Christmas Dress
I made this pillowcase dress for my granddaughter to wear at Christmas. If you are interested in instructions write me. 

Watch this video!! Henry is my cousin's dog and he is the most adorable dog!! Next to mine of course. He has as much personality as a human and he loves to open presents!!!

I bought a $1 piece of burlap and made this snowman!!! I used paint from Wal-Mart. You will need lot's of white because the burlap sucks it up fast. For the decoration on the scarf & hat I used rhinestones from Hobby Lobby. I then made it a outdoor flag by using some yarn to sew a loop to hold it on the flag holder.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

I just wanted to show you a few pics of my Fall Decorations!! I got in the mood yesterday and started decorating. My daughter helped to breathe new life into my wreaths. Sometimes after being put away for a year they need it. She is so talented that I think she could be a floral designer. She and I love to craft. By the way Fall is my favorite time of year!!

We went to the Reelfoot Lake Arts & Crafts Festival. If you have never heard of it....you need to Google it. It is the most awesome place to spend the day and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors and the arts & crafts. It is definitely worth a trip to this area to come to this beautiful place.

The highlight of the trip was the beautiful two ladies in the last picture!! My daughter and the newest addition to the family, my granddaughter Aniston. My daughter said "We are gonna start her crafting early."

Bedding for Baby Bed

My daughter told me while she was pregnant that she wanted me to make her baby bedding. I had a sheet,bumper pad and a baby blanket for my 3 kids. She wanted a bed skirt (dust ruffle) with anywhere from 4 to 6 rows of very full pink ruffles. She also wanted to have the bumper pad covered with a coordinating fabric that she had picked out. I told her that I didn't even like to sew. I was reminded that I had made her pageant dresses and she had won the pageants. I had made everything imaginable ...how could I not like to sew. She would let me off on the quilt because she pitied me after giving me all this work .....I guess. So I moaned and groaned and offered to pay someone to do this. I got the guilt trip of  "Surely you wouldn't want a stranger making your Grandchild's baby bedding?" She knows me too well and the guilt trip always works!!

I start out with my 30+ year old sewing machine and things are going downhill all the way. I tell her this may not happen at all. I finally decided that it was time for me to have a new computerized sewing/embroidery machine. This was a major turning point and I started making ruffles and more ruffles. Before long I had a room full of ruffles and was almost ready. I sewed them on my bottom template and went to her house, sewing machine in hand. We measured sewed, pinned and measured some more. After most of the day had passed we were done. We could barely contain our excitement and pride in our work.

The arrangement above the bed was all my Daughter's work. I didn't do any of the wall hangings. I think she did a great job. She is very talented.

By the way, we made it just in the nick of time. She went into labor that night and my beautiful baby Granddaughter Aniston was born the next morning. After seeing her I would do it all over again. She was worth it all and more!!!

If you would like the instructions to make this please feel free to comment. You can also e-mail me at lanah43@hotmail.com. In the near future I plan on posting them on this page.

Headboard from a Room Divider Screen!!

                            This is without pillows. So you get a better idea of what it looks like.

I had a decorative room divider screen that I no longer had room for. My husband naturally thought I was crazy....when I told him what I was going to do. My neighbor is the nicest man ever and goes right along with my ideas. So he cut this screen up for me. I first took the screen apart. Then I left the middle one in one full piece. The two side pieces I had him cut at the part just past the middle. I then flipped the two bottom halves upside down and used on each end. I used screws to connect all of these together. If you look real close the end two may not be perfectly measured up. I am going for that no two are alike look!! I also used a 1x2 board and connected to the end pieces in order to screw it to the bed frame.
Unfortunately, I did not take a before pic of the screen. I am going to put a pic of a similar screen, to give you an idea of what mine looked like.

This one is similar but not exactly. Just wanted to give you an idea. If you have any questions just leave me a comment. I will be glad to answer.

