If God Thinks I Need Some Bookcases...

... He will provide them.

Remember when I yakked abroad that truth about a week or so ago? 

Well, just call me a Debbamiah the Prophet. 

I had hardly gotten the words out of my mouth and onto the keyboard when Jehovah Jireh himself did indeed decide that some bookcases were acceptable items on the Debbie Needs It list.  Or maybe, He knows that I just wanted them and decided to provide them anyway. He's nice like that.

Either way,  I am now the proud possessor of these beauties.

Yes, they are indeed bookcases.  You just have to use your imagination a little.

See? 

These are actually part of an even larger set that the Duchess got (already used ) way back in the early  '70s from a Saturday morning radio phone-in show called Swap, Buy, and Sell.  It was sort of a great granddaddy to Craig's List. 


Maybe you had one in your area too.

They came in sections, as you can see. All told, there are 10 sections, I think. There are 2 bottoms,  2 tops, and 6 middle shelves. You can mix and match them any way you want.

The two white ones were being used out at the Love Shack, but on the very day that I was at my house lamenting the fact that I needed some bookcases, the Newlywed Niece was at her grandmother's house helping with a project.

In the process, she unearthed an utterly unused dry sink which she thought she could completely redesign for some kitchen storage.  (The Newlywed Niece is really good at reinvention, by the way. I intend to yak about it when it's done.)

And do you know where that newly redesigned piece will go in her kitchen?
Right where those two white shelves were currently living.

So she passed them along to me.

The brown ones were hiding in some dark corner of a tool shed just waiting for a top and bottom to go with them.

The mouse holes?   Oh, they're just some supersized  cord tunnels. At one point in its history, they held a  Department 56 village.

Now, if you're thinking that I stripped those suckers to their original glory, think again. I would like to do that sometime, but the design plan du jour calls for white bookcases. 

I did sand them down a bit to give them a little tooth since they were not only painted, but the brown ones were varnished as well.  (And, well, I also have a little love affair with my hand sander and like to use it.)

This one got such a toothy grin, I temporarily named him Jimmy Carter.

I was daydreaming...

So I plugged all the mouse holes except the one on the bottom in case I wanted to use it and then gave them all a unifying color called Blanched Pine.

Or as the husband calls it, White.  

It's the same color that I used for the writing desk legs.

I liked the way the niece had a contrasting taupe so I painted my innards

 a light tan color called Cream in my Coffee. 

Waxed her all down, and she's good to go.  

Total cost? 

A couple of bucks for the sample size of Cream in my Coffee.

Take THAT early birds!

Good things do come to those who wait.

Thanks God.
That was a really clever way of providing.

Butler's Table to Writing Desk

Just a little minor makeover to show this morning.  It's actually a piece of furniture that I've been working on for The Practical One.

She has an alcove  in her apartment that she thought would be just perfect for a little desk area and work space and asked me to help with a piece of her furniture in the attic.

It started out as this wonderful old butler's table.  It was given to her (as in free of charge, woohoo...) by the same generous neighbor who gave her the dresser that we refinished in THIS POST.  What a wonderful neighbor we have! She is such a blessing to us

Here it is.

The top comes off. 

It has one drawer in what is supposed to be the front.

And some good looking legs. 

Now, if you've been reading here long, it won't surprise you in the least 

that I love this piece.

  I don't just love the lines of it.
 I love the whole look of it  pretty much just as it is,

 scratches, cracks, finish, and all. 

 If you love old things the way that I do, you'll *get* that.  

If it were mine, I would give it a good sanding and a  gentle refinish 

to retain as much of its worn glory as possible. 

But this table wasn't given to me. 

 It was given to the Practical One. While she appreciates old things, she would rather things look what she calls a little cleaner and younger. 

I think she was afraid I would get an attack of the vapors when she hinted that she wanted to give it a little makeover.  I surprised her when I enthusiastically agreed. The important thing is that she love it.

I did suggest a little compromise, though.

I gave the bottom a new face with some white satin and wax, but I sanded the top as much as it would possibly sand and gave it several light rubs of stain.

Here's how it looks right now.

The top still needs some tung oil, but I'm waiting for the go ahead. 

She has yet to see it so the jury is still out as to whether the top remains dark or joins the bottom in more white or some clean, young, color.

