All Things Terry Lee

i like

2012-01-24T13:37:00.000-06:00

this artwork from heart&soul. not sure who the artist/designer is. but i sure love what it represents. love my gal pals!

the time has come ...

2011-04-29T21:05:00.000-05:00

... the walrus said, to talk of many things.

and i guess i am the walrus. coo coo ca choo.

don't have much time or energy or motivation to sit here and write a long post, so i'll be quick. and i think i'll number my thoughts, so as to organized this scrambled mess of mush they call a mind.

1. i turned 50 since last we met. whoop-de-doo! it's nifty and i'm thrifty. and in the words of molly shannon's SNL character, sally o'malley: "i'm 50 years old and i like to kick and strrrretch and KICK! 'cause i'm 50 years old! 50! 50! book 'em danno, i'm 5-0."

had a good bday weekend. hubs had to work in prep for summer school so the FAGs and our FAGette tara went to austin to paint the town pink. spent saturday night in two lovely suites in a gorgeous hotel that had ... wait for it ... ROYAL SWANS swimming in the koi pond in the lobby!

there really was lots of eye candy at this hotel with a gorgeous atrium and glass elevators. great place to start a new decade of my life, especially surrounded by my best girls.

from the 6th floor, looking down at the lobby and the swans

see that gorgeous blonde in the elevator? her name is tara. :)

birthday girl dons the green (ack!) birthday hat (acquired from restaurant the night before), for The Opening of the Gifts

beautiful daughter with her old mama ... haha

jannetta hugs the birthday girl

bonnie's turn!

i'm 5-0!

group picture!

2. have been doing V. well on my Junk Flow Situation (as discussed in previous posts). selling fairly well on ebay and i shed myself of PLENTY at the last show (see previous post). i'm still working on the INFLUX PROBLEM but whatcha gonna do? a junker's gotta junk. but i'm truly focusing on scaling back and putting things back before checkout.

am in LOVE with this retro cool aqua bread bin/tin. found it at the barn for $1!!!

picked up this interesting copper set at a sale in austin on birthday weekend. i love it. but it's not budging on ebay.

3. am following american idol much too closely. am concerned about the intensity and depth of which i CARE about the show and the idols. i mean, really. i went into full-blown hysteria when casey got the boot this week (hi dee ho ... heave ho!). i find myself in a state of agitation should someone interrupt me while i'm watching. i vote more often than i should. i can't put my iphone down. just one more text vote. i worry about what will happen when the season is over. i want james to win because: A. he deserves it. he's so full of musical talent that it's oozing out of every pore. B. i'm so encouraged and heartened that someone with his disabilities can overcome sooo much and come sooo far. it gives me hope for my son ... that he can do ANYthing. asperger's, ADD, whatever ... it shouldn't hold you back and keep you from realizing your dreams.

4. said goodbye to michael scott of the office last night. yes, i actually cried. i know it's not real life (like idol ... bwahahaha) but i've watched this show for many years and i think steve carrol is one of the funniest guys out there. he WAS the office. will miss him on the show.

5. easter came. easter left. one of the first years i didn't make an easter basket for anyone. :( however, i DID receive this SWEEEEET pink vintage sewing basket for my bday from dear friend and fellow 1961 baby, mary valentine! OH!!!! and she also gave me THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT ANYONE could ever receive ... her first grandbaby!!! Sweet baby Olivia was born on MY birthday!!! whoop!!! congrats, grandma mary!!

isn't it lovely? and it goes perfectly with my little bunnies and chicks.

sweetness incarnate

6. had a precious afternoon with my two youngest yesterday. in an impromptu "picnic", the three of us grabbed some chick-fil-a and headed for the lake. we ate under the bridge but didn't get out of the car because there were a few fishermen (think deliverance) and three dogs roaming the area. in fact, one of them came over to our car (smelled the chick-fil-a probably) and tried to climb in the car window. he left multiple claw scratches on my dark blue camry. and no, i didn't bother to complain to their owners (see deliverance reference above).

however, we did drive around the lake to a nicer area and walked around a bit. gorgeous, sunny weather, the company of my babes and chick-fil-a.

yeah, 50 is starting out okay. :)

matt holds up a fossilized ear. nah, not really. but it's incredible how much it actually LOOKS like an ear!

tara looking cool in her shades. it was a beautiful sunny day

happy weekend, y'all.

love and hugs,
terry lee

My New Baby!

2011-04-08T20:13:00.000-05:00

hey y'all,

another looooong lag between posts and i'm terribly sorry for it. have missed bloggieland ... writing, reading, lurking.

this will be a quickie because i'm half-dead and have a full day of junking ahead of me tomorrow (yes, with the FAGs!). whoop!

thanks to everyone who came out last saturday to the american cancer society's relay for life garage sale, sponsored by the shine team realtors! i could not believe how many vendors there were in that huge building! we were packed!! the poor shoppers didn't have much room to mill around!

it was, in one word, AMAZING!! such a success! i sold tons of ~~junk~~ ... er ... lovely vintage treasures! what a blessing to unload all of that so i can buy more! heh heh

it was crowded and we were busy from 7am until after 2pm. wow. thanks to my helpers tara, jannetta, bonnie and matthew. couldn't have made it without yous guys!!

so much for making this a quickie, eh? i do tend to ramble. what i really wanted to share with you (see subject title) is my new baby! no, not the screaming, wetting, bawling kind. this one just sits there, is v. quiet and oh-so-lovely!

while on my wednesday junking rounds, i eyed this extraordinary piece at the AS IS lot of a local goodwill store. i made a beeline to it. i just KNEW someone was going to knock me down to get to it. but nope. not a soul around to fight with.

it's a 1925 brunswick panatrope with radiola ... minus the radiola equipment ... but the chest/cabinet is gorgeous, is it not?!

had to go inside to get a price check on it and all the while, i was deathly afraid someone was going to get it first. after several attempts, i finally got an employee to walk out with me and give me a price.

she inspected it, checked her clipboard multiple times and couldn't seem to find it on the list. finally. FINALLY. she said, "well, i'll take $6 for it. it doesn't have the insides to it, or i would've charged you more."

i do believe my heart went into a mild tachycardic arrhythmia. whaaa?! $6 is all she wants?! i heard myself say, "i'll take it!" and i don't remember a thing until after matt and i hauled it home in the truck later that afternoon.

i am in love. truly. who cares that its innards are missing?! i mean, yeah, of course it'd be a hellavu lot more valuable if the stereo/radio equipment was there and working. but it's still a lovely antique and i love it!

happy junkin' this weekend, y'all. hoping to capture some bluebonnet pics this time.

love and hugs,
terrylee

Come One, Come Y'all!

2011-03-31T10:05:00.001-05:00

hey y'all!

i know it's been forever since i've posted. wow, life's been a little insane lately.

but i just wanted to let y'all (if you're in the central texas area) know that i'll be selling at the huge shine team community garage sale this saturday, april 2nd at the killeen special events center.

it's for a great cause ... raising funds for the relay for life which benefits the american cancer society. here is their facebook link for more info: Garage Sale Info

it starts early (7am!!). be sure to set your alarm clocks so you won't miss all the good stuff! please stop by my booth and say hey! i'll have plenty of vintage treasures at great prices for you!

hope to see you there!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Date & Time
Saturday, April 2, 2011 7:00am - 2:00pm

Location
Killeen Special Events Center
3601 S WS Young Drive
Killeen, TX

Stirring the Junkin' Pot

2011-03-07T14:17:00.001-06:00

hey y'all,

been a long time since i've posted, i know. i'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath and crying into your pillows each night for lack of terrylee's junking adventures. heh heh

killer vintage pillow with rows and rows of roses!

and yes. stuffed with chicken and duck feathers!!
well, i'll tell it to you straight. i lost my muse for a while. honestly, as much as i love love love junk and the thrill of the treasure hunt, i just got a little burned out and simply overwhelmed.

i kept buying and buying (and buying and buying and buying) ... do you get the picture yet? because i can NOT pass up a great vintage treasure OR a bargain. cases in point:

three lil vintage "bunnies" looking all sweet and precious and adorable. just look at those faces!

a precious vintage lipstick holder with mirror and sweet cherub

an estate sale find, this is a wax doll from the 1920s ... with her original hair, albeit a tad wadded. she's divine!
and what, several of you have asked me in the past, do i DO with all my terrific treasures? i think some of you have actually begun to worry a little about my ... er ... problem. situation. whatever you wanna call it.

we've all watched hoarders. and i think it's good medicine for junkers like me. we need a reality check. i need a reality check.

does this mean i'm done junking? in a word, NO. in two words, HELL no. i will NOT stop doing something that means so much to me. i LOVE vintage/antique items. i love their history. they make me feel connected to a past that i didn't live. to those women before me who had such a different life, yet probably felt many of the same emotions, desires, pleasures and heartaches that i have experienced.

BUT, how many vintage plates with pink roses does a person need?! how many scraps of vintage lace, doilies, bottles, ladies' hats, hat boxes, dresses, slips, dolls, ephemera ... i could go on and on. really? how much is too much?!

i guess the saturation point is different for all of us. but i know i've reached mine. the junk has taken over and is winning, just like the terrorists (heh).

so what's the answer? for me, i think the solution is three-fold. first, i need to buy in moderation. be more discriminating in my selections. reign myself in a bit. put things back. think twice. think thrice.

secondly, spend an occasional saturday with my current junk ... cleaning, sifting, organizing instead of junking for new pieces.

lately, it seems all i ever do is just move junk from one place to another. it's like my house is one big pot o' junk and i'm just stirring it around, over and over. watching it simmer. enjoying the aromas and anticipating the delicious flavors. but who can eat a whole potful of vintage yumminess??

thank the good lord i now have a "craft room". as IF any crafting is ever done in there. basically, it's my junk room. but still, i'm thankful for it ... a place to store/organize/fret-over my current junk. i mean, inventory.

which brings me to: thirdly, i need to feed the hungry masses, yearning for their own vintage food. share the love. meaning, more needs to go OUT. basic physics. inflow and output. junk in, junk out. give, sell, donate, etc. whatever. but i need a better output. i do sell on ebay, but that's quite a constipated process if you ask me. still, it's junk OUT. also, i'm excited about a couple of upcoming community garage sales at which i'll be a vendor (more info on that forthcoming).

a spot to call home base for my shipping efforts.
with any luck, i'll stay focused on this three-fold formula and my junkin' world will have a little more equilibrium. because i will not answer if the hoarder film crew comes knocking at my door!

as an aside, it's march in central texas. i'm officially on the bluebonnet watch! whoop!

love and hugs, ya'll,
terrylee

A Bounty of Blistex and Beautiful Blooms

2011-02-13T18:22:00.000-06:00

hey y'all,

and a very happy valentine's day to y'all!

okay, so it's a day early but in this house, we celebrate things whenever we feel like it. and since tomorrow (the real day of love and flowers and chocolates and other nonsensical stuff) is a monday, my DH decided to surprise me with a bouquet of red roses and boxes of blistex this morning.

as i stumbled into the kitchen (♫♪♫ to pour myself a cup of ambition ♪♫♪), i was blown away by these gorgeous roses ... sitting pretty next to boxes and boxes of my beloved blistex!

also, my valentine wrote me a poem (he's a poet and he knows it!) and presented it to me on a sweet, pink handmade card.

all together now ladies: awwwwwww ... sighhhhhhhhhh.

i know. i have a winner, a keeper, a dandy. he works hard so i don't have to. kinda like those scrubbing bubbles ... haha. i could go on and on about all he does for me, but i don't want y'all to hate me because i have such a wonderful husband. hate me because i'm beautiful. bwahahahahahaha!!

i had a terrific junkin' day with my darling daughter yesterday. just the two of us. she's so funny ... and fun to be with! we hit an estate sale in temple, among other things. it was only her second estate sale ever and so she's still sorting out how she feels about them.

a sweeeeeet lil perfume bottle. so tiny, so old. love it!
i've blogged before about the mixed emotions they elicit. it's sad to rummage through the remains of a dead person's life ... all the things they've collected through the years. on the other hand, it's utterly fascinating to explore and discover all the things they've collected in their lives.

you can't tell in the picture, but this gorgeous vintage bonnet is a light green. it. is. KILLER.
tara did well and actually finished perusing before i did. that's because she's inexperienced in the art of digging and sifting, which as you all know, that's how you find the treasures. but when i met up with her in one of the back bedrooms, she looked pale and slightly panicked. she had just looked in the master bathroom and eyed a box labeled "ladies urinal", along with other medical-type supplies.

apparently, this made her "creepiness meter" go berserk. she was ready to check out. literally and figuratively. so while she waited in the car, i finished shopping and then took my leave as well.

this estate sale had lots of old lace to go along with the arsenic in the master bath. okay, i'm kidding. no arsenic.
no doubt about it. estate sales are an acquired taste. some are absolutely fab, some are duds. but if i'm being honest, every single one of them has a "creep factor". some just hide it better than others.

at the estate sale, i found a great pair of old heavy duty scissors that cut like a dream! the handmade-looking journal was a score from a temple thrift shop

old chenille pillow with some added lace and vintage button. adorable!
hope y'all have a great week of valentines and chocolate, plenty of hugs and kisses ... and lots and lots of happiness and love.

love and hugs,
terrylee

my favorite piece from the estate sale: a gorgeous black dress that is approximately 100 years old. it belonged to the mother of an 86 year old woman. she said she remembers her mother wearing the dress, with a slip-type undergarment. good thing ... it's v. sheer! and oh-so-beautiful!

up close

hmmm, could be romantical, no? :)

More Manic Musings ...

2011-02-01T16:52:00.001-06:00

hey y'all,

why can't i be like that sweet, adorable little lamb without a care in the world?! you can just tell he's got nothing but bubbles of air floating around in his sweet li'l noggin. instead, i feel like screaming and running around in circles with my hands over my ears ... because my brain is so overwhelmed with thoughts and worries and projects and more worries. aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!

whew. okay, now that that's off my chest, i'll try to pretend i'm a sane person just blogging away a ccccccold february afternoon.

went FAGGing the last TWO weekends!! how much FUN can a girl have?! maybe i'm a little overstimulated from all my junkin' treasures (including that precious lamb, above), good food (little white donuts are a must when we go out) and all the laughs we shared in the FAG-mobile.

i have the movie citizen kane on in the background. i watched the first hour or so because it's always listed as one of (if not THE) best movies in history ... always in close competition with my beloved gone with the wind.

well, let me tell you. meh ... it was alright. but it's no GWTW. i had to get up because i couldn't hack it anymore. maybe i'm missing something, or my tastes are skewed.

but i digress. perhaps i need to number my thoughts. that always seems to help me focus what i'm writing. so here goes.

1. i got a haircut/color/style last week!! this is the first professional salon 'do that i've ever had in my almost 50 years! which is probably why i decided to do it. the big 5-0 is coming soon.

it's a big change (for me) and i'm pleased with it. so is everyone else who's dared to comment on it. ;)

2. found a GREAT new junking haunt! i don't normally release this top secret information to just anyone. but since there are so few who actually read this mess of a blog, i thought i'd share. it's called the annunciation maternity home thrift shop and it's open only on the first and third fri/sat of each month.

it's located in a warehouse type building just off of state hwy 195, south of killeen/florence. turn right onto shell road just before you reach I35 and the maternity home is on the left.

they have TONS of items and terrific prices! and all proceeds go to a wonderful cause.

all they ask is that you DON'T drive over 17 mph. huh. i hate odd numbers.
3. i received my blog prize from vintagesue. a box of sweet vintage loveliness ... pieces that she knew i'd love, meant just for me! thanks soooo much sue!

sue, i hope you received the email with my effusive thanks for this lovely box o' treasures!!
4. was driving around, junkin' solo one day last week and drove past a white wicker daybed (!!!!!!!) sitting waaaay out close to the street. it was meant to draw attention, as it happened to be at a mini-flea market thingy. i nearly broke my neck gawking at it as i flew past (it was on a business highway).

without hesitation, i performed a quick (and slightly illegal) u-turn and pulled in right next to it.

a guy named fred met me before i even got out of my car. geez. like stink on a dog. he spoke broken english (meaning, not much better than me, heheh) but enough to communicate that the daybed went with the dresser sitting next to it, for a total of $175.

ouch. not my price range. plus, i didn't want or need the dresser. i've been in search of a daybed for my daughter's vacant room which is now my craft room/guest room.

anyhow, i told fred that was more than i could pay and he quickly informed me that i needed to speak to maria, the head-honcho lady. sadly, her english was worse than fred's so all i got from her was a lot of "no, no, no!" and violent head gestures.

ummm, methinks she no like my offer. but she did finally agree to split up the set and sell me the daybed after some serious and frustrating negotiations, with fred in the middle performing translation duties. poor guy. he earned his money that day, which i suspect isn't much with maria as his boss. yikes.

