"Halloween paper bag album"

This is a paper bag album. I am going to develp the pictures of my Halloween decorations this year and crafts that I have made and put them in this little book. I bought the paper bag album off of ebay last year. I used Daisy D Halloween paper kits that I purchased a Hobby Lobby years ago when they were 50% off. I made the tags with pieces of embellishments that I have collected over the years. I love the vintage images from Crafty Secrets. I hate that Daisy D is no longer making papers and kits. I loved their vintage images and feel to their line of products.
Let me know what you think about my try at a paper bag album. I still want to do a waterfall paper bag album like I saw on Paula Clare's blog. Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you. I am working on a few more Halloween craft ideals that I have seen on other blogs. I hope to get them done and I have also starting gathering my supplies for Christmas crafting.
Have a wonderful week!
Hugs,
Lynn

Welcome to Hart's Square

Hello,
My husband and I had a wonderful day today. We started out early this morning on our adventure. He took me to a local hair saloon to have my hair shampooed since I can't take a shower for a few days due to the nerve stimulator attached to my spine. Then to the local grocery for picnic supplies. Then to Hart's Square. We got there and waited in a long line to park. We parked and our adventures began. We stepped back into the 1800s. There were camps sat up in between the restored cabins, houses, school house, doctors office, jail, general store, blacksmith shop, tinnery, outhouses, woodsheds, summer kitchens, pottery kiln, wood work shop, broom making, candle making, wool spinning, a working grist mill,bought 6 pounds of cornmeal made from the grist mill) a working cotton gin,all different kinds of cabins and houses. People dressed in 1800s attire, the medicine show had come to down and were trying to sell their tonics, my favorite was the Dr. McFilthy's Crouch Powder, an actual product from the 1800s with many uses from curing indestigon, to bed bugs, to polishing your silver, and growing hair LOL.wool dyeing on the large cast iron pots over an open fire, cornbread from a beehive oven, broom making, school yard games, a spelling bee inside the school house with medals for 1st and 2nd place, a Civil War battle between the Confederate and Union Army , sorry Yankee neighbors, the South won the battle today, two sweet chapels to visit and to say a prayer in, wonderful fishing ponds, a bootleg moonshine still hidden in the growth out back of the grist mill. We had fun, wished we had taken money with us, Dr. Hart has published a wonderful coffee table book on his beloved Hart's Square. He is attending the opening house of the Hickory Museum of Art on November 5,2011 so we will go and purchase a book that day. The money goes to the Hart foundation to keep his beloved 1800's village going. I heard that two families wanted to talk to him about donating some structures to the village so maybe there will be new places to see next year. There were 2 or 3 new additions this year. I will post pictures later this week.

The day was fun but I am paying for it. I have been in pain since early this afternoon and we would sit and take breaks. The machine does not help with the pain that walking causes. I have even broke downed and shed tears. This drives the hubby crazy. He can't stand to see me cry. I am just too emotional during this time.
Have a good week!
Lynn

"Procedure Day"

