  They are made

from wood and match the birds in the Happi Tree design.

They hang in front of an antique framed mirror.

God is so good to us!

The frou frou corner.  Holly and I made the feathered lamp

and the feather and tulle covered table.

The rocker came from a dumpster in LA.  Holly found it one day and

it was in perfect condition....Jackie and I stripped it down and painted it.

See the before photos here in another post.

The changing table is an antique buffet which I painted, added

some scroll work and replaced the knobs with pink glass ones.

 From white feathers and tulle froufrou …all the way to hanging a mirror in an antique frame, everything turned out beautiful.  Holly wanted me to paint the brown baby bed….but I refused to paint another thing!!  It would have looked better maybe, but I think it looks very nice with the brown tree trunk and birdie limb hanging from the ceiling.  Next up in the near future is the flooring.
We cannot wait until the arrival of Isabella.....the excitment builds everyday along with a little anxiousness, but our faith and trust in the Lord far outweighs both! 

  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh

 down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,

neither shadow of turning.  ~James 1:17.



In A Pickle

Sticky sweet and spicy pickles…Oh so yummy good.  We had so many cucumbers from our garden that I just had to make these.  It only takes 10 days to make them but it is oh so worth it!!  No cooking involved.

Nope…not at all….easy peasy!

Homemade Sweet Pickles

Here's the tried and true recipe that I use each year

Try it if you like:

Homemade Sweet Pickles

This is a no cook 10 day recipe~

Approx. 5 gallons of cucumbers, sliced

1 cup salt

3 oz. alum

1 gallon of apple cider vinegar

5 lbs sugar

Pickling spices

On your kitchen counter in a very large bowl soak the cucumbers for 3 days in the salt. Jot down the time of day and do each step at the same time each day. On the 3^rd full day rinse off the cucumbers in water three times.

Add 3 oz. alum and cover with water completely and stir. Soak for 2 days. On the 2^nd full day rinse off with water 2 times.

Add 1 gallon of apple cider vinegar and soak for 2 days.  On the 2^nd full day rinse off with water 2 times.

Add 5 lbs. sugar and pickling spices which have been bundled up in cheese cloth. Do NOT add water!  Soak for 3 days, stir each day.  Put into jars on the 3rd full day, with the spices and keep refrigerated.  This makes enough pickles that you will be willing to share with others!

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I finished the cover for my new grandbaby’s high chair over the weekend….it turned out so so cute!!  I have to share “flat” photos with you as the high chair is in Jacksonville at Holly’s house. 

Here it is with its cute polka dotted ruffle! Love it.

I will share a photo later with it set up in her kitchen which is decorated in these colors! Speaking of colors...the color in the photos is awful.  The colors are a true red, aqua and white!  Really pretty!

This was definitely a challenge for me…I had a pattern; the old cover which I took apart and used to cut by…but I had no instructions!  Ha…I had to think and think hard about how this went together…but it all turned out great…I did not have to rip any seams!! I didn't get into a pickle with this project...Yay! 
On  another note...I will not have to make the bedding for the antique cradle as I found what I needed already made.  A flat changing table pad fits perfect for the mattress which I will add one layer of something underneath for a little more cushion.  The bumper pad I found in the minky dot fabric…it is about 18” too long so I will have to make that adjustment.  I also found sheets that fit and all of this is in the ecru color for that antique heirloom look.  It is so pretty!!

My hubby, Jackie, the proud “Pa” to be, has been busy working on redoing a rocking chair for Holly to rock the baby in. 

It is solid and I do mean solid, so heavy that I cannot pick it up. 

The "before" photo looks really bad....he has been taking the varnish off by doing some sanding so that we can paint it white.  I will then have the pleasure of making a cushion to match.  The "after" photo will come later! 

Things are coming together in our  "grand baby plans", with still lots to do before December.  We also will find out this week if it’s going to be pink or blue; girl or boy!! 

I am so excited that I am about to bust!  This will lead to the painting of the baby’s room which I will go and do sometime later in the month.  Holly has been busy trying to pick out the crib bedding that she likes.  Richard said she has a new one picked for him to see every day!  She is really believing that they will be having a girl, not that it matters at all, but just has that feeling…you know..fast heart rate...etc!  I guess we will see this week!  Either way they are ready and are so happy!  I am so ready and so happy too!

Here is a picture of the cute apron my niece got me for my birthday! 

I love it!!  Thank you Cassidy!

Oh and by the way...don’t overlook my give away in my previous post.  After you comment here, come back and click here and follow the instructions to enter before the 19^th of August!  Good luck and I hope you enjoy the pickles!

The Re-do Has Been Done

A while back, Jackie and I went to an estate auction. It was a farm estate belonging to a single never-been-married gentleman. He had lots of old stuff!! So naturally when he passed on, his brothers and sisters were the inheritors of his estate, so they put it up for sale to the highest bidder. There were several things I jotted down the lot numbers to bid on but the one I wanted the most was # 173!

An old primitive hand made pie safe. Yep it was the one thing that really caught my eye…but it also caught the eyes of others there too. Oh yes it did. I found myself in a bidding war. But in the end I was the high bidder, thanks to the older man who saw that I really wanted this piece. The blue color screamed at me. This is the way it looked, very much unloved. During its last years it must have spent its time outside in the barn…

I wanted to keep the blue color but to my dismay it was very dry and was flaking off so bad that we had to remove it, hoping it did not have any lead in it. We also had to remove all of the old screen from the door and the side air holes. After removing the paint completely I found a close match to the color…Kilz "Erie Canal".

I brushed a very light coat on, let it cure, and then took my "mouse" sander to distress it up a little. I finished it with a hand rubbed walnut paste wax by Howard.

I did not replace the screens as I wanted to stack old quilts on the shelves and I can see them better without the screen. I like how it turned out. Someone else likes it too.

Marina has found a nice soft spot to hide as she naps the afternoon away.

Yep I’m cat sitting at my house while Holly and Richard are in Arkansas for vacation with his parents at Greer’s Ferry Lake. Fun in the sun, boating, swimming, fishing…all those fun things you do went you rent a townhouse on the lake for a week.

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On another note: a BIG thank you goes to Lindsay at Southern Cinderella for a sweet award she presented to me today~ A Simply Southern Blog Award. Pretty fitting huh?

In reception of this award I have to answer this question:

"In your opinion, what makes a person a true southerner?"

Here is my answer...

Well of course you have to be born in the south or at the very least been raised most of your life here. You have to eat grits, turnips, collards, fried chicken, fried squash, and of course fried green tomatoes. You must drink sweet tea with lemons and have that sweet southern drawl in your words which include Y’all and Ain't . But most important is your generosity and kindness…neighbors helping neighbors… from cooking food to share with a family who has lost a love one to the giving of your time and money to others. Southern is slow and easy with warm smiles, helping hands and loving hearts. It’s called southern hospitality! Now I reckon that pretty much explains what a true southern is. Now I got to get off this do-hicky and get busy cleaning so I can fix some supper!  **Now I know you are smilin’ like a goat in a briar patch?

Thank you Lindsay…my sweet Southern friend. Now I’m passing this on to some of my southern friends…

1* Sandi at Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

2* Char at ramblins

3* Sandra at Sandra Lundy Photography

All of these lovely ladies are from the good old southern state of Alabama!

From a true southern with a warm heart and lots of love… Have a great day my friends!