Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christmas Favorites.....

Here are some of my favorite things that I decorate with at Christmas.  
 

(This is one of the Snowmen that I make to sell and give as gifts)
 




This Santa  is one of the first Christmas decorations
I  bought back in 1970 for my 1st Christmas in my own home
 






 
 


 
 




 
 
(These are mittens that I make for gifts every year)
 





 
This Santa was a thrifty deal at our old store for $3.00
 


 
this is a vintage raindeer candy container who just
happens to be carrying a cup of coffee on his back! 
(This photo is from last year, didn't realize about the coffe
cup till I downloaded it)  I got him at our old store for $2.00
 



These are the kids stockings that we always hang on the bannister
 

 
 
P.S.  I haven't shown any pics of Kailyn for a while so here
are a couple, she's 5 mos now and getting so big so fast!
 




 
 
Till next time.......
Rebecca
 
This week I will be partying at:
 
Saturday
 Tuesday
Wednesday
 Thursday
 Friday
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Heart of the Matter......

 
 
November 9th, 2012 was the day my life changed forever. I was talked into writing about it by some good friends. For those of you who are new visitors and friends, I'm going to repost it in the hopes that it will help someone if they or someone they know are ever find themselves in the same  situation.   

Two weeks ago on Friday, November 9th (2012) at 6:15 in the morning I had a life changing experience.  I wasn't sure I was going to post about it but decided to go ahead because it's something most of us as women don't really know or think about.

Soooo, here goes!
I started feeling weird about 8pm Thursday night. Every once in a while I would get a little flutter in the middle of my chest, also had a strange feeling in my arm, not really numb, just weird. It wasn't the really tingly numbness you would think would come with something as serious as a heart attack. I thought it was strange but not anything serious. I did wonder at one point if it might have something to do with my heart but kind of ignored that. These symptoms kept on till I went to bed at 11. I figured if it was still happening in the morning, I'd go to my Dr. I woke up about 1am feeling very strange and had to sit up till it passed. At 3:15, I woke up again and it was worse, sat up again till it passed and then went back to sleep. What in the world was I thinking, Big mistake!  I woke up again at 6:15 and knew something was terribly wrong.  Both my arms felt really strange, that was the worst, and I was getting weak which got stronger and stronger. I got dressed and  called my oldest son who was staying in our bonus room that was set up as a small apartment since he'd gotten out of the service. He didn't answer so I looked down the hall and the door was open.
Because he always kept it closed, I thought he hadn't come home.  I didn't know that that night he'd decided to sleep in the guest room.  My middle son always had to be at work at 6am but his door was still closed so I knew he was home. LUCKILY for me, he didn't have to be there that day till 7. I knocked on his door and told him I needed to go to the emergency room. By this time I was getting weaker.  He had to help me down the stairs and into his truck.  Near Fatal Mistake number 2, (the first was going to bed instead of going to the hospital), I should have called 911! The fire department/paramedics were a block down the street, they go by my house all the time but it never entered my mind to call, we drove right by! By the time we got to the hospital which once again I was lucky, it was only 10 mins away, by that time I was to weak to walk in.  Aaron had to get me a wheel chair from inside the door. He took me in and told the Nurse what was happening and they took me right into the office and started asking me questions such as did I smoke, no, did I drink, no, had I been sick, no. By now, I was really weak and told them I thought I was going to pass out. Their response was no, don't do that, REALLY, your kidding me, right!  Even though I didn't realize it, I did. The next thing I remember was seeing all 3 of my kids sitting in a row with baby Kailyn on Kate's lap and the nurse saying I can't get the IV in her arm, the other nurse saying forget it we have one in her other arm, we have to go now. I thought I was still sitting in the office but I was in a room on a gurney. The next thing I knew, they were rushing me down the hallway and then I was out! No, I didn't see the tunnel with the bright light at the end, I'm hoping that doesn't mean I was heading the other way to you know where!  The next thing I knew, was it was morning and I was sitting up with the Dr. telling me what had happened. He said I was very lucky to have gotten there when I did and asked me if I had taken any aspirin which I told him I had.  His response was to tell me that might have been what made the difference between still being here or not and that it had been quite serious. He said I'd had a major heart attack and that I had damage to my heart. Instead of pumping % being normal which is 55% to 65%, it was pumping at 35% which he said wasn't that bad. My left artery was 90% blocked and they had to put a stint in to open it up. My right one was 60% blocked which they were going to try to dissolve it with medication.  It was the strangest thing, I felt perfectly fine, like nothing had happened. No pain, no nothing. Made it kind of hard to believe it had really happened.  I was in ICU for 4 days then moved to a regular room on Monday. Before they let me go home on Tuesday, they gave me a portable defibrillator which you wear like an over the shoulder purse. It's about the size of a large canteen and is very awkward and if worn over the shoulder, swings around and is very annoying!  You can also wear it hooked to a belt which I switched to pretty quickly, much more comfortable. I had to wear this thing for 3 months. If my heart stopped or started beating irregularly, it would shock me with 150 volts to get it working properly again. Fortunately, that's a lot less then what you get zapped with if you happen to be unlucky enough to be sitting in the electric chair! I didn't think much of it till a friend,(or was she),  told me that she knew someone who'd been zapped, it knocked them down and unconscious! TMI, to much information, I would have been happier not knowing that!
  Now isn't that something to look forward to, hopefully NOT!  I'm thinking positive here!
  I had no idea what a heart attack was like and as far as that goes, haven't known any women that
have ever had one. The only other weird thing is, or, maybe it's just me but I kind of feel embarrassed to tell people I had a heart attack, almost like I did something wrong.  I don't know why, or where that's even coming from, but I am getting over it.
 One last thing that that cracks me up, or  maybe I  just have an very weird sense of humor,
 that weekend I was supposed to go to my best friend's daughter's wedding in Savannah.  It so happened that my daughter who was supposed to go with me had come down with a bug and her husband was out of town and at that particular time, no one else was available to take care of Kailyn till she felt better, I decided to stay home and help her.  This is the part that I find totally ironic.  If I had gone, I was supposed to leave Thursday and spend the night at her house in Statesboro along with another of her good friends, Shirley and her husband and then drive to Savannah Friday morning.  OK, here it comes, guess what Shirley does for a living.......
She's a UNDERTAKER!!  Well, really she's a funeral director who owns her own funeral home!
It cracks me up every time I think about it!  Am I weird or what!!
I'm doing fine, feel great and plan to be around at least as long as my Mom who is going to be 85 in February, and, I'm  planning on seeing that sweet baby girl grow up!

