IT'S WORKING!

I LOVE fresh tomatoes from the garden....to me, there is nothing better. So we make sure to plant plenty of tomato plants in our garden each year because we eat them daily, and I love to can some to use during the year. For quite some time I have looked at kits to buy for hanging tomatoes and thought about trying these. This year my sweet husband decided he would make his own hanging tomato garden. I came home from work one day and he had taken some five gallon paint buckets and drilled the holes to plant the tomatoes. When I saw them I thought they were UGLY....ok.....it really didn't matter how they looked if it worked...but I'm a QUEEN of spray paint now (thanks to blogland) and stopped him from adding the soil and plants until I could "beautify" the buckets. (I hope my BIL in Florida notices that I DON'T spray everything black!) We started with the green and blue because we really didn't know if they would work. A few weeks later we added the red one because they were outgrowing the ones in our garden! I also planted some pepper in the planter sitting on the ground.

This is a close up.....see the tomatoes! I love not having to put a basket around plants, or tie them to keep them from falling over....these just hang. Think we'll do this again next year!

DANCING DOLLS

My husband and I took another trip to Louisiana so we could spend the weekend seeing two of our granddaughters' dance recital. I was a proud Gigi for sure. The picture above is three year old Maddie. Her group did a ballet to the song "Cinderella" and had daddy's (and everyone else) crying. It was such a beautiful production.

This is Breanna (she will be eight years old tomorrow) in her jazz outfit. Breanna did three numbers.....jazz, tap, and ballet. She did a fantastic job on all three. Both girls love to dance and pretty soon their baby sister will be joining them. I don't have pictures of Emma so I think she will have a post all her own coming later! It was a fun time with our son and his family....just don't get to see them as often as I would like. However, we will spend a week together at the beach in July....can't wait for this annual trip.

TRASH OR TREASURE??

" One man's trash is another man's treasure"....is a saying I have heard all my life. I have evidence to prove that it is true for me. See the picture at the top. This was out on the side of the road by the trash to be picked up while we were visiting our granddaughters last month. I was outside waiting with my granddaughter to catch the schoolbus and saw it....a perfectly good, rusted, flat tire...wheel barrow. I immediately went inside the house and asked my son if something was by the trash in his neighbor's yard could I have it. He knew that he better come and check so we called his neighbor and when I was given permission I loaded this jewel in the back of our vehicle and could see flowers growing in it (in my mind). I'll post pictures later of the flowers that I have planted in it.

This is my favorite treasure that I have found. It also has sentimental value which makes it priceless. My daddy died when I was five years old...in 1958....and he had a store prior to his death. A few months ago I saw this OLD grocery buggy behind a shed on family property. It hit me that this probably came from my daddy's store. I went and asked a relative about the buggy and was told that it did indeed come from my daddy's store. I LOVE THIS BUGGY. It is so small compared to the ones we have today...and no place for a child to sit....guess children didn't go with their mama to the store back then. I have plans for it also....and of course it will involve plants. I think my husband really thinks I've lost my mind. He didn't say a word but kinda looks at me when I told him what I'm planning to do. I can hardly wait to show you pictures when I finish the project.

GRADUATION FROM PRE-K

Yesterday was my grandson, Griffin's, Pre-K end of the year program. Parents and grandparents filled the room as the 18 children sung songs and a slide show of the events of the year was shown. The above picture is Griffin with his teacher and her aide as he is getting his award.

I made MANY pictures but knew I must post this one. During one of the songs there was an instrumental part and the children pretended to play the guitar.....Well, Griffin kinda "got down"! I love this! The year was great....such a wonderful program presented by the children.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

I LOVE antiques.....there's just something about having an item that is OLD. This picture is an antique. That's right....it is OLD....56 years old for sure. It's a picture of me when I was just a baby, and today I am 56. I'm an antique. WOW! Guess that makes me valuable. I don't have many scratches or broken parts (yet) so I'm in pretty good condition. Does that make me more valuable? Just kidding..... I remember when I was young thinking of someone who was in their 50's as "old"....but I really don't feel old. I'm feel blessed. God has been so good to me. I have a wonderful family and good health. I'm thankful to be able to say that I am 56 years OLD today.

A GIFT FROM THE HEART

I want to share a gift that I received on Mother's Day many years ago. It was from my daughter while she was in college (and had NO money). I have told her many times that it is my favorite gift that she has ever given me (which includes those she spent too much money for) and it breaks my heart that it is fading with age. I know that you can't see very well from the picture, but she took time to write each verse with a different colored pencil and she used a frame that she already had. I'm going to type the words so you can read them below. Also, this is to remind you moms who think that the "little" things you do aren't worth the effort.....maybe one day you will know that they made a difference.

THANK YOU....for all those notes you would hide in my lunchbox....for knowing that "Daddy's Girls" love their Moms, too...FOR PLAYING HI-HO-CHERRY-O WITH ME!...making me my own, special potato salad minus eggs, pickles, & onions...teaching me how to be a woman, while letting me stay your little girl....letting us have the HOMECOMING FLOAT at our house every year....always taking us to church....being a cool parent.....for coming to see me play softball - even though we never won....TUCKING ME IN EVERY NIGHT...for making sure that Santa left the presents unwrapped....for knowing when to say exactly what I needed to hear; and when to say nothing at all...not hanging up until you say "I LOVE YOU"....peeling tomatoes for me....and all the other wonderful things that make you who you are, and make me who I am.

