Beautiful Junky Summer

What seems like ages ago now (about three weeks ago), my youngest daughter and I took to the road in my friends' Lynette and Paul's SUV crammed with furniture to take to my older daughter, Cally, in Alabama. Of course, I was on the hunt for treasures like these as well as the junk I so love.

We drove through beautiful Georgia and Alabama, even into Tennessee for a short time.

We partook in the World's Longest Yard Sale...

...where I found these red glasses for my friend, Lynn.

This home had some beautiful gardens.

Fun, fun, and lots of action and plenty of stuff to see at every turn.

The best part was talking to people and enjoying their stories. There is one guy whose house we stopped at this year and last. This year he had exactly the screen door I wanted in the perfect aqua color and he was only asking $30 and was going to come down on his price. Casey vetoed the purchase and I gave in. I have to admit it would have been an awkward drive for the next four days with that stretched out the entire length of the SUV. Of course, now I know we should have tried! I really wish we had it.

We saw some local Gadsden sights on our way to the start of the sale.

We finally bought one of those high thread count Egyptian cotton sheet sets for Cally for $20.00. I wonder if they are as good as we hoped they'll be. She hasn't tried them yet.

I went to tons of sales on side streets. This one had a green truck out front just like I'd love to have.

At the house with the pretty gardens, I met a woman selling lots of windows for $5 each. I set aside two to think about. While trying to decide if I should get more windows, the woman and I got to talking about what to do with them. She had her grandson, I believe, go get her ipad so she could show me what she had done with others she'd had. You would not believe THE MOST adorable shed she had made, and it was all windows. I should have taken a photo of her ipad to show you how cool it was. While we were talking, a man who had been looking at and counting the windows made her an offer on all of them. Good thing I pulled these two out right before that.

See that three tiered rolling cart there to the left. I've always wanted one of those since we had an aqua one like that when I was a kid, but I wasn't in the mood to haul home bulky things, and it was pricier than I wanted to pay. Lots of stuff was, but there was plenty to look at and fill up the back of the car with too. I spent the entire trip trying to find one of those old juicers for my friend Kathryn, you know, the kind with the pull down handle. I asked at every place I went during the whole trip. No luck. After a while I couldn't remember anything else I was looking for, I just knew I needed one of those juicers.

I didn't really buy much, but what did catch my eye and cause me to fork over my cash was pretty junky, plain and simple. Just like I like it.

 Did I really need an old black and white photo of a small town in GA? No, but I bought it.

 I also got these two side view mirrors for a project I may one day tackle.

...and these car window cranks. I know. You wonder about me, don't you?

After the yard sale, we drove on to visit Rock City at Lookout Mountain...

We saw the sights and took pictures.

and looked at all the rocks and stones, had a slushy drink and went along our way.

The next day we went to Cloudland Canyon State Park and hiked a mountain with waterfalls...

Instead of hiking five miles, we should have just sat and enjoyed some of the views.

My kind of place

Sisters

After having gone to Rock City which was nice enough, but pretty crowded, it was wonderful to come to this state park and enjoy the natural beauty for the price of $5 to park the car. Rock City cost over $20 person and wasn't anywhere near as cool as the state park. While Rock City had a nice view and all, it was really just a tourist trap...and there WERE tourists hot on your heels every step you took and we were on theirs as well.

Here we only saw other people occasionally.

After going one way to see one of the falls, we followed the path back and took a turn following whatever came our way. When we got to these stairs and saw the sign continuing on to such and such trail we just went along down the stairs, down, down, down. The stairs seemed to be never-ending, but not as never-ending as they did after five miles going back up! Let me tell ya! We had never bothered to check the map to see where we were going or which trail we were on. We were kind of thinking all the trails looped around. Not so, we didn't discover this until we were past the point of no return and finally thought to check out where we were on the map. We had managed to get ourselves on the long haul of a trail that ended on the other side of the mountain. When we realized it wasn't looping around, it was a matter of principle that we had to keep going to the end before we turned back. We hadn't come all this way to be quitters, although we were sorely tempted. "Sorely" being the operative word. We made it to the end and of course then had to retrace our steps all the way back.

