Looky Here

I got myself some mid-week finds. I love those, don't you?

This windmill has some character, for sure.

I think David might snatch this sofa and chair up. He recently enclosed a porch, making for a lovely screened porch which overlooks a cow pasture and the lake. Heck of a view.

Throw some great cushions on 'em and a coat of rustoleum and I might just have his birthday present!

I also picked up this old scale and rusty turbine for a song. Not bad for a Tuesday adventure, huh?

A big thanks to those of you who stopped by David's blog to wish him a happy birthday. It's not too late if you haven't made it over yet! His big day is actually Sunday.

We'll be heading out tomorrow morning for Eureka Springs. If we get a chance, we fully intend to head up to Ozark, MO to meet Jan and see Leola's.

A large thank ya to Malisa and Karen at Moonlight Hollow, as well as Miss Tn'T , for giving us a list of things we oughta do while we are up that way.

See ya when we get back!

~Mindy

For the Love of Bella

Meet Bella. She is the latest addition to the Tn'T family. This little girl made an early appearance in the world and she is still growing in the glass box at Chez Hospital. Her due date was July 4. See? She still has some growing to do! If you'd like to read more about Bella, her very own Momma, Jenn, has been telling us all about her HERE. Bella Marie is the apple of Miss Debbie's eye. And Cat Daddy has never been so smitten!

Due to the accumulating hospital bills, a couple of smart blogging ladies have come up with a fund raising raffle idea. Amy at Trailer Trash and Theresa at Garden Antqs Vintage are leading us in this venture. Have you seen the Junk Sistas Unite button on other blogs? We are family, helping out family, don't ya know?

At last count, 32 donations had been made for a raffle. Wanna get in on the fun? Go HERE starting May 1 and start buying your raffle tickets. Amy will have links to the donations and you can enjoy perusing the goods.
I am donating one of my denim bling bracelets to this raffle. It is blue denim with pink sparkly bling. I betcha Bella likes pink! If you win this bracelet, I'll contact you. We'll figure out the best size for you and I will custom make the bracelet for you. And then, I'll ship it to you for free! Doesn't this sound like fun?
And what better cause than to help some folks out?
Happy Day! (I know...I wasn't going to post this til Wednesday, but I'm too excited to wait!)

~Mindy

Gifts Received

David is all grins! Thanks to everyone who has left a birthday message on our blogs. David's birthday is this Sunday and I am a true believer in celebrating the entire week leading up to the Big Day. If you haven't had a chance, please drop by and wish him well. It makes him smile. And I sure do like to see him smile!

A Texas size thank you to Pam at Frippery. She had a giveaway last week and was I the lucky winner!

I had fun opening the box and digging out all the goodies!

I can't decide which is my favorite...the apron is super great! So clean and starched with a great pattern. The egg is handcrafted and amazing! I love the bowl. And I can just see myself spooning preserves out of the strawberry.

Thanks again, Pam! I'll think of you each time I look at these goodies.

Be sure to check back Wednesday. Talk about gifts received...we'll be talking about a woman and her tiny, little kicking grand daughter.

Happy Day!

~Mindy

ps. I don't think I have said it lately, but I really appreciate y'all reading my blog and leaving comments. Comments are daily gifts, don't ya know? Thank you!

David's Birthday Week

Do ya see the waving man child? That would be my boyfriend, David, when he was about 14 months old.

Reckon he was setting up a date on this old dial up phone?

Yup. Here he is with his first girlfriend, Tootie. Always the ladies' man!

And here he is with his last girlfriend. Me!

David's birthday is this week. I think before I came along, he didn't know that he was supposed to celebrate his birthday for a whole week, much less a month. Bless his heart. Be sure to swing by David's blog to wish him a Happy Birthday. (I think it would be great if his comment box gets more comments than ever in the past. And I know he would be verklempt! Spread the word, would ya? Let him feel the love!)

Friday, we'll be heading to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for a long weekend. Any tips on things to do in the area?

Happy Week!

~Mindy

Garage Sale Tired

Don't get me wrong. I can be a people person. I love to entertain and play hostess. But, inviting strangers to come to my driveway and dig through my stuff? I'd like to keep it professional. Buy my stuff and leave, please.Honestly? I'd rather go to your driveway and dig through your stuff.

The thing is. I'm not much on dickering. I figure if you have a price on something, you probably want that price. I know. You might expect it, the dickering. And I might play along. Or I might just pay your price and walk away.

My folks are hosting a lovely gargantuan garage sale in their driveway at this very moment. I've worked with them the last few days, setting up and selling. And yes, I find myself shopping.

