Got me a hillbilly bone...

 Kinda diggin' this hillbilly backyard retreat...

 A gal needs a fancy rig huh...

 and some relatives...

 Countryfied wall art...

 some good ol' hillbilly sushi...

 designer fountain...

 a hillbilly hammock...

and fun was had by all...

y'all come back now!!!

Evolution...

 Can you say PINK...

I'm luvin' this cute lil' end table!

 I was over at Elizabeth Maxson's blog

the other day and was totally immersed in

what Elizabeth was saying/feeling.

A gridlock, yet not...

a metamorphosis in spirit...yes,

that's it, a coming home, sorta.

I've been painting furniture for 20 years

 now, have seen styles come and go,

colors come and go, but I think today's

 society has really grown up in thinking,

especially women and gay men...

there I said it...we are out of the closet

and are showing our strengths,

speaking out about what we love

and desire, not bullied into submission

by the masses(men)...

we can do whatever the hell we want!

Go to Elizabeth's blog and take

this pink piece and set it next to the

sofa on her header photo...

see, that's freedom

AND STYLE!

 Next, let's talk COYOTE UGLY...

I know, there's a bunch of you that

went EWWWWWW...

but there's that freedom thingy again!

This is my separation of church and state...

death is a natural course in life,

a beautiful creature once lived here,

a testament to millions of years

of evolution, there is nothing horrid about it,

it is beautiful in complexity and worthy

of note...it is my way of honoring Nature

and Evolution,

 some day this skull will go back to it's

beginnings as star dust, millions of years

will fly by, and hopefully we'll grow and

 learn to respect life and honor all things

in Nature and the Universe,

Earth Day is coming

R.E.S.P.E.C.T...

Gypsy Moth Antiques...

 Love, love, love the purple walls...

are ya ready for some color,

well we definitely are...

 Everything just pops against it,

it's a youthful, playful atmosphere

where we're pushing the limits,

decorating is fun when you're not

afraid to live on the edge...

 Then there's the pink walls,

they are just to die for...

 The green slag glass windows

are fabulous with both colors

and this wardrobe is sooo Bohemian...

You just have to see this to believe it,

sure the sofa will sit in front of the wardrobe,

but why when you can create mystery

and enchantment...

DON'T DO THIS AT HOME

And no this isn't a new shop,

but a room in the Junk Asylum that Lorie

 and I share...but who knows what the

future will bring...

gaze into the crystal ball at

 Gypsy Moth Antiques

in Eldridge, Iowa.

Blowin' in the wind...

 Have you ever tried to set a screen door

 in hurricane force winds...

not a pretty sight, yet amusing!

 My fence is finished and all I have

to do is attach the screen door

instead of a gate...yeah right...

I get my sense of humor from my dad

who asks me why I'm not using a gate,

(he's old school)

I said "I want it to be different"...

he says...

"are you trying to keep the flies out"?

I had to get a visual on that one...

you just have to get a visual,

right!!!

Well, again tonight I will put my

tenders to bed and hope for the best...

been a crazy year to say the least!

My next dog...

 The Australian Cattle Dog...

known for their intelligence

and healing(wrangling cattle and sheep).

The puppies are adorable...

and full of IT...!

Medium size dogs and yes,

they do shed...

ALL DOGS SHED

 They come in blue and red...

This my old dog Squiggy...

a bought her for $50.00 out of a shopping

cart in front of Safeway when I lived

in Colorado, everyone has them out there!

She was a beautiful girl and lived to be 13.

When your current dog starts to reach ''that age",

you start thinking those thoughts...

long and hard.

I'm a dog person,

a canine whisperer,

they are my life companions,

I will never be without,

my soul and my spirit

would never be whole!

Shopping...

 Went shopping yesterday for stuff for our

opening of the Gypsy Moth Antiques...

gonna be hard not to keep this fun stuff,

especially since I've been looking for

 two more chairs for my yard...

 Sweet lil' statues for a garden...

 and this awesome statue of a young

boy eating cherries...but alas, I'm afraid it

 may have found a permanent home...

heh heh...!

UH OH...I feel some "Cracked in the Head"

nightlights comin' on...

thanks Mark and Liz, I raided your booth!

Much more stuff comin', but that's the surprise!

Ice, ice, baby...

 Yup, a quarter inch of ice in the birdbath...

but at dawn, I didn't see any signs of frost

on the plants, let's hope not!

 My raggedy old fence around my strawberry bed

is coming down...

 Got all the fence posts in the other day,

now to give my arms a break for a couple

 of days, then it's on with the wire. I'm just

using chicken wire, cheaper and easier

for these old bones to work with.

The tall poles will be used for growing

 peas or cukes, they will have another layer

 of chicken wire for the climbers.

Since the poles are 6 ft., instead of gates,

I'm going to use old screen doors...

fun huh!

Good to see green again huh!

A tradeoff...what to do...

 My husband never wanted me to plant

lilac bushes, saying they spread and

 are hard to get rid of...but, but...

so when I bought my 'divorce house',

the first thing I planted was a start

from a wild lilac bush. It's taken 10 years,

but it's finally blooming and getting bigger...

spreading...HEH HEH...

 Another problem,

the 'wild honeysuckle bush'...

I just found out that they are invasive,

after I planted a row of them.

OK, so now the trade-off...

I want privacy from the 4-lane

and I want it fast, I want a wind break

and a sound barrier

and I want it now...

These are the bushes I planted in my

front yard 3 years ago, they are

over 10 feet tall and as you can see,

they give plenty of privacy...

and they give me fragrant blossoms

and the birds a red berry...

and the girls love to grub bugs

in their shade...

they're staying,

nuff said!

Not much time for bloggin...

It seems that blogging is going by the wayside,

as people get into their summer modes

or maybe facebook and pinterest have

peeked more interest...for me,

I'm hooked on pinterest, it inspires me

and facebook is a quick fix to keep in touch...

but the biggest factor is this, my

garden expansion, a 25x30 addition.

Now it has to be fenced in to keep

the critters out...

great exersize, great food, great sun

and I sleep like a log at the end of my day!

Gypsy Moth Antiques...

 Lorie and I have been in and out of various

antique businesses for years now,

up and down with the economy,

both with family cancer issues, but we

still share the love of the cute lil shops we've

had and the ones we will have...

 Lorie owns The Junk Asylum mall

in Eldridge Iowa, but the longing for a

 cute lil' shop with just me and Lorie's stuff

still haunts us...

'we are forever seeking the light'

which is our tagline for the

'Gypsy Moth Antiques'...

 But while we wait for the perfect location

to have in addition to The Asylum,

we have a large room there that we will be

 filling with our particular style of design...

 Fun decorating styles will be explored in this

new space...

 Fabulous Bohemian colors will be explored...

 Over-the-top furniture painting designs

will also be explored...

 We're hoping that you'll step out of the norm

and follow your Gypsy soul...

 be brave, be young at heart, open your

world to the light...

 dare to paint your world purple and shabby...

kick off your shoes and step into the light...

drink purple all day

and let it set you free...

Gypsy Moth Antiques