M & M's ANYONE

I love M & M's....especially the peanut ones! Quite some time ago I saw a picture of turning a chicken feeder and mason jar into a place for peanuts or M & M's. It fit my old rustic decorating style perfectly, but I was never where I could find a chicken feeder. Several weeks ago, while in Louisiana, I went with my son to a "Feed & Seed" store to find something to use to place around his tomatoes and I spotted a box of brand new poultry feeders. I took one up to pay for it and the man asked if I planned to paint something on it. I told him what I was going to do and he said he knew it was something "crafty" because women bought them all the time but usually to paint. I love this idea....I didn't think of it...but I sure copied it!

REMEMBERING TWO MOTHERS

There is a very popular writing that has sold many copies entitled "Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten". If you have read it you may say that there is truth in it's words. I have to disagree to some extent and have my own idea. I would have to say that most 'Everything I Need To Know I Learned From These Two Mothers'. The first picture is one of my mother and my daughter and son (quite a few years ago). As I began looking for pictures I had a hard time finding a picture of my mother by herself. I see so much strength when I remember my mother. I was five years old when my daddy passed away and she raised me by herself. I never knew there was an option of whether we would go to church or stay home. If it was Sunday or even Wednesday night...you were at church. She gave me an offering to give each Sunday morning. I never heard my mother speak against anyone. She taught me to love unconditionally. Mother worked extremely hard. In fact, until she became too sick, she worked in a steel plant and did the job that men did so she could provide for us. She taught me to love God and my family more than any thing. My mother loved people and they loved her. My friends from high school would come home with me to see my mother. I lost my mother in 1996. There aren't many days that go by that I don't think about her. I am so thankful for what she taught me.The next mother I had who taught me was my mother-in-law. I loved her like my own mother. I learned so much from her and I knew that she loved me too. She had four boys and no girls but her sons gave her daughters when they married. She battled cancer for many years but continued to carry on her life. One day on a trip back from a chemo treatment she told me these words "My body tells me to go to bed but my head says if you go to bed you won't get up". She didn't go to bed....she continued to stay up and about until a week before she passed away. She didn't offer her opinion much, but when she did you knew that it was thought through and you better take it! We canned soup, made pickles, and made sweet potato pies together. She could teach a Sunday School class like no one else I've heard. She looked forward each year to the time all her children would be together for the holiday.

Life was hard for both of these ladies. They didn't have much in terms of money....but they were rich when it came to love and what they gave. When I read Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise and call her blessed, I can't help but know that this verse was written for both MY mothers.

A SPECIAL SURPRISE

I LOVE surprises.....especially when you are least expecting to receive something. This morning at work my sweet friend, Codie, walked in with this cute planter full of different herbs. I couldn't believe it because I had read her blog earlier and commented about how much I loved these. She had not read my comment yet and brought me one. This is a special weekend for this girl....she graduates from Alabama tomorrow.....ROLL TIDE!!! I am so proud of her. Thanks, Codie, for making my day so special.

IT CAN BE DONE!

Having a garden has always been a given at our house! I was raised on a farm....yes...a farm where as a little girl I remember going to the chicken house and gathering eggs, going to the barn to watch the cows being milked, and seeing how the food for the winter was frozen and canned in the summer. When I married, my husband I continued to plant a garden. I will say truthfully that he has never been as excited as I am when it comes to gardening.....but I am blessed to live next door to his brother who LOVES it as much as me. So we have a garden together. I've said all that to tell you this. My son (who lives in Louisiana in a CITY) called me several weeks ago and asked me how to plant peas and corn. I told him (but in my mind I was thinking..."Bless your heart. There is NO WAY you can have peas and corn in that beautiful neighborhood where you live." "Maybe some tomatoes in buckets......but NOTHING else." ) Mama was wrong!!! Last week on our quick trip to see everyone this is what I saw. The tomatoes and peppers were planted in buckets but look below.

These are his peas and corn! Most of the houses are VERY CLOSE, but on the right side of his house is an empty lot. He took a tiller and tilled the back side and made him a garden. He also has squash (that I don't have a picture of). Let's just pray no one decides to build a house before he gets some of these yummy fresh vegetables. I told him that he would definitely have enough for his neighbors. After seeing what a great job he did planting his garden, two thoughts came to my mind.....1. Where there's a will....there's a way. 2. You might take someone out of the country ...but you can't take the country out of them!

FINISHED AT LAST!

If you remember my post from awhile back, I showed you a shelf that my wonderful son-in-law made me. It has taken me some time to get it painted, hung, and things on it. I had several of you say I should paint it black, some said red, so this is what happened. First it was black. You know me....LOVE black but decided I had entirely too much of that color in the room. So I then painted it red. Next I put some walnut gel stain over the red and it really changed the entire color. The color is totally different than any I had imagined, but it's growing on me. The hardest part was deciding what to put on it once it was hung. I am sure I'll be changing it, but for now this is it. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

SUGAR & SPICE & EVERYTHING NICE!

We took a really quick trip to Louisiana this week to see these three precious granddaughters. It had been much too long since I was able to spend some time loving on them. I can tell you that it is worth driving six hours on Tuesday and returning Thursday morning to see these sweet faces. The pictures were made at their daddy's baseball game Tuesday afternoon. Emma (above) had her first "sour straw" and loved it! She also loved laying in the grass. I'll have to tell you that she is a Gigi's girl...yes, she wanted me (and I loved every minute of it!)

This is Maddie. She looks so much like her daddy and is full of life. Every time she saw me making a picture she would strike a pose where she stuck her arms out. We are going back the end of May for her first dance recital. She told me that she would be "on stage".
Breanna has her own "sour straw". She loves to dance and is a pretty good gymnist. She will be eight years old later this month. I love these girls so much.....can't wait to see them again.