Quotes to remember~

As I was browsing some magazines, I came across a handful of quotes worth re-quoting...

To be a woman, you have to look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a dog.

Courtesy is owed. Respect is earned. Love is given. 

It doesn't matter the price of the dress; what matters is what's in the dress.

Mistakes are a fact of life. It's what you learn from them that counts.

Three little words all women long to hear, "You were right."

Good manners will often take you where neither money nor education can. 

A real southern girl will own an iced tea pitcher, a deviled egg plate and have a jar of bacon grease in the fridge.

Not sure about you, but I see some truths here!!

 Have a blessed day :)

Front Porch Prettiness for Less Than Ten Bucks~

  I like the architecture of our front porch. The red trim and cedar beams set it off, but due to lots of animals running about, sometimes on the porch, I haven't done much with it.
 Today, I was inspired to make it look nice.

First, I thought about the "feel" of the space. Formal, cozy, rustic?  I chose rustic after I pondered all the "stuff" I had lying around that would either be unappetizing to large farm animals and dogs, or indestructible. Most all of the things that fit that description were "rustic." (Which to me means old and not very useful!)



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In this pic., I'll begin with my favorite thing. That would be the black wicker planter to the far right. That belonged to my great-grandpa, "Opa" -German for grandfather. I spray painted it a shiny black. It is very old and I honestly believe the many coats of paint are what is holding it together. It's filled with red impatiens which will grow to fill and overflow the planter. I can hardly wait!

The  next items I gathered were the old goose decoy from my dad's home, the old wooden box we found here in a barn, and the antique chicken drinker sitting in the box. There's also and old tin pie pan we feed the dogs in. ~It adds to the decor. :) Those things made a nice grouping.

 Kaitie gave me the star for Christmas and I hung it with a shirt pin- those really sturdy pins that come in men's shirts. I got the hole started with a tiny nail, but used the pin so as not to make a big hole in the siding.

The second opportunity for spray paint beautification came when I decided to use these old pots. They were UGLY, but a coat of hammered bronze and cream paint did the trick. Again, they are planted with impatiens which love the shade of porch. The flags cost less than $3 for the set at Walmart and add the color the porch needed. As the flowers grow, the color factor will be all the better. (Oh, and the large rocks- a dog deterrent. If it's too much trouble, they won't bother digging up the flowers. Hopefully I outsmarted them. Eventually, the flowers will cover the rocks.)

This old bench was the one thing I had outside when we lived in the shop while building our home. I said please, please be careful of the bench... then Dylan accidentally then ran over it with the track loader. Yeah. Smush. But, Ron saved the day with his welder. My hero.

It got a coat of stain and the metal spray painted with hammered bronze paint. Looks better than new!

And the old milk can... I like to paint on metal. Usually I paint the homeowner's house on one, with a welcome message. I have one in our home with a mule deer. Painting on metal is fun. I have no idea why. But, here this old gal got a horseshoe necklace and welcoming "Howdy." No new paint for her. She would be too fancy for the old horseshoe then.

And the finished product. Better than it was, probably not as good as it could be...but until I'm guaranteed no cows on the porch, it'll have to do!!