BUT, i am now the v. happy owner of an adorable white wicker daybed, complete with a serta mattress.

can't wait to get it moved into its new home and gussied up with chenille and pillows and lace and such.

5. saw my primary (doctor, that is) yesterday. hate going, mainly because i'm not a patient patient. which is to say, i don't like to wait 2 hours for my scheduled appointment time. i know it all boils down to the healthcare crisis, managed care, insurance companies and HMOs running the show. so "small business" doctors like mine, feel the need to make up for the loss of $$ by overbooking. i know this because i've been on the inside of the system. triple booking (scheduling 3 people for a 2:00 appointment) is a reality.

ANYways, i don't like it one bit. the wait, that is. when i'm in the waiting room with all the other poor souls, i have to play nice. but once i'm alllll alone in that exam room, it's game ON. nothing is sacred. latex gloves, the exam table, instruments, brochures, posters on the wall. anything i can access is fair game for my personal entertainment. why read a book when i can do this?!

perform a self-tonsil exam. don't try this at home, kiddies. i'm a professional. heh

make-believe you're teaching a health class: take notice, class ... if your liver is on the outside of your purple dress, something is amiss. consult your physician immediately. good luck.
6. tomorrow is groundhog's day. just sayin'.

y'all stay safe and warm. it's cold everywhere ... even in central texas! brrrrrrrrr.

love and hugs,
terry lee

ps. for your irreverant amusement, i conclude with the following:

spotted this little angel at the expo center recently. couldn't resist taking her picture ... in a not-so-angelic pose. if you know what i mean. and yes, i'm going straight to the devil for it.

Things: On My Mind and Around My House

2011-01-18T12:40:00.000-06:00

hey y'all!

much, much too much on my mind today. and yet i feel the need to bloggity blog. so here i go.

i never really plan what i'm going to write ... it's usually just a stream of consciousness, if and until i get to some sort of point.

but there are a couple of things i want to write about before they fly out of my head and are gone. with. the. wind.

1. my dear friend sue at vintagesue recently held a blog give-away (drawing) ... and **I** won!!!! couldn't believe it! she had lots of entries and since i'm not known for my good luck (gloom, despair and agony on me), i never dreamed i'd be chosen. but i WAS! woohoo!!! what'd i win? don't know! but if it's coming from vintagesue, it'll be lovely vintage yumminess. i'll keep you posted!

2. my dear friend dana of dana's chicken scoop recently asked me to post some pictures of different vignettes around my house. honestly, i'm afraid she might be a tad delusional in thinking that A. i even have "vignettes" in my house ... and B. they're worthy of sharing with others. but since dana is such a sweetie pie with a heart of frickin' gold (oh, and she named one of her blonde chicks after me!) i am obliging her. thus the random photos throughout the post.

my mantel ... the white lights stay up year-round. one of my favorite things to look at
3. oh, and back to my dear friend sue. she also recently tagged me to post a list of "7 things you don't know about me". due to sheer laziness, post-holiday recovery and low hemoglobin, i've yet to make my list. until now! check it out below.

4. the girls and i went junkin' last weekend and hit an estate sale in temple, the goodwill bargain barn and the "garage sale" at the bell county expo. it was a cold, rainy, dreary day. but those two and all the junking brought lots and lots of sunshine and happiness my way. thanks for a great day!

terrific treasure pick, this vintage dresser was $28 and in dire need of a make-over. i spruced her up with a greenish color and topped her off with a killer vintage painting of luscious roses, salvaged from the goodwill barn for $2. gotta love junkin'!

laughter is great medicine. i take it as often as possible in large doses. love this sign as part of my bird vignette
5. i have totally forgotten to announce the winner of my v. own blog give-away contest from before the holidays! i asked for ideas for the acronym of LIFE. my sister (no nepotism was involved in this decision!!) belinda was the winner. her entry was: Literacy Is For Everyone. she's a librarian. huh. congrats, belinda! you won a delicious smelling candle which i've already given you! :)

6. all right. i guess that was more than a "couple" of things, but i hate to waste good blog space on just two things.

love and hugs,
terrylee

7 things about me (which i'm sure will thrill and excite you!)

1. i was born and have lived in the same central texas town for all of my almost 50 years.

2. i was named after my mother's "terri lee" doll, which was a popular brand of dolls in the 40s and 50s. oddly enough, the correct spelling of the doll didn't translate to my birth certificate.

3. i sang in the school choirs and took piano lessons from age 7 through high school. i really couldn't sing a lick, but because of my piano training, i was a fine musician and sight-reader.

4. i started college with the intent of becoming a teacher. after my first two babies were born, i decided to pursue nursing. i've been an RN for over 25 years.

5. i make the best darn cornbread dressing in the 48 contiguous states. actually, in all 50 states, but i just wanted to use the word contiguous.

6. whew. didn't imagine it'd be this difficult to think of 7 things about me. oh! i'm addicted to blistex ointment. but that's cheating because i've blogged about that before.

7. okay, i'll admit it. i suffer from the dreaded scarlett o'hara syndrome, and the middle child syndrome, which i believe are related. if i have to explain either of those, it'd only make my symptoms worse. so google it for yourself if you're really that curious. ;)

(and thus ends The List. thanks a LOT, sue. haha!)

sentimental old mirror, which hung over my childhood piano. i sat staring into it for hours as i hacked out scales and sonatas that'd make beethoven cringe ... if he could hear me (heh heh)

pretty as a picture. lamp is captured by a vintage frame ... one of my favorite corners.

ask not for whom the bell tolls ...

we all need to daydream more ...

vintage loveliness. i so wish i had the figure for this and the one below ... i'd wear vintage fru-fru poufiness all the time

vintage pink fru-fru to die for.

another favorite corner. can you have too many vintage rose paintings?!

fun and adorable. i'm the proud mama of this baby, which i picked for $5 at a yard sale. painted her pink and filled her head with baubles and beauties

my precious parents adorn the mirror above my piano now, along with vintage sheet music and assorted treasured pieces

sweet vintage gloves and vanity hand mirrors

i've always had a love/hate relationship with these shelves, which are next to my mantle and the back door. no matter what i put on them, it never felt right. a few years ago, i painted them pink. it helped ... but still i wasn't happy. this is the first time in my almost 20 year affair with these shelves that i am finally happy. i love the collections (old tins, old boxes, etc.)

Bye Bye, 2010 ... Resolution Time Again?!

2011-01-01T11:11:00.000-06:00

happy new year, y'all!

hope everyone had a wonderful, perfect, drama-free (as if) christmas and that santa was v. good to you all. mine turned out to be quite lovely, spending time with loved ones ... family and friends.

having said that, i still feel like that poor lil gingerbread guy up there. he belongs to my daughter tara and i snapped a quick shot of him while visiting her v. sweet apartment recently.

wish i'd gotten him at a different angle, but you can see that he looks a tad, well, overwhelmed. maybe he ate too much? shopped too much? he's got icing dripping off his head and arms. poor thing.

anyhow, i can relate. i think i still have pecan pie goo (thanks jannetta!!) on my chin and pumpkin pie with whipped cream between my fingers. over-eat much?! naaahhhh!!! of course not!

i suppose this is where i talk about new year's resolutions ... eating healthier, establishing an exercise routine, keeping a tidier house (which would mean junking less). blahblahdiddyblahblah.

"new year's day ... now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." ~~ mark twain
ack!! i simply can't handle any of that yet. i'm such a procrastinator, i usually don't make resolutions until valentine's day. if at all. i used to. when i was younger and healthier and had the energy. which, if you think about it, meant i didn't really need all those resolutions then anyhow. is that an oxymoron, honey (this means you, my dear english major husband o' mine)?

but i digress, as usual. i'll leave you with some memories of christmas-time 2010 ... and my best wishes to all of you for a happy, healthy, peaceful and joyous new year.

love and hugs,
terrylee

"he who breaks a resolution is a weakling; he who makes one is a fool." ~~ f.m. knowles

sisters, sisters! there were never such devoted sisters ... at the theater, after watching "meet the little fockers". i gave it two-thumbs-up!

my two favorite girls ... sissy belinda and daughter tara, visiting at tara's terrific apartment

my deliriously happy newlywed sister and her just-as-delirious new hubby ... belinda and teddy
around my house on a cozy christmas morning with my two youngest:

my silly matt imitating his new fireman nutcracker ... think jaw dropping up and down. heh heh

"new year's resolution: to tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time."~~ james agate

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2010-12-20T20:22:00.000-06:00

hey y'all,

i fiddled with this dang slideshow much, much longer than i intended. it was meant to be a quicker, easier project than uploading individual pics to my blog. huh. that didn't happen.

anyhow, i wanted to show you some of my christmas decor around the house. not much different than last year, save for the cmas tree itself. it's old and small, something i bought a few years ago in my futile attempt to scale down cmas decor. i keep the white lights on it and the ornies too. just cover it up with a large trash bag and toss it in the garage until next year. however, last year i found an old silver tree at the goodwill, and i just had to use it. not this year, though. back to simplicity, ease and a little peace.

hope you enjoy the slideshow. pictures speak a thousand words, so i'll be quiet. but first (heh heh), i'd like to say that i really wanted music with this slideshow. in particular, the song, "my favorite things". instead, i'm embedding another video with lovely julie andrews singing it for you. click play and then WATCH my slideshow. get it? got it? good! :)

love and hugs and a v. merry christmas to y'all,
terrylee

LIFE

2010-12-08T11:04:00.045-06:00

hey y'all,

right. everybody i know wants an ironing board, santa! who even irons anymore?! and if you do iron, certainly don't waste a christmas wish on an ironing board, of all things!!

it's impossible to believe that i haven't posted in almost a month! what the what?! well, i'll tell you what's the what. L.I.F.E. not sure why i used periods. it's not an acronym. hey wait. give me a sec and i might get creative and think of one.

how about ... Life Is ******* Exhausting! or, maybe something not so profane (for my sensitive readers out there) ... Life's Insane, Forego Expectations. hmmm. still not what i'm looking for.

how about this? submit your favorite L.I.F.E acronym suggestion (in the comment section) and i'll choose a winner! of what? who knows. to be determined later, depending on the winner's preferences. vote early and vote often. wait, that doesn't make sense. never mind. it was the vicodin talking. (haha)

anyhow, have been junking, junking, JUNKING like a wild woman. sheesh! dragging stuff home every weekend. and now it seems during the week as well. somebody needs to come over here now and put a STOP to my insanity!!!!!!

lots of estates sales ... almost every weekend. who can resist?! not me. and certainly not the regulars i see at every sale (hey, coopers!). some have been a junker's paradise, some a complete bust. but isn't that the nature of the beast? you just. never. know.

here's one example then i'm dashing off. the harker heights GW barn is open today. gotta hit chick-fil-a and get myself out there. muy pronto. lots of vultures at that particular barn and they show absolutely NO mercy on those of us who aren't exactly ... well ... early birds.

last weekend, the FAGs were out in force (please, please, i implore you to click that link if you don't know what/who the FAGs are. no disrespect intended. it's just an(other) acronym that was born one day and has been our adopted name ever since).

so we landed at a yard sale, one of many on our hit list that day.
after a cursory glance about, i determined it was mostly gewgaws and whatnots that didn't interest me. however, i did notice a chandie sitting outside its box on the driveway. i moseyed over to it, with little enthusiasm. on closer inspection, i saw that it was a rather pretty glass chandie and inside the box, i spotted quite a few glass prisms. whaaaa?!

i asked the seller about it and she said she didn't know anything about the chandie except that her hubby found it in an empty house and dragged it home. it'd been sitting in their garage for a while and she never attempted to use it.

she priced it at $8, which i promptly paid her, we (the FAGs) loaded the heavy box in my camry and hightailed it out of the neighborhood. i'll be honest. i still didn't know much about the chandie, but i had enough sense to suspect that i had a treasure worth much more than the $8 i shucked out for it.

it took me 3 days, but i finally unwrapped all the pieces of my chandie (tons and TONS of crystal prisms!) and then it dawned on me to look for a name/brand on it somewhere. sure enough, on the inside of the top piece where it attaches to the ceiling, i found a sticker that said "tomia bohemia, emily".

ASSembly in progress. ack!! it's taking me forever!

some of the gorgeous crystals

so pretty! so blingy!!

they're so sparkly!!! yummy!!

lord help me getting it all sorted out! i'm not complaining, just sayin'. :)

i've been researching it and this is what i've discovered: if bought NEW, it's selling for over $2000. it was made in bohemia, czech republic where they make hand-cut crystals. here's the website which tells all about the history: tomia crystal chandeliers .

couldn't find ANY prices on the tomia website, so i looked around. here's one who's selling the "emily" on SALE:

almost makes me feel guilty that i paid a mere $8 for it. almost.

as i said, you just never know what you're gonna find when junking. that's why i love it so much. it's a lot like LIFE, eh? every day is an adventure. some days you hit gold, other days you hit rust. it's a crapshoot. either way, you wake up the next morning, put one foot in front of the other ... and try to remember to count your blessings.

