Been doing ancestry search lately. Last night I found this picture of my paternal great great grandmother (she's the one on the left).

She lived in the mid-1800's. This, so far, is the only picture I have of any of my ancestors on my father's side.
I love doing ancestry research. I've been spending mass quantities of time on it lately. I love mysteries and doing this research is like solving a mystery. When I find new information, it almost makes me cry. I don't know why it affects me like that, but it does. It makes me wonder what these people were like, why they lived in the places they did, etc. My ancestors from my mother's side of the family originated in Georgia, but ended up in Oklahoma Indian Territory, and intermarried with the Choctaw Indians. Why did they leave Georgia? Why did they settle in Oklahoma? Many questions, but not nearly enough answers to satisfy my curiosity. So, I continue to search and make contact with other relatives, and, little by little, I get more answers to my questions.

It's A Special Day Today

Not only do Brenda @ It's All Good and I share the same name, but we also share the same anniversary date, just one year apart. And, today is also my friend Laura's birthday. So, that makes today's date pretty special! Happy Annivesary to Brenda & Hubby, and Happy Birthday to Laura!

29 Years and Counting

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Ha-a-a-py Anniversary! Does anyone remember Fred Flinstone singing that to Wilma? I think the tune is William Tell Overture. Anyhow, today is #29 for Hubby & Me. It's pretty amazing we made it this long. There've been times for both of us when we wondered if we would last. But, thanks to the Lord being the center of our lives, and our marriage, we have made it. So, Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you! :-)
P.S. This is the same pic from last year. We haven't taken any new ones together. I know, I know...sad, but true. lol

Nesting

Yesterday, all day, I was busy "nesting", or making nests, that is. I made these cute little "nest" cupcakes for the women's meeting today.

I also made these little nests out of chow mein noodles and they will be filled with egg salad, also for the women's meeting.

I will be serving mini pita pockets filled with alfalfa sprouts and chicken salad. They, too, will look like little nests.
On yesterday's post, I showed you the "before" of this stand, and today, you get to see the "after". I painted the whole thing white, and made the little flower bouquet to go inside the hole where the handle was missing. I lined it with paper doilies, because I'll be serving those little egg salad "nests" on this piece.

I think it definately looks better white than black. But, should I change my mind, all it takes is a can of spray paint ($1 buckeroo at WalMart), and badda-bing, badda-boom, it can be black again (or any other color I get a "hankerin" for).
For all the pics of today's women's meeting, check back on Thursday for Tablescape Thursday. In the very near future, I'll be starting another blog, exclusively for pictures and information from our women's group. But until then, I'll keep posting them here.

Just Some Stuff

A few months back I had broken one of my apothocary jars. I had taken it to a friend's house to use for a party. We decided not to use it, so I set it down on the carpeted floor next to my purse, to grab it when I left. I accidentally kicked it over and it broke (how this happened on a very thick carpeted floor I have no idea, but it did.) I saved the jar and the lid, thinking I might somehow glue it back together, which I never got around to trying, and it probably would have looked very bad had I done it. Here's what it looked like:

A couple of days ago, I went by one of my favorite stores in town that was in the process of moving to a new location, and I found the same jar that I needed, only with no lid, and it was reduced for clearance at $12.95 with 75% off. Since I knew as soon as I saw it that my lid would fit perfectly, I snapped that baby up in a heartbeat. I paid a whopping $3.25, and no sales tax. Here's the new jar, without the lid:

And here it is, with it's new, perfectly fitting lid:

I also bought this serving stand. I didn't realize until I started to paint it, that it was bent in places, but since it is wire, it was an easy fix. I also noticed that it's missing a handle at the top. I figured that's okay, because I will stick some flowers in the hole. I painted it white, but haven't taken pics of it's new paint job yet, so taht will come later.

And here's a pic of the finished birdhouses I was working on last week. I made a scroll out of music scrapbook paper, and wrote on it "His Eye Is On The Sparrow". I got the cute little nest at Joann's and put them all into one of my apothocary jars, with grass. There are three of them and they are the centerpieces for our ladies' meeting this coming Saturday.

Tax Time - Blech!!!

So, today I've been working on getting all my receipts together for Hubs, so he can get the tax stuff ready. I am not very consistent at filing, so my receipts were all over the place and in no kind of order. The only consistent thing is that I had about a gazillion receipts from Michael's. But I finally got them all collected, put in order, and labeled as to what category they fall under for tax purposes. The bummer is that I also had about a gazillion receipts that are not tax deductible, so that's a big bummer. (Note to self: buy stock in Michael's. Then if purchases are not tax deductible, at least your paying into your own stock. lol)
On a brighter note, I have some pics to put up, but have to put them on the computer first, and before I can do that, I have to charge the battery in my camera. So hopefully, I'll get that all done tonight and be able to put up pics tomorrow. At the store in my town that moved and had the 75% off sale, I was able to make a couple of really great purchases. That's what I want to show you all.
Okay, I'm tired from all that tax stuff - it taxes my brain. I don't like it when I have to think too hard about things that I don't like to think about. Does anyone else feel that way, too? I'm sure you're out there, whoever you are. :-) Check back tomorrow and hopefully I'll have my pics up.

Tablescape Thursday

Today I am posting pictures from last year's "Spring Fling", our women's group from church.


I made these "napkin thingys" out of scrapbook paper. I found the pattern online, and cut them all out, made the little bows. I had found a stamp at Michael's in their Dollar Bins that said Spring Fling, so I stamped it onto the green round and glued them to the fronts.

I got these topiaries at Joann's after Easter for 60% off. They had purple eggs, so I painted them pink and added in some pink and green flowers to match the color scheme.

I bought these boxes at the 99 Cent Store, wrapped them in decorative paper and glued them on top of each other with ribbon and a little bird's nest at the top. They flanked the food table.

Here's the buffet table:


I also made this cute little cake with a bird's nest on top:

This coming Saturday, our women's group is having a "Springtime" Brunch, again with a pink & green color scheme. However, the tablescapes and other decor will be quite different, so I'll post it next week for Tablescape Thursday.
For more yummy tablescapes, be sure to stop by Susan's, at Between Naps On The Porch.