There was only one way to say goodbye to November....

I had to hit the ground running with an extra jingle in my step to match my festive mood....

no time to waste....

at the moment it looks like the antibiotics are working like a charm...

my son is back to zooming, zigzagging around the house...

sleeping through the night.... hallelujah!!

My daughters are on the mend... yippee

healthy kiddos make me one happy mom...

life is back on track...

and what a better way to celebrate....

by hearing the door bell ring with special delivery of my fresh boxwood wreaths!!!

As I sit here this morning looking out my window at my yard I'm see memories of the seasons past reflecting back at me.

The year began with snow days...
which rolled into spring days...
bulbs began to bloom,
leaves filled the trees,
followed by the joys of carefree summer days...
fall approached...
leaves began to show there vibrant colors of the season...
and slowly began to cover the lawn...
the sounds of door bells ringing with the sight of children in Halloween costumes standing in the doorway with smiles of joy across their faces....
as more leaves fell the faster the time has gone...
which now brings us to Thanksgiving....
I sit here with a heart so thankful for the life I've been given.
The blessing of love from my husband
and the gift of our 4 blessed children.
I was awake in the wee morning hours holding my son...
he slept in my arms as I've been watching the rain fall...
I listened to the rain mixed with his labored breathing...
{he's been hit smack dab with a terrible cold... off to the doctors we are headed}
This morning I'm a worried mom.... I've got 2 chickadees with colds, 1 chick who took a very hard fall... prep for tomorrow has not even begun...
but I'm tossing the worry of cooking in the air...
hubby and i already looked at each other and had the same thought.... we are stocked full of cereal and milk!!
You see...
we will be together, the 6 of us....
what more could I ask for!!!

So here I sit overwhelmed with thoughts of family and the season of thankfulness...
Tomorrow as our family members, friends gather at their Thanksgiving tables from coast to coast... our thoughts will be with all of you...
hugs and kisses will be blown into the air sent with love from us...
we are so thankful for your love and support.

And to all who take the time to read my blog, who've blessed me....
your friendship has brightened my world... has given me the courage to fly higher... inspired my life.... encouraged me to dream bigger!!!

Dear Monday,
It's not like I'm not happy to see you. Really it's not! I just need you to be a little gentle, nothing to over the top...
it was a jam packed kinda weekend... you know the kind when there was not a moment of down time...

it's just one thing after another. Not to mention a virus has hit one of my daughters, hubby has been on travel, there is talk about a certain Holiday on Thursday { I double checked the calendar and it is in fact true}
I'm just a wee bit tired from lack of uninterrupted sleep
and to top it off I drove a total of 2 1/2 hours with 6 females {3 teenagers, 3 adults} to see New Moon!

Have you ever been in a car with that many gals.... everyone over the top excited...
I have to tell you a little secret,
I wasn't so excited to see the movie.

Don't get me wrong, great books, enjoyed the movie but the best part for me was seeing my daughter so excited...
she glowed...
this was our time away from the younger chickadees...
her and I with her close friends...
I was the cool mom to her this night for I drove late into the night to see this movie opening weekend...

She was dancing her giddy dance for the movie...
The way I get for.....
shopping!

I've been known to drive a lot further than that for junk!!
Tell me there is shopping involved, junk to be found with a latte at the end I'm in the car so fast with music on telling everyone to point me in the right direction!!!


But I drove, they sang.... a fun, memorable time was had by all....
my ears are still ringing!

So you see Monday, I'm just asking for a little bit of quiet to have my pumpkin muffin I couldn't enjoy until I shuffled everyone but 2 kiddos out the door this morning.

Then I promise I'll have a spring back in my step and only have positive thoughts that I'll have 4 healthy children by the end of this week...

and I promise to be excited about a 12lb turkey sitting in my fridge!

I'll wipe away all thoughts of sitting at a fancy table being served Thanksgiving dinner at some far away setting where someone else does the cooking and the cleaning.....
really if you are just a little gentle with me the next few days....
I'll have my vintage apron on so fast buzzing around the kitchen like Martha Stewart!!!