"i have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days i do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. and for that i am grateful."

isn't it amazing what one woman and her friends can do?" ~~ both by elizabeth edwards (1949-2010)

i leave you with an adorably sweet santa from last weekend's estate sale:

love and hugs,
terrylee

Old Friends, New Faces

2010-11-12T08:46:00.063-06:00

hey y'all,

for the few of you who actually follow my blog (and for those who lurk ... you know who you are!), y'all know my posting is, at best, erratic. i try, i really do, at least once a week to report on my latest junking finds if nothing else. but hey, sometimes life gets in the way.

i'm happy to report that my eye infection (see gory details in previous post if you dare) is all better. thanks for all the kind words, good thoughts and prayers. i appreciate them all v. much!

now that the blahblahdiddyblahblah is out of the way, i wanted to share some thoughts with you about junking (or for those of you with sensitive sensibilities ... collecting vintage treasures).

i love just about anything that's old. that doesn't mean i want to collect it, but i certainly appreciate it. because i have the romantic notion that everything has a story. a history. and if i can extract even a tiny bit of information from a seller about an item, i do it.

while rummaging through a goodwill bargain barn bin the other day, i uncovered this little beauty. not that it's a good idea to judge a book by its cover, but just LOOK at this sweetie pie:

i probably won't ever read this oldie, and that's okay. but just take a look-see inside and see how precious it is.

yes, this chapter title was my iNsPiRaTiOn for today's post. old friends, new faces. that's exactly how i feel about junking. it's like collecting old friends. the faces may be new to me, but they feel so familiar to my soul. there's a palpable, kindred spirit when i'm surrounded by antiques.

when i find the perfect treasure, it's like an old friend who's been waiting to be rediscovered ... and allowed to enter my heart and home. case(s) in point:

i defy anyone to say this precious lil baby girl doesn't belong to me. just look at her! she's got a blonde ponytail, for pete's sake! i didn't care one whit that the clock didn't work. i fell in love the moment i saw her. and she's soooo thrilled to be in my home, among my other pretty vintage clocks.

this gorgeous treasure is brand new, to me. found at the lampasas city-wide yard sale last weekend. how sweet, how delicate, how delightful! notice the little blingy inside the flowers!

okay, okay. ugh, right? not v. pretty. but but but but ... it's old and has special sentimental significance for me. for those who don't recognize what it is ... it's an old telephone stand that was inserted into a wall in the house, usually in the hallway. my childhood home had one and there's no telling how many hours i stood there talking to friends (and boyfriends)! no privacy whatsoever. loooong before the days of cell phones, texting and the interwebs. one house, one family, one phone. in the center of the house. ack!!!

i've seen these occasionally at my junking haunts but was never willing to pay the price. this one was all of $3. sold! to the crazy lady driving the junk-filled, over-loaded camry!

i know what y'all are thinking. yes, i do. what in THE hell is she going to do with that thing?! the answer is: i. don't. know. but i had to have it. it spoke to me. it needed a loving home. one thing's for sure: i'll be sanding off that awful finish and repainting it. would look cute on a wall with some vintage gewgaws, whatnots or tchatchkes, no? also, i could hunt down a vintage/retro telephone for it!

here's an extra sweet picture i stumbled across ... where, i don't remember. probably the barn. i meant to paint the frame, but got distracted.

and here's an awesome find, at only $4. a vintage tole tray. i have several but none in this shape (round) or with the scroll-work border. gorgeous!

hello. my name is terrylee and i'm a vintage salt and pepper shaker hoarder (hello terrylee!). seriously, i do collect them ... but they have to be pretty, like these. soooo frickin' sweet.

see the two lil green and pink ones? those are my newest old friends.

so darling. so small!!

two of these precious babes are recent finds. you might recall a recent blog about them (thanks again elisabeth!). the baby on the far right is mine from childhood. i believe we got her in germany when i was five. they all fit in the lil blue crib nicely, don't you think? they have lots of fun together when i'm not around. heh heh

i know nothing about this piece except that i got her for $1.50 at a marble falls thrift shop last summer. vintage? no. fun? yes!! big ol' white straw top hat with a pink feather boa! woohoo!!

and this. well, this is something else. what would possess a person to purchase such a thing?! i don't know. but i have an affinity for dress forms and the like. imagine my shock when i spotted this beauty ... in, of all places ... the goodwill bargain barn!! there she was, just lying there all forlorn, with that hangdog expression on her ... er ... well, she was definitely down in the mouth (that is, if she'd had one). "somebody notice me! pick me up and take me home! put some clothes on me!" okay, lest y'all think i'm totally insane, she didn't really say that. not the part about putting clothes on her, anyway. i think she likes being naked ... such an exhibitionist.

maybe, just maybe, if i had that 6 inch waist, i might go around naked too. geez. what real woman has a waist like that?!

i like those crazy arms too! they're all bendy and twisty. can't wait to figure out what the hell i'm gonna do with her! someone told me to decoupage her. another suggested i paint her and add bling. my hubby just wants me to hide her.

a fun and funky chest of drawers, an unexpected find at a yard sale. wasn't in the market for one, but c'mon people! it's pink and turquoise (my two fave colors!) and it has fuzzy fru fru on the knobs (that's what she said ... sorry, couldn't resist). it was screaming my name so i had to get her. at $8, not a bad deal!

a homer laughlin bowl in mint condition, picked at a yard sale for $3. it was meant to be mine ... all mine! :)

okay. that is all. new friends, old friends and kindred spirits ... i wish you all peace and happy junking this weekend.

love and hugs,
terrylee

Friends + FleaMarkets (minus infection) = Felicity

2010-10-26T11:37:00.039-05:00

hey y'all,

wow. a lot has happened since i last bloggity blogged! let me catch you up.

i went to visit my sweet pal dana in georgetown last wednesday! we've been junking together but i'd never seen her house. oh.my.gawd. this woman is way too humble and modest about her decorating skillz!!

not only is she the sweetest, gentlest and generous soul in all of central texas, her house could be (and should be!) on the cover of better homes and gardens!

after The Tour (of her lovely house and grounds, including the chicken house!) we headed for a quick bite to eat before hitting the junking haunts of georgetown. she insisted on chick-fil-a (because it's my favorite) and we were both surprised at the ... well ... less than efficient service we received there.

normally, chick-fil-a employees are young and eager to serve you. they snap to attention when taking and delivering your order. not. the. case. on wednesday. oddly enough, there were three elderly ladies (sweet in nature, but still ...) who were manning the front counter. whaaa?!?

okay, fine. no worries. i'm not age-ist. i rattled off my order to "joyce", who responded with the most befuddled of expressions. you want what? she asked.

oh dddddear. i repeated my order, slower this time. a look of recognition flashed across her kind, crinkly face ... and then she went into full force, sloooow-motion mode of preparing my order. yikes. i'd never seen anyone fill a cup of ice soooo me-tho-di-cal-ly (read: slowly).

i nudged dana and darted my eyes over to the sweet old ladies. by the time they delivered the food to our table, we were in a full fit of giggles. dana explained the demographics of that area of georgetown: retired folks.

huh.

fine with me, as long as my waffles fries are still warm when i get 'em.

after lunch, we went to collector's market, just down the road. it's full of vendors with a lovely array of vintage items. we had sooo much fun perusing the booths!

sadly, it was time for me to head back to the ranch (not really, i don't have a ranch) ... but not before dana loaded me up with homemade strawberry preserves, a hand-poured coffee bean candle in a vintage cup, some yummy home-baked caramel apple cake and a few other treasures.

i had a terrific time, dana. thanks for your warm, southern, charming hospitality. you're THE best!

soooo when i got home that night, i noticed my right eye was itching and burning. it'd been bothering me for several days, since my punctal plug insertion of two weeks ago. go ahead. click the link ... if you dare!

when i woke up on thursday morning, this is what i saw in the mirror:

ack!!! and just in time for halloween!!

my opthamologist saw me right away and mumbled phrases like ... severe, fast-moving infection, aggressive treatment necessary, could spread to the brain, hospitalization with IV antibiotics, triangle of death (while he made a triangle over his face), blah blah blah blah.

eeeeeeyikes!!!!!!!!

mainly, i understood that i. was. sick. and very. he promptly removed the punctal plugs from the right eye and felt the need to inform me that yes, pus oooooozed out of the punctum when the plug was removed. can't say that i was surprised. the entire right side of my face was swollen and red.

got my antibiotics going (like a good nurse and patient) immediately and took to my bed for the next 24 hours.

while in the drug-induced stupor of the infected and infirm, the upcoming st. mary's flea market kept calling my name. i had committed to participate on saturday and figured that i'd have to give it up. but by saturday morning, i had reached the honeymoon phase of antibiotic relief ... and convinced myself i was healthy enough to DO IT.

so in the gawd-awful pre-dawn hours of saturday morn, hubby followed me to temple and unloaded all my wares. it took me a long time to set up ... but ice packs, covergirl, keflex, motrin and vicodin got me through it. yea!!! i made it to the flea market!!!

precious and few were the customers, but i met a couple of really sweet ones that made my day.

lisa from belton, who's a blog reader, stopped by for a visit. i love meeting new folks out there who read my blog. lisa bought a few of my home-made cards (which i made with my sewing machine) and seemed happy with them ... which made me very happy! it was soooo nice to meet you, lisa!

and sweet lil savannah came by with her mama and baby brother in tow. she was a girl after my own heart. she oooo'd and ahhhhhh'd over so much of the stuff, that i simply had to give her some of it. mama bought some things too, so i think everyone was happy at the end of the day. keep reading your books, savannah!

by the time i got home, i realized just how sick i still was ... and took to the bed again for the rest of the weekend. on monday morning, my opthamologist was pleased with my progress but reminded me that i still needed several more days of rest for complete healing. oh, and his final word to me before i left? BEHAVE!

whaaa?!?! i'm always being have.

love and hugs,
terrylee

Out of My Gourd

2010-10-19T10:35:00.033-05:00

hey y'all,

well, i was going to start this blog with something else ... but after a morning of irritating, agitating and downright frustrating phone calls with companies, medical offices, banks, etc. i am out. of. my. gourd (a little autumnal pun for you).

i'm not even sure what out of my gourd is, exactically. but you get the idea. i have spent the better half of this morning ON. HOLD. arghhhh!!!

for those of you who know me, you know that i despise being on the phone. i loathe it. i'm a texter, emailer and blogger. i don't mind short, perfunctory phone calls with friends or family. but i'd rather eat dog poop than do business on the phone.

sigh.

anyhow, now that my rant is over (for now), i've come to bloggie land to impart some very special news to you!

i will be at st. mary's church/school in temple, tx this saturday, oct. 23rd for their fall festival flea market. i hear from reliable sources (hi cindy!) that there will be over 30 excited vendors at the flea market (yes, including me) who'll be on hand to help you find that perfect SOMETHING that you want, need or simply must have!

if you read my blog, you'll know what kind of ~~junk~~ vintage collectibles to expect at my booth. if your tastes are simpatico with mine, then you do NOT want to miss it! wonderful vintage pieces, terrific prices and my smiling face. what more could you ax for? heh heh.

don't like my junque?! no worries. plenty of other vendors to visit. there will be something. for. everyone! and all proceeds go to a great cause.

and thus ends the news flash portion of today's blog.

i'd like to thank sue of vintagesue for the lovely box of vintage yumminess she sent my way last week. thanks, girl. you're the best.

see that darling lil girl?! sigh! and that vintage pink jewelry box!!

and dana, thank you for the GORGEOUS tote you made for me (a blog contest prize from dana's chicken scoop). i love it!!

how sweet and creative! what talent!

a close up

lots to do before saturday! as much as i love my stuff, i'm excited to see it move on to other loving homes ... folks who'll treasure and enjoy it as much as i did. which in turn makes room for the new junk for me to love!

junk in, junk out. it's the way my world goes 'round.

love and hugs,
terry lee

~*~*~Flea Market Info:*~*~*

Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010
Time: 8:00am - 12:00 noon
Where: St. Mary's Catholic Church School, 1018 S. 7th St., Temple, TX

Rosemary's Ephemera

2010-10-05T18:57:00.046-05:00

hey y'all,

sure meant to get this posted sooner, but as of late, i've been remiss in my blogging duties. which says a lot, actually. if blogging is a duty, then something's wrong.

i confided in a friend recently that i've lost some of my motivation and desire for blogging. don't panic, all you terrylee fans out there (hahaha)! it's just a phase. y'all know how much i love to gab, jibber jabber and otherwise carry-on about the things i do, the people i see and the treasures i find on the junkin' trail.

anyhow, i've actually done quite a bit o' junking lately. weekend before last, my daughter tara and i went out together for a "mommy and me" day (heh heh ... she's 28) and had loads of fun. that girl of mine. she's a hoot. kept me in stitches most of the day.

we found the awesome-est estate sale in lampasas! whew, it was a junker's paradise! i got tons of ephemera and other vintage goodies of which i can not recall at the moment. when i upload the pics, i shall be reminded.

okay, pics are uploaded and now i remember! oh. my. gawd. the owners of this estate (now deceased) were international travelers and collectors of all things. yes, all things. you would not believe what was in this house! and it was huge!

mainly, i scarfed up the ephemera as quickly as possible. we weren't the early birds, so i'm sure there was much more before we arrived. however, i did dig up some pretty cool stuff. miss rosemary bushey was a lady after my own heart. she scrapbooked before it was cool to do so.

i bought three of her scrapbooks which were made in the 1930s, and a high school project on "dramatics" in scrapbook form:

shame on her teacher! this project was an A+++ in my book!

i also found quite a few of her jr. high and high school report cards (a smart cookie, that rosemary!).

it'd be impossible to show you everything (though i'd love to) so i just took some random shots of her work and the scrapbooks. i. am. in. love.

her penmanship was exquisite!

a vintage book of french postcards! translated: views of rouen (france)

inside! oooh la la!

the last thing i bought at rosemary (god rest her soul) bushey's estate sale was this precious pinkish vintage dress, hat and gloves. i think i paid a total of $7 for all three. i like to think of young rosemary attending a luncheon or maybe a graduation event in 1934 wearing these. :)

moving on ... last friday, i ventured out solo (only because my junkin' buddies have real jobs during the week) and landed myself at a killer vintage sale of some v. sweet folks named elizabeth and husband. geeez, so sorry i didn't get hubby's name! but i gave elizabeth my blog info, so i'm hoping she'll see this post and leave a comment.

they are collectors, much like myself, in that they LOVE most anything vintage. wow. they've downsized and were selling some terrific treasures. it's such a treat to find pieces that you love for sale (at excellent prices!) but it's icing on the cake when the sellers are such sweet, kind people as these.

elizabeth made time to tell me about certain pieces i was buying, which of course is v. important to me. i want to know the history. as i was leaving with my box of vintage goodies, elizabeth's hubby mentioned that the lil doll i bought was his mother's. awwww!!! see?! that's the kind of thing i love to know.

i assured him that this sweet baby was in good hands and going to a loving home. :)

awwww!! i know, right?! she's too much!! love love love her!!!

also got another cutie pie doll (plastic but v. vintage). i think of him as the little brother. :) oh! and he came with the sweetest lil blue crib too! see if you can spy it in the pics.

after chatting with elizabeth, she was compelled to give me this precious lil school book to go with the doll. why? because her shoes are orange and the vintage book matches! they make quite a sweet pair, no? thank you elizabeth!!!

sweet baby girl posing with a couple of the silver pieces i also bought from elizabeth.

i could not resist this precious piece!! a to-die-for handmade vintage pin cushion. with pins galore still in it:

see how sweet the material is on the back? love this little treasure!

i also snagged a pile of vintage trading stamps ... green, gold, plaid. remember them?? to my mama and grandma, collecting stamps was a religion. can't tell you how much cool junk we got from the stamp store in downtown killeen!! good times ...

thanks elizabeth and dear hubby for a fun and memorable shopping experience!

in old news, i did not have a winner for the price guessing contest of the gorgeous vintage train-station-bench-turned-mantel-piece. sorry about that! the correct answer was ......... $25!!!! since it was an impromptu contest (i'm prone to those) and i didn't include any rules, blah blah ... like the closest one without going over, i can't call a winner. but next time i'll be more clever and post rules, etc. so there will be a definite winner! thanks to those of you who participated and commented!

thanks for stopping by. i truly do appreciate those of you who take the time to read my nonsense and even leave comments! y'all are the best.

love and hugs,
terry lee

Say What?!

2010-09-21T15:07:00.027-05:00

hey y'all,

haven't felt well lately and so i totally missed out on a great junking weekend because of it (sorry, marta).

but i've been meaning to post this since i saw it a couple of weeks ago. ever been in one of those funky dollar stores where things just. don't. feel. right? you know the ones. you see a product on the shelf and you think you recognize it. but no. on closer inspection, it's some weird knock-off of the brand product.

let's say, just for kicks, you spy a pack of panasonic batteries. but wait. when you pick them up, it actually says penesamig batteries. are the chinese (or choose your favorite foreign country) just slapping a slightly-off label on an inferior product and expecting us to not notice?!

sadly, most of us do notice but are still enticed to buy the inferior knock-off because it's cheap. oh, nevermind it doesn't work or its quality is so poor you end up trashing it. but hey! it was only a dollar!

which brings me actually, to the main point of this post. there's a "dollar" store in this area called "giant dollar store; everything's $1". don't believe me? here's the actual signage:

a few months ago, i was in this particular store for some gawd-awful reason. okay, it might've been the cutesy $1.00 earrings that i'm terribly fond of:

huge, i know. but adorable!

c'mon! pink peace signs?!?! irresistible!

anyhow, i noticed some pink croc-type shoes that i wanted.

