How DEEP Do You Cram Your Pain ?

Close-up of nude 1960's painting that is Sold

I was out on my morning walk a few days ago, I believe it was Monday morning...I always go for my power walks early, listen to a Christian sermon of some sort...and just keep moving. I probably walk for only 3 miles, probably about 3 1/2 , as I am trying to work myself back up to my 4 1/2 to 5 miles that I always did before.

The sun has been up for about an hour or so by now, cars whizzing by heading to work and taking kids to school. I keep moving , swing my arms some, breathe deeply...I sometimes like how my ponytail feels when it bounces gently between my shoulder blades with my strides. That's when I'm not contemplating cutting my hair and double-piercing my ears , or some other random thoughts about how to change things about me not to feel pain inside.

The sight I saw that morning, was a beautiful one...but made me sad and scared for my future vision of happiness in my life. I was coming up a street, I had passed some yardmen doing work in a corner yard..laying out fresh pinestraw in beds around a home. Then while I was looking up the street, about halfway through my walk...I saw the homeowner, a woman come jogging around the corner in the distance.

Maxine last fall ready to drag me for a early evening walk.

As I looked up, I saw her running towards me down the street, and she was still at a distance from me...and she raised both her arms in the air...and was waving them, back and forth...like a pendulum or a cheerleader. The sun was behind her, and she radiated pure joy. She must have done this about 30-50 seconds, over and over.

A joyful woman, a mesmerizing , painful vision for me.

I remember I thought, " I will never feel like that , ever again in my life. " While she got closer to me, she passed me and smiled and said, " Hi !! " So happy, she was young ( about 10 years  younger then myself I am guesstimating ), I knew she had been remarried, and I saw her out with her new husband often exercising together. 

She then passed me, and I started thinking also, rationalizing...whining... " Well of course she is happy, she is young and beautiful,  so healthy she can run and swing her arms over here head with happiness, she lives in a pretty expensive home, no money worries, she always looks in love with her new husband, she has some precious children. , what reason would she have to be unhappy ?"

Then I started considering my life...I have many blessings, but my precious youngest daughter will never , ever be in it again. The loss of her, still crushes me inside. That weight of pain, I have crammed inside me deeper...simply trying to be able to take care of my youngest son, and be there for my older children.

I can not imagine , or even consider the possibility of ever, EVER being as joyful as this beautiful young woman who jogged past me. To feel the joy of life , as I have felt before, I know that it will not be realistic or possible for me again.

I told my husband this story, and he disagrees..he thinks I will feel it again. 

I remember sitting across from him , and I told him, " There is no way , as the loss of Sarah , is too great. It will always be a deep wound inside me. It will not be possible , as the shadow of her loss will become a part of my soul. It will be there , over-shadowing future happiness and joy."

I am aware that many , many people have suffered great loss, and keep on living, and seem to be living a joyful life. I know as a witness for God, I should do that. 

I know that it has been only 3 1/2 months since her accident , and I need to be more patient with myself.

Knowing does not help , head-knowledge is secondary to the pain that leads us all , because I know everyone has some pain that they cram inside , and I know that is not healthy, and I know it needs to be addressed and taken out and either discarded , given to God ,or accepted..or all three.

Sarah in Charleston, SC , a trip we took in 2008

 I know that my other children bring me joy , I know one day I will have some grandchildren that will bring me joy. But no one can fill the hole that is left in my heart and soul , after her death.
I also know Christian bloggers will write me and tell me that God can fill that hole...I do not see that now , but I am aware that He can heal a soul.
I have told many people that God can fill the void areas of your life. Now I am given the test of proving it , from a very deep abyss of a mother's pain.

I am also aware of the scripture verse, " The joy of the LORD is my strength. " Neh. 8:10.  I am aware that as a Christian my joy in life is not supposed to come from my circumstances, but the awareness that there is a God and believe He is who He says He is ( The Alpha and the Omega )  , and that  He alone should be the reason for me to have joy.
Not helping so far.
I feel there is a block on my mental filter when I read scripture, and especially if I read anything , like the obituary, etc. of my daughter's death. The words make no sense to me when I read them, my mind will not allow me to comprehend it.
Even looking at pictures of her, is confusing to a grieving brain.
It brings the loss smack in my face...and my mind shuts down to the reality of it.

When I have had some of you kind bloggers say, that my faith is strong after this...I do not feel that, I do not see it or experience it yet . I have not given up on God ,or my Christian faith, but I do not feel it is strong at all at present.

It is clouded, and held back by the pain that I have crammed down inside myself, and I believe that God sees me as that sullen , moody child of His...sitting in the corner watching Him warily.

Knowing that I should ' give it ' to God , that we all should give our pain to Him , may help me in the future.

 

I can't give Him my pain yet . It is holding onto me, and I am holding on to it.  I also know that is common with grief , as we feel it is all we have left of our loved ones.

 Take care,

Gina

An IDIOT in the PRODUCE Section--ME

 

 I wanted to thank the bloggers who wrote in with their recipes for me...I ended up using a recipe I found online, only because my husband wanted some meat in his soup...but I am planning to use those recipes another time. I did decide to tell you a story that happened to me, after I asked all of you for some recipes...and I had to get to the grocery store by a certain time , to get my day going faster. 

I got my recipe ingredients in hand, scribbled down on a crumpled piece of paper, and rushed out to the the grocery store to get my ingredients. I still had my workout cloths on, tennis shoes, hair back in a ponytail , and looking pretty worse for wear.

I go in, grab my grocery cart...and rummage through the grocery store in search of my healthy vegetables...mainly to the produce section, after I got my stew beef. The grocery store was pretty busy, and I parked my cart in the middle of the produce department...and looked around, found my red potatoes, my sweet onion, my zucchini, my mushrooms ,my garlic , peas and corn and green beans . Then I started looking for a cabbage.

While I was doing this, a man probably in his 50's-60's or so...was near me..also looking, picking up various produce and putting them in his cart.

Here is my confession, and this is beyond DUMB for a gardener. 

Ready ?

I have NO idea what a cabbage looks like , I don't cook them...never have had a cabbage in our house in almost 30 years , I only see the decorative ones with all their leaves on them at Lowe's to plant in a garden...and NOTHING looked like that in the produce section. I just stood there, all these people milling about me, gathering everything...and I looked intently at the produce.

I saw a few things that looked like lettuce, but not cabbage...at least I didn't think so, and I did not have my little reader glasses on to look carefully at the tiny tags beside everything.

So I stood there, not moving.

Looking.

Looking DUMB.

The man who was near me, turned around a few times to look at me, slightly smile...but I was looking down at my crumpled list in my hand, furrowed brow, and uninterested in being remotely friendly. I gave the vaguest smile I could in return, and moved closer to the vegetables.

He on the other hand, stayed right around me...smiling...watching me , gathering more veggies for his cart. 

At that point, I was getting mad at myself , embarrassed that I kept looking intently at the produce, turning in circles, looking intently at MORE produce. 

I was getting dizzy.

An intent, dizzy, confused woman. 

I was doing this for about 10-15 minutes ! I was waiting for the produce manager to ask me if I wanted to work there.

Then I noticed this man again, he kept shopping and looking up at me, and a light bulb, a very tee-tiny one went off in my head.

He thought I was trying to meet him or he wanted to talk to me or something, you know how men's magazines tell men to try to pick up women in grocery stores or book stores ( yes men, women know this secret )...well I thought that was too, too funny, as I was dressed so poorly, a strange woman in the middle of the produce section, looking confused, turning in circles.

He must have been blind , or dumber that I felt.

At that moment, I decided to go over to the area that looked like lettuce, and squat down to look at the itty-bitty sign that says price and what it is. 

Guess what ? No description, BUT..I did pick up one of the little balls of lettuce, it was heavy, and on the side of the plastic wrapper, it said CABBAGE.

Hooray, the idiot woman , who professes to be a gardener, whose grandmother grew every vegetable known to man...stopped turning in circles, and found her cabbage !!

I was laughing inside , and thinking how embarrassing...and now I have put this on my blog for all to know.

I firmly believe , in life, if you can't laugh at how DUMB you yourself can be at times, then you have no sense of humor...and will end up being too hard on other people who do dumb things.

By the way, I took some pictures of the beginning stage of my healthy soup, and this container had to be split so I had another pot AND this one. 

I could feed an army here. I did  have my dad come over and my daughter, to try some..and I told my dad the story of my not knowing what a cabbage looks like, and he just shook his head . He grew up on a farm, and he concurred I was pretty dumb if I didn't know what a cabbage looked like.

No sympathy.

  I will include the recipe at the bottom I found on line, I think it needed more beef stock, as my pot with so many additional vegetables, started to overflow. I believe it turned out good, but will probably be better today, as soup, stews , etc., get better when they sit overnight in the fridge.

here:

Ingredients for 15 servings:

Beef and Vegetable Soup

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1-1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 4-1/2 carrots, diced
• 6 small red potatoes, diced ( I used 9 )
• 12 cups beef stock
• 3/4 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 4-1/2 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from cob
• 3/4 cup frozen petite peas
• 1-1/2 zucchini, diced
• 3/4 head cabbage, chopped
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta

I added 1 package mushrooms and subbed barley for the orzo. I would have added more beef stock too if I had it.

Directions

This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 10 servings.

1. Heat the olive oil in a stock pot over medium-high heat; cook the beef in the hot oil until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the onion and bay leaves, reduce heat to medium, cook until the onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to scrape any bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Stir the carrots, potatoes, and beef stock into the mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are just barely tender, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir the green beans, corn, peas, zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, Italian seasoning blend, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into the beef mixture. Cover the stock pot, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer the soup until the beef is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 45 to 50 minutes.
3. Stir the orzo pasta into the soup; replace the cover to the stock pot and continue cooking until the pasta is tender, about 5 minutes more.

Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 389 | Total Fat: 16.5g | Cholesterol: 50mg

hope your day is good,

Gina

I NEED the VERY Best VEGGI Soup Recipes ASAP--thanks !

Morning fellow bloggers, and especially you culinary whizs...and you know who you are. I need the very best, super-healthy, very tasty, chock full of fresh vegetables soup recipes that you have. I want sure-fired ones that you are positive are delicious.

I want to make a homemade veggi big batch of soup , and I can't find the perfect recipe.

Just leave your recipe in the comments if you would be so very kind,

thanks !

Gina

My New HEART Garden Gate

 

Well with much grumbling about how difficult my heart gate would be to do, My talented woodworker of a husband figured out how to do it.

Accompanied by,  " You don't realize how hard this will be...". Something to do with the weight of the gate, the difficulty with the span of the gate , and further mathematical dilemmas that make my eyes glaze over. I had written a previous post about my other garden gate :http://antique-art-garden.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-one-garden-gate-one-that-i-want.html 

And in that I had mentioned I wanted a front gate built to show my garden was made with love. 

I will start with him first tearing down the chain link fence and putting in treated wood pickets.

Here we go..

I do not have any before shots of during the work...just know it was a typical yucky chain-length fence that we all have had. He followed the line of the drive ,and then curved the top to match the other sides fence look. I planted some lirope grass, monkey grass, down the front... it will look good next Spring and Summer.

I also wanted spaces in between to see my garden when I drive up. Very important to me.

As you can see, I need more monkey grass at this back area. I have not been able to dig yet , with my limitations about bending and lifting...but I will get some here soon.

Too cute. He is quite proud of it now , after all the grumbling concerning the weight of this gate ( for the supports to handle it ). I made a template of a heart, and then he picked up this big gate and lugged it into the workshop, popped it up on his table, and cut it out. Then lugged it back out , and by then it was dark...but he finished it up last night.

Still sturdy , I really like it.

It is lower...the view directly in , I think the gate and fence are about 4 feet tall, so you have to crouch to get these views.

So I got to crouching, and Maxine watched me take some pictures.

I may use one of these in a new header , I like to switch pictures up there alot.

Other side, looking out to driveway. Let me show you these mega hinges..

Reinforced here. I will give you the specifics straight from the carpenter's mouth..or email , as I asked him a little bit ago :

 " Standard gate latch on inside with no handle, that way you cannot tell it is a gate from the outside. There are four butt/strap hinges on inside and it must weight about 55 lbs. it is just big and bulky. I just hope the post will not shift. It should be okay as long as Luke and company do not try to play on it.  Love you "

I like these easy latches, handy when you have a wheelbarrow full of yard debris to get out.

I have no idea what they are called , but I like them. Much better than those latches that you push the latch in a divet in the wood and then over time, it never matches up anymore.

Here are a few shots of my garden that I have not been working in. I need to get some inspiration from my new gate and it's heart. Between my stomach/ribs/and grief...pretty hard to get motivated.

Plus Fall is here.

My excuses, but I am consciously telling myself to go easy with myself. Which is the opposite way I have always been..so hard to not be what you have always been isn't it ?

Marigolds have really like my garden, I just planted some in the ground , instead of pots,..and they are still going strong.

Plumbago is still thriving in three spots in my garden. Cut it back at frost, comes back every year. As you can see, I love hearts.

My first plumbago , draping now.

A pink rose bush we got in honor of Sarah. Will see how it does, black spot usually gets all my roses.

Super pink.

My trumpet vine arbor still keeps blooming. I just come through and cut it back every 5-6 weeks or so.

Some blue salvia I cut back , thought I may have killed it until it came back after about 3 weeks.

I told you those thug cannas would come back ! Ripped them all out, knew that wouldn't deter them...sassy little plants.

Look who I found in the adjoining neighbor's yard, lounging in the warm sun ? Maxine loves this spot, see her stick she has beside her ? It is there just in case she feels the need of it.

So I have my new fence and heart gate, my back porch and railings have been redone. ( courtesy of my oldest son and my husband )

If I could just take some decent shots , this would look better. I believe I need a new camera...or this camera needs a new operator, more than likely.

We have these matching rails on the front too.

Need to get down there and plant my leftover mondo grass to the left here.

There ya go. Need to get some work done here . I know most of you have your hearts in your gardens, if not on a new gate.

May you be loved today,

Gina

Me and LOT's WIFE

There is a story in the Bible, in Genesis, about Sodom and Gomorrah, about Lot and his family ( the only righteous man that Abraham found ) are warned to leave before God destroys the cities for their evil ways. God , through His angels,  warns Lot  to flee and to not look back, as God burns the city to the ground and destroys it. Lot rushes to the hills with his family, warning everyone to not look back...and none of them do...except Lot's wife. She pauses, she stops, and she turns and looks at her past , at her home, and she is turned into a pillar of salt by God.
She probably had a strong over-powering urge, a longing...to look once again.
I feel like her.
I keep looking back in my past, and it clearly states in the Bible to press on ( Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead Phillip. 3:13 ), forgetting what is behind. I have always looked at my past too much, melancholy , sensitive people do that.

I think in this road of grief that I have been thrown on, I keep stopping and looking back...looking for my Sarah . I was talking to my other daughter, Sarah's big sister, about how time is so far not helping, as I feel the more time passes...the more upset I get , about time passing. Makes no sense, but she helped me figure out is was because I want to go back in time, to the time Sarah was alive...and the more days that pass by...the further I get from when she was alive. From the last time I physically spoke to her, touched her, saw her.
That upsets me. 

Days go by, and I get further and further away. I look about, and the sun comes out still, birds are chirping and flying about, people are going on with their lives, I have the urge to go up to them and say, " Don't you know that my precious daughter died ? " I want them to understand my anguish, this world's great loss, but only the ones who have lost a child truly can know and understand. The others cringe with the thought of it happening to them. I want to understand how the world can be joyous, happy...because it is hard for me to mentally and emotionally understand that fact right now.

