Inspiration Wall

Check out these two inspiration walls......I found them through Pinterest, of course.

One is a fabulous overlapping collage of color. The other is an exhibit of order and creativity. Which one do you like the best? I'm excited to see which one you might choose. I'll come back later & post my choice. While you're telling me YOUR choice......which one do you think 'I'D' choose? Just for fun. ;-)

Then & Now

I  finally managed to claim a tiny little square of work space on the dining room table the other day so I could create. This was my last DT assignment for CUC for a while. This is Jon's senior year of high school & I know we will be busy, so I didn't apply for another term right now.

The challenge was 'Then & Now'......you could choose to run with this in several different ways. Baby pics/Now pics....wedding pics/anniversary pics.....hair styles from high school/Now. You get the idea. I happened upon this adorable picture of Alli & Cori playing together back when they were about 3 & 4 years old....at Sarah's baby shower in 2001. I paired it with a picture of them just this past fall......13 & 14 years old. Ten years of sweet friendship between these two.

Thrifting

Ashley has been wanting to go antiquing in Amherst for a while now. Since she got out of school for the summer, actually. Anyways....it was always one thing or another & so today we finally decided to just go. Maw met up with us & we had a fun time browsing around Lou's Antique Mall.

 Didn't get to go into the cute little vintage dress shop she loves so much....they were closed today.

But we did score at Good Will! I spent a whopping $4.62. 

I found these awesome crocheted squares in the bin with the sheets & pillowcases, etc. I asked the girl how much they were & she said .25. I think I'm going to make a throw pillow/cushion with them.

Ashley....my Book Worm....found all these. The Anne of Green Gables book, Jacob Have I Loved & the Lemony Snicket books were all 'children's books' & so they only cost .35 each.  The PRIZE of the day was the English 102 text  that she will need this fall for school........somewhere around a $60 textbook......for $1! We were certainly doing 'The Dance of Joy'.

Life Stuff

Didn't wake up til 7:45am this morning. YIKES! That's late for me. Didn't sleep worth a hoot last night. I had a headache--from breathing the left-over fumes from where Clay set off flea bombs upstairs yesterday afternoon I would imagine. Piddled around enjoying the quiet this morning. The boys left EARLY to go play golf, so only Ashley & I were up. Chris was off & he & Alli were still snoozing. After lunch I 'played' with my new vacuum cleaner. Isn't it funny that when it's new, it's FUN & cool to mess with. Then somewhere along the way it becomes a chore. Anyway...I vacuumed all downstairs. Not sure if it does a good enough job on the hard floors. Kept feeling like it was spitting grit out the back on me. We shall see. The kids are in 'cleaning mode' too today! Vacuuming upstairs & cleaning off their shelves. They want to put all their 'little kid' books into Rubbermaid totes to save & make room  on the shelves for their more 'grown-up' books & stuff. Clay stopped at Family Dollar for me while he was out & got them some totes. Clay & Chris also went to the DMV & insurance place this afternoon. Chris is all legal now & ready to drive his new car to work tomorrow. I know he's excited about that! Oh yeah.....Rocky bit the cr@p out of my finger earlier today. I took him out to go potty while the boys were out golfing & he had a little hissy-fit when I tried to take his harness off. He does this EVERY time when I take him out...not sure what the deal is with ME taking the harness off....but this time he bit me! Little terd!!  I will NOT be taking him out to potty anytime here soon. He got his butt spanked & Ashley 'benched' him. That's our version of a Time Out. LOL! If you set him on a chair (or in this case, the piano bench) he won't get down....even though he can.

This evening after supper, I sat outside on the glider with my cup of coffee & worked on my latest hooky project. I have 3 blankets going at one time right now....yes, that's right....THREE! But how could I resist when Clay asked if I would make a baby blanket for his boss at work who is expecting his sixth child. I was very flattered that Clay wanted me to crochet them a blanket. And they just found out last week that they are having a girl. So how perfect was it when Maw gave me these two bags of vintage baby yarn in white & pink. I'm using Lucy's ripple pattern. This is my first time making a ripple blanket & it's going very well. A very simple pattern without much brain work once you get that first row done. It's so relaxing to sit out on the porch & crochet while the sun creeps behind the mountain. What a nice way to end my day.

X-Stitch

Just thought I'd share a fun close-up shot of a new project I'm working on. Can you believe that I pulled out the embroidery floss & hoop & started on a cross-stitch sampler?! I couldn't even tell you how long it's been since I last cross-stitched. But I came across this nifty little sampler on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest) & just knew it would be perfect for Ashley's dorm.

