There's A New Girl In Town

Good morning and a rainy morning it is. Instead of coffee lets have a cup of hot  cinnamon spice tea. We'll change it up a bit, okay. I am so happy to see you because I have some exciting news. The new girl in town is this girl.

The one on the right! Yes Deb has decided to join the world of bloggers. I think she has seen how much fun it is and I promise she will have lots to share. She will lend more to decorating and organizing as well as collecting antiques. I promise you will enjoy her blog and will be enlightened by it.

Keeping My Heart In Home. 

It is nasty here today. When I went out to open the gate for Dasko this morning it was like being in Florida. 69*. Tonight it is to get down to freezing and snow. If you like change this is the place to be. I am snuggled in and will be all day.

Do you all remember Mary Emmerling? I wonder where she is now and what she is doing. I always enjoyed reading her columns and watching her on HGTV. Well, she wrote, if you remember, the best Heart Book. I bought a copy when it came out and my rottweiler Hillary, promptly ate it! A friend bought me another copy and yes she did, (Hillary) ate it too! I was so mad at her. That dog ate everything!!! Someday I will do a post on her. She was the sassiest rottie I have owned. She was like the energizer bunny, always moving and destroying.lol Anyway I was on Amazon and found another book of Hearts. I was so excited, because I love hearts. (You all know that.) So it came and Dasko is not the least bit interested in having it for supper or a snack.lol

I love this book! I have a few of the things in here. One is the bowl with hearts and she states her's was from Ohio too.

I am going to be sharing some of my "heart" with you the first 14 days of February. Cindi, over at Cindi's Country Corner

is promoting this and I am joining it. It will be fun, why don't you?

  Here are two handcarved hearts by Gary Falin. I like them on the basket handle.This is the basket I bought a couple of years ago on the longest yard sale.

I love these old carriers. This has to be my favorite. Look at the dovetailing on this one.

I just cannot tell you how much I love this old work. I thank you so much for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.

betty

PS: I am sharing this message from Tamra's grandmother, Anna Ruth Thompson.

Betty, Thank you for your prayers and concern for Tamra . I tried to post again on you blog but I just can't do it . Please tell all those precious people how much Jimmie and I appreciate their prayers and concern . I guess I should tell you I took Tamra to the Dr. Today. Her pathology report said no lymph nodes were affected . He was as excited as we were ,almost, To God Be The Glory.he said everything looked great. I love you and value your friendship so much. God is so good.

PSS: Hopefully I will have a picture to share soon.

PSSS: When you visit Deb's blog become a follower. I so appreciate your supporting her. Remember I started mine to aggravate her! Her starting to blog makes me happy!

It is Coffee Time

It is Monday morning and once again I am not doing laundry. I may not adhere to my Mother and Grandmother's housekeeping routine, but  I do think about it! I notice I always sound almost apologetic for not doing it on Monday. Anyway it is coffee time. I am starting my Monday slow. I have had my devotion and prayer time, but am still having coffee. I am so happy to see you and to visit a bit. Sorry there is nothing sweet, but I have eaten it all.(Shame on me)
What a week last week was. We had extreme cold then on Friday an ice storm. These pictures were taken from my front porch.

The butterfly bush is touching the ground. I just knew my power would go off, but by the Grace of God it didn't. I was one thankful person, let me tell you.

I finally put out some valentine decorations. I love hearts and keep them out year round.(some of them) The house on the market restrains me from going over board.lol

Just a few incorporated hearts. The cast iron heart in the middle of my wall of love, stays out all year.