Though it is a fact, life has not stopped, the world is still functioning. 

I know that what I feel is not unusual for someone grieving .

 

I remember having a talk with Sarah, after my mother, her grandmother Sarah, died suddenly of a heart attack 2 years ago. I remember Sarah looking at me, I was working on eBay listings, and she came and told me that she was so worried I would die. She was crying, I told her that was normal after someone suddenly dies, you get worried about people that you love dying too. Then I looked up at her, I was sitting and she was standing , and I pointed to my heart, and I said, " Don't worry honey, I am a part of you, I will always be with you ..inside here. Always. " I remember tapping my chest again, and then I got up and hugged her, and told her quite sincerely with a smile, " I will always be inside of you, I am part of you, " and tapped her heart. That seemed to comfort her, she thought if I died, it would kill her ....she loved me and needed me very much.
I think back on that conversation often, I can still see her standing beside me crying...and I have tried very hard to flip that idea, that SHE is a part of ME, for always ...to try to comfort me.

I sit and consider why I was so sure that she will always have a part of me , inside her, that I was part of her now...and it was for two reasons, 1. She came from my womb...my body produced my beautiful daughter...she was there 9 months before anyone else could see her. I physically had her , knew her longer than anyone else in this world. The bond that creates is intense and strong, mother and child.


2. Once she was born, the bond grew even stronger, through time and trails and joy...she picked up on many of my characteristics , habits, gestures , beliefs...and we developed a deep bond of love. 

The comfort that brings me , even though it is still harder for me to grasp that she , her very essence... is a part of me , forever...like I said, I see it from a mother to a daughter ( or son ), heredity...passing down through generations...and I am praying that God helps me see that she lives in me still. Not memories, but part of her , makes up part of me. That the bond we formed  , is permanent , and we both permanently became part of each other. That even death cannot change  that.

That concept is very comforting, and I believe that each of us have formed bonds , with family, with some friends...not the , ' Gee , I really like that person as a good friend " bond, or the " Guess I do love them as they are part of my family so I have to ", bond, but the authentic, agape bonds...where that persons' welfare and happiness are more important than our own . I believe those type of bonds are felt physically , and spiritually...so much so that when that person hurts, we hurt, when that person is happy, we are happy, when that person needs us...we are willing to be there for them. You literally morph , bond with them and their live is part of your life...as  in marriage when two become one. I think it happens with parents and children , with spouses , and with a very few other select people you encounter in life. Very few , I do not imagine this can happen with all of the people we care about...only a few, in our lifetimes. I am not referring when we all make an impact on someone, or them us...but the bond that happens with time , trails , communication , shared experiences, and deep love .
It is a sure, visceral knowing.
You know it deep in your gut. 

Charleston w/ Sarah 2008

The bonds we form through strong shared love. When we love someone like that...we end up leaving part of ourselves inside them, and they do the same in return.
I think that is a gift from God , to comfort us. I need to know  part of Sarah makes up part of my very being.
She will always be with me here , as I tap myself on my chest.
And once I get to heaven, I will hold her close and kiss her again.



Bless you all today,
Gina


 " Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope." 1 Thess. 4:13

How many of YOU Have considered STOPPING Blogging ?

I was wondering how many fellow bloggers have considered how long they will blog or when they will stop ? It is something that has been on my mind. I read an interesting article about it...always  good to evaluate why we do what we do and if it is a time -waster or helper in the great scheme of things. 
Pertinent questions :

1. Does blogging help your life or take time away from other duties or activities that are more productive ?


2. Do you feel like you want to share parts of your life , which when you take time to take a bunch of pictures during a certain time or activity...diminishes the activity itself or interferes with yours or your companies enjoyment of the activity ? 


3. How much time do you allot for your blog or reading fellow blogger's blogs that could be spent towards family, church or community ?


4. Do you enjoy blogging as much as you have before ?


5. Is blogging making your life better or is it making your life more stressful to log in entries and keep up with blogs you follow ?

Considering so many areas of my life, and was wondering if any of you are also considering. I started this blog to show pictures of historic Charleston, SC gardens...and occasionally branched into Christian lessons God was teaching me, that I wanted to share with others. It has now been just over a year since my first entry, and I am re-evaluating the purpose of this blog, and considering what I should do.
I am unsure whether to continue, or if my purpose is complete.
I bet many of you have the same concerns...leave me a comment, I'd like to know what you are thinking too..here is the link to the article I read:
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2007/01/27/how-to-know-when-to-stop-blogging/ 




Blessings,
Gina

Antique MALL Shopping Trip-Part 2---

Well, I will finish up our antique mall shopping trip today. My last post explained that I dragged my unwilling 9 year old son to the antique mall, but I have much experience in dragging unwilling children ( my own ), to antique malls over the last 20 + years...so I was up for the challenge. Here is a wide shot of many of the spaces in the antique mall, to the right is a nice thick tapestry. I will show it to you...

Sort of medieval , Renaissance style with the unicorns and lovely colors. I got closer to of course, check the price, as I stated before ...that ends up being my final qualifier for my purchases.

Yikes, 450. dollars ! That lovely heavy, piece of fabric will remain for someone who will buy it for their home. It was a reproduction tapestry, probably worth around 200.- 300 or so. This is not going home with us...

I saw this large oil painting, but I needed to lift it off the wall to check out the back. I am still trying to recover from this costochondritis ( inflammation of the cartilage in ribs and sternum ), so I am not lifting anything heavy if I can help it. VERY hard for me to ask for help, but my doctor says this takes 8 weeks or more to heal, if you are careful . Don't you hate when you can't do what you physically have had no problem doing before ? Anyway, I needed to lift this and look at the back of the canvas to show me if it was old or not. I had a suspicion it was not. Let me show you..

Obvious new painting, manufacturers try to darken the back of canvases, but this is a uniform sort of muddy color, not anything like what real back of canvases look like if they are truly vintage or antique. Then they are more tan-brown, not grey-taupe brown. Pass on this..

I will show you what an antique back of canvas looks like, so many reproduction paintings out, and you don't want a repro if you can buy original antique paintings...in my opinion. This was an OK painting, when you look closely, not very well done. The colors were pleasing to the eye, let me show you the back...

This is the color it should be, or a darker tan, the older the Art. Be careful of the faux swash of brown paint that importers are putting on the back of canvases to fool buyers. I will show you what that looks like in another entry. For now, we have to keep hunting...

Here was a jackpot find for me, a vintage potato masher...you know the ones you use to smash the potatoes before you mash them with an electric mixer. I did not want to pay 7.00 for it, but it went into our pile at the register because I need it.
I love homemade mashed potatoes.

I thought these vintage Chinese children's shoes were so cute with the hand-painted design on them. I like anything with hand-painted artwork on it, at least if it is good hand painting.

Tee-tiny little feet, and when I flipped them I could see the paint on the flip sides...which meant they were definitely hand-painted and not machine painted. I gave these to my son and he carried them to the front counter with our pile. Kids can be quite handy like that.

Antique pictorial book with cover of beautiful Victorian woman. I have many of these type of romantic books at home that I have not read, but I love the decorative covers on them.

The vintage floral in the reflection was too 1960-70's for me, and the frame of the mirror was nice but too big for shipping and not old enough for me. I look for many frames, and usually if they have a mirror inside, I discard the mirror as when I sell it they are very difficult to ship with the mirror inside.

I have seen this mirror in here for a year so , but it is still too pricey at 200. dollars for me for resale. Good price for someone looking for a nice old mirror though. Look at the detail,

Beautiful gesso overlay. Then I spy a sign out of the corner of my eye, here it is..

Love to see 50 % off signs. Let's look..

Lots of fabrics and nick-nacks...and  my associate and I open up this vintage quilt to check it out . He is still quite bored...and I am trying to keep him occupied until I take him to McDonald's for lunch later.

I wish it was older than 1970's, and the colors are typical 70's colors, but I loved the Bible verses throughout in hand stitching, and there were many signatures all in hand stitching, very charming..

Even Dear Old Dad signed this.

 I really liked all the signatures and more Bible verses. I got it for a song, can't tell you my price as I am listing this on eBay later. It did have one square damaged, but otherwise clean and in good condition. I held it in my arms for awhile, looked around the booth some more, and then looked to hand it to my associate for him to carry it up front for our pile of purchases...and this is what I find..

He has decided to lounge on all the other quilts for sale, and I was tickled to see in this picture that one of the college banners to the left ends with ' SON ", and since he is my son...it looks like the picture titled itself.
What a phoney-baloney still, such a hard life he has ...putting up with his mom at the antique mall.

I found this faux-stone , and it was ceramic and not resin... a large do-dad for my garden. It was in the 75 % off everything booth I found at at 36.00 dollars originally , I believe I paid about 10.00 for it.
Scored for my garden this time. Picked it up, handed it to my son...hesitated and asked him if he thought it was too heavy to carry up front ? He grabs it and walks off  to the front counter , acting like I ask the dumbest questions.

 Nice deco frame and mirror , price was Ok, but I passed on it.

Too high around 450. dollars I believe it was for resale, but beautiful, elegant mirror.

I have seen this art deco hand-painted mirror many times here, I consider it each time, but it is close to 90.00 dollars, and mirrors are very difficult to pack and ship. I am a paranoid, careful packer of the items I sell. But mirrors like this stress me out , I feel like I hold my breath until they get to the buyer...for days. It's hard enough to breathe lately, so I pass on it again. 
Trying to eliminate stress in general , but life is full of it right ?

I look to my left and see a wall of paintings...so I have to get closer.

Consider this one, but it was to high for resale and anything with wheels, windmills, water-wheels...does not sell well for me. I pass for now.

This Victorian pastel with violets or purple pansies was too high at almost 300,. for resale, but it was l lovely. Pastels sell for less than oil paintings, and I mainly sell antique oils.

Here was my pile that my son added to for me..

He slipped in a Hershey chocolate bar , amongst his hotwheels.
I looked up and laughed at the signs above the counter, look at my favorite...

Then I saw this one...
If I had this in my kitchen my husband could make a mini- fortune off me right now.

I looked over at the fresh flowers someone had placed at the front, andthe Halloween candy to try. We had a long wait to check out as only one very nice woman was working the counter, so I helped wrap my own things and paid and we headed out , down the street to a small antique store, on the corner. 

Cute, we run in.

I wanted this dragonfly for my garden but it was 75.00 !!!  too much. Pass.

Found this homemade mosaic platter for about 6.00 on sale. Grabbed it for my garden. May place it in the ground or put it on my porch with seashells from Edisto Beach in it.

Found this beautiful Deco frame with original print for a great price, I already have this listed on my eBay site. Then we scurry out, but I do make my son pose for a picture in these garden chairs, as they remind me of my grandparents' chairs we used to sit in out on the lawn. The parents and grandparents would sit in these, and drink iced tea... and then we kids would run around barefoot in the thick centipede grass and play.

Then I start to detect the ' look ' from him. Here it is...

I have bored him half to pieces look. 
So off we go, into the car for the ride back, quick stop at the drive through of McDonald's for a happy meal..and then we get home to Ms. Spoiled rotten..can you see her through my newly painted back porch here ?

My oldest son and my husband have repainted the back porch and the back of the house. Looks great. Look closely in the railings...

Yep, there she is.

Do not be fooled by that pitiful look, she is about to get some hamburger buns, and she is going back in the house to sleep all day...as usual. 

Thanks for going on my antique trip, I do this often...I will do a few more in some other shops some time.

have a nice , peaceful day,

Gina