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 bought a lot of Easter decor this year; probably more than I’ve ever purchased before.
My mother painted this little chick many decades ago, and I decided to use all the wild violets in the yard as a backdrop. I’ve never seen this many. It looks like faint, purple blankets laying all over the yard.I’ve been playing with flatlays on Instagram.
I just thought these bunny plates were so cute and vibrant!
But, I always keep trying! I usually enter for all my family members too. (I have all their personal information down pat, ha!)
Mainly, I keep entering because we have had a family member win a car, we won a commercial shoot/college scholarship, a cruise, and some other smaller winnings.
My last winning was $500 worth of toys from Ross. I no longer have kids at home, so I donated the toys to Toys for Tots...Go, Marines ! (You know I’m all about the Marine Corps.)
Two years ago, I missed a $500, holiday, shopping spree at Kohls.
Yeah, I know. 😦
I was very ill, for over three months. (Literally, not just from losing this opportunity.)
And, unbeknownst to me, I had won via a Twitter contest I signed up for, on a whim.
I was brand new to Twitter and didn’t even think to check my account.
I wasn’t even sure how Twitter worked at the time, and I later found an old message stating I needed to reply ASAP.
By the time I had contacted Kohls, it was too late. 😦
HUGE BUMMER!
(And yes, it really was a valid contest. And yes it really was Kohls contacting me.)
Just SICK, I tell ya! That sure would’ve helped out around Christmastime.
They just wouldn’t award it to me, because I missed the deadline to reply! UGGH.
Anyhow, I keep entering stuff.
It never hurts to try, right?
Getting back to the house contest.
Some of the features of this 2016, HGTV home, I really liked. Like this tile and
The gray, painted brick with the accent of slate against the posts just added dimension and interest. I was thinking if you had old brick columns, you could paint them and add the slate.
And the porch with grouted slate…such neat detailing.
Make a Flag Topper to Enhance a Simple Wedding Cake
Take a simple cake from a local store (ie SAMS, Costco or local grocery store) and make it unique by adding your own flags and some flowers and voila!!…a customized cake forcheap that was less expensive!
My daughter liked the flag idea for the top of her cake. However, I could not find any pre-made flags the right size for patterns, to place on the cake nor any of the colors of her wedding.
So, I decided to make my own. It was super easy and fun!!
Supplies you’ll need:
A heavier weight or “stiffer” paper for making a pattern for your flags. We used scrapbook paper in multiple colors. We found individual sheets (which is much cheaper) esp. if you get them on sale to boot like we did at Hobby Lobby. So, they were just pennies… YAY me! You can also find them in book form with a common color scheme at most craft stores.
Some bakers twine , jute twine, or I used a two-toned silver/copper wire from Hobby Lobby. Just think about how you want the flags to hang. (Do you want the string taut or have a swag to it.)
Glue stick for paper flags and heavier glue to secure beads/wire to skewers.
Two, wooden dowel rods or skewers from Hobby Lobby. (You could paint these but I liked the bare look of the wood.)
Beads if you want a more finished look to the top of each skewer.
Directions:
First, decide the scale of each flag’s keeping the size of your cake tier in mind. (I mean, you don’t want too tiny of flags for a large cake or vis versa.)
Then, decide how long they should string across the cake. You want to make sure it’s not too long for the size of the cake layer you’ll be stringing the flags across. But not so short you only get 2 flags on your wire…that’d just look weird. 🙂
Lay out the way you want your design to look.
Cut out the flags by placing the pattern on the fold to make it easier to attach to your string or wire later.
Decide the spacing between each flag as well as color and shape of each flag.
Arrange on the wire and glue the paper together first by folding. BE CAREFUL on how much glue you use as it can bleed through the paper.
I thought it’d look more interesting to make different flag shapes, so I placed alternating flags on the wire. Also, try some “see thru” papers adding a color underneath as I did with this black and white designed paper. I liked how the pink paper showed through.
I later tied wrapped and frayed the ends of the wire to make fancier “tassels” then secured them to the skewers. Make sure they are tight or glued so they don’t slide down the stick.
Most importantly, make sure you think about how the wooden rods will angle once inserted into the cake.
This way you won’t keep poking holes in your cake. I kind of practiced after laying out a template of the diameter of my tier since I didn’t have the cake in front of me yet.
Now add some flowers and VOILA!…a unique design for your cake! (Wish I had a clearer picture! ugh)
I do think our topper of flags turned out really cute and with all the other added expenses for this wedding, we definitely saved on the cake!
Here’s the initial cake we ordered from SAMS. but we removed some of the designs to make it more simple.
(We had other desserts anyhow; this was just for the cake cutting ceremony anyhow. 😉
Need more ideas? More pictures from the wedding can be found here:http://wp.me/p5ntHO-aZ
Artificial flowers can quickly add up as well, so finding flowers at the 
I’ve been playing with flatlays on Instagram.
then there's two...Morgie & Me 