My sweethearts...

This is "Blue". He may not be the cutest doggie but he sure is a sweetheart! He was the runt of the litter that my dog "Baby" had last November. "Baby' was my sweet dog that we saved when she was just a baby. Someone had put her and her brothers and sisters in a plastic tub on the side of the road. They had been there for several days whenever we found them. We were able to save "Baby" and her brother "Spunky". All of the other ones...about 5 of them were dead in the plastic box. How can people be so cruel? Anyway...we saved them and "Spunky" didn't make it but we were able to save "Baby" from Parvo. The vet told us to let her die because he didn't think there was much of a chance for her to pull through. I sat up with her for 3 days and nights...I slept some, getting up every 30 minutes to give her medicine and Pedialyte. After the 4th day, she was well! Everyone was shocked. Then a few months ago someone poisoned her. I think someone didn't like her because she was part 'pit bull'. That was so cruel! She was the sweetest dog and she loved me. "Blue" is sweet just like his mama was.

This is "Sugar". She is our neighbor's dog but she stays over here most of the time. She is still in the puppy stage and loves to play!

This is my old boy "Bear". He loves to play with "Sugar" and "Blue". He tries his best to keep up with them but they just wear him out! I gave him a good haircut the other day and he looks so much better. He got a good bath too! This picture looks like they are begging him to get up and play with them just ONE MORE time...please!? Isn't this the cutest picture? Well...I just found out that if a dog comes into your yard in Mississippi and you have already warned the owner, you can shoot him. Isn't that something? I guess my neighbor knew what she was doing whenever she came over the other day and made that threat. I had to lock "Bear" and "Blue" up in my little courtyard on garbage night so that she couldn't say that they were the ones getting in her garbage. I let them out the next morning after the garbage people came.

Don't forget to go to my last post and sign up for my giveaway!

My very first Giveaway!!!

First of all, make sure that you have the music turned on when you read this post. I love this song! Its kind of an oldie but whenever I hear it, I smile and get a happy feeling inside. I'm so excited to be having my very first give-away! I've almost made it to 200 posts! This one is my 198th post! WOW! I have met so many wonderful people out here in blog land and have gotten so many creative ideas for my little cottage! It has been a blast! I've met a few 'special' people here that I feel like are really 'friends' to me. You have encouraged me with your kind words. Especially on days that I didn't even feel like getting out of bed because of the Fibro. So many people don't even try to understand this disorder and most of the time I don't even try to explain it to anyone anymore. (Save that for a different post.) I just want to say thank you for visiting me here on my blog and leaving me such kind comments. It truly means so much to me!

Thank you for being...you! Each person that I have met touches my heart in a special way. Each one of you is special to me!

Now...on to my giveaway........This is a small diffuser that you just stick the little reeds into and the scent gets absorbed into them and releases into the air. This one has the scent of 'Tropical Island'. I love the blue roses painted on it.

The next item in my giveaway is this great smelling Yankee Candle called "Cottage Breeze". The name is even perfect and the picture on it looks so relaxing. I bought one for me too! Had to have it!

This next little sweetie is what I call a kitchen angel.....by Debbie Mumm. Isn't she adorable!? She is actually a sponge or scrubby holder to use at your kitchen sink. Looks like she has been watering your flowers too.

Next is this pretty tropical tea-light lamp. It has beautiful palm trees painted on it and the ocean. Makes me want to visit the beach! I haven't been to a beach in so long! But my favorite of all is this fabulous book called "Cottage Style". I'm talking 125 pages of total cottage bliss! I saw this book last month and I just had to buy two of them because I knew that it would be perfect for my first giveway! One for me and one for you! Who ever wins, will love this! I look at mine all of the time! I've gotten tons of ideas from this book!

All you gotta do is leave me a comment on this post and I will enter you in the drawing. If you like my blog and decide to be a follower, I will add your name again so that you will have two chances to win. If you are already a follower, you are already entered once and when you leave a comment you will be entered again!
Thanks for everything that you do to make my little piece of this big 'ole world a happy place!

Good Luck and Be Happy!

My niece and nephews...

This is my niece Whitney and my nephew Michael. They live only 40 minutes away but I haven't seen them in a couple of months. You all know life can get so busy at times. I plan on going to see them in a few days. They are growing up so fast!

Whitney will be 16 in October. Seems like yesterday that she was just pushing around her baby carriage and cooking in her little play kitchen. Michael will be 15 in September. He is such a sweet young man.