As you can see not many hearts out this year. I do love hearts and will share some of my favorites before Valentines Day.
I want to share some bits and pieces with you. If you belong to Facebook, Elsie Bailey has a page Decorating With Antiques. If you are an antique lover, join this site.  I have met some wonderful ladies with some gorgeous antiques on here. I have got to wean myself from it, because I spent too much time there last week. I don't mean from it, just can't stay on there as much.lol
Another thing, my granddaughter Olivia is in Canterbury until April. She is chronicling her experience on her blog.Logically Ludicrous.
You may enjoy life through the eyes of a twenty year old. I know you will LOVE her blog design.  Prim Doodles
is still doing her give away until the end of this month. If you haven't visited her, please do. You don''t even have to tell her I sent you.
I have had some e-mails inquiring about Tamra. She had a bi-lateral mastectomy last week. The doctors thought the lymph nodes looked clear. They are awaiting all of the reports and then after a while will start the chemo. Please, please continue to pray for her and her family. They are all devout Christians and God will get the glory for her healing. Her grandparents , Anna Ruth and Jimmie Thompson have been our friends for 45 years. I know how they are hurting and know prayer is what will get you through.Yesterday Jimmie and I were saying this time last year they were praying so hard for Amanda, Never thinking it would be theirs we would all be praying for, equally as hard,  this year. I and they, thank you for your prayers. I will try to post a picture soon, so you can see who you are praying for. I find that helps, do you?
Amanda's family has all been sick. Mollie had a sinus infection and was "snotty", (for lack of a better word). Anyway she contacted a stomach virus and threw up. She looked at it, then at  Deb, and said,"Look there. It has my nose in it."
Thanks so much for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I hear birds singing and it is to be 68* tomorrow.
PSS: Today is Old Lady Morgan's birthday. Why don't you slip over and wish her happy birthday.
PSSS: There are still others of our blogging friends who need our prayers. Our pastor's sermon on Jesus Miracles yesterday, helped make me aware of all the miracles we witness in blogland. Maybe we all need to post about our own personal miracles someday.

Old Man Winter Has Come Calling

Good morning and come on in. Sit by the fireplace and drink your coffee. Grab a mug and a cookie or two and get warm. It is so cold outside. 22 when I got up this morning. As you know Boo is an outside cat more than an inside one. I made her stay in last night and she went out this morning and came right back in. She is such a sweet cat, just wants to be left alone. Usually if she does stay in she gets me up at 5. Not this morning.lol
This was our frost yesterday. It looks like snow.

I made pizza dough yesterday for Clays birthday dinner last night. We had a wonderful time and the pizza was so good.
I hadn't been able to go to the nursing home last week because of weather, so Sunday morning Deb and I missed church and went down.(It is an hour away). Deb has been sick, so she and Renda went to their house after breakfast at Cracker Barrel and Dodd and I went to the Nursing Home. They had gotten new furniture and we played house all evening. What fun. I will share a few pictures at a time.

This dry sink is wonderful. It 5 boards and in excellent condition. They have a wonderful house and she is finally getting it like they want it. She and Dodd both love antiques and that makes it nice. I am so blessed because all of my kids like to collect and it makes me happy we all enjoy the same thing.

Renda shares my love of red. This is their bedroom and it is beautiful.

I hope you enjoyed the visit with them today. I will post more pictures when they get the upstairs finished. It is finished, they are just changing bedroom furniture. Dodd found the most wonderful rope bed a few weeks ago, that I cannot wait to share. BTW, all of the Johnston Benchworks came from our favorite prim shop. The Speckled Hen, Clinton, Tn.(You can get there from my sidebar)
A couple of posts ago I showed you some furniture polish I had found at Marshalls. Well Deb went on the hunt and found the original one I loved so much.

She ordered us all two bottles each. She and Renda both liked it as much as I did. Anyway as soon as she brought it I used it and my furniture screamed THANK YOU! This is wonderful for antiques. Not for anything lacquered, or highly polyurathaned. I can tell such a difference in the look of my furniture, boxes, and all things wood. It repells dust and you don't have to use it often so those 2 bottles will last us a couple of years. (In between using it, just use a dry cloth.)Thank you Deb. You made your mom very happy. I am so low maintenance.lol
I did a bit of tweaking. I cleaned off the short wall completely.

See how it shines with my polish? I like to use it on painted pieces too.

I love my heart box, another Pam & Frank creation.
I am so glad you stopped in and visited this morning. I love to have you come Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: Tamra is having her surgery today. Will you pray it goes well and no lymph node involvement?
PSS:Next time I want to show you more calendar pictures. They will certainly bring a smile to your face.
PSSS: I also want to give a shout out to Ashley. She is a young mother(one of Amanda's friends) of triplett girls. She was at a baby shower I was Saturday and she reads my blog. I told her she needs to start one herself. She takes one of the girls with her when she goes to functions she can, so they get special time. Think about it Ashley.

