Angel in the Post Office

My sweet Tara, who I wrote about awhile back.

I opened an email recently from my sister in Georgia & in it was a heart-warming story about a little girl & her dog. Read this one & grab a box of tissues before you do! You will be shedding a few tears, I'm quite sure.

Angel in the Post Office

This is one of the kindest things I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is a kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.

Our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month. The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. I told her that I thought we could so she dictated these words:

Dear God,

Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to play with balls and to swim. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love, Meredith

We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Meredith and addressed it to God/Heaven. We put our return address on it. Then Meredith pasted several stamps on the front of the envelope because she said it would take lots of stamps to get the letter all the way to heaven. That afternoon she dropped it into the letter box at the post office. A few days later, she asked if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had. Yesterday, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch addressed, 'To Meredith' in an unfamiliar hand.

Meredith opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers called, 'When a Pet Dies.' Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God in its opened envelope. On the opposite page was the picture of Abbey & Meredith and this note:

Dear Meredith,

Abbey arrived safely in heaven. Having the picture was a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. Abbey isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets to keep your picture in, so I am sending it back to you in this little book for you to keep and have something to remember Abbey by. Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. What a wonderful mother you have. I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you very much. By the way, I am wherever there is love.

Love, God

If that one didn't grab your heart, I don't know what would!

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I'm so excited....I'm getting together on Saturday with the "B" girls (BEAUTIFUL BABBLING BOISTEROUS BLOGGING BABES)...I've met Kat already when we went to FL in May and am looking forward to meeting Tracey, Jill, Dianne, Sandi, and Tonya here in Birmingham. Several of them have met each other at different times & now they are all coming to B'ham for a weekend of fun, shopping, & eating. You know it will be a blast! I'll take pics & report in soon! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too.

Oh, and before I forget....stop by Debra's, The Bunnies' Bungalow, and sign up for her 100th post giveaway. Be sure to tell her I sent you! You won't be disappointed. Debra has great taste & has some wonderful things in her giveaway. I hope I win!

I'm trying to finish up my Christmas decorating...it's really going slow this year, so will be posting some pics next week!

Frittatas: Not Just for Breakfast

Breakfast food is a favorite of ours, so many times I will make breakfast for lunch or dinner. I've found several recipes over the years for frittatas & really enjoy this hearty dish, so I sort of made up my own recipe and just throw this together whenever a fast meal is needed. First, cube up some red potatoes, sprinkle with salt & pepper & drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss to coat & I used my deep dish baking dish from Pampered Chef, which works great for this, but you can use any baking dish OR a cast iron skillet for that matter. I cook the potates in the oven at 400* for about 30 min. until they are tender.
Next, you can have fun & just mix in any ole' ingredients that you happen to have around the house, the more the better. This time, I only had some grape tomatoes, cheese, & green bell peppers. I would normally add some canned mushrooms, maybe a little diced onion...really you can go wild here & use whatever you like. Mix up 6 or so eggs and you're ready to cook.
Here, I've poured the stirred eggs over the potatoes, sprinkled all the ingredients on top & then I added a little seasoned salt. Turn down the oven to 350* and put it back for about 30-35 minutes or until eggs look cooked enough.
Here's what it looks like right out of the oven, all cheesey & gooey...just the way I like it! Cut it, scoop it out, serve it up & it's a great little meal.
Add some fresh sliced pears (they were so right about food looking better on white plates...who knew?), a couple slices of sourdough Italian bread that's been toasted & slathered up with my mama's homemade strawberry jam, a glass of milk & call it a meal! Easy, my hubby loves it and it tastes good. Good eatin', y'all on these busy days ahead!

Before & After paint project: Black Nightstand

From humble beginnings in a hotel, here's the nightstand that caught my bargain-loving eye...a $19.95 deal from The Tutwiler. I knew it was a diamond in the rough. (click all pics to enlarge for details) Home on my driveway awaiting it's new coat of paint.
Hardware off, primed and ready to paint.

One coat of Ralph Lauren Turret Stairs satin paint.
These little mini-rollers are great for painting furniture. Easy to handle. I wrap the whole thing in plastic wrap & store it in the fridge between coats...I'm really lazy & hate to wash paint brushes. The roller, brush & plastic holder stayed in the fridge for at least a week while I was working on this. That's a good tip for you if you hate to wash brushes like I do...it will all wash out when you finish & want to put it all away.
Paint & mini-roller again.
Painted the hardware with my Sophisticated Finishes in Blackened Bronze. Those finials go on my hubby's lamps in his office so I painted over the brass on those too.
And here it in in place in my cottage guestroom. I just love it in here & it looks like it belongs with the black bed. Soft pear green paint color is pretty accurate in this pic.
Closeup of the finish & hardware. Hard to get a good pic of black furniture & the paint color. This one shows it a little better.
Whole shot with the bed too...it's a great little nightstand for the guestroom & I'm really glad I found it. The black pairs well with my old oak pieces in here. My hubby's office furniture is all finished & in place & when I can get him to straighten the room up, I'll take pics in there. He doesn't mind a messy office! I may just have to resort to selective photography to show you that room.

