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Monthly Archives: March 2011

Spring?….cleaning?….

30 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Uncategorized

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I have a question to ask of anyone who might read this blog!

Do you have to Spring clean if Spring never arrives?

That groundhog, what’s his name, Colonel something; predicted we would have an early Spring.  Well, I’ve been waiting and waiting for it to get here and I think he may have played a joke on us and it may not show up at all.  

Mother Nature is trying her best to bring in Spring with budding trees and bushes but Old Man Winter is hanging in there.  Just like a man.  If he thinks he’s right, he won’t let it go.

I keep looking for the sun to come out but the closest thing to the sun is this beautiful forsythia bush in my yard.  The color is brilliant, just like the sun.

The red bud trees are in full bloom and the dogwood trees are trying to bloom.

The yoshino cherry trees and ornamental pears have bloomed.  The daffodils have also bloomed.  Where is Spring?  The flowers think it’s here but the temperature and the cloudy skies and rain says no.

Well, I’m going to answer my own question.

The answer is NO, I’m just going to wait until Spring!!!!

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Mule Day……What a kick….

27 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Uncategorized

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Maury County in Tennessee is known for a lot of things such as home of the 11th president of the United States, James K. Polk;  several southern plantations such as Rippavilla Plantation , antique stores, and the infamous week of celebrating the “mule” better known as Mule Day.  Columbia is known as the “Mule Capital of the World”. 

For a week usually the last week of March or first week of April we are transformed into Mule Town.  While driving around town during that week, you will see mules of all sizes, horses, wagons, and even a wagon train.

  

The whole town of Columbia revolves around this celebration for months prior to the “big” Mule Day week and parade on Saturday.  There is a beauty pageant to select the “Mule Day Queen and her court”,  a championship mule is crowned, also liar contests, country and bluegrass music, food and more food,  a 5k run called Mule Day Kick, a flea market, arts and crafts and did I mention food and FUNNEL CAKES!!!

Our local coffee house Buckhead Coffeehouse has a special coffee for the occasion called Hallemuleyah.

Don’t get the idea this is just a local thing, over 200,000 people attend and celebrate the “beautiful” mule.  If you don’t believe me about the “beautiful” thing check out the pictures below.  These pictures were provided to me by my sweet, sweet brother-in-law Mark, who is a fabulous photographer.

Here are a few interesting shots of the highlight of Mule Day…..the parade!

This is all about mules.  There is a mule named “Amazing Grace” who was on national television because of the tricks she could do.  There are pulling contests, hauling contests and various other activities surrounding mules.  Horses, as gorgeous as they are, come in behind the mules, and I mean literally, at the parade.  There are hundreds of mules but everyone who owns a horse for miles around can ride at the end of the parade on their horse or pony.  IT”S A SITE TO BEHOLD!

Best of all, friends and family come to join in the fun.

You should join us on the square and watch the parade.  It’s definitely something you’ll never forget and you can check one more thing off your “bucket list”.

It’s just paint……

24 Thursday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Projects, Tips

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backsplash, decorative, faux, glaze, kitchen, oak cabinets, paint, sheet rock mud, Tennessee, trompe l'oeil

In 2003 we moved from the ever growing and busy Roswell, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta) back to middle Tennessee.  Although we miss our friends and our family in Georgia, we absolutely love being back home in Tennessee. 

In our search to find a new home, we lucked upon a new home in a great subdivision with an amazing view.

Of course, although a new home, some things were not our taste and HAD to be changed.  Walls and trim had to be repainted in some rooms, some structural changes in a bathroom to accommodate our son and his needs, but the biggest change was the kitchen.

Golden Oak cabinets and builder beige or white walls are definitely NOT me.  Below are the before pictures. Followed by the outcome after many laborious hours.

After scouring many, many magazines and conferring with my BFF, it was decided that the cabinets would be black and distressed.  I got out the sand paper, palm sander, tack cloth and began the work.

Results after many hours of  SANDING, priming, SANDING, painting and SANDING and painting.

I took the doors off the upper cabinets on one side, which I absolutely love, and stencilled a pattern on the wall inside those cabinets.

Now I needed a tile backsplash.  Didn’t want to spend the money at the time and not really sure what I wanted, so I painted  tumbled tile on the backsplash and over the cook top I made a  faux sculptured tile pattern with sheet rock mud.  No cleaning of grout or chipped tile to deal with!  YAY!!!  Hubby never wants me to change it.  Not sure if  it’s because he likes it so much or just don’t want to spend the money?

I installed bead board around the island and under the bar behind the sink. 