Baby Pacifier Shower Favors

I made these the other day for my daughter's baby shower. They are so cute and very simple to do. You will need:    Meringue powder (from a store that sells cake decorating supplies)
            4 cups of confectioner's sugar
            Piping bag
            White Life-Savers
            Jelly Beans (I did red & pink since our baby will be a girl of course for a boy you could use blue)
            Pink or blue thin gross grain ribbon

 Make Royal icing according to directions on back of jar.
 1/2 cup cold water
 1/4 cup meringue powder
  4 cups confectioner's sugar
Beat meringue powder into cold water until peaks form. Then beat in confectioner's sugar until desired consistency. Add more sugar for thicker icing. This icing is perfect to hold these together as it is a hard icing.      When it dries it is like glue but it takes good. Put in a piping bag.
Now you will need to arrange Life-Savers in one bowl and jelly beans in another.

                          You will put icing around the hole on the side that says Life-Saver.

                                          Now you will add another Life-Saver on top of this.

    You will now turn it over and pipe a little icing in the hole and add your jelly bean.

   

 I let mine dry on a cookie sheet in front of a small fan. Mine where hard enough that I didn't lose a single 

one. If your icing is thick enough you will have success!!! I then tied a ribbon on to some and a few I left

plain. My daughter decided that with the ones that were left over from the baby shower would go to the

hospital as favors. She is going to individually wrap them really cute. We also thought we could have hung 

them from a little decorative tree at the baby shower. Good Luck and please leave me your comments and

questions.

My Blessings

On Sunday my son was baptized. What a great day for my family and I hope the Angels in Heaven rejoiced!! This didn't just start with this generation but many before him.

My son was born and seemed to be very healthy but that wasn't true. He was actually bleeding to death inside. We had the usual visitors after his birth because everyone thought he was healthy. The next morning I was told he might be dying. The most awkward call I had to make was to my husband and family to tell them that. They had left the night before what seemed to be a perfectly healthy baby. My Mother had noticed his feet were purple and was worried but the nurse said he was just cold. I had made calls and we were put on many prayer chains.

I was glad when my husband and mother-in-law arrived shortly after. My cousin, Laura also came. We were told that if he survived they would transfer him out to a NICU or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. His chances of  survival were estimated at less than 20%.  The unit could be there in 45 minutes and  if he was stable enough he could go. When they got there I could see the nursery window and all the activity. Someone noticed that and shut the curtain.

After what seemed like an eternity we were off. Arriving at the hospital was kind of wild at first. We were soon in a room and a little more settled. I had pre-toxemia but my husband had told the doctors that I would be going with the baby. So I got some medicine and stayed in a room close to my baby and later in his room.

I didn't want to leave the hospital and I didn't unless someone came and took me away to dinner or somewhere. The nurses would come and wake me late at night to calm him because he responded so well to my voice. He was on a ventilator and couldn't be picked up. I was amazed that my voice calmed him but it is amazing the bond between Mother and child.

We were told so many different things that it was total confusion. Many tests were done and nobody really knew what was wrong although there were plenty of guesses. So much extra stress was brought on by being told things that were very wrong. We were told things like developmentally he might not be okay, he could be blind and the list goes on and on. I am very blessed and happy to tell you that he is above average IQ and developmentally he is fine.

On the sixth day of our hospital stay we were told that he had Severe Hemophilia A. He actually had a ruptured liver due to the trauma of birth.  I was almost relieved to hear this diagnosis. Although my Daddy never talked about it, he had hemophilia too. I also had a cousin with it. My Dad had passed 3 years earlier and I realized I knew so very little about hemophilia. The hospital didn't know much either. Internet wasn't available then as easily as now. I did have a cousin who's son had hemophilia. I talked with them and got a little relief from some worries. Not for long though because soon the realization hit me that I had passed this genetic disorder to my child. Soon the guilt hit and  I was a mess.

