The Stream

Good Morning...let's wade out in the stream of Nanaland.

1. Well sure enough, when I went to Hobby Lobby to pick up some crafting items, fall decor was OUT.  There are lots of clearance aisles right now so I am thinking that Christmas will be out in July as usual.  I understand that us crafty people need to get their Christmas supplies and get busy but Christmas Trees, ornaments etc could wait until Fall.  When son Charles worked in China, he came home each summer and he liked the fact that he could go and visit Christmas in July as it was not really celebrated in China.

2 This is the last week of school here in Alabama. How did that happen? Time does seem to race by. I am trying to come up with activities to keep Kendall and Landon busy on the days that they stay with Nana.

3.My friend, Sharon, and I both enjoy wearing dresses in the summer and well we just like dresses. Have you noticed they are harder and harder to find for ladies of a certain age? Most  dresses in the stores are sleeveless and short. While I can throw on a cardigan or shrug, no one wants to see my legs above the knees. :)  And if I wear a dress, everyone asks where I am going! Or What are you so dressed up for? Dresses seem to automatically say it is a special occassion. I have managed to find some cute casual dresses at QVC this season. I wore one to church yesterday and I got several compliments on it.  So any suggestions on places to find cute dresses?

4. I have enjoyed using my Norwex cloths from Ben and Katy. I find the all purpose cloth works really well on my granite counter tops. Confession time....If I had it to do over, I would not get granite. I was swayed by the HGTV crowd. They are just so hard to keep clean. I cannot see the spills on the granite as well as on formica. And unless you really polish them they can be dull. I would choose Silestone, Corian,  or a higher grade formica if I were making choices today.  And the glass polishing cloth does get mirrors streak free clean with only water.

5. I enjoyed a day out with the North Alabama Stitchers on Saturday. It was my first visit to the group though I have been a member for a year. What a nice group of ladies and we all really enjoyed stitching and visiting. I will share a few pictures on Stitching Saturday.  I was happy to see four young ladies who are taking up this craft. They were working on some of the newer charts that young designers are producing.

6.For my birthday, Friend Susan, gave me a gift certificate to Thrift Books. If you are a reader check out this site. I found several books that I had been searching for and a very reasonable price($4). This site carries all kinds of books, many which are out of print. I even found some cross stitch books there.

7. I almost forgot to post about the Royal Wedding.  I DVR'd it so I would not have to get up at O dark thirty to watch it.  I was able to fast forward through a lot of the commentary. I have to say that I Loved Megan's dress. It was so elegant and she wore it well. I guess I am going to show my age yet again but I am so tired of the strapless wedding dresses that are so popular. Frankly unless you are thin and have the bosom to hold it up, it is not a good look on most ladies. I guess I should mention that Back Fat is also exposed in this style of dress.  Let's go back to a more refined look for brides. Maybe Megan will be an influence.   The flowers in the chapel were amazing as well and I enjoyed seeing all the pretty dresses and hats.  Queen Elizabeth almost stole the show in her citron suit.  I was glad to see that Prince Phillip looked well after his hip replacement. Phillip and Elizabeth are like the energizer bunny...they just keep going and going. Good for them.

Well time to get up and get busy!! Have a great day Friends.

The Grimmlins

My sister, Kristi, shared some pictures she captured at Grimmwood last weekend.

A boy and his trucks!!

Margaret..

Checking out Grandpa's bees.

At my mother's house...Baylor and Ben with Grandma.

One of my favorites...Love my guys.

And one last picture of Margaret, dressed for Field Day at her school...

She is pretty sassy!! I really think she would make a great kid's model.  Of course I am biased.

Thanks for indulging Nana again this morning,

What's New at Cracker Barrel and Kirkland's

I dropped into Kirkland's this week just to see what is new in home decor.

Patriotic pieces are big right now..

I like this little truck!

This would be pretty on someone's front door.

I may need this for the porch at Grimmwood.

Reproduction Dough Bowls are on sale for $19.95.

And at Cracker Barrel...

Camping and RVs are big this summer.

I love those little marshmallow salt and pepper shakers.

Amelia and Margaret need to check out the flamingos at Cracker Barrel, both my girlies love them some pink birds.

Mr Smokey the Bear. I love this one...Kendall got one for me for my birthday.  He will sit on the coffee bar at Grimmwood.

Hope you enjoyed some shopping this morning. I always like to see the seasons change in some of my favorite stores. And before we know it, fall things will be coming out. I am off to Hobby Lobby today to pick up some craft items and I am expecting to see some fall items showing up on the shelves there.

Stitching Saturday

Todays Stitching features some Patriotic Pieces.

I finished Abigail Adams only to find I had stitched it on a 36 count fabric so it is quite a bit smaller than Martha Washington and Betsy Ross.

Oh well....I will make Molly Pitcher a bit smaller as well and they can all nestle together in this pretty pewter bowl.

Here is my Tea Cart decked out for the Summer. Marvin's father collected the Bradbury Plates that were released in 1976 in honor of the Bicentennial and I kept this one ( if you zoom in you will see it is Betsy Ross presenting the flag to the founding fathers.)  I stitched Freedom several years ago and it is still a favorite.

Here is my summer Dough Bowl. After the 4th, I will change it up to something more summery.  The pretty card you see to the left was made by my blog friend, Gina.

On the Breakfast Bar...I also added those three mason jars from the Dollar Tree to this vignette. It gave it a pop of color.

I am doing a few more summer stitches then I will proceed to fall and Christmas projects.  As one of my favorite Floss Tuber says...Just Keep Stitching!

Friday Five

Here is what I am loving this week...

1. Informed Delivery.( Sorry no picture of the website). Did you know you can go to the US Postal Service site and sign up for Informed Delivery? Every day you get an email telling you what to look for in the mail. Mail pieces and packages are tracked...magazines are not.  My friend, Susan, shared this with me and I am loving it. Going out of town so often these days, it is good to keep tabs on what should be in your mailbox each day. One of my friends said she preferred to be surprised as she enjoys getting her mail each day and finding a surprise.  Again I am sure this trait is relayed to a personality type....nosy or expectant?

2.

WE finished the first season of The Crown and I can hardly wait for Season Two. I am bidding for a Dvd on Ebay. Hoping I get it as it is pretty pricy on Amazon. The acting and the stories are so interesting and as an Anglophile, I will watch this series again to see what I missed the first time through. I tend to fall asleep watching tv late in the evening.

3. Giannios Candy is my mother's favorite treat. This is the candy that I found at the Mennonite grocery store in Falkville, Alabama. It is delicious and the whole family now likes this great brand.

Peanut Clusters are our favorite. Caramel and peanuts..yum. Rather like a Snickers on Steroids. You can find this company that has been around since 1910 on Facebook. Like their page and see all their goodies.  I did note that if you order from their site they do not mail in the summer due to the heat.

4. This is my new birthday gift to myself.

I like using project bags to keep my cross stitch projects organinized and free from dust and dirt. One stitcher I know related how she had left her stitching sitting on a chair at home and a person who shall not be named spilled Sweet Tea on the sampler. She was able to save it by adding more distressing to it. She says it just makes it look like an old sampler instead of a new one. She learned her lesson about putting away stitching when you are not working on the piece

5. Ben and Katy treated me to Norwex cloths for my Birthday and Mothers Day.

I had been wanting to try this brand for some time but never found a rep who sold them in my area. I look forward to trying out these microfiber cloths that work with just water! I will report back on how they worked for me here in Nanaland. I have heard many raves about their effectiveness. 

63 Trips

Another trip around the sun!! I like thinking of birthdays like that...makes me sound like quite the astronaut.  I plan to spend the day with Marvin in Huntsville, doing some fun things and eating a birthday lunch at the Bone Fish Grill thanks to the suggestion of my blog friend, Terri, who you can find on my blogroll as Your Friend From Florida.  

Patriotic Finds at Dollar Tree

If you are looking for some Patriotic items to use this summer, head to the Dollar Tree now.  As I mentioned last week, I am tired of spring pastels around the house so I changed it up for summer. Memorial Day is just two weeks away after all.

My coffee bar got a makeover with these pretty red gingham plates and napkins. I need to find some matching paper straws. Dollar Tree does carry them but I could not find any at the one I visited. I almost picked up some cute burger and hotdog baskets they had in this store. I saw one lady who was loading several into her cart. She looked like the organized together person who plans  ahead.

These are a real find for $1. These would be pretty hanging in trees with some tea lights...or on the patio to give a glow in the evening.

My cute back door hanger!

These just hopped in my cart! They also had some silver ones which would be nice for Christmas or New Years decor.

I am using pieces of this garland in my dough bowl.

I did pick up a few other things this visit. I love to use buttons to finish off my cross stitch pieces and they can be very pricy. This was a steal for $1. Every Dollar Tree seems to carry different items, making the thrill of the chase fun for me. However, they do have an online store where you can find some of those elusive buys.

I picked these up for Kendall and Landon. Kendall loves owls and Landon loves the Avengers.

These days it seems my car automatically wants to turn in at all Dollar Tree's.  It will not be long until Fall and Winter things will be on the shelves. My advice is to buy early if you really want something. Items fly off the shelves!