Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Just want to wish all of the wonderful people I've met through this blog a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



Penny, Clay, Bridget and Ginger

Enjoy desserts!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I would like to wish you and yours numerous blessings for a wonderful holiday. I hope that it is filled with laughter, love and high calorie desserts...... because as Erma Bombeck once pointed out...seize the moment! Besides, knowing all of you, you'll burn off those extra calories while shopping til you drop on Friday.

XOXOXO and Cheers,

Penny

Cool Party Favor Site

While browsing online for party favors I found this website. They offer the best selection and prices I have ever come across! I'm ordering the heart shaped wine stopper and bottle openers for company Valentine gifts. Still deciding on Holiday favors. I'm always on the look-out for small, inexpensive things I can tuck in a bubble mailing envelope.

Hugs,
Penny

Sunset

Awesome Anagrams & An Award!

This has got to be one of the cleverest emails I've received in awhile. Someone out there is deadly at Scrabble. Wait till you see the last one!

DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER


ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER

DESPERATION:
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT


THE EYES: !
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE


THE MORSE CODE :
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE


THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE


ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE

And now on to an AWARD! " A Perfect Blend of Friendship Award" has been presented to me by the blogging angel BO from http://blinksnwinksfrombrown-eyes.blogspot.com/ Along with a huge heart, Bo has a lovely, lovely home and a beautiful collection of dishes. I know you love her as much as me!!

OK, on to the questions:

1. Do you have the same friends since childhood?
Just a couple. My bestest and dearest childhood friend since 2nd grade died of breast cancer many years ago. We were inseperable soul sisters! Her name was Regina and she was a beautiful person inside and out. Her loss devasted many of us who cherished her friendship.
2. What do you value most about your friends?
That they make me a more complete person. I need friends like I need air!

3. Are your friends sounding boards?
Oh yes! And I'm there for them too.

4. What is your favorite activity to share with friends?
Mostly just chatting about whatever is going on! We also like to go to concerts, out to dinner, and check out home and garden tours!

The rules are I'm to pass this on to my blogger friends. So if you're here and you're reading this and you haven't answered these questions before, please take this this Cute As All Heck Friendship Award! We would all love to learn more about you!

Hugs!
Penny

Garage Sale Mistakes!

About FIVE LONG YEARS AGO I stupidly sold this china in a garage sale. I was on a mission to declutter. Well the minute I helped sit this beautiful set in the backseat of the car of the lady who bought it, I had that uh, oh feeling. But hey, it was a done deal. The next day I got on the computer and tried to find it online. I'd pay anything to get it back, but I didn't know the name of the pattern! I googled and googled every search word I could think of to find it. I went to ebay, craigslist, and many replacement china websites. I looked at tons of pics, but never found my pattern. It was painful. I tried about every 3 months or so.

My china was not to be found!

Who knew I was so attached!

About a month ago I was on ebay and searched again. Imagine the feeling of seeing the china you haven't been able to find for 5 years! I had been spelling poinsettia wrong for years! So little by little I've bought my service for 8 back. Even though it cost me way more than I sold it for in the garage sale, I have it back in my pantry where it is loved and belongs. Whew. Now if only I could get back that brass bird cage and some fine linens I thought I had no use for. I'm done with sales. LOL!

Have you ever sold something in a garage sale and wished you hadn't?

XOXO,
Penny

Girlfriends!

I know you've all met Becky a few times, but here are a few other great girlfriends that I love, love, love to hang out with. From left to right are Deb, Becky, Me & Denise. We like to partay!
You can't see the dart board in this pic but Deb has her eye on the place she needs to hit, and guess what? She can hit the bullseye every single time buzzed or sober. Deb is absolutely amazing! Go Deb!!!

Denise Playing Pool - She's damn good! She always asks me... "Did Clay (my DH) let me win?" and I always tell her "No, you're great!" Of course he lets her win, but only by a teensy little bit. She's a trip and I love her! She has two beautiful kids, one of which she adopted... just cuz' she could and did. Heart of GOLD!


Denise's boyfriend Billy - He's darn good looking on the other side too! I took this pic so she has a pic to email him when he's being a butt. That's what girlfriends do for each other. LOL


Friendships ROCK!

If you're reading this blog, female or male, your friendship means the world to me. Life can change in the blink of an eye. THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF MY VERY SMALL WORLD!


XO,
Penny

What Can I Say? LOL

Penny

It's FRIDAY!

Hey! I almost have the exterior paint colors picked out. All I'm trying to wrap up right now is how to treat the metal overhangs. I would love for them to look aged. I found this website www.modernmasters.com and they have some interesting finishes. I've been emailing with this nice gal in California who is sending faux samples.