For those of you who haven't heard of hemophilia this is a summary. It is a genetic condition that leads to abnormal blood clotting. Many people with hemophilia develop spontaneous bleeds into there joints,muscles and soft tissues. A person with hemophilia will either have mild moderate or severe. I will  give you an idea of what my son's life is like as a person with severe hemophilia a. He has an infusion of factor every other day or any time he has trauma. This means that he has a shot in a vein every time!!! If he is having an active bleed he would have an infusion every 12 hours but would probably have an IV started. Either myself or his nurse do this and at some point he will. He does occasionally stick himself. He has had bleeds that put him in a wheelchair or crutches or immobile for long periods of time. He has suffered a lot in his short life, but he is quite brave. I admire his compassion for others who are sick. He will be the first one to open a door for someone struggling in a wheelchair or on crutches. Thankfully, he has had wonderful care. Something my Daddy never had the privilege of.

My Daddy was a good honest man. He loved to tinker with old cars and trucks and was always in the yard under the hood or underneath one. Many times my Stepmother would tell him he was going to have to clean up the yard of cars and trucks. That was never going to happen. When I think of my Daddy I think of the song by Randy Travis, " I Thought He Walked on Water" or the Reba McIntire song "The Greatest Man I Never Knew." My brother who is six years older and I had a very good childhood with my Dad. He took us every weekend to car races, horse sales or horse shows.We also played Rook on weekends for hours with him and my Stepmother.  He loved playing tricks on people and kidding around. My Aunt once wanted to go to the store and all that was available was his big ole' gravel truck. He told her to take it, that my Mom drove it all the time.When she got back he was just doubled over in laughter and to her surprise my Mom had never driven that truck. He got such a big kick out of things like that. He once had a "Zero" candy bar and said that was what he made in school. Could have very well been a joke or a sad truth. In his childhood having hemophilia meant that he had to miss way too many days of school. He was just a fun person. My Daddy wasn't a big church going man. As he got older he went to church some.

My Daddy like my son had Hemophilia but he very rarely talked about it. I think that he had not been taught alot about it and that he felt that he was different because not many people had this problem. My Mom said he would try any home remedy that someone told him about. Such as having a knee bleed and wrapping your leg in vinegar soaked brown paper bags. This breaks my heart to think my Daddy went through so much pain because he lived in a time when medicine to stop bleeding wasn't available to him. It also could have been that he didn't know about it. He did get very worried when I was pregnant with my children because he knew I was a carrier and had always had bleeding problems.

When I was about 32 my Daddy became sick and was in the hospital. It was like he was perfectly fine one day and completely bedridden the next. Apparently he had dropped a transmission on himself while working on an old truck. He denied this to me but at times he was incoherent. Whatever had happened he didn't tell anyone he was sick until he was almost comatose.  He also had received tainted blood products that caused him to be infected with deadly viruses. This was common to hemophiliacs in the 1980's. He was sick for quite a while and once while he was in the hospital he was trying to say something. My Stepmother could understand him better than others because his voice had become very weak. He was saying he wanted to be saved. I was a Christian but I was not where I needed to  be in my walk with God at the time. Panic hit me and I couldn't move. I knew that I should ask everyone to leave the room and pray with him....but I didn't. I had failed my Daddy.  I am ashamed of this more than anything but I didn't step up and do anything. After that I was in a turmoil and full of shame. Thankfully two wonderful men from the church I grew up in took care of that for me and prayed with my Daddy and he was saved.
.
So I guess God gives us all a second chance.......even me.  A while back me and my son were home alone and he started questioning me about Armageddon and being saved. I got that horrible panic again but I knew
that I couldn't fail my own son. My son to me has always been a reminder to me of my Daddy because of them both having hemophilia. He also has my Daddy's beautiful blue eyes. I could have called my church and had someone to come pray with him but what a blessing I would miss. I gave him something called the ABC's of Salvation to read and made sure he understood it. It is in a magazine my church gives every Sunday called "Pentecostal Evangel" and the ABC's are always included. We talked about this scripture and prayed about it and he accepted Christ. I had the pleasure of sharing this experience with my son. Later my son was baptized in our church.  I hope my Daddy was smiling down on us.
I now carry a copy of the ABC's of Salvation in my wallet ........just in case!!!

Congratulations to Laurel Moss-Christopher!! You are the winner of the Owl jewelry on my http://niftyand50.blogspot.com/ or my Facebook blogspot page. If you haven't joined these pages....make sure and join. I have more give-a-ways to come.

