A Bounty of Blistex and Beautiful Blooms

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? :)

Things: On My Mind and Around My House

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.)

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

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

April in Bloom

hey y'all,

just a quick post to share some of my beauties with you.

i am so NOT a gardener, nor do i claim to have any sort of green thumb. but no matter, roses seem to grow and bloom under my care in spite of my lack of horticulture-ness.

some of you might recall my blog about filling in our backyard pool last year. it's now a garden space, a labor of love, a work in progress, blah blah blah. we planted three rose bushes last spring and they did very well.

a year later, they have begun to bloom and bloom and bloom ... and i'm just staring at them in amazement! gorgeous creatures, the lot of them.

at my yardsale last saturday, a couple of women approached me and asked what i did to my roses. whaaa?! i wasn't quite sure what they meant. for a moment i thought they were scolding me for not taking better care of them, what with the weeds and all.

"do you use cow manure?" one of them asked.

"haha! i wish," i replied. "i did put some miracle-grow on them last year," i added.

"oh, well that's good for them!" the other replied.

"what kind is the yellow rose?" the first one asked.



uh oh. i was getting over my head with these people. they must've been some kind of amateur-aficionado-rose-experts. how in THE hell was i going to continue on with this conversation without losing some of my rose-knowledge-dignity?!

thinking.

thinking.

"oh, those yellow ones? yes, they're called terry lee's yellow rose of texas," i blurted out, with a straight face.

jannetta and tara (my yard sale assistants) remained silent but i could feel their eyes on me. i shot them both a glance, which they immediately recognized as my "don't you dare say a word" look. y'all know the one, right? :-)

so the woman asked me to repeat the name of my yellow rose, which i did. she was so thrilled, she told her partner (not that there's anything wrong with that) what i had said.

"her yellow roses are called terry lee's yellow rose of texas!"

"hmm. i haven't heard of that one," partner responded.

if they would just move on and buy something already, i was thinking.

but noooo.

more questions.

"what do you call those pink ones? how big are they? do they open up in folds or is it more like the petals ... blah blah blah"



i finally broke down. i couldn't take the pressure any longer.

"i call the pink and yellow (hybrid) my strawberry banana roses. because that's what they remind me of. okay? i don't know the actual name of the rose. and i don't know how the petals fold out. this is only the second time it's bloomed."

sheesh.

lesson for the day: oh! what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive what we know about roses.

but i do know this: they are beau-ti-ful!! enjoy!





love and hugs,
terry lee

ps. whilst visiting my new friend dawn at wackywhimsy, i clicked on this link:



might be fun. if you're a blogger, give it a try! i am.