We recently took a quick trip down to Georgia to be with family at Thanksgiving. It was kind of last minute. We wanted to get away and then realized we hadn’t been with both of our kids, for this particular holiday, in seven years! So off we went.
Tennesee
The minute we arrived we realized our daughter was very ill. 🤧Honestly, had we known sooner, we probably would not have even travelled down there. She had been to the doctor but like I had guessed, probably was a virus and meds wouldn’t help. So I tried my hardest to help her get some kind of rest, but we were up each night till around 4 AM as her hacking cough just would not quit. (Poor thing, I know how that is…a nagging cough can just drive you completely mad!) She’s still my baby, so me trying to sleep in the next room and hearing her hack away …just not possible. I couldn’t handle it, and kept trying everything I could think of to ease her misery. Nothing worked. 😞 I looked like the walking dead. 🧟♀️
Which reminded me of a particular story when she was little, and I had a horrible asthmatic bronchitis with a cough that drug on for over a month. Absolutely nothing would help me sleep. NOTHING! I had even pulled muscles near my ribs from hacking so much. I remember one, long night finally thinking I’m just going to run out in that snow and no one will even find me! 🤪It just drives you crazy, doesn’t it?
And of course driving down to Atlanta the same old scenario, we hit lots of traffic, came to complete dead stops, and again accidents were witnessed. We literally see an accident every single time we drive through there; sometimes I think we’re going to be in one ourselves as people just race by us going 100 miles an hour!
But It was all worth it getting to see little grandbaby Chloe. Oh my, she is so doggone cute! “They’re” all so right when they say a grandbaby is like nothing else! 🤗
We went to a Christmas light show in a park one night and the baby was mesmerized by all the action and bright lights. I’m sure next year it’ll be an even greater level of excitement for her.
I brought matching hats for her and her mom to wear. They both looked so cute! The baby just turned 5 months.
We also had Thanksgiving dinner with my husband’s mom and brother now that they have moved down there. She is 81. And his sister, and cousins came over with their younger kids and there was a sort of a “kissin’ cousin” play date going on. 😁
Hey Ma! What the heck is goin’ on?!
Chloe wasn’t quite sure what to think!
My hubs also would turn 56 on our drive home, so while we were there the kids surprised him with a cookie cake.
It was fairly warm, so after dinner we walked downtown Newnan, Georgia and saw more lights. They have a quaint downtown square much like we do here in our town.
We left a day earlier and it’s good we did because as soon as we got home, my poor husband got deathly sick and has been sick ever since. Hes just laid around hacking and tried to work later but ended up having to take off some time. Now he’s counting down the day to retirement come spring. (Too bad it hadn’t been sooner.)
But Yay! 🤗
I recently talked him into letting me re-paint my daughter’s room that has been bright aqua for over a decade! We had an ordeal with the paint store and finding the right paint initially, but now I’m loving how it tuned out. I was actually thinking of more of a BoHo style and painted the walls white. He wasn’t sure about all white walls, but I assured him decorators everywhere were doing it and it’d be fine. Guess what, we BOTH really love it!
But you would not believe how many different shades of WHITE there are! I have a second decorating Instagram account @morgie_and_me where I share decorating ideas AND get ideas, so I am already enjoying this new decorating and photography space.
I couldn’t wait to decorate it for Christmas. I don’t think I’ve ever fully decorated an entire bedroom for Christmas.
And to be real honest, I believe all the decorating helps my mind find rest as I’m forced to think of other things. I’m just not dealing well with what has happened to my mother among other bad news I received this year. It all really affects me. I just can’t turn it off. I think about the suffering my mom is going through, along with missing out on so much life and it just really gets to me! And for my own mental health, I think I decorate to try and force myself to escape because I literally think about her 24/7.
I guess decorating is less damaging than drinking or drugs so that’s how I try to give my mind a break.
But after 20 years in this particular house, I’m now itching to change everything. We’re still not sure what we’re doing in retirement. We actually had our house sold this past summer (we were selling it ourselves) then, at the last minute, we changed our minds and backed out. A long story maybe to share later!
Meanwhile, I’ve been decorating like a crazy woman for Christmas and with this new room, the kids soon to arrive, taking care of the hubs while also trying not to catch any germs from the hubs, it’s kept me pretty busy. And in full hasmat attire. Ha.
My husband actually went to urgent care last night. Poor guy, he is really sick this time. I don’t think I have ever seen him this sick in 32 years of marriage!
Have any of you caught this horrible bug? I’ve been using hand sanitizer and walking around the house grabbing things with my shirt sleeve instead of my hands. 😷
PS Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I was going to share some of my Thanksgiving decor initially, but didn’t get around to it as we headed out the door so quickly.
Items found for home decorating at: #Pier1, #AtHomeStores,#Walmart,#T.J.Maxx, #Menards, #HomeDepot, #HomeGoods #RossDressForLess #Target
It’s been a rough couple of days…weeks, a year really, and I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to a wet, overcast Monday today. Seeing my mom on two separate occasions last week just really broke my heart. 💔 It is so hard for me to see the suffering she is going through and feeling my hands are tied. The 26th will be a year since the doctor caused her stroke. And if I were to be honest, it’s hard for me to enjoy much of anything in my own life because of it. She is always, always on my mind and in my prayers! I tried hard today to let God in, to take my heavy load, it’s a continual load, but He reminds me He is STILL here and to look for beauty where I can. It is an attitude adjustment I surely struggle with but today, right now, I choose to focus on the beauty He has given me out my rear window.
If you follow any Instagram decorating account, you will see a small basket or straw purse hanging on a peg or front door. It has pretty much become a staple in home decorating.
Also, you will quickly see how expensive those baskets or straw items are. But you could buy one at a flea market or garage sale. Maybe you even have an old leather purse hanging around. I had several straw bags back in the day and was thinking how I should’ve kept them for decor items.
We now see that EVERYTHING comes back around, but I would’ve needed a warehouse to keep all my old stuff around!
So when I found a sturdy, straw purse with pom poms, in the local Five Below store, I thought I could easily make something out of it. Especially, when it was only $5.00…score!
Artificial flowers can quickly add up as well, so finding flowers at the Dollar Tree can cut down expenses as well. Each bundle was $1.00
First, I pulled the poms off the purse because I didn’t particularly like blue. (I may use them for a Fourth of July project later. #frugal 😉
Then, I decided to use some old packing paper for filler since my purse was fairly deep. (I didn’t want everything to fall down inside.) You could use old rags or large floral foam also.
I ended up not having to cut the wires nor glue anything but just kept all the flowers in tact and gathered them up like a bouquet to see which flowers looked best around the outside. Then, I just shoved them down in on top of the paper and did a bit of arranging within the purse.
My purse is heavy enough to stand alone, but you could easily put a vase or can of paint in the bottom to help it stand alone. Originally, I was thinking I would hang it on a door knob or on the front door with a wreath hanger…and still may do it. Either way, it’s cute and can be refilled with different flowers or stems for different seasons. You could even add a bow, a small sign or I was thinking I may even glue fringe or some kind of trim on it as well.
So, my total cost of everything was a whopping $11.00! Yep, 11 bucks!
Try looking at every day items in a different way and come up with some unique arrangement or placement. 🤔
What have you made using fairly inexpensive items or unexpected things?
PS Liz Marie Galvin’s book was waiting for me at the post office after we got back from our long trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. I hope to dig into it today! If you’re not following her, you should. I also hope to blog about our trip soon!
I surely was after living with my furniture and home decor for over 20 years now. I was needing a change!
However, my husband is soon to retire, and we’re not so sure where we will be next or what style of house we will be in. Will we stay here in Indiana? Or, will we move to Georgia near our kids and new grandbaby? 🤷🏻♀️
So, I didn’t want to do a lot of redecorating in this house or buy a lot of new furniture. It just wouldn’t make sense. But, after following all the home decor accounts on Instagram, it gave me the itch to redecorate. I should’ve known better! (I’ve always loved to decorate, so it’s kind of been my hobby through the years.) 💗 But with health issues and money being spent on kids activities and college 😳….well, redecorating took a backseat.
So, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money redecorating, but I was SO tired of my home decor (some of it Tuscan, HA) that I had an idea.
How about “revamping” my old furniture? That way if I liked it I could take it with me (if we moved) and if I didn’t… well I wouldn’t have spent that much money anyhow. Or, I could try and sell my experiments.
Along with the “farmhouse movement,” some of the other decorating trends right now are boho, modern farmhouse and mid-century ie: black paint, gold hardware, and hairpin legs. I decided to try a little bit of everything since I already had a lot of the supplies.
First, my dining room table (which I never really liked) because of the color of the wood, and stain, had me thinking what could I do to change the look of it?
It first was a “fail” for me because I tried to sand, it with all my might, but it just didn’t come out the shade I wanted. I was hoping for more of a natural, lighter, wood but realized my wood just wouldn’t sand as light as I had hoped. (Only after killing my arms for days!😡) With much deliberation, I decided to go ahead and paint it.
Black.
I had some leftover chalk paint and gave it a try.
I decided to leave some of the stained wood around the edges to help match the chairs.
Later, I hope to switch out a couple chairs. I’m thinking a wicker/taller chair would look good on each end.
*Oh, I forgot I painted my hutch against the wall as well. Metal and all!
Then, I worked on an old, banged up chest that I got from someone. It never sat level and figuring out the best way to support the heavy drawers was a little tricky but it all turned out just fine. I so wished I had taken a before pic. This thing was capital U Ugly! I thought about replacing the hardware but then decided to just spray paint the previous hardware gold (also leftover paint) then added some legs from Menards.
To save money, I also shopped my own home for wall decor and other items. I added some plants from Home Depot they have a great selection. And I also bought a basket from the At Home store. Then I found some old books in the attic, batik fabrics and teapot from China.
I really like the way this corner turned out! 🤗 The black against our neutral wall and the pops of green now make it one of my favorite spots in the house. The gold hardware against the black ended up looking really good too! I actually painted this piece before I even knew it was a trend.
Then, just last week I decided to take the decorative, wood trim and legs off my sofa table and added some hairpin legs.
We bought these hairpin legs at Hobby Lobby, but you can order all sized legs on Amazon or other hardware stores. We just ordered some shorter hairpin legs on Amazon, so I hope to match the end tables to the sofa table next.
We really like the way this turned out! Gives the room a whole new modern feel.
So maybe think about revamping your old furniture before getting rid of it or buying new. You can save a lot of money and change up the look to give a new feel to your room.
And you just might like your house all over again!
👌🏼
Have you done any furniture revamping of your own? How did it turn out?
The Indiana University students are back! We observed many a mom and dad walking alongside their new college student. Boy, that sure brought back memories of me choking up all the way home from Missouri and Georgia.
My kids both left home within a year of each other and I found myself walking by their bedrooms to say something then would quickly realize they weren’t there.
I ended up just shutting their doors. 🗣😭
Leaving our babies behind, wondering when we’ll see them next is a difficult transition. And many of us are/were going through menopause at the same time! 😳 I always said it was God’s cruel joke! We put in all these years of hard work, making lunches, sewing costumes, throwing parties, working in their classrooms, for all of it to come down to moments like this. This is when we do double duty praying that our kids meet professors that align with their upbringing, meet encouraging friends that have the same morals, that their minds only be open to things that will help them grow and become the people they were destined to be.
We’ve worked with college ministries as well as international students. And can you imagine leaving your child in another country? 🙀
We pray our young people come to know God and make a change in this world just by being who God always intended them to be.🙏 .
Hey guys, I’m a new grandma! (Yep, I’m getting THAT old!😁) This is my first grandchild ever!
We quickly packed our bags and took a trip down to Georgia because the baby was coming sooner than expected. She wasn’t expected till around the 21st so we were pretty surprised. But after a visit to the doctor, and some blood pressure concerns, they decided to admit my daughter-in-law that night. She was induced the next day. We were concerned at first but everything ended up going fairly well…
Well, it was hard on mommy and she pretty much delivered naturally. Poor thing. She’s awesome!
So, the baby was born July 10th and four days later they all came home. At first the baby was a little jaundice, so they had to check all her numbers each day. And she slept under a little UV blanket a few times.
Now they’re just trying to get the baby to sleep which is so difficult!😴 My son didn’t sleep but six hours till he was 10 months old.
He never took a pacifier, nor a bottle, and he cried a lot! It’s a miracle I chose to even have a second child after that.
Dead. 💀
Dead, I tell ya. I was a walking zombie for 10 months! 🧟♀️
So please indulge me while I share cute photos of my new, grandbaby, girl
Chloe Summer. 🌞🤗
New aunt right there! You’d think it was HER baby she was so excited!
I purchased this felt insert for my purse and it has been a lifesaver. I got tired of digging around in my open totes unable to find things quickly and I love this purse organization. I’ve even used it in other purses, bags and backpacks even for organizing my camera lenses when traveling as well. It even comes in all different sizes and colors
So, I thought I would share it.
I recently became an Amazon affiliate and since I have to stay home now due to health issues I’m trying new things and ways to be creative. But, I sure would appreciate it if you use my link to purchase.
And just so you know, I will ONLY share those things me and my family like or use ourselves. 😊
Artificial flowers can quickly add up as well, so finding flowers at the 
then there's two...Morgie & Me 