OUR TIFFANY WILL BE GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

Our Tiffany Will Be Graduating 
High School and College

May 2014

Eric and I are so very proud to announce that our Tiffany will be graduating from High School and from College this May.  Tiffany elected to attend an Early College Academy which required her to attend both High School and College at the same time.  This was no easy task but she rose to the occasion and she has excelled.  She will have two degrees conferred upon her the first of which will be a Distinguished High School Diploma and secondly she will receive her Associates Degree from College. 

Tiffany started out life as a premature baby born at only 28 weeks gestation.  She was diagnosed with Epilepsy by age one and Mild (CP) Cerebral Palsy by age two.  After years of Physical Therapy, Occupational and Speech Therapy, Tiffany overcame most of her limitations.  Then in school she was about two years behind her classmates and was in resource classes up until Middle School.  While in Elementary school here in Texas she worked with a wonderful lady that brought Tiffany from two years below her grade level to two years above her grade level. 

In Middle School Tiffany began to shine becoming a highly achieving student and beginning to author her first novel which is still a work in progress.  One day she ran home and told me all about this new school that she wanted to attend.  I did my research and even though the schedule and workload would be difficult I knew she could do it and do it she did!  

Tiffany gets up at 5 AM every morning and she returns home around 5 PM every day.  During that time she has worked not just at school but at home as well.  She has put everything she has into her success at her school and we are so very proud of her.  She is a hard working and highly self-motivated young lady.  She knows what she wants and she isn't afraid to work for it.  How many people can say that about their children these days?  

Here is Tiffany when she was very small.

Tiffany in Ballet

All Grown Up

Tiffany Junior Prom

Tiffany Senior Year

Tiffany will be going to live in Korea for a few years with us.  We decided to wait for her to go to college and further her education for now.  We felt the opportunity to live in Korea was a once in a lifetime chance and we could just not pass that up.  We are confidant that living in another country will afford Tiffany an education in and of itself. 

She was accepted at several colleges but her favorite was Hollins University in Virginia.  She will in the future be attending college somewhere and furthering her education in Literature. 

Tiffany dreams of one day being a writer...

And if I know our Tiffany...

She will do just that...

Here's to all the Graduates and their families!

  

Hugs, Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

EASTER DECORATING

Easter Decorating

We are still working on the house but I managed to decorated a little for Easter.  I was cleaning out our Holiday bins and I finally got to the Easter ones and I decided why not go ahead and decorate while I am cleaning the bins out. 

I love this paper mache egg. 

My bunny candle from Target years ago. 

My egg tree from Target that I have had for several years now. 

Awwww and another paper mache egg.  

My vintage doll with Easter goodies. 

My peeps bunny with healthy treats. 

One of my needle felt chicks.  His name is Spring Sprung. I have to keep my eye on him, he gets into trouble sometimes. 

My bunny cookie jar and egg kitchen items.  Notice we are using fruit and healthy snacks.  

Aren't these little guys the cutest. 

Egg salt and pepper set

Healthy fruit in my beautiful Egg bowl. 

So now I am a happy girl because I finally feel like it is Easter in our home. 

Wishing all my friends in blogland a very Happy Easter!

Hugs, 

Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

VINTAGE FEMININE AND FRILLY

Vintage Feminine and Frilly

Being a girly girl I love all things feminine and frilly and if they are vintage that is just the icing on the cake.  This past week we have been working very hard on our home so that we can put it up for sale.  Although it is very hard work, I have found that there are some real perks to cleaning out your entire house.  As you work to clear the clutter you find all sorts of treasure that you have long since forgotten.  I found one such treasure as I was cleaning out my dressers.  It was this sheer pink thing with lace that appears to tie around your neck.  So I sat about trying to find out exactly what it was, what do you think it is....

Turns out it had a tag and the tag read "Betty Dain Creations" made in the USA.  So I did and Internet search and after a few minutes I came up with hairdressing cape.  Okay that makes great sense and I could so use this when I am doing my hair or makeup.  Think about it, no hairspray,  hair or makeup on your clothes.  

Side One

Side Two

Apparently you can use these either way depending on if you are doing makeup or hair.   Turns out this is the perfect thing for me and I had it all the time.  Now it hangs in my dressing area so that I can use it everyday. 

Did you notice my Audrey?  

She has a new dress. 

 So in keeping with my vintage feminine and frilly theme here is Audrey in her vintage wedding dress. 

Dress will be featured alone in a future post. 

Did you notice the flower ribbon on Audrey's dress?   

Well that is something extra special from my Dear friend Doni.  I have had a hard few weeks lately and one day last week we stopped by the mailbox to check the mail.  My Eric handed me a box and I saw it was from Doni.  I was dirty, tired,  feeling so overwhelmed and every fiber of my being was in pain.  Inside the box I found three packages wrapped with ribbons.  I knew that the dark purple was for Tiffany and the orange was for June Bug because Doni had asked me what was their favorite colors.  One of the gifts was tied with a white ribbon and I knew that it must be mine.  I opened it and found the most beautiful flower ribbon hand crafted by Doni just for me.  I so love it and I rushed home to give the girls their gifts so I could see them.  I love our gifts and they were just what I needed. I will always treasure my gift because Doni made it for me and because it arrived right when I needed it and brought a smile to my face.

Thank you so much my friend...

