"Show Off Your Cottage Monday" with A Southern Rose

Today is the first day of 'Show Off Your Cottage Monday' with Cielo at "The House In The Roses". I think this is a wonderful idea to show off rooms in our cottages that we have decorated and also projects that we are working on. Maybe this will motivate me to get a few more projects finished on my to do list.


My front door has been painted several times. Two of the times by me. It is layered with years and years of different colors of paint and in spots you can even see the rust starting to come through. It is an old metal door and I have wanted to change it for months but I will have to wait a little longer. I'm trying to live with my new motto that is on my new blog banner. "Being happy with what I have". My door is a shelter from the cold and I am happy with that. Come in and see my living room...

I love the colors that I have in this room. I love reds and yellows, they make it feel so warm in here. This is the first room that you walk into when you enter my cottage. It use to be dark brown paneled and very dreary. I love paint! It does wonders! I have a china cabinet in here because I have so many dishes that I had to put one in several rooms. I love dishes! A good friend of mine bought this Tiffany lamp for me a couple of years ago. I love stained glass too.

I've had this music player for years now. It plays old records, cassettes, and CD's. I love to go into this room and put some peaceful piano music on and just sit and relax. That is the reason that I don't have a television in here. I love to sit and have my coffee or tea and read or write letters to my friends. Yes, I still do that even with the conveniences of email. I love to send and receive letters and cards. They seem more personable to me.

I've had this old mirror for about 17 years now. It has been moved to several different houses and rooms. This is the buffet that my daddy gave me when I was only 19 years old. I keep all of my cassettes and CD's in the top drawer.

This is the secretary where I write my letters. It is full of stationary and little trinkets from my children.

I have loved roses since I was a little girl and I always will. I wallpapered the side wall for an accent wall, with roses of course. I used that same paper in my old house.

I bought these rose prints years ago at the Atlanta Market. I use to go buy merchandise for the gift store that I managed years ago. Oh how I loved that job! I always had to buy something for me too! LOL One print is called "Entwined" and the other is called "Touchable". They were painted by Deb Collins. I wonder the reasoning behind the names. I have a larger one too that goes with these and I will post about it on a later post.
Thank you for joining me for my first "Show Off Your Cottage Monday". It was fun seeing other people's cottages too. If you would like to see more just go on over to 'The House In The Roses' and Cielo has the different links set up so that you can visit them. That is where I'm heading right now.



Have a great day!

Traditions Party

Welcome to the 'Traditions' party celebrating the holidays from the blog 'Emma calls me mama'. I want to share with you pictures of my children when they were younger at Christmas time...my favorite holiday of all. Most of these are of my daughter because my photo albums are packed up and I only had her scrapbook available to use. I had to take pictures of photos because we didn't have digital cameras back then. Some of these pictures were originally taken with a little Kodak camera with the 'magic cube' flash bulb that was placed on top of the camera. Does anybody remember those? Okay, I'm showing my age now!

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and Christina and her daddy. This was her very first Christmas and she was almost a year old. We were very young. I was only 16 years old when we got married and he was 18. I turned 17 when Christy was 3 months old. We were children ourselves.

These pictures were taken at her mamaw and papaw's house. We lived with them while her daddy was in basic training and AIT school. They always had a huge 'real' tree for Christmas and we decorated it with all of her 'old' ornaments. It was a big deal decorating their tree. We got all into it! I remember Papaw putting the shiny silver icicles on it. He would hold them up in the air and blow on them and they would land perfectly on the tree. Mamaw would have an old album of Bing Crosby playing in the background singing "White Christmas, Silver Bells, and all of those oldies but goodies.

They were the best grandparents! They were my (ex) husband's but I claimed them as mine even after we divorced. I loved them very much and I miss them. They always made Christmas very special for us.