Plus, we have to audition chair makeover candidates
since it's going to be a writing desk. 

Of course, I couldn't help noticing that it can also do double duty as 

a table for two.

  Yep, just enough knee space for the future

48th President of the United States to sit comfortably at dinner.

Hey, you have your blog dreams... I can have mine.

(And by the way, it is absolutely possible to see someone
roll her eyes from 532 miles away.)

*****

Sharing this on Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday. 

Being THAT Kind of Girl

I concluded my Mothers' Day tribute to my grandmother

 with some favorite passages of scripture.

In no big surprise, they were from the most familiar chapter of Proverbs, chapter 31. Like most of you, I love that chapter in the Bible. Like most of you, I've studied it and read it and even memorized a part or two. Like most of you, I use it when I want to extol the virtues of an  aproned saint who has gone before me.

I tend to consider it to be the most distinctly feminine passage in scripture.
Like most of us do...

But what if we have it all wrong?

What if that oft quoted passage isn't a tribute to a mother from a son at all. What if it's really wise counsel from a mother to a son. Not just any old son either, but a son who would grow up to be King. That's what it says, after all, when you start at the very beginning.

The sayings of King Lemuel, an oracle his mother taught him...

~Proverbs 31:1

In the verses that follow, the Queen Mum gives him all sorts of advice, starting with a warning against that kind of woman. Oh, she doesn't give a lot of detail about her. Apparently, she thinks her son will know her when he sees her. She's that kind of woman you know...the kind that zaps his strength... the kind that ruins kings.

She goes from there to some of the wisest words 

about royal responsibility ever written.

Speak for those who have no voice...

Defend the destitute...

Judge fairly.

Then in verse 10, the focus seems to shift. It does in my translation anyway. It seems to move from motherly advice to the future King to an epilogue of sorts, and epilogue we like to call The Praise of the Virtuous Woman.

There's just one problem with that. The text actually has no shift.  There is no more break between verses 7 and 8 than there is between verses 9 and 10. There's absolutely no reason to believe that what we call The Virtuous Woman isn't a continuation of that maternal advice.

That certainly makes more sense.  Mom starts with the warning about the wrong kind of woman for her son. Doesn't it stand to reason that a wise mother would finish with a description of the right kind?  

Yeah, I think so too.

The wise mother doesn't waste her time defaming the wrong girl. She spends her time, a great deal of time, praising the right one and teaching her son about the things he should look for in a woman. (I'll save you the time looking: A dazzling smile and drop dead figure aren't in there. Neither is a reserved seat at the cool table.)


No, his mother sums up this ideal girl in verse 10.

A virtuous woman, who can find? 

Her worth is far above rubies...

A virtuous woman. Two simple Hebrew words that pack the punch.  Obviously, one of them is woman or wife, but do you know what the other one means?  It doesn't mean virtuous, or excellent, or capable. It doesn't mean of noble character.

The word חַיִל  means strong. It's the word for strength, power, and might, an especially warlike valor. 

Yep. The wise mother teaches her son to find a woman who is willing and able to fight.  
Not against him, of course, but with him and for him. 

That's because the minute we begin to build that thing called a Christian family, Satan declares war.  It's going to be a continual battle against the powers of darkness in this world, and a wise Christian mother doesn't want her son to go it alone. She teaches him to seek and find a strong woman.

Not the kind who ruins Kings...


From there, she extols the virtues of that strong woman in the most powerful maternal advice ever given.

On this Mother's Day morning, I have a question for the mothers and grandmothers out there.  Have you studied, carefully studied,  this passage with the young people in your lives, both girls and boys?  Maybe you're leaving it up to chance, merely trying to be the Proverbs 31 Woman in hopes that one day they'll rise up and call you blessed. 

Is that really good enough for your kids?
It's not good enough for mine.

As for me, I want my girls to cultivate those virtues worthy of the King, and I pray that there are Christian mothers out there raising their princes to settle for nothing less. Are you one of them?

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD 

She is to be praised. 

*****

Comments off for Sunday

And

Happy Mother's Day

Celebrating Mae Day

The May challenge for Cuisine Kathleen's Let's Dish!

was to create a tablescape for Mother's Day.

We decided to make ours a 

Grandmother's Day table instead

We created it to honor one of the 

grandest mothers who ever lived:

The Duchess's mother,

my grandmother.