"hey, they're only a dollar and they look comfortable," i said to myself (when no one else is around, i tend to self-talk).

but when i was checking out, the foreign-type (not that there's anything wrong with that) man behind the counter said, "deez ah tree dahluhs, oh-kay?"

i replied, "no. that's not okay. i thought everything in your store is a dollar."

"deez ah berry high qualiteee choos," he countered.

"yeah, but the name. of. your. store. is EVERYTHING'S $1!"

"tree dahluhs for choos."

i left him, with his damn $3 croc knock-offs and vowed to never return. also, i whipped out my handy dandy iphone and took the pictures above as evidence. of what, i'm not sure. i guess just to remind myself that i wasn't going crazy. the sign really does say everything's $1!

to those of you who might be thinking that $3 was a good deal, you may be right. but that's not the point. IF you're going to advertise (read sign) that everything's $1, then every. damn. thing. should. be. a. dollar ... or less. not more. arghhh.

btw, i did break my vow. i returned a couple of weeks ago with pal bonnie. yeah, we couldn't resist the new shipment of jewelry we heard had arrived. after choosing a few pairs of earrings, i wandered around while bonnie finished her shopping. that's when i spotted the following. i could scarcely believe my eyes ... which is why i took the picture. no one would've believed me:

anyone need some cotton pads??

let's just take a little closer look, shall we?

after that, all i can say is ... at least the fuxing nob nob cotton pads were only a dollar.

love and hugs,
terry lee

Belton on a Benjamin

2010-09-13T12:59:00.049-05:00

hey y'all,

here we are on a lovely sunny monday! it's like a sauna outside but will i complain?! i. shall. not.

because after all that rain and flooding, it is sooooo wonderful to see the sun shining again. don't care for the humidity. hate it, in fact. but as i said, no complaints. oh hell. who am i kidding?! what's the use in TALKING about the weather if one can't complain about it?!

so ... saturday was a beautiful day for junking. and believe it or not, it was the first time in ages that all three of us (my junking pals) went out for a grand junking adventure.

first things first. we made a quick pre-stop at chick-fil-a drive-through for a bite of breakfast. here's the exciting video of that little experience.

first stop: cindy of chipped to perfection so kindly and sweetly invited us to rummage through her collection of junk ... er ... treasures in her garage. she'd just bought out the end of a yard sale and also had loot she'd purchased while on the world's longest yard sale trail.

we spent a couple of hours with her ... digging, laughing, sweating, digging some more. whew! she had LOTS of boxes with LOTS of goodies stuffed inside them! as she said in her blog, it's great fun to be around other junkers. because they. get. it. kindred spirits. thanks again for inviting us. we had a blast, cindy!

our next stop: an estate sale in belton. lovely house. shady yard and street.

not much inside. slim pickings. i guess the sale had been on for a couple of days.

but i did spy this sweetie sitting on the floor:

she's so sweet and pretty and precious. why was she still there?! i don't know! but i'm glad she was. because now she's mine.

while in search of another sale, we just happened to pass this cool old chevy.

what the what?! naturally, we had to stop and make a huge production. because that's. what. we. do.

i pulled up into the driveway (brazen, i know) and parked right next to the chevy. we hopped out and started clicking away with our iphones and cameras.

"over here! take a picture of me with the car!"

"okay, now take one of us pretending to get in the car!"

"now take one at this angle!!"

"let's get IN the car and take some pictures," the foolish one said (i'm not naming names on my pals).

"NO. way! the police are probably on their way right now!" said the voice of reason (that would be me).

we kept looking toward the owner's house, thinking that surely they were growing weary of us gawping at their antique car.

sure enough, the owners came out to greet us. no baseball bats. no guns to shoo us away. no police call either. instead, they had big ol' grins on their faces as they walked toward us.

as it happens, they get this (crazy women making ga-ga over their car?!) all the time, so says owner mark pittman. he's so proud of his collection (yes, COLLECTION) of antique cars that he showed us another one in his garage.

his wife valeria assured me that mark was thrilled to show off his cars. he even unlocked his aqua baby and let us play inside for a bit ... and took pictures of us as well! what a great sport!

thanks again to mark and valeria pittman of belton for allowing us to enjoy and share your passion for vintage cars. you made our day!

mark and valeria pittman pose with their 1954 bel-air turquoise chevy ... thanks guys!

last stop: another sweet couple, mark oler of belton upholstery) and his wife, who used to own hosanna house in belton were having a sale. they've closed the store but were selling out the last of their inventory ... half off.

i picked up a couple of vintage pearl strands and earrings. but my big purchase of the day was this gorgeous antique piece of wood. not sure what to call it because it used to be a bench in a train station (location and further history on it is being investigated).

according to mark oler, a dealer in salado bought it for $300 and promptly whacked the legs off and made it into a huge mantel piece. so i suppose that's what it is now. however, i'm happy with my current mantel (or am i? hadn't really thought of it) so i'll be using it elsewhere. am thinking above my dining room windows OR above my large, long sofa.

this baby is huge. and heavy. someone who knows something about hanging heavy things will have to help me. naturally, i plan to paint it. nice and shabby. then i'll have this awesome large shelf to put a bunch of my shite on! woohoo!!

so, how much did i pay for this yummy hunk of vintage oak? first correct guess (in comment form) wins a prize. for reals!

other than the Lunch Situation, it was a perfect day. in a nutshell, we had to bail on a mexican restaurant because the chips were tasteless, the salsa (salsa salsa salsa!) was incredibly inedible and the queso was cold and lumpy (ack!). when the server came to take our order, i (being the head FAG) had to break the news to her that we were leaving.

we paid for the drinks (but NOT the queso) and took our leave. fortunately, we had spotted a nearby mr. gatti's and had our fill of pizza, salad and waaaay too many sweet cinnamon breadsticks.

so all's well that ends well ...

fantastic friends, terrific treasures and magical memories to last a lifetime. or at least until i forget ... heh heh.

love and hugs,
terry lee

Can You Hear Me NOW?!

2010-09-04T15:27:00.011-05:00

hey y'all,

not much junkin' this weekend. obviously, i had other fish to fry. or should that be chicken? :) enjoy!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Blog Book "Brag"

2010-08-30T12:03:00.026-05:00

hey y'all,

if you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that i get a tad, well, irritated at poor spelling, grammar and punctuation (and the like) on public signs (you don't know HOW badly i wanted to type "pubic" signs ... heh heh). in fact, i've been known to post a photo or two of the offenses on my blog.

you also might've noticed, one of the blogs that i visit regularly (and is listed on my right sidebar) is called the "blog" of unnecessary "quotation" marks. blog author bethany keeley accepts photo submissions of (duh!) signs with unnecessary quotation marks. at first it may not seem amusing, but once you see the submissions and read her commentary ... oh yes, it becomes very amusing. the messages, as intended for the readers, are completely altered (some sarcastically, some hysterically) because of the quotation marks.

okay, stay with me ... i'm getting to the point. about a year ago, the FAGs, my sister (belinda) and i were on a junking adventure in fort worth. we were at nellie's flea market and i spotted this sign at the register/checkout.

i couldn't resist snapping a shot of it, thinking it'd be great for bethany's blog. however, after emailing the picture to her, she never used it on her blog. in a follow-up email, i asked her about it. that's when i found out that she had a BOOK DEAL brewing!

"if i didn't use it in the blog, it's probably because i wanted to save it for the book," bethany told me. sure enough, i received an email informing me that my photo (and name) would be appearing in her book ... upon my permission, of course. how exciting, no?!

the book was published a couple of months ago, but i just got my copy last week:

my photo (sign) is on page 55:

and my name is listed in the back (along with all the other photogs/contributors).

pretty ... pretty ... pretty cool, eh?

if you'd like to order a copy for yourself or for a punctuation police that you love, click here ... or visit other fine retailers. :)

"love" and "hugs",
terry lee

Multi-Media Junkin'

2010-08-22T12:43:00.036-05:00

hey y'all,

no need to write anything, but i can't resist! yes, there are 5 (count 'em!) videos in this blog. but a quick glance will show you they are relatively short (for me).

despite the gawd-awful texas heat, i went junkin' saturday, in search of sales sporting some a/c. i was sans FAGs who were off in an RV somewhere with family and friends. okay, they were in burnet, durn it. on beautiful (but low) lake buchanan.

i missed them, but as you'll soon see, i had y'all along with me! :)

be sure to check out my new-found treasures in the pictures below the videos.

love and hugs,
terry lee

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

i know, right?! she's BEAUTIFUL!!!! first thing i spotted at mrs. cooper's booth at the church sale. she said it's handmade and probably from the 40s-50s. it was love at first sight. sigh. got her for a song, too.

a closer look at the top portion

lovely tulle at the bottom, with satin underneath.

close up of the sweet vintage lace

also got this v. smart, vintage hat from mrs. cooper (along with some killer vintage tatted lace in pic below). isn't she lovely?

found this sweet lil cup at the goodwill bargain barn, along with a couple of saucers. see the handmade tatted lace? gorgeous stuff.

and here's a new baby for my ever-growing clock collection! the vendor (at the church sale) was fixin' to pack up and had marked it down to $2. SOLD! to the lady with the pink iphone!

beautiful old electric teapot/water warmer. it came in its original box too. i love the lid with the sweet lil bird. the lady said it whistles when the water's warm. oddly enough, i bought one just. like. this. a couple of weeks ago in waco. now they can be friends. oh, and it was $3.

Junkin': Live!

2010-08-20T18:48:00.016-05:00

hey y'all,

okay, not actually "live"; more like videotaped. and i'm thinkin' that word is antiquated (nevermind erroneous) because you don't really use tape anymore. what do you call it?!

nonsense. that's what.

thanks to all four of you (two in the comment section, one in email and one to my face) for your feedback on my video blog debut. due to the overwhelming response (haha), i have decided to continue (at least for now) with video-blogging. do they call that a vlog? i don't know.

i guess i'm getting lazy(er) in my old age. i do enjoy hacking away at the keyboard but it's much easier to blah blah blah straight from my mouth. less interference (hands, keyboard, computer hiccups), too.

don't worry (as IF), i'll still be writing most of my blogs. and if i use video, it will be in shorter, smaller pieces. easier to swallow that way.

these two semi-shorts are from my junkin' adventure yesterday. yes, an odd thursday out. the cove bargain barn is open on thursdays now ... and i not-so-braved the heat for the sake of treasure hunting.

enjoy and have a great weekend. be safe out on the junkin' trails!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Just Like a Fool

2010-08-18T19:04:00.017-05:00

hey y'all,

if a picture says a thousand words, what does a video say? well, if it's ME in the video, god only knows.

here's a v. candid (uncensored, unedited) look at my first go with the iphone video feature. and for those who might be wary (you know who you are!), no xanax was wasted in the making of this video. :)

so sit back and relax for the next 14:06 minutes. oh, and keep your ear plugs handy if you don't care for the eagles' lyin' eyes.

there's no stopping me now. ;-)

love and hugs,
terry lee

she wonders how it ever got this crazy
she thinks about a boy she knew in school
did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
she's so far gone she feels just like a fool ~~ eagles

New Friend Friday

2010-08-12T23:49:00.005-05:00

hey y'all,

just a quick note wishing everyone a wonderful weekend. also, i'm linking up (once again) to the girl creative's new friend friday. great way to meet other bloggers or to find interesting and fun blogs to read.

sure, they won't be terry lee (heh heh), but i encourage y'all to give it a go ... just click on the link above!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Jabberwocky: Glorious Nonsense!

2010-08-06T17:20:00.028-05:00

hey y'all,

do you ever get the feeling that when you're talking, people are just tolerating your jibber jabber ... simply waiting for you to finish?

i get that a lot. believe me, i KNOW i have the gift of gab. but lately, i've made a conscious effort to scale back my jabberwocky and listen more. it's not an easy thing for me.

but when i'm less chatty, i'm asked "what's wrong? you're too quiet!"

sigh.

anyhow, since this is MY blog, i'm going to continue all manner of jabberwocky ... as much as i like. i once told someone, somewhere, at sometime when (s)he complained about my writing style, "it's my blog. no one's pointing a gun to your head, making you read it." sheesh. i must've been slightly hormonal that day.

one, two! one, two! and through and through
the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
he left it dead, and with its head
he went galumphing back.*

ummm, which reminds me of an internet article i read this week. a reporter who maintains a private blog decided to vent about her dreadful mother-in-law therewith. actually, it wasn't even her blog. it was a friend's blog and she was "careful" to change names, etc. she still got busted and the family was, naturally, rather disgruntled.

he took his vorpal sword in hand:
long time the manxome foe he sought —
so rested he by the tumtum tree,
and stood awhile in thought.*

i had mixed feelings about the story, because well, i like to vent on my blog and i certainly believe in freedom of speech. however, i know how ... er ... touchy family dynamics can be. especially in-law situations (do NOT step on those damn mome raths!).

at this point in my life, parents-in-law aren't a factor. but who KNOWS what i might write if they did exist and a situation presented itself. i shudder to think!

"the jaws that bite! the claws that catch!"*

where am i going with this rant of mine? no where in particular, except this: there's always so much on my mind that i want to write about but don't, because it doesn't necessarily fit into my blog description of "my obsession with vintage junking ... and more!"

i suppose this is the ... and more! part. so heads up: there may be more ... and more! to follow in future blogs. but at the heart of it all will still be my junking adventures (and misadventures!) and all the awesome vintage treasures that come my way.

♪♫♪♫’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe. ♪♫♪♫ *

while schlepping around last weekend, i ran into the mad hatter at a church rummage sale and bought this pink one from him. the hats were owned by a dear lady (who i knew) who passed away ... and so it has special meaning.

revved up the ol' glue gun this morning and got to work on her. used vintage flowers, vintage lace, vintage costume jewelry.

close up of the flowers. sooo pretty!

the back of the hat. i used an old, old little pink clip-on bow tie (with a pearl) to finish off the hat. am pleased with the finished product. judy and ruth, i hope y'all are just as pleased too. i'm calling it "the carolyn". :)

love and hugs,
terry lee (lost in bloggerland)

*all excerpts from lewis carroll's poem "jabberwocky"

And Sew It Goes ...

2010-07-28T11:23:00.028-05:00

hey y'all,

how many clever ways can you use "sew" in a sentence or blog title? i guess we'll never know. because they keep on coming, don't they?

wanted to update y'all with the latest regarding my on-going sewing saga: terry lee in search of a sewing machine that will sew a simple seam, a stitch or two. if you need a review, please refer to my "life should be sew easy" post.

two things:

1. while on a recent 3 day long junking adventure with pal bonnie (sans jannetta who was on vacation in the land of daaa-vy crockett, ♪♫♪ king of the wild frontier), i found sewing machine #2 in marble falls. it's a singer, sew it has to be better than the stinky "sew easy" machine, right?! we can only hope. $35 for model 2517c (for you sewing-types who might have a notion to look it up).

2. i called the woman who sold me sewing machine #1. you might recall she offered a money-back guarantee. she made good on that promise and returned my $15. i was never so happy as to hand that piece of you-know-what back into her hands ... and i didn't even have to needle her!

3. sew, as i see it, i'm at -$25.00 and in possession of a sew-far-sew-good singer sewing machine.

it does seem to be working fairly well. i had to replace the light bulb ($2.99) but was able to download the manual online for free. i love the inter-webs!

mainly, i've just been playing around with it ... which after all, is all i wanted it for anyways. to play with. it's a little unseamly to believe in jinxing things, but i'll say it anyhow: it hasn't jammed ONCE! it just sews and sews and sews like a good little machine. of course now that i've said that, all hell will break loose.

have been making some fun little card/collages using recycled greeting cards, scraps of vintage lace, material, pictures torn from vintage year books, etc. i LOVE using the sewing machine for these creations. it gives the pieces a different look and feel than when just using glue.

