A busy Saturday...

It was a wonderful Saturday at Leola's. Judy and I worked and we were swamped--thankfully. Lots of out-of-towners headed to Branson and tons of people waiting to get in Lamberts. We also had manyof our regular customers who brought visitors here for the weekend. It was a good day with lots of laughs and lots of sales.

This little gal came in with the cutest hat and turns out that she makes them along with many other items. There are just so many creative young women who are actually making a business for themselves not only locally but with the help of the Internet. We wish her luck.


This is Kaylea who now is the proud owner of Jean's red boots. She was so cute and was perfect for the red boots. These boots are definitely not made for walkin'. I'm seeing a lot of dancin' in their future. By the way, she decided to name them Norma & Jean (that's Jean's full name).

This was a picture we took on Fri. of part of the family at Leola's. Stella was staying with G'ma for the day so that's her in front. Shad (Judy's son) and Rob were visiting from St. Louis and Tammy was visiting Bud and Kay (their daughter) from DC. It was such a nice weekend.

Now we've got to be very creative and come up with ways to keep our customers coming all December. I recently heard a report that people were buying more flannel and boots rather then high-end cashmere sweaters and jewelry. We've found that it's brought people back to shops like ours where they can buy a scented candle or a pair of beautiful red boots without breaking the bank. Have a great Sunday!

Happy Thanksgiving....

I'll be having Thanksgiving at my house for just my little family. It's so hard to take 3 little kids to a house full of grown-ups so we decided to just stay here where they can play and we can build a gingerbread village. I've already made 2 pumpkin pies and have everything ready for the stuffing. The turkey is thawed and ready for the oven. We'll have cranberry relish, green beans, mashed potatoes and Allison is bringing dirty rice. Sounds like a big lunch!

Hope it's a great Thanksgiving for everyone. I have so many things for which to be grateful. It's been a difficult year but I've been blessed by so many family and friends who have been there for me. I'm so thankful for my wonderful daughter Allison, son-in-law John, & those 3 dear g'children. Sister Judy who never fails to call and check on me. I'm thankful for Brenda and Jane who are always there for me. For Susan and Mike who are so supportive and have truly been a God-send this year. There are so many others who call and ask me to dinner (Cathy, Don, & Linda) and sweet nephew Michael who calls me for no reason but just to check. All the women at Leola's who have been such good friends and have kept me challenged and excited about life. There are so many more but since they don't read my blog they won't know I didn't mention them by name. I'm also thankful for all of you who have been such a support to me and for keeping me company when I was feeling lonely.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

The sisterhood of the traveling purse.....

It was another day on the road for my new purse. Judy and I had some furniture delivered to Leola's so I had to be there before opening. Then, of course, if you put one new piece in, you have to completely re-do the whole area. It cracks me up because if I'm ever there early someone ALWAYS comes to the door and has to get in. So I take the time to open the door and let this man in & guess what he was looking for? Hammers!!! Do we friggin' look like we have hammers!!!! I don't think so. Then he wants to stick around and visit for 30 minutes. I know you're suppose to be nice to your customers & you never know who's going to buy but sometimes I just want to put a sign on the door that says "closed means closed". Sorry, I think I'm ranting!

We did finish our work about noon and Dulcy came to the shop to meet for lunch. We all went to Spring Creek for lunch and did a little shopping. It was a nice day.

Kristy is modeling Judy's decorated hat. It takes a real woman to wear a man's hat with a big red Christmas ball on it but Kristy is certainly up for the task.

Took a few pictures of Leola's.

The shop looks so fun and Christmasy right now. If you're in the area, stop and see us but if you're looking for tools or Nascar memorabilia don't ask us to open early.

Have a great weekend!

My new bag....

Several weeks ago I was checking out http://dulcysdoorstep.blogspot.com/ to see what my friend Dulcy was doing. She's always got a new project going and lately it's been these beautiful hooked wool handbags. The first time she came to Leola's carrying one of her bags, I could hardly stand it I wanted one so bad. I tried to be subtle about it but I think she got the hint. She told me that she would make me one but it might take awhile. Well, there it was, right there on her blog -- my handbag. So yesterday she brought it by the shop and here it is being held by my sister-in-law Alice, who's visiting from Kansas City. You'll also notice Jean, Linda and Kay (my other SIL) as we gathered at Jean's place to meet my new bag and also go to lunch. Here we are at the Lemon Drop Tea Room where we took my new purse and Alice out for lunch. I think my purse had a good time as did Alice.

Thanks so much to Dulcy for this wonderful treasure. It's one of those things you hope someday to hand down to a granddaughter. We plan on many more trips the two of us. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks we can go to Miss Frenchie's sale in Kansas City.

Great day for antiqueing.....

It was a gorgeous day in the Ozarks and a great day for antiquing. Judy and I headed to Lebanon's Tattered Treasures early thinking we'd get there before the crowd. Tons of people were already going in and it was so crowded that I didn't get any inside pictures. They had lots of merchandise so we still found some great things. Below is some of it.

Judy & I both found a cabinet but there going to deliver them.

The following are some pictures from the Route 66 Flea Mkt. on I44. It's the best really good primitive shop anywhere around.

I loved this hooked pillow.

This is a stack of homespun towels in a wonderful early painted cabinet.

If you're ever coming down I-44, pull off in Lebanon and check out Tattered Treasures, then just a few miles down the highway is Route 66 Flea Mkt. They're worth a visit.

We headed to Ozark to check on Kenda at Leola's and she was slammed. Also, the buses were lined up at Lamberts and there was a huge crowd on the front porch. Christmas season has started in Branson and looks like it may be a good one. Yea!!!!

The kids have a new house...

Allison & John signed on their new home today and they are so excited. They'll have so much more room and lots of potential. John's really interested in this era home so they have lots of plans. It's also in a great neighborhood and just around the corner from the kids' school. It's also right behind their church.


Here's Allison holding Gwendolyn and Gwendolyn's mom & Allison's good friend, Diane. They live in walking distance of each other.

These are my shutters that I've painted. I'm just not sure that the red is deep enough. What do you think? I need honest opinions here. I have 4 big windows across the top floor that will have shutters.

. Hope everyone has a great fall weekend. Judy and I are heading to Lebanon tomorrow for an open house at Tattered Treasures. I have to come back and take something to Leola's because I sold 2 pieces today. Then I'll have the grandkids tomorrow night for a sleepover and they may be with me through Sun. night. Happy weekend!

Lunch at Casper's.......

Today was a gorgeous day in Springfield and as much as I needed to stay home and start working on my knee-deep leaves, I was lured out by the promise of chili. This year Casper's is celebrating it's 100th year in Springfield. You heard that right -- 100 years! It's been in several locations but has always served chili. I had the Frito pie and it was yummy. Judy and Kristy had chili and cheeseburgers. They seat you at big tables and we ended up sitting with 3 guys. They were a riot and we laughed our way through lunch. Maybe that's why we didn't have indigestion.
This is some of the artwork inside the old metal building.

They have a huge collection of chalkware and this is just part of it. Go figure!!!!

After we finished lunch we decided to head downtown to the STD flea mkt. I swear I'm not teasing you, that's its name. There are actually 2 of them. It stands for Springfield Tool & Die but I'm sure it scares some potential customers off. I just never use the restroom.

OK, I haven't shown g'kids pictures lately but had to show these. The girls got out of school early yesterday so I picked them up and we went to the park (after Chick fil a) and played for awhile. Quentin, Sage's friend, was out too so he came along. His Mom, Natasha, was helping Allison in her classroom so Quentin was bored. He was also a little bored with my picture-taking.

We've had such incredible weather for November but think it's suppose to come to an end this weekend. Guess I'd better get started on those leaves.

And the winner is.......

There were lots of names in my blog drawing so I'm hoping they all read it. Judy did the drawing and the winner is Debbie Walker. Debbie if I don't reach you through your email, please send me your address and I'll get the candles in the mail. Thanks to everyone who played along.

This was my day to work and I am pooped. It seems the last few weeks have been a whirlwind with little time to take a break. Now I have to concentrate on my yard which is covered with leaves. The garden is full of frostbit veggies and weeds and the lawn guy announced he didn't do leaves. Kenda's son, Trenton, has helped before so he's coming to give some assistance. He's the best worker. We've been so lucky to have this great weather so maybe before the week is over, I'll have the yard cleaned. It would just be nice to sit one day and read a book. Maybe next week.

Hope everyone has a good week.

The season has started....

It all starts again.... We had a great opening night and the shop looked amazing. We have such a creative, hard-working bunch of women who killed themselves to totally transition the shop. The front was all twinkly & sparkly.

Judy's 15 year old g'daughter, Jordan, played beautiful Christmas music on her cello.

Here's Katie http://ragamuffingal.blogspot.com/ and Dulcy http://dulcysdoorstep.blogspot.com/ checking things out. They're always there to support us. They're good customers but best of all they're really good friends.

Two more good friends that came in for a visit were Debra http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/ and Mandy from http://wishonawhisker.blogspot.com/.

Pam has several new shirt and jacket designs and the cutest hats. I bought an arrangement to hang that she put together with fresh greens and put a red & black wool hat in the middle. It is so cute & going beside my front door. She makes the cutest bows out of old ties and vintage jewelry. She puts a pin on the back so you wear it like jewelry. She's so talented.

Tomorrow is my work day. Should be busy. It's suppose to be sunny and 72 degrees. Hope we have a busy day. The blog give-away is still open so come on in & sign up. I'll draw the winner on Mon.

Leola's Christmas Open House starts tonight....

Don't forget our Christmas Open House tonight. The shop looks amazing and lots of treasures to be had. See you!

Leola's open house blog prize.....

OK! Below is a picture of the prize for leaving your name & email when you come to Leola's open house this weekend. I'll have a big jar in my area (when you walk in the front door, go to your right & I'm the first space on the left). There will be pen and paper. If you have any questions, just ask. Don't forget.

The 2 candles are the greatest. They run on 2 AA batteries & are dipped in wax so they look real. They're the greatest candles & you don't have to worry about fire. Candleholders are not included but will be for sale.

We'll see what happens. Come and see us. It's going to be an amazing open house. Remember, we're having wine and appetizers and music on Thurs. night 5:00 - 8:00. Be there or be square.

Leola's Christmas Open House

Leola's will be closed this whole week, until Thurs. night, preparing for our Christmas Open House. We'll open on Thursday evening at 5:00 with wine and appetizers and cello music provided by Judy's granddaughter, Jordyn. It will be a beautiful evening full of fun, family, food, friends, music and amazing shopping so hope you can join us.



Please remember, for those of you who read my blog, there will be a special place for you to put your name and email address to enter my drawing. I just thought it would be fun to see if anyone actually reads it. I'll show what the giveaway will be tomorrow. So please join us.