The Gardening continues...

I'm outside a lot lately, so not doing a lot of blogging.  I'm trying to get my yard under control again.  Have definitely made progress, but not done yet!!!  I did hire a guy at my church to help me, and they worked all day on Saturday......finally it's shaping up.  It no longer looks like a war zone.  It's a very large yard, so while it won't be a paradise when it's done, at least it will be under control again.  You can again see the dirt in flower beds as opposed to the blanket of weeds that somehow shouted mutiny and overtook the flower beds.  Right now, I just want to get all the weeds out....and slowly decide what I want in some of the beds.  Some of them are done....I'll have a few pics in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, I'm burning calories (YAY!) and working in the yard....

See ya soon!

Simple treat for Memorial Day....

Are you ready for Memorial Day? Looking for a FUN treat!! Try these!!

Red, White and Blue Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
1 pint fresh strawberries (approx 12 oz)
4-oz white chocolate
......Blue sanding sugar or sprinkles
Line a baking sheet or cutting board with wax paper or parchment paper.
Chop up the chocolate roughly with a knife if it is in block form. In a medium-sized, microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave. Heat it in 45 or 60-second intervals, stirring between each time to ensure that the chocolate is melting evenly and not burning. Meanwhile, place blue sanding sugar into a small bowl and set it aside.
When chocolate is smooth, dip the berries 3/4 of the way into the chocolate, dip the tips into the blue sprinkles, and place on wax paper.
Berries can set at room temperature if you live somewhere cool, otherwise refrigerate them until ready to serve to allow the chocolate to set up.

 

A fellow Willow House Consultant posted these on Facebook, and I just had to share with y'all!!!

Have a blessed Sunday, my friends.....

Friday Fives!!!!!

Yea, It's Friday!!! (And for many, a long weekend, due to Memorial Day on Monday.)

1.  Will your holiday weekend involve a pool, a beach or a lake???

2.  Will you host a group or will you go to someone else's house?

3. Who do you WISH you could spend the weekend with?

4. Will you work part of the weekend (either work or DIY projects)  or will totally take off and rest?

5. If you could re-do a room in your house this weekend, which one would it be???

Happy Friday, y'all!!! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday!!!

It's been a while since I've posted about Wednesdays with Willow House, so I thought I'd catch you up on some things that are going on. 
Our eOutlet: is meeting with HUGE success!  It contains retired items at a bargain savings.  For even better savings, check out the WEEKLY deals that come out every Monday morning.  These are marked at 60 or 70% off!  The weekly deals are only good for a week, and then they will go back to regular outlet prices.  Also, there is now a MYSTERY deal a couple of times a week.  It is ONE product that is a GREAT buy for ONE day.  If you want to LIKE my page on Facebook, usually I will post the mystery deal once I know what it is.  There is not a prescribed day for it, so it's always a happy surprise!!  Willow House, Simply Good Design is my FB page....I would LOVE for you to go on over and choose to like it!! I'll wait....

The last Mystery Deal to run was this past Sunday....the Tuscan Olive Jar was only $18.96 for that day......wow, what a deal!!!  I have a friend who ordered one, and she said...."I was almost resigned to the fact that if I wanted an Olive Jar, I was going to have to pay $60 or $70!! I am SO glad I found this deal!"

You can, of course, order from our regular catalog as well, 24/7.  If you are up at 3 AM and decide to shop for a wedding gift, you can do it on my webiste!!! HA....southerninspiration.willowhouse.com
And MAY has some awesome specials sale prices going on here......

Click on the picture and you will be able to see the full sale, and in a larger size!

I am trying to meet some sales goals for May so if there is something you want to order, you can do so at my website......Southerninspiration.willowhouse.com.  The customer special will also apply to any of those items on the May sale, so if you spend $39.96, then any item valued at $40 or less can be yours for 1/2 price, even the sale items.....so those canisters up there???  You could get one of them for 1/2 off if you spend $39.96!!

Other news is that Willow House is becoming the first direct sales company to be multi-divisional....in the fall, we are launching our second division of Simply Good Design by adding a JEWELRY component under our umbrella of Simply Good Design....we just got a sneak peek at some of the products...well, here take a look!  And on June 1, the designer of our exclusive WH products will be announced...so exciting!!!