Between the dickering folks, the non-English speaking folks, the "can I have it free?" folks, the stealing folks and the folks who wanna talk my ears off, I am whooped! Some of your comments prompt me to add more. There are also the unruly, unsupervised, sticky fingered children. The early birds. The folks who jump the fence and peruse the goods after closing. And the tag switchers! Bad people. And those people who throw dirty diapers out the car window before driving off without one child in a carseat or seatbelt. My dad is convinced that if we speak crossways to the people, they will immediately go knock down or steal the garage sale signs. It's been done by someone more than once!

This Bar-B-Q Chef knife holder? Love it. If nobody buys it, I'm stealing it from Dad. No dickering. Outright raising my shirt and sliding it into my waistband. Just like the thief who stole a cell phone I was trying to sell. Ugh.

I must admit. We do make incredibly good money in the 3 garage sales the city allows a year. We have regular customers that love to see our signs. We have nice people who help with translations. Some people just pay what is on the sticker, because, ya know...we know it's a garage sale. We priced it pretty cheap in the first place. The last thing we want to do is pack it up to take away or store. We want it gone!

Yes, these are the very same parents who are coming to sell at the sale in Poetry on May 16. I assure you. They will have lots of good stuff. Like my favorite thrift store, my folks restock almost daily! And, by the way, they can dicker with the best of them, too.

Tell me. Have you any horror stories from hosting a garage sale?

Happy Friday!

~Mindy

Awards and Rewards

Who here loves to get a pat on the back? I do! I do! The ladies at Junk-Fest have bestowed this Kreative Blogger award on me. Do you know these ladies? It's blogs like theirs that attract me to this blog world. Junkers. Showing their finds and their creativity as a team. Good stuff. Check 'em out if you don't follow them already.

Like everything in life there are rules to this award! And here they are:
1) List 7 things you love.
2) Link to the person/blog that sent you the award.
3) Choose 7 more bloggers to pass the award to.
4) Comment on those 7 blogs to let the recipients know you've chosen them.

So, there are the rules. Let's see how good a rule follower I am.

7 things I love:
1. God is A#1. Hello? He's the coolest, ya know? Love Him!
2. Family. Love 'em! (this includes my beau-friend, David...he may as well be family!)
3. Burt's bees chapstick rocks.
4. Music. It is necessary. Love it!
5. Nature. I love me some birds and bees and flowers and wind and sunshine, etc.
6. Shopping for stuff. I know. Who doesn't love that? But, I love buying for other people. I like picking out things I think others will love.
7. Free time. I love free time. It is so rare. And of course, I would just fill up the free time with activity. But, unscheduled free time is always a pleasure.

Ok...back to the rules. I already did 2. Pay attention.

Ok...now rules 3 and 4. Listen, while I like the accolades, they can be tiresome to folks who get them over and over again. No. I'm not getting them over and over again. But, a lot of my gal pals already have honors running out their noses. Everyone in my sidebar rocks! So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell you to spend some time looking at new blogs on my sidebar. Check them out. I'm betting I look at folks you don't. And then, come back and tell me the new person you found and love. Won't this be fun?

Now, check this out: My friend Malisa of Moonlight Hollow gave me this goody. Do you know Malisa? She is a sweety. Retired and loving it. I am envious. Go read her. You'll like her spunk. The Renee Award. She said it so well, I just copied her words (but, you can pretend they are my words):

I am especially honored because this award was
created for Renee, one tough cookie,
who is fighting stage 4 breast cancer.
This award was created by Renee's
friends, Bella and Ces.
Bella had the following to say about Renee:
"Renee is one human being who has made such a difference in the lives of many just by being. Her honestly, wit, intelligence, and grit are a tremendous source of inspiration. She can elicit raucous laughter and guffaws in her banter, and then turn right around and offer the most heartfelt, gentle words of wisdom and emotional support. She is a spreader of love,simple and true. And her love is infectious.
"This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed, watching it grow. I hope it finds its way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns..."

Man. That's enough to sober you up, isn't it? Cancer is no game. Nothing to laugh about. Renee is a fighter. She didn't ask to be. She, I'm sure, doesn't wanna be. But, she is living. One doesn't live at stage 4 without being a fighter. Go read her blog.

Again, I'm rebelling. No 8 blogs being bestowed. Just a 2nd friendly reminder to spend some time cruising my sidebar. Check out someone new. See who entertains, teaches, inspires me. And come back and tell me who you discovered.

Malisa at Moonlight Hollow and Cassie at Junk-Fest, thank you for thinking me worthy of these awards. I haven't felt very entertaining lately, so, to have you pat me on the back this week means a lot. Y'all are inspirational bloggers. Thanks for being in my world.

~Mindy

Wordless Wednesday

Nature Gifts from West Texas

David and I went to west Texas this weekend and picked up his camper/travel trailer. If all goes as planned, that camper will be my home away from home at the Fall Show in Warrenton. How exciting is that?

