THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!

 I just read a really old post on someone’s blog where the writer was talking about some of her favorite things.  So….since I yet again haven’t had anything worth writing about….I decided I’d go on a photo shoot among my belongings to see what some of my own favorites were.  (OK….so I’m bored and needed something to do today😊 …and besides, maybe it will be fun!)     (WARNING:  PICTURE HEAVY!!!)

HOUSEHOLD FAVORITES

We have quite a few antique family pieces in our home….things we’ve inherited from our parents or grandparents.  This antique ICE BOX  is definitely one of my favorites.  You would not have believed how this thing looked when we got it!  In fact, nobody else in the family even wanted it because it looked SOOO BAD.  But I have to give my husband credit…he saw a diamond in the rough!  We had it restored and we just love it.  The ice box actually belonged to an elderly farm hand that lived in a little shack on my husband’s grandparents’ farm.  She was like part of the family and always helped Grandmama with the cooking, cleaning, gardening, or whatever else needed to be done.  She was loved and affectionately called DUMP (don’t ask me why!!!)

This antique PENDULUM CLOCK was a gift to my husband and me from my stepfather shortly after we were married.  It was his passion to find old clocks and restore them.  I love to hear this one BONG the hour, but my husband doesn’t, so (sadly to me) it remains silent.  It is sitting atop an antique PIE SAFE that belonged to my husband’s grandparents.

One more antique to show is this beautiful HALL TREE that belonged to my husband’s other grandparents.  My husband would sit on the seat every year on Christmas Day as he grew up opening presents at their house, so she wanted him to have it.  For years it was ugly & black because we thought it was supposed to look like that (seriously????)  Then my husband decided to refinish it and what beauty was lying underneath!!!

These two LAMPS are not antiques but I like my “Tiffany wanna-be’s”!!!  The first one was a gift from my mother-in-law and the second we bought at auction.  I love how they look at night when they are turned on.

This little GREEN CHEST has really seen better days but it’s a favorite because it was my first (and only) attempt at painting with chalk paint!  I found it (all blue and ugly) in a thrift store.  It now holds many of my craft supplies.

And one last antique is my IRON BED.  Long story that I won’t go into about how I came to have it, but I do love it.  This is in what we now call my granddaughter’s room where she absolutely loves to spend the night!

THIS  &  THAT  FAVORITES

My PORCH is probably my favorite part of our home.  I have spent many hours sitting in my swing reading, watching the rain, or just pondering on things.  The CANDELIER hanging from the ceiling also has a funny story.  Found it in a consignment shop in FL on one of my girlfriend trips.  You should have seen me pack our vehicle (which was carrying 6 ladies and all our luggage) so that it would fit!!!

This is an ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING done by…..a second-grader!  Years ago it was a gift to me from one of my students.  His mother is an artist and evidently he inherited some of her talent.  It is displayed in my kitchen.

These sweet  TEDDY BEARS are just 2 of my collection.  I don’t really collect them anymore as they were beginning to take over and multiply!  But I do love them all.  These two were gifts from my sweet husband. 

Years & years ago I was going through a very difficult period of grieving and would sometimes just take off for day trips on my own.  One such day I discovered this precious TEA SET in an antique store.  It just called my name and so I HAD to bring it home with me!

Can you guess what this is?????  Well, I couldn’t for many years.  However, through lots of research I finally found out it is a…….WINE BOTTLE…..and it is an antique as well.  It was given to me by a very sweet and special elderly lady (in her 80s) while I was her Sunday School teacher.  She actually thought it was a RABBIT and since she knew I loved rabbits she wanted to give it to me.  Turns out it’s really a SQUIRREL…but I never told her that😊  She told me it belonged to her late husband…..I later found out he was….well, let’s say he wasn’t a tee-totaler!

Although I’m omitting a lot of my favorites, I couldn’t leave out these….all the LOVE LETTERS from my husband while he was away at National Guard Training Camp for 4 months (way back in 1971); and the little stack is LOVE NOTES from high school….yes, I said HIGH SCHOOL.  How could I ever throw those away???

FAVORITE  CLOTHES  (shoes are a whole different post!!!)

I love, love, love CLOTHES and probably have more than I should.  And yet I often look in my closet and say, “I don’t have anything to wear!”  Is there a woman anywhere that has never said that????  I don’t really get to shop a lot since my little town is 70 miles from a decent shopping site.  And another thing….I’m NOT a CLOTHES SNOB.  If I like it, it doesn’t matter to me if it comes from Nordstrom or Wal-Mart!  I’m an equal opportunity shopper! My style now leans much more toward casual since I am retired and spend most days at home or doing something with the grandkids, but here are some of my favorites right now…….

Give me polka dots, tassels, & pompoms and I’m a happy dresser!  The NAVY POLKA DOT SWEATER is new from Old Navy.  The colorful TASSELED TOP I have enjoyed all summer and it came from Goody’s.

I love both of these SWEATERS from last year.  The first one is RUBY RD. from BELK & was a gift from my husband last Christmas.  The other also came from BELK last year….since it’s my college colors I wore it to a GEORGIA SOUTHERN alumni party😊

These 2 TOPS are new & I “think” I got them both from BEALL’S (or maybe it was TJMaxx).  Neither was very expensive but really look cute with jeans.

I love to wear these sleeveless INSULATED VESTS, and I have several.  They are often all I need when I run to the grocery store or do errands during the cooler months.  This was also a Christmas gift from my husband but you can find them in many places online.

Well, I told you this post would be PICTURE HEAVY and sorry it’s so long.  Maybe it at least helped my readers to get to know me a little better…and it will be something my granddaughter can look at in years to come (and probably laugh)!  I did another post on some of my favorites back in 2012 if anyone is interested....go here

So, what are some of your FAVORITE  THINGS…..besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens?????