Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Susan from Must Love Junk, and myself wanted to do a regular feature on our blogs, something unique that hasn't been done before.   So we came up with an idea to 'spotlight the real life behind the blogger' in a more personal way.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland, and we thought it would be fun to bring you a closer look at the person behind the blog.

Every week on Saturday we will spotlight a blogger and have them tell us a little bit about themselves and their blogs.  You will be able to see and read about each of the bloggers on both Susan's and my blog. 

November 1
Sandi from Wayside Treasures

Good Saturday to all of you.  This week in Spotlight I have a wonderful blogger Sandi from Wayside Treasures.    Sandi lives in my home state of Michigan and her love of whites and all things vintage and chippy drew me to get to know her better.  So sit back and enjoy getting to know Sandi.

I feel so honored that Kris chose to include me in the blogger Spotlight this week and I want to give you all a warm Michigan welcome! I will try to tell you a little about my family and I as we go along. My name is Sandi and I make my blog home over at Wayside Treasures. I was born and raised in Ohio, but migrated north to Michigan when hubby and I got married. Not too far north though. We only live about 7 miles from where I grew up and where my parents still live, so we didn't go very far. I do love blogging, but I find that I don't have near as much time for it as I used to have. Life just seems to happen and flow along and before I know it, sometimes it is weeks between blog posts. Trying to work on that. :) Please do come on in, take off your jacket {it is chilly here in Michigan}  and sit awhile while we chat.  I thought we could start at the coffee bar in the corner of my kitchen. After all isn't it coffee that makes the world go round? Seriously, I am really not a coffee drinker, but I  do love a good latte or mocha once in awhile, but no plain coffee for me.  I am also a huge fan of Starbucks green tea with raspberry syrup frappuccino...to die for delicious!  Grab yourself a plate because I have some goodies to share with you! How about a fresh apple crisp right out of the oven? I do love the smell of apples baking in the fall. There is nothing like it..except maybe warm spiced apple cider! It  does taste yummy if I don't say so myself!!! Or would you rather have a lemon pound cake slice?  I think I will just let you have both since I am feeling generous today. :) We will sit here at our dining room table that is decorated for fall and just chat the day away if that is okay? I thought so. :) After we finish eating we can stroll outside where we find more fall decor. I found a plentiful supply of bittersweet right at the edge of our property this year and I am beyond thrilled! I am usually a "neutral color" gal , but when fall hits, I must have some  sprigs of bittersweet or it just doesn't seem right. My mom decorated with this when I was a youngster and I continue the tradition. We have misty mornings{ along with fog delays for school kiddos} quite frequently especially this time of year, but I love it. I have been married to my wonderful hubby named Hillis for over 37 years.  We have gotten   mail and phone calls addressed to or asking for PHYLLIS.  Isn't that a hoot? I can see why people would think it is that name though.   Together we have three children , their spouses and eight  grandchildren. Almost nine...any day now! { I am sure by the time you read this we will have had number nine in our arms} Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think of my age. {55, but who's counting! lol}  It just doesn't seem possible! Where have the years gone? I still feel like I am 25 years old on the inside...we won't talk about the outside.ha! My youngest son and his family were the only children who lived close to us and they moved  away in June. I try to keep myself busy as I miss them so very much. One thing I have been doing  is creating the fabric pumpkins shown above. They have real dried stems and I am addicted! They are all the rage right now and I just love to make them. {I have some stocked in my Etsy store if you are interested} I have been fortunate to be a stay at home mom/wife my whole life. Oh, there were those few  stints right after we were married that I worked at a greenhouse and I also ran a store for a friend while she vacationed in Florida for a couple weeks, but that was a long time ago. Do you ever remember seeing huge clear balloons that sit on a table and are filled inside with teddy bears etc. for gift giving? Yep, I made those in her store. Fun memories! But  I will say that when my kiddos came along I just wanted to be a mom and take care of them and I was lucky to be able to do that. The above photo is a floor to ceiling chalk board in our home that hubby and I just finished  a few weeks ago. {This is my studio/computer room} We had removed an outside door several years ago and put up a piece of drywall where it used to be, but that is as far as we got. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but it hit me one day to make a chalkboard. So we did! I love it! This is my youngest son and his family along with yours truly and my hubby. They were home from North Dakota in October and we visited a corn maze that is about 3 miles from our home. We first  did this last year and I would love to make it a yearly tradition. It is so fun. I put together a collage of the girls while they were here and it is shown below. We filled every single moment with memories.  Our oldest son Jason and his wife Melissa have two sweeties named Keira and Kanaan. They are also expecting a third due October 20 so by the time you read this we will have grandchild number nine.  Jason works at Huntington University in Huntington, Indiana,  where he graduated from in 2003, as a computer tech guy. He is also the praise and worship leader at his church and does a fantastic job! This little blonde above is our granddaughter Keira. I was privileged to spend Grandparents Day with her at her school a few weeks ago in Indiana and it was a fun day! The stunning beauty above is our oldest granddaughter Allysha who is 15.  She is extra special to us because she lived with us until she was four years old and I took care of her while her mama worked. {Her mama is our only daughter and our oldest child. Amanda and her husband have four kiddos. Three boys and Allysha. Her hubby works as an engineer for GM }  It was sure hard when they moved about 3 hours away, but somehow we managed. {barely!} She  has sure grown into a tall and beautiful young lady. Do you see a running theme here? Everyone is moving away! What is up with that? I think they should all live within three miles of us...okay maybe five would do.  I snapped a few more photos in the house to share with you. The lantern above sits in front  of my living room window. Right now it is filled with pumpkins,leaves and pine-cones.  This is one corner of my living room. We had new carpet laid in September and I love it. It is berber and is so nice. New furniture is next on the list and I am so excited. We have had this furniture for many, many years and it is time to go. Underneath that throw is a country blue love-seat. ugh. I loved it way back when, but not now. A favorite corner in my dining room. I love to bring garden statuary into my home. We have a pine tree that gives us a LOT of pine-cones so I collect them every year and use them in my fall and winter decor. My studio is full and overflowing so I thought I would share just a small corner with you.  This also has a berber carpet and it works well. In a perfect world , I would have all hardwood floors, but it is really  not an option in our old house as cold as the winters get here. The living room and the studio must  have carpet under foot. Our home is small and over 100 years old. Along with that comes problems that one must deal with,  but we have lived here over 32 years and even with all the problems, I  can't imagine living anywhere else. We are situated on a dirt road about 3/4 mile off a main highway. When we moved  here in 1982 we were told they were going to pave the road. Yea...we are still waiting.  Not gong to happen. I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a little better. Oh , wait. I forgot to tell you that instead of having a traditional wedding, hubby and I eloped 8 days before our planned wedding! I called the wedding off not sure of what I really wanted and decided I wanted him after all...so we eloped! Yea, it's a long story, but it worked! God is good!!! Blessings~ Thank you Sandi for sharing yourself and your family with us.  This was so fun to get to know you better.  I love seeing your love for your family come through with this feature.  So sweet.  I grew up in Michigan and know the state well.  Even though I have lived in Chicago area for over 35 years I still miss Michigan.  Thanks for sharing with all of us.  Now that you have gotten to know Sandi a little better head over to Susan's blog and meet another wonderful blogger Pat from Gypsy Heart and Soul. Happy Week End. Enjoy. Kris :)

Give A Little Get A Lot

Just want to remind all of you that if you have not entered into the Creative Christmas Give Away you can still do that here.

I will have Terry pick a winner on Saturday Night and then I will post the winner on Sunday.  Good luck everyone.  I wish I had a copy of this wonderful book for each of you.

Ok who says Target is not Fun!!!!
My granddaughter Abby in the costume department at Target.

I was trying to get her over to the pretty princess costumes but nope she liked the silly costumes.

Even Grandpa and my son in law Tim could not resist.  Hmmmm both firemen with flames coming out their heads!!!!
Happy Halloween!

My daughter Jen,  son in law Tim and Abby at Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm this past Sunday.  I love Fall and all the fun things to do.

Now on for the real reason for this post!

 It is always good to give and sometimes you are blessed with getting something in return.

I got a package in the mail a few days ago from the lovely Diana from Nana Diana.

Diana and I have become pretty good blogging friends.  We have been seeing each other on a regular basis on line for about a year now.  We have advanced our online relationship to talking about a meet up in real life.

With some gas money, Starbucks and a GPS we may just have this down to a real meet and greet in the near future!

I am excited to meet in person some day soon but also cautious as you know what they say about peeps you meet on the internet!!!!!!  So for now we just keep our love alive in the blogging world.

Not sure the Illinois and Wisconsin borders are ready for this meet and greet just yet.  Have you seen the story of Thelma and Louise we all know how that turned out!!!    

Ok all kidding aside I wanted to do a special post to Diana and say thank you.

I got a lovely package in the mail from her and it made my day.  Somedays the highlight of my day is the mail!  So this special package arriving made me smile.

Woo Hoo! Lots of these little sweet loves inside.  Diana was telling me she only liked Brach's candy corns and I had to laugh because I only like Brach's candy corns too.  Just to funny to hear someone else say that.  I usually have never meet a piece of candy I do not like but when it comes to candy corns I like the Brach's the best.

Not just one but three different yummy flavors.  My hips were doing the happy dance to have these sweet little joys come join them soon!

Around the bags of candy corns was this  little white pumpkin.  Oh my does Diana know me or what.  This is the perfect pretty pumpkin to add to my fall decor.

This pretty pumpkin looks so sweet on my table with the fabric pumpkins.

Thank you  Diana for my fun and yummy surprise.  I loved this wonderful surprise  package.  It was a sweet treat from a great person.  Diana is an angel.  She does so much for family, friends and all the bloggers that she knows too.  If you do not know Diana and her blog OMG then get over there.  You will love her sweet and fun filled post.  TheNanaDiana blog.

Thank you my friend.

 Please come back on Saturday as Susan from Must Love Junk and I will have two wonderful bloggers in the Spotlight.
Have a wonderful week end.
Kris
:)

Re Love Of Office Area

Last Friday I was cleaning out things in my office and one thing lead to another!!!!

I know some of you know where this is going.

While cleaning in there the next thing I know everything is out of the office and off the walls and I said to myself,  Ok paint project and re love of space is going to happen!

Took everything down off the walls and gave this office a fresh coat of paint.  See the internet boxes and phone I will show you what I did to hide those later in this post.

It is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do in this small space.  

Chaos in the dining room where everything in my office landed while I worked in the office.

Remember this old chippy cabinet I had hanging in the office.  Well........

This old farmhouse kitchen cabinet works so much better as a credenza.  Don't you love the word credenza!!!!

Works to hide the internet boxes and also serves as a great magazine storage.  I have a weeee little issue with being a magazine hoarder!

I still love my old french divider doors that make a separation wall between my office and the back of the dining room.  Can you believe the area once was a storage closet.  Makes for a better office and lots of light now comes into the room with the window opened up and not shut behind closet doors.

I like my desk being over on this wall by the window.  The light always streams nicely in that window which is bad for picture taking.

With being a nurse I loved it when I found this old nurse's office sign awhile back.  

 Question for You.  I have my fun queen sign right now in the open space of the this chippy frame above my desk.  I was thinking maybe a chalk board in this space or maybe even some chicken wire behind the frame to give me hanging space to put my things on.  What do you think?  I love the whimsy the queen sign gives to my office.  I am just wondering if that space would not be better used as a chalk board or hanging board.

I re hung my old door from a downtown office building that was being renovated.  Love the history of this door and how I can hang a lot of things in my office on it.

Works great to hang things.

My scroll office tiered office basket I got at Lucky Junk awhile back.  Love this piece.

This office is definitely more organized.

Any place I can use creative and different storage I do.

Love my office tiered desk lamp too.  This lamp gives me places to put things that normally I would not have.  Love the chippy patina to this lamp too.

I have this old vintage mail box by my desk to put papers and cards etc. out of site.

I can even use the back side of the divider doors to hang my bulletin board.

Well there you have it.  My cleaning project on Friday lead to a new coat of paint and a relove of my office space.

I love that I have this reading chair right outside my office too.  The sun comes in so nicely in this spot for reading in the afternoon.

  Thank you always for your thoughts and kind comments on my decor crazy.


If you have not entered in for the Creatively Christmas Giveaway you can do it here.
I will have Terry draw out one of your lucky names and post it next Sunday.

Have a wonderful Week.
Kris
:)

Parties this week:
Wow Us Wednesday
Inspire Me Tuesday
Show and Share Tuesday
Take a Twirl and Bow
Before and After Wednesday
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Share your Cup Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
Shabbilicious Friday
Show and Tell Friday