~SOMETHING SWEET FOR BÉBÉ~

A couple of days ago I shared with you a few of my latest junkin'-around-town finds!  Little by little my hands are growing stronger (Whoot!  Whoot!) so lots of painting is on the horizon for me!!!  Late winter is my least favorite time of the year, for obvious reasons, but oddly enough it's a great time to uncover great finds.  In order to make room for new Christmas gifts and purchases a lot of fabulous used stuff is donated...  Garage Sales might not be all that common during the colder days of the year, but the shelves in the thrift stores are usually really full and overflowing.  At least that's how it is here in my state!

On Wednesday I finally got to drive again and so I decided I'd visit all of my favorite haunts within six miles of my home.  I REALLY wanted to drive into Oklahoma City, but I didn't want to overdue my healing hands.  I found more wonderful things for my booth space and a few things needing a repaint job.

My FAVORITE FIND was this amazing antique/vintage Baby High Chair.  It was originally marked $29.96 and then marked down to $14.96.  Well...I snagged it for half of that price yesterday and I couldn't wait to haul it home, wash it down and repaint it with my favorite soft white paint!

Not sure how old the High Chair is...  I only know it's solid wood and included the original porcelain tray (oops...forgot to put it back on in the final makeover photos!).  I couldn't believe it.  The Chair came painted in a soft camel brown which actually helped transform it to where I wanted it to be...  Once it was repainted soft white some gentle sanding with my orbital sander (can't do it by hand...not yet!) revealed just the right amount of brown paint.  This little sweetie is destined for my local booth space (more about just WHAT I'm doing with that soon!).

If I didn't already have a lot of neat things for our home I could see this sweet Chair used on my covered porch to hold a cascading plant like ivy...  Wouldn't that be sweet?  I MAY paint some pale pink roses down the center back or maybe just the word Bébé for a French Farmhouse look and feel.  Not sure yet.  Whatever I end up doing I'll be sure to share once a final decision has been made.

I promised myself I would try and NOT rush the seasons this year and yet here I am already longing for Spring.  Ugh!  Can't have the new without the dying back of the old, I guess!   That beautiful thought keeps me going...that and the simple fact I'm soon going to be working with pain-free hands!

Hope your day is wonderful.

Love to you~

~A JUNKING WE WILL GO~

~GREAT VINTAGE CUBBY~

Winter rain has finally come to the dry, parched land of Oklahoma and I'm smiling from ear to ear.  The heavens have opened up and favor has been given to our land...  Even though I had some errands planned for today I decided to stay home just so I could hear the pounding rhythm of the rain beating down upon the roof of my La Chaumière de Briarwood.  The birds are literally singing in the rain and the squirrels are bouncing from tree to tree caring not in the slightest the water is pouring down from the sky...

~SCROLLY MAIL HOLDER~

I can only imagine how happy our farmers are!

Over the weekend my Mr. AGPMan and I went junking and had the most wonderful time.  We haven't done anything fun since before Christmas and my surgery so it was great to get out.

I was so happy when I found another one of these sweet mail/wall pockets.  Not a fan of the blue and stencil...but I do love the one transformed earlier last year!  

 ~WALL POCKET TRANSFORMED~

We visited several of our favorite spots and came away with lots of neat things for my local booth space (I have some news about it that I'll be sharing with you soon).

 ~SWEET WOODEN CHURCH~

I'm not sure what this wooden church was meant for...but this is exactly how I found it.  Already white and distressed and I just love it.  I'm probably going to keep this one...at least until Easter!

~VINTAGE WOOD PURSE~

Usually when I find these old wooden purses they are already heavily decorated.  Originally they came from kits and were painted up and lined with bright colors.  I'll probably transform it to look similar to the one I painted last year (see below) once my hands heal up... 

 

 ~HAND PAINTED with PINK ROSES~

Also snagged the sweet French style lampshade you see below.  Love it...just not the black trim!  So...I pulled it off and plan to do something different with it.

  ~SWEET FRENCH FABRIC LAMP SHADE~

Not sure what just yet...just not the black gimp.

Too harsh for me!

~GIMP BE GONE!~

Maybe some tattered fabric is a soft shade of taupe?  Hmmm...

~UGLY CHRISTMAS BASKETS~

Now before you roll your eyes you must remember this...

Just about anything can be transformed.  I promise you those ugleeee baskets will look wonderful in time for Christmas 2013. 

~PAST IDEA FOR CHRISTMAS BASKET~

Remember this basket from late last year?  Nothing like thinkin' ahead (wayyyyy ahead)!

~ODDS and ENDS~

I love picking up little things that can help fill in the gaps in my booth space.  I plan on painting the small photo frame white, but the existing ceramic frame and little basket will be left as-is...  The hairspray can-cover will be painted white...oh...and those stands you see in the far back of one of the first pics...those came from a wholesale biz that closed several years ago...boo hoo!  They are wonderful but not for sale! 

Big changes are in store for my local booth space.  I'll be sharing with you in a few weeks what's been happening while my hands have been healing and I haven't been able to work!

Hope you are having an awesome day.

Love to you...

 

~FOUR LETTERS~

Underneath the vintage four poster bed in our guest room sit two very large boxes.  Filled to the brim and overflowing you'll find all my treasured keepsakes and my tender-heart mementos crammed inside.  I don't know what it is about paper things ~ I just can't toss them out.  From as far back as I can remember I've saved almost every family letter I've ever received.  If a greeting card included a special note, well then, I saved those as well.

After thirty-four years of marriage you can imagine all the treasures tucked inside those boxes.  

 

One day my children will surely think me crazy for holding onto so much...

A few days ago I pulled out one of the boxes in search of something for an old high school friend.  While rummaging through the first box I came across four old letters written over thirty years ago and since I had nothing pressing to do I decided to sit down and open them up...

 The letters are tattered and worn and the paper has yellowed.  

The first one was from my Grandfather and dated May 1976.  

One was from my Mother dated November 1978.

One was from my Father dated May 1979.

The last one was from my Mr. AGPMan's Mother and it was sent in April 1978 a few months before we married.

 As I opened up the letter from my Grandfather I couldn't help but smile as I immediately recognized his loopy, artistic handwriting.  As a professional painter he had a flourish that was uniquely his own and I loved reading the precious words he penned just for me.  In 1976 he was 68 years old and was already showing the beginning signs of dementia.  Even so, he was clear minded enough to talk about my upcoming high school graduation and my future college plans.  He said I love you and I miss you and told me to BEHAVE...:)

By the time I finished reading his words I wanted to read them again...  My Grandpa's been gone over twenty years now...

The second letter I read was written by my Mother.  Mailed to me just after my hubby and I married, her handwriting is unmistakable.  She has beautiful penmanship and I would know her handwriting anywhere.

At the time her letter was written she was younger than I am today.  In 1978 she had just turned 44 years old and my two younger siblings were still at home (and two foster little girls, too).  Her words spoke of how much she missed me, how beautiful our wedding had been and how proud she was of Steve and I. 

My mother is now 78 years old and her written words mean even more to me today. 

 

The letter from my Father made me cry.  Written while pastoring a small church in Texas, he was only 49 back in 1979 and many years would pass before the monster would come to live inside his head.

My Dad's handwriting was always a bit scrunched up and certainly written in a style all his own.  He spoke of how he missed me and how I had grown up and left him far too soon...He shared a short prayer for Steve and I, mostly for our finances (we were seriously struggling with a broken down 1967 Chevy Impala).  He said his missed my guitar playing and singing and hoped to see me soon.  At the time I was only 19 and today I'm just beginning to understand how difficult it must have been for him allowing me to marry at such a young age...

For over ten years now my Father has lived in a local nursing home.  The letters stopped a couple of years before as he was no longer able to form sentences in his mind to write.

I miss him and his letters...

  

The last letter I read was from Steve's Mother.  I don't recall ever reading it before and I was taken aback by the clarity of her words.   It was written when she was only 48 years old...before Steve and I married, before we had babies, before she was a Gramma and long, long before Steve's Father became ill.

In her letter she spoke of her excitement over our upcoming wedding and how much she missed her second son...

Today my Momma-In-Love is almost 83 and struggles to write anymore...  I miss her funny words, and reading the stories of her life and her faith...

~~*~~

Letter writing is such a personal thing and the joys of a handwritten letter last more than a lifetime...  Electronic correspondence (or emailing) has replaced so much and I think it's such a sad thing when you actually think about it~

 I think it's time for me to pick up some paper, grab a pen and write some letters of my own...

Yeah...it's time.

~~*~~

Love to you.

Hope your day is wonderful.

~THE HANDS OF TIME~

Hands.

