I have a meager collection of mix and match small vintage ironstone pitchers and creamers, that I started about 15 or so years ago. Like all my collections, they are congregations of "old things" that I value, not for their monetary value or rarity, but because they are sentimental and visually pleasing. The wonderful concept of "collections" is that a single element may not have much impact, but when you bring several pieces together, the "group" takes on new life.
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
ReUnited...
Labels:
blessing,
china,
china cabinet,
collection,
family,
ironstone,
pitchers,
sugar and creamers
Friday, July 28, 2017
This and That
Time to check in with you all... there's been several things going on "in life", just nothing much that's blog worthy as far as decorating goes. I've said it before, but this is my least favorite time of the year, and even in the best of personal circumstances I tend to be uninspired and in a rut this late part of the summer.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Sunflower Botanical Cloche
I have several cloches that I keep on the Buffet in the Dining Room, and even though they usually have the same basic elements of nests, birds, and woodsy things, I like to give them a mini update with florals and seasonal elements.
Monday, July 10, 2017
The Power of a Print...
Do you want to change the feel of a room or space? There are several low cost ways to get a new feeling or vibe to your space, but my favorite is to consider what you have hanging on your walls: artwork and prints in this case.
Labels:
artwork,
Entry,
entry console,
Entry Hall,
flowers,
gardening,
hydrangeas,
lambs,
prints,
sheep,
summer
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Patriotic Tabletop Vignette
My Dining Room table hasn't changed since early June and the Summer Home Tour, so I thought I'd do a quick change up for the July 4th Holiday. All the elements were within easy reach, and I still have my indigo ticking table runner here, so I grabbed my vintage flags and some red transfer ware.
Labels:
Dining Room,
Dining Room table,
french wagon,
July 4th,
lantern,
patriotic,
table runner,
tabletop,
vignette
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Let's Go Shopping...
My sister and I were long overdue for a shopping trip. We like to hit up our fave spots every couple of weeks, and so we headed over to The Vintage Peddler to take in the newest vintage goods and vendors. They keep things fresh there, because they have a great group of dealers, and obsessive good customers that keep them needing to bring in more vintage goodies. I've never gone in there without leaving with something wonderful.
Labels:
Branson,
flea markets,
July 4th,
out and about,
Ozark,
shopping,
Springfield,
summer,
Vintage,
vintage shops
Friday, June 30, 2017
Patriotic ReView
Hi Everyone, I'm always surprised at how fast summer flies by. This weekend will start a wonderful extended weekend for many of us, lot's of family and casual fun inside and out, so here are a few photos of one of my favorite Holidays, Independence Day!
Labels:
bottles,
centerpiece,
dress form,
flags,
Holiday Decor,
July 4th,
Vintage,
window box,
windowbox
Sunday, June 25, 2017
French Jardiniere
A few weeks ago, I took the big ivy that had been setting here outside, down to the potting bench to see if some fresh outdoor air might breath some life back into it. But it's looking like that might have not made it any happier. In any case it's outdoors now, and if it wants to be a difficult little houseplant then it will just have to be one outside. I found a new small ivy (they only had one little one) and it's now residing in a small iron jardiniere that's been in the storage room.
Labels:
Dining Room,
French Style,
house plants,
ivy,
summer
Thursday, June 22, 2017
So, what do you know about Gluten?
Last time when I sat down to talk about my latest health "discovery" I had a deep down feeling: "a gut feeling" no pun intended, that there would be more to the story. It seems like it's more like an "never ending story" in my case, but I guess that's part of living our lives; we never stop learning things... or going through things.
Labels:
allergies,
autoimmune disorders,
food,
Gluten-Free,
health,
health update,
illness
Monday, June 19, 2017
Summer Majolica
(sharing a post from a few summers ago...)
Hi Everyone, I hope you were able to catch a few of the lovely Summer Home Tours that were a part of A Stroll Thru Life, Marty's, Home Tour Series. I shared a few pics from my Summer Sitting Area in the Kitchen, and here are a few more from the Baker's Rack showing a few pieces of my Majolica.
Labels:
baker's rack,
bakers rack,
Kitchen Sitting Area,
Majolica,
summer,
Summer Tour,
Vintage
Friday, June 16, 2017
Summer Home Tour
Hello Everyone, Welcome to my Summer Home Tour, 2017. I'm joining Marty from A Stroll Thru Life and a talented group of bloggers who are sharing their Homes decorated for Summer. If you are coming over from Haneen's Haven, so glad that you came by today and I hope I'll be seeing you again, soon.