Orange Gelatin Pretzel Salad

My neighbor brought me some of this and I fell in love!!  It is just like the Strawberry Pretzel Salad

only orange. I also noticed that I normally had crushed my pretzels to the point of making a crust. She had just broken hers and they tasted more like pecans. I loved this and did mine this way too. 

2 cups broken pretzels

3 teaspoons sugar

3/4 cups sugar 

3/4 cups butter, melted

2 pkgs. 3oz. orange gelatin

1 cup boiling water 

1 cup reserved juice of mandarin oranges

2 cans 8 oz. each crushed pineapple, drained

1 can 11 oz. mandarin oranges, drained (reserve juice)

1/4 teaspoon orange flavoring (optional)

2 cups whipped topping

Whipped topping for garnish, optional 

In a small bowl, combine pretzels and 3 teaspoons sugar, stir in butter. Press into and ungreased 13x9x2 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. 

In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in boiling water and add reserved juice and orange flavoring. Add pineapple and oranges. Chill until partially set, about 30 minutes. 

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. spread over crust. Gently spoon gelatin mixture over cream cheese layer. cover and refrigerate fro 2-4 hours or until firm.

 If you want a prettier dish you can totally crush your pretzels and make a crust. As far as flavor they are delicious just like this as a crust. This is broken with sugar, butter and baked.

Cut into squares. Garnish with additional whipped topping if desired. Yield: 15 servings. 

Let me know how you like this!!! Try it out!!

Easy Round Steak!!!

This is how I make Round Steak. It is super easy!!! That is the best part. You just put it together and put it in the oven until done. You could also do it in a slow cooker. It will make it's own gravy.
Package of tenderized round steak
1/4 cup chopped onion  

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 can cream of mushroom soup 
1 can of water  
1/4 t garlic minced ( I use the prepared kind in the jar)   
1/4 t black pepper (more or less depending on your taste)
1/4 t onion powder
Bake at 325 for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender and gravy is a good consistency. 




                                           Round steak cut into pieces & arranged in pan

                                                           Chopped onion & garlic

                                     Can of mushroom soup and Worcestershire sauce

                                                               Black Pepper

                                                        Other ingredients added

                                                         Ready for the oven

                                                Steak & gravy with mashed potatoes

                       We also had baked cabbage. I will give you that recipe if you want it!!

                                        Let me know what you think!! Cook this and give me your feedback!!!

I am having a Jewelry Give-A-Way

  I am having a jewelry give-a-way. 

Whooo likes owls? If you join my blog and  and like my Facebook page you will be entered in a drawing to be eligible to win these earrings and ring. I will draw for them on June 16, 2012. If you can get a person to sign up for my blog and email me that they did I will give you a chance for every person you sign up.
Remember you have to go to the blog and become a member and then like the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Niftyand50blogspotcom 
There is a link at the top of the page that says follow by email and you will usually get a message to confirm in your spam folder.
Good Luck!!!!

The Wedding

Tonight we went to a lovely Southern country wedding.  The bride is one of my daughter's friends and they work together. My daughter had helped with a lot of the decorating and flowers so she wanted me to see it all. I was glad I went.
It was the usual the mother's are seated and the grandmother's. The grandmother's are quite shaky and are escorted by the ushers. One of them almost doesn't make it to her seat as the usher lets go of her arm a little too soon. Another man grabs her arm just in time to get her in the seat safely.
So here comes the wedding party and then the Bride. She is beautiful more beautiful than I have ever seen her. Her dress is stunning and her hair is perfect. The Groom is smiling ear to ear. He knows he is one lucky man. As she makes her entrance everyone begins to stand. I am thinking about those two sweet little Grandmother's over there. I am hoping they won't struggle to stand. They didn't struggle to stand they rose with great pride. This was their Granddaughter's wedding and they weren't going to be the only ones left sitting. I was so proud of these two lovely ladies that I could have cried. I hope that by the time my Grandchildren wed I will be standing proud to watch.

Maybe it is because I am going to be a Grandmother soon, but this touched me so deeply. Grandmother's are such special people and I loved mine so much. She lived to be 100 and she was a strong proud woman too.