Since her name was Mae, 

We're calling it our 

Mae Day Table.

For a centerpiece, we used one of her vases and some white carnations. 

White carnations, of course, 

are the traditional Mother's Day flower of remembrance

 for mothers who are no longer with us. 

Oh how we wish she were...

That photo was taken the day that the Duchess married Prince Charming.

It's one of the few photos that we have of her. 

She tended to shy away from a camera. 

She was easily embarrassed and would rather have the spotlight shine on someone else.  In fact, she would probably be embarrassed by this fuss and bother. 

We fussed and bothered anyway.  

Just about every item on this table belonged to Grama.

The focal point is her set of Blue Willow dishes

which were passed to her by her favorite maiden aunt. 

The set is beautiful and  exhaustive. 

There's a dinner plate, a luncheon plate, a salad plate,

 and dessert plates

as  well as cups and saucers, and bouillon bowls. 

Each piece has a slightly different scene on it.

Like so many homemakers from her generation, 

Grama collected this glassware from soap boxes.

I'm not at all sure of her flatware pattern, 

but I love the simplicity of it and the long, skinny shape of that dinner fork.

The only thing on the entire table that didn't belong to Grama is the linen. 

We chose a vintage tablecloth and napkins. 

But the napkins are tied with some of her pins. 

Grama always wore a pin.

And she always, always, wore a dress.

Unless she was leaving the house, she wore an apron as well. 

She was a humble woman with simple tastes.

Aside from her wedding band,
the only jewelry I ever saw her wear was a pin...

 ...and this mother's ring. 

 .

There were no family jewels to pass down through the generations, 

not a lot of silver or gold either.  

In fact, the sum total of her finery 

is probably represented on this table.

But what she did pass down was some of that far above rubies stuff

of the virtuous woman. 

And we hope this table is even half as lovely
as the grand-mother who inspired it.

Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her.
Many women do noble things, 
but you surpass them all. 
Proverbs 31:28-29 
*****

Also sharing with Tablescape Thursday

All Hands On Deck

I should be ashamed to share this yakabout today. I should be ashamed to show the picture, too, but I'm doing it anyway.

I guess I'm just altruistic. 

I'm willing to sacrifice my dignity to tell you about something that really works like a charm.

It's not Monistat Chafing Gel for the face this time. I've already yakked about that.. I've even copped to slathering a little Preparation H on there, too, because apparently,  I have no pride.

Today's tip is about a weathered barn face of another sort. It's the weathered floor of our back deck.

Ready?

If you're wondering how in the world it got that bad, I will remind you that this little deck of mine is located smack dab in the middle of the Piney Stick Forest.  Even if it's cleaned every year, it still gets overtaken by the creeping crud. 

And it wasn't cleaned last year...

2011, as you might recall, was the year of The Pigeon-Toed Duck Waddle.  We hardly even stepped foot on the back deck, let alone clean it.  You pretty much avoid decks and other such torture chambers during a depressing south Georgia drought.

I realize that it looks as if it wasn't cleaned the year before that either, but I distinctly remember doing so.

Actually, I distinctly remember the husband doing so. Deck duty generally falls in his jurisdiction, just like lawn duty.  Lately, however, the Man of the House has been working really hard. He barely has enough time to tackle his front lawn and other house maintenance in the one day a week he usually has to do it.

He's a travelin' man, ya know. Plus, the slave labor we procreated isn't living at home anymore.

And so, I decided to embark on what I've called The Great Back Yard Surprise. I decided to divide the entire back of the house into manageable sections and conquer one section a week. Every Friday for the past month, he has come home to a different backyard surprise.  Last week, I surprised him by cleaning the back deck.

Remember all that new exercise equipment I said I'd yak about?

Well, here's a piece of it.

Just call me the Karate Kid. 

source

Usually, we use Thompson's Deck Wash for the spring deck cleaning, but when I got ready to clean, I really didn't feel like going to the store to get some. Instead, I tried this stuff.

I love OxiClean. They really should pay me to blog about it because I use it just about everywhere.  We had never tried it on the deck, though.

I made up a strong solution with some hot water (About 2 scoops per pail) and just dumped it on a portion of the deck to see how it worked.

Then, I got distracted.

