Thoughts on Thoughtful Blogging

I have been considering the manner in which I blog. 

Sometimes I plan. Sometimes I do not. I would like to tell you the majority of the time I am organized and methodical but I am not. Life, joyous life distracts me. Gardening distracts, photography distracts, reading distracts, Joe and  CC distract. Clovis and Shelley distract. Shelly Puppy is especially attention grabbing these days.  Sometimes I throw up a pretty image and write a diddle about it and I am done. Not a lot of thought involved in those posts. The Hold Everything Lightly Series posts are timed, planned and agonized over. I am not into recipes but the few I have posted make me quite anxious and I feel a huge responsibility if you my readers have issues with the recipe. Is that nuts or what ? The three tablescapes I have posted on the patio have been big hits. I suppose I should do more but lack space for dishes so tablescapes may only appear here monthly or bimonthly. Olive Out is a reflection of me. I am kind of wacky, fun, and not terribly organized. I have been accused of being too happy before.

 It happened when I was the Director of Nursing at the state prison and had to attend the Wardens meeting which was serious (boring) business and one of the Assistant Wardens told me I was too happy. He then proceeded to have my Jeep searched for drugs. A drug dog walked all inside it. I laughed about it and was sad that the leaders of the prison exhibited no joy in their life while at the prison. Later that Assistant Warden moved to another prison and asked me to organize his medical department. 

I think happy Olive grew on him.

DO YOU BLOG WITH GREAT THOUGHT AND METHOD OR NOT SO MUCH?

 DO TELL ME

happy thoughtful blogging

Olive

~funeral basket freak~

CC and I are traveling on a long sleepy rural South Carolina highway today. 

Here is an image from the deck for your viewing enjoyment. 

Another funeral basket. I am funeral basket freak...I know it. 

This makes funeral basket number six...I think. All thrifty finds.

We will be in Greenville, S.C. all day getting the Mini Cooper serviced. 

While there we will visit the Pottery Barn store. 

I rarely purchase an item but enjoy looking immensely.

♣♣♣

Joe's MRI revealed that he does not require neck surgery at this time

 and we thank God. Whatever the outcome His mercies are new every day. 

Joe will be treated with medication for now. 

We thank all of you for your prayers and thoughts.

joy and peace

Olive

Seeing Red

We saw our first red day lily at our yellow house Sunday.

Miss Nola gave me more day lilies than I could count and I got all the colors mixed up so it was a surprise when this red one bloomed first.

You can read about Miss Nola's day lilies here.

We are wondering where the next red day lily will bloom as I planted them all over the property with the other four colors of day lilies she gave me. I am thrilled they bloomed this year as I did not think they would after being transplanted.

The hummingbirds are getting accustomed to us and I am attempting to photograph them which is not easy to do even with a better camera.

 

 ♣♣♣

Shelley Puppy keeps putting his giant paws on the lap top keys so any misspellings in this post are his. 

All earlier misspellings are mine of course. Joe is following up with our doctor today and then we are going to a favorite lunch spot. We pray Joe does not require neck surgery.

Linking with:

Wow Us Wednesday's 

joy and peace

Olive 

Cupcakes From?

Cupcakes on the bar.

Double Chocolate, Chocolate Pear, and Mango Margarita

You may be surprised where these homemade and delicious confections came from.

I get them from The Goodwill Cafe at the GoodBooks store inside Goodwill in Augusta, Georgia. This store is one of two upscale Goodwill's that will be models for more that will be developed across the country. The other is in Macon, Georgia.  With coffee, chicken salad, tuna salad, sandwiches, and desserts now there is no reason to leave Goodwill for lunch anymore.This is a brilliant plan.

♣♣♣

I am still not feeling well and will not be posting my regular series on Tuesday. 

Thank you all for your kind comments yesterday.

Linking with:

Wow Us Wednesday's 

Tabletop Tuesday 

joy and peace

Olive

The Puppy Report and The Weekend Brims Over

Our sweet, exuberant three month old puppy is learning to be still. 

To that I say Thank God. I was able to take pictures of him without him 

squirming and wiggling like a two year old.

Bob, my brother-in-law says Shelley is like the tide he just keeps on coming. Bob's metaphor is right. However, Shelley is maturing and learning to be a companion. I am sick today with back and flank pain and he has been at my side and not chewing on my arm or leg or you get it...

We have had three pets in the house this weekend and it has not been boring. Bob and Sue have an older female dog named Tuesday. Our cat Clovis nearly clawed her eyes out. Tuesday had a rough weekend with a mean cat and a crazy puppy. We had many altercations.

This nine pound cat is in charge and does not suffer puppies or fools gladly.

Friday I cooked Pineapple Chicken for our small group from church and we ate casually on the deck. I served the meal on our massive bar. There were twelve people here.