Whitney, Melinda (my sister), and Christy (my daughter). These were taken this past Christmas.

This was taken at Mom's house on Christmas night last year. I didn't get to go because I was sick. Mom looks so tiny surrounded by all of them. The little boy is 'Chase' my other nephew. He and my son Garrett are exactly 3 weeks apart in age. My sister and I both have 3 children each...2 boys and one girl each.
I have got to get down there soon and get the kids together because school is fixing to start and once that happens, we all get so busy.

My 200 post is coming up soon and I am going to have my first giveaway! I'm getting it all together tonight and I will post about it tomorrow.

What to do with "Bear"

Good morning, everyone. Today and tomorrow I am actually off work! I have so much planned to do at my cottage. It feels so good to have a couple of days off. I'm in kind -of a predicament and I thought maybe that I could get some advice from my blogging friends. The pictures below are of the chow dog that adopted us a few months ago. I can't remember how long he has been here. Maybe 4 or 5 months. I didn't go out looking for him...he just popped up here one day and has been here ever since. He was really shy at first and wouldn't come up to anyone but me. I was careful with him at first because I didn't know if he was going to be aggressive or not. He was so sweet and scared. I could tell that he had been abused. He smelled terrible and had a million knots in his hair! I got to looking at him closer and noticed that the collar he had on was digging into his neck! I mean it had cut into his flesh...deeply! I called Stevie over to help me get it out and off of him. He was a little afraid of Stevie. We tried to pull it off and we could tell that it was hurting him so we just did a little bit at a time. Finally we were able to get it off and the dog ran off. I know that it hurt him. Anyway, everyday I came home from work, he would be here. I ended up naming him "Bear". He has been here ever since. He is a big baby! He walks around like an old grandpa! LOL He lets me wet him down with the water hose (I have to hold on to his hair to keep him there while I do it) and I'm planning on shaving all of his hair off except for around his face, today. Stevie gave him his shots. We didn't know if he had any shots before. He seems so happy now and is a good watch dog. I have 2 other dogs outside and they all get along.

Doesn't he look sweet? I use to have a chow that I raised from a puppy 18 years ago. I was expecting my son 'Cole' at the time. I never had any trouble out of 'Cocoa'. Maybe that's why I'm not afraid of 'Bear'. He follows me around my yard when I'm outside and if I'm out back working in my shed, he will just sit there and watch me. I live out in the country and having dogs out here is the norm.
Well...the problem that I have is, my neighbor met me at my car when I got home the other day, she didn't even give me time to get out of my car! I have never even met her before. She lives down the road behind my house. She asked me if the 'brown' dog was my dog. There is a brown lab puppy that comes around everyday...he lives across the road. I thought she was talking about him and I said 'no'. When I got out of my car she started pointing at "Bear" and said "That ugly dog, is it yours?" Well that didn't sit very well with me and I told her that he had adopted us a few months ago. She wouldn't even let me finish talking and she said that if he ever came back into her yard again that she was going to shoot him because she was sick of picking up her garbage. I asked her how she knew that it was him because there are dogs all over this place out here. I have 2 besides 'Bear' and there are at least 4 others that live across the road. She didn't answer me but she did say that he growled at her and she was not gonna put up with it. She said if he comes back in her yard she is shooting him and she turned around and walked off. She actually had the nerve to turn back around and tell me to have a good day! I didn't say anything back to her but I went inside and I was very upset. I've had a day or so to really think about it and I'm trying to figure out what to do. I thought about writing her a note and putting it on her door asking her to please not to shoot him and I would try to find a home for him. Just give me a few days. Whenever I get ready to write it, I decide not to because I don't think that it is fair that I should have to do this. There are so many dogs around here and she has singled him out to shoot! I think because of him being a Chow, she wants him gone. What do I do? I've already lost 2 dogs this past year. We think that 'Baby' was poisoned and 'Sassy' was found dead when we came home from going out to eat. "Sassy" was my sweet Sheltie that I had for 11 0r 12 years. "Baby" was the part 'pit' that we rescued off the side of the road when she was just a few days old. I know that not all people like dogs or animals period. I respect that. That is their choice. However, I am an animal lover. I should be able to have my animals. That is one reason that I decided to move out here in the country and not in town.

I know this has been a long post, but I just had to get all of this of my chest. I don't want to have to chain him up...I would rather just find him another home. It just doesn't seem fair. If I felt like 'Bear' was a bad dog, I would not have kept him this long. I have children and a grand baby.