Okay, that had me even laughing cause I'm way to eclectic for Martha's style and taste...
but you get the idea, right!!!
See I just knew we would come to a perfect arraignment, I feel better already!

By the way.... somehow, someway I squeezed in a little bit of vintaging this weekend...
and I did in fact have something to sing...

Help yourself to a chocolate chip muffin puck

{my chickadees love the tops of muffins, so thats how I make my muffins, therefore we call muffins pucks.... I tell you this in case you were worried that I'd lost it for a moment... which I may have!!! giggles}

Anyhow, this is how I love to live... mixing my love of different styles,


here are some of my favorite things all together



more texture the better for me...



These are some of my latest "rustic finds" mixed with items I've already had....




Here we go...



I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was finding two wooden tool boxes!!



Okay let me collect myself... or stuff a puck in my mouth...



I know some may think why would I be so excited over tool boxes...



let me set the scene of how they can and will be used.



Down the middle of my dinning room table filled with goodies.. for Thanksgiving throw in handfuls of gourds, mini pumpkins, pansies and walla you have a easy peasy centerpiece.



Or for a fun breakfast buffet fill it with bowls of fresh granola, muffins pucks, bagels.... and have all your guests help themselves to a buffet breakfast...


if I can get my hands on some Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs I would fill it with different size vintage teacups and plant Paperwhites bulbs in the teacups...


can you just picture the beautiful box filled delicate white flowers and place it on a kitchen island!!! i can go on an on with more ideas but I know everyone is busy with turkey day fast approaching so I'll move right along...






Cigar boxes, I know I can't help it I think they are rather cool, roll your eyes but I do!


One will be used on my husband desk... for his collection of business cards that never find there way into the business card holder he has... you know all that stuff that comes out of the pockets that if I throw away he will sure to ask where was that receipt for such and such i put on my desk... yes i have been guilty of tossing receipts when I clean... oh so sorry!!! Here is one of his Christmas gifts... shh don't tell!!


I love collecting stationary, note cards... perfect spot to store all my favorite paper goods... and when I received notes from friends or family.


By the way, if the wooden box is not your taste hit it with some spray paint or decoupage with your favorite paper... music sheets would look so cute! Yikes, I'm getting giddy over all the ways they can be used!!

With winter fast approaching I pulled in my rustic plant stand that's spent the good part of the year outside and decided to use inside for the cold months...


just cause!!! and sure enough it holds my galvanized mini buckets... to hold all sort of goodies, plus I love the chippy rusty white!!! Not to mention I love the scale when I placed it on the table... wait till hubby gets home from is trip! I'm sure he'll ask why a plant stand is on the table {and I might add he never knew why I liked this chip rusty stand in the first place... so wait till he sees I brought it in}


I've always told him I'm full of surprises!!!


Here is another idea I came up with while junking...

I was digging around in a box of old kitchen utensils and found these black measuring spoons! Sweet!!!

You see there is a certain child of mine that has thrown away half of my spoons... he {oops I think you now know for i only have one "he" child}

anyway he loves yogurt and when he tosses the empty yogurt container he was throwing away the spoon with it!

I didn't know this until I kept coming up short when setting the table and finally caught him in on the act. he thought he was being helpful!!

Yep, that's all it took to melt my heart and say it's okay!

Plus it gave me a reason to get so excited over these teaspoons.


You see when company flocks over during the holidays, I will use these measuring spoons for them to stir their coffee or tea!!

I know they'll think I gave them these spoons by accident and wont say anything.

They'll just think I'm so busy I must not have realized my error, but you and I will know I did it on purpose... more giggles!!! For this just makes me so happy!!!



Now to round out my table I had to add the Homer Laughlin teapot I found when I came across the tool boxes and cigar boxes...

because a holiday table is not complete without a teapot!!

And for you non tea drinkers toss a bouquet of your favorite flowers in the pot and just dig in to the muffin pucks!!

By the way feel free to ask me for more ideas...

I haven't even had my second cup of caffeine yet and I've only had one puck....

I'm sure I'll have plenty more ideas once the sugar and caffeine collide!!!

As promised, I finally focused long enough to snapped a few pictures of my recent junking outing!

