An Update and My Love for All-Things Pier 1 On Sale!!!

Hey ya'll, hope you are off to a great day.  Several have asked about the new grandbaby, and he/she is apparently not as eager to meet all of us as we are to meet him.  The Man and I have been living out of our suitcases for a week and a half now.  Saturday is the actual due date, but with the false labor that's been going on for a couple of weeks now, we have all expected an early arrival.  I know my sweet DIL is so very ready to be done, but she never-ever complains at all.  I will keep ya'll posted.

I had to make a quick run to Pier 1 yesterday for some potpourri.  Let me explain.  Ya know when you don't have much to do, as in not wanting to start major and/or messy projects that you can't clean up in a hurry, you have way too much time to dwell on little issues.  Well, that would be me right now.  With the house for sale, I'm nitpicking about everything.  One of my little quirks (or obsessions), is over house-smells.  I am totally addicted to candles, diffusers, etc;  whatever is going to make our home smell good.  Knowing that we could get called away in the middle of the night and having to leave the house all closed up, I started obsessing about how the house might smell without my daily ritual of burning candles & spraying room freshener.  Decided potpourri would be the best answer and Pier 1 has some that I really like.  So off I went to one of my fav stores.  Found some great potpourri & diffuser oil, Citrus Cilantro, & then took a quick spin through the store.  I'm not supposed to be buying things that will have to get packed up soon, but I couldn't resist.  Besides, they were table linens -- so easy to pack.

First up, if you remember I had this great, large wooden bowl that The Man cleaned and refinished for me, but it has been sitting empty on my dining room table since all the Christmas decor went bah-bye.

Well, ta-da, my newly acquired potpourri plus some of those earthy spheres (I've had these for years now) mixed in because this bowl is quite big.  Also added some berries that I had from last fall.  I'm so totally into greens right now.  Dang, potpourri is not cheap!  Good thing I saved so much on other stuff.

Okay, you're getting a glimpse of part of my super deal purchase from the linen section of the store.  Can you see it?

Yep, another tablerunner.  I love it when I find ones that are 72" long -- that's perfect for my table without the leaves.  Super buy at $7.48!  Can you believe that?

I'm crazy-nuts about the patchwork of these beautiful fabrics.

Love, love, love these fabrics!

Then what did my wandering eyes find?  Matching placemats.  There were only 2, bummer;  but I'm going to look in the big city when we go.  You'll never guess the price of these little lovelies -- 48 cents.  I repeat, 48 CENTS!

The little fabric ball fringe is just too cute!

I started pulling out some of my Fiesta Ware and found several combos that look great.  Chocolate & Rose are perfect.  But I also tried Sea Mist Green, Periwinkle Blue, Lemongrass, & Cinnabar.  Each time I tried a different color, that color just popped within the fabric.  The napkins are kind of a soft blue-gray which worked with everything.  I could only get 3 of those, but will look for more or do some mixing and matching.  Would you believe the napkins were only, wait for it....28 Cents!  Score!

I could really see these pieces (hope I can find more) on an Easter table.  The colors are just so scrumptious.  For now, because I've got a "red-thing" going on in my kitchen & dining rooms, my new "lovely" has found a temporary home on our game table in the sunroom.  It really looks nice in here, too.

Hope ya'll enjoyed my little "obsessions" tour.  Please come back soon.

I'm happily linking to:

Kim's Boring to Better Party

Masterpiece Monday

Transformation Thursday

Tablescape Thursday

Thrifty Thursday

Inspiration Friday

Listening to My Heart

Hey, everyone.  My day began with something that I really did not want to do, but felt compelled.  I thought of so many reasons not to do it, but the pull was too strong.  I attended a Memorial service for the 60 year old son of a very dear friend of mine.  I barely knew the man & his wife, just met casually a couple of times, but felt I needed to be there for my friend.  Carl was a retired Marine and had continued to work for the Corps in some other capacity since his discharge.  The mortuary where the service was held is not a large one, but it was filled.  There were many more men than women in attendance, and it was so very obvious they had had a very deep bond of friendship with my friend's son.  Several got up and spoke a few words, but with great emotional difficulty in doing so.  I sat quietly and listened to the openly soft sobbing from these men who had served as a band of brothers in Vietnam and then went on to form lasting friendships.  It was very touching to watch as they consoled each other with soft pats on the back or gentle hugs.  The emotions ran ever higher as the Honor Guard presented his wife with the folded American flag, followed by a 21 gun salute & Taps.  Everyone was consoling everyone else at this point -- friend, stranger, it didn't matter.  As I made my way through the line of family members, my eyes met those of my sweet friend, and I knew why I had felt so compelled to come.  She was so glad to see me, and I just held her as she softly cried.  As parents, we never expect that we will outlive our children.  It hurts our hearts when God has a different plan.