Please give me your honest advise on what to do.

My new 'old' bed

This is the bed that I bought a couple of weeks ago at the used furniture store. They had just put it out when I got there. When I saw it, I knew it was meant for me! I had to leave it there because I didn't have a truck to haul it. This is the same store where they save things for me with 'roses' on it.

I love all of the details on it. I can't wait to start priming and painting it. I kind -of like the color that it is already is but I'm going with a blue and yellow color scheme in my guest bedroom. I think I will paint it 'Cottage White".

It even has pretty little details on the foot board. It is a 'full' size bed. I'm so happy with it. I know that I could not have bought a new bed that would have made me happier. I love 'old' pieces so much better.

I haven't posted too much this month, I know. There has just been so much going on and I have been in a lot of pain with the Fibro. It just aggravates me so much! There is so much that want to get done around my cottage but when I hurt, I just shut down. Some days I can barely make it to work. When I get to work, I try to put on a front that the pain is not there because I don't want them to know. I don't think that most people there would understand anyway and I don't want to be labeled as the 'complainer'. I just smile and just try to get through the day. It is just so hard sometimes. Thank you everyone that has left sweet comments to me about this and understanding. This song playing is one of my favorites. The little girl singing was around 5 years old when she recorded this. Her voice is beautiful to me.

Garrett and I are both winners!

I've been MIA for a few days. I've been so busy at work. We've been getting ready for inventory and we started taking inventory this past Friday. I go in today at 5:00 and work until 12:00 to finish up. Inventory always just wipes me out! Thank goodness that I am off tomorrow so that I can recuperate. I plan on getting some good rest! I will have some time to catch up on my all of my blogger friends. I feel like I've been away for so long! I wanted to show a picture of a giveaway that I won on July 14th from Caroline at "Forever Vintage". This was her first giveaway. I can't wait to receive it! She was celebrating her birthday, wedding anniversary, and 1 year blogging anniversary all on the same day. I love her blog and she is such a sweet person! Go check her out if you haven't met her yet. Thank you so much Caroline.

Well...this morning I was sitting out on the porch drinking my coffee and reading the Sunday paper and look what I came across?! My sweet little boy's picture in the paper! I was so surprised! I didn't know that his picture was going to be in there! He won 2nd place in the accelerated reading program at his school right before school let out for the summer. I am so proud of him! He loves to read! Just the other day, we went to a thrift store and I bought him 15 more books for his collection. He picked them all out and he was so excited. We go to the bookstore in the mall sometimes but when we go to the thrift store, I can get him 10 books compared to 1 or 2 from the bookstore. He found Huckleberry Finn, Black Beauty, Mobey Dick, The Headless Horseman, and many more. He looked at them all the way home. I just talked to him on the phone and he was excited when I told him that his picture was in the paper. He just went on vacation with his daddy. I won't say where they went yet until they come back. I'm sure that he is going to have tons of fun! I made him a goodie bag full of fun things like sticker books, puzzle books, Uno cards, and even a disposable camera so that he can take his own pictures! He wants me to post some on my blog when he gets back.

Have a great Sunday!

I love old trucks, cars, and houses...

Look what we ran across yesterday! An old vintage, shabby, 1968 Chevy truck! Isn't she pretty! I was only 2 years old when she made her debut! Can't y'all just see me driving this baby around stopping at all my favorite thrift stores?

I could put a large rose decal on each door and put "A Southern Rose" on it!!! I'm gettin' carried away! It would be nice to have a truck to pick up my goodies whenever I find them. The only problem is that they want $2500.00 FIRM!!! Also it doesn't have an air conditioner! I would melt!

Look what we did today! I wanted to paint my porch ceiling but I was already hurting and I knew that I would REALLY hurt if I did that! So Stevie said that he would be HAPPY to do it for me! LOL He did a great job too. I worked on the porch railings and trim work. It is going to look a lot better whenever we get finished. Now I have to do something with my front door. I have the old front door from the house that I grew up in. It is in storage. My Uncle lived there until the government took the land away by eminent domain. He didn't want to sell because it had been in our family since before he was born and he was in his 80's when they decided that they had to have it to make a recreational park! They ended up digging a huge hole in the ground and pushing the house over into it and burying it. But before they did it, I went over and got the front door, my old bedroom door, and the smallest bathroom door you've probably ever seen! I got a few other things too. One being my window out of my bedroom.

