WELCOME to HAPPY TO BE...This is a blog about my love of Antiques, My family, humor, as humor keeps us laughing and my every Day life...I hope you enjoy your visit...Please leave me a comment to let me know you Came by so I can visit with you Thank You !!...Hugs and Smiles, Gl♥ria

May 30, 2009

~WELL GROOMED MAN~

Hello guys...well today is our fun day where we get to do a do-over of one on our past post....Like if you didn't get it right the first time you get to do it again ha ha!!...This is a post I did an January 07, 2009...Now please go by and see our great Hostess Chari at Happy To Design to see all the great gals having a Re-Do today...Thanks Chari for starting this fun day for us....
Hey!! girls don't you just love a well groomed man?? Today I thought I would share some on my manly stuff with you...I started collecting manly stuff about 11 years ago..when my late husband Wally and I were doing yet another addition on to our mountain cabin..I really wanted a his and her bathroom..so I did mine all in old vintage Beauty shop and his in Barber shop...Now this is the brass sign on one of my oldest pieces of furniture...I just love how it says Clinton, Ohio home of the west...that was way before Calif was the west girls...this Barber chair is very Victorian and really pretty...it all walnut and has a copper foot rest on it....ca. 1740 Now here is a picture of the chair itself...I just loved the swan arms on it...and it adjust to 3 positions....




Now this frame I got out yard sailing and my late DH made a shadow box out of it so I could showcase from of my straight edge razors and grooming brushes....see the naked lady brush?? even back then men were men!!!



Now the corners on this frame I found in an antique shop and just knew I could add them to my shadow box to give it an added look....Now girls those are not aspirins tins you are seeing there...they are prophylactics tins and they are from World War 1 and they still have the condoms in them...hey!! I told you I was a weird collector and yes I also have a frame with those in them...But this is a family friendly blog so can't show them...



Now this is just a shaving mirror, straight razors, razor strap, and that bull dog is an electric Mustache curler...and a set of razors...



this is the box of razors and what so special about them is that there is one for each day of the week...look real close and you will see they are engraved with the day...these are from England and this is the only set that I ever found that was complete in the box...










I just love this bottle of scalp tonic and hair clippers and look at the old Gillette Razor blades..


Do any of you Remember "Wildroot"" all men at one time used this to slick there hair back..this is just an old sign I have hanging...


Just another shot of the same stuff...didn't mean to show this twice...oh well too late now !!!



This is a Barber pole I have and a few things hanging on the wall...and yes Justine I have a Pink bathroom...



A comb and brush holder with a tin mirror on it...



Well guys I hope you enjoyed some of my Manly stuff today...and in the near future I will show you the Beauty shop bathroom...I also have an outhouse bathroom...Yes!! you heard me right...it even has an "outhouse" door on it...I just love all things that are different...Told you I march to a guitar instead of a drum...or as my Wally use to say " the Redhead is not a dead Head"






May all of you have a safe and blessed day...


Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

May 25, 2009

~GENERAL STORE CONTAINERS~

Hello Girls !! I hope all of you have a GREAT Memorial day weekend....And you did something that you enjoyed, working in your gardens, Visiting with family and friends , Eating too much ha ha!! and remembering all our GREAT Service men and women who have given us our freedom to do what we enjoy doing.... Now today is Tam at the Gypsy's corner 3 or more day...and I thought I would join in because I have 3 or more of everything I collect ha ha!!!



Now I just love Old general store containers and have been collecting them for 30 years...Please click on these pictures to enlarge to see them better....This is just a few I have in a display cabinet in my kitchen...Now this cabinet was just a wall...but being a collector I needed more room ha ha!!! so what to do well I called my trusty Handy man and told him let's go between the studs in the wall and add a cabinet...well if you seen pictures of my sun room you will notice that the one wall in there looks like a box you can check it here I had that added to the out side of the house to make this cabinet space....This cabinet houses allot of my container's and my TV....Hey a girl got to have her Kitchen TV...the top row is all Planter's Peanuts Jars...




Now here are some of my old milk bottles and I have them displayed in a Biscuits Box...I just love these the have all glass front on them and you would just open them up and take out your biscuits...


Sunshine Biscuits one...



My favorite one this "Cracker Jack Co" one...The Cracker Jacks are even old one that I found and never opened...I bet they have Real toys inside and not the paper ones you get now a days...


This is a "Black Jack Gum" container...do any of you remember Black Jack gum YUM!! wished they still made it...



Now this will crack you up for sure....I got this at an auction years ago and look girls...



this is the newspaper that was inside of it...see the date 1928 but that's not the fun part ...



it had the original Soda cracker's from that time still in the tin....And just look how big and fat they were years ago...