Loving my vintage, feminine and frilly girly girl goodies,

Beverly 

Tea Cottage Pretties

FROM ONE BUSY GIRL

From One Busy Girl

Hello everyone, I wanted to drop by and let everyone know that I am back and I am doing well.  Our family just finished the Celebration Of Life for my brother Jeff.  We were all very shocked to loose him at such a young age.  My brother had suffered for a long time and I am comforted knowing that he no longer has to suffer.  Each of us handle these situations differently and my response to stress is always to get busy.  

As it turns out we were approved to go to Korea so we will all be going as a family.  Therefore, it was time for this girl to get busy and start preparing our home so that we can place it on the market for sale.  I have been working so very hard and I have amazed myself at what I have been able to accomplish.  Next week my Eric will be taking a week off to help me get everything done.  

Our home looks and feels a little strange to me because I am decluttering as I clean everything.  When I say clean everything, I mean everything.  We have been here for 10 years and there is so much to do.  This is like doing ten years worth of Spring cleaning, so much work.  We are trying to get rid of tons of stuff and this weekend we will be having a yard sale.  I love the idea of being paid money to have my stuff taken off my hands.  Hope we make some good money to put back into our home.  

So I will be super busy doing things around here but I plan to work on a post for my blog as well, so look for me soon.  Until then here are a few photos of our home over the years. 

Our Home

Living Room 

Bedroom

Bedroom

Bathroom

Garden

I will miss our home but I have many new adventures waiting for me in another part of the world,  I am so looking forward to our new life. 

Hugs, Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties

IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY BROTHER JEFF

In Loving Memory Of My Brother Jeff

March 6, 1966 - March 23, 2014

My brother Jeff past away today, he was 48 years old.  He had a heart of gold and was a hard worker.  His trade was in auto body and paint, he was a highly skilled painter.   He leaves behind his wife Deborah, his children Jeffrey and Ashley, 3 grandchildren (Kayden, Payton and Riley), his mother Shelby and his sister's Patti and Beverly.  He preceded in death by his father Henry, sister Pamela and his brother Paul.  This is a very difficult time for our family as it is never easy when one looses a loved one.  I will be back soon.  

Hugs, Beverly

BATHROOM MAKEOVER

Bathroom Makeover


More pictures below...

While we are waiting on an approval for all of us to go to Korea I decided to get busy getting the house ready to sell.  Even if we do not  all get to go to Korea as a family we will still be trying to sell our home in the near future, so it can't hurt to get started.  Our upstairs bathroom needed the most attention of any room in our home.  It is over used and abused so I decided it needed some TLC.  I chose a simple neutral palette of colors including mostly tans and shades of brown.  I wanted a simple clean look that appeals to both males and females and I wanted to stay on a tiny budget.  I will show you a breakdown at the bottom of this post. I also wanted the things I chose to go with us when we move on, so I wanted to love it as well. 

With that in mind I found a very nice shower curtain featuring a vintage Paris theme.  It features all my favorites Paris, vintage postcards and vintage perfume labels. 

To compliment the shower curtain I chose tan rugs and accent towels.  I gave you a sneak peak at my towels in my previous post.  The towels and rugs are all by Better Homes and Gardens and I loved the color.  I felt the towels needed something special so I added a very nice crochet and ribbon trim to a bath towels hand towel and wash cloth.  

When I purchased my towels they looked like this...

I added the trim and here they are after...

 I love how they turned out...

  I do not really like those carpet type toilet covers and I think they are unsanitary as well.   So I also made a cute burlap doily for the back of the toilet.  I added the same crochet trim to the doily. 

The last thing I made by hand was a toothbrush cup. 

I made it using a tin can (from canned corn),  I made sure that the edges were not sharp.  I cleaned it well and dried it.  Then I cut some fabric, got out my trusty scissors and my hot glue gun.  I glued the fabric on to the can.  Then I made a nice seam and folded the fabric over the bottom and the top.  I added a piece of crochet trim and just like that I had a matching toothbrush holder. 

You can see the rugs in this picture..

The rugs are super soft and I think they will appeal to just about anyone.  I do not like toilet rugs so I did not buy that kind of rug.  I choose one for in front of the bathtub and one for the sink.  I will show you the rest of my decor choices below...

  We had to fix a few places in the walls, ceiling and cover all the holes in the walls first.  We had to paint the walls so I decided to select a color that was close to what we already had on the walls.  I just wanted them to look clean and nice for others to see. 

After doing the repairs, I of course cleaned the bathroom really well.  I cleaned all the fixtures, inside cabinets and closets.  Once everything was cleaned up it was time for my favorite part - DECORATING.  

This particular bathroom is long and narrow so it is super hard to take photos but here are the before photos. I had already removed all the things off the walls so the bathroom is kind of  bare in these photos. 

BEFORE

AFTER

It is simple and clean with just a few special touches and one art piece on the wall.  Most of my decor items came from around our home.  I love shopping in my own home and reusing things in a different way.  

Cost For Decor Items

Shower Curtain       $17.00   Amazon

Towels                       $10.00  Walmart

 Rugs                           $24.00  Walmart

  Crochet Trim                $4.00  Walmart

        Wall Art                       $3.00  Hobby Lobby

Burlap Trim                $4.00 Walmart

Decorations                                Free      

  Total                         $57.00                       

Cost For DIY Items

Paint $18.00

Caulk $6.00

Wall Putty $4.00

Total $28.00

So this bathroom update cost a total of $85.00

I think it was well worth the price.  I am super pleased with our bathroom redo. I want to thank my son for painting the walls for me, his help was greatly appreciated. 

This bathroom may not sell our home but it certainly won't keep anyone from buying it 

One room down and HOW MANY TO GO???

Till next time, 

Beverly

Tea Cottage Pretties