Labels:
home tour,
Kitchen Sitting Area,
pillows,
prints,
summer,
Summer Tour,
sunflowers
Monday, June 12, 2017
Summer Door Decor in the Sitting Room
I've been "Summer-fying" the kitchen sitting area this weekend, and you all know that means changing up the quilt, pillows, and the florals that decorate the old door and mirror behind the wicker settee. I had this post named "Summer Swag in the Sitting Room", but it dawned on me some of you all might not be familiar with that term... a swag... meaning a gathered bunch of flower stems. It's not a wreath and it's not in a basket. I guess it gets it's name from being similar to a swag curtain. Fabric that drapes down and is gathered together and sometimes tied with a ribbon. OK, whatever we call it, I have one here on the old door.
Labels:
antiques,
cows,
door decor,
faux flowers,
Indigo ticking,
July 4th,
kitchen,
Kitchen Sitting Area,
mirror,
old door,
pillows,
prints,
quilts,
seasonal,
settee,
summer,
ticking,
tray,
Vintage,
wicker
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Farmhouse Sunflower Tabletop
One of my favorite combinations for Summer is Sunflowers and Ticking... nothing fancy, just rustic and vintage. I thought I'd try something very "summery" this year on the Dining Room table, using one of my old wooden ice cream maker buckets. This old bucket had been a pretty vintage blue/green, but I painted it out in an antique white to make it more "decor friendly". Filled up with faux Sunflowers, sitting on an Indigo Ticking table runner, it says Summer Farmhouse to me.
Labels:
bucket,
Dining Room,
Dining Room table,
farmhouse,
faux flowers,
french wagon,
summer,
Summer Tour,
sunflowers,
table runner,
table top,
tabletop,
vignette,
vignettes,
Vintage,
wagon
Friday, June 2, 2017
Summer Change-ups in the Living Room
Hi Friends, can you honestly believe that it's June? It's officially Summer, and I just got my container plants for the porch and patio done this last week! Someone asked me not long ago why I don't show my Living Room more often here on the blog, and I said that it's because things never change up in here very much. Basically all I did for "Summer" was to replace my sofa pillows and add the new white and chippy wicker Demi-John I found a few weeks ago.
Labels:
coffee table,
demi-johns,
Living Room,
mantel,
pillows,
rug,
seasonal,
seasons,
summer
Monday, May 29, 2017
Potting Bench and Patio
Seems like it takes me forever to get a task completed lately, I guess that's because it actually does. I've been wanting to finish up here on the patio for weeks now, but I still needed to find a fern and a few other plants for the urns. I have to wait for Hubbs to help me out, so that means the weekend. And at that point, if it's rainy, forget it... another weekend down the drain.
Labels:
deck,
ferns,
garden statuary,
on the deck,
outdoors,
patio,
pillows,
plants,
porch decor,
potting bench,
urns,
Vintage,
wicker
Monday, May 22, 2017
Out and About and some Vintage Finds
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Fashion Finds for Summer
Hi Friends, just wanted to share a little post on some Fun Summer Fashion I've found. I love to go shopping, but lately I've let my fingers do the walking and just browse around the Internet. That can lead to finding some great pieces, and some trendy boutique items that are still at good prices. This isn't a sponsored post, just sharing some things I like and have purchased. I love to see what you all are wearing and get some ideas for myself.
I like a bigger bag, no matter what the season. I have a lot of "stuff" that I seem to need to carry around with me: make-up, meds, contact lens paraphernalia, phone, glasses, sometimes a camera... the list goes on and on. I also like to change out my purses to match my outfit; color coordinate, especially in Spring and Summer when I tend to wear brighter colors.
Sunday, May 7, 2017
French Wagon Vignette
Earlier in the Spring you might remember that I decided to paint my little black Frenchy wagon a light gray. Since then it's become my favorite tabletop decor piece for the Dining Room. I had put off painting it for years, even though I knew I would like it much better. Now it sort of "disappears" on the tabletop, which helps it blend in with all the other elements I love to use.
Labels:
Country French,
Dining Room table,
flower pots,
french wagon,
lamb,
metal basket,
paperwhites,
sheep,
spring,
table runner,
tablerunner,
tabletop,
tureen,
urn
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
What you might be missing, Part 2
We left off the Series, with me still not having answers to all my questions but at least I was coping. I found a pain pill that helped with my dizziness, headaches, and neck pain. It didn't seem to have any bad side effects and my life kinda-sorta became manageable. I wasn't in a hole anymore and I felt like the gray cloud had been lifted. It didn't take away the severe fatigue but I felt like that was a trade-off I could live with since I could now drive and turn my head without shooting pains.
I had been diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia back in the early Fall by a Neurosurgeon. My neck is a mess with bone problems and narrowing of the foramen (little holes the nerves run through). But he didn't think my symptoms were related to those issues. I was sent back to my Cervical Spine Specialist and had a Nerve Block done twice last Fall. It helped, and verified the diagnosis, but wore off after a few weeks. That's when I started on the pain pills. (Muscle relaxers don't work for me, just cause me to have horrible dreams).
Then came Christmas and I was talking with my two daughters about Thyroid issues. One of them said she took a dose of T3 along with her regular Levothyroxine. WHAT..., you take another Thyroid Hormone replacement pill? that's the first time I'd heard of this.
The one thing I didn't know about Thyroid Replacement Therapy was that there are two hormones that can be used to supplement an underactive Thyroid. The usual replacement medication is Synthroid or Levothyroxine which is the T4 hormone. In theory T4 converts over to the most important, but much more difficult to administer, T3 hormone.
At my next doctor appointment I asked my Internist/Primary Care doctor about this and she said yes, but we would have to do a current Thyroid test to see where I was. Holy Cow, my fabulous all purpose pain pill for my Occipital Neuralgia (literally a pain in the neck...and back of the head) had really screwed me up. It was causing my Thyroid to go crazy and put me in the HYPERthyroid area. Plus I was taking multiple supplements that included iodine, and iodine is used to treat underactive thyroid issues. The iodine was masquerading as seaweed, kelp, etc. energy synergy blah, blah, blah. in bone and joint supplements, nerve rebuilders, vitamins, healthy green drink smoothie powder, and whey protein. If you take a Thyroid supplement or medication don't take iodine, because it will mess with your meds and thyroid labs. I also learned it was in my B Vitamin Supplements as I was consuming mass quantities of because my B12 was in the tank. Also learned too much B12 can mimick signs of overactive Graves's disease with heart palpatations, increased pulse and angina. Good grief, I've now learned to check everything and read the ingredients in EV.ER.Y. Thing.
I decided to get off the pain pill and had to wait 6 LONG weeks to get my lab tests rechecked before she could even think about prescribing the T3. I begged, she said no.
I try to research all my meds and problems on the Internet. You know how people say, "Well, you just can't believe everything you read on the Internet." (with a finger wag). In some things that's a very true statement, but when you're going to websites like Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Heart Clinic, and Mayo Clinic, I think you can generally rely on what you read as being somewhat reliable and based in science. When you don't research things on your own you're at a real disadvantage because even the doctors aren't up on the latest findings. Research Papers, journals, etc. lie unread in their email inboxes and on the top of their to-do reading lists.
Well, I had been lulled into complacency by years of doctors telling me my Thyroid Lab tests were "normal". oh people, get the numbers and ranges and look at them yourselves. Don't trust someone to say your normal in Thyroid Labs, they are notoriously not to be trusted. The ranges are crazy and change from lab to lab. Look at them yourself, then question your health care person in person, eye to eye.
So as I said in my last post, I've been on the T3 Replacement for almost a month and I'm seeing a little improvement. When I went off the pain pill, Tramadol, within just a few days the severe neck pain, headaches, and fatigue were back. The Tramadol had messed with my thyroid so when it started to go back down the nerve pain came back. That's where I am now. I'm hoping the T3 will help build up the outer layer of the nerves, (the Myelin coating) I've read where it can cause the neuropathy to reverse and the nerves to heal. But I'm going to ask to see a Neurologist to check for the root cause of the Occipital Neuralgia. First place to check is other Auto-immune related illnesses like Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Guillian-Barre (which I've had before). I'm tired of messing around and I want answers to all this. I think I deserve them.
I had been diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia back in the early Fall by a Neurosurgeon. My neck is a mess with bone problems and narrowing of the foramen (little holes the nerves run through). But he didn't think my symptoms were related to those issues. I was sent back to my Cervical Spine Specialist and had a Nerve Block done twice last Fall. It helped, and verified the diagnosis, but wore off after a few weeks. That's when I started on the pain pills. (Muscle relaxers don't work for me, just cause me to have horrible dreams).
Then came Christmas and I was talking with my two daughters about Thyroid issues. One of them said she took a dose of T3 along with her regular Levothyroxine. WHAT..., you take another Thyroid Hormone replacement pill? that's the first time I'd heard of this.
The one thing I didn't know about Thyroid Replacement Therapy was that there are two hormones that can be used to supplement an underactive Thyroid. The usual replacement medication is Synthroid or Levothyroxine which is the T4 hormone. In theory T4 converts over to the most important, but much more difficult to administer, T3 hormone.