It's filled to the top....I didn't even know this until after I got it home ha ha!! to me this was the best buy of the Auction....I can't believe I have crackers that are almost a 100 years old...Maybe I should take these to Antique Road show ha ha!!






Planter's Peanut jar's and one Penny candy Jar...




Cookies Jars...and as you can tell I use these for my canister in my kitchen....I love that you could buy a dozen Oatmeal cookies for quarter...those were the days ha ha!!










did you notice each Peanut jar has a Peanut handle on it....Well guy's I hope I didn't bore to to tears with my rambling on about Antiques again...But I do love the Antiques oh the stories they could tell...Some gals love their comfort food and to me this is my comfort zone...This is what makes me Happy...I love anything to do with history and love being the Care takers of these antiques until I can pass them on...

May all of you have a safe and Blessed day...And thanks so much for coming by and seeing me....Now go by and see Tam and see all the 3 0r more Gals today I am sure you won't be bored to tears...Thank you Tam for being a great Hostess


Hugs and Smiles Gl♥ria

May 22, 2009

~THREE CHEER"S FOR THE RED WHITE AND BLUE~




I want to wish everyone a GREAT memorial day weekend....Please remember all our fallen hero's this weekend....I wished I could read this paper every day and see Headlines like this...this paper is from the Second World War...Please click on picture to enlarge an read...
All the men in my family from one generation to the next have all serviced our country during wars times....

This is my Daddy he send this picture post card from Brussels to my Mama...He was 17 when he joined the Army...only had 6 weeks training with the infantry and send to France...He was shot there and I love what he wrote on the back of the card...He was shot in the face...love his humor about his Jimmy Durante Nose he had because it was swollen ha ha!! He was on the beach in Normandy....A real Private Ryan no less...




Now these are the medals my daddy got...the Bronze Star and the Purple heart...these I just cherish...Both my Brother and I was very young at this time...but I can remember my Mama working in a parachute factory, having a Victory Garden with my Aunt Millie...and my Mama and my Aunt standing on a chair while they took turn drawing a straight line down the back of their legs to make it looks like they has on Nylons...way before panties hose and Nylon stockings were just one thing you could only get on the Black Market at that time...I remember My mama and Aunt taking us kids by street car down to the town square in Des Monies ,Iowa to celebrate VD day...When My Daddy's got shot they the war department delivered the telegram to the parachute factory where my Mama worked and when she seen them coming to her she just fainted...and the telegram just said my Dad was wounded in Action but didn't tell her where he was shot if he lost a limp or what Hospital they had him at...He was honored with these medals while at the base hospital in Nice...So this weekend I will have fond memories of my Dad and how he serviced our great country....





Love the leather cases on these.... My Dad never spoke of this war until one year before he died...when the government finally put up an memorial for World War 2 in Washington...he attend this ceremony ....its was a very sad time for him....and took our Government along time to finally do a memorial for them....Viet Nam had a memorial wall long before our service men in the second world war had....My Dad told me the people in France and Germany were all so kind and grateful to our service people there trying to help them...they would share what's food they had with them and give them shelter in their homes and barns...Also told me the most important thing they had was socks and would wear every pair they had because it was always so wet and muddy...His feet would ache so bad from all the wetness...When my Daddy died in 2005 I got his duffel bag, his uniform and all his pictures from that time...which he had never shown me while he was alive....it took me a year before I could even open up his duffel bag and read all the articles about the war...I also have a German Luger he brought home in pieces and put back together again and.the paper work he got from the government letting him have it...I am very PROUD of what my Daddy did for our country and our FREEDOM !!
Now this is my Dad's Father Harry that served in the First World war 1918..this picture was taken at Camp Dodge in Des Monies, Iowa...and I love the way they had a picture of my Grandmother on it also...see she in the heart like he thinking about her...Please click on any of these pictures and you can see them much better...as I have to scan them all...

Now this human Statue of Liberty my Grand Father was apart of....

This INCREDIBLE picture was taken in 1918. It is 18,000 men preparing for war in a training camp at Camp Dodge, in Iowa. EIGHTEEN THOUSAND MEN!!! What a priceless gift from our grandfathers!
FACTS: Base to Shoulder: 150 feet Right Arm: 340 feet Widest part of arm holding torch: 12 1/2 feet Right thumb: 35 feet Thickest part of body: 29 feet Left hand length: 30 feet Face: 60 feet Nose: 21 feet Longest spike of head piece: 70 feet Torch and flame combined: 980 feet Number of men in flame of torch: 12,000 Number of men in torch: 2,800 Number of men in right arm: 1,200 Number of men in body, head and balance of figure only: 2,000



Total men: 18,000


So PLEASE take the time while you are with family and friends this weekend to Remember all those that gave us this Freedom....Daddy and Grandpa I Salute you !!!


Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

May 21, 2009

~I WOULD CHEW NAILS...IF I COULD~

Hello guys...have you ever had one of those week where you should have stayed in bed the whole week....Of course you have...All I am doing here is venting no comments needed...You all know about my tooth problem..well I hate going to the dentist but this was one time I was really looking forward to getting out of this pain...
I broke this tooth last week..called my dentist right away and was told he was on vacation...that's cool right !! they his staff set up oral surgery for me on Friday the 22 nd cool...Well yesterday they call me and tell me my Dentist died the night before...Bummer I felted really bad thought it was a sudden thing right...WRONG he was in the hospital when they scheduled me for oral surgery...Instead of just telling me the truth...tell give me a story about him on Vacation...They could have heard me without a phone I was that mad...number 1 if I had known the truth I could have been trying to find another Dentist...Number 2 this is memorial weekend so now I am busy trying to find someone to help me...an ax murder would look good at this point ha ha!! How can people run an office this way...knowing they have a patient in pain and not be honest with them...but to set up oral surgery for them give them pain meds and hope maybe the Dentist doesn't die !!!

So now I am livid and still in pain...Len is trying to get me into his dentist in Reno, NV right now...Just wanted to vent here guys...will let you know the out come of all of this...Maybe I'll find me a a tooth fairy yet ha ha!! May all of you have a great Memorial weekend...
Kyra also has to have a new feeding button put in her tummy...the one she had in deflated the other night and Amarillo Hospital can't put another one in...they put an temp feeding tube in her until Friday when she goes back to Children Hospital in Dallas...you see this little girl can only take an ounce of food by mouth and the rest has to be done with a feeding tube...
Jacob and Morgan did get to Tx and he got checked into Fort.Hood so no Amtrak baby YEA!!

Love ya guys....Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

May 19, 2009

~~ BLOG BREAK OUCH!!~~





Hey guys I will be taking a little Blogging break for awhile...You see I broke a tooth on the side at the gum and I am having oral surgery on this Friday...meanwhile he got me on Happy Pills.YEA!! I did this last week but its getting to be more painful to me every day...Come on Friday...never thought I would look forward to going for oral surgery ha ha!!....See all of you after I can sit and type without trying to hold a ice pack ha ha!!!






Hugs and smiles


May 17, 2009

~MISS GIGGLES~







Hello girls!! I hope all of you had a great Weekend...Joshua just send this to me Home movie of Kyra...Just wanted to share with each and everyone of my friends that have been asking about her...Well here she is in action....Boy I tell you nothing gets this Little girl now...God Bless the Doctors at Dallas Children Hospital for all they have done to bring this little girl this far...Now I have moved my music up to the top so Please mute it so you can hear Miss Giggles...Thank you God for our Miracle !! You guys have been the best with your prayers and concerns about Kyra..I do feel God has heard each of you went I see how Great she was doing THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart...I don't know what I would do without all of you in my life...each time I have done a post on Kyra all of you just touched by heart...Your the BEST support system an ole gal can have...You beat my WONDER BRA any day ha ha!! And a BIG Thanks to my friend Glenda who doesn't have a Blog but have always comes by or email me every week to see how Kyra is doing...I know I will never meet you this side of Glory...but I love ya my friend...



May all of you have a great Day...Mine is going to be Wonderful !!!


Hugs and Smiles


May 15, 2009

~ ALMOST FAMOUS- NOT!!~

Hello !!! Four Score and Seven years ago...well close enough...I at one time lived in the San Francisco Bay Area...Yes I was a city born and raised gal turned into a Mountain woman ha ha!! A few have left comments when I post Antiques about how come I know so much about them and also how they would love to tour my home...Well I have had the Local Newspaper in the Bay Area asked to do an article about our home there...This was done in 1986...But we were moving at that time so my only requested was that they did not do the posting until after we had moved...Now you will have to click on these pictures in order to read the article about Wally's and my home at that time...My collection of course has grown since that time...Justine asked me How come I know so much about Antiques...well I have been collecting since 1980 and also have every source book you can name, and I also was taken a few times....When I first started collecting and found out the Hard way that what I was paying for was just made the day before....An original re-pop ha ha!!

Click to enlarge



This is Wally and me in our then Dining room...Boy I miss that man!!