It was a long way and we encountered constant gnat clusters when we were in the foresty part. While taking a picture of something, I brushed up against a plant that made me immediately start itching like crazy. Freaked me out, but after a while it stopped. I got a huge gnat in my eye and luckily the one bottle of water we brought (I don't think we planned on a five mile hike or we would have brought more with us) still had some left in there that I could flush out my eye with. We were ill prepared for a hike in almost every way. I had an injured pinky toe to begin with. The nail had been ripped clean off a few days before and it was in constant pain bumping up against the end of the shoe. Casey's shoe. She had to let me wear her shoes because I didn't have appropriate footware (which she reminded me of on numerous occasions). Let the record show she sacrificed her good shoes and had to wear her Converse because I basically always wear flip flops and don't own athletic footware of my own.

We also didn't bring so much as a small snack. Luckily I had a pack of gum in the purse I brought. We succumbed to hunger on our way back and we each had a piece of gum to trick ourselves into feeling like we were eating. Thankfully I had purchased the small leather sling across purse at a garage sale before leaving on the trip. It's a Fossil purse I got for $2 and it was a lifesaver. It's the kind you can sling across your chest so you don't have to try to keep it on your shoulder. Can't think of the name of it at the moment.

However, toward the end of the hike, carrying anything was a burden going up and down the path and then way back up the mountain. I also had my huge camera, of course, with my zoom lens in addition to my regular one. We may have been otherwise unprepared, but let the record show I had all my photographic needs well thought out. The girls and I took turns carrying things.

The sound of rushing water accompanied us along the trail which was nice, until the path veered off into the silent gnat country.

I love waterfalls.

The water trickled down the rocks along the path in some places.

I can't get enough of this beautiful scenery. It was so beautiful!

While way out there on the trail I wondered what would happen if someone got hurt or whatever. Then don't you know when we got back to the never-ending stairs, Casey decided to take two steps at once in one spot and whacked her shin on the metal step edge.

She cut her leg open and it immediately swelled up, but we had zillions of stairs to go and somehow despite the blood, pain and swelling, she took off and beat Cally and I up the rest of the way. Cally and I kept stopping to gasp for air and rest. Every time we thought we were almost done, another set of stairs would wind around to greet us and we would groan at the prospect. We finally reached the top where Casey was waiting for us on a bench. We couldn't believe her stamina despite her injury. Her shin and ankles eventually turned blue.

Then we stayed in a home on a bluff with a beautiful view...

There was a path right outside the door that leads to a swing overlooking the valley as well as to a gazebo down the way by the next house.

Then we drove to Atlanta to meet my daughter's in-laws-to-be...wonderful people!

...came back to visit some fun shops in Homewood, Alabama...

Bought a few super cute items as gifts there.

Passed umpteen antique stores and flea markets we didn't have time to stop for...

I did stop at this one to ask the man outside if he had one of those juicers and talked to him a minute. Then I got back in and took off down the road to finish the 11+ hour drive home.

Came home to dead flowers and car trouble, then our air conditioning went out in the house. It's the hottest it's been all Summer of course. I was so thankful for a bit of a coastal breeze yesterday morning and the overcast skies later in the day. The air going out was an emergency until the emergency factor and trying to deal with it in a hurry became more of a problem than the extreme heat itself. I'm over emergencies and the stress of it all. I'm always sweating anyway. I'm forever out in the sun, working and sanding and hauling things and painting. I do count on having the air to come inside and cool off with, but I decided that I would just have to get to it when I could. Then yesterday I was able to get the AC (with a discount, thanks to my friend!) and last night my son and our friend, Butch, came over to install the new one. Can you say, "OVERJOYED!"? Hallelujah! Relief.

