Learning Lessons

Hello

I am joining Kathleen at Faded Charm today for White Wednesday, please join in the fun...

I am in my studio today, 

as I have been for over a week now but not creating or having fun.

 I have been tearing apart and sorting and putting things in bins. 

I am moving out of the studio at the Gallery. 

It has been fun but I have not been there enough to justify the cost. 

As you may know I have a studio in my back yard, it was even featured in Where Women Create a year ago. 

But since closing the shop it has been used for storage.

It is a mess!

I have been strung out

I have had one busy year and I just have not had any time to simplify my life, it is full of clutter and unfinished business. So I set aside this time to re-group and organize. 

But as life would have it, I need to be out of town this weekend and be out of the studio too. 

So what would have been a good plan turned into stress and frustration.  I have been working in heat and humidity, so I haven't been as productive as I would like and I am fighting against time.

Somewhere between things going wrong, such as putting a double tent up to put all my stuff in from the studio, so I could paint and reorganize and waking up to it being a crumpled mess from storms and not being able to move things because of a bad shoulder... 

I lost my joy.

I started looking at the problems and trying to muddle through on my own strength and all I got were pins and needles... headaches!

And then the light finally went on in my head...

Give it up and give it all to your Lord. Stop trying and let him handle it. This is not a new concept for me, but sometimes I get so head strong in what I have in front of me that everything else gets out of proportion... 

am I the only one that is so head strong?

I have to tell you the minute I did this, things started falling into place. I felt like I had gotten the winning ticket. 

My son dropped by out of the blue and fixed the tent as good as it could be... (it is now a single) but it did the trick. I made headway in packing and today my son and son in law came and moved me out of my space. 

All of it done in an evening, which I thought was going to take days.

Today I am grateful for such wonderful children and for the lesson I have been taught this week by my Heavenly Father.

I am also grateful for you... 

Please enter my follower give away 

here

Many Blessings

Rebecca

Over-Due for a Give Away

Hello 

I am way over due for a follower give away and my 2 year blogging anniversary.

 I don't know where the time goes but I have been around here for two years now and some times more than others.

Lately not as much but life happens and I do my best.

 I have loved getting to know you and even meeting many of you. I have heard this time and again of how rewarding blogging has turned out to be and what a surprise it has been to meet so many wonderful women and to truly make friendships from all around the world. I have said it many times and feel so lucky to know you. 

You have blessed my life and for that I say thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Nothing, that I can give you can come close to what you have given me but as a small token to say thank you, I have two gifts to give.

They will be given in the traditional blog way, please leave a comment and I will choose by the random generator two names from the comments. The only stipulation is that you must be a follower, since this is a thank you to my followers.

First gift is one of my linen aprons stenciled  with a French feed sack  image and a French lavender sachet made of vintage rustic French linen.

The second gift is a piece of my jewelry made from vintage found treasures and religious charms.

The give away will end on August 8th at noon and I will post the winner that evening. Please leave a comment to enter, I always love hearing from you.

I always appreciate you grabbing my button and putting it on your side bar but not necessary to win. Thank you so much.
Have a great Sunday and stay cool!


Blessings
Rebecca

Summer Whites

Summer Whites,

  a welcome color scheme in the hot weather. It is cooling, peaceful and relaxing.  
Since most of us are in what seems to be a never ending heat wave, white seems to be a good choice to post on today.

My family room is through the living room and down a few steps on ground level. We added this room in 1992, I wanted it to be mostly glass and on patio level so I could enjoy my garden from this room.

We wanted it to be tucked in and to mirror the roof line of this great old house that was built in 1864.

The fireplace is a marriage of old architecture and a top to an old fireplace I bought at a fleamarket. The mirror was a wedding gift from my husband, it fit perfectly. 
The majolica tiles around the firebox is from an old house in Penn.

My collection of old angel wings from France

Right now the color on the walls is a Ralph Lauren Raffia. The room needs fresh paint so I will be painting in the fall. I like the color but I haven't decided what color yet.

This cabinet houses the television and all the electronics. It is made from old doors, old tin and reclaimed wood and molding.

This room is shaded by a huge 100 year old tree just outside the sliders, so it stays pretty cool even though it faces west.
 In the winter it gets plenty of light,  which I love.
Because of this wonderful tree we could only go so big with the room and we hand dug and poured the foundation... no big trucks could come in to compact the roots.

 And as I was taking pictures of the tree, I hear behind me... here I am grandma take one of me.

My little man enjoying his bomb pop that he says
 "makes him strong".  In this heat it probably does...
We just celebrated his 4th birthday last weekend...

Happy Birthday to my little super hero!


I hope you are all staying cool, we are hot and humid here in Chicago.  Here's hoping these whites will send cool and peaceful thoughts your way.
 I will be linking up with Kathleen at Faded Charm for her White Wednesday post. Please visit her for more summer whites.
Blessings
Rebecca

Vintage Living at Horton's French Flea Market

Hello
We are back in Indiana
 ( I can almost here Jim Neighbors singing now) at the Horton's annual French Flea Market.
 See prior post for some of the amazing vendors that were there but today I am featuring Vintage Living.
 I had planned on going a day early to work on my setup because there were glitches I hadn't worked out yet. But my double tent that I ordered on line hadn't come yet... yes, down to the wire Rebecca is what they call me. The day before we were to leave for IN it came (the Lord always works down to the last minute... it increases our faith... don't cha know) a little of my Minnesota accent thrown in there.
So some things did not work out to my expectations. I painted a garden scene to go in back of the old rose arch, I had taken out of my kitchen before the redo. I thought it would give the tent depth but we couldn't set up the arch, it was too tall and it rained the night of set up so everything had to be under the tent.
It was hot and steamy...

Donna's husband Bill had fixed us his famous pasta dish for dinner on the evening of setup. We ate alfresco on the deck with good wine  that Jody bought at the Mary Hill Winery we had gone to in WA. 
It was a beautiful evening... thank you to Donna's Mr. Wonderful.
Donna and I headed back to work some more on setup, I needed to work on my booth and I kept her there too late. Bless her heart.

A beautiful friend came to visit at my door

It poured that evening, so we had some damage control the morning of but nothing major.

So enjoy... our handy work

My beautiful daughter Jody

Way too much work on this display and not have it turn out!

Thanks for visiting Vintage Living, hoped you enjoyed our part of the world in Indiana.

I also want to say a special thank you to the bloggers that stopped by my tent to say hello! It was so good to see you and give you big hugs. 
It was so good to finally meet Pattie from The Shabby Chick She stopped in with her children, they were delightful... give Tia a big hug for me...

Cindy the BeeLady it was so good to see and chat with you.
 A big thank you to Sandi at Wayside Treasures for coming so far and giving me such a special treasure.
It was also wonderful meeting new bloggy friends such as, 
Kara from McMaster and Storm - Barb from Joyful Living - Jill from Sew a Fine Seam - Susie from She Junks and also Julie from Inspired By You
If I missed someone please give me a shout out, my memory just isn't what it used to be!
I am linking up with my friend Kathleen's White Wednesday, please visit her wonderful blog.
Thank you so much for coming by.
Blessings to all today!
Rebecca