In the meantime I've also been busy working on something for the dogs. Got a little fur child and want to make her bigger? Well I've been experimenting in the kitchen and I think I've perfected some GROW TREATS. Check it out.... I'm very interested in what you think.....

Here's Bridget before.....



And are you ready?


Ya' Sure?


Okay, I'm warning ya'

......here she is after only ONE WEEK of the new GROW TREATS. It's ABSOULTELY UNBELEIVEABLY AMAZING!
........................................................................

........................................................................




Did I get ya? hahaha!!!!

This is my feeble attempt at some humor today!
I went to an arts festival a couple of weekends ago and took lots of cool dog pics. Isn't this dog just beautiful?! One of these days I'm going to adopt a standard poodle, I just know it.

Besides taking dog photos I just had to snap up this pic of art that I would love to have if I only had a place to put it. It made me smile and I hope it makes you smile too.


Have a funtastic weekend!

XOXO,
Penny

Just Another Wednesday....

Hey ya'll! You are SO sweet to let me know you miss me. I miss you guys too! I've been a busy bee trying to bring in some bacon over here on my side of the world. And I've been coming to your blogs, just not blogging about me because it's pretty boring. hahaha However, I'm desperately wanting to paint the outside of our home before it gets too cold, and I've picked out some colors, but I've canceled the painter twice because of my uncertainty. Just when I think I have it figured out, I see a couple of houses and my brain starts spinning on it again. Whatever happened to the day when you picked out a trim and shutter color and you're happy? Has anyone noticed all the new ways to paint your house these days? It's crazy! To paint the gutters and downspouts a different color, or not? To paint the garage door the same as the shutters, or not? And we have metal overhangs and nooooo, you can't just paint them the same as the rest of the accents, you have to make them look like copper or bronze. Whew... I'm thinking what I should do is post pics of our place and get your awesome opinions so I can get on with this project. The paint is peeling and the wood is rotting over here. Yikes! Okay, pics soon...

The new banner pic is what the windowbox outside my home office window looks like right now. I'm really digging the orange color against the brick. The petunias I had in there earlier got tired. I'll be switching the flowers out again in the next week. Just waiting for the weather to cool off a little more.



XOXO,
Penny

Atlanta Gas Prices!

We're having some issues in Atlanta about being able to get gas. This is what I paid last Wednesday nite after waiting in a long line. It's probably more by now. When you can find a station with gas to sell, many of them are putting a cap of only allowing you to buy $30. at a time. Some people are driving an hour just to find gas! At these prices, you won't get far on $30. The local news says that this will continue for about 3-4 more weeks.

I'm so thankful that I can work from home.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

XOXO,
Penny

Just a little catch up.....

Whew, it's been awhile since I blogged! Didn't mean to be gone so long! Let's see, I was picking the poodle girls up from the Canine House of Style. They looked marvelous, but Barry their stylist told me he'd nicked Bridget on her front elbow. Nothing that a little liquid band aid wouldn't help, but Barry felt so bad. Bridget had no idea so all is well. :-)

Nah, I don't feel a thing, but I gotta go mom! Hey, this looks like a good spot...

Ah yes, I agree Bridget, the nice green grass is so inviting after being on that stylist table!

Now mom's gotta go antiquing! Wait...what's that over there? Those require closer inspection!

Ooooh, these needlepoint pillows sure are lovely. Just what we may need in our library. Clay would love them because of the reef motif. Hmmm...how much? What, only $380.00? Movin' along....

Hey, John Mayer's playing! Let's see if Peter and Becky would like to go with us.....

They wanted to go too! Great show and great fun!!! Mayer really rocks out in concert.

......No sign of Jennifer. Guess they really did break up.

May as well have a little cookout around the pool the next day.... I have no idea what they're doing, but I'm hungry.... :-)

Hey, how about let's go to a Brave's game? We lost, but going to the stadium, drinking a beer, eating some peanuts, and people watching is always fun!

Until next time....


XOXO,
Penny

Retirement Party and Luxury Bathroom

So Clay has this friend Tom that he goes cave diving with on a fairly regular basis. Tom's stilla young guy at 56, and to tell you the truth, he hasn't worked much in years because he's married to Carol. Carol has enjoyed a success with her corporate career. I guess one day Tom woke up and decided he'd quit pretending to work and Carol said she was on to him anyway, so why not? Besides, Tom & Carol's house it is totally 100% scary spotless thanks to Tom. Anyway, a friend decides it's a great excuse to throw a party! So here are some pics....

And since Tom loves pizza the host made sure Tom had some......

Another friend of Tom's made these t shirts!

And because I know my blog girlfriends are just like me and just can't get enough design, I thought I'd share the master bathroom in the house. I should have taken a bathroom diva shot but I forgot! I LOVE the tall white pine doors, the travertine and the tub. This tub is one of the newer ones that is made out of soft material. No more hard under the butt! Bubble it up and get the wine! Makes me want to redo our bathroom right now!
Clay felt pretty silly but I had him walk in the shower so you could see how big it is. Two shower heads! I guess two heads are better than one. LOL It's so huge there aren't any shower doors. I think Clay said something about "why aren't we in the Cayman Islands at the Ritz and this is in OUR suite?" I couldn't have agreed more.
And here's what's on the other side of that shower wall. Beautiful! All I'd do is add a couple of plants, some pretty perfume bottles, you know...girl it up a little more!

Okay, back to reality. This morning I sauteed eggs in our humble little kitchen in my beloved iron skillet........ eggs, toast with mango jam, grapefruit, and morningside veggie sausage (honesly they aren't so bad)....... come on over!

XOXO,

Penny

Something Pink, Veggies, and My Cast Iron Skillet

I've noticed an event called Pink Saturday that has been started by someone out here in blogland and thought I'd show off my pretty pink rose bowl. I'll track down the clever lady who started Pink Saturday and post her blog here next Saturday. Here is a picture of it with some fresh cut okra that I bought off a road side stand. The bowl belonged to my mother-in-law and I just love it. Ta dah.....

I rarely fry anything, but since I couldn't resist the okra I thought I'd fry them up in one of my fave cast iron skillets that my granny seasoned for me years and years ago. Behind the skillet I'm cooking some farm fresh early peas from the same road side veggie stand. Everything was yummy!
I tried to scan a picture of my granny to the computer, but I'm having a bit of a challenge with this. I'll keep trying!

Have a great weekend!

Hugs,

Penny

Oooh La La! Bridget Pay It Forward FUN!

Oh my goodness am I ever glad I was one of the first 3 commenters to play in Bridget's Pay It Forward blog! Hey, I love getting and giving gifts! So anyway, after another day with my mom yesterday I come home and on the way in I checked the mailbox. Not expecting anything I was shocked and SMILING REAL BIG to see a big box for ME, ME, ME! This is cool!

I came inside and and placed it down on the kitchen table and ran for the camera. It was real hard not to just rip in the box instead of going to get the camera first I can tell you that! I did take a nice pic of the box, but I decided not to post the pic because of my address right on it for the whole world to see. Let me tell you though, this was no ordinary box. It was decorated with the cutest stickers about friendship! TOTALLY CUTE, but Bridget's like that!

The first thing I see is this letter from her telling me all about my goodies! Can you say she's thoughtful AND totally organized?!!!

Then I check out the GOODIES GALORE!!!!!! OH MY, SHE REALLY DID THIS UP!

Bridget packed in some of her fave things that also represent some of the places she's lived.
A Sea Sponge from Florida - LOVE IT!
A Claus Porto Soap that smells so wonderful - LOVE IT!
A Seda France Candle from Austin, TX - LOVE IT!
Gourmet hard candies from See's, a candy store in San Francisco - LOVE IT!
Lavender body wash - LOVE IT!
And some lovely body lotion and Dr. Brandt goodie!

Can you beleive she did ALL this and she's just now recovering from knee surgery!

I think Bridget and I were separated at birth because ME LUVS all these things too! WOW!
So now I decide to turn the camera around and take a pic of me saying THANK YOU!!!!

But maybe that pic isn't good enough because it's getting dark in here. Okay, off to get in the last bit of sun........

No wait, this is too bright!

I know, let's light the candle to show Bridget how much I LOVE it! Let's see, how about putting it on the chair rail and standing behind it? Oh dear, I'm starting to giggle at myself hoping I don't catch my nose hair on fire! LOL What a silly picture, but I'll do anything for Bridget, and wow does this candle smell nice!

LOTS OF THANKS AND HUGS YOUR WAY BRIDGET! YOU ARE TOO COOL AND I LOVE YOU BIGGER THAN THE OCEAN GIRL!

For anyone that hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Bridget, here is her blog address. http://bigeeesblog.blogspot.com/ Tell her I sent ya!

XOXO,
Penny

Nervy rabbit and doggie tv

I guess I've set up the rabbit buffet! This little rabbit is about 5 feet from the back door at high noon. Pretty nervy if you ask me. Now I know why there aren't any petunias trailing any lower than the rabbits head!


And here are the poodle girls waiting patiently for me to let them out so they can chase the rabbit. They love watching doggie TV. I let them out when the rabbit got a belly full. What can I say except I like a good chase. My girls can never catch them and Ginger could use a little more exercise. LOL

THANK YOU for all your kind words wishing my mom a speedy recovery! Who knew things would take such a turn for the worse, but all looks good now and she should be released within the next day or so. They're just waiting for her to be able to get up and down a few steps. Hopefully it will be soon!

XOXO,
Penny

Mom's Knee Surgery Went Well

Hey everybody! Sorry I haven't been around much. My mom had knee replacement surgery yesterday morning so I've been away from the computer. Here is a picture of mom just a couple of hours after surgery. The doc (hottie) said she did great and he's giving her some good pain meds.
I think it's to say that she didn't wear that knee out by joggin or playing tennis. LOL Arthritis sucks. Bless her heart she's definitley going to need a walker for a little while.

Did you happen to notice the adorable flowers on her little table? They came from a local farm and I got a huge bunch for only Eight Dollars! Here are some more of the bunch on the glass table in our great room. Now please don't think I was all selfish for only taking my mom the little arrangement. There's no room in her room for a big bunch and I'm pretty sure she'll be getting more from her red hatter friends. That's it! I need to take a pic of her with her red hat on. :-) Okay, back to the flowers, here they are....

And look, I even made another little bitty arrangement for the kitchen table. The piggies say hello! The little black thing in the yard is one of the dogs many stuffed toys. Poor little bear got left in the rain and is all messed up, but that's okay cuz' we've learned to throw all the toys in the laundry around here. :-)
Well, I guess I better find my way back to the hospital to make sure mom gets more pain pills and lot's of encouragement.
XOXO,
Penny

Just wondering......

Just wondering if this is GREEN enough for ya? LOL

Nothing much to blog about. Clay went scubadiving in the caves of Florida for the weekend. I cleaned the house. What's wrong with this picture!? LOL

Oh yeah, I did shop til I dropped yesterday.

Okay, off to call a couple of people to come over while the house is so shiny!

XOXO,
Penny

Saturday Boating on Lake Lanier in Georgia

We've had our boat since 1989 and I was so thrilled the day we got it! However, I confess that I don't love boating on hot days like I used to. For one thing I hurt my back seriously bad 9 years ago and it just can't take any hard bumps. Now if we had a pretty home on the water and we were going out for sunset spins, or when we go for spins on a beautiful fall day or something, that's a whole different game! But to just go out and hang all day in the blazing hot sun is pretty tough and sometimes just plain boring. I could be shopping or agonizing over paint chips or something! Anyway, I promised Clay last week that we'd go boating on Saturday if the weather was nice. Being the good wifey that I am, I kept my word with no hesitation or complaints.

Here's Clay in a real happy moment. He LOVES being behind the wheel of the boat. He's just a grown up boy!!! We're off and we're going to have a good time! Weeeee!


Since we were both hungry we head over to a marina for a little lunch. Clay got a big manly man mushroom burger, and I ordered the grouper fingers. The fingers were deelish, but the fries were a little soggy so I got them to go and fed the ducks. The duckies LOVED them. :-)

I called some friends of ours to see if they would be up on the lake that day and lucky me they were! We all met up in "Cocktail Cove". You can see some pretty crazy things going on in cocktail cove. Lots of people get on top of their boats and do a little dancing. Buffie would LOVE it here. I think there's even a webcam for this spot. Music, drinking, dancing, or just relaxing in the water, it's all here. Here is a picture of Dave (major flippin hottie and Glenna's husband) and Clay in the water. I'm in the boat under the bimini shade of course. Oh yea, see the white cushion next to Clay? Clay's actually sitting inside a life jacket so he floats, and that white cushion is his table. I'm getting ready to throw him a cold can of beer. Gotta have cold beer on a Hotlanta day!

Here is a pic of Glenna (married to Dave who was in the water with Clay) and Jean Louis the adorable Golden. She likes REALLY expensive fine wine. See how low the lake level is? Normally you would never see anthing but the trees. We could use more rain. And oh, I almost forgot, that's Jimmy Buffet on the right eating sun chips with roasted red pepper hummus.

Did I get ya' with that Jimmy Buffet comment? Well, he does look a whole lot like Jimmy when he smiles, but his name is Jerry. :-) And here's Jerry with his pretty wife Sharon and that's Clay on the right. I'm sorry I didn't get a better pic of the boat, cuz she's a brand new beauty! Sharon is a great cook. She's drinking champagne with strawberries and had just shared some of the best homemade toasted herbed almonds ever. She'd make a great cooking show host! For real she would. Maybe she should enter one of those HGTV win a show contests.

Everyone had some fun! INCLUDING ME!!!! I guess if you're with friends the heat isn't so bad!!!

XOXO, Penny