that I would find one, much less two…..

Yesterday it was raining and cool and I was dressed in my jammies, but I was confident I could make it to the driveway to snatch the paper without being seen!  I perched at the front door, listening for silence, ready.  No matter that my hair was going twelve different directions and the wrinkles from the pillow case were still clearly visible on my cheek!

I decided to do the mad dash!  Why? on days like this does the paper land at the far end of the driveway….no worries…out I went with my bare feet splashing against the pavement!

I bent over *gracefully* and grabbed the paper.  Just as I turned to do the big skedaddle back to the front door I saw a bird nest!

The nest that bounced out of the Christmas tree last year was tiny….this one is itsy bitsy!  I don’t think precious things in life get much better than a bird nest…but this one is extra special…nestled inside is a wee egg…..

With much less care for making sure my gown covered my be-hind, I bent over in total wonder and carefully gathered the sweet nest!  Feeling both sad for the little bird that lost its home and baby and thrilled for this little treasure that made me smile!

And then I heard it….the roar of the school bus and the lawn crew and the idon’tknowhowmany cars that went whizzing by!  While they spent their day talking about the crazy lady bent over in her front yard, I spent the day not caring!  Sometimes this age thing just ain’t so bad!

The nest is about 2.5″ from side to side and the little egg is just about half an inch!  That dark spot on the egg, I’m sorry to say, is a hole. 

What nature tossed aside, I will cherish!

Here they are side by side!

I have no idea what I did to deserve finding these tiny jewels, but I’m sure glad I did it!

I shopped all day and I just can’t stand it!  Warrenton in 19 days!  WOW. 

Thus the beginning of the sleepless nights…a list going in every room…the self-doubt…do I have enough stuff…the pressure…will it all come together…what was I thinking when I bought that…is it priced too high…is it priced too low…

Dreading the “weekend” crowd that just doesn’t get me…at all.  Gotta love those folks who try so hard!  They stand outside my space with squinted eyes and wrinkled brows thinking that if everything is blurry it will make sense!

I feel like an animal at the zoo.  Perched on my stool behind my pink podium in the corner of my ”cage” staring out while they stand at the edge staring in and wondering if they dare approach…..

Surviving the “why would I buy one of those” or the “what in the world would I do with that” or how ’bout “my fillintheblank has one of those” and I always love the “do you have a trashcan…for my soda can, gum, gnawed on turkey leg, ETC!”

My grandfather used to say “I wouldn’t have that if I had room for a battleship!”  Suddenly my whole space feels like a gunmetal gray heap of scrap…with price tags on each fragment!

But then my loyal and faithful customers show up and ooh and ahh!  The tension drains from my body!  They get me!  And it’s unbelievably awesome!

I appreciate each of you to pieces and I thought I’d show you just a hint of a very few things that I am so excited about and that are definitely coming to Warrenton!

A delicious stack of these…discolored and crazed!

Don’t hate her because she’s beautiful! Oh and she actually has a body!

More of these than I care to count!

It’s okay to drool when you see the spectacular brown and white transferware!

All the way from Shiner, Texas…it’s impossible to have too many!

Cole’s at the corner of Hwy 237 and FM 954 in Warrenton!  March 25 through April 3, 10am – 7pm daily with late shopping on the 30th til 8pm!  I’m on Waco Drive in space #126!  It’s too much fun to miss!

Maybe not.  It’s a little BIG even for me! 

Have you ever seen one of these?  I’ve been told they are fraternal chains.  When a new “brother” came on board apparently they all sat around with adult beverages of the bottle kind and collected the caps!  Then sprayed them silver and made these chains!

Each link is about 8″ and I, therefore, don’t even need to tell you why I like this!  But, as goes my knack for stating the obvious…I’ll just say it!  it’s-not-the-size-it’s-suppose-to-be!  Plus, it’s just darn cool! 

