Kitty Apron Finds a New Home

Last week I picked winners in my apron giveaway. I think this is the first time a blogger (Caroline of Antique Rose) took a picture of her gift and emailed it to me.



She won the kitty kat apron. I thought taking photos was a great idea!

And fun!

So happy she liked it.

It was an extra long apron. Good thing she is tall. It looks great on her!

And there she is with her kitty kat!

A cat lover to boot!

I love it when things I buy for my website find new, happy homes.

Parties, Parks, & Parents

It was a gorgeous day. Not too hot, not raining. And I needed to go scout out some of the local parks. I'm leaning toward having Dear Bebe's first birthday get together outside: where cake crumbs, icing, and hyperactive toddlers can be free to roam.

Of course we had to test drive some of the swings. Dear Bebe didn't seem to mind.

We had lots of fun giggling and laughing, although Mommy looks a little goofy with that silly look on her face.

And Da-Da always gets a giggle and a smile...

I can't believe it is going to be a year already.

She's just growing so big! Walking along the couch, waving, clapping, holding her arms up in the air and reacting to our calls of "SOOOO BIIIIIGGGG!" She's just ....well, brilliant!

Am I a biased parent or what?

Maybe so (isn't that my job really?) but I've got a party to plan with invitations to send out this week. Need to figure out the location, and once I do that, I think I'll be good. After checking out three today I'm still undecided. Each one had a plus and a minus. Maybe it will come down to the rental price.

Anyone have any great ideas?

High Speed, I luv ya!

Ahhhhhhhh. Sigh of relief. We have our high speed internet back. It is such a different world than dial -up. But thank goodness it was there when I needed it. Well, I didn't really NEED it, but you know what I mean.

Last night I tried to upload my new arrivals and only managed to get ten of them onto the Bella Rosa website. Here's a little look...I'm finding more and more things for crafters.

Like these antique checks, dated 1873 - 1875. After looking them over I think they were payroll checks. Most have the bearer's signature on the back. Part of me wants to find the families of these people for genealogy purposes. How great would it be to have the signature and work place of one of your ancestors? The other part of me says "I don't have time!"

So, off they go to someone who might be able to use them in scrapbooking or altered art projects.

A while back I was looking for crepe paper (vintage would be best) to make July 4th projects and discovered it was hard to come by. To my surprise I found some old, unused rolls of red crepe paper streamers. I'm keeping some and letting the rest go.

This was also interesting. It is a blank cookbook. On the inside someone wrote how the book was made for her by (probably her child) in school. It was done well but it's not perfect like a machine would make so I really liked it.

How often do you come across something like that?

Also a different piece. This was the week for finding unique things! It is a pin cushion of sorts which reads "Laundry Account" at the top. Below that is a list of clothing, etc with the numbers to the right as though you were going to count them as you did the cleaning.

And a 1934 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland combined with the Through the Looking Glass book, both by Lewis Carroll.

Now that my computer is online (and running fast and smooth) I'm off to go on my own internet adventure...see you when I get back!

Up and Running...SLOWLY

Hello! Hello! I'm back. Albeit ever so slowly.



I decided I couldn't wait until the technician's arrival on Saturday to get online. Having the internet taken away abruptly has really taught me some lessons.


1. I have an addiction

2. When I'm without the internet I feel helpless.

3. The phone book print is teeny tiny



Since the number one lesson is obviously much worse than I had thought, I tried to figure out how I could get online without waiting the 3-4 days (Horrors!) until someone could either get us a new modem or find out what the problems is. I decided it was worth a shot to try the old dial up method. I found a disc from AOL in a box of things (luckily it wasn't too outdated) and I called the number on the back. About an hour later after hearing the familiar dial up sound....I am connected!



But I forgot how slow dial up can be. However, I am not complaining. Just thrilled to be able to reach out to the world again! Ahhhhhhhhhhh.


Do they have Internet Anonymous sessions I could sign up for? I might need it.

