Starr colored this paper Santa at daycare when she was three years old, 18 years ago. It makes me smile every time I see it. I have a companion tree ornament that I cherish equally. Oh, and the reindeer with her traced hands as antlers that we post on the fridge! So cute.

She doesn’t make things like that any more. *sad face* I know…they grow up!

Do you have a favorite holiday decoration?

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
–Mother Teresa

It’s not my box, but it is Starr’s. A birthday gift from Sookie. The note says:

This box is supposed to be a feel good box that you’ll fill with fun memories and feel good moments. Then, when you feel down, you’re supposed to open it up and feel all better!

Sookie contacted some of Starr’s friends who wrote a few sweet notes to get the memories and good feelings started. Starr said that there were (happy) tears shed when she read the messages. What a great gift!

It is just really sweet, really cute and quite meaningful!

I found it at a garage sale. I didn’t have a clue in the world what I would do with it, but I had to have it.

As a quick fix, I printed out some pictures that I thought might go with it and Scotch taped them to the back. I added a hanging wire and it has stayed that way for years. I like it!!

It is flawed. I like that.

It fits right in with all my other collected items!!

Located just off the back deck, you can see this tree as you walk in the front door, or from the living room/dining room. In Spring, it blooms bright and pink.

All that pink makes me very happy indeed! The picture from inside my living room doesn’t really convey how pretty it really is…all that light pouring in the door washes out the color in the photograph. Or maybe it’s my dirty windows?

For dish soap!!

When I was growing up, my mom had an oil dispenser that she kept by the sink filled with dish soap. Always accessible, and not really ugly like a plastic bottle.

I have had one just like it since leaving home, but I switched to this one about ten years ago. It HOLDS MORE SOAP!! You don’t have to fill it as often!

I’ve noticed in some friends homes that they keep the soap below the sink, you have to open the cabinet, reach down, pick it up, use it and return it every time you want to use soap. It never made sense to me. I use dish soap several times a day! All that bending, opening and putting away simply does not click with my natural laziness. I buy soap at the discount store in bulk, I just fill my oil bottle from time to time….love it!!

Several years ago I adopted the dragonfly as my personal totem. Because of that, once in a (long) while I will add an item to my personal collection, art, antiques, jewelry or home decor that features dragonflies.

I don’t remember how I found this item, because I certainly wasn’t shopping for it, but soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted it. It was inexpensive, less than $20, and well worth it, because I notice it often and it makes me smile.

This photo was a little difficult to take, apparently it is much darker in the entry than I thought. My walls are not quite this dark!

I posted one of my favorite pictures of my dad the other day. I also wanted to share one of my favorite pictures of my mom:

I don’t know how old she is there, but look at those sweet freckles. And yes, she’s a redhead! I think this is the only time she ever had any length to her hair, I also think it’s adorable!

This is my dad, as kid growing up on a dairy farm in Tennessee.

Look at that sweet face! Oh, and my dad looks kinda cute too! I am guessing that this would be from approximately 1948.

I don’t have much to say about this desk. I bought it for $15 at a garage sale in my neighborhood. The question was, what was I going to do with it? I pushed it here and there for a while. It lived in my office for a short time, but two desks in this tiny room were just too much. No matter where I put it, it was just too big and in the way. One day it just hit me.

The desk would make a great TV stand!

Fitting better than I thought, it no longer seemed out of place. I bought a couple baskets from Pier 1 and we have been happy with it ever since! I turned the middle basket upside down to create a place for the components to sit.

The desk is older, I like that. The previous owners children wrote on the insides of the drawers, I like that. It wasn’t passed down from my family, it isn’t fancy, it isn’t worth a lot of money, but it is a favorite!

The mirror above the T.V. is a favorite too. My dad brought it to me along with a bunch of furniture and miscellaneous things from my grandmother’s house after she passed away. The truck was stacked with a couple antique vanities, a box of old hats, old records etc. There was a box filled with thousands of recipes hand written on 3×5 cards, she didn’t do it, I don’t know where they came from! As well as several jars full of buttons–she did do that! And I wasn’t the only one to be gifted with buttons galore! I think she bought buttons at garage sales, no one knows why.

When I first looked at the mirror, I turned up my nose and stuck it in storage. I don’t ever remember seeing it at her house, it wasn’t a sentimental piece for me. A year or so later, I gave it a second chance.

I am glad I did!

It’s not officially my table, but it has lived with me for the past 16 years and I hope that I can keep it for many more. I love this table.

I believe that this table was hand-made. It has been around for a long time.

It fits me, it fits my space and my heart.