I am so glad I did because now I'm all bubbly with excitement!

My ideas are flowing in harmony rather than in a scattered mess...

geesh my brain was stuck in spin cycle for much to long...

but not to worry all, I am back on track with vigor and ready to spill!

To some it may seem funny but for me everything I find junking to place in my home and am now beginning to selling at LuLu & Co. has to have a meaning for me.

When I pick something up my mind immediately thinks of the perfect scenario for the piece...

it's been one of those weeks when my mind doesn't turn off...
I have so many ideas, thoughts, projects, holiday stuff pinging around like a ping pong ball going on in my head..
back and forth.... back and forth...
usually when this occurs I become frustrated and annoyed with myself.
I typically want the "noise" inside my head to hurry up and settle down so I can focus on one task...

this week not so much....
I didn't feel the need to calm the noise so I could hurry up and get on task...
like the rain we have been having for 3 days straight I didn't wish it away,
I accepted the "noise"
I accepted the thoughts
I embraced the rain, lit the candles, played the music that suited the rainy weather.
I've come to realize somethings are best not forced
just let the ideas settle themselves down
and when the calmness comes, as it always does
I'll know what task or project to tackle
it'll feel right, not rushed...
I don't feel the need to hurry my thoughts along because if I hurry my way through the things I love to do
I will miss the opportunity to enjoy the moment.


On Wednesday my husband had the day off, but our daughters had school, we looked at each other with our own lists a mile long and tossed them aside for a day to just be...
We dropped them off at school..
bundled our little guy up and headed for the city for a rainy day of junking!!!
Oh my word, we haven't done that in, it feels like, along time.
Our time in the city was limited, but it didn't matter...
we took what we could get and enjoyed our time together with our son.

So here I am with my mind still a flutter but so content in finding beauty in just being...

It's Friday after all... sweet beauty all around for that alone!!! Hello weekend ....

P.S. in case you were wondering if I found anything in my outing the answer is a big old Y E S!!

I have to unload my memory card on my camera and then I promise to snap some pictures...

color swatches of paint chips are already fanning themselves around in my head.... pure delight!!

{images from Country Living Magazine}

Happy Friday everyone...

My heart is overflowing...

with words of thank you to everyone!

Wise and kind heartfelt thoughts shared....

I felt so blessed.

Through the tears of sadness I celebrated...

the goodness in everyone's heart.

Today, I am energized... ideas are overflowing... I have so much I want to accomplish...

Look out Tuesday...

here I come, with my paint brush in hand to add color to the day!!

A tribute to my grandmother, the woman I called Nanny.

Yesterday I received word that my grandmother passed away in her sleep with my grandfather by her side. I found such comfort knowing she was at home with her true love by her side. Their love for each other is a love story....

growing up my grandmother loved to tell the story of their first date over and over again and I never tired hearing it....

her face lit up each time she retold the tale....

because of them I grew up knowing, firmly believing true love does exist in this world and is alive and strong no matter what the statistics are.... the unconditional love for another human being is attainable.

During the past few months of my grandmother's decline, my mom would call me and tell me she just left her parent's home from a day of watching over them and this is the image she describe...

my 93 year old grandfather holding my 92 year old grandmother's hand sitting on the couch with their foreheads touching the entire day....

every time I think if this the lump in my throat forms and the tears flow freely not for sadness but for pure happiness that these two amazing individuals had this kind of LOVE...

Who was my grandmother...

a daughter

a wife

a nurse

a mother to three fantastic daughters

a grandmother to 16 grandchildren

a great grandmother to 29 great grandchildren

She was loved by us all, what an amazing legacy.

She was a devout Catholic,

the original queen of foofing her home, she loved to decorate her house.

She loved peppermint candies, gingersnaps and always had tins of shortbread cookies stacked in her cupboards.

She had a passion for nursing and caring for the sick.... she never left home without her blood pressure cuff...{ when my husband and I finally made contact yesterday the first thing he said was that he remembered when he met her for the first time.. she took his blood pressure...

we both burst out laughing... for you knew you were loved when she asked to take your blood pressure!}





My grandmother is now dancing with the angles along with her parents and I believe she can hear me say,

"I love you, thank you for loving me and bring me joy my entire life. It was truly a privilege to be called your granddaughter."

