An Evening with Southern Lady

My church sponsored an evening event for women recently called Women in the Workplace and Phyllis Norton Hoffman, President of Hoffman Media, was the speaker for the evening. I'm sure you all probably know who she is. She was a delightful speaker, a Christian business woman with an uplifting and humorous message for all of us and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We had three of these events scheduled this summer and I volunteered to take care of the table centerpieces. I went over to our church's Women's Ministry closet and found a few little things that would work, like candles, glass beads, ribbon and fabric squares. We just did simple bunched fabric in the middle with 3 candle votives and glass beads sprinkled about. The club provided the flowers and we added a pretty green and pink ribbon to all of them.
We all had a nice dinner, Phyllis shared with us, and then she signed some copies of her new book, Southern Lady Gracious Tables. Her company publishes Victoria Bliss, Southern Lady, Cooking with Paula, Tea Time, and a host of other stitching magazines. It was a fun evening spent with other ladies and we all got magazines to take home. How can you not enjoy that?

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The dog days of summer are right here upon us. I'm about to wilt from this heat and really can't wait for September to get here...not soon enough for me. So, next week, since it's not much fun to be outside right now, let's do something fun in the house! I'm going to host a party. A "what is your favorite yardsale/thriftstore/estate sale find" party! Doesn't that sound like fun? I'll be using Mr. Linky to hook us all up (if I can figure him out), so we can check out each other's fun projects. I know a lot of us love to find the deals and there are SO many great things out there to discover, so let's share our VERY favorite finds with each other. It might be a piece of furniture that you've updated and painted, it may be a beautiful dish that you just adore, or an accessory that just fits right in at your house. Whatever it is that is your favorite find yet...share it with all of us. I can't wait to go around and visit all of you to see your most favorite finds of all time! Let's set a time for next week, so you can all get a post ready. How about Thursday, August 7th? Let me know here if you would like to participate and then I'll post Mr. Linky early Thursday a.m. and you can all add your links. Sound fun?! We all need some perking up right now with the oppressive heat, so I'd love to have a lot participating. Let's have a party!

Can't wait!

Master Bedroom Grand Tour

Welcome to all of you who are coming from the Hooked on Houses home tour. Hope you enjoy a tour of our master bedroom.

Welcome to the master! This is walking in the door looking at the king size sleighbed. Our bedroom is not HUGE, but adequately sized and we have quite a bit of furniture in here, but somehow we've made it work. I've showed a few pics in here before, but with the changes recently made, I thought I'd show you the whole thing, top to bottom. Before we go any further, wall color is Sherwin Williams Blonde. I know someone will ask! For all you girls who love the details, there are lots of pics to look at.

"Chester" is home and in place now and boy, howdy...do we love it. Talk about lots of storage, it holds all the socks, underwear, and workout clothes we have. My hubby didn't see it until we picked it up & he was very happy with it.
You can see coming in the doorway is a huge French armoire. It fits nicely in this little nook and even though it's big, it doesn't get in the way. You'll see more of it in a minute. The new chest just fits on this wall and I really love how they all work together. 1880's French armoire and probably this chest is from around the 1950's. As I mentioned earlier, when we picked the piece up, on the back is a tag from Thomasville. No date, but I think it's at least 50-60 years old. Great condition. I just can't stress enough how much I love these old pieces of furniture. If there's one suggestion I could make to any of you younger gals starting a new house....build your bones with antiques. You won't be sorry!
These older pieces are made SO sturdy and SO much better than anything out there new today. As I've said before, what could you get NEW for $400?? Not much, that's for sure. Some crappy furniture, no doubt.
Check out the new lamps! I just love these cute little things. Have you ever seen something in a store & couldn't get it out of your mind? That's what happened with these lamps. I had some on our nightstands that I got 3 years ago, not expensive lamps at all & thought that I would eventually replace them. I was shopping a few weeks ago at Homegoods and spotted 2 of these lamps on clearance for $25, a great price. I didn't get them, decided I didn't need to spend the money. So, while I was out last week shopping for my client, there they were again. Still didn't get them. But they kept nagging at me, so the next day I jumped in the car to see if they were still there. One was...for $18! Of course, I snapped it up, but was bummed there was only one, so I called the other Homegoods and they had another one. Turns out it depends on the date on how the mark-downs go, so that one was only marked down to $25. That's fine too...regular price on them were $50 each, so I did get a great deal. Look how wonderful they look in here. It really makes a difference in the room just putting these lamps in too.
Nightstands are old too, probably from the 40's or 50's. They have 3 neat drawers inside that close away. Did I mention I love the new lamps? OK, I did.
Just in case anyone needs an idea on how to cover a boxspring on a sleighbed. This is fabric that I bought just enough of to sew onto a fitted sheet. It covers the boxspring perfectly so that when it shows, it's not ugly! Mostly it's under the coverlet, but a little of it peeks out.