We sat six at this improvised table. I had found an interesting table base at a garage sale and we put a piece of plywood on top of it. That worked just fine. Four more dined at the patio table and two were children who were on the chaise. We had a wonderful time. Two of the ladies had not been to the yellow house and I got to show them my flower garden and my thrifty treasures.

  I do not forget that the best treasure of all is family,friends and health.

"It's good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it's good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure you haven't lost the things that money can't buy."

George Horace Lorimer

♣♣♣

Hold Everything Lightly #12 may not post this Tuesday due to my back pain.

happy puppies

Olive

 

Lizards and Such

Do you see him?

I find our lizards to be beautiful and am grateful Clovis does not eat them.

Dracena in Cross Process Effect by PicMonkey.

The flower garden with an opaque effect that I cannot remember, do forgive me.

 I get lost in the wonder that is PicMonkey

Ghost Plant that the squirrels are eating. I have little good will for the squirrels. At first we could not decide what was eating the plant and Joe said I should stay up all night with my night vision goggles and figure it out.  We finally caught one without that extreme nonsense.

One last shot of the glorious pale pink poppies. They are almost finished blooming now. But they may take over the garden next year and then I will not have to plant anything else (if you believe that you are pretty). If you missed my other photo of them I planted one plant and now have about one hundred and fifty or perhaps two hundred.

joy and peace

Olive 

Estate Sale Finds

Pyrex

{What is so pleasing about those almost circles?}

Buddha

{CC is enamored with all things Asian}

!960's Faux Fruit 

{not sure about this purchase-what do you think?}

happy friday

olive

White Chippy Chairs In The Lantana

Here I go again stuffing chairs in amongst the flowers. 

It is hard to resist.

It is difficult to determine scale in these images but these are children's chairs.

Yellow paint is peeking through.

Our lanta bush, affectionately known as "The Monster" because it is bigger than my car and tries to cover the roses and any other plant in it's path. I constantly trim it back and Joe dug half of it up this winter and we cannot tell one bit of difference. I give pots of it away all the time.

Would you paint these chairs?

The one on the left is a bit too chippy for me. I will probably be passing these on to my photographer friend. Can't you see two little sisters being photographed in them? Or a brother and sister. Or any combination of kiddos.

Speaking of my friend, I will be posting professional images of Joe,  Shelley Puppy, and me very soon. Get ready for them. I am not sure I am ready.

Linking with:

Vintage Inspiration Friday 

joy and peace

Olive

The Finest Sort Of Friends

Blogging friends are the finest sort of friends. 

The kind you call when you have issues.

 Big or small.

 Like losing most of your sidebar.

Claudia of Mockingbird Hill Cottage blog has been an enormous help.

As you can see the sidebar is up and running again.

Thank you Claudia.

It was lovely working with you. 

I found I have much to learn about ads, codes and layout of blogs. 

I need to change this template but baby steps...

If you are not familiar with Claudia's blog please go visit her.

happy happy blogging

Olive

I Broke My Blog , Please Help

I was fiddling with Olive Out yesterday afternoon and most of my sidebar disappeared.

It is gone, gone, gone.

Whilst I rant here is a gardenia from our hedge after a rain.

If you have not noticed I have been accepted to the BlogHer publishing network and now have an ad on my blog. It is absolutely true they accept blogs big and small as I am very small. I am honored they accepted this blog. Why did I go this way? I have a daughter in an extremely expensive college and I can use the money. It would have been ideal if I could have returned to work part time as an RN but my health has prevented that. So now I do what I can where I can and this is another avenue of revenue that I can essentially do from home. I also buy and resell vintage and more modern objects. 

It was while I was moving an ad around on the blog yesterday that my sidebar went bye bye. If any of you have any suggestions please let me know. I have sent an email to Blogher asking for help. When I go into the layout part of the blog it appears as if the sidebar is still there. 

That means I cannot add my gadgets back.

This week has heated up here at the yellow house suddenly. Joe's brother Bob and his wife Sue had a flood at their house and are having their hardwood floors replaced. They will arrive here this afternoon and are always welcome. Sue and I are thrifting buddies. On Friday night we are hosting our small group from True North Church for supper on the deck. That could be as many as fourteen people. I have not decided on the menu yet. It is getting crazy but Psalm 23 in The Message Bible

 reminded me this morning that my cup brims with blessing.

If you have any ideas about the sidebar please leave me a comment.

 I would really appreciate the help.

joy and peace

Olive 

 

Hold Everything Lightly #11 {Love At The Hardware Store}

Joe and I have a mutual friend named Cathy. 

She is full of irrepressible joy and is a big talker.  

She was not always joyous or fortunate in love. 

This is her grown up love story.

After what Cathy thought was twenty three years of a happy marriage, Cathy's husband told her he had found a place to rent and walked out on her. Their two sons were twenty one and fifteen at the time and Cathy was forty. She was devastated and grieved the loss of her marriage for six years. She had the support of friends and lived rent free in the church parsonage for three years but never unpacked. She met two gay men who accepted her and her grief and she slowly decided her divorce was final indeed. One friend is fat and one thin. She calls her little group "Two Fat Friends and A Friend." Cathy has a delightful sense of humor and has no problem making fun of herself. She is prone to exaggerate her size and her age.

A year and a half ago she was invited to a low country boil to celebrate a goat pen being cleaned. Yes, a goat pen cleaning party. It was here she met Randy, a long haul truck driver, for the first time. He was tall just like Cathy. She is five feet ten inches and he is six feet five inches. He is six years younger than Cathy. She sat next to him and they talked all night. No phone numbers were exchanged and Cathy assumed she was too fat and too old for Randy.

A few days later at work two friends called her and asked if it was all right to give Randy her phone number. They have been dating ever since. Cathy was aware he had her a ring made in Florida last July but Christmas, her birthday and other days came and went. Had he changed his mind? Was he not going to ask her to marry him? They were deeply in love. He was The One, her partner and friend. At age forty nine she was ready to make that commitment once again.

They were driving down to Augusta one day this spring and while on the interstate Randy opened the console and pulled out the ruby and diamond ring. He said "Do you want to get hitched?" A little nonplussed by this setting Cathy responded "I guess so." Cathy laughs when telling this and says "We met in a goat pen and got engaged on the interstate."

After that romantic proposal they arrived in Augusta. Randy wanted an air compressor at Harbor Freight, a sort of big hardware and tool store. The problem was it was eight hundred dollars and they did not have that much money. The customary 20% off was excluded from the air compressor. Cathy, excited and a professional business woman herself, was not having it. She asked for the manager. She said to him "Do you see how old I am? I just got engaged. Do you see that big old redneck over there? I am old and fat and he loves me just like I am. I want that air compressor for his engagement present." She says all this as she wiggles that big ole ruby ring in the managers face. The manager replies "What about six hundred and fifty dollars?" Randy says "Let's load it on the truck," smiling widely at his bride to be. Customers and the staff of the store cheered.

That is Love at the Hardware Store.

"Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts, when God pries your fingers open."

---Corrie Ten Boom 1892-1983

 

 To read other parts of the series please click on series title in Pages at the top of the page

thank you for reading

Olive

Adding Natural Elements

Shelley Puppy drug a wasp's nest into the house. 

It was an abandoned one and I found a place for it on this little table. 

Natural elements like the shed antlers, dried apples, and the wasp nest

 add texture and interest to this table.

My old terracotta funeral basket is one of the favorites of my collection.

I have waited for the little pitcher to go half price at The Rusty Gate 

where I consign at and it finally did.

Real life here at the yellow house. 

Birkenstock sandals found new at a garage sale, definitely a wonderful find.

 

Bring nature inside in the form of shells, rocks, driftwood, antlers, and live plants. 

It will make your spaces more interesting.

I am partying with:

Tabletop Tuesday 

Wow Us Wednesday's 

On Tuesday May 22, 2012 Hold Everything Lightly #11 will post and it is a love story!
Please do not miss it.

joy and peace

Olive

Pewter Cross, White Linens, White Platter

A "perfect" platter, vintage pillow cases, and a pewter rosary 

all make for a pleasing composition this morning.

The white platter is perfect.

That's it's name.

We three are off to church and wish you a fine Sunday.

Linking with:
Wow Us Wednesday's 

joy and peace

Olive

The Puppy Report

Shelley Puppy continues to grow. 

He weighs almost eighteen pounds this week 

and his ears are suddenly standing up tall and proud.

He and CC are too cute in these images.  He still chews a lot (a arm or leg is his preference).

Right now he is shredding something to bits in the kitchen of our old house...I must go...

Shelley what are you doing?

happy puppies

Olive

Do you put upholstered chairs in your hedge?

I had to sit in our truck and stare at this chair in a church yard

 with our puppy on my lap for fifteen minutes. 

What could I do except run in and buy it when the church sale opened at 8 AM? 

Normally I do not buy furniture. 

I don't like lifting big pieces. 

It wears on me after a while.

However this chair got to me.

As I was negotiating the purchase of the chairs Joe locked Shelley Puppy in the truck with the keys.

 Pain, an early Saturday start, and Shelley all made for confusion. 

Joe is going to pinch me for writing that. Yikes.

 He was able to get his skinny long arm in the cracked window and unlock the door.

 Joe has worked this week and is tired but did okay.

It's fortunate the gardenia hedge is blooming now. 

Don't you put upholstered chairs in your hedge? 

We nearly ripped out this hedge when we bought the yellow house because it looked awful. 

We were woefully ignorant of what it was. 

Walk within four feet of it and the scent is divine.

I am not keeping the chair as I have no room for it. 

I bought a very chic Mid Century Modern chair at the same church sale

 and I am seriously considering keeping it.

 It has a high back and is throne like.

 I see it as a dining chair.  

Now I need one more.

Linking with:

Open House Party 

joy and gardenias

Olive