Blogoversary Giveaway!

As I promised before I left on vacation, it's time for my giveaway to celebrate my one year of blogging. The winner will receive a chocolate lover's cookbook, a big stack of recipe cards, a tissue cozy from my Etsy shop, and a set of funky stickers to bling out your keyboard!

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers: 6
Timestamp: 2009-06-30 19:45:00 UTC

From Random.org, the number generated was 6 - Congratulations to Teena in Toronto! You are the lucky winner!

A big thanks to Melissa at Life is art . . . . Art is Life for helping me figure out why people were having trouble leaving comments on my blog! Apparently, my Follower's List might have been the problem, so I've deleted it. If you're not following me, and you want to, you can still do so by clicking on the Follow Blog at the very top of the page!

Utah Rocks!

It's always an adventure to vacation in a place you've never been before. Our week in Utah was so much fun! What a gorgeous place full of mountains and undeveloped land as far as you can see!

We traveled over 1,400 miles exploring lots of places - Snowbird, Salt Lake City, Park City, Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge Recreational Area (the most beautiful place ever and where we saw the big horn sheep in the first picture below!), Zion National Park, and Kanab, Utah, home of Best Friends Animal Society.

These are just a sampling of the hundreds of pictures I took. If you want to see a slideshow of our tour and volunteer day at Best Friends, you can visit my Cat in the Clover blog.

Thank you, Utah, for an unforgettable vacation - we hope to visit again someday!

Speechless Sunday

Speechless Sunday

One Year Blogoversary!

Happy 1 year blogoversary to me! This is post #312! So, I think it is only appropriate that I take a vacation, and have a GIVEAWAY to celebrate!

I'll be gone for a week, so that gives you plenty of time to leave a comment on this post. When I return, I'll do the random number generator thingy, and chose a winner!

What will you win?

I have no idea yet, but I promise it will be fabulous! Well, maybe not fabulous, but Red Hot Good! You don't have to do anything special - just leave me a comment! I've really enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people in the blogosphere, and I hope you've enjoyed getting a glimpse into My Life in Kentucky!

See you on the 28th!

Lights, Camera, Action!

A few days ago I stopped in at a flea market/peddler's mall type of place. I was giddy and so excited to find this solid brass chandelier. It is very dainty, and had some crystals with it, but the best part was seeing all the tiny holes where I can string glass beads.

Now it's a good thing my Dad isn't around because he would flip to know that I've spray painted it! It is now an off-white satin finished color, and when I get back from vacation I'll be stringing glass beads and hanging them all over it!

And then it will hopefully go in my sunroom, or my sewing room. I don't even care if it doesn't work when we get it hooked up! It is that cute!

Hold on to your seats when I tell you what it cost. $20! Solid brass, vintage look, stinkin' adorable for $20????? What a steal! And, of course, I'll share the finished look with you!

Dining Room Redo

I thought I'd share with you some of the other changes I made in the dining room in addition to the paint job.

The windows had burgandy colored valances, and I was tired of them, so I went to Hancock Fabrics and found some beautiful fabric on sale. I bought three yards, cut it in half, sewed a small hem on the ends, and draped it over new rods. I'm loving it!

I can't have any of the fabric hanging down low enough where it would tempt a cat, and believe me, anything flowy that hangs is nothing but a toy for a white boy named Newman!


I've also collected some pretty vintage hankies, and I thought it would be cool to frame them. Michaels had floating frames in just the right size. A floating frame is just glass and allows your wall to show through. I chose four hankies that had grays, pinks, and some yellow in them. The black frames look nice because I have a black corner cabinet that you can barely see in the above photo, and I also have a black antique trunk against the other wall.

I have a few more items to hang, but I'm really pleased with the new look! My other project is to recover the dining room chairs. I found a fabric I love, and that project will begin after we get back from vacation!

Horsin' Around!

Meet Ben Brush - A Horse of a Different Color. He is the Gallapalooza horse that is travelling around to different Porter Paint stores. His artist is Lawrence Rudolech.

Not until we drove up next to him did I realize the mark on his side represents a paint chip!

The photos from yesterday's Speechless Sunday were taken at the beautiful wedding we attended on Saturday. One of my Red Hot friends' daughter got married. On the way to the wedding, I saw that heart in the sky! It was a very special evening - congratulations Brittany and Bennett!

Speechless Sunday

Backyard Visitors

I was in the driveway after getting home from the store, and I looked in the backyard and saw Mama deer. We've been seeing her for several days. She stood so still and watched me. I even left, got the camera, and when I got back, she was in the same spot watching me.

After going in the house and unloading groceries, I looked out the window and saw the baby! Look how tiny and precious! I had to take these pictures through the window because I was afraid they would run if I went on the deck.

There is an area between our house and the neighbor where the deer like to bed down.

Now I know why Mama deer was watching me so closely!

The Letter B

Backyard . . . . Bargain Babe . . . . Burger Box

Bingo!

Barb and a barker!

Birthday Cake!

Bare Toes!

Beautiful!

Another Year Has Gone By ~

These two wonderful people are the reason I'm celebrating a birthday today. I only wish they were here to celebrate with me.

I will be partying tonight with the Red Hots as it is our scheduled night. Ted and I went to dinner last night. I think it's best to celebrate all week long, don't you?

I've always had a posse of girlfriends. These were the Red Hots of 1964, although we probably called ourselves the Princess Pals or the Barbie Bunch. Some things never change - like my bangs, and the fact that whenever you get a group of girlfriends together, you have to wear hats - no matter how silly you may look!

Have a piece of cake on me today!

Would You Like To Ride . . . . .

The conditions must be perfect for hot air balloons because we've seen several recently. This one landed in a field next to a house on the road to we take to get to our house.

It drives Ted crazy that the hot air balloon people land anywhere they please. He thinks they should be fined if they land on private property. Just warning any of you who are flying one near our house and think you will be met with iced tea and cookies if you land in our front yard!

We saw this one tonight as we were coming home from dinner. I'm so glad I have a small camera that I keep in my purse - you never know when a photo op is going to present itself!

These balloons can really move. We stopped in a parking lot so I could get out and take a picture, and I looked where I thought the balloon should be, and it disappeared! I told Ted it must have landed already. We looked ahead of us, and saw it moving quickly through the sky!

Have you ever taken a ride in one? Would you want to? I'll wave to you if you fly by, but remember, tell the pilot to keep on moving!

Speechless Sunday

Doughnuts Anyone?

Do you have a Krispy Kreme in your area? Well, come on then, what are you waiting for - it is National Doughnut Day! What a better day to have a Krispy Kreme than today!

And if you get 'em while they're hot, you can eat several before you even realize you've eaten one!

We're starting the study floor project today - the carpet is getting pulled up - what is left of it after the water damage two years ago. Can you even begin to imagine how excited I am that this room will finally get put back the way it should be instead of being spread all over the house?

I'm definitely going to want a doughnut by the end of the weekend! Have a fun one, and stay cool!

Horsin' Around!

Another Gallapalooza horse for you to enjoy! This is Lindy the Learner - she greets customers at the Parent-Teacher Store. The artist is Sue Hinkebein.

Lindy is sweating big time today - the humidity is dreadful! Stay cool!

Birdies Reveal Themselves!

Well, the nest on the front porch wreath ended up being a bust - no mama bird wanted to sit on those eggs. But look at the nest under the deck. I finally saw the babies today! The nest is so deep, and I never heard any chirping, so I wasn't sure there were babies inside.

Isn't that precious? I only see two, but there may be more. Now the nervous time starts - making sure the dog doesn't get them when they fall out of the nest. Rocky usually wanders straight out to the grass and doesn't make the turn to go on the deck, but we'll be keeping a close eye out on these cute birdies!

Did you have any birds' nests at your house this spring?