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!