It's such a thrill to do this kind of project & see the transformation happen before your eyes. Very rewarding! Thanks for stopping by.

I'm a busy little bee getting my Christmas decor out...boxes came out of the attic on Saturday, with the help of my hubby. Now, the tree is almost finished & I'm putzing around figuring out what else I can get done. My plan is to do a little each night & maybe it will be finished by next weekend! Do you ever feel like you've got more going on than you have time to get done? That's about how I feel right now. Thanksgiving is over...and it was great! Now, on to Christmas!

Fall Colors My Neighborhood

(click to enlarge all the pics)

When we moved in this neighborhood 2 years ago, we noticed (you couldn't miss it) a big, huge house on the mountain ridge overlooking our subdivision & wondered about it then. We actually live on a little mountain, with rolling hills all around us. Our fall color has just reached peak right here at Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd show you some of the beautiful colors that are peeking out right now. Rumour has it that this house was built by a developer as a spec house & it never sold. It was listed at $2.5 million on the MLS listing last time I saw it. We don't think anyone has ever lived here from what we've been told. The first month or so after we moved in, my hubby and I went hiking in our woods and ended up at this house by chance, where we peered in the windows & enjoyed the awesome views from the top of the mountain.
Here's a beautiful fall shot of color from on top of the mountain.
And the big sprawling house. We decided to drive up the steep driveway this week & take a look at the house again & see the beautiful views right now, since our Fall color is just glorious. Still can't figure out if it is occupied, although from what we've heard, it is being rented out for weddings and big events. Don't know what the real truth is, but this is one BIG house. I think there are 5 garage bays. I wouldn't want a house this big, but it's fun to look at. We sometimes see all the lights on at night.
Here's the front door. Here's another shot of the view from the top. Really beautiful this time of year. The mountain was leveled for the house to be built, so there are views from all sides of this place. This is the frontside.
And this is overlooking our neighborhood on the backside. Who needs to go to NC or TN, when we've got this in our backyard?!
More fall color driving through our neighborhood, I couldn't resist taking some pics to capture these days.

Red leaves.
And yellow leaves.
We weren't sure we would get much fall color this year with our drought, but it surprised us after all & we are being rewarded right now with some pretty leaves. I just love this time of year. Not looking forward to them all falling though, as I don't love raking leaves. Hubby gets to do most of that.
Brilliant red across the street from us.
And looking out from our back deck to the neighboring ridge across from us.

Hope you enjoyed the fall tour! If anyone in the Birmingham area knows anything about the house on the mountain, I'd love to hear about it! We ate ourselves silly yesterday at my hubby's family & now we are off to Atlanta just for the day to do the same with mine! Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend. Time to start getting those Christmas decorations out!

Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to get together with family and friends to reflect & be grateful for all the wonderful blessings that God has given each of us. This year, I'm off the hook on cooking and we will be going to my hubby's dad's side of the family in Montgomery for Thanksgiving Day and then on Friday, we'll head over to Atlanta to celebrate with my family. Oh, the food we'll eat. It will all be delicious and fattening and oh, so yummy.


Just wanted to leave you with some beautiful pics that my friend, Maureen, posted over on her blog, Penchants, Ponderings, & Posies. Maureen recently visited Nell Hill's, which is one of Mary Carol Garrity's shops, out in Kansas & took some beautiful inspirational pictures that you will all love. If you click on the link, you can find her photo albums & take a look at a lot more of them. She's got a great eye for these things & always shares her gorgeous pics with us & she graciously allowed me to borrow a few of them for this special day. So, enjoy the eye candy! Mo & I share a love for decorating & started out as online friends, when we were both living in Atlanta. Now, we are friends in real life & try to get together whenever we can & since we both love to tour showhouses, that seems to be something that we make a point to try to do whenever possible. Beautiful place settings. I believe that all of these were taken inside Mary Carol Garrity's home. I have really enjoyed the Mary Carol book that my sweet friend, Manuela, sent me recently. I have poured over all the beautiful pics to glean some new inspiration for Christmas this year...and there is plenty there to be inspired over. Mary Carol puts together the most inspiring tablescapes & vignettes, which always amaze me.
Pears are a favorite of mine too & she's used these very cleverly. I've got some ideas this year for all my pears too.