I textured the walls with a thin coat of sheet rock mud, and wiped on two different colors of glaze.  Once I was finished. my right arm refused to work  for weeks on end, but I love my kitchen, and all it cost me was a couple of cans of paint and the use of one good arm. 

I covered up the ugly exhaust vent above the cooktop with an iron fire screen and made linen panels for the windows and hung them from individual hooks to help finish the look.

I had great fun doing this project.  Hope I inspired you!  Patience is one important tool in this redo.  Oil paint dries in its own good time!!

Tag you’re it….

21 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Uncategorized

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My sweet niece over at Orangie’s Attic  tagged me with posting seven (7) factoids about myself which I’m sure everyone is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to read.  Thank you sweet, sweet niece.  Here goes!

1.  I cannot tie or untie knots in cherry stems with my tongue.  Not something I inherited or even know that I could  have possibly inherited. 

2.  I can no longer HULA HOOP  because the hoop will not fit around my waist!!  Just kidding. Well maybe it will fit but can’t rotate!!

3.  People tend to talk to me anytime and anywhere and tell me their life story.  Especially when I’m in line at Kroger or Wal-Mart.  Even on the phone making reservations at a hotel.

4.  I love going up to my sewing room and spending hours playing with fabric, looking at magazines and sewing up new projects.  Pondering whether I should start painting again or what piece of furniture I would like to slap a coat of paint on.  I’m wanting to decorate an extra room which is used mostly as extra storage right now with emphasis on the word wanting.

5.  I love watching any movie that has Tom Hanks or  Meg Ryan in it.  Sleepless in Seattle and You Got Mail, two of my favorites.  Also Castaway and French Kiss are two more and….. I could go on and on.  Oh! and Forrest Gump.

6.  I can’t wait for vacation every year because it is a mini family reunion.  So much fun and so many hugs and kisses from my niece, and nephews, and great nieces and nephew.  Love, love, love it.

7.  I want to go to Italy and spend about two weeks roaming around the country side and taking it all in.  I also would like to learn the language but I’m not sure you can teach “old dogs new tricks”.  I was in Venice a few years ago for about 5 hours, oh woe is me.  Not enough time!!!

As my niece said, I now need to pass this along to other bloggers.  I don’t know of many that might really take this much further.  That aside two of my other favorite bloggers are The Pioneer Woman and Miss Mustard Seed.  However, if you are a blogger and want to join in, it really is fun, so go ahead.  Tag you’re it!!!

Go Ahead, Pinch Me!?…..

16 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in My Thoughts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Camp Liberty, four-leaf clover, green, green beer, leprechaun, pots of gold, St. Patrick's Day

I am not Irish and as far as I know do not have any Irish blood in me, but I still like to acknowledge the holiday.  The closest I get to being Irish is I’m short like a Leprechaun,  and I like to party.  I like to dance, or attempt to, but not the Irish jig or river dance or such.

I also like pots of gold and rainbows.  Once hubby, friends and I saw a rainbow that began in our back yard and ended across the street in front of our house.  This is a true story.   I ran out to see if there was a pot of gold, but alas, not to be.  I think the leprechaun saw me coming and ran away with it.  I’m still looking for it though.                         

As you know I love the color green as I blogged in It’s Good to Be Green.  Which brings me to green beer.  I  personally do not like beer and green beer just doesn’t look appealing but I suppose, if you’re Irish, green is good no matter what it is.

  

I also like to look for and collect four-leaf clovers.  One weekend, while we were at Camp Liberty,  I found a total of fifteen (15)  four-leaf clovers in our yard.  Talk about the “luck of the French”,  I mean Irish, but I’m not Irish!?  I’ll post pictures of them later.  Hoping to find more now that the grass and clover is growing again.

St. Patrick’s day is observed on the day the patron saint of Ireland died.  It is also a day to celebrate Ireland and who doesn’t like a party, Irish or not so…….

He makes my day…….

06 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Family, My Thoughts

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

happy, positive attitude, smile, TBI

He always makes my day and anyone else’s he may come in contact with during a days time.  He’s always happy, upbeat, never meets a stranger, loves old and young alike, doesn’t like negativity, and loves, loves, loves music.

He’s our son, Eddie!

 

He was involved in an automobile accident January 1993 and suffered a TBI (traumatic brain injury).  He was 16 at the time and it was very touch and go for many weeks.  He had to learn everything over from speaking, eating, brushing his teeth, etc. to putting on a baseball cap.  He has a smile on his face always, and such a positive attitude, it just makes you feel good to be in his presence.  

People are always drawn to him and once you meet him you’ll never forget him.  Should my husband and I be somewhere without him,  the first question out of someone’s mouth is, “Where’s Eddie“? 