I'll remember this experience the next time I don't want to do something, but feel that compelling pull to do it anyway.  You just have to listen to your heart at those times.
CAS

Feel Free to Open My Closet

Traci at The Traci Chronicles will totally think I'm copying her, but I'm not.  She did, however, inspire me to share my closet "tidy-up" photos that I did a couple of weeks ago prior to our house getting listed.  You should go check out her closet, she did a great job.

The Man & I each have our own closet, but neither are walk-ins.  Shortly after we purchased this house, The Man added closet organizers of our own design.  Much cheaper than having one of those Closet Organizer Companies do it.  I'm only sharing views of my closet because, well, his just isn't very interesting.  Mine stays fairly tidy -- ya'll know I like order -- but sometimes it just needs some freshening.  Ya know what I mean?  Because we have sliding doors, I will have to show you one end and then the other.

The first 2 photos are "befores" but not really too bad.  Just some random sloppiness.

I did some serious purging, straightened my purses, & took out unused hangers.

To the left of the shelves, you can see some pins hanging from an unused belt.  My sweet 87 year young neighbor (aka my Yuma Mom) makes jewelry and these are pins and earring sets that she has made for me over the years.  Hanging them from a hook on this old belt keeps them out where I can see them & use them.  They are also kind of arty, I think.

I keep some of my dressier & out of season shoes in these plastic shoe boxes up high, and they are labeled. What did you expect?

Some dressier or cloth-type shoes for the current season are in the plastic boxes down low on the shelves.

 One of the organization things The Man added for me is this board that has been outfitted with lots of hooks.  It is attached by hinges to the closet frame so that it swings out for use and then goes back flush with the inside wall when not in use.  The top hooks hold little drawstring nylon bags, each one holding a set of costume jewelry.  This is only the "fun" jewelry and the good pieces are elsewhere.  The lower hooks hold long chains, belts, and a small mesh bag for hand washables.

The bags are not completely clear, but enough that I can see what's inside.  I bought most of these at Walmart in the bridal section -- much cheaper than the same thing at Michael's.

Now for the left-hand side of the closet.  The Man also installed a light fixture for me.  He's the best!

The top rack is where I hang all my tops.  They are in groups (short sleeve, long-sleeves & sweaters, & dressier jackets).  Each group is arranged by color (I do the Roy G Biv method).

This is a very wide closet, with about 3' not accessible by the door.  The Man installed a rod across the depth of the closet for longer items.  I mainly hang things here that I don't need as often -- suits, dressy trousers, skirts, dresses, etc.

This end of the closet also has some shelves that are rounded on the side to make it easier to access that back hanging area.  I keep my "wear all the time" shoes, slippers, tennies, hat box, & one shelf has some chunky bracelets in a basket.  I like having some fun things to look at in my closet.  The lower rod holds my complete outfits.  What's that, you may be asking?

I don't know about ya'll, but I tend to reach for what's convenient.  That being said, I don't like to wear the same things over and over again.  About every two weeks, when I do my ironing, I plan out several outfits -- including the top, bottom, sweater or jacket, & accessories.  Having my jewelry in the little bags really comes in handy here.  I hold the outfits together with the drawstring of the jewelry bag.  I try to have an assortment of outfits -- some for just around the house, something for lunch out with friends, etc.  Now I can reach for an entire outfit because it's convenient!

Just an example of one of my outfits.  This makes it super easy when we are taking a trip or just going away for a weekend.  Most of the time, I just leave things on the hangers and fold them into my suitcase.

Some of my larger purses are up here.  Also have some evening bags and dressier bags in canvas boxes.

I love these long trendy scarves and found this to be the easiest way to keep them from getting wrinkly.

Wow, that was probably way more than you ever wanted to see or hear about someone's closet, huh?  Well, I'm just a sharing kinda-person, what else can I say?  Wake up, if you fell asleep on the "clutter-free" floor of my closet!  Heehee!  I'm glad you stopped by and hope you will come again soon.
CAS

I'm linking to:

Metamorphosis Monday

Amaze Me Monday

Nifty-Thrifty Tuesday
A Bowl Full of Lemons
Kim's Boring to Better Party
Whassup Wednesday