After the mania -- a winner . . .

A persnickety computer, a little bit of mania yesterday and cutting up each and every entry, we have a winner for my little giveaway!

So without further adieu . . . shaking up an old glass jar . . . drawing out a name . . .

Tami at A Girls Gotta Nest!  You, my new friend, are victorious in my giveaway of a plethora of bits and baubles!  You know the drill, email me your details!

A thousand thanks to those that entered, became new followers, gave me a shout out on their blogs or boosted my self-esteem along the way!  You put up with my ramblings, my lack of showing off my creations (cuz I'm in the never finish anything phase) and my manic episodes!  I blog because I want to meet you!  You are all fab-u-lous to me!  My wish is that you visit me often and we become comment buddies!

Hope your weekend is full of things that make you do the happy dance . . .

Hurry! Look! Come! . . .

Come enter my giveaway! 

You have a really good chance of winning cuz there aren't very many comments yet!

I need some encouragement and incentive to keep adding to it!

What would you like?   I'll see if I can find it!

I need visitors!  I need comments!

(Nothing like a needy blogger, huh?)

I'll pick a winner tomorrow!

I hope this is you, running to your computer . . .

I know you've seen her fabulosity & additional surprises . . .

I know you all have seen Lisa Leonard Designs and swooned.  Her name is synonymous with fabulous jewelry.  In fact, if you look up jewelry in the dictionary, Lisa's picture in right there!  Yup!  I'm serious!  At least in my dictionary of fabulous finds!  Handcrafted, unique and oh so meaningful!  This is what I did today - went to her shop and drooled! 

This necklace is called 'from up here' and is the one my heart goes pitter pat over each time I visit her shop.  I'm thinking that it might be 'buy Connie a special treat' day on Thursday!  Cuz she's been good.  Very, very good!

But then there is the 'fly free' necklace.  *sigh*  Love, love, love!

The 'tiny squares' necklace is one I WILL have.  Just as soon as grandbaby girl is here and has a name.

We all should have at least one of Lisa's designs!  One that says who we are or one that declares who we love!  Oh, and Lisa has the cutest blog too!  Smart, witty, cute, talented and creative.  Lisa is the epitome of fabulosity!

I scored at a local flea market.  I know . . . I never feel like I find the great items that you all seem to but this time I DID!  And all for less than the price of the lunch we had that day!

I'm thinking that a couple of these items will be included in my giveaway (see previous post to enter)!

It's late and there are no clean towels for showers in the morning so you know what I'll have to do next.

Go buy yourself something pretty . . .

A surprise for the J-Man and a giveaway for you . . .

We picked up the J-Man to go for a ride for a surprise.  At first he thought it was to pick up a piece of machinery - a grain wagon or an auger or a disk.  Then he changed his mind and thought the surprise was cotton candy.  Don't know where he came up with that!  But he said you can only get cotton candy at the county fair and it was raining so he was back to thinking the surprise was hauling back something big.  Now, this kid thinks of nothing but farming and the equipment it takes to plant, spray or harvest.  I was afraid he would be disappointed with his surprise if it WASN'T machinery!

But when we got there, equipment was the last thing on his mind!

  PUPPIES! 

They all wanted attention!  What is it with little boys and puppies?  Which one is more excited to jump and run and play in the mud?

But this one stopped him in his tracks and said "I want to be your best friend.  I'll love you, protect you and get you in loads of trouble.  But we'll have the best time!  Please take me home with you."

So we did.  This is the new member of the family!  No name yet.

We haven't had a dog on the place for 2 years and we all miss not having one around.  But it was our son's turn and his son's turn to take on the responsibility of a new pet.  Frankly, I knew I couldn't face the attachment to a new dog after our Ruby died.  But look at that face ~~ I know that she and I will be best buds too!

And YOUR surprise is a GIVEAWAY!  I would like to share my 'plethora' (see previous post).  I'll probably add some more 'stuff' to the giveaway later but for now, what you see is what you get!

Now, I really dislike jumping through hoops in order to enter a giveaway but I'm going to play along with the most common rules this time. 

