Home Beautiful

 Happy Monday My Friends! 

Hope your weekend was wonderful.  I was able to spend time with a friend, get some needed time away from home, and do some thrifting. 

What a perfect weekend!

Aren't these fun and springy? 
The flowers are for my son to give to his bus driver. 
She is so cheerful and good with the kids...she deserves them!

Before I show you the rest of what I found this weekend, I want to share this excerpt from a book with you.  I hope you enjoy it.  No new projects today, but soon!

The book is "Don't Stop Laughing Now!
Stories to tickle your funny bone and strengthen your faith"
~ selected by Ann Spangler, with Shari MacDonald

HOME BEAUTIFUL

by: Marsha Crocket

I used to think ony a few people really possessed the gift of creative decorating. I was equally certain I wasn't one of them. After all, my kitchen cabinets hold more plastic action-figure cups than lovely goblets. I've been known to let my children and husband turn the living room into an exercise room. My bedroom is not a haven of rest or an oasis of love (unless you get a thrill from stepping over the stacks of file folders, magazines, and a basket of unfolded clothes next to my computer).
      On the other hand, my neighbor, Sally, seems to have a natural ability for creating beauty. For a long time, I explained away her beautifully spotless house on the fact that she stayed home and had only one child. I chuckled at the ease of her life. My house would look like that too, if I didn't have two chidren and a job!   I told myself.
      But then Sally opened a day care in her home and had six kids in her house every day. This I had to see!   So measuring cup in hand, I headed to Sally's in no time flat to borrow some sugar. That's when I got my first clue about what to expect: Hanging on her front door was a cute little blackboard with a "Memo to Parents." On it was neatly written: "Today's Lunch -- homemade vegetable soup, orange slice smiles, and whole wheat crackers. Today's Snack -- peanut-butter-and-jelly stars" !?
      I guess Sally saw me coming up the walk because she opened the door before I could close my mouth.
      "Cute sign," I commented. "I just need a cup of sugar. I'm making...uh, clown-shaped snickerdoodle cookies for the girls."
      "Oh, some special occasion?" she asked, as if she really had made these things before.
       "No, just one of those fun things we like to do now and then."
       I looked around. I heard children laughing -- but didn't see them or any mess in the house. "What happened to the kids?"
      "They're in the playroom. You're welcome to go see what I did in there."
      I went down the hall with a sense of foreboding and looked in. It wasn't a room, it was a park. Sally had actually painted an outdoor motif on the walls, complete with sky, puffy clouds, grass, and trees. Little white park benches perched against two walls, with a rack full of books in between. Next to the silk tree sat a picnic table covered in a red-and-white checked plastic tablecloth. Jars of Play-Doh stood at attention in the center.
      "It's beautiful in here, Sally. But I bet the kids can really make a mess of it, huh?"
      "Oh, they know the rules: 'Put away before you play,'" she replied.
      I couldn't take it any more, so I asked her for some sugar, thanked her, and headed toward my front door -- the one with the leaves stuck in the spiderwebs at the corner of the doorjamb. I went inside and looked around at my home, the one with crooked curtains, four pairs of shoes in the living room, and a red stain on the dining room carpet. The girls were playing with Lincoln Logs and Barbies...in the kitchen.
      With a deep sigh I said to my husband, "Honey, I think I'll move in with Sally."
      "No, you can't," he said with a teasing grin. "Who would clean up this mess?"
      After living next to Sally for eleven years, I'm finally learning I can't be Sally, or Martha Stewart, or anyone else for that matter. I agree with author Primo Levi, who wrote, "I live in my house as I live inside my skin; I know more beautiful, more ample, more sturdy, and more picturesque skins; but it would seem to me unnatural to exchange them for mine." I think maybe I do have what it takes to create beauty. It's just that I have to be more comfortable with my own style, my own likes and dislikes in my home.
      This realization called for celebration. So I poured red punch into four plastic Batman cups. My family and I raised our glasses and toasted who we are in Christ, and I reveled in the miracle of this "home beautiful".

This story makes me feel so happy.  Especially to know that I'm not the only one out there who looks at others' "picture perfect" homes and feels a sense of inadequacy at times.  It's reassuring.   I spent the weekend hanging out with my best friend.  We didn't do anything other than hanging out and a bit of thrifting.  It was good for me to get away from home for a weekend.  I wasn't overwhelmed with the feeling that I should be working on some project.  Yay for me!!!  I did find some fun items at a "For Youth" Thrift Store.  Everything just happened to be 50% off when we went!  The five wicker baskets (pictured above and below) are lined with plastic inside so you can put your flower pots into them, they were $1.00 each.  They will look lovely on the porch or the back deck, with spring flowers in them.  Yes, I am determined to ring in spring!

This little green and white striped vase was $1 and it has my two favorite colors, no less.
 I can just picture it with a bouquet of fresh flowers in it!

This piece was $1.50 after discount.  It is flat on the back and has a wire hanger attached to it...just perfect for hanging some flowers from my back fence.
 I can't wait to get it up there.

I found five matching woven placemats for $3.  I love this look. 

All of these plates are new except the blue Wedgewood in the top right corner, it's one of two which came from my grandma, and I really wanted to incorporate them into my plate wall so I hunted for more plates with both blue and green in them.  I love what I found including the one in the center from Sweden, and the little one, top left, is an Oregon plate.  I think they will all look really wonderful together. 

Now I can't wait to pick up some plate hangers at the dollar store and get these plates on the wall!