One of my faithful readers, Amy, who lives in Maryland recently emailed me about Southern cooking for Thanksgiving and asked me what sort of things my family cooks. So, I shared a few things that my family usually has on Thanksgiving. I'm sure many families down South have different traditions that they carry on. We always have turkey & usually ham too. My mom will make many different vegetables, like Ford Hook lima beans, green beans, maybe creamed corn out of her freezer, we always do sweet potato casserole with the brown sugar & pecans on top, sometimes mashed potatoes & ham gravy. We have one dish that we all like since it was introduced in the family a few years ago & it is a pineapple & cheese casserole. It has lots of butter & flour so it bakes up all cheesy & it's really good. Something about that combo really is great & it's a nice side to ham. None of our stuff is low-fat though! We usually have some sort of festive green salad, maybe with pecans & mandarin oranges or dried cranberries. There are lots of good salad recipes out there. And my mom started making a congealed cranberry salad many years ago that we all love & it has apples, pineapple, whole cranberry sauce & walnuts in a jello mixture. It's a great side dish for all the other things. We always, always make it & it's great left over as a snack too. Usually have some sort of yeast rolls and at least a cake and pie. Mom always mixes that up a lot, as she has a lot of cakes & pies that she makes from year to year.

Oh, and the most important things to most Southerners at Thanksgiving is the dressing. Southern dressing is always made with cornbread. Don't ask me how to make it, cause I don't have a clue. My mom always makes it & I don't absolutely love dressing (I'd rather have the other carbs!), so I don't eat a lot of it, but it's got chicken broth, giblets, & is based on broken up cornbread, celery, sage, lots of stuff in it. That's the traditional Southern dressing. I know Northerners make it a lot different than we do.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. I sure am thankful for all that the good Lord has done for me & my family! I'm finished with all the furniture painting, so I'll be sharing those projects very soon.

What you can buy for $5 and a Flippy Do

This might be my last weekend hitting the yardsales for awhile. With the holidays coming and Winter biting in January & February, I probably won't be so anxious to get up early & freeze, so I can safely say that they will just have to wait til about March, when I'll be chomping at the bit to get out there again to find the bargains. So, with that in mind, I did go to a few on Saturday morning. Spent a grand total of $5. This pretty book about needlepoint in Venice caught my eye. Lots of gorgeous pictures & I've always loved needlepoint. Maybe one day when I don't have any other hobbies, I'll give it a try. 50 cents.
50 cents for this pretty little blue and white plate.
I actually bought this pair of pretty birds from my neighbor's yardsale last week for $1, so it's not in this week's total.

Another creamy white urn, this one was $3, my big spend of the day. I have some plans for my Christmas decor in the diningroom & hope to showcase all my creamware collection. It's rolling around in my head right now. These pics are a little blurry, but this white painted picture frame was $1. I think I have plans for this one too to do something for the frontdoor similar to Heather's creation at Past Present Collection. Check out this post & pic...that girl is very creative & I love what she did for her frontdoor! This one will be perfect for that.

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On to other news...why is it that hair is such an important part of a woman's life? We thrive on good hair days & angonize when it's not doing well. I have been trying to find a good hairstyle for myself for awhile now & it seems to be getting shorter & shorter & I don't have the patience to keep it longer anymore. Has anyone else experienced your hair changing as you've gotten older? Mine sure has...it used to be SO curly & now most of the curl is gone on top & on the sides. I used to hate my curl, but didn't know how good I had it til I started losing some of it. Still have curl in the back, but nothing like it used to be. Guess I can chalk it up to hormones, that's the only explanation I can find. Anyway, I'm liking it shorter now, as when I let it get longer, it just feels like a mop!