I used a cream mattelasse coverlet and shams and bought all the fabric separately for pillows. The paisley and stripe came from Calico Corners. My mom sewed all my pillows for me. Ordered these blue/yellow botanicals off Ebay and had them framed at Hobby Lobby. 1/2 price frames and a new mat and I was all set. They have great framing deals if you buy their 1/2 prices frames and let them put it all together.
Pillows closer
Looking from the bathroom. You can see we don't have a lot of walking room in here, but it's cozy and works for us. I could shoot the builder who didn't push the outside wall out in that corner. They could have easily made the house square over there to accomodate more space in here. And I really hate only having one window in here.
There's enough room in this little corner for a chair and ottoman. My mom sewed this slipcover several years ago and did a great job. Luckily the fabric I chose goes with a lot. I'd love to do a cream slipcover eventually, although with sitting here and lounging, it would probably have to be washed all the time. Found those 2 plaid pillows at a yardsale for $1 each. Mom made my window treatments too. All the oil paintings in here were found at yardsales.An old china cabinet is perfect for hiding the TV. I did a makeover on this one last year and posted it here. You can see the changes it went through from when I first found it at an antiques place, all beat up. I used fabric on the doors that are from the pillow shams. Closeup of window treatment.

Covered the lampshade with some silk plaid. A side table and magazine rack, both from yardsales are on either side.
Closeup of the painted armoire. I used some leftover wall paint from one of the test quarts from my downstairs blue bathroom. Went over it with a little woodstain to tone down the blue a bit. Added a few stencils too.
One of the yardsale oil paintings.
Here's the top of that French armoire. This is one of my favorite antiques. It's a monster and really a pretty piece. You can see how close to the 9' ceiling it comes.
Again, you won't find anything like this brand new.

My dear friend, Maureen, from Georgia gave me the 3 Italian prints next to the vanity. I love them! This is her own photography from her trip to Italy and she knew I loved these.
The vanity where I put on my makeup, another older piece. Do you see a pattern here?
Closeup of the mirror detail. I love this piece too. Drawer detail. I just can't get off my soapbox about buying antique pieces. I really did think when I was younger that antiques were way outta my league, but I found out they truly are not. You can get a nice older piece for about the same as a junky newer piece in many cases. If you haven't tried antiques, think about it! Using old and new is what makes a home have that collected over time feel and not like you've gone furniture shopping in a weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the master bedroom tour. This is where we spend a lot of time and I wanted to make it a haven and it truly is. As I mentioned before, my hubby loves deep blue, so I decided to do blue and golden yellow in here. Those are a natural combo and I didn't have any trouble finding fabrics. We've really enjoyed it. I think the addition of "chester" and the new lamps really make it special now.

I'm working this week with our church's Backyard Bible Clubs, so will be very busy every morning. It's sort of like Vacation Bible School. Have a great week!

