Please Pray

Hello My Friends,



I write today with a fearful heart.



You've read my posts for months and months now so you are all familiar with my sister-in-laws Sandy & Sharon. Sandy & Sharon are my husband's older twin sisters and we have spent many, many fun times with each other over the last 30 years.



Sharon (who lives in New York) suffered a heart attack and had triple bypass surgery about 3 weeks ago. She's been recovering pretty well and Sandy & Amy left this past Saturday to spend the next couple of weeks with her.



However, once they got off the plane they drove straight to the emergency room because Sharon had been admitted with breathing problems. The Dr.'s drained 2 liters of fluid from her lung and we thought all was well. She was sitting up in bed visiting and we expected her to be released later that evening.



That was not the case. Sharon's oxygen levels began dropping and the next thing we knew she was being intubated and placed on life support.



Many of you have met Sharon before and know what an amazing woman she is and what a giving spirit she has. She is a faithful servant of God, a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.



I am writing now to ask you to take a moment to pray for God to work through her to give her the strength she needs to fight through this. And also a prayer that The Lord will give the doctors the wisdom they need and that He will guide their hands so that she can be healed.



In times like this we reach out to the ones we love the most so I'm asking you for your help.



Love You!



Cheryl

'Shower-To-Go'

Maybe life was slowing down a little

...hahahahah! That's really funny!!

Well, maybe life was getting a little boring

...giggle...

(No, actually, that totally cracks me up!!)

Seriously, my niece Allyn is getting married.

And we (all her aunts & girl cousins)wanted to honor her by giving her

a Lingerie Shower... Luncheon...PARTY...EXTRAVAGANZA!!

The only problem...she lives 8 hours away.

Okay...could be difficult...but not impossible!

We'll just pack a 'Shower-to-Go'!

(Hey, wait...did I just come up with a new phrase?!?--nahh, probably not.)

Sorry--stay with me here.

Since the two aunts (Sandy & Sharon) weren't able to attend...my daughters and niece Amy were more than excited to tag right along with me.

Now, I have to ask....

....Have you ever given a 'long-distance shower'?

Then you know what I mean when I say HOLY SMOKES!!

You have to think of EVERYTHING!!!

I must be out of my mind!! (shut-up!)

Okay, so since many of you know that I am such a tedious planner

(chuckle, chuckle, followed by obnoxious bursts of laughter)

you won't be surprised to hear that I had spent weeks planning

and making lists & purchases

so that 'no butter mint would be left unturned'!

This was for Allyn.

And it had to be perfect!

So we packed. And we packed. And we packed.

Dishes, tablecloths, napkins, silverware, ingredients, serving pieces,

flower vases, gifts, favors, even mixing bowls and mixer

(because we were preparing the food in the hotel).

We arrived in College Station on Friday evening

and the whirlwind of activity began.

• 
  
  We met Allyn & James for dinner,
• 
  
  made a mad dash to Sam's Club before they closed,
• 
  
  checked into the hotel,
• 
  
  unloaded the car,
• 
  
  made a late-night run to Wal-Mart for all the ingredients,
• 
  
  and started preparing the food.

It was just a few hours after dark-thirty by the time we crawled into bed

but we were right on schedule

(thanks to some brilliant planning--grin)

All planning aside, I'm sure I wasn't the most popular girl in the room

when I woke Amy, Tif & Chell up on Saturday morning.

They were still exhausted from driving, shopping, and cooking from the day before.

I felt like The Task Master...but "up and at 'em!" we had a luncheon to give!

We got to Allyn's apartment and the transformation began.

We moved furniture, prepared food, set up tables & chairs,

and started 'foo-fooing' everything up...

...So after much anticipation...

Heeeerrrre's The Shower!

Here's one of the place settings:

Each guest received a tiara votive candle, a candy-filled 'glass' slipper, a tea infuser, and demitasse spoon as keepsakes from the day.

Each guest also got their own little 'cupcake in a cup'.

Now 'How Cute Is That!?!'

And a special thanks goes out to Sharon's friend Diana in New York

who made these ADORABLE sugar cubes!

We served chicken salad on croissant sandwiches,

a raspberry vinegarette Waldorf salad,

chocolate covered strawberries,

white chocolate strawberry dessert cheeseball,

a really delicious strawberry lemonade (straight from Paula Deen's magazine),

and for dessert we had a chocolate and vanilla trifle.

White Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Cheeseball

& Chocolate Covered Strawberries!

Can you EVER have enough chocolate covered strawberries?

I made little tussie mussie corsages for each guest.

But I secretly placed a small gold ring in one of the corsages

so a special gift would be given to the guest

who had the ring in her corsage

(well, unless you're ME --

and didn't pin on the corsage that actually had the ring in it!!)

~sigh~

It was such a great idea and I REALLY, REALLY didn't think

I'd left the winning corsage sitting on the tray! (Grrrrr!).

No one seemed to care and truly, everything turned out just as beautiful as I'd hoped!

And MOSTLY,

we were able to create a really special memory for a really special girl!

Here's to Allyn and 'Showers-to-Go'!!

Happy Father's Day!

I've been quite busy these few weeks getting projects finished for my niece Allyn's wedding.

Today it was painting the banner that will hang off the head-table during the reception.

But, enough about that later...

Mostly, I wanted to say Happy Fathers Day to the two most special men in my life.

I want to thank my Dad for being such a good listener and for being so supportive and encouraging me to pursue my dreams. And boy do I dream BIG!!!

