My Office Assistants

I spend a lot of time in my home office working. And most of the time, my four "assistants" are always near by as I work. There are times it becomes a little difficult to work as you see Leonard, Fluffy, and Mak all trying to get the closest spot to me!Kona only comes to sit with me when she feels like it. Her and Mak were feral cats that were stuck in a wall at a construction site as kittens. Mak is pretty calm now, but it takes Kona a bit more time, and it is always on her terms!Sadly, Fluffy wants to be an only cat, and ignorantly enough she often tries to take on Leonard, who use to be a hardcore tomcat when he showed up on my door step over ten years ago. He can knock Fluffy off the desk in one swing of his paw! It doesn't stop Fluffy though. It's not always easy working with my furry little office assistants, but knowing how sweet they can be makes it all worthwhile. As you can see by these photos, rescued cats make wonderful pets. Our shelters are overflowing right now with cats and dogs that need homes. If you are thinking about getting a cat or dog in the near future, please stop by a shelter and pick one out. The love they return is more than you could ever imagine!

Monday Morning Memories

When I was about seven years old, my cousin, Connie Jo, died of leukemia when she was only 9 nine years old. Being a kid, you never quite understand this stuff. All I remember was the horrible times me and my sister were dragged out to the cemetery at Christmas. I hated it!My cousin was an only child, so every Christmas they decorated her grave and my grandpa's with Christmas trees, Santas, toys and wrapped empty boxes. And every year me and my sister had to sit there and have our picture taken. I can understand now that I have kids and now grandkids what a tragic loss this was for my aunt and uncle. I always talked about having my picture taken at the cemetery to my own kids, probably every time someone died. They've heard "that story" for years. And that is one of the main reasons I can't go to places like Forest Lawn.Recently Vinnie's aunt died, and Katie and Vinnie took Riley to her funeral. My parents were buried close to where his aunt was, so Katie brought flowers. And I had asked Katie to take a picture of my dad's plaque since I've never been back since his funeral and wanted to see how it turned out. On my mom's plaque we had a few lines from the song, "Blackbird" by the Beatles and my dad has a lyric from Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Follow You".So, here is Riley, dusting off her "Great-Grandma's" plaque. And of course, knowing my family, you have to know part of the reason Riley has a picture taken there is due to my many years of being traumatized when I had to sit and have my picture taken grave side. Riley got kind of carried away after she was done wiping Great-Grandma off, and started to make cemetery rounds of cleaning other plaques. Katie had to try and explain to her she could only clean Great-Grandma and Papa! And here's little Riley posing for me, in the cemetery, with her Binky in her mouth! I hope you understand this was done with "loving" humor, that is just the way we are. Riley's first outing as an infant was to my mom's funeral. My mom died a few days after Riley was born. Then again, when Riley was six months old, she had to go to my dad's funeral, who had died on Valentines day back in 2007. Sometimes life throws the curve balls at us, but what are you going to do? That's what life is all about. And my kids all KNOW that they can't "leave" me at the cemetery when my time comes. My ashes are going home with someone in a Mason Jar with NO photos allowed! And let's hope the three of them don't get in a fight over who gets to keep me!!!

Beginning to Look A Lot Like Fall

I hadn't been to "the store" (that's what we call Country Roads), in five days. When I went to work yesterday I was totally blown away by all the changes in displays. Our vendors are bringing in all the Fall holiday merchandise, and some Christmas as well. Above is a picture of our middle store display. I fell in love with immediately! Here are some more photos of the display. . .






This display was put together by "my boy Bryce"! In a previous post, I had written about how awesome the front window displays were. Him and I were talking about changing out the middle store display and all I said was maybe we could do more of a Fall kind of look? When I saw this yesterday, I was so impressed. Also, Katie had redone her displays in her area, as had Brande in the garden. Look for pictures of these displays at all. It really is a great experience to work with your family! And yes, there are days we all fight and argue, but the one thing about us, we get over it real quick! Hope you can stop by and "feel" the feeling of Fall in the air at Country Roads!

All I Wanted to Do Was Go To the Bank!

Yesterday I just wasn't having a good day. We all have them, but mine was seemingly never ending. I had to make a deposit at Bank of America, who should have protesters in front of their bank protesting THEM! If you bank with BofA, change your bank. Anyway, I've seen the two young guys before with their table and offensive pictures in front of the bank on other days, but not on a day when I had to do my banking. Yesterday, since it was "that" kind of day, these guys started in on me! As I walked by their "sign" and table, I just smiled and said "hi". Then they start, "what do you think"? I didn't want to waste my energy on it, so I said "no comment". Then they start in again, "oooooh NO comment"! I wanted to smack the dumbass, but just went in the bank instead. Apparently Brande and I had just missed each other at the bank because she encountered the same thing. These kids are LaRouche supporters and want you to give them $20 for their "cause"! Brande asked them, "how do you expect to get support and money with pictures like that"? And the pictures were my deal too. They are offensive for many reasons that these two young dumbasses I don't think even realize. I don't understand people's insensitivity towards others. You give a toddler an offensive sign to hold like the one above? The Holocaust was a horrific part of our history. Do these protesters ever stop and think how holding up pictures of Hitler make people feel, the memories it brings back to many people that lost loved ones? The thing that is really amazing to me is one of the two kids is of middle Eastern descent. I wondered if he really understands how in America you are allowed to do this no matter how many people you hurt in the process? That is why we have freedom of speech, does he fully understand that? This post isn't about the Healthcare Reform bill, it is about people being so insensitive to others. Next time I see the dumbass kid, I'm going to ask him if he really appreciates the freedom of speech we have here in the United States, even if it hurts people? There are many other ways to make your point in this world, and to me, this way just doesn't do it!!

Learning to Smile

It's hard to believe that Morgan is a couple of months old now. Pretty soon she will be chasing Riley around. There are no pictures of Riley in this post since she wanted to "take" the pictures, not be in them!! Above, Morgan is thinking about smiling.We had to work to get that smile out of her, because she just wasn't quite ready. In this photo, she looks just like her daddy, my son Bryce when he is mad about something. Although, he usually doesn't stick his tongue out!!Morgan is thinking about that smiling stuff but still isn't too sure.Morgan is also beginning to "talk" as she is in this picture.There we go, the smile I had been waiting for! It's amazing how much little babies change each day. I'm lucky to be able to share in all of Morgan's "firsts" as I was with Riley. Someone the other day was talking to me about becoming a Grandmother, her daughter is pregnant. She told me she didn't want to be called "Grandma" and asked me what Riley called me. I turned and said, "Gramma" and I love the sound of that little word coming out of Riley's sweet little mouth. It makes my day, you know what I mean?

The Best Little Playhouse Ever!!

One of my very talented and artistic friends and dealers is Maggie Gulati! And you would think after all these millions of years I've known her I would have a picture of her at my fingertips, but nope, not this morning. Her husband built this playhouse for their grandkids. Rich, as you can see, is also very talented. Maggie decorated the inside with many vintage "treasures" from Country Roads. Here are just a few pictures of the playhouse, have a tissue handy in case you start to drool with envy!




I hate to even say this, but the playhouse is not quite done yet! I'll be back with some pictures when it is complete!! Maggie was one of my first dealers at Country Roads, way back in 1993 when we first opened the store. Her imagination and artistic abilities are unbelievable, seriously. I think Maggie is especially good when it comes to painting animals. Like many of us here at Country Roads, she too has a passion and love for our four legged furry friends! People often ask me "how" do you stay in business after all these years? One of the main reasons is that we are ALL part of the same family; our "Country Roads Family"! One day I'll do a blog post on that alone, but just to be able to have a business that is filled with my family and friends is more than I could ever ask for. And Maggie, as you can see, is totally awesome! Thanks for sharing the picture Maggie, you are the best!

White Wednesday

I love the old, vintage white tins. I have several in my kitchen and thought for this White Wednesday I would post just a few pictures of them.




Go visit Kathleen see her wonderful White Wednesday photos along with links to many others!

Bloomin Tuesdays

I haven't done a garden post in a couple of weeks. My garden isn't all that exciting right now. I think its just that time of year as we wait for summer to fade away as we eagerly await our Fall flowers. Here are some of my flowers that are still hanging in there!
Still have my hollyhocks, they just keep on bloomin everywhere and look much better than the blurred picture above.The ladybug poppies are started to bloom again.This gladiola just bloomed the other day, kind of caught me by surprise! My sunflowers are doing good, and still blooming all over the garden. I saw these sweet peas come up the other day from out of nowhere, that was another nice surprise.Mostly I've been doing this, which isn't too fun. And note to self, don't do the above in flip flops and shorts as you do pick up several new scratches in your quest to prune! Go visit some great gardens over at Ms.Greenthumb Jean!

Monday Morning Memories

As I've said many times, I try hard to find free time to scan in old pictures of my mom and dad's families, their past, their history. My dads picturs are so much easier, he had so many and wrote on most of the backs of the. But because my mom had a more difficult childhood, it's hard to piece it all together. My mom, Johnnye Merle Durham, was born and raised in Texas, and even though she moved to California in the 1950's, she was always so proud to be a "Texan". That's my Grandpa Hobson on the horse above. And below are some other photos I've been able to find. My Grandpa drove an oil truck to make a living back in the day.Here is my Grandpa Hobson and my Grandma Madge Dulane(I have her middle name) on their wedding day, they look so young. Here's my mom in Texas, I love the cowboy hat right beside her.This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom. She is in the cart having my Grandpa Hobson pull her. Until a couple of years ago, I never knew where myself and my kids got our blonde hair. When I saw this picture, I knew immediately. My Grandpa killed himself when my mom was 15, and then she lost my Grandma only a few years later to cancer. I never had the chance to know my grandparents only stories my mom would share here and there, but not very often. I don't think she ever got over her childhood. But once I found the pictures and began looking through them, I started to see the bigger picture, and understand how proud she was of her mom and dad. I will always remember the one story she did tell me repeatedly. It was about the Depression, and even though her family didn't have much, they "always" gave food to the people, often black people, that would come to their back door hungry. And that was one of the best lessons I've ever learned, no matter what your own situation is, you "always" give and pay it forward when you can regardless of race, politics or anything else. We were put on this earth to help each other. I really wish my mom would have shared more stories, as I know there were so many inside of her just waiting to be told. So, I'm doing my best to tell them for her!!

The "Many" Faces of Country Roads!

The best part of Country Roads is that it's made up of many "faces". My family, our staff, our dealers, our customers all put a "face" on Country Roads. I want to share some faces that I took pictures of yesterday.






And my favorite face that has no clothes is this sad Raggedy Ann! There is a little story about her appearance. One of my dealers, Hide (pronounced He-day) is from Japan. He's been in the store for years and I think he is fascinated with all of us. Awhile back, someone stole the clothes from this sad little doll. And as you can see, Hide has a little written note on her with a warning, along with those sad, sad red tears! Country Roads. . . different faces every day of the week. It's not just a job, it truly is an adventure!!