Hello,
My day started out bright and early this morning. I had to be at the doctor's office at 7am. We got there 9 minutes early and were the only car in the parking lot. People started arriving around 6:55am. The office opened at 7 and I was the only pt there! They took me straight back and got my vitals and then the fun began. I needed an IV, they didn't tell me I would get an IV, I do not do well with any type of needle sticks for blood draws or IVs. 7 sticks later they got the IV started!! 4 people, 2 sticks each by the first 3 and the last one got it on the first stick but barely. They would have to reposition it each time they gave me a dose of medicine! The procedure was extremely painful due to the worse shape spine he has ever seen, fusions, metal, and scar tissues. It took them longer than they had planned for so instead of implanting two leads they just did one. It works on my buttock area and my right leg. But no help into the lower back yet. They said the permanent one will work on my back. The device works by stimualting the nerves with a tingling almost massaging feeling, you know the feeling of those massage chairs at the mall, it feels like that. I have a remote control to turn the vibrations on and off and to turn the strength of the signals up or down. So far, I can feel it helping in my right leg. I do not feel the tingling pin sticking sensations that I usually get. We are going to the Hart's Festival on Saturday, so I will be able to see if it helps with the pain I get in my legs when walking or standing for a prolonged period of time, you know more than a few minutes at a time. They will take this out on Tues and set up the appointment for the surgery for the permanent one. That is out pt and lasts about an hour. IN the mean time, no showers or baths. So, Duane gets to give me a sponge bath. Yep the rep told him he has to do all the house work and bathing me until Tues. I can not bend, twist, lift my arms above my head. The lead is just floating in my spine area, so movement can move it to areas that it doesn't need to go. If it gets out of place, the sensations will be felt in areas that may not be needed or not work in the areas that are needed. I am excited about this part of my journey, it makes me have a hope that maybe just maybe I will be able to have a pain free or a pain that I can tolerate and do things that I used to do. Keep me in your prayers. The weather has taken a turn and a cold front has moved in. The next few days with lows in the mid 40s and high in the low-to mid 60s. It should be a nice weekend for the Hart festival. I am looking forward to visiting the 1800's village and to see all the craftsman that Dr. Hart brings in for the day. I hope they do the Civil War reenactment again this year. It was such fun last year. I will take plenty of pictures to share with you.
Have a wonderful night and remember to say a prayer for me. I still have some Halloween lip balms from Avon if anyone would like some. I mailed our three packages yesterday to Musings by K, My Vintage Mending, and Parker's Paradise. I am also excited to be a part of Creative Breathing's Christmas Tag Swap!! I am finally going to get a piece of art from many of the bloggers that I admire soo much!!
Hugs,
Lynn

"Halloween Happens at the Wienne Ranch"

This is the house we live in not the one we inherited and my daughter lives in:O)
this is for Robin:O)


This is a picture heavy post LOL So, go get a cup of your favorite yummy beverage and sit down and take a break. These are the decorations in my den/living room/family room whatever you want to call it. Our house is a 1930s cottage style home, so it is very small but I love it and it would take the purchase of a dream home which is a historic old home in the historic district of Hickory, North Carolina to get me to move. We inherited my brother-in-law's home when he passed away suddenly in 2004. It is about a 5 minute drive from our home and our daughter lives in it with her boyfriend, furbabies, Hush Puppie, Kenzie Mae, Sassie Mae, Prissie Mae, and Loki-Mae. The front porch pictures are some of my favorite decorating spots! My hubby built the cover porch last year. It runs the entire length of the front of the house. The old trunk in front of the windows was an estate sale purchase back in the 90s. I love old wood boxes and crates and love them for storage. I use them in my den area to store DVDs and VHS in. In the kitchen I have them stacked under my kitchen counter and use them to store cleaning products, cleaning rags, car care products, and all kinds of kitchen and house hold items in. They hide the clutter and look good too. I am still crafting for Halloween and I will take pictures of those items when I get them finished and put on display. I am wanting to decorate some owls and ravens that I picked up like those I have seen on other blogs. If you know how to decorate the owl and ravens will you please leave me a comment or email me at pls0818@aol.com
I still have some Halloween theme Avon lip balms to giveaway if you would like one or several. I would love to send them to someone. Please just leave a comment and then email me your address.
Thanks to all my friends in blog land! I get so much inspiration and ideals from visiting your blogs!
Have a wonderful week!
Lynn

"29 years Wedding Anniversary Weekend"