Love You Dad!!

And special thanks go to Billy for being simply the BEST husband and father we girls could ever haved dreamed of! You've sacrificed more than we will EVER know just to make our lives more magical. You Totally Rock!!

Hugs and Kisses to my special guys!

And a Happy Fathers Day wish to all of the special men in your lives.

We Found a Pink Cloverleaf!

I-I-I-I know...

Work before Play.

And that was our plan.

My sister-in-law Sandy and I were on our way to open the store in Canton.

We left early because we had a long way--and a long day--ahead of us.

As we approached Ardmore, Oklahoma I remembered

that there was a really, really, REALLY neat boutique

called The Cloverleaf.

I'd been wanting to take Sandy there for a really long time.

So we pulled off the interstate and were greeted by a sea of pink! Fabulous Cotton Candy Pink!

From the pink bicycle-lined driveway to the enchanting pink castle

we were immediately swept up in the whimsy!

We were out of the car in a flash!

We oooh-ed and aahhh-ed at all of the unique, eclectic, funky items

scattered along the front of the store.

There was so much to take in!

We couldn't wait to see what was waiting for us inside!

We were so 'caught up in the coolness'

that we literally tripped over the sign in the entryway.

DANG IT!!!

Store Hours 10am-6pm.

It's only 9:15! We don't have the time to wait 45 minutes.

Sandy said, "Nooo!!! I want to see! Knock on the door

and tell them that we're traveling

and we want to come inside!" (Gotta love her!)

Okay, quick...come up with Plan B...

...we'll just leave Canton early on Sunday and get back here in time to shop.

Okay...That's a Plan!

And that's just what we did!

It's usually very hard for me to get away from Canton at a decent hour

but we did it and pulled back up to the store on Sunday at 5:15.

I was so proud! We were going to have a whole 45 minutes to shop!

Once again, we were mesmerized by the fun and funkiness of everything we saw!

So, Let's Get Inside!

Wait!!!???!!! What???!!!

NO.....WAY!!

How could I be so blind?

They close on Sundays at 5:00!!!

How did I miss that??

AAAaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!

Okay...deep breaths....we'll just come up with Plan C...

...Plan C...we'll just have to visit the Cloverleaf store in Oklahoma City

and come back here in June with both sister-in-laws Sandy AND Sharon

when Sharon comes to visit from New York.

I know, I know...all good things are worth the wait.

Sigh.

Here's My Sign!!

It's a Red Letter Day!!

FINALLY... After all this time...we've raised the sign in front of the store!

It's been a real logistical challenge.
And finally THAT challenge became a reality.

I found a great website for a company called Build-a-Sign.

On their site you can design your own affordable signs, banners, magnets, etc.!
In full color!! At no extra charge!

So that's just what I did!

It's not the first time I've used them. And I haven't been disappointed yet.

I've been so pleased with their service and attention to detail

that I've used them to order banners for Canton, Junior Service League,

and now my Antique Mall.

When I placed my first order it was for a banner for Canton.
I thought I had done everything just right.
But once the guys at Build-a-Sign saw the file that I uploaded they knew I wouldn't be pleased with the outcome so they e-mailed me right away.

WHO DOES THAT??

They worked with me for several days until we came up with a banner in the right format
and I JUST LOVE IT!!

See!!??

Anyway...

I designed a banner for the Antique Mall and ordered 2 (one for each side of the sign).

Once I got them in Billy and I spent the day mounting them to plywood.

Now...building the sign was really a piece of cake.

It was the raising it that was really giving us problems.

See, there is already a sign on the property that belongs to the store next door.

So...if I was going to put up a sign, it had to go UP...

ABOVE the sign that was already there.

Now how in the heck are we gonna' do THAT??!?

Mildly put...

...we're short.

And I'm afraid of heights.

Solution? Call a friend.

Within a matter of 10 minutes Craig and a couple of his friends had my sign in place!!
Seriously!! I barely had time to grab the camera. They were AMAZING!!

Some folks might consider the whole process to be Jeff Foxworth material.

True to the 'Southern Bubba Style' they actually backed their pickup between the poles of the sign...stood on the pickup toolbox...and RAISED MY SIGN!

It was brilliant! Made a southern girl proud!

So...For your enjoyment...HERE'S MY SIGN!!!

The Sky is Falling!

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Western Oklahoma. The wind is blowing pretty hard but that's something we've just gotten use to in this part of the world.

In spite of Spencer pulling on his leash to chase the HUGE equipment (what's he thinking?!?) the road construction we've had since October has no signs of being close to completion.



Then today, as I sat here at the store peacefully checking emails and doing bookwork I was suddenly startled by a low, rumbling noise.

The noise grew louder and the rumbling grew worse.

WHAT IN THE WORLD??

I went to the front door to check out the situation and found this piece of equipment 'pounding' the dirt in front of the store.

The vibrating got worse, and worse, and WORSE!

I know only a few of you have been to the store but believe me when I tell you...

I HAVE A TON OF ANTIQUE GLASSWARE!!!

And it's not all mine! I have 30 dealers!

So you'll all get a big laugh while envisioning me literally running around the store saving pictures on the walls and glassware on the shelves. Glassware that that was actually vibrating right off the shelves!

The walls were shaking, the windows were shaking, even the floor was vibrating!!

I felt like Chicken Little!

HOLY COW!! What an ordeal!!

...never a dull moment!...