It's been almost a month since my surgery and today I'm more thankful than ever for pain-free hands!  I visited my doctor yesterday and I'm continuing to heal while growing stronger every day.  The incisions in my palms are still tender and I have some residual numbness at the tip of my middle finger on my right hand.  But, given the still visible swelling and bruising on my wrists I've been told as the nerve paths heal the numbness should pass.  I'm a slow healer so it's going to take a little more time before I'm 100%.

Trust me when I say I can live with that.  

Hands.

I've learned some interesting things during my month-long hold-up.  None the least being I'm a terrible patient.  My once firm belief I held a high tolerance for pain was thoroughly annihilated by day #3 post-op!  I can assure you BIG HUGS and I'M SORRIES are owed to my Mr. AGPMan.  Amazing man I'm married to~  He has more patience than I and he's kinder, too!  That said, I truly believe he's a happy man now that I'm well on my way to being normal my old self again.

Hands.

Today I have a new found appreciation for them.  I will never look at them the same way again.  I'm serious.  I won't.  Without them I struggled to do the simplest things~

brushing my hair

 turning the page of a book

and opening the lid to a screw-top jar

on my own... 

Thoughts of sewing and painting with ease or doing any other kind of crafting without help caused me to reflect upon every good and common thing in my life.  I missed driving my own car, doing my own housework and running errands.  I found I greatly missed all the things I complained about each and every week...

I'm not trying to be all philosophical here..  I just think it's time I do something about my tendency to WHINE about things that absolutely should be viewed as blessings in my life.

Hands.

Later, when I am buried in the busyness of my days, may I stop and reflect long enough to allow the memories of this experience to influence my frenetic schedule and to redirect my outlook back to the things that matter.  My work can cause me to place more importance on achievements than the everyday gifts I've already been given.

Open hands.  Palms up.

Grateful to God

for healing

and

A husband who loves

and

Friends and family who care

and

Children who call and visit

and

for more chances to share my

thoughts

loves

and

passions

with you.

Love to you...

~THE HEART~

I love this:

"There is no exercise better 

for the heart

than reaching down

and lifting people up."

(John Holmes)

~~*~~

Hoping your day is lovely.  I'm concentrating on getting well and grateful for another day of healing that is now behind me!

 Thinking of you all today.

Love to you...

~SHIRLEY and MARCY~

  Dear Friends...

Yesterday a dear friend of mine sent me this charming little story.  I've read it before but since I'm still not able to type much I thought I would pass it along in hopes it will encourage you as it did me!

 (Thank you, Brenda)

To update you on my hands...

I'm doing better now that my casts are off.  Certainly a RED LETTER DAY for me!  That said...much more healing must come before I will feel close to normal again.  Every day I'm able to do a little more and I'm grateful for progress even in it's smallest form...

Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers...  

 

SHIRLEY and MARCY

 

A mother was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him. She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it.

She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, in hopes he wouldn't notice her. The neighbor said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise, so she agreed.

The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with a neighborhood girl he knew.

She did this for the whole week.

As the two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally she said to Timmy,

'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week?

 Do you know her?'

Timmy nonchalantly replied,

'Yeah, I know who she is.'

The little girl said,

'Well, who is she?'

'That's just Shirley Goodnest,' 

Timmy replied,

'and her daughter Marcy.'

'Shirley Goodnest?

Who is she and why is she following us?'

'Well,' 

Timmy explained,

'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, because she worries about me so much.  And in the Psalm, it says,"Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life...",

soooo...

  I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'"

 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always!

Missing you~

Love to you...

~HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BELOVED~

JUST HAD TO POP IN AND SAY A BIG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO MY HANDSOME HUBBY, STEVEN!

(AKA:  MY MR. AGP MAN)

COULDN'T LET THE DAY SLIP BY WITHOUT TELLING YOU ALL (ONCE AGAIN) THAT I HAVE THE MOST AMAZING MAN IN MY LIFE!!

TOMORROW I GET MY CASTS OFF MY HANDS AND  I AM SOOO HAPPY!!  NOT BEING ABLE TO MOVE MY HANDS/WRISTS HAS MADE ME NUTSO!!!   STILL ONE-FINGER-TYPING BUT I'M GETTING BETTER AND STRONGER EVERY DAY!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND WORDS, NOTES AND EMAILS.  YOU ALL ARE THE BEST!!!!!

~~*~~

HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR SO FAR!  HOPE TO BE BACK SOON!

LOVE TO YOU...