Hello,
I am so tired today but a good tired. Yesterday was my 29th Wedding Anniversary!! My hubby and I spent our weekend at the races!! Yes, we went to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday night for the Nationwide race and then back yesterday for the Sprint cup race!! We had soo much fun. Thanks to my lovely neice, who just happened to be my flower girl 29 years ago,we had passes to the garage area and the pits!! We had a ball!! I was in pain from all the walking but would sit down and rest for a while and then get up and go see what we could find to look at. Watching the races on TV is nothing like being there in person and down in the pits and the garage areas!! Friday night, we walked and watched as the crew members finished the last minute details on getting the cars ready for last night's race. Each car has a wonderful big truck that carries the cars to the track and also everything that the crew will needs at the tracks. They are all painted and beautiful. Every part of those big trucks shine and glisten in the sun!! Everyone is so nice too. The teams have colors of drinks and water, help yourself. Some teams leave their signature snack available to the fans too. There are buttons to grab, photos of the teams and drivers to take. You may just get lucky and see the King of Nascar, Mr. Richard Petty setting beside one of his teams trailors right after the race has started. I walked up and asked, Mr. Petty, may I have your autograph please? He signed my backpack with his signature blue sharpie. I took this opportunity to say Thank you to him for signing a message to the troops, Thanks for your service, Richard Petty. Then this was made into a screen print and was screen printed on 6000 tshirts to be included in a care package of the troops that contain all item that were made in North Carolina. I was fortunate enough to meet the founder of this non profit and to offer my help. I have been blessed with a uncanny gift of getting people to donate things. I am part of the Blue Star Mothers and before that I did it on my own to collect items and send to the troops. With the help on my online scrapbooking friends, we sent over 300 quart and gallon size paint cans decorate for Christmas and filled with snacks and other items for the troops at Christmas in 2007. Then for Easter, we did it again, 300 Easter treat bags were sent. Then again at Memorial Day and 4th of July, we sent snacks and personal care items. All the items I sent were donated!! I just called and asked!!The gentleman with the North Carolina care packages said for me please to contact him once my surgeries with my back are over and I am ready to be involved, that he would love my help. So, I am excited about that.
Back to the races,
I got to meet Trevor Bayne, the 20 year old that won the Daytona 500 in Feburary. When I walked up to his trailor, I saw him and several of his crew in a circle praying! It brought tears to my eyes. When I got to speak to him, I told him how much his faith and his expression of that faith was an inspiration to so many young people. He said Thank You mame, it made me feel old Lol.
I meet and got autographs of the famous Wood brothers owner of the 21 car that Trevor Payne drives. They were so nice, polite, and humble, one of them asked why I wanted his autograph and I told him that he was such a part of the success of Nascar and that I had grown up watching the races . I grew up in Hickory, North Carolina,and my parents took me to the races every Saturday night at the Hickory Motor Speedway, home of the Nascar stars!! I watched Dale Earnhardt Sr, Harry Gant, David Pearson, and other legends race every week. We took our chairs and sat in front of the garage at Charlotte and watched the race on the big screen tv. We also watched pit stops from the back of the pit stalls. Oh, my those guys move super fast. You also have to watch every step you take. Cars going to the garage from pit road are on a mission to get fixed and back on the track, so get out of their way! We usually do not buy sovenirs, but we bougth two tshirts last night one for each of us. They just happened to have 10/15/2011 on the front or back of the shirt, a very nice reminder of where and how we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary!! I have pictures to download to the computer and I will post them soon. I got lucky and got a few autographs, Ryan Newman, Daivd Regan, Clint Bowyer, Juan Pabelo Montona,Trevor Bayne, both Wood Brothers, and Richard Petty.

Thank you Buffy for an anniversary of a life time!!! We love you!!

" A Little gift for you"

Hello friends,
How are you doing? We are having cool fall weather here in Conover! The annual Okotber Fest took place in Hickory, NC this past weekend. Hubby and I went for a little while on Saturday night. We had so much fun. The most fun was we found a new consignment shop that carries all kinds of stuff, vintage and new!! They were staying open late to take advantage of the festival goers. I was in heaven!! I found a black cast iron dachshund bank and a red enamel cup!! I was a happy little camper!! They also have a good selection of vintage aprons for 10.00 a piece! For those that collect them, is this a good price?? Any help will be appreciated.