A sneak peek at some of our new Willow House jewelry to be offered in FALL 2011

 

 

Yes, I did mention multi-divisional!!  We are told there is a third division in the works!
It is all so very exciting...and you can actually be a part of it as well....for May and June only, an individual just like YOU can sign up for only $49!! That $49 gets you a mini-kit and the business supplies to get you started...and it secures your place to be set to sell our new jewelry in the fall, as well.  So now, hostesses can choose whether they want to have a jewelry party or a home decor party!!  If you'd like more info about the opportunity for getting in on this great opportunity, just let me know in the comments and we can talk.  Never before has this opportunity been offered for such a low price, and now it is not only low investment, but the outcome of your investment has the potential to be doubled with our TWO divisions!

If you've gotten this far in reading this long post....I hope you don't think I am self-serving....I REALLY want to get this opportunity spread far and wide.....AnYwaY, if you are still reading, I am hosting a giveaway for the person who goes to my website and tells me what your favorite WEEKLY deal item is......
The Giveaway will be held on next MONDAY, so get the word out....yes, if you want to spread the word via your blog, your FACEBOOK page, your twitter account or sending an email, just let me know in the comments and you will get an entry for each thing you do. 
The GIVEAWAY prize will be a Willow House product of my choice.........the more entries we get, the bigger the prize will be!! So go spread the word!!!

That's the Willow House Wednesday Report for today!!  If you'd like to get my monthly newsletter, the Inside Design, by email, just let me know in the comments.  Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

the Thriller, the Filler and the Spiller!!!

No, I'm not writing a mystery novel, but I thought that the article on Container Garden I recently received from Lowe's was a fabulous way to remember how to make a beautiful container garden........If you don't regularly receive Lowe's  Creative Ideas for Home and Garden publication, you might want to go to their website and sign up for it.  It's free and it's chockful of inspirational projects and ideas for your space!!
Go HERE and you can actually read it online or subscribe.
This month's edition has an article on container gardening.  It suggests that a good way to make a great looking container garden is to have a formula of  three types of plants for your container....a thriller, a filler and a spiller.  Quite clever, I must say.  So what does that mean??
They say fill an 18.5 inch pot with a container potting mix.  (A tip I've used before so that the pot is not so heavy is to fill the bottom third of a large pot like that full of styrofoam peanuts, or some other filler that will allow drainage but take up some of the room so that you don't need that much dirt.  It must be able to drain, however) . Then they suggest choosing a tall, dramatic thriller plant, a hardworking filler and a trailing spiller for a stunning display in your pot.  You'll find their combos in the Creative Ideas publication.  They suggest  for an all-white container, the thriller being One white pampas grass (tall), the Filler being three white petunia plants (will grow full and eye catching!) and the spiller being four white bacopas, that will spill over the side and are covered with tiny white flowers.  This combination also gives you varied textures, which is pleasing to the eye.
Another example they show is the Shade Lovers Container, which includes Two large leaved Coleus Plants, four begonias in assorted colors, and five licorce plants that will spill over the sides.....beautiful.

The third selection they show is a not so mellow Yellow filled pot.  The thriller is Foxglove, which grows pretty tall, the filler would be marguerite daisies and the spiller is a plant called Calibrachoa, superbells, similar to million bells.  They all look so pretty and allow you to use various kinds of plants to enjoy and play together sweetly!!  You'll want to check out the Creative Ideas publication.
I've made a few container pots for my porch and they contain impatiens, and a trailing ivy...the guara I tried to transplant for height died, so I need to go get something for my thriller behind those impatiens.....caladiums might be a good solution!

What about you? Do you have some container gardens you can tell me about???  What are some of your favorites???

Friday fives!!!!

Yay, the end of the week!! Are you glad it's Friday?  It's been a busy week for me, and it will be a busy weekend......but I guess that's better than the alternative!!
So here we are at the end of May....gee, time flies.  Weren't we just discussing winter and how cold it was??  No longer cold here......it's hot and humid, but hopefully we are in for some rain....we have drought conditions and could use it so badly!

So onto our Friday Fives.....

1.  Do you have someone finishing school so that your summer schedule will be altered?  Is that a good feeling for you??

2.  What do you like best about summer?

3. What do you like least about summer?

4.  Do you have big plans for Memorial Day Weekend?

5.  What one goal do you have that you'd like to complete by the end of summer?

Thanks, y'all for playing along, and have a great weekend!! See you soon!

Upstairs friends???? Do you know what she means???

Many of you probably already read Kimba's blog, A Soft Place to Land......I've not been over to see her in a while, but when I read this, I again so appreciated who she is and how she is transparent and real....I loved this post she wrote and posted today. Check it out....she is so real and so funny at the same time.

A SOFT PLACE

What's behind your fences?????

A moment on perspective and choosing your words......