Even though things went South in many respects as they have a way of doing, my friend Lynette and I had a banner trash haul a week ago, and then we each found some other treasures on Saturday...

I did a terrible job of photographing because we were rushing and had to drop stuff and run back for more quite a few times.

 Isn't it cute? I did pay money for this at a moving sale, which is rare for me, but I just loved it.

I thought I might use the jars for something. They were in the trash. Of course two have already been broken. Sigh.

The great news is, we found someone who will let us consign some of our things at her Tea Shop treasure room. The shop itself is called, Teapots and Treasures. It's an adorable shop that serves tea, high tea, lunch, desserts, holds parties and showers, etc. and she sells furniture and other sundry items. It's a comfy, cute and relaxing place to unwind. The furniture room is separate and adjacent to the tea room. You go outside to enter this area separately.

I quickly went and made a little burlap "OPEN" banner to attract a little attention to the room, making my own stencils even, because I didn't have any good letters this size. She's just reopening the separate furniture room and this is the slowest time of year, so we need all the attention we can get. We have lots left to haul over if there is available space. She has her own things and other people's things to put in there as well, of course.

I brought a couple small things for decoration, although mainly it's a furniture room. I also whipped up this "I (heart) you" banner before work one morning for a little added punch, again making my own stencils out of paper. It works in a pinch. I tend to always be in a pinch.

This long coffee table on casters was part of Lynette's and my big haul last week. Can you believe it!

The little bed is really a lot cuter than we have it looking in this photo. We didn't have a mattress or covering or a pillow for it yet, so we just used mismatched things that were already in the room to put on it for now, plus one of our "I Love You" pillows. We need to deal with that, but it's been a crazy week with no time to get in there and play around with things. One thing about consignment too is that when everyone's random stuff is altogether in one place, it can be a challenge to get the look you want. We've been given pretty free reign to do as we please in there, so that's a huge advantage and we are grateful for the opportunity and kindness of Barb, the owner! What a joy to have somewhere to bring our stuff to try and sell it!

This dresser was a curbside find that I painted and we love it, but look at me letting it go. Another challenge here is the concrete walls. It's tricky to find ways to hang things because you can't just nail into the walls. As you can see, they look a little barren. We have some ideas, though, as to how to remedy that, and will work on those as soon as we can.

Some of the furniture, the big chairs and the couch are supposed to be out of there soon. We are working around them for now.

Since this is the slow season in South Florida, hopefully that will give us some time to get some more of our things over to the room, set up and priced. We hauled a bunch of things out of my house Sunday afternoon after church (hoots and hollers here!), but there were already some large furniture items in the Treasure Room so we could only take so much until we knew how much space there would be.

It was getting crowded in my house, wouldn't you say? And while we took a lot out of here... there is much yet to go! The two white items on the right were new finds I've painted from our Thursday haul last week. I'm still working on the cabinet. I wanted to paint the inside a happy color.

Unfortunately all the emergencies that I'm trying not to melt down over are keeping me from devoting time to inventory and pricing and furniture painting. There is always one more other thing that has to be dealt with, and first and foremost that would be my job, so the fun of furniture has just had to wait.

Meanwhile, my daughter's wedding plans are underway. I'm sort of out of the loop because it's happening from afar. She has been sending me tons of pics from her wedding venue options, but it's like looking at bits and pieces of a puzzle all jumbled in a pile. It's hard not being there and getting to share the excitement or get a feel for things in person. It really limits the creative flow of ideas and makes it hard to make plans and know what might or might not work. So she is carrying on and doing a fine job of it. They made their pick yesterday and now we have a lot of work ahead of us.

That's what I've been up to.

Hope you are having a wonderful Summer!

I do hope to have some time to visit everyone's blogs again soon. I've been saying that for weeks, I know. One day it WILL happen!

I hope to be linking up at some of these blogs this week: