One tater, two tater

One tater, two tater, three tater, four... Did you ever play that game? How many hours of my childhood were spent poppin' our fist to see who was " out ". I think I may have always been the one out. I wonder if being the youngest had anything to do with that? It didn't matter. It was the stuff my dreams are made of! Summer afternoons were magical.

One time we(me, Josephine, and Beatrice) decided we would build us a swimming pool. Being that we lived on a farm, swimming pool building supplies were plentiful. We mapped out a good spot off to the side of our dirt road, grabbed up some lumber( which I don't think we had enough of so we decided to just "dam" it up like beavers) and in no time flat we was a swimmin' up a storm. It was more like 3 little channel catfish wallowing in a big puddle but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I can still see and hear my tiny grandma telling us to "get out of that mud, you girls are gonna be eat up with the ringworms". Worms and snakes were a good way to make little farm girls behave in those days. But on this particular day, not even the threat of being covered in worms worried us one dab. Some days are so good , you can still feel it, smell it , and taste it! PS We didn't get worms and we had a fancy mud bath without even knowing that mud baths were fancy!

Then there was this other time...Beatrice was making tin foil masks for the three of us...you see, you take a good sheet of tin foil, press it tightly around your face, and then trim around the foil to create a mask.. Now, if you are 8 and cutting around someone's face that is 2, you just might cut all of their bangs off.

Yep! This is me. My most famous photo ever shot. We lovingly call it "the chicken picture" in my family. When you have 6 girls in a farm family and the older three get to roll their long beautiful hair in orange juice cans every night, the younger three all get pixie cuts. The less hair there is, the less rat nests you have to comb out in the morning! Add a good tin foil mask cut and you get one heck of a hair doo!

Family and memories. I am so blessed to have the best of both. I love you all with every fiber of my being. And Beatrice, I would still let you cut me a tin foil mask any day.

Hmmm,I got a little off track( maybe WAY off ). I titled this blog one tater,two tater because I wanted you to see how big my tater vine has gotten.

 

It didn't really have anything to do with summertime memories but it sure was fun to remember! Take a moment today and savor a favorite memory or maybe go make a new one! Whatever you do, have a beautiful day, with love from AliCe and JaY!

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Happy Day!

Happy birthday Ms. Barbara! I hope your day is as magical as you are!

What a blessing you are!

Swing from the clouds and hang stars in the sky ALL day long.

We love you to the moon and back!

 

(Photos are all from pinterest.com)

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Game on!

Any mess that you think you have...

I've got one bigger! ( Herbie, sorry about that plumber pants shot. )

 

With this much more to go. What are YOU doing today? I hope it is filled with a pink cupcake for me because I am having mud pies down here!

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Why?

Why am I not rich! Now, I know that I am rich beyond measure in the things in life that matter the most BUT I believe(with all of my sweet little pea picking' heart) that I could handle monetary wealth. Look at my mess!

 

I know I could hire this work out while I sip mimosas in the pedicure chair!

Maybe all I need is a box of Calgon and a lotto ticket.

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Peek a boo

Here we go again! We are back at work on our newest little secret.

Today, I pulled up carpet and found this.

Original tile floor -yay!

Black goo gunk -yuck!

 

The adhesive remover actually worked-woo hoo! Only 1000 square feet to go!

A peek around the corner. This wall was moldy Sheetrock Last week.

Around that corner and you find these steps. Old and worn and just perfect!

At the top of the stairs- the original loo. You have to sit carefully or you'll get splinters in your bum. Next...

And this is the icing on my cake. The sweetest room you could ever find to overlook the quaint streets below.

Can you feel the love yet?

Treasure of the day. I guess this fan pre-dates the paper church fans of my day. It is made from a palmetto leaf. Too cool!

Stay tuned. We can't wait to show you more.

 

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When walls talk

I keep trying to write and the words just never seem to work. I fail miserably at trying to separate my personal life and my "store life". They are so intertwined and I just cant untangle them. I have lost my biggest fan and I miss him so much. Please bear with me.

In the meantime, we have a new project going on at Alice and Jay.

We will keep it a secret for a little while but you can bet your bottom dollar that it's gonna be fun! New things around here always involve Jay on a ladder don't they!

While we were Working(I was working hard taking pictures) on peeling back layers of yuck, Jay caught a glimpse of something on our wall. Now, these old walls were constructed in the late 1800's and were home to a drug store, post office(where my precious Daddy worked for 45 years), and an antique shop. As each layer was removed, we could hear the voices from the past speak a little louder.

 

 

This voice must of come from one of my kindred spirits. The kind that does their bookkeeping on the wall, or back of your hand, or just anywhere you can write it so you don't forget it!

The more we peeled, the better it got. I was pretty excited when we found this chunk of the original wallpaper. Isn't it fabulous?

I have boxes and boxes of wonderful old ledger books and receipts and papers to dig through too. I wonder what they will tell me? The one from 1904 told me that Mr. Carson liked to buy cigars and candy and Christmas eve was a busy day at the drug store. Mostly candy and powders and perfumes were sold on that day. I'm going to search through them to see what my Grandaddy might have bought. I'll let you know what I find.

Simple things done by simple folks over 100 years earlier still Speak loud and clear today. It's kind of comforting, isn't it? Tune back in to see what else these wall say!

PS. Thank you to my sweet new friend from Tallahassee who stopped in to see me today. YOU inspired me to write today. Sometimes God works in wonderful and mysterious ways! Please come back to see me.

Thank you, Joanne. Sometimes it takes a visit from an angel to remind you how special life is. You are a rare and beautiful vessel of God's love! I love you.

Thank you, Barb. You are so special and we are so blessed to know you.

 

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Everybody needs a Jay!

"I need a Jay!". If I had a penny for every time I have heard this, I could buy the Taj Mahal! I totally agree but you can't have this one.

I have been a very sad someone for a while. You see, I lost my precious Daddy. It has shaken my world. In the midst of my sadness, dear sweet Jay took a very sad day and made me a smile more than he could ever imagine.

I always have project after project on Jay's proverbial to-do list and I had been concocting a bed swing to put behind our new grain bin. It kept getting delayed. Until now...

He welded together some old iron beds, built a shade arbor topped off with rusty old bed springs, and then wired this beautiful chandelier to twinkle sweetly with the stars! I love it so much. Isn't it wonderful!

 

Come by and swing with us! Just remember, you can't have Jay.

Thank you, Jay. You turned a river of tears into a waterfall of happiness.