Don't ask me what distracted me. I don't remember.  I just remember that when I finally made it back to the deck about a half hour later, I noticed that the OxiClean had been hard at work eating away at the creeping crud.  I gave it some stiff bristle action, rinsed it off, and just look at the difference.

That's when I decided to blog about it.

I could hardly believe it myself.  Commercial deck wash does not work that well.  

A work in progress.

  And finally, all cleaned and ready to reseal.  

I trimmed that hedge behind it too. 

Unfortunately, it looks a little bit like the bangs I used to trim on the daughters.

Whoops.  

He gave me two thumbs up for trying, though.

  What's more, he didn't even flinch when I told him 

that I thought we should embark on a 

 Great Deck Makeover Adventure. 

He just said,

 "Why don't you surprise me, Deb-or-ah..."

And that's exactly what I think I'll do. 

Because I'm strong.

I am invincible.

I am Deck Woman.

Why I Didn't Get The Worm

OK, I'm just a little bit peeved. 

I thought I might go ahead and let 'r rip about it, too. 

I've been doing the garage sale thing this morning. And no, I didn't get what I set out to get. Yet again, the early birds got my worm. That's the reason that I don't do garage sales. I'm too much of a rule follower, you see. Maybe it's an occupational hazard from my years in the classroom, but I like all the little boys and girls to follow the rules. Garage Sale People clearly got a lot of "N's" in that category.

I've yakked about my distaste for early birds before. It's not just about the inconvenience they cause those setting up the sale. It's the rudeness toward other would-be buyers who still believe that rules mean something.  Early birds teach the world that they don't.

Apparently, the world is learning. If you don't know that, you haven't been to a garage sale lately.

Currently, however, I'm in the need want of a set of bookcases so I'm stepping back into Crazy Land to try to find some.

I saw this ad in the local newspaper.

Now, am I illiterate, or does that plainly say, 

No Early Birds? 

Why yes, it does, and that's the kind I like. One can clearly follow the rules and not worry about line cutters and gate crashers with no consideration for fair play. Clearly, I thought, these bookcases were predestined  for Debbie.

So...

I got up early, grabbed some magazines, and ventured over to wait in the car for this nice little No Early Bird  sale to begin.

And do you know what I found when I got there?

Cars lining the street and Garage Sale People headed away from the house, arms laden with  treasure! As you might suspect, one such treasure was the set of bookcases. I never even had a chance.

I asked the owner what had happened, and he said that they were lined up a good hour in advance of the sale.He said he just couldn't keep them out. Personally, I think he could have. The sale was mostly inside.

I probably wouldn't be so peeved if this were not my second such misadventure in a week's time. Last week, it was an estate sale.  They had advertised hours but said that they would be handing out numbers to get into the door early that morning.

I liked their style too.  No pushing, no shoving, no cheating, just a bunch of orderly people waiting in line by the number.  

Since I wanted to get a good number, I got up early and went cup in hand to vie for position. There was a small crowd waiting with me so I got to make some friends, too. At the  appointed time, Willy Wonka stepped out of the Chocolate Factory to give us our golden tickets.

I got #5.

I had just enough time to come home for liquid reinforcement before heading back to be in my #5 position before the sale was set to begin.

I didn't worry when I turned the lane to the estate house and had to park behind dozens of cars lining the street. I didn't even worry when I saw that a line had formed by the door. I was #5 after all. Plus, I had made friends with numbers 1-4, and they weren't there for bookshelves.

I did begin to worry when I discovered that the line was moving. Apparently, they were letting folks in before the official gate time.

Seriously?

I admit it. I ran. I'm not sure, but I think I might have waved my little red ticket in the air and shouted  "Number 5! Number 5!" as I was running.

No one listened of course. They were too busy shoving themselves through the doors ahead of me. Finally, the owner came out, stopped the flow, and asked if anyone out there had a number.

I was the only one who did.

He apologized. Apparently, the Johnny Come Earlies had just opened the door and crashed the gate. Well, why not? Everyone else lets them do it. By the time I got in the door, there were no bookcases to be had.

But wait!

 The cup's half full!

I did manage to get a few other things in my misadventures. 

 They're auditioning for starring roles in upcoming blog posts.

This one will either be called,
 The Twins Go To Washington

or
More Crazy Aunts in the Attic.

We shall see.

You can see that it hasn't been a complete waste of time. I really do believe that if God thinks I need something, I'll find it, and the early birds won't be able to stand in the way. God is bigger than any old early bird.

And apparently, God thinks that what I need around here are a few more whimsical dishes and vintage linens. 

So what about you?

 Do you enjoy the thrill of the garage sale hunt? 

By the way,  if you're an early bird, please don't tell me.

 I'll never know.
But hands off the bookcases, OK?

A May Day Surprise

It seems like I'm getting surprises everywhere these days. First, I had the surprise at the Supercenter, and then, I had a surprise at the front door.

It happened two days ago. You know... May Day. I just didn't get a chance to yak about it until now.

I had finished posting my May Basket tablescape, which included a little lamentation about the fact that children in this area do not leave little doorknob delights  around the neighborhood on May Day. In reading comments, I realized that it must not be that well known of a tradition after all. So many folks had never heard of it..

Well, that needs to change, I thought.

What better way than to use the incredible power of my blog. 

I was still ruminating about this later in the afternoon when I returned from a little thrifting. I was pulling into the driveway when lo and behold,  I caught the sight of something fluttering from the front door knob out of the corner of my eye.

I'm not making this up, people. My blog power is really that incredible.

I literally ran into the house and through the kitchen and down the hall into the foyer to open the door.

Was it something whimsical like this one from the

ever creative Singing With Birds ? 

Or maybe something with rustic sophistication like 

this one from  Vignette Design?

Awesome, aren't they? 

Unfortunately, 

I found neither whimsy nor sophistication

 hanging on my door knob that May Day afternoon.

I found this.

 A coupon for a fitness center. 
Apparently, they do read my blog...
They couldn't have stuck it in a paper cone with a bunch of daisies?

  

And, there ya go... 

Just another day in Paradise. 

No May basket.

No giggling bushes.

Just a few snickers instead.

A Tisket A Tasket

Some flowers in a basket.


Happy May Day everyone!

Oh, how I miss being a little girl and having  little girls this time of year.  The Great May Day Adventure was always one of our favorites. We made our little homemade baskets and gathered up flowers from the lawn. Then, we would sneak to the neighbor's houses, hang the basket on the doorknob, ring the bell, and run like crazy to hide in the bushes for the great flower discovery.  Giggling.

The best part of the Great May Day Adventure is the giggling. 

Do little children still do that?

They don't around here. 

Since our doorbells will probably not be ringing today, we set up a little May Day Adventure on the table instead. The theme of the day is baskets. 

The actual inspiration came from these little handmade ones that the Duchess got 

at a gallery for local artisans.

They were crocheted and then starched into a basket shape. 

We filled them filled with flowers

May baskets, of course, are supposed to be filled with flowers from the yard. Ours are filled with flowers from the Farm Sister. She used some Sweet William, some daylilies, and some knock out roses called Jacob's Coat. For filler, she used asparagus fern and confederate jasmine, also from the farm.

 I wish you could smell it.
Oh my goodness... 

  My only contribution was some yellow mums the husband brought me.

 That's kind of cheating, but we used them anyway. 

We kept our place setting very simple so as not to compete with the May baskets. Dinner plates and salad plates had a simple basket weave pattern on the rims.

A little pop of color came from the dessert plates in the middle.
The entire place setting is compliments of the Duchess. 

The green napkins and charger came off of my current kitchen table. The napkins came from TJMaxx this season. They are stuffed with some old yellow gingham ones because we love to stuff and fluff.

The stemware belongs to me. It has a very subtle green hue.

Flatware is compliments of the Farm Sister. 

It's a not-so-subtle green.

It thinks it's a sun catcher.

So does everything else on the table. 

Place cards use dry erase markers. 

It's actually not that easy to use a dry erase marker on such a small surface, 
by the way.

And there you have it. Our May Day table.

And then, by candlelight.

Who lights candles in the middle of a sunny afternoon?

Bloggers do.

Have a happy May Day, folks. 

Here's hoping you hear some doorbells today.
And maybe some giggling too.

I'll be sharing this with Cuisine Kathleen on Wednesday

 for her wonderful new party,  Let's Dish!

I'll also be on the Porch for  Tablescape Thursday

and with the Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday