Thankful, Grateful, and Appreciative

Today we had a very busy day at Country Roads and I'm exhausted, in a good way! People were buying everything, including furniture. It reminds me to keep the faith in our futures, our situations are temporary, and I have hope that we're all going to be in a better place here pretty soon. I only had a few minutes to take some photos today because we were so busy, but I just wanted to share a few pictures with you. The first grouping is of Loretta Kilheffer's and the last two are of Christie Repasy's area at Country Roads. If you are wondering what the "cat signs" are on the furniture, it means the pieces of have been sold or are on layaway.
As I said, I am really grateful for the support I get from all my Country Roads family. They too work tirelessly to put together awesome displays but also to make their products affordable. If you haven't been by lately, I do hope you stop in a see what we have. And again, thanks to all of you that continue to shop with us. You are the best!

Trading Spaces

We have sort of a three way move going on at Country Roads. Pictured above is Nancy Griffin's new space. Nancy has been going through some difficult times right now, so Bryce moved her space and decorated it. Actually considering how fast he moved and displayed Nancy's space, I thought he did a great job and it's looking pretty good. This is Eileen Johnson's new space, which use to be Nancy's. Yesterday she added some fresh pink paint to the walls and painted the floor white. A lot of the wood used in Country Roads was from the old Laguna Beach boardwalk. It adds to our rustic look! This is another one of Eileen's vingettes she did today. Tomorrow we have another dealer moving into Eileen's old space. I think that is what keeps people coming back to the store, we are always changing things up and "mixing the timely with the timeless"!

I'm A Geek: The Moon & Venus!

Okay, I got a little distracted on the way to my room to watch Ellen. Katie knows I'm all into the moon and stars thing, so she called to tell me to take a look at the moon and Venus! I'm glad she did or would have been sad to have missed it. Venus is at its max when it comes to brightness and both the moon and Venus are crescent shaped. I do believe Jupiter is involved in this cool evening show in the sky, but not exactly sure. Anyway, I hope you all get a chance to see what I'm talking about. I just dragged my daughter-in-law away from the cupcakes she was making to look at the sky. I also, like a geek, tried to take a photo but apparently I need a much better camera so I downloaded one from the internet. Happy star gazing!!

"Ellen" Night!

Most Friday nights I do the same thing, since my Friday nights are like most people's Sunday nights in that my work days start tomorrow. I like to watch my weeks worth of recorded Ellen shows. I chill a couple of Corona's in the freezer, get in my jammie's and watch The Ellen Show in bed. I absolutely LOVE the Ellen show and it would be a dream to go see one of her shows! To me, Ellen is one of the funniest people around. I love when she plays "Blindfolded Musical Chairs". If you haven't seen it,you should, you will laugh your ass off!! I think the fact that Ellen is laughing the most out of everyone makes it even funnier. And how about that dancin? I love to dance so watching Ellen entertain a whole audience with her dancin skills is awesome. And let's not forget some of her favorite guests. I love the 82 year old woman who Ellen calls on the phone and she tells Ellen, "I love Jesus but I drink a little bit". They flew her out to the show and made her a big scotch on the rocks when she sat down on camera for her interview. And outside of all the dancin and comedy, Ellen has a huge heart. She is always helping people so what more could you ask for in a tv show? My day has been trying, nothing bad, just one technological breakdown after another. I went down to Whole Foods to get some sushi for dinner and was going to take a photo of the marina and sunset, which is across the street. When I got there, I didn't have my camera. It was kind of the way my day went ALL day, and you know, "mama said there will be days like that"! So, I'm off to watch my week's worth of the Ellen show, while lovin' Jesus as I drink a little bit!!

Simple Things

"playroom"
"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all". I spent my day with my most favorite little person in the whole world,Riley! I prefer the simple things in life, things that make me laugh, things that warm my heart. I don't care for days like yesterday, full of complexity and confusion.
"lunch time"
"computer times"
"dinosaurs"
"scary dinosaurs"
"Gramma's bed"
"the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"

Mr. Wonderful & New Wife

  This is a picture of Mr. Wonderful (my ex-husband) Brande and Katie right after Bryce was born, a little over 25 years ago.Mr. Wonderful and New Wife became parents today of a new baby boy through the "miracles of modern medicine and money". Mr. Wonderful is 54 and New Wife is 48 years old. It is amazing what science can now manage to pull off these days. It is New Wife's first child. My feelings? Well, first, looking at the picture above reminds me, you really never know what your future holds. I always thought I would be married forever and looked forward to having a house full of little grandkids. I still have a house full of grandkids, so actually the only thing that changed is Mr.Wonderful isn't here so life is better for me. When Mr.Wonderful and I divorced ten years ago, he swore he never, ever wanted to get married again because basically I had ruined that whole marriage experience for him. Sorry Mr. Wonderful, although I didn't exactly see it that way. I remember about five years ago he flew everyone over to Maui for a his and New Wife's wedding. I woke up wondering that morning "how" I would feel. And I was surprised that I felt really nothing, it was just another day in my life. I was busy with Country Roads and obvioiusly a little shorthanded because my kids were gone and couldn't work at the store, but outside of that, I could have cared less. Today Mr. Wonderful and New Wife are new parents, and again, same thing, I really didn't feel anything. I did ask Katie if the baby was healthy, to which he is, which I'm grateful for. I do have some resentment that so much money was spent "through the miracles of modern medicine" to bring this child into the world. As we all know, there are so many babies in this world that need good homes. Also, since recently seeing Slumdog Millionare, I'm even more sensitive to children living in extreme poverty in our world. But when it gets right down to it, what Mr.Wonderful and New Wife have done is really none of my business, so be it! I'm glad the baby is healthy, but outside of that, and I have to be honest, I thought I would have a whole LOT more to say, but I don't. My life will continue to be full of those I love and I hope to keep growing as a person and to Mr.Wonderful, New Wife, and baby William, I wish you well. Okay, I do have to say this,just one small thing "what in the hell were you thinking"?