Till next time......thank goodness there will be!
 
 It's been 5 years now, (11/2017), and I'm  doing fine, no problems at all, looking forward to staying healthy and around for a lot more years!  Hope this helps shed a little light on what the symptoms are and what to look for if you or someone you know is in the same situation!
Just a little more information, more women die from heart attacks every year then all kinds of cancer combined! Now, that's a statistic to think about!

 
After all that, I need a good party so this week you can find me at:

Monday, November 5, 2012

Antique Archaeology in Nashville.... Part 1

When my friends were visiting the end of September, I had mentioned that we went to Mike Wolf's new store, Antique Archaeology.  Here are the photos of the store I promised to show you.  It's in a  old factory downtown, the building is amazing, beautiful old brick and wonderful windows.  There was a lot of interesting things but most of them were pretty pricey.  We were there on a Sunday and the place was packed so it was hard to get photos but I think I got some good ones!  Here are some of the outside of the building.

 
First, this Mobile Gas Horse was my favorite thing! 
 I don't remember how much it was, just that it was a lot!


















Now, Let's go in!











This old cabinet was my second favorite thing, the patina on it is amazing!







Sunday, October 28, 2012

Halloween Around the House...2012




Halloween is almost here so before it's over, I wanted to show you a few
of my favorite Halloween decorations that come out every year to celebrate
the season!  A lot of them are of course, thrifty finds.




 
 I got this owl the last fall we had our store open from one
of our dealers before the "owl" craze.  He's one of
my favorite things, you can't tell from the pic, but he's really sparkley



 

 
 
This skeleton pic I got from one of my favorite dealers at our
old store for  $3.99, I thought it would be perfect for Halloween!


 
Owl - sale from Kirklands $3.99

 









 
One of my favorite photos of the kids, starting at left, Aaron's friend,
Aaron as army man, Chris as skeleton and Kate as Belle, 


 
Pumpkin wall hanging, from our old store, $5.00




 
Skull, ( 75 cents) under glass,  cloche, $1.00 from
a yard sale this summer

 


Red shelf, yard sale - 50cents
 


My favorite jar of  "eyeballs", collected years ago from
Taco Bell kids meals



This is a vintage music score from our old store, got it for $1.00
and had it framed at Hobby Lobby.



 
A friend and I made these years ago and sold them at a craft fair.


 
Halloween wall hanging from my old store, $7.99
(man, I miss our store, I used to get some great stuff there)!


 
Another photo of my kids that I get out at Halloween,
Chris, the pirate, Kate the princess, and, Aaron, the power ranger
Hard to believe they are now 26- Chris, 21- Kate, and 23- Aaron!



The same friend and I also made these for the fair



Got this little pumpkin guy at the Gathering Craft Fair in Nashville a few years ago





Well, there you have it, some of my favorite Halloween decorations,
hope you enjoyed your little glimpse into my Halloween!

Till next time.....
Rebecca
 
PS.  I haven't showed you any photos of Kailyn lately, here is her hospital
photo taken when she was 2 days old and one of her and mom and dad
 



 

Will be partying this week at:
Monday
Tuesday
 Wednesday
Thursday
 Friday