The winner of  the Diva Give-A-Way is Melissa Goodman. Congratulations Melissa!!!  I will post my next drawing on very soon. The next one will be jewelry!!!

Tyler Diva Give-A-Way

I am having a Tyler Diva Give-A-Way 

Included in this is all Diva scented a Glamour Wash, Candle, Auto-Glam car air-freshener, hand lotion samples. 

http://niftyand50.blogspot.com/

To win you need to join my blog and invite your friends too!! This will be a random drawing. For each person you get to join~you will get your name in again. They will just need to put your name in the comments section of my blog. People who are already on the blog can participate too. They will just ask friends to join the blog and leave their name in the comments.

So the more people you get to join the better your chance to win!! I would rather you have your friends who are interested in this type of blog. 

I like DIY projects, cooking, gardening,crafting,beauty tips,clothing and shopping tips,etc. I also plan on soon doing cooking videos. So if this is the kind of blog you would enjoy join for a chance to win!!!

I would also like comments on things you would like to see on my blog.

The winner will be drawn on May 18, 2012 and posted here. 

Good Luck!!!

I Hate Cancer!!

                                                                I Hate Cancer!!!

Balloons in honor of my Aunt Judy!!!

                                                                                                                                                                     

In May of  2010 I began a journey which started as a short one to Jackson, Tennessee. I was taking my Aunt to her doctor's appointment. We were going for some results........about cancer. She and I waited and the doctor kind of nonchalantly told her she had a year maybe two. If she was lucky. It was lung cancer and it was bad. We were sent to another doctor to get ready for radiation.

 As we sat in the waiting room she was still kind of in shock. She told me I would need to call her customer's and she began to cry. She had been a cosmetologist all her life. One of those beauty shops like you saw in  in the movie "Steel Magnolias." I could see her speaking as Truvy the character who was played by Dolly Parton saying: " In a good shoe,I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight." Or " Oh, honey, God don't care which church you go, long as you show up!" Although it was better if you went to an old fashioned Holy Ghost spirit filled church!!!

As a child I loved that beauty shop!! I could dabble in nail polish,lipstick and make-up till my heart was content. If I talked real sweet she might give me the best thing in the shop .......an ice cold Coca Cola in the little glass bottle. She had a machine at the shop.  She always told me "Pretty is as pretty does." As you can tell she was of course the best Aunt a girl could have.
I told her I would call the customers but not anytime soon and I began to cry. She kind of argued "but last year when I had that female cancer and had to call them I would break down and cry." I am in a full blown bawl by now and tell her that I will do anything for her that she needs, but call those people. She is kind of confused and" I said until they tell you that you can't do hair .........why stop." This makes sense and brings us both a little relief. She begins to plan the days she might do hair. My heart is smiling!! She said my customers are my family and they do more for me than I do for them. I don't do hair anymore for the money ..... I do it because I love to spend time with them.

We are told how soon radiation and chemotherapy will begin. This goes by in a blur although I take her some of the time. My cousin, Laura, who is like my sister shares the work. My Aunt was very independent and would take care of herself most of the time.

She had never been married although she had her heart broke once or twice. She had 4 sisters and 2 brothers. Her Mother my Grandmother had lived to be 100. My Aunt Judy was the baby.
She had been a very petite beautiful blonde when I was a little girl. I was lucky enough to grow up in the 60's and 70's and get to shop with her. At one time she had a whole room of clothes. Her favorite color was pink and she liked beads and jewelry. She had the most beautiful hands and nails of anyone I have ever known.

In December she called and said she had been sick with a stomach virus. I told her she would have to go to the hospital. I then called Laura and told her to tell her because ......she's the bossy one. I called her after the Laura call and she was ready to be picked up. At the hospital we found dehydration and her condition was not very good. When she came home we would be meeting with hospice.

She stayed with my Aunt Margaret a few weeks and got stronger to come home. At my Aunt Margaret's we met with the hospice people and learned all the things they would provide. At some point they asked who would be the main caregiver and of all things my Aunt Margaret pointed to me. I was proud she thought I could do it but it scared me to death. I have a child with hemophilia that requires much of my attention so I was having my doubts. I just smiled and signed the papers.