Click to enlarge


This was my Dawna and grand daughter Candace's bedroom and just one of the famous Mustache cups...and Yes girls those are my real nail's there...I have always had long nail's since I was 23...that when I stopped biting them...When Wally and I got married my mama told me to slice the cake with my nails ha ha!! Wally loved them said they were the best back scratcher's


Click to enlarge

This was taken in our bedroom...complete English Chamber set and Old candy store Cash register I used for my jewelry box ha ha!!




Click to enlarge



Now this was taken after we moved to the mountains...our local new paper here did an article just on my kitchen...this was in 1998...Now when we did live in the Bay Area we use to do fund raising for our San Lorenzo Lions Club which Wally and I were both awarded live time membership to and we used our Home then for home tours...To help raise monies for the Oakland Blind center and the deaf Foundation...So that's why I just think the world of Helen Keller and what she did with her life...being both Deaf and Blind...I spend 20 years of my life working at the Blind center...Now promise me you won't laugh But I taught a Make-up class there...Just because women can't see themselves doesn't mean they don't want to look pretty for others...And it make's them so proud...Hope I didn't bore you all to sleep with my post today ha ha!! I really need to hand out No-Dozs pills to people who come by here !!!



May all of you have a Great weekend...


Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

May 14, 2009

~Junk-N-Stuff~

Hello girls...Yes I have been MIA for a few days...will tell you why at the end of this post...But just wanted to Share with you my new wreath I just got Yesterday...I had seen this at Shanda Blog and it was one of the things that just screamed my name..said she got it from QVC so I had to order one...Just look at the little bike on it...its all metal so cute...



Here's a close up look at it...Oh girl I just did my "Happy Dance" when I got this...love the little basket with flowers and flags...




Now this is my old Schwinn Bike that I have had for many years...just gave it a new coat of Red paint last week added a basket of flowers and flags and put it on my front porch...Now last year Len and I were at Lowe's and I found these window shelf's brackets and had to have them...I have always loved window boxes...just something that says WELCOME to me about them...





Now this is my little ole carport with some of my tractors wheels...And you see that pink flower pot hanging there...well 3 weeks ago a Mama Blue Jay made a nest and laid 4 eggs in it and on Monday she hatched all 4 of them..So now I have Mama and Daddy flying in and out all day feeding these naked little babies...I have taken a ton of pictures of them....







Another wagon wheel that hangs on my house and a 2 man saw...




This is an Old scale I have ivy in hanging from the up stairs desk... Now I know this kind of junk is not for everyone...but I do love my Antiques inside and outside...




Now Wally made this wind chimes years ago for me...its all brass tubing and has a boat spinner on the end of it...weights a ton...but when it goes off it sounds like the Bells of St. Mary's...




Now this is the basket I did for my bike...




Remember me telling you my entry way was in a Barn Silo...of course you do...well this is the top of the Silo where my stairs are and my front doors...its all round...it really was hard for my contractor to put square doors in a round frame...but he did it...




Just a few jugs I have at the door...and an old Ice cream Parlor chair that the bottom fell out of...so I painted it and made it into a planter...








My Guard Bear...this was made by a local guy using nothing but a Chain Saw....





An old mop bucket I also use as a planter...





Hand pump...this all sits on an old school desk...




2 old crocks and that stick thingy is a Branding Iron...this all sits on the right side of my doors...









I am flying our colors....Not only because I am a proud American...But also for my Grand son Jacob...which brings me to why I have been MIA....Its hard to type when you can't see because you have been crying....You see my Jacob didn't not get his extended leave...so He left today by train to go to Texas...as he have to be there no later than Monday to check into Ft. Hood...and report to duty by May 20, And his wife due on May 22nd..Left with him...So that's means my Dawna won't be able to see her first born grand child being born...Oh I just pray we don't have an Amtrak baby ha ha!! I am worried sick about these kids traveling by train to Texas and her due at any time...


Any hoo I had to drop everything Yesterday to make a trip to go see him before he left...We went to Olive Garden for dinner and I had a Hugh lump in my throat just looking at him and wondering when would be the next time I got to see my boy...Dawna didn't even get to see her Son and say Good bye...so she is just heart broken...we all tried to tell Morgan his wife to wait until she had the baby and he had housing for them...but said after him being gone to boot camp for 4 months she wanted to go with him now...Oh to be young again and not think beyond today...Like I said hope we don't have an Amtrak baby also pray there a Doctor riding the rails with them if we do...Take care Jacob Grandma is so proud of you !!!

Thanks guy for coming by and seeing me with my swollen eyes....You guys are the best...

May all of you have a safe and great day....


Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria