Don't Blink

Don't Blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

I love Kenny Chesney and I love this particular song. I have had a lot of reasons, recently to make this a very personal song for me.

I blinked and my babies grew into adults right before my eyes. I remember my son's high school principal telling us at our first parent night "Hold on to your hats, the next 4 years are gonna fly by." And fly by they did. That was 11 years ago.

I blinked, and my oldest grandson Mason is approaching 5. Time for kindergarten next year, or as he calls it "kettle garden". Wasn't it just yesterday when I was there in the delivery room? Now we are preparing for grandbaby #3. Little sister Kinsley will be here before we know it.

I blinked and my first 59 years on this earth have almost passed. The Big six-oh is coming in January. What?! I swear, I still feel 24 inside. The memories are so vivid of when my husband and I were first dating. Wasn't that just a couple of years ago?  No. That was 35 years ago.

I blinked and my mom got old. Really old... she hit 90 last month. How can that be? She's a frail, tired, shell of herself and dementia has taken most of her memories. She's still fiercely independent in her heart, but needs us to physically help her get through each day.

It's been a good ride. I'm learning to appreciate all the good moments in my life. Even the bad ones. They make me really appreciate the good ones. And if I live as long as my mom, another 30 good years that hopefully won't go by in a blink.


and the rest of the song...


So I've been tryin' ta slow it down
I've been tryin' ta take it in
In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in

Repurposed vintage bottles

After creating more than 400 snowmen (holy guacamole) we have decided we're done. Sometimes when you do something you love soooooo much, you no longer love it. That's not entirely true here, we still love doing them, but this is our 3rd year and it's time to move on to bigger and better things. And because we still have a massive stash of "stuff" to work with, we have taken a different direction with our bottles. We were inspired to create altered bottles using some vintage lace, some vintage buttons, some beach finds from last weekend and a whole lot of other goodies. Here are some:


I have some printed french vintage labels, and some beautifully aged vintage lace and a large assortment of jewelry pieces and filler pearls.

These sea themed bottles have shells and feathers we found at the beach after a stormy night. The one on the right has what looks like a barnacle for a cap, with a feather from a sea bird tucked in the lace. The one on the left has a whole remnant of a sea urchin for the cap, (they are NEVER whole on the beach... always in pieces because they are so fragile) and is filled with pearls and tiny feathers. There are crystals and pearls and a shell hanging from the neck. They are so sweet and would look so pretty on a shabby chic vanity or dresser or even on a side table as part of a vignette. We hope you like looking at them. They will be part of our offerings at the Mandarin craft show in October.

For this one, we used vintage buttons to make flowers. We have so many old salt & pepper shakers that it just made sense to put flowers in them like a vase. This one has more vintage buttons inside of the shaker.