Somewhere along the way we decided that my cousin and I would take food all the time. When she could eat she loved food and would always call and brag on my cooking. She and I would sit for hours when I would drop that food by and talk about everything. When I would walk in the door she would smile that beautiful smile and pat me and say "You sure do look pretty today." Whether I did or not. I could be dressed to the nines or in my pajamas and she would still tell me that. She also told me the most important thing ever, that I was like the little girl she never had. Since she never had children her neices and nephews were her children.

In April she had been getting worse and told me one night that she no longer felt comfortable being alone. Laura and I and her sisters began staying all the time. She passed on April 26, 2011. Her faith was so strong that I know Heaven gained a beautiful Angel.

Today Laura and I will release pink balloons at the cemetery in her memory. We choose to make this day a day of celebration and rejoice that she is no longer in pain. She chose to never let cancer steal her joy or her faith!!! One of the quotes that helped her through was "Faith is not believing God can it is knowing that he will."  We Love You!!!!

I feel so blessed that my Aunt Margaret pointed to me that day!!! Because just as her customers did more for her than she did for them. I had received the same blessing from her.

Inside of the Wedding Tent all my daughter's designs and ideas.

When my daughter was engaged she said her wedding would be "Shabby Chic." The next thing I know she comes up with this couch and I am wondering what is she thinking??? Well here is the couch for the Engagement and Wedding Photos. It turned out to be one of the best parts of the pics. Kind of gave the wedding the whole "Shabby Chic" feel. So Mother's never doubt your Daughter's. I was lucky enough to get a family couch pic from the wedding for Christmas. My best presents were this and my son & daughter in law's pics.

Today is World Hemophilia Day and this week my son will go to prom at St. Jude. So proud of him. He was born and I was given very little hope of his survival due to a massive liver bleed. He was on complete life support and I was a basket case. We have all grown so much as a family. He is a very handsome, smart, compassionate, intelligent young man.......very wise beyond his years. So the next picture you see of him will not be on a gurney but in a tux standing proud and enjoying his prom. I am proud of all my children and especially that they have supported him so much!!!!

Getting ready for Spring!!!!

I have shown this furniture before on my blog. I have had this furniture for years and spray paint it each year. I also make new cushions. Normally I buy the sun and shade fabric for outdoor use. I take the old cushions and cut a pattern and make them look new again. This is my way of recycling!! I hope to soon do a few tutorial videos on how to sew cushions. So please follow my blog and stay tuned. I would love to hear from you and know what you would like to see or learn to do.

Here is a pic of my Black front door!! I debated a long time on what black would look like on my front door. My shutters are black too. I am very happy with the outcome. The color is Glidden Onyx Black in Semi-Gloss.

I am also enjoying that I get many hits on my blog but I would love for you to follow me. I plan on doing some food tutorials soon on video!!! I am going to start simple and get more complicated. I am a Southern cook and I am told an excellent one.

Please help me out and follow my blog when you visit. It is very easy you just press the follow button up in the left top. It is past the search button. Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

My daughter was married last year and wanted to use my dress. We thought of altering but since I got married in the 70's it wasn't a very fancy dress. Her wedding was shabby chic themed and this was her idea and I thought it was great!!! She also took and old shutter and we put pics of her Grandparents, Parents and other family pics. I will post more pics soon from this wedding because she had many great ideas. I felt very honored that my daughter chose to display my dress in such a unique way.

Well since the weather has been great I have been busy. My yard has never been landscaped since I have only bought this house in October. I love flowers and am blessed with a green thumb. My grandparents always had a garden when I was growing up. I also had a grandmother that I never met. She passed while working in her yard before I was born. I never thought that was sad because I felt she was doing some thing she loved. I think the beauty of flowers and plants are some of God's blessings. Her are a few things and hopefully soon I can show you lots and lots more beauty!!!

Soon I am planning on doing some cooking and craft tutorials. Warning: I am a very Southern girl and I am told I have an extreme Southern accent.