Life, Through My Back Door

It is so nice to see you this Saturday morning. Please get your cup, yes, the redware one, and help yourself to some oatmeal raisin cookies. Come in, sit beside the fireplace and lets just be. This has been the strangest week! Went from 70's last Saturday, when we had our working to 5 days of rain. Four of those days the rain was torrential. Thursday we had snow. Yes SNOW! I didn't go to dominoes as it was 12 miles away. Oh yes they called me names, BUT, they only got to play one game because it started getting bad.lol Michael works in Halls, and he had a hard time getting home, so for once in my life I made the right decision. The snow was beautiful, but I did lose my power. Fortunately, again I had made the right decision, and brought in our little kerosene heater just in case. Dasko had never seen it and he acted like I had thrown him in a gas chamber. (I even left the door open, when I lit it because I new it would smoke. It hadn't been lit in several years)Dodd tries to make sure it is in working order should I need it. Anyway, it came in very handy, as it was so cold, but we stayed warm. I had my Kendal I could read in the darkness, so all was well. Plus I had those fresh homemade cookies.lol
My miracle occurred about 3 hours later, when it was restored. I always pray for the lineman who have to work in bad weather to keep us going.

I don't know if you can see the size of the flakes or not.
Anyway we got more than this, but not a lot. It didn't look anything like my beautiful header.) Since it had rained for days everything was ice. I called my power coming back on a miracle. I don't mind being stuck  at home, but I don't like not have electric. I am not as prepared as Curtis always was.
Thursday, I cleaned and organized my pantry. Yes, I admit, I alphabetize my canned goods. It looks so  much nicer when you open those doors now. I also made cookies and baked a homemade chicken pot pie. I was Suzie Homemaker. Why does snow make us want to cook, bake, and clean? Women are nesters at heart.

Remember, when I did the post on our stray chicken,Henrietta and my Mothers Day gift of a goat? I found this tiny picture.

 I also found one Dodd posted of Bo Jangles.

He got so big! Don't you love the old toilet? The shed with the green roof sets where this once did. I didn't want it torn out, but I lost that fight.
Thank you to so many who responded on my last blog. I didn't mean to imply I was going to quit. I just was wondering and still do why I do? I have to admit I enjoy it. I certainly appreciated all of the wonderful comments, and I want you all to know I value your friendship.
I have done a bit of tweaking the last few days.

This stack of firkins make coffee drinking so easy, in my relciner.lol

Another stack. Don't you just love firkins? I do.
Well I want to tell you about a catastrophe that happened yesterday. I LOVE Keepers of The Light, Almond Buttered Pound Cake candles. I have one of Irvins electric jar candle burners, I have used for years. I have had this particular jar candle for 2-3 years too. You can use them over and over.
Well, yesterday afternoon I noticed my candle smelled so good and off and on I would think it.(It sets on the short wall that divides the kitchen and great room) About 7 pm I looked and there was candle wax built up and running down my wall on both sides. It was the worse mess! It took me an hour to clean it up and I was so thankful there was no fire. I want to say, there was nothing wrong with either product, the jar had just cracked, probably because it had been used for so long.
It scared me to think I would leave it on when I was gone.
I am so excited Dodd and Renda have invited me to go to Williamburg with them. Have you noticed when you say Williamsburg every knows where you are going? You don't have to include the state!lol This is certainly not meant to offend  those of you  who live in Williamsburg, Ky. I am looking forward to this so much.

Well this fellow and I thank you for coming Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: Tamra has her surgery next week. Please pray for her. Also another dear friend has been diagnosed. So please add Patricia to your prayers. This woman is one of the nicest, sweetest, people ever.
PSS: Cindy over at Cindi's Country Corner is going to do a special blog series in February. I am going to join in. 
PSSS: The house sale is going very slow. Just not the right time of the year, I know God has a plan, though so I will be patient.

Why Blog?

Well row, row, your boat and come on in. The coffee is on but the pie is gone. What a week we have had here, nothing but rain.I have been home except to get Dasko food since Friday.
I am really happy to see you this morning. Like a lot of you have stated, I too am wondering why I keep blogging. The blog gets lots of visits during the day, but few comments. I don't think bloggers blog for comments, at least I don't, but you do need to know if anyone reads you. Anyway, I asked myself this week,(lots of thinking time)why do I blog? The truth is I don't know. Some of my favorite bloggers have stopped for various reasons and I am still plugging on. Bloggers who blog about decor do not do it to brag. I KNOW that. We do it to share. We get ideas from one another and others get ideas from us. Anyway I wonder why do you blog? Anyone willing to share?
I have made some wonderful friends since I began blogging. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever expect that to happen. I treasure those friendships as much as I do those I see on a routine basis. I KNOW these bloggers prayed for Amanda when we needed it. I KNOW I have and(am still
am) praying for those they have asked me to. Anyway I am interested in hearing why you blog. Maybe do a post on it.
Okay it is time for hearts. I LOVE hearts. Some say they are out of style, but with me,(and my friend Carol) they will never be passe'.