STILL CAN'T GET ONLINE!

This is just a quick note to let you know that I can't get online...Ms. Daisy of The Daisy Chain is helping me by writing this post. We should have a tech out to the house soon. I may be down but I'm not out!
Be back soon and get to your comments as soon as possible.

Jillian

Giveaway WINNER... And what I did before the internet

They say lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice, right? Let's hope not. I really have been wondering what I did before the internet. My internet service is down more than it is up and we think it is from the lightning hit we took at the end of last week. Dear Hubs finally has our Direct Tv back up and running (that was tough too) but my ability to communicate with my blog pals is random. Very frustrating!

So without further delay or before my webpage freezes up...and everything I've already typed gets sucked up into a vast black hole of lost words and sentences out in cyberspace, I'm announcing the winners of the APRON GIVEAWAY!

The winners are ...

Polly of Counting Your Blessings
Caroline of Antique Rose
and
Lisa of PUPPYLUV

Congratulations, ladies!

Please contact me as soon as you can and email your address....also...if anyone has a definite preference on which apron you may want out of the three, let me know and I'll make sure you get it.

Thanks so much for helping me celebrate my 2nd blogaversary and my 300th post!

We've Been Hit! And what I really think of Benji Button

We had a nasty storm today and well, I think lightning took out our tv and my ethernet connection. I heard a huge crack and saw a yellowish bright light and was positive a tree had been split in two! (Poor Dear Bebe was terrified...it was her first time being aware of a storm.)

So, my office computer is down but somehow I can use my laptop? Dear Hubby needs to explain this one to me but for now I should just be glad I can still post. I just can't get my emails. Hopefully this will be fixed in time for Monday when I announce the winner of the Apron GIVEAWAY! (See post below for details.)

I was going to do a movie review in this post about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Which I suppose I could still do, but my popcorn graphics are on my office computer. I think I could go back to an old movie review post and steal my own photo!

(A scene from the movie with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.)

Basically I wasn't too crazy about the movie. It was pretty good for awhile. And then it wasn't. Hard to explain without giving the ending away. It's an adapted story from F. Scott Fitzgerald...about a man who is born old and lives his life in reverse. As in gets younger instead of aging like the rest of us do. This is an interesting concept but I think I was disappointed in the end.


I'd give it 3 popcorns out of 5.

(Imagine you see 3 cartoon looking movie popcorns here.)


And Brad Pitt is getting better at acting...for the longest time I thought he was mediocre. Let's face it - he's really easy to watch on a big screen for two hours! But unlike Benjamin, he isn't getting any younger.

Hopefully I'll be back with some good news about my computer situation. And there's still time to take part in the vintage apron giveaway. Leave a comment on the post below until Sunday, August 23rd at midnight!

Blogaversary & 300th Post Giveaway

Last week I dropped the blogaversary ball. It was my SECOND anniversary of having my blog and I forgot.

FORGOT. Can you believe it? I knew it was coming up in August but I didn't realize it was in the middle of the month.

And then... it gets better. I didn't notice I had reached 300 posts! What? This is a blogatastrophe.

So, to make up for my lack of support on my own blog, I decided the only thing I could do was to have a giveaway. And I'm giving away three prizes! To three different winners. (300 posts....playing on the three theme. Get it? 300 winners would just be too much.)

Without further ado, I mean bad jokes.... here is what I'm giving away. To anyone in the world who leaves a comment on this post until Sunday night August 23rd, East Coast time, USA.

ANYONE IN THE WORLD! And who in the world wouldn't want one of my vintage aprons from my shop: Bella Rosa Antiques. (If I don't say so myself!)

Aqua gingham with kitty kats and rick rack! Sewwwwwww cute!

A NOEL Christmas apron. This is made of a heavy barkcloth. I love it.

And another vintage Christmas apron.

Feel free to tell others on your blog about my apron giveaway and grab the giveaway graphic. If you do, I of course will give you ANOTHER entry....please let me know!

Good luck!

Hiding Behind Furniture On My Birthday

Its what the box said to do.

Instructions:
Close and lock door.
Hide behind large piece of furniture.
Quietly open box.
Savor and enjoy!

Sweet!

Oh. My. Gosh. Chocolate covered strawberries! Luscious. Now I know why I'm hiding behind furniture! You don't want anyone else to get these babies.

What a nice surprise I received on my birthday last week from my Aunt M. This is a great gift if you are in need of one soon. Even for yourself! Berries.com. Highly recommended!

Then later my Dear Sister and Dear Hubs decorated the house for more birthdya fun. Thank you! How sweet. The day couldn't have been any better.

Well, okay, except when there are more goodies like this homemade chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. Can we say battle of the bulge now? Yikes. It was delicious!

Hey, who is that trying to get in my birthday picture?

My Dear Nephew! Here he is with my Dear Neice. It was a great having family over for my special day!

Another fun year. Isn't always when you turn 29?

Be back soon to write about my belated blogaversary giveaway ~ coming soon!

Spiritual Sunday ~ Bald Knob Cross

Last night I started writing up my Spiritual Sunday post. It was long and lengthy and full of all kinds of stuff about what is happening to our country, townhall meetings, etc.

I decided to take a break from the post and get a good night's sleep. When I woke up this morning I headed back to the computer. I couldn't get the words Bald Knob Cross out of my head.

Bald Knob Cross is a HUGE structure in Southern Illinois, built back in 1937. When I was a young TV producer out in Missouri, I had the great experience of visiting this cross to get video of it for local promotion of our coverage area. People there love this cross. Friends of mine who worked at the TV station with me were so inspired by this cross they were engaged to be married there. Many Easter sunrise services have been held there. A truly incredible place. The website's slogan reads "Standing as a testimony to God's love." Beautiful!

This morning when I went to pull up images of the cross to show you, I discovered this:




My heart sank. What? The last (ten) years have not been good to the cross.

I even found a blog where people were mocking it, hoping it would be destroyed.
My heart sank even further. It was a VERY inspiring place, let me tell you. High up on a hill it can be seen for miles. Here is more on its history.

When I went to the Bald Knob Cross website, I discovered they are trying to restore it. Hallelujah!

They do need help to keep it going. I was so moved, I made a donation. I don't normally ask this but if you would like, could you also help today? If not with money, but maybe with prayers so that others may be able to donate.

The future of many sunrise services depend on it.

Thanks so much for reading about a very inspiring and spiritual place!

For more great Spiritual Sunday posts... check out Charlotte and Ginger's blog here.

The number of bloggers joining up is growing. Another Hallelujah. Won't you join them?

Blogoversary Ball Drop

Omigosh. Guess what I just found out? TODAY IS MY BLOGOVERSARY!
Yes, yes it is.

And a lovely blogger just wished me a happy blogoversary on my birthday "CELEBRATE" post. I didn't even realize it. This is terrible in my little blog world (the one swirling around with ideas in my head...come on, you know what I mean!)

How did I let the ball drop you ask?

Too many things GOING ON AT ONCE.

Sigh.

I think the song "Its my party and I'll cry if I want to" is appropriate now. Sniff.

How will I ever make this up? Do I have to? Not really. Do I want to? OH YES!

We'll see what I can come up with this week. Maybe it's time for a giveaway!

For now, I'll link you back to my very first post and you can see how far I've come. I still love blogging and I never ever knew it would turn out to be so rewarding!

I'll leave you with some pretty pink roses...be back soon!

CELEBRATE!

Another year older, another year wiser? Well, I don't know about that...but if you're guessing it is my birthday you'd be the wiser! I'm celebrating by having my lovely Sister and my sweet Neice and Nephew visit with me for awhile.

In the meantime have a piece of this:

Photo courtesy of Pinkcakebox found on FLICKR!

And maybe one of these:

To celebrate my birthday.

See you soon!

Giveaway Win...So Sweet!

