How many DVDs are too many.....

I've gone and gotten on one of my soapboxes at home again about all the clutter. Yea, right after I come home with 6 coffee pots and 13 beer steins. But that's not the point.


This week it is an all-out assault on our DVD collection. We never had a good place to store them but lately they have been piling up on the floor......or wherever.

There are about 120 movies plus the TV series. Really nothing compared to "The Wild One". She has about 300 but they are stored away in her room. But when 120 are laying around the floor and not moving when you need to vacuum......




And what is wrong with this picture?!?




Well, I've gotten down into this. I found these at Staples last week. Each box holds 72 CDs or DVDs. Each movie is in a 2-sided sleeve (gotta keep those bonus DVDs) with a tab at the top that the name of the movie can be written on.



Now I can get my mind back to important things......like quilting.

Blessings, Cathi

What happens to the garden when you go away and leave kids in charge.....

Okay, so they are not really kids.....they're 19 and 28. And in their defense, they aren't exactly as excited about the garden as we are.

Here is a picture of one of the rogue pumpkin plants that just showed up that wasn't watered quite as much.


And here is the other one that is so far holding it's own.


I'm really surprised that they turned already. I don't know if it was because they were "planted" so early or because of our heat or a lack of water or what. But if I need to decorate for Fall now, I'm stocked up on pumpkins.

To read about why we even have pumpkins, click here.

Blessings, Cathi

Don't ya just love antique malls.....

It took us 2-1/2 days to drive to San Antonio.....an 18 hour drive from our part of the state. We did that on purpose so that we could stop at all the antique malls that we could. We should have allowed 2-1/2 weeks instead! They were everywhere. Each one usually takes about an hour to go through if you know what you are looking for, longer if you are just browsing.

Here is what we found. I was looking for enamel coffee pots....only in white. Ya gotta narrow the field a little or you'll run out of money and shelf space. I found two of these on my trip to Staten Island/Pennsylvania and the other 4 on the Texas trip. I was really suprised how many malls DIDN'T have them. I could just as easily get them off of e-bay but the hunt is half the fun. A lady in the last store we went in in Alabama asked what we were looking for when we walked in. When I told her, she said "oh, I know just where one is" and retrieved it for me. I know she meant well but somehow her getting it wasn't the same as me finding it in the booth myself.


Another collection I have been adding to is brown Clorox bottles. Yea, I know these aren't all Clorox but most of them are that I already have. Some of the ones I chose were for their shape and size. All of them were just a couple of bucks. The candle sticks are to use with some make-do patterns that I have. The clear glass one was just cool....and only a dollar.


I just loved this lard bucket when I saw it in an antique mall in Virginia. The enamel pot to sort of add to the coffee pots. The table cloth isn't old at all but it was real cheap and had the right colors. The muffin tin was just cute!


But Dear Hubby is the one that hit the motherload at the malls. Here is just 4 of the 13 German beer steins he found! Yes, 13. He found tons of steins at the malls but was very picky about what he bought. They had to be made in Germany, have a lid on them and he had to really like them visually speaking. We both just loved the one on the right. Some that he bought were found at two antique/junk flea malls. You really had to dig through some booths 'cause it was more junk than antique. But on the plus side, they didn't know what they had. He bought one stein for $6.00. We found the same stein later at an antique shop for $60.00. Too bad not all of them were that cheap. But as much as I spend at quilt shops, I'll give him a little leeway.



Blessings, Cathi

No Posting Today.....

Now, isn't that a contradiction in terms! Posting a post to say I'm not posting.

I really did post today on my Christmas blog since today is Rudy Day.

So to all of you that know......Happy Rudy Day !

And to those that don't, visit my other blog.

Blessings, Cathi

San Antonio, Texas.....

I hope I don't offend anyone when I say this but Texas to me seemed like one big shopping strip mall after another connected by a large farms.

We had a wonderful time stopping at all the antique malls. We didn't have much of a plan......just find the big billboard on the side of the interstate and stop at the next antique mall. I'll have to show pictures of the finds later....after I take the pictures. LOL

San Antonio was really fun (except for the hotel part....see previous post). I enjoyed the RiverWalk.


And I probably gained 10 pounds from all the food we ate every night. The RiverWalk was packed at night. We were there for the NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association) convention. I think there were something like 9,600 trainers, doctors, physical therapists and vendors registered!


We did get to see the Alamo. I couldn't get a picture of the front since it was so crowded but I did get a picture of the research library located on the grounds.


And this really cool cactus-thingy that Dear Hubby loved.


And this is a view out the hotel room window.


This is all I have time to post today. Maybe tomorrow I will get to the pictures of the trip home.

Blessings, Cathi

Riddle me this, Batman.....

Why is it that the more expensive a hotel is, the less it offers? After getting to San Antonio, we checked into a luxury hotel right on the RiverWalk. It was right across the street from Dear Hubby's convention. Location couldn't have been better but I am still trying to figure out the "luxury" part. The room was the worst of the 4 different hotels we stayed in, no microwave, no refrigerator, limited tv channels (remember I was going to sit for three days and sew and watch whatever I wanted while Dear Hubby was in meetings), no free breakfast, and NO FREE internet. Internet was $14.00 a day! Needless to say we had no internet or email since we left Orange, Texas last Monday.

On the other hand, we stayed at 3 different Hampton Inns. Free breakfast, free internet, microwave and/or refrig in each room. The rooms were clean and newly remodeled. Did I mention 1/2 the price?

Anyway, we arrived home at 10:30 last night. I was at work by 7:30 this morning. I have major blogging to read and write.

But if anyone could answer my question......

Blessings, Cathi

On the Road Again.....

Well, we've made it 10 miles inside the Texas state line. Want to see how exciting so far.....

First was Georgia.....

Then came Alabama.....

where we spent the night in the cutest little town just north of Montgomery called Prattville. We spent a few hours this morning walking the downtown and hitting their antique/junk shops. Some were more junk than antique but we both had some great finds.

Today was Mississippi.....

Next was Louisiana.... Okay so it was really bright and I had trouble seeing so I just took a chance, pointed and shot.



We stopped for dinner at Landry's Seafood in Henderson, LA. The Married One's actual name is Landry so I had to take this picture for her.

And finally Texas at 9:30..... a very long day.


On to San Antonio in the morning!

Blessings, Cathi

Landrum Quilt Show.....

Teresa and I spent yesterday afternoon at the Landrum Quilt Show in Landrum, South Carolina. This is a wonderful guild that meets during the day in the community center located in Gowensville. This part of the Upstate in South Carolina is an absolutely beautiful part of our state. It's great for a Sunday drive looking at all the farms and old buildings. One of the charter members of this guild is Georgia Bonesteel. I saw her yesterday but didn't speak to her.

This one was a top made by the quilter's great-grandmother. She quilted it in 2007.

And a close-up.

Love the little eagles in the corners.

A close-up of the eagle.

Beautiful applique on this one.

I am pretty sure this is a Kim Diehl pattern. The quiltmaker didn't have a designer on this one but I love it.

I am pretty sure this is a Jo Morton design.

This one just cracked me up!

This one is by Blackbird Designs. I talked to this quiltmaker. Her machine applique was just about perfect. She used fusible webbing and machine appliqued using thread to match instead of invisible thread. Wonderful work.

There were 16 vendors there. I bought a few things like Iron cleaner (because of a little incident with Wonder Under), a book from the "gently used books" section of the boutique, a cleaner for my silver thimble, etc. I am really saving my money for the trip to San Antonio. We leave tomorrow and I haven't packed yet!

Blessings, Cathi

6 days and 1500 miles later.....

and I did it all by myself! I spent a few days in Staten Island then off to my BFF's house in the suburbs of NW Philly. I had grown up right across the street from BFF. We decided to visit the 'hood' Sunday afternoon. Me being the brave soul that I am, decided to speak to the man in "my" backyard. After I told him who I was (he asked me my maiden name .... I think he was testing me to make sure I wasn't a stalker) he invited me in to see the house. I must be a LOT bigger because it was a LOT smaller.


Monday morning I left for home but not before I had breakfast with another blogger!


This is a picture of me (on the right) and Leann (on the left) from The Old Parsonage. We figured out last fall that she only lived a few miles down the road from my BFF. I told her that if I was ever up there visiting, I would let her know. And we managed to work things out! She didn't mention any of it to her husband ahead of time. She thought he would have thought she was crazy to meet someone she met over the internet without checking them out first. He probably would have been right! But sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

We had a great breakfast and managed to talk for 1-1/2 hours (along with her friend from work). We even ordered the same thing from the menu! Dear Hubby and I are going back up there next June. We'll have to make more plans!

It took me 10 hours to get home but I made it safe and sound. The weather was beautiful for driving. The truckers stayed out of my way for the most part and I had my books on CD in the CD player. I have no complaints. I gotta admit, though, dear Hubby was really glad to see me when I pulled in the driveway.

Next Sunday I leave on my next adventure but I am taking Dear Hubby with me.....all the way to San Antonio!

Blessings, Cathi