(she says, as IF she knows ANYthing about crafting).

found this wonderful set of stamper words at a "divorce estate sale", along with some other stamps and stuff ... for practically nothing. it's an ill wind that blows no man good ...

here are some of my faves (but then, i'm a little biased). i keep making them ... for what, i do not know. it's not like i have a shop or booth. i guess i do it because it's therapeutic. and sewing is cheaper than a shrink. heh heh

my personal favorite ... i crack myself up sometimes

love and hugs, y'all!

terry lee

Winner: What's Wrong With This Picture?

2010-07-24T08:53:00.008-05:00

hey y'all,

thanks for the comments and emails on the granbury posting. those of you who guessed were all correct!

but dana was the first to guess correctly. :) congrats dana!! i'll be sending your prize in the mail this week.

hubby in the mirror, on the computer, while on vacation. but in his defense, i'll admit that i brought my laptop as well. what can i say? i guess the honeymoon's over. heh heh

just returned from a 3 day junking adventure! stay tuned!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Granbury: A Fine Mess

2010-07-16T18:40:00.054-05:00

hey y'all,

i don't know about y'all, but this heat is fixin' to kill me. and contrary to what hubby believes, there IS such a thing as a heat index factor. he said it's a "made up" figure to make everyone THINK it's hotter than it really is.

sigh. yes, dear. it's all a conspiracy. damn those meteorologists!

anyways, despite the heat (and the near 110 degree heat index!) we ventured out of our air-conditioned home and up to the little town of granbury, texas. i think at one time you could describe it as "quaint". not anymore. it seemed rather crowdy and trafficky. but still a nice place for a short visit.

for those not in the know, granbury is the county seat for hood county. it has a lovely historic courthouse (which at this time appears to be under some sort of reconstruction/demolition/gutting/remodeling process). and as any county seat worth its salt, its courthouse square is packed with cute little artsy-fartsy shops and boutiques festooned with frippery, trifles and trinkets, gewgaws and baubles ... antiquities, books, food, etc., so on and so forth.

a window display at brazos river trading co. ... look closely at the reflection, as it turns out to be the ONLY photo i took of the historic courthouse.

before checking into our b&b, the pomegranate house, we perused the square (in the comfort of our a/c'd car), checking out what the square had to offer. since we had a little time to kill (and being literary-minded) we parked at the book store, aptly called books on the square, and went in for a little look-see.

quickly tiring of this shop (mainly because my keen eye had spotted an antique store next door!), we cruised on over to brazos river trading co., antiques and collectibles. as soon as we crossed the door's threshold, i sucked in a deeeeeep breath of air. this is my litmus test for antique stores. if it smells like grandma's underwear drawer, then i know i'm in the company of some real antiques.

as i am wont to do, i began snapping pictures of their displays ... for blogging purposes only, of course. since i've been called on the carpet for taking pictures in shops before, i always check for signage that states the shop's policy with respect to picture-taking.

there was nothing posted.

however, mr. brazos river trading co. was quick to let me know i was treading on thin ice. brrrrrrr. he then told me i needed to delete the pictures i'd already taken. sure, pal. whatever you say. NOT.

hubby just walked out the door and left me standing there with mr. brazos river and my offending iphone/camera. when questioned about his policy, he proceeded with a prolonged discourse about scammers and ebay and profiteers, blah blah blah. waaaaa waaaaa waaaaa.

all's i wanted to do was blog about your shop, i told him. sooooo ... that's what i'm doing. except not in a favorable light, which, btw, was purely HIS doing. and here are the pictures, which of course i did NOT delete. hmmmph. he's not the boss of ME.

oh, and his prices are ri-effing-diculous. no telling what his overhead is on that precious plot of prime property, right there on the square.

on a much happier note, the pomegranate house was absolutely delightful! thank you sara and tom baker for your gracious hospitality and welcome. the breakfasts and desserts were wonderfully delicious ... and your cottages were so comfy and beautiful! we enjoyed our time with y'all so much. thanks for all the funny one-liners, tom! :)

front of the pomegranate house

our cottage, the royal oak.

sitting area on our front porch

sweet colorful armadillo who stood guard over the koi pond, in front of our cottage.

eating a sumptuous breakfast on the pomegranate house's screened-in porch. whatup with that hair?! sheesh. heat + humidity = freaky hairdo.

inside our cottage:

what's wrong with this picture? first one to leave a comment with the correct answer gets a prize. seriously!!

on our last day, i finally found a true junker's delight! after googling "thrift shops" in granbury (after all, how many expensive, high-brow shops can one endure?!) i found the boys and girls club thrift shop out on the highway.

but right before we got to our intended destination, we stumbled upon another thrift shop called a fine mess.

and what a fine mess it was! i met the nicest ladies who run the store, with the help of grand-daughter gracie.

janet, linda and grace, shop props of a fine mess.

they are true junkers at heart (like me!) and decided to open up their very own resale shop about 6 months ago. i was in heaven! we swapped some interesting and funny junking stories (hubby finally gave up and left me in the shop with them) ... and then linda decided to give me a VIP tour of their "inventory room".

she opened a back door to the shop, and i could NOT believe my eyes! a huge (albeit hot) warehouse-type room filled with what else? inventory! oh.my.gawd. my eyes could scarcely take it all in. my heart was fluttering and i'm pretty sure i was hyperventilating. thank goodness linda understood the physical symptoms of an over-stimulated junker.

i spotted a vintage quilt and a gorgeous minty greenish chenille spread immediately. i knew she didn't want me back there for very long because of liability issues ... it wasn't meant for shoppers. so i quickly asked her about the quilt and spread. after a short consultation with her business partner janet, they decided to sell them to me for $5 each! janet had intended to cut them up and cover pillows, etc with the material.

now they're mine. :)

thanks, janet and linda (and gracie!) for such a fun visit and sharing your shop with me. i had a blast and will certainly return (with my junkin' buddies, aka The FAGs in tow) for another adventure.

one of the several rooms in a fine mess.

hubby takes a rest while linda and grace sort out some merchandise.

for you junkers living in the metroplex (fw, dallas, etc), y'all need to head on over to granbury and visit these lovely ladies at a fine mess. c'mon. it's only a short drive over there and you'll be glad you did. tell 'em terry lee sent you and you just might get the VIP tour of the inventory room!

afterwards, we did hit the boys club thrift shop. i picked up a couple of sweet plates (can a girl have too many pink-flowered plates?!) and a rose cup.

it's nice to get away sometimes ... but as dorothy said while clicking her ruby slippers together, there's no place like home. ain't that the truth?

love and hugs,
terry lee

Sew -- A Needle Pulling Thread

2010-07-04T10:38:00.030-05:00

hey y'all,

hope this finds everyone (all 4 of you) enjoying a relaxing holiday weekend. happy 4th! besides celebrating our country's birthday/freedom from the king's tyranny, etc., the 4th also means lots of SALES. which, when you get right down to it, that's all that matters, right? ;-)

bonnie and i did hit the junkin' trail yesterday, sans jannetta who is out of town on a family emergency. but before i get to my current junk pics, i'd like to update y'all on my recent "sew easy" sewing machine purchase of last blog.

first, i want to say a big THANKS to all you sweet, kind seamstresses out there who so generously proffered your time and energy to teach me a stitch or two. dana, cindy, shirley ... thanks a bunch. my plan was to take you ALL up on your offers and learn as much as i could. i had visions of fabric and lace and buttons and bows floating around in a cloud above my empty-skulled noggin.

the first attempt with my little "sew easy" darling yielded an actual, if not laughable, product.

a lil pink bag, which took all of two seams. also a couple of seams to attach the trim and handles at top.

i even played around with paper, cardstock, crafty stuff:

after my first session with "sew easy", i still had hope. and don't we all need just a little hope?

my second session with "sew easy" wasn't. easy, that is. nor was there any sewing, per se. just a lot of jammed thread, jammed needles and jammed fabric. oh, and my right index finger cuticle was stabbed about 1/2" deep by the needle. lots of blood, sweat and tears ... and plenty of cussin' proceeded forth.

let me just cut to the chase. i had several more sessions with "sew easy" and matters did not improve. if anything, they worsened. however, it wasn't until saturday morning at our first yard sale of the day, that i actually SAW the writing on the wall. it was v. clear and legible.

the seller had sewing notions, fabrics, threads galore. she is a seamstress. naturally, her sale attracted others like her (birds of a feather). i decided to tap into their combined knowledge and ask a sewing question or two.

"why does my machine keep jamming?"

they all perked up, so eager to assist. apparently, this is a common trait among the sewing species.

"probably your tension," one offered.

"could be your needle," another one added.

"you may not have the machine threaded correctly," the seller said.

"well, i've adjusted the tension, changed the needle and i'm pretty sure i've threaded the machine correctly," i replied to the group flocked around me.

as an afterthought, i added, "it's a "sew easy" machine."

WELL! as if they had been practicing together all their lives, the sewing birds began a perfect chorus of "ah hahs!" and "ooohhs!!" and "no wonder!!" in unison.

"THAT is your problem, dear. the machine."

i told them i only paid $15 for it at last week's yard sale ... to which they replied, "it was a complete waste of your entire $15."

yikes. i was just about to figure that out all on my own, but i'm glad i got their opinion on it. they suggested buying a kenmore or singer, but honestly, i'm rather numb to the idea right now. maybe after (IF) my finger heals (yes, i'm worried about infection, tetanus, lyme disease, diarrhea, constipation, fingernail sensitivity), somewhere down the road, i might consider sewing as a hobby again. but then, i might not.

look closely. miss "sew easy" thang is all wrapped up and ready to GO. am hoping to cash in on the seller's money-back guarantee. stay tuned.

found these sweet, old canisters at the GW bargain barn recently. thought about painting them pink, but now i'm thinking i'll paint just the lids pink.

also, stumbled across this AWESOME black vintage purse that was made in france! looks great with my eiffel tower artwork.

i tried to take a pic of the "made in france" label, but it was too blurry. it also had the little inspection tag inside the purse which states: riveur, no. 2, dofan-paris. did i mention it cost all of 75 cents?!

at the same sale with the sewing ladies, i picked up lots and lots and lots of pearly beads ... and single roses of differing shades. gorgeous, no?!

also snagged these gorgeous blue jewels and chandie prisms!

this yummy pink blossom was at the barn. got it with a bunch of other flowers for 25 cents. it was impossibly huge and unwieldy, but i fell in love. the cd is in the picture simply for size comparison and appreciation.

finally, here's a little beauty i found at the ladies of charity thrift shop (who, btw, are sometimes not all that charitable, if you know what i mean). their white tagged items were 50% off and this vintage chair just happened to have a white tag, marked $1.

fitty cents! can't beat that! will paint her and love her and adore her. heh heh

is it just me, or does wimbledon seem to drag on and on and on ... what is, i miss jeopardy?!

love and hugs,
terry lee

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪
doe, a deer, a female deer
ray, a drop of golden sun
me, a name I call myself
far, a long, long way to run
sew, a needle pulling thread
la, a note to follow sew
tea, a drink with jam and bread
that will bring us back to doe!
♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

Life Should Be Sew Easy

2010-06-29T09:26:00.057-05:00

hey y'all,

wow! i'm not even sure where to begin. at first, i wasn't posting because i was too busy. then i was too tired. then i had writer's block. now, it's simply because i have too many thoughts swirling around in this fuzzy, cob-webbed brain of mine ... and i'm not sure which one to grab and write about.

instead of choosing, i think i'll just jump in with some fragmented ramblings of which i'd like to share with y'all.

yes, i was gone for a few days to an undisclosed location. sound mysterious? well, that's a writer's technique to keep you reading. heh heh. but it was a lovely trip, great location with a wonderful historic district ... and i had a very relaxing visit there.

having said that, the flights to and from said undisclosed location, were a nightmare. lots and lots of delays, missed connecting flights (airline's fault), running through airports (shades of vintage OJ simpson commercials), falling as i stepped off the people mover thingy in my futile attempt to make a connecting flight on the far side a huge, major airport ... airline clerks with stinky attitudes not giving a damn, lots of crying (on my part), lots of emotional hysteria (on my part), then finally putting on my big girl panties and dealing with it.

found a DELTA (yes, DELTA AIRLINES ... DELTA-effing-AIRLINES) supervisor (they wear red jackets and if you EVER have any issues with your flights, go directly to a supervisor. repeat: bypass the stupid gate clerks who are good-for-nothing eejits and find yourself a red jacket person. that is, if you're dealing with DELTA) who finally got me the medical assistance and flight help that i needed. oh, and a $10 meal voucher for my "inconvenience". believe me. a $100 meal voucher wouldn't have done the trick.

in defense of DELTA, let me assure you that they aren't the only effed-up airline. i firmly believe they are ALL in collusion to make your traveling experience as miserable as possible. why? because they already have your money for a flight they have over-sold. you are inside security with a boarding pass to HELL ... and are completely at their mercy. of which they have NONE. mercy, that is.

if i EVER fly again, there will be NO connecting flights, NO running through airports. if there isn't a direct flight to my destination, i'll just stay home. no one should be treated the way i was by DELTA (or, insert any other airline name here). i don't know what the answer is to the airline industry's problems, but right now, it is a frickin' mess and SOMEBODY needs to do SOMETHING about it. congress?! the president?! regulation? de-regulation? re-regulation?!?!?!?! arghhh!!!

and yes. DELTA will be hearing from me about my flying fiasco. it won't change anything. but i'll feel better having chewed a bit of their ears off.

okay, enough of that nonsense. just wanted to share a bit of my experience with the airlines just in case it might help some unfortunate soul who plans to fly soon. a word to the wise: take a train, bus or automobile. you'll thank me later.

in happier news, the FAGs ... yes, all three of us ... got together for the first time in ages for a true junkin' adventure!

despite the texas heat and the paucity of "inside" sales, we braved the blazing sun and hit lots of yard sales and outside church sales.

buy more and save! tempting. so very tempting. heh heh. actually this place was rather creepy but we braved it anyhow.

for those who might remember, i've been in search of a starter sewing machine for myself. i'd like to learn how to sew basic stitches ... nothing fancy. just a stitch or two. well, i found my baby at one of the church sales. the seller had it marked at $20 but sold it to me for $15. she said her hubby bought it new for her but she only used it 2-3 times and lost interest. it looks like the perfect lil starter machine for me ... it's called "sew easy". how clever.

shaded church sale

my new baby, at home

what cinched the deal was her money-back guarantee. she gave me her name and phone number, as well as reminding me that she was a member of the church where the sale was located. told me if i didn't like it for any reason, to call and she'd return my money.

i'd like to believe the sincerity of her offer. but as i was loading up the machine in my camry, i couldn't help but think: 1. she gave me the wrong number, 2. she's not a member of that church, 3. she's moving away soon, 4. she won't return my money even if i do ask for it.

cynical, much?

well, if it turns out to be a piece of crap, it was only $15. and though that's a LOT of money in the junkin' world, it's not the END of the world.

can't wait to get it set up and see if it works. first things first though. i know NO-THING about sewing machines. even "sew easy" ones. i laughed at myself after i got it home because it almost looks like a child's sewing machine. toy-ish. and when i googled it, sure enough there ARE toy sewing machines called sew-easy.

but mine is not a toy. it's simple, yes. basic, easy. but that's what i need. have been watching youtube videos on how to thread the damn thing. whaaa??! bobbins on the bottom?! levers here. levers there. thread on the top. threading the bobbin!!! "sew easy" indeed. we'll see.

at this "inside" sale, bday girl jannetta found these adorable red shoes:

she wore them the rest of the day!

one last thought/comment for today and then i'm gonna shut up. most of you readers are women, but if you're of the man variety, you might want to skip this part and go look at the pictures. just sayin' ...

had my annual mammogram last week at SCOTT and WHITE HOSPITAL IN TEMPLE, TX. yes, i like to capitalize the name of the guilty party so that you won't miss it.

it is my belief that if you're going to make a career of performing mammograms on women, you should be a kind, tender, gentle, compassionate person. such as the woman depicted below:

sadly, i was not fortunate enough to have that sort of technician. in fact, she was just about the complete opposite of that description.

believe me, if i could remember her name, i'd share it with you. however, if i did get her name, it escapes me now. first, she was fairly pissed that my last mammogram had been done at metroplex (another local hospital) and that they didn't have the films already there (for comparison).

"well, i'm going to have to fill out this paperwork and have them fax the report," she complained. "you need to sign here." at which point she shoved the pen and paper in my face for my signature.

she fussed around for several minutes at her computer, intermittently asking me questions about my breast health history form i had completed for her. now listen, i don't go around looking for sympathy. in fact, i prefer to stay on the road of denial when it comes to my breast cancer and prognosis. but i will admit to feeling a tad vulnerable in that little exam room with the big ol' mammogram machine staring at me.

it's like that every year since my diagnosis three years ago. i dread the mammogram. i get the mammogram like a good girl. i wait with high anxiety for the results of the mammogram. i get a good report from the mammogram. i'm relieved that i may have another year to live. and so it goes ...

so when the tech blurted out her questions so business-like and perfunctory, without any attempt at tenderness or compassion to my responses, i was surprised at how uneasy and anxious i began to feel.

"you had surgery on your left breast? well, which IS it?? lumpectomy or mastectomy?!"

"well, somewhere in between the two," i try to explain.

she sighs.

"do you have your original nipple or not?!"

yikes. she's obviously rather irritated with me, but on she goes:

"you had chemo?" check.

"you had radiation??" check.

she might as well have been taking my order at burger king:

"bacon cheeseburger?" check.

"well, which is it?! bacon or cheese?!?"

"curly fries?" check.

"chocolate milkshake?" check.

okay, fine. i can live without this woman's compassion. i have a loving family and friends; a great support system.

she proceeded with the mammogram. because my surgeon performed something between a lumpectomy and a mastectomy, i still have breast tissue that needs to be checked. when she got to my left side (the affected breast) she became quite frustrated with the logistics.

finally, after lots of uncomfortable manuevering, she burst out with, "WHY didn't they just remove the whole breast?! that way you wouldn't NEED a mammogram on this side."

ouch. i was stunned and stung by her insensitive comment. i managed to reply with, "i guess my surgeon was trying to save as much breast tissue as possible."

as a health-care professional, i know how easy it is to get tired and burned out with your work. it's draining, emotionally and physically. but as a patient advocate, i believe all patients have a right to competent and compassionate health care. there is no excuse for that kind of behavior toward any patient, much less one who has experienced the trauma of a cancer diagnosis and mastectomy. inexcusable. reprehensible. untenable.

yes. i will be calling or writing a letter to SCOTT AND WHITE, too. it's a tough job, trying to save the world. but somebody's gotta do it. one airline, one hospital at a time. i'm only one woman ... but i am strong. i am invincible!

but first, i think i shall take a nap. heh heh

love and hugs,
terry lee

official FAG ring photo. good times, good times.

entirely off subject, i had to show y'all my recent treasure finds at a new store called kirkland's. it's been open for a couple of months but i just discovered it this weekend. got this precious crystal heart for $5. it's huge and heavy and oh-so-perfect!!

this lil cutie is a windchime. look closely and you'll see one of my favorite quotes: "well behaved women rarely make history" ... $2.99!

Bloggety Blahs

2010-06-20T08:59:00.010-05:00

hey y'all,

just a quick note to let y'all know that i'm still alive and kicking. lots goin' on lately (vacation, medical appointments, jet lag, sleeping ... heh heh) and so my blog, sadly, has taken a backseat to everything else.

thanks to all of you who wrote to say you're missing me. how sweet of you!

i hope to get my blogging groove back on very soon. until then, enjoy your summer and stay cool, if you can!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Memorial Mayhem, Estate Sale Ecstasy

2010-05-30T19:21:00.058-05:00

hey y'all,

as i sit here at my computer, thinking on all that's happened in the past few days, i realize a couple of things.

1. there's no way i could include everything because the blog would be too long.

2. you probably wouldn't believe it anyhow.

and that's what kind of long holiday weekend i've had.

but lemme give it a go, touching on the high points (or low ones, as the case may be).

chronologically speaking, i'm going backwards. mainly because i want to share the most recent (and unfortunate) incident that happened to bonnie and me ... to get it off my chest. well, my proverbial chest.

we went to see sex and the city 2 sunday afternoon ... which was very good, imho. don't listen to the critics.

so we were in the parking lot after the movie, chatting next to my car. the space next to mine was empty and i noticed a vehicle wanting to pull into it. i quickly shut my car door (which i had opened so i could put my purse inside the car) and got out of their way.

the driver aggressively swerved into the space and in the process, drove over the white line, coming within a hair's breadth of our legs. i screamed, thinking we both were about to be hit by this car.

when the driver and her two passengers got out the car, i was so stunned i said to her "you nearly hit us!"

well! that was all she needed. she lit into us, using all manner of foul, abusive language ... calling us names ("bitch, ho" ... and other sundry pleasantries), threatening violence if we "opened our mouths again", etc. after she and her entourage went into the theater, i took a picture of her license plate and car. then i called the police.

i've already checked. it's not easy for the average joe to run a license check in the state of texas. apparently the websites that offer this service are disreputable. however, if any of yous guys know someone who knows someone ... heh heh

we were v. shaken by this incident and i'm not sure what, if anything the police will do about it. but at least he gathered information and made a report. i'm thinking it should be against the law to nearly run someone down with your car. and i'm also thinking that it's against the law to threaten physical violence against a person, yes??

sheesh.

there we were. two middle-aged ladies out on a sunday afternoon for a chick flick ... minding our own damn business, when all hell breaks loose in the theater parking lot. a word to the wise: you're not safe anywhere. it's a wild and crazy world out there, folks.

sure makes me want to enroll in the concealed handgun class we have here in texas. can y'all just imagine terry lee packing heat?! don't mess with me or my peeps. argghh.

previously, on saturday, bon and i found two v. cool estate sales. at the first one, i ran into a sweet gentleman and his wife, who were close friends with my parents when they were all young newlyweds. he looked at me and said, "are you B.T.'s daughter?"

"yes, i am!" i replied.

claytonANDnell ... that's how i remember mama saying it. as one name. he's clayton, she's nell. :-)

without any prompting, he began telling me story after story about my parents back in the 50's and 60s.

"in 1957, B.T. bought himself a brand new '57 chevy. it was aqua and white and boy did he love that car!"

this was taken in 1963, and i think that's the '57 chevy in the background. i'm not a car person, so please, feel free to correct me if i'm wrong. btw, that's 2 year old me, easter of '63 with my daddy.

we stood there for a good half hour while he told me about mom and dad and things they all used to do together ... how funny they were and the stories my daddy used to tell. i was in heaven. there aren't many folks around that still remember my parents ... or who were that close to them. what a treat that was! i plan to visit them in the future (with a notebook and pen) to tap into more of their memories.

my purchases ... a vintage tin FULL of buttons and a sewing box filled with old sewing notions. fun fun fun!! grand total: $3

the next estate sale was larger and quite interesting. the house was built in 1966 ... and as blake, the son-in-law of the deceased told us, that's when his in-laws moved in, decorated the house according to current styles ... and never changed a thing.

don't believe me? check this out. when i walked into the front, formal living area, i thought i'd walked onto the set of madmen. or bewitched. or i dream of jeannie.

yes, it was all for sale. true vintage, mint condition 60's furniture. if i'd had room in my house i would've bought it. love love love that turquoise color. we didn't want to leave that room!

the den was much less formal, but still mid-century-ish. i was having my usual bout of junkin' hot flashes, so i decided to take advantage of the ceiling fan and sat my vintage arse down in one of the chairs for a rest.

i took out a kleenex and began blotting away at my perspiring face. allow me, at this point, to say that my right eye continues to be problematic ... it weeps constantly. so i also had to dab at my eye for a while.

as i was wiping my drippy eye, a woman walks close to me in order to see the items on the bookshelf behind my chair.

"i'm sorry, do i need to move for you?" i politely ask.

"oh no, you're fine dear."

and then adds ... "this must be very difficult for you."

i looked up at her (quizzically) and instantly recognized sympathy in her eyes. oh.my.gawd. she thinks i'm crying. she thinks i'm a family member of the deceased.

well, the bad girl in me desperately wanted to play along with her fantasy. under normal circumstances, i would have. but for some insane reason, i got the worst case of giggles i've had in a loooong time. i glanced over at bonnie, who btw, was just waiting and watching for my response and that's when i lost it.

like the perfect idiot i am, i finally choked out, "no, no. i'm a customer just like you. it's just allergies." then i turned my head away from her and buried my face in the kleenex because the giggles became so violent, my entire body was shaking. if you didn't know better, you'd think i was sobbing with grief.

whew.

later, when blake had a break between customers, he'd come in and chat with us. i always enjoy learning about the people who lived in these estate sale houses, especially if i'm buying something. i want to know a little about who they were, what they did, what they liked. it's the history that's important to me when it comes to collecting vintage pieces.

his in-laws met on july 4, 1946 at the bell county independence day festivities. they were married 3 weeks later. he passed away in 2008 and she is currently in a nursing home.

we were reveling in the sweetness of their long-lasting marriage (sometimes love and marriages DO last) when another customer, who had overheard this story, butted in with, "and sometimes people stay married for health benefits and income reasons or for the children."

ouch. so much for love and warm fuzzies.

"umm, do i detect a cynic in the house?" i said to no one in particular. yeah, yeah, i know. it takes one to know one.

that's when she and her grown daughter started sharing personal details of their sorry-ass, no account former/late husband/father, respectively. that's respectively, not respectfully. i was sorry for these women, truly i was. but they almost seemed proud of their stories. and let's not forget that we. were. perfect. strangers (emphasis on the perfect. heh heh ).

perhaps a bit o' counseling/therapy is in order? i'm just sayin' ...

speaking of therapy, i really needed this baby doll i found there! isn't she the best?! well, she could only be better if she had blonde hair. but i love her still. soooo sweet!

sorry about the string around her neck. forgot to take off her $2 price tag before i took the pic!

yes! her eyes close when you lay her down. it belonged to one of the daughters in this family.

also found a grrreat lamp for my office! really needed some light. my chandie just doesn't put out much. blake sold it to me for $6. love how you can move the angles of the three lights.

continuing on, backwards, on friday bon and i went out to lampasas, where fellow FAG and dear friend jannetta was hosting a garage sale with her sisters. she's been busy with family as of late, so we haven't seen much of her. you are missed, girl!! can't wait till we're all three back in the junkin' saddle again. together!

so long, farewell to the month of may. the bluebonnets have faded and summer's heat has already arrived. time to hit the indoor sales!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Something's Fishy Here ...

2010-05-25T12:27:00.029-05:00

hey y'all!

sorry for the delay in posting about my awesome junking adventures (i understand that some of you have been anxiously waiting with baited breath for me to post ... heh heh).

the reason i haven't written yet is because ... well ... there were no junking adventures this past weekend (collective gasp)!

in a nutshell (or perhaps i should say seashell), i wasn't up to junkin' on saturday due to some physical ailments.

allow me to explain.

let's rewind a few weeks so you can get the complete picture. some of you may recall (if you were truly paying attention while reading my blog) that i mentioned an eye infection that wouldn't go away. finally, after being treated with antibiotic and steroid drops for 3 weeks, it abated.

the eye doc, wanting to avoid prescribing restasis for my chronic dry eye, a result of sjogren's syndrome, suggested i try a high-quality fish oil supplement which has been reported to increase tear production.

i know, yawwwwwn. booooooooring. but hang in there. we're fixin' to get to the good bits!

armed with the $1.00 off coupon she gave me ... and plied with a hearty dose of xanax, i forced myself into wal-mart ... in search of the miracle cure for my dry eyes. there it was. first aisle in the pharmacy, which is a very good thing if you're like me and have to pre-medicate yourself before going to wal-mart.

wow. expensive fish oil. but apparently the better quality it is, the less mercury and other contaminants it contains. also the more they charge for it. in other words, my $1 coupon was like spitting into the ocean.

so the next morning, i dutifully took the recommended dosage ... 3 large capsules. btw, besides helping my dry eyes, it promised i would reap heart and brain benefits from the omega 3 fatty acids. woohoo.

within 30 minutes of swallowing those sea monster capsules, i began ... for the lack of better phrasing ... burping. but not just your average, run-of-the-mill benign burping, ladies and gentlemen. this was something that no human being should ever have to experience. and let me tell you, i've experienced some medical gobshite.

this burping, its malodorous after-taste ... gag... well ... you would think that i'd consumed large quantities of putrid, raw fish or maybe some other sort of rancid, odoriferous seafood that red lobster had rejected.

and this was the "high-quality" stuff?! ack!!!

i tried everything imaginable to rid myself of this pestilence. eating, drinking, chewing gum. more food, more water. more gum. alka seltzer. chick fil-a!!

no dice. nothing worked. hours went by and i could actually feel the effects moving lower and lower through my gastro-intestinal tract. crampy tummy. crampy intestines.

you get the picture, no?

finished up the day, lying on my bed, curled in the fetal position, next to the oft-used bathroom. all the while declaring and swearing i'd never EVER take another fish oil capsule for the rest of my life. which will now, no doubt, be much shorter.

i will gladly use eye drops every five minutes. no problem. i'll learn to live with those cobwebs in the corners of my brain. no problem. my heart will have to make do with the fried catfish i feed it every couple of months.

no one, but NO ONE should have to endure that kind of misery from a capsule ... no matter what claims are made about its benefits.

i know. several people have told me that they take fish oil without any problems. i say, good for you! seriously. i think it can be good for you and your health. but obviously, it's not for me.

and that is why i didn't get to go junking this weekend. if you've stuck with me through all that, thanks. you're a real trooper! you win a prize! i have an almost full bottle of high quality fish oil capsules for you! haha

on sunday, bonnie and i had lunch with an old friend and former colleague, jennifer. she has a sweet little 5 month old son, jacob that we hadn't met yet ... so we truly enjoyed our visit.

sorry for the poor quality of the photo. if my iphone doesn't have enough light, it's just fuzzy. also, i think the waitress had a bit of palsy.

and lest you think i'd blog and not include some junking treasures, think again. earlier last week, before the fish oil fiasco i stopped by crafter's corner and the goodwill bargain barn.

sweet vintage electric clock, which works. love it!

here's my lil clock collection that appeared before i realized i was collecting!

this little blue beauty isn't vintage, though it tries. found it at the barn for $0.50. so sweet, this blue

here are some of the old spools i bought at last weekend's church sale. put them in a vintage homer laughlin bowl. so sweet and lovely!

this lil beauty is a vintagesue creation. got it at crafter's! how precious is that?!

from sue, also. a killer black ring with rose on it

junk necklace says it all.

love and hugs,
terry lee

Equal Opportunity Junkers

2010-05-16T08:31:00.061-05:00

hey y'all,

it was a wild junkin' ride yesterday! we were short one of the girls (jannetta ... we missed you!), but as they say, the show must go on ... so bon and i stepped up to the plate. it's hard work, but somebody's gotta do it.

not being a weather prognosticator, i believed the local forecasters when they predicted it would rain on our yard sale parade. so when organizing the sale list (a responsibility i take v. seriously), i paid particular attention to any estate sales or other inside sales listings.

as it happens, the rain gods were kind to us yesterday. which was a good thing because our first stop was a church sale ... on the outside. they did have several lovely tents set up but a lot of their wares were on the outside as well.

it didn't take us long to size up the situation (being the junkin' pros that we are) and realize that this was going to be the best sale of the day. we hit junking. paydirt.

lots and lots and lots of junk here, folks. as i said to one of the sales ladies, you methodists sure know how to collect and sell junk! they were super organized, efficient and v. well staffed. is that a methodist thing? i don't know. but it was rare to find something that hadn't been priced ... and extremely easy to look up and find a worker willing to price it for you.

a sweet lady named kenda noticed my arms were full and proffered a box to me. see? this is a church jumble/rummage sale working at its finest. eventually i graduated to a much larger box and it became difficult to drag around with me.

but drag it i did. because other shoppers ... well, y'all know how they can be. i caught some digging through my box. even though i was straddling it between my legs. sigh. people.

check out time: my HUGE box filled to overflowing with crap = $12.75

bonnie had fashioned one of the larger rubbermaid-type bins for her haul, not intending to take it or buy it. just use it for hauling. some sweet methodist woman came running over to her at the checkout: "that's our bin! you can't take it!!"

well, so much for the methodists. some people just have no social skills what. so. ever. is it really, honestly, worth it to offend a possible non-believer ... thereby causing them to think poorly of "christians"?? i'm just sayin'.

of course.

anyhow, it was agreed that we shot our wad (sorry, faint of heart) at the v. first sale of the day. my camry's trunk was packed, the backseat too. yikes! we still had hours of junking ahead of us!

after a pit stop at chick fil-a, we headed east to the belton/temple area. there was an indoor sale at a strange little white building (the listing said something about a church being nearby ... blah blah blah) just past the junction of I35 and 190, for you central texas folks. i say this only because it was in an impossible location.

now, stay with me here. i'm going somewhere with this story.

i ended up taking the first belton exit and then driving the wrong way on a one-way street just to work my way back to the church. there were throngs of people in the parking lot, so i figured that was the sale.

not. so. my first clue: a black hearse under the portico. second clue: church people dressed for a funeral. third clue: no junk in sight. fourth and final clue: bonnie laughing her arse off.

upon re-reading the sale listing, it's the white building on the hill BEFORE you get to the church. and we're still on the one way street. did i dare? no, i didn't. i risked our lives to get us to a funeral, i figured i shouldn't press my luck.

so we looped around and finally got ourselves to the sale. we figured, as it usually happens this way, that with all that effort, the sale would be a bust. but it turned out okay.

bon found this terrific leather jacket (purple!!) for a steal. and i picked up a $3 unopened box of star wars legos for matt. woot!

i'm sorry. it's become an obsession with me now. they. are. EVERYwhere i go!!

moving on, an estate sale in temple. complete bust. furthermore, a total irritating and aggravating experience. everyone ... and i mean EVERYone in temple was at this sale. the narrow street was packed. parking was near impossible. just getting through the street was a challenge because of all the cars. ack!

and the damn sale wasn't worth a hoot. people everywhere. and i mean annoying people. you couldn't browse at leisure because folks were elbowing and bumping into you. really, really made me cranky.

normally, i enjoy little children. honestly, i do. but this busy little angel took it upon herself to latch on to me (why?!?!?!) ... and followed me from room to room to room. asking. question. after. question.

haylee. she spelled it for me.

"what is this??"

"what is that??"

"what do you do with that?"

"why is this ..."

dear. lord. in. heaven. i. must. get. out. of. this. house. NOW.

next stop was a place called bartek's station, out on hwy 53. whatever. never heard of it. plugged it into my GPS and when we arrived, there was nothing there. wilderness. texas fields of nothing. whaaa?! so we drove back toward town. nothing.

back out to the wilderness. i think we performed this fruitless exercise about 3 times before we decided to give up ... or ask someone for directions. and that someone just happened to be none other than a man named larry, who was sporting a brand new zztop t-shirt.

he was hanging out with some other dudes in the parking lot of a church-type community center. i think it was a family reunion, as they all seemed to have that, well, familial look about them.

actually, an elderly lady approached our car and when she couldn't help us (she was busy chewing on some cauliflower ... that flew out of her mouth through her missing front teeth as she spoke), she summoned ol' larry to the rescue.

yes. larry knew exactly where bartek's station was.

"why are you two looking for bartek's?!" he was incredulous!

"they're having a yard sale," bonnie replied.

"did you know that place is a bar?"

well, hell.

no. we did not know it was a bar. we just figured it was a gas station.

he pointed us in the general direction (back toward the city limits sign) and walked away with a silly grin on his face. i'm not sure how i felt about larry. but i did ask him if he knew that zz top had just appeared at the bell county expo center. he said yeah, that's where he got the t-shirt. i told him a friend of mine was at that concert (that's YOU, dana!).

sooooo, we found bartek's station. and yes, it was an old, worn-out looking bar/club place. my oh my. how far we've come. starting the day at a sweet church jumble and ending up at a run-down saloon. but hey, we are equal opportunity junkers. not that we don't discriminate. but it's the junk we're judging, not the location/people. case in point: we did a drive-by of a sale not on our list. the junk was not suitable. we did not stop.

we did stop at bartek's and rummaged around, while enjoying santana's oye como va blasting from the open door. eventually a man (and later a woman) ambled out and greeted us. it's all negotiable, they say.

and just when we thought we were done (it was 1:30, late by junking standards) we realized that another church sale was nearby and was open till 2pm. we slid into the parking lot and being the heathen that i am ... nevermind being exhausted from the long day of junking and the heat, i could NOT resist the closest open parking space.

we hopped out of the car (with only 1/2 hour to shop!) and were greeted with this sign!

that's the good thing about hitting a sale late in the day. sure, it's picked over. but what's left is usually marked down. i can't (or won't) list all the crap i got here ... but look at the pictures carefully and you'll get an eyeful. :-)

i call this my bar clock, since i got it at bartek's station. all of a dollar. just loved the look of it ... and without realizing it, i've begun a clock collection lately.

score!!! a HUGE baggie filled with old spools of thread!!!!! marked $1. 1/2 price = $0.50!!!

found this beauty at the last stop (church sale). i remember my mom and grandmom wearing these "housecoats" around the house. love the style, colors. so sweet and feminine, retro/vintage

love its tag! lazy u.

$5 for this entire sweet set. LOVE the colors and pattern. it's a comforter, shams, bedskirt, solid blue curtains

it's a lady's vintage travel bag ... with a tie to keep it closed.

inside, it is FULL of vintage goodies ... scarves, gloves, lace, etc!!! $0.50!!

wow. what a looooong day we had. finished up with a treat from chick fil-a ... ice cream ... and then headed home, exhausted and a little overwhelmed with our purchases. it was one of those frenzied days of junking. the prices were sooooo low and the junk so plentiful that you scarf up more than you normally would. and therefore, forget what you bought until you start sorting through it at home.

that's how i junk, ya'll ... oye como va ... listen how it goes ... my junkin' rhythm.

love and hugs,
terry lee

Plumb Frustrated

2010-05-13T13:59:00.034-05:00

hey y'all,

would've blogged sooner about my wonderful junking day with pal dana last friday (yikes! it's already been a week ago!!) ... but ... as luck would have it, reality struck hard this week.

shall i list my woes? nah, i won't go into the gory details of my peculiar eye infection that won't go away (even after two weeks of antibiotic and steroid drops) or the ongoing saga of our backed up sewer/toilets/bathtubs, etc. ACK!!!

the plumb man is rightchere, even as we speak. i can hear him outside my office window, with his plumbing contraption that snakes its way through the innards of my sewer lines looking for the offending clog(s).

last time, we learned that just because it says "flushable towelettes" on the label, does not mean one should flush them. sure, they're flushable. but so is a can of spam. the real question is, will it go all the way through your sewer lines without clogging up the works?!

no. it will not.

so while i'm awaiting the verdict from the man of plumb, i wanted to share some pics with y'all from last friday.

dana and i met up in belton for a day of yard and estate sales. what fun we had!
dana, in all her sweetness, gave me another birthday present (it's mid-may ... and we're still celebrating my april bday). a basket full of pink lovelies. thanks again, dana!

okay, so we got tripped up on the first few addresses (it's hard to navigate without the speaking GPS lady ... aka "the biatch"). we were using my iphone's GPS which is almost useless if you're driving and the other person (dana, in this case) is not familiar with iphones.

anyhow, we stumbled upon an awesome sale at as time goes by. they were closed for business on the inside, but were hosting an "estate sale" in the front and side yards. this was probably the best sale of the day. we found some terrific treasures with matching price tags! perfect combination.

and what's a yard sale without a cute pooch? we met sweet little noel (because she was a christmas gift), all cute with her pink hair barrett and fluffy hair. girl, i know the feeling. those bangs are impossible, eh?

here are two of my finds at this sale. a killer pink vintage dress, that fits dolly oh-so-perfectly! vintagesue's embellished hat looks wonderful with it too!

oh, did i mention the $3 price tag on it?!?!?

and this vintage tole painted watering can. sweet, yes??

all of $4

before we left the neighborhood, we walked next door to drool over one of the many gorgeous historic homes in belton. isn't it lovely?

oddly enough, this was in front of the house, near the street:

dana ventured a guess: an old hitching post? i was speechless, which doesn't happen often. so i'll just let y'all have at it. ;-)

we lunched at cracker barrel in temple ... and then headed over to the GW bargain barn, which was a first for dana. sadly, her maiden voyage was a bust, but as i said to her, you just never know what you're gonna find there.

exhibit A: a framed certificate from the FDA declaring the breast care center in temple a certified mammography facility. the expiration date is 1996. this is of particular interest to me, as i always had my mammograms performed at this facility. mainly, though, i wish i knew WHY they would donate this piece of ... er ... history to the goodwill. furthermore, WHO would want it? much less PAY for it?! it boggles the mind, it does ...

exhibit 2: the ubiquitous deer head ... yes, it's only a painting. this time ...

as we were saying our goodbyes, we realized that we hadn't taken a picture of ourselves together. we made 2 or 3 lame attempts at a self-photo and the lead picture is as good as it got.

maybe next time we'll remember to ask an innocent bystander to shoot us. with the camera.

hope y'all have a great weekend of junking. looks like rain in my neck of the woods.

love and hugs,
terry lee

ps. verdict: wads of kleenex tissue + dental floss = $110 plumbing bill. stay tuned for my next blog: what NOT to flush down your toilet!

Her Name was Alice Rose

2010-05-09T09:39:00.027-05:00

hey y'all,

happy mother's day to all you moms out there ... and you know who you are!

just wanted to share a few pics of my mom, alice rose. i could tell you so many stories of how she made me laugh, cry and sigh over the years ... but i'd be here all day. and none of us wants that, do we?

mainly, i wanted y'all to know that alice rose was a sweet, affectionate lady, who loved and adored her children. we lost her the week after mother's day, 1993. i will always miss her ... but i feel her presence every second of every day, guiding me in this forever journey of motherhood.

also, i want to share some quotes that i've read recently, about mothers ... some sentimental, some funny, some painful. but isn't that the reality of motherhood, after all?

love and hugs,

terry lee (mother of three wonderful, intelligent, funny, beautiful people: matthew, tara and alan)

"a mother is a mother still, the holiest thing alive." ~~samuel taylor coleridge

"a mother's arms are more comforting than anyone else's." ~~diana, princess of wales

“a mother's love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking.” ~~helen rice

"come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticize what you can't understand.” ~~bob dylan

"mothers are all slightly insane.” ~~j.d. salinger

"i remember when I was a kid I used to come home from sunday school and my mother would get drunk and try to make pancakes.” ~~george carlin

"my mother didn't try to stab my father until I was six, but she must have shown signs of oddness before that." ~~alan alda

in loving memory of the sweetest rose i know ... my mom, alice rose (1937-1993)

women know
the way to rear up children (to be just)
they know a simple, merry, tender knack
of tying sashes, fitting baby-shoes
and stringing pretty words that make no sense.
~~elizabeth barrett browning

New Junking Haunt + Easy Project = Tuesday Post

2010-05-04T12:05:00.026-05:00

hey y'all,

i know, i don't normally post on a tuesday, but since i have a couple of things to share ... and because i like to be unpredictable sometimes ... here we go!

first, i'd like to thank jamie over at him, me and our three for cluing me in to a new junking stop! although it embarrasses the hell out of me to admit it, this "new" place is IN. MY. HOME. TOWN. yes, folks, right here under my very own ski-sloped nose.

jamie (who lives locally) asked me in a recent email if i was planning a weekend trip to paply's. whaaa?!?! all i could think of was that either she'd lost her mind and thought i was someone else ... or I'D lost my mind and was not who i thought i was.

i mean, really. what. THE. hell. is. a. paply's?!?

this is where and when you put your god-given interweb skills to work. google google google.

did you mean pappy's?!

arghh. no, i did not mean pappy's. i mean paply's. you heard me right the first time.

guess what?! there IS a paply's in town and it's. an. antique. mall!!!! after skimming the search results, i realized that it's the former oma's flea market ... for those of you who remember that place.

so on sunday afternoon, after catching the latest chick-flick (back-up plan) with pal bonnie, we decided to check out paply's, which is open 7 days a week.

the owners are mike and brenda paply (of all things!) and were vendors before purchasing the business and turning it into an inside antique mall about a year ago. it still amazes me how someone like me could NOT know about something like this, so nearby (yes, i asked her about their advertising habits ...).

the mall has 30 vendors (with a waiting list!!) with over 5000 square feet of showroom space. pretty cool.

bon and i felt like kids in a candy shop, having never been there before ... everything was new to us. antiques, shabby loveliness, vintage hats (two of which came home with me!) ...

this one! notice its beads dangling all the way around. gorgeous!!

and this one! sooo lovely!

... vintage linens, furniture, dishes ... well, almost anything you might want, if you're someone like me (and that's all that matters, right? heh heh).

most vendors had sales going on for mother's day ... 10% up to 50% off. and some of them had such gorgeous displays. they really know how to show their wares!

i discovered this v. sweet white wicker shelf that is perfect for my new shabby white wicker office! to make the deal sweeter, it was 50% off an already low price! love it.

at home, shelves already filled!

close up ... my sweet lil clock collection

also found this sweet baby, half off:

love, love, love the black lid with the pink sugar bowl!

okay, enough blah blah about that. just wanted you central texans to know about my latest discovery. check it out when you get a chance. tell 'em terry lee sent you and you'll get a 75% discount. haha. not really. ;-)

finally, i wanted to show y'all a quick and easy project i started (and finished) yesterday. 'member the vintage suitcases i bought recently at the GW bargain barn? well, here are two of them that i painted pink, added some vintagesue ribbons, a couple of vintage doilies and a killer rose ... stacked them beside the loveseat for a v. sweet end table.

happy tuesday! who knows when or what i'll post next!

hugs,
terry lee

A Blog Award ... and May Day Junkin'!