The Estate Sale

Since I had planned to go to this estate sale on Saturday anyway...for the photo session thing, you know...well, just to make it really authentic, I had to buy something. You understand that, don't you? :) Luckily, it was a pretty good sale, in a very nice neighborhood with a LOT of great looking things. I could have loaded up, but decided to keep it at a minimum and people were milling around grabbing things left and right. This clock was hanging on the wall with a pricetag of $20. I took it down & saw that it's from Homegoods, retail price was $60, so I did pretty good on it. It's a huge clock. I love clocks!
I moved the smaller clock that was here in our den up to my hubby's office and put this bigger one in its place. I'm likin' it!
This came from another sale that I just happened upon. They had some older things and I just thought this set of silver plated silverware was SO pretty. The whole lot was $10 and even though I don't do a lot of fancy entertaining, I think these will be fun to have around. I've only got our everyday set of utensils, so these might come in handy. I love those soup spoons.

There are 2 different patterns, but they can be easily mixed. There's enough for at least 6 place settings and some have 8.
They are stamped Rogers Oneida and I'm sure they are quite old. Get out the silver polish, Rhoda! These older pieces are so dainty.
Back at the estate sale, I picked up this cute bunny for $1.
And this birdsnest for $1.

I'm a sucker for bamboo things and spotted this folding chair for $5, so brought it home too. As usual, I'm not sure where it will go yet, but might work at one of the desks I have around.

Just wanted to share these finds with y'all, since I know SO many of you love doing this too. I can't wait to see the newspaper article next week and you'll be the first to hear about that too.

The master bedroom tour will begin on Tuesday, with Chester in his honorable place!

How about potatoes?

Thank you, Sandi at Holding Patterns for honoring me with yet another award. I really don't know the origin of all the awards that float around in blogland, but I've been blessed to have several of them given to me. I add them at the bottom of my blog & I'm deeply honored that you think so highly of me and my blog! I really have a hard time passing these on to a few blogs, so I usually don't do that. I recently passed on Layla's award to one other person, cause that one was really special to me. But I love so many of your blogs, it's just too hard to single them out, so once again, I'm not going to do that. Thank you so much, Sandi! I do appreciate it.

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Now, how about some potato recipes!

Here are 2 good potato recipes that I've made lately that I thought I'd share with y'all. I know with the low-carb craze going on, that potatoes are not on everyone's menu these days, but we enjoy our potatos and there really are a lot of ways to fix them.

Hearty, Simple Potato Soup

6 potatoes, peeled & cubed
1 med. onion, chopped
4 cups milk
1 carrot, grated (I chopped up baby carrots & added in with the potatoes while they were cooking)
1 TBL butter
3 TBL bacon grease (or add extra butter if you skip the bacon grease)
3 TBL instant potato flakes (I did not add these, since I didn't have any)
1 TSP dried or fresh parsley
2 green onions chopped (scallions) (it didn't call for this, but I added them)
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp & crumbled
Salt & pepper to taste

Place potatoes & onions in saucepan and add just enough water to cover. Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, grate 1 carrot & cook 4 slices of bacon, reserving 3 TBL of bacon grease (I only added about 1TBL). once potatoes are tender, add butter and bacon grease and melt. Gradually add 4 cups milk. Add grated carrot, potato flakes, & parsley. Salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a low boil, reduce to low and simmer covered until time to serve. Serve with crumbled bacon & shredded cheese for toppings.

It's yummy! I know...not low fat, but can you say comfort food? Sometimes we need that. RECIPE #2:***********************

If you love potato salad, but want to do something a little different, here's the potato salad for you to try. My mama makes the best regular potato salad in the world, but this one has a different twist to it. I got this from the Swissotel in Atlanta (which I think is now called W, by Lenox Square), way back in the early 90's when the company I was working at the time had an event at this hotel and they served this particular potato salad. I loved it and we asked for the recipe which they were kind enough to share. So now, I'll share with you! It has just a few ingredients, but the combo is delightful. I don't have the exact measurements, so you'll have to wing it a bit, depending on how much you are making.
Swissotel Potato Salad

Red potatoes (I used about 10 for this recipe) cut up in chunks

Dijon mustard

Sour Cream

Mayo

Scallions (green onions)

Cooked bacon (crisp & crumbled)

Red onion (I used about 1/4 of a vidalia onion)

Salt & Pepper to taste

I boiled the chunks of potatoes for about 4 minutes or so, then placed them in a Medium hot non-stick saute pan with a little olive oil. They will brown and continue to cook, so do that until they are done and crisp cooked on the outside.