Got my hair cut about 8 weeks ago & it was past time for a trim, so I decided to take a cue from my friend, Debra, at The Bunnies' Bungalow, and do a drop-in & try out one of those chain hair salons. I chose one near my house called Supercuts. I had it cut in a shorter flippy do last time I went & the other girl did a good job, but honestly I have gotten tired of paying almost $50 for a haircut. The girl I've been going to for about a year just moved salons and last time I was in there she told me her rates would be going up after the first of the year, so that will mean with a tip, it would be $50. Maybe that's average for many areas, but I just hate paying that much every 6-8 weeks for a haircut. I'm a city girl, so know how it is, but I didn't even pay that much in Atlanta. So, back to my big plan. I just loved Debra's new do that she posted a few weeks ago, so I decided, what the heck...I'll stop by this Supercuts & take my chances. I need a trim... right, so the worst that could happen is I hate it & don't go back. My hair grows like a weed anyway, so I'd just have to suck it up for a few weeks until it grew some.
So, I stopped in after work on Friday night, went in & sat down to wait on someone to get to me. Saw a young girl with blue streaks in her hair working on someone. I think to myself, please Lord, don't let that girl cut my hair...she's got blue streaks. Oh. my. goodness...I think I'm making a mistake. I could just get up and leave, but I figure I'm here, I'll give it a try. So, who comes over to get me but blue-streaks herself. She's really sweet, her name is Sheena. She shampoos me, I show her Debra's picture that I have printed off (told you I loved it, Debra!). She says, no problem, she can do that just fine. She really takes her time & cuts it & is very precise about going around my hair cutting all the layers. Comments on how much hair I have (which every hair stylist always does!). She loves my hair & has fun working on it. So, after the blow drying and styling, I take a look and absolutely LOVE it! She has nailed my hair perfectly & I'm so happy with it. I'll take Ms. Blue Streaks any day! The girl knows how to cut my hair. Now, if I can just manage to fix it like she did....those stylists really have a way with hair.
So, this is my version of the flip....YESSSSS, I'll be going back to her and saving money too! I had to come home & take pics so I can remember how she dried it. Total for this shampoo, cut & style was $30, including tip...now that's more like it! So how expensive are haircuts where you are? I know they vary all over the country & $50 is nothing to a lot of people, but I happen to be cheap on stuff like that. Now, I hate bad haircuts just as much as everyone else, but if I can get a GOOD haircut for less, why not! I even do wet cuts often too, as I could care less about getting it styled every single time. I'm at the gym a lot & have to wash it often anyway.


One extra special thing about this story I want to share with you. Our precious pastor at our very large dynamic church has been urging us all to share the gospel with those we come in contact with. That's always been a difficult thing for me to do, to get out of my comfort zone & to be more aware of those around me that I come in contact with & what needs may be there that I can speak to. I can cocoon with the best of them & just stay in my little world around my close friends & not let the outside world get in too much. But, our pastor has really been talking about world & community outreach this whole summer & I've felt the need to be more open to what God is trying to do around me. I so much want to let God use me to impact people that I meet. I know that he will always open those doors, if I will be obedient and open my mouth to speak.


So, Ms. blue streak and I had a nice conversation. She's very young & told me about the relationship she is in & it sounded like it wasn't very healthy. She mentioned that God was important to her & her boyfriend had just acknowledged that there is a God...well, that's step one. I asked her if she is a Christian & she said she was. I asked her if she had a church she was part of & she said that no, she hadn't been going for a long while. I invited her to our church & she told me that her mother has been trying to get her to come to that church, as well as a few other people. I explained to her how important it is when you are a Christian to get good teaching & surround yourself with others who are Believers too. She said she knew it was important, so I hope she will come. I will keep talking to her & keep inviting her, now that I'll be going back to get my hair cut there. I just think it's neat that when you least expect it, God will open a door for us to go through, even when it is just a spur of the moment decision. I want to be open to more of those opportunities & they are everywhere if we just look & listen.


Hope y'all have a great week!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas

(Christmas tree, 2006, ceiling is not blue as it looks here, it's just white)

OK, so far it's only in my head, but I'm at least thinking about it...and pulling out pics from last year's Christmas decor. See, last year I was not working & had all the time in the world to drag those boxes down from the attic & get busy putting up Holiday cheer & festive decorations. And, boy did I have some fun. I always do...I just have to gear up for it.
(Foyer cloche, last year)

Right now, I have to say I'm not all that excited about climbing those stairs to the attic & facing those millions of plastic bins, only to drag it all out again. I love it when it's done though. Don't even mention taking it all down, that's a whole 'nother day of anxiety. But, my Christmas spirit will prevail & I'll once again deck the halls. I just have to. How about you? Are you dreading it or getting excited yet?

(Christmas 2006, above is a little glimpse of my Christmas village that I put in the little nook coming up the stairs. This year, I don't know if I'll get it out, still to be determined.) Mantel last year, all white and gold. I'd love to make some changes, so we will see where it takes me this year. I love to take pics from year to year, so I can remember what I did.
Diningroom buffet, lots of gold balls & I used mostly white & golds here too.
Larger shot of the buffet.
And, some pretty red balls in a box in the livingroom, with a strand of jewels strewn about. I'm ready to make some changes this year, so I'm getting lots of inspiration from magazines.

So, I guess it's normal to have a mix of dread & excitement about decorating for Christmas. I'd love to keep things simple & not stress over it, but I do love how it all looks when it's finished. I need a fairy to come in & help me get it all done. How about you? When do you decorate? I always get my stuff out Thanksgiving weekend & usually get it done in a few days. My schedule is busier this year, so I will just have to work on it as I can & maybe scale back a bit. I always say that!