1.  Leave me a comment on this post  ~~ 1 entry

2.  If you are a follower ~~ 1 more entry

3.  If you blog about it or give me a shout out on your sidebar ~~ 1 more entry  (I really hesitated about this one cuz this giveaway is not as great as others I come across but I'll try anything once!)

4.  And for those of you who got my hint from the last post and already left me a comment ~~ you get an additional entry!

To make all of this hoop jumping easier, you can do all of this in one comment.  I read (and re-read) each and every comment I get so I think I can figure out all of your entries! 

Let's see . . . I don't like giveaways that you have to wait forever for but want it long enough for ALL of you to have a chance so let's say the deadline to comment is in a week ~~ May 20th.  That way the winner can do the happy dance all week-end long!  AND I will announce the winner in a timely manner and email the lucky gal so you don't have to come back again and again to see if it was you!

I hope YOU are the one chosen and get as excited as a little boy with a new puppy . . .

Plethora of goodies . . .

Plethora (1. the state of being too full; overabundance; excess).  I love that word!  It means I got a BUNCH of loveliness for my very own collections of excess!

Sweet little girl dresses.  Love the detail.  Nothing like that anymore!

And who crochets dresser scarves anymore?  I would love to learn how!

Cutwork.  Beautiful!

Old pictures, postcards, momentos of a family.  I always feel a little sad when I see these types of things at sales.  Did no one remember who these people were?  Were there no memories associated with the pictures?

I, all by myself, cleaned out my parent's home and let go many items like this.  I feel bad now.  But I couldn't keep everything, even though I would have liked to.  I still kick myself over a few treasures I didn't bring home with me.  But memories are not in things, they are in the heart!

Wonderful watch faces!  Love how time has stopped to remind me of the old days of these pictures and telegram.

As a mother, I don't think I could have parted with this telegram.  I can just see Gilbert's parents reading it and crying with relief.  I'm assuming he was in the service, overseas, during the war.  What a good and loving son Gilbert must have been!

Off to handle my plethora (excess) of laundry, dusting, etc. . . .

PS ~~ I would encourage comments on this post.  You just might be glad you did!

I see my Mother's face . . .

. . . every time I look in a mirror.  I was never as beautiful as this face but I look just like her when she was the age I am now.

My mom is gone now and my heart broke the day she died.  I know that I am not the same person I was when she was still with me.  Oh how she would have loved the junk, the altered art, the flea markets, the blogs!  I think life would be very different for us both if she were here.

To all of the mothers, the grandmothers, the soon-to-be mothers and to those who have no children but are still mothers to friends and family, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I am going to celebrate tonight with my children and as I look at them, I will wish again that they are still little.  Those years just flew by too quickly.  Luckily, grandchildren are our reward for living through it!

Flea market day tomorrow . . .

Okay, you can look now . . .

I put in a new, improved picture of me.  You can look at this one!  I actually saw the other one on a comment I left and screamed in disgust! 

This picture is just too cute!  Sorry, I don't know where it came from.

Have a great day!

How do you like me now . . .

. . . now that I have an updated, professional looking blog?  Don't ya love it!  Thank you Karen!  I added a blogroll too, even if I don't have many on there yet.  Still doing some tweeking here and there but I'll be adding more, LOTS more!  Other new items include a direct email button, cute buttons for followers, etc and a special giveaway button where I will give shout-outs to all of you who are kind enough to have giveaways!

Oh, and I added a picture of ME!  But don't look at it, please don't look at it!  (Quit it!  I said don't look at it!)  I NEVER wear a hat, nope, can't do it.  I look like a dork!  And those glasses!  Hate those 'get dark in the sun and go right back to looking normal when out of the sun' lenses.  They DON'T go right back to looking normal when out of the sun, it takes a long time and you're stuck with even worse looking bags under the eyes!  But for those of us that are virtually blind without glasses, they are a necessity.  And this was the ONLY picture of me that I could find on my 'puter and the scanner doesn't seem to want to work tonight.  So, please don't look at this picture and wait until I can find a better one (there really will never be a better one - I am what I am!).

Of course, having a beautiful new blog means that I will for sure want to post more often.  Uh, sure I will! 

Anyway, gotta go look into a face transplant . . .