If you happen to enjoy cross-stitch, be sure & check out Plum Street Samplers.

Lots of pretties to see. ;-)

Father's Day & a New Car

Clay had a nice 'relaxin' day yesterday for Father's Day. He & the boys enjoyed watching golf all afternoon. Then Jon grilled us some London Broil for supper while I fixed baked potatoes & salad. Ashley had planned on baking Clay a cherry pie for his dessert, but forgot that we just recently used up our last quart of frozen cherries. So........we ended up with ice cream for dessert.....especially since Alli had been telling Clay ALL afternoon how much he 'NEEDED' ice cream for Father's Day. *insert rolling eyes here!*

Ashley drove us out to Food Lion to pick out some ice cream while Clay & the boys hit some golf balls out in the field. Who knew Food Lion could be so much fun on a Sunday evening?!

Clay, Jon & Michael left EARLY this morning to go play golf at Poplar Forest....continuing  the Father's Day celebration today. ;-) Then Chris went to meet them this afternoon once they were done playing. Clay's buddy at work had a friend who was selling his car & he wanted Chris to see it & drive it. It was a really good deal & a definite step up from the old one he's been driving. This is a 2004 Ford Taurus. His first VERY OWN car. He's pretty tickled! And I'm so thankful that he's learning the value of buying used. Like the Duggars teach their kids......'buy used & save the difference!'

And last but not least today. A little hooky goodness. A Nubby dishcloth that I finished off last night. This was a really quick & easy one to work up & I love the NUBBY texture! Great for dish washing.

The Big Apple

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog! We got home yesterday around supper time. We had a really good time!! Ashley was NOT ready to leave.....& can not wait to go back again. It was so much fun showing her around & watching her reaction to everything.

 We stayed at the Teaneck  Marriott at Glenpointe in Teaneck, NJ.

We stayed on the 8th floor & had an awesome view of the city.....although from this picture, you would never know. It was so overcast until the morning we left. We could see the Empire State Building right straight in front & the Freedom Towers down to the right of the photo.

Our  first night in the city, we took Ashley to eat supper at John's Pizzeria......where we ate back in March. It was kind dark inside for picture-taking, but we were sitting right here next to the big ole brick oven.

Ashley's first bite of NY pizza.

The Statue of Liberty made totally from Legos.....in the Toys R Us store.

Will & Kate Barbies

The huge ferris wheel inside Toys R Us.

After supper, we took the subway (Ashely's first subway ride) down to the Staten Island Ferry

Lady Liberty in the twilight;

NY city lights as we came back across.

Tuesday morning while Clay went to class, Ashley & I took the bus back over to the city & grabbed some bagels & coffee so she could have her picture taken in front of Tiffany's......for her 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' shot. I didn't get that picture with my camera......took it with her camera......she got TONS better pictures than I did. But anyway, we sat down at these cute little tables right outside of AFO Schwarz & ate our breakfast before the rain started. Then we headed INTO the stores.

Outside of AFO Schwarz....with the very same Toy Soldier guy that I had my picture taken with. How cool, is that?!

On the BIG piano

Looking down from the toy store windows onto the rainy NY streets. See all the people with umbrellas?

Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral

The ceiling inside the library.

Ashley in front of the 'nekkid' people in the library.

The wooden escalators in Macy's.

The McDs upstairs in Macy's.

In the Starbucks, upstairs in Macy's.....looking down on the floor below.

Showing Ashley the motel we stayed in last time we were there.

Times Square Church is an inter-denominational church located at 237 West 51st Street in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by Pastor David Wilkerson in 1987. 

Ashley in the Hershey store.

The M & M store.

Clay & Ashley in rainy Time Square.

Wednesday was still overcast, but at least it wasn't raining! Ashley was so excited to go check out Central Park.

The Plaza Hotel in the background.

Overlooking Bethesda Terrace. There was no water in the fountain when we were there in March.

Someone was feeding this turtle & we were lucky enough to snap a picture. Isn't he something?

Love this....my girly smelling the roses.

Such a cute little Pom.....made us think of our Rocky.

Ashley posing with Hans Christian Anderson.

Strolling down Fifth Avenue. Love the sidewalks!!

Lucy lives on this street!! 623 E.68th St.

Mickey D's sweet tea at the big Broadway McDonald's.

Love these statues at Port Authority. Ashley got a picture of Ralph Kramden standing out front.

New York was fun, but it sure was nice to get back home again!!

Nothing beats this view right here!!

And this is what I enjoyed this evening while I sat on my front porch......a little hooky time. Working on Alli's new afghan.