Saturday, we got to walk around the land and explore. Here are my finds from this weekend. Nope. No antiques. Nature stuff. We were looking for what nature had to offer for decor.

I found a 4 point deer shed. One old birds' nest that was on the ground. Another abandoned, previously lived in bird nest. I took the tree branch with that one. And then, a part of a yucca. Not sure what I'll do with all of it. I see a lot of y'all with nests in your displays, so I jumped on your bandwagon!

I also found an old bee's nest. David was quite surprised to hear me say that those are "in", too.
This scarab crossed our path. We took pics and let him go his merry way.

David found this skink. I'd never heard of such a thing. It looks like a lizard and a snake got friendly one time and a skink was produced. He kept showing his teeth, so I let David hold onto him.
In an effort to take this t-post home with us, I dug a hole to China. My sister said it looked like I was closer to hades.

David took a different approach to removing a t-post.

But, his remover bent under pressure.

Things are hopping at Primitiques, getting ready for May 16, Poetry Community Day and Blog Party. To those of you who have expressed interest in setting up and selling, I am excited! To those of you who want to make the drive and be my guests at Primitiques and my home, Salute!

Happy Monday!

~Mindy

New Touches and Ideas

I've changed a few things around my house recently. It seems I'm always playing around. I stacked this round old mirror frame with a funky old lamp shade frame.

My sister did this shotgun shells and pearls vignette in the powder room. Very nice.

Here is my mantle/headboard. I, personally, stripped and stained this mantle a few years ago. When I found it, it had been in a shed for about 40 years. It was covered with layers of brown paint, rat poop, cat urine, dirt. I can't even tell you what all! I know. My bedding is boring.
Yesterday's wood became last night's centerpiece. I gave it a little dimension by setting it on an old chair mat.
A little wood wax will do it some good. Maybe even a swatch of burlap thrown over it.
Here's yesterday's pink piece. See all those holes? Reckon it once had shelves on it? Or what? I threw a rake it to show you how one would fit.

I'm clueless what it is meant to be. What would you do with it?

Y'all have a great weekend. David and I are heading out of town for a couple days.

~Mindy

Junk Pile Thursday

Today, I was driving to work, talking to my friend Mayron on the phone, when what to my wondering eyes should appear? A Big Ole Junk Pile! On the curb. Free for the pickin'. I think Mayron was saying something very important when I said "I'm at a junk pile. Gotta go." She said "Bye." That's the kind of friend Mayron is. No further discussion necessary.
Of course, I took pictures before I loaded everything. I had to share! Now, I don't know why, but I like these wood circles. What would you do with them?

And this chandelier had a good price on it. Ok. It wasn't priced. It was free. A junk pile. Remember? FREE!

And how bout this crazy pink shelf? Actually, it may be more of a rack. I'm not at all sure. And I didn't examine it that closely. Will have to do that!

Funky lines. Funky color. Funky everything. Funky and FREE!

Mayron, I'll call you later!

Happy Thursday!

~Mindy

Big Sale in Poetry, Texas

Update (5/16)

Can you say wet feet?

I said rain are shine

And we were there

And we have the prune feet to prove it! (wet feet)

Well, some of us were there!

More of us will be back this Saturday,

May 23 8:00am-1:00pm

I have gone Red Tag Crazy in the store.

A lady is coming out to sell Vintage Jewelry.

There are also several folks signed up to

sell in the yard sale.

and

cordially invite you to come out to Poetry

Saturday, May 16 from 8:00 am-2:00 pm

for Poetry Community Day!

We'll have lots of

for sale. And my friend,

Mayron of Unique Unique Design will be a guest vendor. Local folks will be set up with garage sale goodies and Guest Vendors are invited to come out and set up as well! Wanna come out to play? Y'all ALL are

Spaces are available for $5+

You blog partiers from Theresa's know that we are due for another gathering. How much better does it get? Come sell. Come buy. Come visit.

I met Malisa of Moonlight Hollow at Theresa's blog party in Warrenton. She later told me that she loved me. Isn't that the sweetest thing? Well, I just discovered today that she posted warm fuzzies about me! Go here and read it. It made me laugh out loud and blush all at the same time! Meeting face to face goes a long way!

Check back here often. As folks RSVP, I will add their picture and blog link. That way, you can familiarize yourself with folks before you get here. I'm in!

~Mindy

Look! The first rsvp is from David! You get to meet my hunk o' burnin' love! FYI, he is The Official Event Photographer. Wear something cute!

Mom and

Dad are coming!

With lots of good junk, it sounds like!

Melissa from Cottage Bliss is coming out.

I'm looking forward to meeting you, Melissa!

Malisa from Moonlight Hollow can't make it, but I like this picture!

My sister, LucyJane is coming! She's going to sell her stuff and my garage sale stuff. Doesn't she rock? YUP!