My favorite heart. I display it on my wall of love.

As you know this wall features pictures of things important to me and my past.

My old brown crockery bowl with hearts around it.

Close up.

Old butter stamp

Punched tin lantern

Little pantry box created by Pam& Frank, along with a lamp with hearts on the base.(I have a lot of Pam & Franks wonderful creations.)
Well I am so happy you came Through My Back Door this morning where life is good.
betty
PS: Please pray for our fellow bloggers who are going through some difficult times.I know you do
PSS:I am so excited, I may have a trip coming up soon! Yeah, I have been home since Novemeber.lol
PSSS: I want to send wishes for a speedy recovery to Karen Martinsen, who is recuperating from back surgery.
MY COLONIAL HOME

Meanderings

Hello and come on in. Have a cup of coffee(Kona) and there is some apple pie left from Saturday. It is so nice to have you come Through My Back Door this morning. It is raining and colder, and I am doing NOTHING,so come in, prop your feet up and chat. Do you ever meander? I find myself doing it  often. If friends and I are visiting, we'll be talking about something and then someone says something way off the current subject, and on and on we go. Lots of laughs come from meandering. Deb and I do this so often, and one of us will say something out of left field. Then I find myself meandering about the past. Not that I am living in the past, but you just can't help thinking "backward" sometimes. Livy left for England Tuesday and we have all been a little sad. At first she was a bit homesick. But according to the pictures she's posting on FB she is settling in.
See I am meandering.LOL
Friday afternoon, even though it was raining Deb, Amanda, Mollie, and I went out for lunch and to visit the shops in Clinton.

She chose to sit in the high chair as opposed to a booster seat. We have no idea why.

She and Amanda. See how Amanda's hair has grown. It is so curly. By the way, we are eating at Percadillies, one of our favorite little eating places. If you are in Clinton, it is worth the very short (3min) drive out there. We all just love Darlene's chicken salad.
Well after we ate we went on into Clinton and hit all the shops. We first stopped at Corner Antiques and they are full of some wonderful things. We always park there, so we hit them first. Then onto the Hen. We got a couple of things and left them until we were going back to the car. After we had visited several shops, we headed back to the Hen. While Deb and Amanda were looking at something I looked and this is what Mollie was doing.

She had gotten a pillow off a chair and laid down. I laughed so hard. Needless to say we went home.lol
Saturday all my kids came home and we had a working. There were lots of little jobs that needed done, so I cooked and they worked. Curt and Lindsey were in town too.

Dodd on  the roof trimming a few branches.

Doug brought his chainsaw and cut some brush back. Michael worked really hard, but I didn't get any pictures. They loaded a truck load of stuff to go to the land fill. Lots more to be carried off another day.

Dasko was so happy to see Curt. It is always  good when we are together. Clay was going to come and help, but we decided we weren't doing that much yesterday. When they start cleaning out the barn and the other out buildings, we will definitely need him.
Do any of you just love the look of patina on old wood? I don't use a lot of scarves or textiles in my decorating. I just like the look of the wood. I sometimes get decorating suggestions that  I need to use more textiles. Am I alone in this? I have several Family Weavers textiles I could use, but I like wood. As I said several people have made suggestions. I don't care for dolls either. Just my slave doll Pam and Frank made.

See her on the firkin stack? I do love her. All wood and no textiles.
Well. I am meandering again, but don't you get a lot of ideas from other decorators? I sure do. One of my favorite things to do is get on FB decorating pages and see ideas. We all do things differently,even though many of us do basically the same, and it is interesting. Some of those pages are so  inspirational.
I will show you the before and after pictures of Sandi's highboy, she bought in Clinton.

Now for the after.

Isn't this gorgeous? Worth the trip over, huh?(Not that is wasn't enough to just visit with me.)lol
I have talked about it before on here, but I don't do vignettes very well. Sandi is gifted at it. It is something I am going to work on in 2013. I may become the Queen of Vignettes. Or

 I will leave you with  a couple of vignette, that I really like.

I love my water gourd. Another Pam & Frank creation.
Right now this is one of my very favorites.

And this one means a lot to me.(My progressive gift)lol

I warned you this post was about meandering. It means a lot to me when you meander Through My Back Door where life is good.
betty
PS: I promise the next post will be much better!
PSS:Please continue prayers for Tamra
PSSS: If your meandering today and your thoughts meander to someone you haven't seen in a while. Give them a call. That would be better then facebooking. Sometime someone  just needs to hear your voice.