Have I ever told you I love the phone...

I love to hear the voice of a family member, friend...

maybe I love the phone cause growing up computers were not in homes and it was the only way to communicate...

right now i especially love cell phones...

my little guy has a very bad case of bronchitis and when one of my babies is sick I reach for the phone...

I speed dial my hubby's cell phone no matter where he is to tell him we have a sick child..

I'm the mom who as I walk to radiology I have the phone in my hand calling my go to guy to give him a update, it links us when we are so far apart... just to hear his voice {most times I get his voice mail but it's still his voice}... and all is well.

I also call when I'm bursting with excitement, with good news and just a spontaneous question that can't wait till he gets home.

Yesterday, the phone rang..

I picked it up and said "hello"

on the line was a friend and she said, " Hi, what are you doing?
My response was, "feeling mischievous!"

she said, "oh no, I'm hanging up right now!"

I couldn't help it, when i have a sick child and they are resting I get restless energy!
I had to do something constructive... which, for me, means cleaning, painting or in this case staring a my latest completed project.....

Look at this "tall old screen door" that came off a farm house!!!

When I saw it leaning against a building I began to stutter....

mind you when I first spotted it, it had the original screen in place...

I know, where's the before picture....

sometimes i just get to excited to start a project to reach for the camera!



I just attacked it...

cut away the dry rotting screen,

took the whole door to a glass company for them to measure and cut 3 mirrors to fit into the door...

I washed the grim off the door. Placed the mirrors into place with mirror clips and stepped back to look at it.

It had been outside for such a long time it was layered in grim, but I am thrilled that it was...

look at what the sun did to the original paint...

it aged it to create the perfect color!!!



Are you thinking what I'm thinking?



How am I ever going to part with this tall beauty!!! My heart is completely smitten...



don't worry.... the minute I see someones face light up the way mine did I'll know it's found the perfect home and I'll gladly hand it over.... after I hug it tightly!!!

a few times...

they'll probably have to pry my fingers off it and say, "alright already, LuLu, you can visit it anytime you want"...

I just may have them sign a promise note to that one!

Dear November,


You snuck up on me...

you came knocking on my door sooner than expected.

My first instinct was to shut the door.


To ask you to come back in a week when I feel more ready, maybe when the Halloween candy is gone...


But you came at the perfect time.


I was calm, the sky was dark, the grass was damp.


I was outside walking our dog while my chickadees were asleep and there was one light on...


my bedroom light...


where my husband was packing his bags for a trip and I heard you whisper in my ear...


be grateful.


My whole attitude shifted...


I got the message loud and clear.


I stayed out longer than Lily, my dog, thought I would.


She was wondering why i wasn't rushing back inside like normal...


I really looked at the sky, listened to the night sounds, walked amongst the fallen leaves and stared at my home until i was ready...


In I came,


up the stairs i climb and I sat on the floor and folded my husbands clothes, packed then gently in his luggage and we talked...


about an email he just received informing him of funeral arraignments for a fellow Marine that will be held on Friday at Arlington National Cemetery...


we did not know him personally but it affects you just the same.


His is a Marine, he is part of the Marine Corps family we are apart of.


He will be laid to rest next to the friends we have lost.


We talked about the times we have traveled to Arlington, the memories we have, the friends we have lost and heard Taps being played. I cannot hear Taps without crying...


Walk the sacred grounds.


We packed and talked...


So I'm making you a promise...


I'm in with both feet and an open heart...


for the whole month...


I'm completely present, I'm listening...


Welcome November I am so grateful to see YoU I can't wait to see what you have in store for me!





I received a real note in the mail on Saturday, Halloween night, from Koralee and saved it for a quiet moment...


i made a grande cinnamon dolce latte for the special occasion...


sat on the couch and gently opened my letter...


I didn't want to rip the envelope it was so pretty...


in her own handwriting a note to me...


What a wonderful way to start my November


Thank You Koralee for my special note you brought a smile to my day and warmed my heart!