Recently I was the winner of a giveaway by Lisa at.Fern Creek Cottage. The prizes were these sweet little antique books from England.




I love them! Thank you so much. Look how pretty they are. And they have roses on the covers!!!!

Bloggers are so nice. Hope you're having agreat day!

Weathering the Storms

I would be an ungrateful person if I didn't say I'd had a great life so far. I have. But I didn't always feel this way. Often I felt the opposite.



There were some emotional rough "patches" for awhile in my life. Without going into them in detail I can just say I'm sure I'm no different than any other person. We all have times in our lives we don't feel confident or happy. I suppose it is how we get through them that matters.



I took this photo while on a trip in Maine. It is the front door of a church in Springfield. We were stopping to visit a thrift sale and the door just caught my attention...so I snapped the photo.



When I returned from the trip and had the film developed I framed it and wanted to give it a title. It occurred to me that I was feeling like the door appeared: shabby, weathered, and beaten up a little. The wreath however was placed there with love and kindness... as though the members love the church with all their hearts, no matter what the building has been through.



God is our wreath. He places His love and forgiveness upon us no matter what we've been through in our past. We weathered our storms and turned to Him. He accepted us with His inspiring and amazing grace.*


Stop by and visit Charlotte and Ginger's blog for more inspiring posts...or better yet, write your own! The list of bloggers who are joining Spiritual Sunday is growing each week.



How exciting.



*Check out the bible, especially the book of John for more on His amazing grace: John 3:16.

So I asked him to use the video camera

On the baby.



I think it went something like this:



"Honey, could you please start using the video camera? Dear Bebe is starting to do all kinds of things and I'd like to have you shoot video of her doing them. Okay?"



"Yes, dear."



This is what he shot yesterday after three weeks of asking the same question in about five different ways:







Maybe I should have questioned the spelling on "Yes, DEER."

What do you want for five BUCKS.

Getting Caught Up

Ever feel you just can't get caught up? I'm having one of those weeks.

My organized self just can't seem to get out of my own way. I usually have my posts planned or at least an idea of what I'm going to write...with pictures a day or two in advance. Guess it is the former TV producer in me.

Today, I have no plan. No pictures. So what I'm going to do is show you what I have been doing.

Taking care of Dear Bebe....playing with the mayonnaise jar! I hope she's going to help Mommy cook. I've been planning on making potato salad...my favorite summer dish. I haven't gotten around to that either. Sigh.

I'm also putting a lot of time working on my website. Buying inventory, taking photos, uploading them, writing descriptions, taking orders, and packing. Dear hubs has been a big help in packing/shipping. Thank you honey!

I thought this beaded slipper coin purse was adorable. It sold already!

Between those two things...Dear Bebe and the site, ZIP! There goes my time. The first of course, Dear Bebe, being the most important.

I'm off to go relax for a few minutes before Bebe wakes up from her morning nap. I hope to get around to visit your blogs today. I've been terribly neglectful. See you soon!

Playdates R FUN!

Dear Bebe and I went on another playdate last week. I went to see a friend of mine who had a baby boy and he's 18 months already!

One thing I've noticed is how quickly time flies when you have a baby. I just realized Wednesday was the last time I had posted on this blog.


Well Bebe had a great time seeing all of her new friend's toys... it was like going to an amusement park! Started the ball rolling in my mind of what I can get for her first birthday. It's coming up in September already! See what I mean? Time just flies.

And here is my friend with Dear Bebe. And by the way, you can thank my friend (we'll call her Pattian) for giving me my nickname which is how I named the blog. Hint hint!

Hope you had a great weekend. Dear hubs and I went out on a date! Yeah! Out to dinner and then to see a local guitarist/singer. It is fun to get away...but I always miss my Dear Bebe.

So, I'm still trying to catch up today... there's lots I did not accomplish this weekend. You know, HOUSEWORK.

Like my neighbor said to me "That's for when the weather gets cold!"

I like her a lot.