He inspires me everyday to be a better person.  To be kind, forgiving, happy, loving and compassionate. 

If you would like to read more about our son,  you can visit his story at www.eddiesisco.com.

   

Of mice and cats…….

05 Saturday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Family, My Thoughts, Pets

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bald eagle, camp, cat, lady bugs, memories, mouse, river

This is about a weekend almost one year ago, March 18-21, 2010,  that was spent at Camp Liberty.  I had actually written it in a document because it stood out as a something I would like to remember.  Why?  I guess you’ll know the real reason at the end of this blog.

It was Thursday evening after we had returned from having dinner at our favorite catfish restaurant, Fall Hollow.  We had settled down to watch a little TV before retiring for the night.  Of course, going to the camp for the weekend is supposed to be relaxing and for the most part non eventful.

To begin with, lady bugs decided they liked our camp also.  They seem to like a couple of light fixtures, the kitchen windows and our son’s bedroom window.   The little buggers just crawl around and around in circles, fall off, turn over and die.   So when we walked into the camp that was what we found.This night while I was watching TV with hubby, I thought one flew onto the back of my neck.  I swatted it but it wasn’t a lady bug, it was a dang wasp.  OUCH!  Needless to say, I got stung.  I hadn’t been stung by a wasp in a while and this hurt like everything.  But he won’t hurt anyone again.!!

Okay, drama over, lady bugs under control and wasp flying around in another world.  Now I am sitting down ready to watch TV.  Boo is sitting beside me on the arm of the love seat  when she suddenly jumps down and runs into our bedroom.    In a couple of minutes she comes out and proudly shows us her catch.   It’s a mouse!!Thinking it might be fun to play with, she drops it and the mouse makes a run for it.  Hubby was backing Boo up and helped her chase it down.  He grabs it with paper towels and proceeds to take it outside and dispose of it.  Now we can settle down and watch TV.  Wrong!!  A couple of hours later, we repeat the same scenario.  Look mom I brought you a present.  Aren’t you proud of me?Hubby to the rescue again, (my hero) caught this little guy and outside again.   I don’t know what he does with them but I probably don’t want to know.  Back to the TV and no more mice for the night.  Whew!!!

Next day, Friday, was a beautiful day.  The river was beautiful, the sun was out for the first time in weeks and all was well with the world.  Such a nice relaxing day.  The evening remains calm and about 11 pm I decide to go to bed.  Hubby decided to stay up a while longer and watch TV.

Boo props herself on the bed with her eyes glued to the fireplace.  This is her usual position when sleeping at the camp.  About 3 am I am awakened by a noise that sounds like  EEEEK,  EEEEK and then Boo pounces on my bed.   I raise up and turn on the lamp and there she is with her prize ON MY BED!  I jump up and get hubby off the sofa (he can sleep through most anything) to come to my rescue once more.  But the mouse escapes.  They are quick little suckers.  Boo chases it around but hubby goes back to his comfortable place and asleep.

I”M UP!!!  I am not going back to bed until I’m sure this mouse is not in my bedroom, my bed  or in the camp.  Boo is still on the search.  She hones in on hubby’s shoes.  “Hubby the mouse is in your shoe“.  He looks but doesn’t see anything so back to bed for hubby.   Boo is pushing his shoe all over the floor.  I get brave enough to look in the shoe and what do I see…..two little feet.

I grab the shoe and march to hubby on the sofa.  “The mouse is in your shoe!”  Hubby….”Are you sure?”  I take another look and say…..”YES!  I see his little face.”  He takes the shoe and goes outside and returns with the shoe and no mouse.  Poor Boo is confused and once he puts the shoe down she continues to look.  She takes her place on the bed once more and I decide to sleep on the love seat the remainder of the night!!  What a night….it was like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Okay, next morning I get up and take our sweet little Corky out.  He is old and not quite as quick as he use to be, so we go with him and watch for anything that might decide he would make a good meal.  I glance over to the river and guess what I see?  A bald Eagle flying down river.  We knew  he was around here and had only seen him one other time  but didn’t get a picture. 

I ran into the camp, got hubby, the binoculars and the camera and we ran back out to the point, hoping he had lit on a tree .  Sure enough about 100 yards down stream he was on a tree and there he sat for a few minutes.  Hubby got this picture and then he flew away.

It was such an awesome moment.  We look for him every time we go down but so far no more sightings.

This made up for the lady bugs, the chasing of the mouse for two nights and getting no sleep.  This is why we love the river and the camp.  Our animals and wildlife keep  us entertained.  Who needs TV??

Log cabin, log cabin…..here it is

01 Tuesday Mar 2011

Posted by dorinesplace in Projects

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antique. farm table, cabin, fireplace, gas fireplace, grain sack, log wall, painting, quilt, sewing, Tennessee, toile. cut lace

Yesterday’s post was about how the cabin looked at first sight.  I guess I had on rose-colored glasses because I saw through all that.

To make the cabin ours and what we envisioned a cabin getaway should look like, we decided the walls needed to be board and bat.  The ceiling tiles made the rooms feel claustrophobic but we thought it was also for insulation and to hold duct work.

My great local guy (GLG) got a glimpse of what we might expect the ceilings to look like when he was re-wiring the electric panel in a bedroom.  Here’s a look at what he found…….

There was plenty of insulation above these ceilings so we decided to remove the drop ceilings in all rooms.  WOW!  Did that ever make a difference in the feel and look.

The dining room floor was a very dark wood and had a hole in it on the right hand side close to the fireplace.  Due to the problems with a leak we had in the kitchen, we thought it might be a result from that and had caused some rot.  GLG  said he would take a look and try to repair it to match the rest of the floor.  

Surprise, surprise, surprise……oh yeah, it was rotten because some brilliant person had laid the floor on top of the ground!!  Look around, are we on Candid Camera?

Along with GLG we figured out a fix.  He also took out the two large gas heaters, built a mantle out of another piece of wood found in the storage shed, took out the fluorescent lighting, and hung a chandelier.  It is cozy, quaint and somewhat romantic when the fireplace is lit.  Here’s a look…..

I found an antique farm table at a local antique shop, Loblolly Antiques, and the chairs came from two more antique shops, one between here and Atlanta and the other I can’t remember.  The churn is my hubby’s great grandmother’s, the little corner cabinet was his mother’s and the french grain sack on the table and the ones I made cushions out of were from an antique shop in Franklin, Tennessee.

Next are pictures of the great hall and family room. 

The ceilings and walls were treated the same way as the dining room. The floor in the great hall did not need repair but the one in the family room was repaired by putting a 3/4 inch subflooring with a finished side.  This made a world of difference in that room.  No more cracks and wondering what might come through the floor.  Actually nothing ever did except cold air.

The “great hall” substitutes as a part-time office and butler’s pantry.  The table is used as a desk when not needed otherwise and the buffet holds extra dishes. 

You may not be aware but I love roosters!  I have a collection at home and can’t seem to pass one up in a store, but it has to be special.

The furniture in the great room was left with the cabin except for a couple of tables, lamps and pictures.  Not really my choice of sofas and chair but we decided we could replace them some time later.

The little gas fireplace replaced the gas wall heater and when lit can heat up most of the cabin. 

The quilt you see on the small sofa was found in an antique shop, the picture above the large sofa we bought in the late 70’s or early 80’s from an artist at an art show in Brandon,  MS and is actually a cabin in the Tennessee mountains.  Who knew we would have one of our own some day.

The last two rooms are the bedrooms.  The walls and ceilings were treated the same as the other rooms and the floors were in good shape.  They each have identical fireplaces that are original to the cabin and gas log inserts.

The bed was left with the cabin.  I made the triple irish chain quilt along with the bedskirt and curtains.  They are blue and white toile from my fabric stash.  This is the bedroom my son sleeps in.  We decided to keep the fish pictures, lamps and a few other accessories to keep it a little more masculine.

 The ladder you see in this photo was one my daddy made a long time ago when he did carpentry work building houses.  It was actually more than twice as long, but we cut it in two and my niece, Orangie’s Attic, took the other half.  The chest, table and chair came from a local antique shop name Reminisce.

The last room is hubby’s and my bedroom.  Same ceiling and wall treatment as the previous bedroom.

The quilt on this bed is another one made by me.  I think the design is called “In Bloom” because of the fabric I used.

I wanted a somewhat old fashion, cut lace bedskirt but couldn’t find one long enough.  I decided I could use ready-made curtain panels and found some the exact length I needed.  NO SEWING required.  I used the little twist pins and attached the panels to the box springs.  I actually attach all my bed skirts this way.

The window treatment is ready-made panels of gauze with two more cut lace panels hung in between to give a cafe curtain look and lengthen the window.  This all soften the look of the bedroom.

The armoire and chest of drawers were purchased because the closet in this room had shelves only and we use it for storage of supplies. 

There are still some things I need to do or would like to do, but for now,  I’m happy with the way it turned out. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and maybe got a few ideas for your own use.  Whoopee, now I have time for this……..

Aaaaah!  Iced tea or lemonade please?

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