Cell Phone Towers, Dancin, Cookin, My Girl, and Karma & Q-Tips

I woke up this morning feeling like crap, my ear was on its second day of being completley plugged. But then things began to change. First, Riley came over and we built "cell phone towers" together with mini cell phones out of her blocks. Then we did some "dancin", our favorite thing to do and Riley was dancin' pretty fast today, me, I still couldn't hear! Next it was time for Riley to do another thing she loves, "cookin". She made us both "lunch"!Pretty soon daddy was here to pick up "my girl", cause Gramma had a doctors appointment. On to the "karma & q-tips". The past week or so, I haven't been feeling real good, a bit of a cold, nothing horrible. But every night my sinus' would drain into one of my ears(gross) and I would wake up not being able to hear out of that ear, but it always immediately opened back up. Yesterday morning, my ear was REALLY plugged up, I couldn't hear anything and it wouldn't open back up! I "googled" how to unplug a plugged ear and tried everything, and nothing worked! So, I got a q-tip! We all know the limits of the q-tip. You should only shove them so far down your ear and as the doctor said to me this afternoon, "you just figured you had gone that far, why not go ahead and shove all the way down your ear". Which I had done and which also didn't work. So all day yesterday at the store I couldn't hear in one ear at all, and stuff was echoing out of my other ear. It was making me CRAZY! Then this morning, even after my horrific experience after work at CVS where customer service sucks, the stuff I got there didn't help either. I was miserable. The "karma" of the whole thing is I've been pissed because my health insurance was going up again. Thankfully and gratefully I've been blessed with great health and never go to the doctors. So, I was going to apply online for cheap health insurance. Katie got me a doctors appointment today, they took me right way this afternoon.They "flushed" out my nasty ear and I can once again hear out of both ears! I have never felt so good in my life when I once again could HEAR!It kind of showed me the importance of good health insurance. It was the karma I needed not to switch my health insurance. And just a tip about "the tip of a q-tip". . .you need to remember to proceed with caution!Otherwise, you REALLY feel damn old when you can't hear anything for a day and a half!

Only Just the Beginning!

Bryce and Justine started the soon to be baby Morgan's, room today. They have a large room at my house so they have plenty of room to dedicate a section to her. Above is an old vintage swing Bryce bought a long time ago. He is awesome when it comes to decorating, and it will soon hang near the crib. This is the crib which is kind of a cherry wood, and it too hasn't been completely "acessorized" yet. I was anxious to get the photos up because I know how cute the finished room will be and wanted to have some "before" pictures. It's cool to see the "daddy" get into the decorating, but with my son I feel bad that Justine probably won't have a whole lot of input! Bryce has always been really good at putting displays together and decorating. I think his baby daughter's room will be his best work ever. After all, it's a labor of love!

Movin' A Historic House!

My store, Country Roads is in Old Towne Orange, CA. It's an historic area, and a beautiful place filled with the most awesome historic homes. In a disposable world, this little Old Towne area takes great care in preserving the past. Yesterday they actually moved a historic home to a different location. If this isn't preservation, then I don't know how else you could define that word. Our little Old Towne area is filled with family businesses, such as mine. I'm glad to be a part of this community where they value history, things from the past, and they don't allow them to be destroyed or become disposable. And with all that is going on in the world today, I hope with all my heart that all of our family businesses continue to thrive here in Old Towne Orange! This is what our country was founded on, these values, these little businesses are an important part of our roots, our culture. And when I see such great efforts made to move a house, like Louie Armstrong's song, "I think to myself what a wonderful world it is".(photo from the OC Register online)

Happy Birthday Justine

It was my Justine's birthday (my daughter-in-law) last week. So after work tonight all my family went out to dinner to Mexican Affair, which will soon be closing after like 30years in business. The woman the owns it wants to retire. I love this place and will really miss it.This is a horrible picture of my family, Katie is hiding, and it was dark, I couldn't see, so as I said, its a bad picture! But hey, I tried. After dinner we all went over to Brande's for dessert. As you can see, Riley is totally into her cupcake. I don't ever care how tired I am or what else is going on in my life, I always LOVE spending time with my Riley! I also love to spend time with my family. We are one of these families where someone is always pissed at someone else, or some other drama has happened. But the most important thing at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what has happened, we get over it. And when it comes to celebrating a member of our family's birthday, it's all forgotten. . . happy birthday Justine, and I'm glad you are a part of our crazy family!