I once saw one of these that was about 6′ long and it had a price tag to match!  If I’ve learned nothing else in this business I have certainly learned patience!  I’m not saying I always employ that new-found patience.   I’m just saying I’ve got more than I used to have…..which, on a good day, might actually fill up an entire thimble!

Anyway, I have learned that if there is one, chances are pretty good there are two!  That is my shopping philosophy and why I’m never terribly disappointed when I can’t afford something or I miss out on some nifty item!  Patience paid off and I stumbled across a fraternal chain that was in my price range!

I bet you’re wondering if this is coming to Warrenton with me in a few weeks…in a word…NO!  This baby is mine!  One of the perks of this biz is being an expert cherry picker!

No worries, cuz now my philosophy is confirmed…there was one, there are two and that means there is probably a third one lurking out there some where!  Happy Hunting!

Sure hope you’re coming to Warrenton!  March 25th – April 3rd….Cole’s at the corner of Hwy. 237 and FM 954.  Shopping hours are from 10am-7pm daily with late shopping til 8pm on the 30th!  See you soon!

Winners!  Toldya I was gonna wake up happy today!  Here they are…..

Zita is the brave girl who traveled to Warrenton from Canada last Fall all by her lonesome…..just to meet her blogging friends!   She is adorable!   She and her children are crafters and they make yummy creations!  And she blogs about their time at the farmhouse which makes me want to pack a bag and move right up there!  Check out her blog…..you will not want to miss her sweet view of the world!

Rebecca is an old friend….not in age….time!  Our mother’s were best friends in college!  How cute is that?  Rebecca came to the SweetTalk party in Tyler last year and after that we became Facebook friends!  She has a beautiful soul, three precious children and a great guy behind it all!  She recently joked that we both end all of our sentences in exclamation marks!

You already know how I feel about Theresa!  She put all us antique bloggers on the map!  She is generous of heart and time and has an energy about her that is contagious!  We love all the same things and I tease her that we are twins separated at birth!

Angelique is a new blogging friend!  I met her in Warrenton at Theresa’s blog party last Fall!  She is handling life’s challenges with grace!  She has a fabulous blog and her writing style always leaves me wanting more!  I look forward to getting to know her better as time goes on.

Congrats to these lucky duckies!  I’m headed over to my email to notify these girlies that they are WINNERS in the March SweetTalk give-away!  I sure hope they’ve been thinking of their six favorite words!

The SweetTalk email newsletter will be out this week announcing the April give-away!  Sign-up for the newsletter today and you will be amongst the first to know the skinny on the next SweetTalk give-away!

Thanks everyone for playing!  Leaving comments means so much to me and I appreciate each and every one of you who stop by to read my blog!  You all are the BEST-EST!

On Tuesday it will be blank no more!  Time is running out to leave comments on any of my posts for a chance to win your choice of six SweetTalk tags!

That’s right!  You win, you choose…..six tags…..Postcards, Gift Tags, Custom Tags or any combination!  March 2nd bright and early I’m pickin’ the winners! 

Which gives you until midnight March 1st to leave a comment…..and can you believe…..I still haven’t decided how many lucky ducks there will be!  Probably a mood-thing which means it will definitely be more than two cuz I plan on waking up real happy Tuesday morning!

Leave a comment for your chance to win and then you get to decide what six of your favorite words go on the SweetTalk tags!

My friend Tricia has decided that Friday is all about RED!  She is The Red Door Antiques so be sure to check out her blog…RED is her favorite color and I thought…whattheheck!  Then I started looking around my house and realized that I have virtually nothing red! 

That’s okay….I’m always willing to branch out!  I’m not sure how consistent I’ll be…”consistent” is not exactly my middle name…but I wanted to support Tricia in her launch of Red Friday!  In my scramble to find something red, I remembered this precious RED beaded boot that I bought just a few weeks ago!

Here’s to you Tricia and your love of RED!

The good news about this snow was that I was not stuck in Little Rock!  I had actually planned to be home all day yesterday……I was far behind on book work.  I was not looking forward to spending the day at my desk…..

BUT I got to enjoy the amazing snow!  Every now and then I ventured out to take some pictures…..enjoy!

But in spite of the weather we had a blast and a successful trip! 

Once we found a hotel in Little Rock and walked off the nerves we got brave….well, actually, we got hungry!  And we could see a PFChang’s from our balcony…..

Outdoor seating was available, but we opted for the warmth of the inside!  Where we promptly toasted to not being one of the many cars in a ditch!

The next day we high-tailed it outta there and the shopping began!  I seemed to have a thing for Santa this trip!  I’m not a big buyer of seasonal anything and I sure don’t like to buy it ten months before I can use it, but all my rules are made to be broken and when I found this Santa I felt I needed him!  The real Santa may live at the North Pole but this Santa is gonna live at my house!

He is adorable but he was also a serious space eater!  Whew!  I didn’t really think that through!  When I unloaded him I stuck him in the dining room where he scared the living life out of me every time I turned the corner!  He’s been relegated to a closet for the off-season!

The next Santa I came across were lightpost covers!  Great!  There are two and I really thought I’d sell them but first I have to get them apart and second I have to quit breaking chunks off of them….they are very fragile!  Quite possibly another Santa that will be living at my house!  Oh yeah, no worries, I am smiling behind there!  Dork!

There was the reminder of the weather every time we looked in the rearview mirror….like we couldn’t look out the window and see for ourselves!

Some place along the way we found some tasty shrimp po-boys that were bigger than us!

And they came with pickle earrings!

We carried on!  By the end of four days we were loaded to the max!  At one point even a little nervous about where our suitcases might fit, but then in the big picture…..all that stuff is disposable!

No space was sacred!  From the driver seat, through the legs of a stool, I could see my friend!

Home bound we were!  So sorry, Sandi, that it was your turn to pump gas…..oh…..and drive in the dark, in the snow storm, on the slush and ice, on the two lane highway…..what’d it take…..yeah, that’s it…..an hour and a half to go thirty miles!  And we were only ninety miles from home!

Buying trip behind us…..Warrenton in front of us!  March 25th!-April 3rd!  Did I mention?  Sandi is my neighbor at Cole’s!  We’re on Waco Dr., I’m in #126 and she’s in #128!  Come see us!

Leave that comment so I can enter your name in the March give-away!  You win, you choose!  Pickin’ the winners March 2nd!

I scooted over to Rockdale earlier in the week to work on my space.  And, of course, I always shop Antique Queens cuz it’s really a great mall and I always find something!  Lanna manages the mall and I absolutely adore her! 

She has a great shabby look!  But I about fell over when I turned the corner and saw the hospital bed she has!  It’s good but what makes it great is the IV pole beside it….that she hung a chandelier on!  ohmygosh!  Darling!

This is a great Warrenton/Round Top piece and someone needs this in their space!  If you are interested call Lanna 512-446-4655. 

When I left there I was just a hop skip and a jump away from Antique Gallery in Round Rock!  I hadn’t been there in a while so I decided to see what I could find! 

I ran into Stephanie from Gatherings in Georgetown!  It’s a great store and they have expanded by adding a space in the Antique Gallery!  I had a blast looking at all their goodies!   Check out Gatherings if you’re passing through Round Rock or Georgetown….you will not be disappointed! 

Then I ran into Steve who owns Uncommon Objects!  If you haven’t been to Uncommon Objects, I will just tell you, it is worth the drive to Austin!  And Steve, seriously, is like one of the nicest people I know! 

Anyway, we visited for a few minutes and it reminded me about a show he is doing in a coupla weeks…..Accumulations-Hill Country Vintage Home & Garden Fair in Dripping Springs on March 10 & 11.  My precious friend and February SweetTalk Pal, Theresa will also be selling there!  Head over to her blog for the skinny!

If that’s not enough my friend Ann will be selling her beauties at the Boerne Antique Show in Boerne February 27 & 28!  Check out her blog and then I promise you will want to check out her space at the show!

There you have it, two “appetizer” shows to warm you up for Warrenton/Round Top!

I still need to tell you about my buying trip….but it’s still not funny!  We were headed way north when we got stuck in the snow and ice in Little Rock?  Boy, if you think there’s not a thing to do in Little Rock on a pretty day you oughta be stuck there in a snow storm!  Yikes!

Here’s a pic of me and my friend, Sandi, trying to act like this was part of the plan!

We headed south as soon as we could get out of there!  South is safe….right?  Wrong!  More snow!  I would never say this in front of Mighty, but he’s a bit of wimp when it comes to bad weather!  He’d much rather be hangin’ with his peeps in the hot and dusty parking lot in Warrenton! 

Mighty actually refused to work his way through the frozen tundra of the parking lot and opted to spend the night under the portico in front of the hotel!  The nice folks at the front desk made the wise decision not to mess with either one of us about that!

And then there was that little matter of the nail in the tire.  You know the only thing worse than having a nail in your tire?  It’s having a nail in the SIDE of your tire!  Yup, that means a new tire……

I gotta stop.  See, it’s just not that funny.

If anyone knows what happened to January, clue me in cuz I’m looking for it!  I cannot even believe that Warrenton is just around the corner!  Half of me is terrified and the other half can hardly wait!  Cole’s opens Thursday, March 25th!

I’m just back from a buying trip with my friend Sandi!  My dining room has been transformed into a hard-hat area!  My motto: price and pack! 

I can’t wait to tell you all about our adventure and adventure it was!   Have you ever been in the midst of an experience that wasn’t exactly funny as it was unfolding but you knew eventually it would be?  That’s what happened to us.  We started out heading north as the blizzard of TEN made its way across the country! 

Seriously, it would have been impossible for us to pick four worse days to travel!  I’ll tell you all about it but right now it’s just not that funny….I think I need a few more days!  I’m still on my hands and knees kissing the ground!

In the meantime, Warrenton is creeping up so I thought I’d show you a few of my favorite shots from my space last Fall….get us in the mood!

All that Ironstone makes me salivate!

I sold my personal collection of vintage house numbers….it was hard to let them go but it was time to make room for something else!  Out with the old….in with the….well, old!

How ’bout the cute butterpat “tree”!  It didn’t sell but I can’t make any promises it will make it back in the Spring!  You can always tell the things I really want to keep cuz I put crazy prices on them!  I’m so glad my Chippy friend, Lauri, didn’t see it….if she had I’m pretty sure it’d be in Georgia right now!

I sold all those little bowling trophies to the same lady….she was giving a birthday party for a friend that’s an avid bowler and she was going to have them put on the cake!  Too cute!

This is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done!  (Yes, thank you, this would be ME patting myself on the back!)  Two awning parts hung flat with beautifully crazed Ironstone soups in between!  The backstamp was fabulous so I turned one soup around to show it off!  The awnings sold first thing…I was sad my friend Theresa didn’t get to see them….she has a real thing for awnings!  By the way, she’s my SweetTalk Pal this month!  Be sure to check out her blog!

Not sure if my love of words is a knack or a sickness….I will say this….it keeps me entertained for ten days!  Sad!  One of my favorite sayings…..

Are you excited?  I know I am!  Cole’s is located at the corner of Hwy. 237 & FM 954 in Warrenton.  We have new show hours: 10am – 7pm everyday from March 25th through April 3rd.  Tuesday March 30th is my birthday and it’s also our late night, open til 8pm!  I’m sure I’ll be passing out something tasty in honor of my big day! 

My space is #126 on Waco Drive and I sure hope you’ll stop by to say “hi” and take advantage of Cole’s air conditioning and indoor plumbing….you laugh….a day in those fields and you’ll be selling that piece of information!  Mark your calendars and I’ll see you soon!

The March give-away continues!  Be sure to leave a comment cuz you win, you pick the words!  Drawing for the winners March 2nd!