Please watch. You will love this!

Ingenious ideas!!

I know you all know that I LOVE Real Simple Magazine....especially the way that they come up with new uses for common things.....like these ideas...READ them and you won't be disappointed!  You can also sign up to get their ideas, which are often tidbits to just do today.......taking ONE step toward getting done all those little things that add up to keep us organized and keep life a little simpler!!!

Not the current cover, this is from the Archives....

Check out these GREAT ideas!!!
http://www.realsimple.com/new-uses-for-old-things/new-uses-home-office/picture-frame-as-dry-erase-board-00000000049958/index.html

Mother's Day gift....

While I do indeed love my new iPad2 that my husband gifted me with, I also got a TRUE treasure from my son and daughter in law in the mail for Mother's Day.......a canvas that Heather purchased from Shutterfly, after having a photo shoot with the most gorgeous baby ever!!! Well, I am perhaps a tad bit biased!!  Heather and Russell got a new camera recently and we are all benefitting from it's wonders!!  Then Heather went to Shutterfly and had this canvas made for both the grammies.....and I thought I'd share it with you.  GREAT job Heather, and thanks so, so much.  I love it...how can I not smile every day when I walk past this???

It was indeed a Happy Mother's Day in 2011!!!!

Well.....about that shopping trip!!

Well, my sweet husband told me he wanted to take me shopping to let me get something that I may have  wanted for awhile.  So sweet, right??

  We were just talking the other day after I got rid of every phone book in my house.  I don't know about where you live, but here, we had phone books that were about two feet tall!! I was sick of them taking up valuable space!  When we need to look up a number, we can just go to the computer!  And I use some recipes that I have stored on the computer, so we were thinking how nice it would be to have a small laptop or such for just that.   I love to take my laptop when I am traveling, too, but it tends to be a little bulky since I have a longer one with the numbers on the right......(there's a name for that, isn't there???)
So to make a long story short, I decided that an IPad or small laptop would be good.  Talk about a splurge!  I've  had an iPhone for some time...(got a refurbished one some time ago) and I love how easy it is to use...so it was an easy transition to think about getting an IPad2.  So guess what he bought for me??? Wow, I never expected to own one of these!!! And I knew he would get a lot of use from it as well....so that's the big secret! We've used it already and I even took a one hour workshop for orientation.....however, I would have benefitted more from a more advanced class, since I have my history of using the iPhone.

So, I will be working on adding apps and deciding what exactly I can use my iPad for .  If you have one, tell me what apps you like!! We 'd all benefit from that.....oh, and one of the cutest ones is called Cuptakes....an app that gives you cute, girly, girl backgrounds for your wallpapers on your iPhone or iPad.  Check it out, they are adorable!!
So what are YOUR favorite apps???

And then Sunday night, as my hubby and I were watching television, in walks my daughter to surprise me for an overnight visit!! She had to go back to finish up finals, but she will be home for the summer this Wednesday night.....Isn't that a nice surprise????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day weekend....

It's the day before Mother's Day and the kids can't come home as they are preparing for the last few days of finals.  I am ok with that, as I really do want them to be able to concentrate, study and do well.  My daughter will be home Wednesday night, but not sure when my son will come home as he's gotten a job there in College town!  We are indeed glad for that, to give him more experience while he waits to apply to Vet School again.
So two days ago, my hubby tells me to plan four hours into my Saturday to go shopping........??? He WANTS to go shopping???  And he won't tell me any more of the details until we leave to go shopping.....in about an hour and a half?? My mind has been spinning, wondering what in the world he wants to take me shopping for!! I have a tiny idea, but who knows what he's got up his sleeve???  I guess I'll be able to report back and let you know if it's as I suspected!! Or if it's something totally NOT what I expected!!!

So, do YOU like surprises?????
What will you do for your Mother's Day weekend???

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely ladies!!

Friday Fives!!!!!

It's Mother's Day weekend!!! What do you have in store???  My younger kids are at college preparing for Finals....so no visit from them this weekend.  I am praying that they do well on their finals!!
It will be a quiet weekend....but that's okay.  After having my friend, Sidney the three year old toddler, visit this week, a quiet weekend will be great.  She is precious, adorable and some kind of chatty!!!  Loved so much having her here.  What fun!
She is one of the quints that I helped take care of for two years....when I had to have my shoulder surgery, I stopped going once a week to their house, and I sure have missed them. Thankfully, I get to see them at church most Sundays!

I am working on trying to get my yard in shape after a few years of not doing so...it's incredible how just one season of  missing yardwork can turn everything toward chaos!! After getting a bid of about $6000, I decided I'd get out there and see what I "could" do since I'm recovering from my shoulder surgery.  Who knew it would take THIS long???  Anyway, I am able to do quite a bit, with a few limitations.   So I've been cleaning out flower beds, and have a guy coming today to bid on what's left.  I have rediscovered how I love to be outside on cool spring mornings, as our weather here has been phenomenal!  Hot, humid, not so much, but these past few days, I have LOVED!

So onto our Friday Fives.......Mother's Day theme, of course!!!

1.Is your mamma still living?  Are  you close? (Mammas and daughters can be a challenge, yes??)

2.Do you have children?

3. Do you get along well with your mother in law? (mine's a GEM!!)

4. What are your plans for Mother's Day?

5. What smells remind you of your Mamma?

Have fun and have a WONDERFUL Mother's day!!!!

Essentials!

Do you have numbers written on post it notes all over the place?? What about business numbers or contacts that you need to call once or twice a year??
How about keeping track of all your appliances and who to call if one breaks?? Do you have a household inventory in case something happens and you need to account for everything??

Well, Real Simple ( I heart their emails that keep spurring me on to organization!) sent me an email today with a few organizing lists to keep me organized.  I need all the help I can get. They aren't all applicable to me, but some will prove to be very helpful...take a look for yourself and see if some of them will help you!!!


 REAL SIMPLE keeps us organized!!!!

Let's tackle this chaotic world one step at a time!!! I'm in, are YOU???

Tuesday ramblings......

There  are crazy things going on right now, aren't there?? We have weather patterns  that are just phenomenal.  Tornadoes, tsunamis, floodinger and cool weather patterns in May, and TEXAS is so dry that there are fire bans across the state.  We can't GET any rain. But it was 53 degrees here this morning!!!
  I wish we could divert some of the flood waters toward Texas so that places like my hometown would be safe and not flood from all the melting snow up north.  Vidalia, La., is my hometown and they are seeing the river at highs that haven't been seen since 1927, when the whole town flooded.  Now thanks to the Corps of Engineers, the levees are higher, but let's just pray they stay intact.  Pray that the strength of the levees will not be compromised and the efforts further north to break levees and ease some of the flood waters will help those further south.
And Osama Bin Laden.......well, there are LOTS of thoughts on this, but as I said yesterday, his death doesn't mean we can relax and be carefree.  No, I think it means we must pray diligently that God would be our Defender against any extremists who might want revenge or to take the place of him.


In Willow House news, we are embarking on yet a new adventure, in that starting in the fall, we will also be carrying a line of jewelry.  So you can dress your home OR yourself!! The designer of the jewelry is yet to be unveiled, and I am so anxious to see what we will make available to you.  Right now, one can buy a $49 mini starter kit to get in on the ground floor opportunity to sell our WH jewelry line.  The kit is available thru June at that price...so if you EVER found yourself wanting to know more about it, now is the time to check it out!
AND for those of you who are lovers of our products, we have an aMAYzing May sale going on with some fabulous prices that can't be beat.....I'll attach the flier just so you can see; if someone wants to give you a gift certificate for Mother's day, I can arrange that, so if you want to leave my blog open on your computer and make a few hints to those who might be considering what they might surprise you with for Mother's day, feel free to do so!! Ha.  They can be seen larger by clicking on my newsletter link below, Inside Design, or click on the left picture to see the larger.  My website is always available, also, at Southerninspiration.willowhouse.comsoutherninspiration.willowhouse.com.

My friend and fellow consultant, Susie, shows some of the specials and ideas on her blog, today.  Go over and encourage her, as she is a new blogger!! Your Best Accessory
And for those of you who don't already subscribe to my Willow House newsletter INSIDE DESIGN, you can take a look right now......if you love it, you can subscribe by choosing the link at the bottom of the newsletter.....it usually includes specials and sales, a recipe and a decorating idea.  The aMAYzing sale is in there, as is a recipe for yummy Lemon Bars...and a fun idea from Melanie Grant about designing your office space!

And then there is the fun news that beginning Friday, Starbucks will run a Frappucino special from 3 to 5 every day until the 16th, with half-priced Frappucinos......what's YOUR favorite????

I'll be back with some inspiring ideas for Mother's day.  What are YOUR plans???

We must continue to PRAY!!!

PRAY that our nation will stand in unity, and be protected.  We can thank GOD  for avengence, and pray that HE will continue to guide our nation.  We will continue to pray for our troops and our servicemen.