2010-05-02T10:06:00.044-05:00

hey y'all,

before i get to my junkin' adventures, i'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to sue over at vintagesue for the blog award she recently bestowed upon me!!

here is what she wrote on her blog:

"ALL THINGS TERRY LEE - my wonderful texas pal gal....HER BLOG IS A HOOT!! vintage junking galore and stories that will make you pee your pants. go there now!! bring toilet paper. i love this blog."

well! i am humbled and touched and honored! y'all know how much i love sue and her creations ... so this is a very special award for me. i will be passing it on in the near future, so be watching for that!

the girls and i didn't have much time together saturday (they each had prior engagements for the afternoon), but i think we did fairly well in our short amount of time together.

nothing was planned, which is the case with us much of the time. but i got up, looked at the skies, and declared it a yard sale morning. tap, tap, tap on the keyboard ... craigslist ... local newspaper classified listings ... copy, copy, paste, paste ... print, print ... and we had our agenda for the day!

mission: cove yard sales, including a church "bizarre" (heh heh!!), the goodwill bargain barn and crafter's corner (which was having a grand-opening for the new owners).

after picking up bonnie, the two of us stumbled upon a neighborhood sale that wasn't on our list. i bought a couple of things (sweet lil purse with a pink rose and a wallpaper scorer ... total $0.75).

ran into some people i knew (y'all know how i feel about that ... i'm not anti-social, just prefer to keep junkin' time sacred, sans the blah blah blah-ing with folks i haven't seen in years).

anyhow, we headed on to the "bizarre" sale at a local church. i will not say the name of said church because i don't want to embarrass anyone, least of all, church people. but their ad in the paper was as follows (i copied and pasted, but changed the name and address of church to protect the saved by grace):

BIZARRE & GARAGE SALE AT COME TO JESUS CHURCH, 555 Heavenly Lane, Copperas Cove 8am-4pm, Saturday, May 1st Bake Sale, Bizarre Items, Lunch

i will say this. no false advertising. there were some bizarre items at their sale. and it just had a bizarre feel to it ... but as i said, i don't want to be unkind. i just wish folks would proofread ads before publication. i know spellcheck wouldn't have made a difference in this case, but honestly. let's try a little harder, shall we?

one sweet elderly lady did her best carny impression to entice us to pop a balloon for $1. we would "win" one of these prizes on the table that matched the number in the balloon.

ever the trouble-maker, i asked, "but what if i don't want what i won? could i trade it for something else on the table?!"

"no, you have to take what you get," she replied. "you're taking a chance," she added.

"isn't that a little like gambling ... in the church?!" i asked (i know, i know. i'm going straight to hell).

"but it's for the children!" she explained.

"oh, well, you can do almost anything if it's for the children," i conceded.

she smiled, satisfied that she'd justified the balloon popping game to me.

in the end, of course, we did NOT pop a balloon. honestly, i didn't want a bulldawg pride travel mug or any other manner of plastic flotsam from mcdonald's ... or elsewhere.

however, i did find this very cute piggie planter with ivy already planted inside! when (not if) i kill the plant, i'll still have the sweet piggie pitcher. love it!

at the sale ...

at her new home!

also found this adorable home-sewn pink checked apron for $0.50! you might remember that i just found some curtain panels from the same material last week.

we moved on to some neighborhood sales.

one thing (of many!) that i've noticed about yard sales, there are usually plenty of pups who are happy to meet you.

this is daisy, who was unabashedly basking in the warm sunshine. later she got up and followed me around. v. sweet!

i liked her mama's sale sign:

at another sale ...

three white cutie pies, so eager and excited to meet and greet us

jannetta, looking carefully through the wares. you GO miss yellow-shirt!

before the day was over, i'd scored a couple of gorgeous bowls ...

homer laughlin virginia rose serving bowl, with lid. mint condition ... $3!!

soooo pretty with pink roses ... label says moss rose, can't read the brand

y'all have a great week. thanks for visiting!

love and hugs,
terry lee

Junkin' Heaven ... and Hell

2010-04-25T10:03:00.044-05:00

hey y'all,

my junkin' weekend started on friday, when i met pal bonnie for a little barnstorming (raiding the goodwill bargain barn) in cove. picked up three vintage suitcases, in graduating sizes ... the largest $1, the smaller ones $0.75 each. score!!!

if i had any sense, i'd paint them or decoupage something clever and creative on them. lately, my creative muse has been on strike and i never know when she'll rear her pretty head to inspire me. so i wait ...

also found that sweet lil pink braided rug ... in pic above (which is in need of some cleaning and disinfection ... just sayin') for all of $0.75 ... and some adorable pink checked curtain panels (another $0.75). three to be exact. searched and searched for the fourth panel, to no avail. sweet material that can be used for anything.

thrilled with my finds, bon and i headed to sonic for a quick snack break. then we were off to sue's. well, that's what we call it. sure, it's a crafter's mall full of vendors, but we mainly go there for vintagesue's stuff. i am thrilled that she's shipping her creations down to texas now. we mourned her loss when the dang army took her away.

don't misconstrue, i'm all for the army, in theory. just don't like it when they take away my friends.

but i digress.

so we hightailed it to sue's booth and we were not disappointed!! lots and lots of pretties galore ... vintage linens, dresses, aprons, knick knacks and the like. and best of all, her creations!

lil pin she made

i. am. totally. spellbound. by. her. collages!!!! i started a pile on a nearby table of the ones i wanted, thinking that i'd make my final decisions later.

yeah, right. my final decision was that i needed all of them. wanted, yes. but i neeeeeeeeded them too!! when i'm under her magical spell, i'm totally helpless and out. of. control.

so what? life is short. they made me happy and will continue to do so as i enjoy them around my house, or give them as gifts. happy happy happy.

friday, as it happens, was definitely junkin' heaven.

then saturday rolled around. i had high hopes for the lampasas city-wide yard sale, since lady luck was good to me at last years' sale. i met pal jannetta and we meandered our way around the square.

first thing i noticed was that it wasn't as large as last year.

the second thing i noticed was that many of the vendors who were there, were dealer-types. meaning, higher priced items ... not true "yard sale" vendors OR prices. hmmmph. not what i was expecting ... since the sale was hawked as a "city-wide YARD sale".

okay, so i didn't have to buy anything. i was more than pleased with my friday treasures, so if today was a bust, so be it.

however, i quickly stumbled upon a sweet lil vintage child's chair with chippy pink and green paint, marked at $7 which i thought was v. reasonable. i offered $5, we settled on $6. a quick, pleasant and civil transaction. i was thrilled to have it.

somewhere along the way, i had the pleasure of meeting buddy (miniature terrier) and sassy (jack russell mixed with something else blah blah). they were meeting for the first time also. cute, yes?

later, i found this pretty little vase thingy for $0.25. so there were some bargains to be found. just not a lot of 'em.

moving on, i spotted a pink, plastic, round hat box with a black flower on it. a-dor-able. but it was scuffed and dirty and i was thinking $0.50. when i asked the cowgirl vendor how much, she replied with an extremely curt, "2 bucks!"

okay, this chick's got something up her arse, was my first thought. dare i rattle her cage?

yes! i do dare!

"would you take a dollar?" i asked, shoving whatever it was up a little farther.

"NO. I WILL NOT!" cowgirl growled back at me.

ouch. i just smiled and said okay, thanks as i walked away from her booth. of course, all manner of vengeance was playing out in my wicked head ... none of which i can share with you, lest your high opinion of me be shattered. heh heh

much later, i sent jannetta over (she wasn't with me when all this transpired) to the cowgirl's booth to ask about the hat box. not surprisingly, she was just as rude to jannetta. and she hadn't budged on her price either.

it was our sincere hope that cowgirl went home with her stupid hat box and they live happily ever after together.

let me be clear about something: the b!tch had every right to price her items just. how. she. wanted. it wasn't her pricing that irritated me. it was her stinkin' attitude and how she spoke to her customers.

and this customer won't soon forget. not cowgirl's face, her name or her bright-orange painted toenails. i'll see you next year, sister. same time, same place. courthouse square, lampasas, texas. junkin' hell.

love and hugs to y'all!

terry lee

lampasas is full of ... livestock.

and bluebonnets!! found sooo many gorgeous fields of 'em!

remember him? the obligatory deer head you see at most texas sales ...

Bluebonnets on My Mind

2010-04-21T19:50:00.040-05:00

hey y'all,

yesterday afternoon i ventured out by myself for a little P&Q (peace and quiet), in hopes of finding The Perfect Field of Bluebonnets.

not sure if i found it or not, but maybe something close:

a sea of blue!

each year around my birthday i make a special trip (usually to the gorgeous texas hill country) in search of bluebonnets. i didn't get that accomplished this year, so i sliced out a couple of hours yesterday for myself ... and used them wisely.

with chick fil-a (#5 combo meal, diet dr. pepper) in the seat next to me, i rolled onto a country backroad, toward salado. no, that's not the hill country (for those texans who know the area). i didn't have the luxury of a full day get-away. but there are plenty of fields and hills and valleys ... countryside ... where i'd likely find just what i was looking for.

without waxing too philosophical or sentimental or even maudlin, bluebonnets are very special to me. sure, you'd expect a native texas gal to say something like that.

but there's more to it. something that i've never quite been able to explain. each year i feel the need, not just the desire, to go and see the bluebonnets. maybe it's because they're blooming, in all their glory, on my birthday each year ... that i feel a connection to them.

but it goes deeper than that because i never quite feel satisfied, emotionally, until i've schlepped out into a field full of bluebonnets (and chiggers), breathed in that wonderful bonnet-scented country air as deep as i can ... and taken as many pictures as my heart desires. i guess i'm trying to capture the elusive beauties (in photos and in my soul) because i know all too well that soon, they'll be gone.

until next year, that is.

some years it's quite the production, trekking out to the hill country and making a day of it. or staying overnight in a charming town such as fredericksburg. other years, i'm lucky to spy the beautiful blue creatures along the busy highway as i traipse back and forth to doctor appointments.

so anytime i can actually take a drive, with the single purpose of bluebonnet spotting and photo-taking, i'm grateful.

grateful. but forgetful.

was cruising along the curvy backroad, almost to the scary loooong Narrow Bridge over stillhouse lake when i suddenly realized ... I ... DO ... NOT ... HAVE ... MY ... CAMERA!!!!

can you say CRAP?! i did. okay, i might've said something else. just maybe.

well, first things first. i had to navigate that damn Narrow Bridge. when i say narrow, i mean NAAAAAARRRRROOOWWW. it's a long two-laner with no shoulders and it's high above the lake. ack!! just perfect for someone like me: claustrophobic, agoraphobic, acrophobic, aquaphobic ... and i can't swim! i think that about covers it.

okay, at the last minute, i googled an image for you. this is THE actual bridge. can't believe i found a pic of it! see what i mean?!

so i white-knuckled it across the bridge (thank GOD i didn't meet anyone so i could drive right down the middle stripe, thereby protecting myself from falling off either side).

calm down, terry lee. you made it across the bridge. and you DO have your iphone camera ... i told myself.

yeah, but the iphone camera quality stinks, i retorted.

well, you're this far out here, just make the best of it, crybaby (was really getting annoyed with my smartass self by then).

so, i apologize for the quality of the photos. i may have to take another bluebonnet trip with the real camera. we'll see. but for now, here are the best ones. i'm no professional photographer, but it's almost impossible to screw up a bluebonnet. almost, i said.

enjoy!

love and hugs,
terry lee

this is one of my favorite shots. love that rough old tree trunk juxtaposed with the blue beauties.

see how it looks like solid blue grass or water back against the fence line? looooove it!!

this is the direct result of going on the hunt for bluebonnets solo.

another favorite, i think. love getting bluebonnets with old fences.

yes, i realize this is a horse, of course. but as i was driving along, i couldn't help but stop when i saw him. v. pretty, eh? there are a few bluebonnets near him, but they're difficult to see.

sweet mix of bluebonnets with white thingies. love the church as a backdrop ... sorry 'bout that ugly pole right in the center!

Birthday Show and Tell

2010-04-18T09:44:00.053-05:00

hey y'all,

not sure where to begin with this post because there's so much to show you and tell you and share with you.

so yesterday was the most important day in the universe. did y'all notice that the earth stopped rotating? the moon had a smiley face on it? the sun and stars danced around my head and all living creatures ceased their activities so they could focus upon The Most Important Event of The Year ... My Birthday?!

yes, it's true! so in case you were wondering what was going on yesterday, what with the birds, the bees, the sun and stars and whatnot, it was all My Fault. what can i say? this is what happens when there's a terry lee birthday. it's a freak of nature. heh heh

okay, all kidding aside. the world didn't really stop for my birthday (oh c'mon, don't act all surprised).

it was a fun, sweet, lovely day spent with family and dear friends.

let me back up. i was born in a little hospital in downtown killeen ... okay, wait. let's not back up that far. about two weeks ago, birthday packages began showing up in my mail.

first one was from my dear pal mary valentine (sweet, sweet name, yes?). she knows me well. lots of pink, paris-themed lovelies and other goodies. what fun! thanks again, mary. love ya!

second package to arrive was from dear friend sue, over at vintagesue. she also knows my tastes very well. she sent all manner of vintage sweetness my way. thanks so much sue!

next, i received a lovely treasure box from sweet pal dana, of dana's chicken scoop. she had ordered a vintagesue box treasure for me. naturally, it was filled with more vintage loveliness! loved it all, dana! thanks so much. (nice work, sue!)

these ladies are terribly sweet and thoughtful ... love my packages. love y'all more!

isn't it fun to start celebrating your birthday early? it's like the whole month of april is BIRTHDAY love!

so, on to my actual birthday, yesterday. woke up to dear hubby, gifts and card in hand. oh, and a CHEESECAKE (!!!) for my birthday cake!! i think that's a first. for me.

hubby knows me pretty well too. loads of blistex (ahhh!!!), body washes and what i like to call the perfect gift: folding money. it's always the right size and color! thanks, DH! love the birthday poem, too.

before the girls (jannetta, bonnie and tara) and i took off to waco for The Birthday Blast, we had another round of birthday gifts. jannetta and bonnie, who are my closest friends showered me with lots of pink sweetness and love. thanks girls.

despite the rain (ack!!) we did have a blast. first stop: the treasure city flea market. we were all waco flea market virgins, and as such, we were a little unsure of the uncharted territory.

as it happens, it was quite interesting, with a fair variety of junk ... er ... merchandise.

yes. brassieres. at a flea market. now that's something i haven't seen before.

tara proudly displays her $0.50 treasure find. jannetta and bonnie share the joy.

the flea market (tara suggested it should be called a butterfly market ... as fleas seem so, well, unseemly) is set up in a U shaped pattern. we gave it our best shot, but could only hack about half of the U. the humidity, the crazy fuzzies flying through the air (what WAS that?!) making us sneeze, aching feet and low blood sugar got the better of us.

time. to. eat!

as planned, we hit ninfa's for lunch. ahhh! it felt sooo wonderful to be inside, sitting. drinking. eating. talking. laughing. junking is great, but sometimes it's nice to sit and chillax.

after filling up on mexican food and iced tea (okay, somebody had a frozen strawberry margarita) we were ready for round dos (that's two, for you gringos).

minor crisis: hit the sally stores (salvation army thrifts) OR go next door to The Shops, which are nothing short of eye candy heaven?

The Shops won. we were there. we already knew we loved it.

if you live in central texas, it's a must-see shop. instead of blah blah blah-ing about it, i'll just let the pictures do the talking. i took so many, i decided to make a slide show ... just too many to put in the blog. all i can say is: EYE. CANDY.

a couple of hours later, it was time to head home. after an hour rainy drive down I-35, i was ready for bed.

but wait! another surprise awaited me. a beautiful arrangement of flowers from my dear sis belinda. they'd been delivered whilst i was playing in waco. they are gorgeous, belinda! thanks so much!

lest y'all think i forgot my birthday cheesecake, i did not. tara put some candles on it, she and ben sang happy birthday and a worn out, half-asleep birthday girl blew out her candles ... in one breath i might add. which as you all know, means her wish will come true! :-)

later in the evening, while checking my email, facebook, bloggity blogs, etc. i got a text from my baby. okay, he's 16 but he's the baby.

"i'm comin' over to wish you a happy birthday, mom!" (he spends the weekends with his dad)

yea!!! i get to see my baby on my birthday!

within seconds (he must've text from the front door!) he's hugging me with his big ol' self (he's a big baby) and generally loving me up. how great is that? he proudly presents me with a card that includes a gift card to starbucks. very sweet ... but he didn't have to give me a single thing. just his presence fills my heart to overflowing.

he's gone before i know it. but for the most part, my day is complete. those of you who know me well, understand that statement. but it's okay ... life is good and i have been reminded once again how wonderfully loved and blessed i truly am.

love and hugs to all,
terry lee