I hope that the old front door will fit on my little cottage! It has 3 vertical windows at the top. I can just see a lace curtain hanging on the windows. I think it would be special to have this for my door. So many countless times me and my little brother and sister went in and out of that door!
If it doesn't fit, I will have to just paint my door...again. It doesn't look good with my new ceiling color. I painted it bright pink the first time and then a few months later changed it to this green. I have no idea what color to paint it. Any ideas?

A great day thrifting!

I wanted to share with you a few thrifty things that I got a couple of days ago. I was on my lunch break and I decided to run into a little 'junk' store that I haven't been to in while. I was so excited whenever I saw these pretty dishes sitting in a corner. I actually passed them up the first time because I have sooooo many dishes and I am trying to save money for all of my home projects.

When I passed by them the second time, I just knew that they were meant for me. They are everyday dishes and I could use them in my kitchen since they have RED roses on them. Look how pretty they are. I knew that if I didn't get them, I would be calling the store back whenever I got back to work to get them to put them up for me. They only cost $15.00 for all of them. (6 dinner plates, 6 salad plates, 6 cereal bowls, 6 saucers) The only thing missing was the cups. I've tried to look them up on ebay but haven't been able to find any. I think that they are beautiful and that was a good price for them. The man went back into the storage room and brought out 2 more dinner plates that were chipped and he had already thrown them away. He ask me if I wanted them too and he gave them to me. Of course I wanted them. I can do mosaics with them or I can sit them under my plants. I like to use old plates as water catchers under my plants.

Then he pulled this little wrought iron rose frame out of the back and gave it to me. They all know how much I love anything with roses on it. I love it. It looks so shabby! I could put a mirror in it or a sweet little print.

I was having a great day! He showed me this painting of roses and he saw how my face lit up and he said $3.00. I love it! It is signed too! It looks like she drew the roses and painted them. Doesn't it have a shabby look!?

I will probably put it in an old shabby white frame and hang it in my 'Shabby" den. I wonder if she is a local artist? I wonder how I could find out?
I think that I did very well that day! I almost got away with only spending $18.00 that day, until I went outside ad saw something that they had just put out! I almost screamed when saw it! The most beautiful old full-size bed frame! I just had to have it! I didn't even give it a second thought! I didn't have my camera with me. I had to put it on layaway because I didn't have a way to get it home. I will go back and get it in a couple of weeks when I borrow a truck. I'm so excited about it! Right now it is a shabby, chippy, green color and of course I'm going to paint it. It is going to go in my guest bedroom that I am working on. I will show pictures of it soon.

Now I have to be a good girl and not spend anymore money on stuff! I have to put all of my extra money into my guest bedroom and bathroom.

Well, Gotta go to work.

Y'all have a great day and smile!

Brotherly Love

Yesterday, I was baking a cake...a strawberry cake with cool whip icing. I thought that I would make a treat for the boys. Cole is back home staying with me for a while. Anyway, Garrett came into the kitchen to see what I was making and he said "Mama, you forgot that I don't like strawberries or cool whip. I won't get to have any cake." ( He thought that I forgot but I really didn't.) I said, "Oh well, I guess Cole will have a lot of cake to eat." Garrett looked so sad as he walked out of the kitchen.

Little did he know, I had already planned on baking another cake too. (I split the batter to make two cakes.) Just like he likes...plain butter cake with chocolate icing. That is his favorite. He loves butter cake. He doesn't even have to have icing. He likes it plain with a glass of cold,cold, milk. I wish that I would've taken a picture of him when he came back into the kitchen and saw this cake! He had the biggest smile on his face! The best part was when he said "Thank you, Mama."

This is my little man pumping gas into my car the other day. Look at that face when he saw me pull out my camera! LOL

He really looks thrilled here that I'm taking his picture! He does this crazy smile because he says that he doesn't want to show his teeth! He is getting his braces soon. Silly boy.

I took this picture this morning. I went into Cole's room and saw that Garrett had crawled up into bed with his brother and slept there all night. They were watching a movie together whenever I went to bed. They don't know that I took this picture. Matter of fact, they are still asleep. I stayed up late too. I wanted to watch the end of a movie that I had been watching for a couple of nights. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons'. That was the longest movie! It took me three nights to watch it. I always fall asleep!! This past week end was very busy at work and I have been so tired. I was off all day yesterday and also today. I plan on getting a lot of things done around the cottage today. (after I visit a few blog-friends) LOL

Have a great day!

Update....

For my post on Deanna's birthday bash, please skip the next post to see it. Thanks!


"See y'all at the party!"