Ok, for the freebie! I bought a bunch of the Halloween lip balms from Avon when my niece was selling it last year. I bought them to hand out at work, but we all know that I was not able to go back to work after my last back surgery. So, just leave me a comment that you would like one or two and then send me an email at pls0818@aol.com and I will mail them to you. Just a little something something for my friends.
have a great week!
hugs,
Lynn

My Kitchen

Hello friends,
I am just sharing a little glimpse into my 1930's home. My home is quite small but I love it. My husband and I have lived in this home for almost 30 years!! We moved into our home in December of 1982, two months after we got married. When we moved in it was sooo ugly!! The walls were covered with dark brown almost black paneling. The floors were covered with a hideous orange shag carpet. The kitchen cabinets were painted a dark brown, the floor was so ugly with a brown vinyl tile, and the bar posts were painted brown, orange, yellow, red, and green. It took many years but we redid the kitchen, my husband did all of the work himself. He installed the brown oak cabinets. He built the bar, the shelves, he laid the flooring, he put the tile on the counters and back splash. As my collection of kitchen items grew, he covered every wall space with oak shelves! He built the refrigator into the wall so we would have more space.I love the kitchen that my husband built me and I am so thankful that when I need more storage space I can count on him to find a way to install more shelves for my collections and he is happy to go shopping with me to find those collections.
In the two pictures below you can see the space underneath the bar. I have a wooden bench under there. On the bench is wood crates and under the bench is more wood crates. I use these crates to store my cleaning supplies, tools, and other items that I may need to use. The crates are great for storage because they can hold a lot and it hides the contents so well. I also have a brown crock and another wood crate beside the bench. I have the wood crate standing on its side. I have my black cast iron kettles and irons displayed there. I also have the furbabies water bowls in front of the wood crate. I use the plastic bowls from Wal-mart for the furbabies water and food bowls. They have sets for each holiday and season!! Yes, my furbabies are spoilt. But they so deserve it!! They love us unconditionally, they are always there to greet you when you come home whether you have been gone 10 minutes or days, there welcome home is always the same, excited barked greetings, jumps of joys, and kisses are waiting for you.

As you can tell by the pictures, I love old jars, jugs, kitchen gadgets, tins, milk bottles, apple jugs, cookie jars, kitchen scales, pot holders, a few roosters, and of course a couple of cows. Each of the items on the shelves were found while out antiquing and treasure hunting with my husband. We love to get in the car and set off in a direction and just drive and if we see an old store or antique store we stop and shop.

I would like to ask my blogging friends to say a prayer for my family. I will not bore you with all the ugly details but God in heaven knows the needs of our hearts and souls.

Thank you so much and thank you for all the inspiration, ideals, and joy that I get by visiting your blogs. I try to visit all my fav blogs on a daily basis but I do not always post a comment but I do stop by to visit and read about you. I have learned so much from all of you and I thank you again for sharing your life with me.

I want to say a special thank you to Linda Parker of Parker's Paradise. I comment on her super cute pillow and pillow tucks that she made a week or so ago. I was so surprised to find a package in my mail box with her return address on it. Inside the package was two cute stichted pillows. One says fall an the other has pears stitched on it and reads Quite a Pear. So cute and so briten my day. Hugs to you my special friend. Your kindness has meant so much to me!!

I hope to photograph my home with all the decorations for Fall and Halloween up and share those in the next few days. I am still dealing with the pain issues and I have been given another steroid pack to see if that will help the new pain that has shown up in the middle of my back. I am still a go for the nerve stimulator trial on the 20th of this month. I found out that I will be awake and they will numb my back with lidocane and inserts the leads onto my spine that way. I am more than a little nervous because when I was taking the pain injections, they hurt so bad because of all the scar tissue from the 5 back surgeries in the same area!! So say a prayer for me that the procedure will go well and I will not feel the pain while it is being inserted!
Have a wonderful day.
Hugs,
Lynn