Then, mix up:

Dijon (1 part)

Sour cream (3 parts)

Mayo (7 parts) I used about 1/2 & 1/2 mayo & sour cream and a hefty dollop of mustard. (see above pic) A wire whisk will blend these together nicely.

Slice up about 3 to 4 stalks of green onions (or fresh chives), crumble up about 5 strips of bacon, add a little red or Vidalia onion, salt & pepper to taste, & mix it all up together.
And here's how it looks, all ready to eat. My hubby LOVES it this way and will scarf it down in no time. It's really a nice little twist to regular potato salad, which I get way tired of. Don't even talk to me about store bought mustard potato salad. After you have this, you'll never want any of that again. I made this for our 4th of July picnic and it was delish.

OK, enough of the bacon recipes.....

Happy Eatin' ya'll!

The newspaper decided to do a whole feature on me and my yardsaling. The reporter who covered the patio redo was really fascinated with the whole yardsale thing and talked to her editor about running a bigger story. It will run in conjunction with the patio redo next weekend since I used so many yardsale finds for my redo. I can't wait to see it. The reporter came out this week and we talked for over 2 hours, all about yardsaling and thrifting, so it should be a fun article. Saturday a.m., I'm going out to an estate sale where a photographer from the paper will follow me around taking pics of me doing my thang! Isn't that a hoot? I can't believe this! So, I'll get quite the exposure in the Birmingham paper next Saturday. You Birmingham girls need to pick up the paper on Saturday, August 2nd for the whole article in the Spaces section. Of course, I'll share it with all of YOU too.

A Tree Fell in Alabama & An Award

I'm SO honored and speechless all at the same time! If you haven't met Layla over at The Lettered Cottage, go over there and have a peek at her wonderful blog, which she just started in May. You will be immediately hooked too. I just found her recently and have read every single post she has put up. She has honored me with a special award she just created called My Blog Inspired Someone Today. That makes me SO happy!

She and her hubby have amazing style and are renovating a small cottage home just south of me in Prattville. They are doing an amazing job with it. I love all the choices they have made. Layla just quit her job and is starting her own business. YAY! I know how hard that is since I've been there myself. Starting a new business is daunting and I sure don't have all the answers myself since I'm so new to it also, but I do know it's rewarding. So Layla, I wish you the very best with your new business ventures. I just know you'll be successful and you'll be doing what you love!

I'm going to pass this on to a brand new blogger (since May) . I've just recently found her blog too and it is SO charming. I think you'll all enjoy it too. Sarah at A Beach Cottage, has some wonderful makeovers and is a thrifter just like me, so Sarah, I pass this award on to you! Thanks for the inspiration.
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Look what happened while I was at the beach house with Mary. I've been so busy, I haven't had time to share this. That's right, a huge oak tree in our backyard decided to fall down! I left on Sunday to go out of town and when I talked to my hubby that night, he told me what had happened that afternoon. We had several dead trees cut down about a month ago and thought we were safe. We did notice that this one was leaning a bit, but since it was still green, we didn't give it much thought. Apparently, the roots were very shallow and a couple of big storms that came through recently with some great wind gusts just pulled it out of the ground.

What a mess! You can see how far across the driveway it went. We were very fortunate that it didn't hit the house or a car. Our gate is demolished and we'll have to get part of the fence repaired, but all in all, we were blessed. Hubby was at the gym when it fell, so this is what he came home to that afternoon. I missed it all and it was all cleaned up when I returned from Florida. I'm sorta happy I was gone at the time. We filed an insurance claim and it will pay part of it (removing the tree), but with the deductible, not everything. You know how that goes. I'm bummed our pretty gate got smashed and the new wood won't look the same. Check your trees for weakness!

I'm so happy! We picked up the chest of drawers (I heard someone on an HGTV show call it chester drawers & had to laugh...did you say that growing up?) I had on layaway at the antique store and it's home now. I got a happy little surprise when I saw the back of it and it's a Thomasville piece. Old Thomasville, don't you just love that? It's gorgeous...I'll share more about that next week.