The summer ritual -- Bible school....

My memories of bible school in the summer are wonderful memories. It was different back then. If I remember correctly, we went for 2 weeks and made lots of ceramic things like ash trays. Now they learn fun songs and they dance and whoop and holler and get all reved up but they have such a good time. Also, they only go for 4 days and have a big party on Thurs. night. They talk about God and learn how important he is in their lives. It's amazing to me how much my grandchildren already know about God and the Bible. They don't memorize verses -- they learn what the verses mean.

Here are best friends, Sage and Quenton. Dinner was one of their favorite -- hotdogs & Andy's frozen yogurt for dessert. They've gone to church together since they were both babies. Now their Mom's both teach in the preschool at Kingsway.
Phoebe, enjoying her Andy's.

Dad had to give Stella a ride. She was pooped!

It's another important part of summer that's behind us now. Seems we're getting closer & closer to fall. Where does the time go!!!!

Leola's is looking good.....

The shop is looking so good right now. Kelli is making some new flowers and they are soooo cute. Can't you just see them on a Christmas package? It's been a cooler then normal July and seems shoppers haven't minded getting out and about. We've had lots of out-of-town visitors lately and with all the rain we've had this summer, we're sure to have a gorgeous fall. We're all working hard to keep the shop full and fresh.
Kelli brought this wonderful white cabinet in this week. Would this not be great storage in a kitchen? I can also see it stacked with white RL towels in a big bathroom .

Kenda has 2 of these lamps and they are wonderful. One of these would be so cool and unexpected in a bathroom.

Kristi's beautiful statue.....again, I'm seeing bathroom.

Kristi is making some wonderful journals and the greatest necklaces. She's so creative!

Another day to work at Leola's. I've got so many new things to take in but have a hard time doing it on a work day. I'm hoping I'll be too busy today but will take new things to freshen my little area just in case. If you're close to Ozark, drop in.

Front yard gardening.....

These are the results of my front yard gardening venture. Don't know if it's a lack of bees for pollination or what but they didn't produce a lot of fruit but the plants were beautiful. What they did produce was beautiful.

I have loved watching the eggplant grow. It's nestled in with a large hosta and seems to be thriving. I'll definitely do this again next year.

I'm off to work at Leola's today. It's sales tax time plus because of grandkids, I didn't get to do much replenishing last week so lots to do. Monday is a big day at Lamberts so lots of strollers and toothpicks but usually a busy shopping day too. Have a good week.

Some of my weeks treasures.

This has been a good week for finding "smalls". It has also been a good week for finding some fall & Christmas things. I have a growing collection of these old Gurley turkey candles so this may have to stay with me. I also have a large collection of white reindeer. My collection has grown large enough that I think I'll sell these. The Halloween items are not old but they will be nice to add to my space at Leola's along with other fall decorations I've found. The red/green plaid is a small tablecloth that would be so cute at Christmas time.

I love this old picture. It's very soft colors.

These books have been covered with brown paper and they're printed in Vietnamese. I just loved the way they look.

This is an old lamp bottom that has a wonderful finish & the platter is all crackly & stained.

Now if I can just get down to Leola's to work. I've had g'kids almost all week & I'm pooped. Maybe I'll wait until Mon. & take Sunday off. Aaaah, a day of rest! Happy weekend!

Great day for antiqueing.....

It was a gorgeous day in the Ozarks and a perfect day for antiquing. We headed for Aurora where we had heard there were some cute shops. First of all, we stopped at a flea mkt. in Aurora and found some wonderful treasures. Judy, Brenda and I were all kind of thinking Fall & Christmas since it will be here before we know it. Leola's Fall Open House is scheduled for Sept. 11, 12 & 13.

The next shop we found was a great little country/primitive store called The Primitive Peddler. It's so hard anymore to find a shop that's just a one-owner and it's really hard to find one that is American country. She had a combination of antiques and reproductions and we all found several things we couldn't leave without.

Life has been pretty crazy for me the last couple of weeks but hopefully, tomorrow I can run to Leola's and work awhile. Also, I'll try to get some pictures taken of my "finds". I finally have a full garage but the time to get it ready for the shop seems to never be there. July has been busy at the shop, thankfully, so I really need to get in and restock. So many of our customers right now are from out-of-town so if you miss out, you don't get 2nd chances with them.

A baby shower for Amanda....

My good friend Jane's daughter, Amanda & her husband Brian are expecting their 1st child in Sept. and it was time for a shower. So Frannie (her beautiful house), Bev, Annie, and myself decided we were up to the task. Annie caters as one of her many jobs so she did the amazing food. She had to leave early because she was catering another party for over 100 people Sat. evening. All I can say is that very little food was left.

Amanda received some beautiful gifts but the most wonderful one was a quilt that her grandmother (Jane's Mom) had made for her before she died several years ago. She knew she probably wouldn't live to see Amanda's first baby born so she made it while she still could.

This was a baby carriage I found in Iowa and purchased knowing that Jane would love it. The dealer said it had been found at an auction in the Amana Colonies. Jane bought it for Amanda to have for the baby's room. I'm going to make a cushion for the bottom in case Amanda actually wants to use it. It was so cute with the pink quilt and loaded with presents.

This was the floral arrangement that Ron from The Thicket made for the table. He does the most amazing florals. This stork was solid white flowers and it was carrying a little basket that was given to Amanda. It was not only visually gorgeous but it smelled wonderful.

This is beautiful Amanda and her equally beautiful mom, Jane.

Sage's 1st swimming competition....

Today was Sage's first swimming competition. He loves swimming and being on the team from the pool they belong to. We were all so afraid that he would take it too seriously and feel like he should start out being the best but he didn't. It was fun for him. He just loved being in the competition with his friends and all those other kids there. I think some times the oldest child gets so accustomed to winning that they take it all too seriously and Sage certainly does but not this time -- he just had fun. Yea Sage -- you're always a winner in Gramma's book.

Yea!!! My garden rat has left the premises.

My garden rat is finally dead -- I smell his rotting carcass. Can't believe I feel such glee over something dieing (especially at my hands) but I do -- can't help myself. I just stand in my window and look out on those beautiful ripening tomatoes and know that I get to eat them. Not those free-loading rats. I fixed dinner out of my garden tonight and it made me feel so good. I had tomatoes, basil, garlic & mozzarella salad (didn't grow the mozzarella). Also, the sweet potato was not mine but the zucchini and green beans were. I picked lemon cucumber, several varieties of peppers and onions today. Stella planted carrots and I think she'll be able to harvest some this weekend. She goes out & picks a few every time she comes over but they've been really small. I've heard the small ones are really good roasted but haven't tried them.

We've had lots of rain lately so haven't had to do much watering. It's amazing how much faster the garden grows from rain then it does from watering from the faucet. This weekend is suppose to be record-breaking cool. Maybe we'll be able to open the windows and doors and air out the house. I love that.

On Saturday we're having a baby shower for my friend Jane's daughter Amanda. This is Jane's first grandchild and I can't wait. She's always laughed at me for being so silly about my grandchildren. Just wait!

Have a good Friday!

Summertime in the Ozarks

Freshly baled hay near the Finley River in Ozark. Everything is very lush and green right now since we've had several nice rains lately. It's been hot and muggy but somehow when everything is green it doesn't seem as bad.
The front of a friend's house in the country. It's such a gorgeous location and was planned to look like it's been there for years.

My hydrangeas in my side-yard. They're the most beautiful blue. They'll fade out some and then I can cut and dry them. Sorry about the bird poop. You know what they say -- s___ happens.

These are some of my tomatoes. Everytime one starts to ripen a rat eats it. That rat has eaten so much poison that it should be long gone but it continues to eat my green beans and tomatoes. You don't know how much I dislike that rat but nothing seems to faze it. He just sets there & watches me & eats that poison and then moves on to the garden.

This is some of the eggplant I planted in my front flower bed (with the hostas). It's got lots of blossoms on it and one even has a baby eggplant.

This is the zucchini I planted in a planter in the front yard. It really is beautiful greenery for a planter and the big golden flowers really show up with all the greenery.

My yard is so much work but when I finally get to start picking the veggies, it's all worth it. I've already had tons of peppers and I'm getting ready to freeze some for winter -- yea!!! Luckily, rats apparently don't like peppers and zucchini.

My Friday treasures....

Turned out to be a good day for finding new stock for Leola's. This door is one of a set of 6 that came from an old cabin in Mississippi. They have the original hardware and have never had any finish on them. They were made from wood on the land where the cabin was built. Aren't they a treasure?
This shows the hardware.

I found a couple of ladders and a great white cabinet.

Aren't these the greatest frames? The largest one is probably 36" tall and in almost perfect condition.

It's suppose to be very hot this weekend so I'm going to try to get some sewing done. I'm making dust ruffles and pillow shams for a friend's twin beds and I'm having a little problem getting my sewing done. I'm going to get a movie and set the machine in front of it and stay cool. Maybe I'll have pictures soon. Happy weekend!

4th of July at Linda's

Sage enjoying his sparklers.

We had such a good time on the 4th of July at my sister Linda's house. The kids swam in the pool and watched the air show overhead then after hotdogs & dessert, they watched the amazing fireworks extravaganza. It was wonderful weather -- a nice breeze blowing and in the evening you actually needed a jacket.

This is for my friend, Barbara, who asked why my sister Mary was never in our pictures. She's been in Colorado with her daughter, Jennifer, and her family and she's here just for a few days & will be returning soon. This is Mary and sister Jean.

Stella is waiting for her hotdog after having a nice swim.

Mike's sister Susan & her husband, Mike, came for the weekend. We had such a good time and I managed to get lots of projects completed. Yes, you can actually use my spare bathroom and not get locked in.

Stella and Dad playing a game.

Mom and Phoebe playing with sparklers.

Allison still playing with fire.

John Lake and Phoebe.

Where does summer go? Seems like once 4th of July goes by, we're on the downhill slide. Oh, well, I won't worry about that tonight.

Happy 4th of July!

I'm getting everything ready to go to sister Linda's house for a picnic and to watch the fireworks tonight. A local church does a mega display right by Linda's house so we can set up on her hill and watch the whole thing. I made brownies and rice krispie treats so I'm ready to go. It's showered a little bit this morning but it's not suppose to rain long.

I had hoped to have my first tomato by today but they just need another day or two. The garden is looking great except for the rat that is eating my green beans. We've had another infestation of Japanese beetles. They love the hollyhocks, crepe myrtle, ferns and various other vegetation in the yard. I try so hard not to spray but they would strip the foliage in the yard if I didn't. Where the heck did those bugs come from and when are they going back!!!!! I wanted so badly to bring in a bouquet but when I checked the flowers out everything was orange, hot pink or pink. For some reason all my gladiolas so far are orange or hot pink. I do have blue hydrangeas so maybe I'll pick some of those.

Mike's sister, Susan & her husband, Mike (we have waaaay to many Mike's in the family) are coming this evening for the weekend. We're going to buy paint & sometime soon Mike N. is going to paint the house. He always has me make a list of things I need fixed when he comes. Lucky for me, he doesn't sit still very well so he likes to have some jobs to do. He just wants a little time to run to Grizzley's & Bass Pro. Susan and I plan on getting out tomorrow and going to Leola's and doing a little shopping at local flea mkts.

My little Sweeties came this morning all dressed in their red, white and blue so of course, I had to take some pictures.

This was taken Weds. at Leola's. We couldn't figure out why no one was buying patriotic then in the last week, we've been selling patriotic like crazy. I love red, white and blue all summer but seems so many are either using rusty wire look or all white. Luckily, we have a little of everything at Leola's.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.