At my next doctor appointment I asked my Internist/Primary Care doctor about this and she said yes, but we would have to do a current Thyroid test to see where I was. Holy Cow, my fabulous all purpose pain pill for my Occipital Neuralgia (literally a pain in the neck...and back of the head) had really screwed me up. It was causing my Thyroid to go crazy and put me in the HYPERthyroid area. Plus I was taking multiple supplements that included iodine, and iodine is used to treat underactive thyroid issues. The iodine was masquerading as seaweed, kelp, etc. energy synergy blah, blah, blah. in bone and joint supplements, nerve rebuilders, vitamins, healthy green drink smoothie powder, and whey protein. If you take a Thyroid supplement or medication don't take iodine, because it will mess with your meds and thyroid labs. I also learned it was in my B Vitamin Supplements as I was consuming mass quantities of because my B12 was in the tank. Also learned too much B12 can mimick signs of overactive Graves's disease with heart palpatations, increased pulse and angina. Good grief, I've now learned to check everything and read the ingredients in EV.ER.Y. Thing.
I decided to get off the pain pill and had to wait 6 LONG weeks to get my lab tests rechecked before she could even think about prescribing the T3. I begged, she said no.
I try to research all my meds and problems on the Internet. You know how people say, "Well, you just can't believe everything you read on the Internet." (with a finger wag). In some things that's a very true statement, but when you're going to websites like Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Heart Clinic, and Mayo Clinic, I think you can generally rely on what you read as being somewhat reliable and based in science. When you don't research things on your own you're at a real disadvantage because even the doctors aren't up on the latest findings. Research Papers, journals, etc. lie unread in their email inboxes and on the top of their to-do reading lists.
Well, I had been lulled into complacency by years of doctors telling me my Thyroid Lab tests were "normal". oh people, get the numbers and ranges and look at them yourselves. Don't trust someone to say your normal in Thyroid Labs, they are notoriously not to be trusted. The ranges are crazy and change from lab to lab. Look at them yourself, then question your health care person in person, eye to eye.
So as I said in my last post, I've been on the T3 Replacement for almost a month and I'm seeing a little improvement. When I went off the pain pill, Tramadol, within just a few days the severe neck pain, headaches, and fatigue were back. The Tramadol had messed with my thyroid so when it started to go back down the nerve pain came back. That's where I am now. I'm hoping the T3 will help build up the outer layer of the nerves, (the Myelin coating) I've read where it can cause the neuropathy to reverse and the nerves to heal. But I'm going to ask to see a Neurologist to check for the root cause of the Occipital Neuralgia. First place to check is other Auto-immune related illnesses like Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus, Guillian-Barre (which I've had before). I'm tired of messing around and I want answers to all this. I think I deserve them.
Labels:
autoimmune disorders,
health,
health update,
illness,
Thyroid
Sunday, April 30, 2017
The Official, better late than never, Spring Home Tour
Hi Friends, after the last post, there's probably no doubt in your minds that I've been a little cray-cray this year, but I realized that I've never posted a complete Spring Home Tour. I like to keep an "Official" Tour on my sidebar and on my "pages" for each season. I just rounded up most of my photos from earlier this Spring...before Easter, so here they are, all in one spot.
Labels:
Blog Hop,
Dining Room,
Entry,
home tour,
House Tour,
kitchen,
Kitchen Sitting Area,
Living Room,
spring
Friday, April 28, 2017
Do you know what you might be missing?
all images Google Images
Labels:
autoimmune disorders,
health,
health update,
heart disease,
Thyroid
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Easy Spring Wreath and April on the Settee...
This last week, after Easter, I slowly made some changes around the house to bring it more to a place of "Spring", and not so much "Easter". I had a bunch of bunnies hanging around, so this week they've been packed away...except for one or two that do "double duty". One of my favorite little guys is this felted wool fella that I use on my Springtime wreaths.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Nesting Birds and Slinky Cats
Hope you all had a wonderful Easter Weekend. Our kiddos were out of town, so we had a really quiet, low-key weekend. We did go out Saturday night to our fave Italian spot, but that was about the size of it. About the most exciting thing going on around here at the moment is out on the back upper deck. There are a couple of noisy house wren's and they've been busy putting together an intricate little nest inside one of my derelict birdhouses. A while back I was trying to shift some vintage garden things around and a couple of these handmade birdhouses wound up right outside the kitchen window on one of my vintage wrought iron Etergeres. (don't ask me why it's now a shelf for birdhouses and not in the house)
Labels:
bird houses,
birds,
health,
health update,
kitties,
on the deck,
spring
Friday, April 14, 2017
Vintage Easter Inspiration
Hi Friends, I know Easter Week is a busy time for all of you, and sometimes we might need a little "extra" last minute inspiration to bring it all together. Maybe you're thinking about the table or a small gift for those special friends and family.
Labels:
bunnies,
cloches,
Easter,
inspiration,
rabbits,
spring,
Spring Inspiration,
tablescapes,
Vintage
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