This is me and Papaw and Christy decorating the tree. I remember how the tree smelled...it made the whole room smell so good. I remember how cold that room was. They only lit the heater in there while we decorated the tree or when company came over or on Christmas. It was an old house and very cold. Mamaw would start baking cakes, pies, and cookies a week before Christmas. She taught me how to cook and whenever I cook now during the holidays, I always think of her. Honestly, there is not a day that goes by that I don't think of them. They were always there for us no matter what. They instilled that in me and I believe that helped to make me the way that I am about my children.

Papaw loved Christy so much. He was so proud that she was born on his birthday. January 12th.

Here she is opening one of her gifts. Looking at her now makes me think of my grandson Jason. He looks so much like his mommy.

Here she is at almost 1 year old decorating the tree! She was an early walker. She started at 9 months. The ornament that she has in her hand, she still has and she puts it on her tree now.

Christy sitting in Santa's lap at Roses's Dept store.

This one of me and Christy was taken at her Nanny's house. We always had to make the rounds to all of the grandparent's homes for Christmas. I had her all dressed in pink.

Wasn't she adorable?

This one is of Christy and her brother Cole. I think that she thought that he was her baby doll. She carried him around everywhere! This was during the years that I was a single mom and this was taken in our little apartment. Christy always helped me so much with Cole. There is 8 years difference between them. This was Cole's first Christmas. They were all dressed and ready to go to Mamaw Judy's (my mom) for Christmas.

Christy and Cole on Christmas morning at our apartment. They were still in their jammies. Look at those faces! They were so excited! See those round plagues on the wall next to the tree? I shared them on a post a few posts back on the 'Heirloom' party at 'Emma Calls Me Mama'.

Me and Christy opening up her 'big' present at her mamaw's. She was 2 here.

Christy was 5 years old here. I always tried to get her the newest doll that they came out with each year. She had seen this one on t.v. and she was so happy that it was under the tree.

Christy at 6 years old sitting under the tree. She was begging me just to let her open 'ONE' gift and it wasn't even Christmas yet. I think I ended up letting her.

Christy at 7 years old with Santa and my friend's baby. (Hillary)

Cole and Christy on Cole's little train that Santa brought to him. That train just about drove us crazy! He kept blowing the whistle so much! Christy was so protective of Cole. She was afraid that he would fall off if she let go.

Now these were taken years later after my last son was born. Christy was 18 and Cole was 8 and baby Garrett was only 7 months. This was taken on Christmas Eve. I was downstairs playing 'Santa' and she was in my room watching the boys for me. She has always been the 'little' mama to them.

They ended up sleeping in my bed with me that night. I know that I didn't get much sleep!

Christmas has always been a very special time for us. Christy, Erin, and Chase (my step children) were all teens at the same time. We always had a house full of kids. They would bring their boyfriends and girlfriends to eat Christmas dinner. I would get up extra early and start everything. We started a tradition of Cinnamon rolls...first thing and then the real cooking would begin. I took this picture from upstairs looking down. Erin is the 2nd one from the left in the back row and Chase is the 4th one. Naturally Christy is down front with a baby on her hip! Baby Garrett and Cole is right next to her still half asleep.

Thanks for taking the time to look at all of these pictures of Christmases past.
I hope that the memories that we have tried to instill in them about family and Christmas will stay with them for always just as they have with me from Mamaw and Papaw. The most important thing being for them to know the real reason for the season. The birth of Jesus. I thank Him for my wonderful children...my blessings.

My thrifting finds...

I just had to share some of my new thrifting treasures that I have found over the last couple of weeks. I have been so good as far as spending money...I have only shopped at thrift shops and I only bought something that I knew that I had a place for or that I could re-do and sell in my booth. These things below are the things that I am going to keep for my cottage. I love this pretty frame. I'm going to paint it cottage white (of course). Isn't it pretty! Only $2.00 and it holds a 5x7 picture.

I found this little shabby candle holder at The Goodwill when I was in Southaven visiting my son a couple of weeks ago. They have 2 huge Goodwill's there! Some of their stuff was too expensive though for a thrift shop. I bought some lace panels and this candle holder. It was $2.oo. It has little glass beads on it. I don't even have to paint it! LOL

I bought this adorable frame at Marshall's in Jackson on the way to Southaven. It was only $1.00. It goes perfect with my shabby rose style. It holds a 3.5x5 picture. Click on it to make it larger. The brand is called 'Not So Shabby'. I love it.

I got this little cutie for .50 cents. It doesn't have a back to it but I can fix that! It is made of metal and reminds me of lace. I will have to repaint it because it is a little bit rusty in spots. I guess that you can tell that I love frames. I will show you the new area where I'm putting some of my family pictures, on a later post.

I love finding cute little light switch covers. I buy them whenever I see them to replace the old standard ones in my cottage. I think that little touches like this gives my cottage 'character'. (.50 cents)

I have been on the look out for one of these for a long time but I knew that it would have to come from a thrift shop because they are expensive at other stores. It is a sheet music holder. I will use it to hold a few of my piano books. It was $5.00. I just realized that you can see by bed frame in the background that I just painted. It was brass and I thought it would look more 'cottagy' painted Heirloom White. I will post about that soon too.

This is my 'sweet' find that I thought was a perfect one for me. I love the saying and I am learning daily to be happy with what I have. I love my little cottage even with it's endless to do list of repairs. Each time something gets done, I love it even more.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my thrifty finds. I love sharing them with you.

Birthdays and memories...

These are some old pictures of Cole and his cousin Whitney when they were little.


How time flies! Cole was 5 and Whitney was 3.

These were taken at Mom's cabin one Christmas. Michael was 3, Whitney was 4, and Cole was 6. This is one of my favorite pictures of them.

Whitney and my daughter Christy at one of Christy's pageants at her high school.

Well...guess what? We just had Whitney's 'Sweet 16' Birthday party last week. It is so hard to believe that she is 16 years old! My sister really went all out for her birthday, She rented Skinney's restaurant in Kentwood and had her a party there just for her family. It was the night before her birthday so she didn't suspect a thing! She thought that they were just going out to eat. This was her family party...she did something else the next night for Whitney and all of her friends.

All of her decorations were so pretty.

These are some of her birthday gifts. Her mom made her a scrapbook just of her 16th year.

Whitney Lynn Spears, how did you get to be 16 so fast! Seems like yesterday that you were born! I remember being at the hospital waiting for you to make your entrance! Mamaw Judy has always called you 'Miss. America' so your mama just had to find you a banner and a crown for your special day!

You have grown into such a pretty young lady and so sweet...sorry for calling you a brat when you were little. Shame on me...

Daddy brought Melinda's birthday gift to her. He didn't get to give it to her on her birthday. Melinda collects Amberina glass.

Melinda and her baby girl.

Whitney and her Daddy, Steven. Seems like yesterday whenever Melinda and Steven started dating!

My sister and Whitney.

Daddy gave her a white gold chain to go with a '16' charm that we have passed down for years between us. It started out being mine. Daddy gave it to me when I turned 16 and then I passed it to my little sister, Melinda when she turned 16. Then she passed it to my daughter Christy and now Christy passed it on to Whitney. Daddy was a little shocked that we still had it! We are all kind of sentimental like that....

Daddy and Whitney.

This is the present that I got for her. She loves to sit in bed when she is on her laptop. (I wonder where she gets that from?) I thought it would be perfect for her! Her room is done in black and white zebra stripes and turquoise. She loved it.

Here she is with baby Jason, my grandson.

This is all of us. Whitney, Melinda, me, and Christy. My sister with her daughter and me with mine. We are so blessed.

Me, Whitney, and my friend Stevie.

Me and Mama. I was so glad to see her. I haven't seen her since May at Chase's birthday party.

Hugging mama before I left. She wasn't feeling well and I got emotional. When I'm off next week, I plan on going and visiting mom and spending some good quaility time together. Her birthday is coming up on the 21st. I think that we will have a mother/daughter day to celebrate her upcoming birthday.
Well...I know this was a lot of pictures but I have to post them to share them with my son in Southaven. I didn't have any on here of Garrett and Chase. Those were taken on my disposable camera and I haven't developed them yet.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing these pictures of our family.