Perk up, Sugar…

A Spring Perk Up…

Everybody needs at least one good friend like Allie Mac. She called today and said, ‘How you holdin’ up?’  The thing is, I’ve been trying to learn how to blog, doing something called ‘wordaday’ – where the Happiness Engineers send you a word then challenge me to write something using that word. Today something new started for real. WordPress Bootcamp. That’s right. Now in addition to the daily word they sent me a new challenge. Allie Mac knew I had been struggling with basic training…I told her ~’Well, so far so good, today they want me to comment‘ …’Comment? Camellia you’ve been commenting your whole life! Sounds right down your alley.’ Well it is, but…commenting and posting a comment is a little different. So, like the good friend she is ~she said the magic words, ‘Perk up Sugar’ …

What? ‘Yes Camellia, what you need is to perk up that house for spring. You’ve let it get so messed up with papers, had those painters in and out… you’re getting up every morning, making up the bed, rolling up that hair, lining up what you’ve got to get done. You haven’t felt up to getting that house dolled up like you always do.’ A good friend perks you up!

Well Allie Mac is right. I needed to perk up the house. I love my neutrals all year round but in the winter, I neutrals it to the hilt. Shades of white, black and gray…can’t get enough of it. Now with spring busting out all over ~ the house had begun to feel a bit drab. Let me tell you what a decorator’s best friend is ~ accessories! The best and cheapest way to perk up a room is with fresh accessories- right? Best of all? I shopped my own stuff, then added a few things. On the lower right is my living room in winter clothes, on the lower  left is my den also in winter….both rooms have slipcovered sofas in white duck, both have black floors, sisal rugs and mostly gray accessories. At the top of the page, you can see the change out of fresh green pillows, plants or accessories the rooms have definitely been perked up! Now it’s your turn!

Love y’all, Camellia

Hello Darlin’

Classic-Old-Cord-Telephone-2204-mediumHello darlin’, sorry I haven’t called lately, it’s been like the Dew Drop Inn around here! The painter was here for the front door, some teenagers came by takin’ up mission trip money to witness to some folks up in Mentone, the carpenter stopped by and said yes, the screen porch is in bad shape, he’s going to try to work us in between jobs, you know how it is with an old house~ on and on…

Yes, I know I’ve been putting you off, but believe me this bloggin’ is like learning how to practice voodoo and speak German at the same time… Well, they’ve had me doin’ something called word prompts… you know I don’t use words like –  misstep…who says that anyway? Around here they say ‘you can’t mess this up’ or ‘He can’t walk and chew gum at the same time’ certainly not misstep. Yes, I used it in the Green Onion blog post. Those onion roots are already popping up!

For heaven’s sake- I told you it was a word prompt- Boot Camp Word a Day from those Happiness Engineers…they send you a word and tell you to use it in your blog post that day~ on your mark, get set …go!  The next word was incomplete.  The only time I’ve ever said that was when your roommate was sneaking out after curfew, missed so many of her classes she was about to flunk ‘Human Behavior’ and took an Incomplete ~ though Lord knows she was out practicin’ it!  The best I could do with that word was when I wrote ‘A blog is incomplete without great photographs’, I know it didn’t sound right but you have to admit Jeremy Miniard’s pictures sure were amazin’and I knew you would get a kick out of the title- ‘You really need to get out more, darlin” …you say that all the time!

Yesterday I put my foot down! The word prompt was fleeting, Lord, I about died on that one! I just sat there blank, well not totally blank….all I could think of was a Fleet’s to clear you out before you have a baby! I have never heard… not even one southern lady, coarse or common- use the word fleeting…though I will say those Fleet’s…never mind, don’t get me started! I got out the dictionary and fleeting means ‘brief, short, short-lived, quick movement’ sort of like that Peepin’ Tom …what was his name? Lightnin’ that right! Lightnin’ scared the livin’ daylights out of me when I saw his ol’ head reared up outside my bedroom window with the moonlight shining ~ before I could get out a good scream- he was gone in a flash! He was runnin’ down the alley quick as the devil! That’s what the word fleeting meant to me!  Can you imagine usin’ that word for anything? What?

No, I didn’t let them know I wouldn’t be sending in the word prompt – they’re Happiness Engineers, they wouldn’t give me an Incomplete, they’d just send me another word the next day.

The best thing those word prompts did for me was to make me sit down and write a blog post for 3 days in a row- no, I just turned in 2. I felt guilty about it though… Remember when I got the Bible App?  I signed up for a daily Bible reading, was so excited about it and the next thing you know I got busy and missed a day.  They must have ‘unhappiness engineers’ because that bossy Bible App sent me an email letting me know that they knew I had missed a day! I’ve got enough to make me feel guilty without that going on! My face looked like death sucking on lifesaver I was so upset. I put up with it until the third notice.  I’m ashamed to admit it but I removed that App! I can take care of my daily reading on my own thank you very much! I know…don’t remind me, you got a badge for reading yours everyday.

Yes, darlin’ I’m going to do it right now… I’m going to drag and drop your precious face right smack dab at the bottom of the page….yes, honey, watch for it…you’ll love it- glad you called. Bye…love you too!


 

Okay y’all, in honor of Best Friends Week and without further ado…here she is…Allie Mac! My own sweet friend who knows a whole lot more about nothin’ than I do! She’ll have her own page and everything- watch for it!  Love y’all, Camellia

Allie Mac long hair second try                                                                   Allie Mac

 

You really need to get out more, darlin’

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Now that Spring has definitely sprung, I’m stir crazy thinking about taking a road trip. I’ve been home so much lately that I’m feelin’ like this old car~ loads of good memories, definitely great style, a dash big enough for your whole life’s Lost and Found, an Alabama tag on the front ~ but a bit rusty and more than a little mired down at the old homeplace; and I thought~ ‘You really need to get out more, darlin’.

Long before this blog was any kind of reality, Jeremy Miniard’s photography inspired me, he’s one of those photographers who get out on the backroads of Alabama and capture the most amazing images! I loved the photo of this car so much I asked Jeremy to make up some notecards for me. The name of this photo is ‘Alabama Special’ and I just know y’all agree ~ it sure is special, one of my all time favorites.

A blog is incomplete without great photos. As much as I like to draw and paint, garden and read, write and laugh – I’m no great photographer, Jeremy has generously given me permission to use some of his Alabama photos every now and then~ for this I surely do thank him!

In the days to come, I can’t wait for you to meet Allie Mac! As soon as the Mail Chimps and the Happiness Engineers from WordPress help us get some of the kinks worked out, she’ll be sharing some of her ideas for great road trips right here in Alabama!

Before you leave this post, here’s another great photo from my star photographer, Jeremy Miniard – makes you wanna get out there doesn’t it? Until then… keep humming ‘Stars fell on Alabama’ and get that car gassed up!

Love y’all, Camellia

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related link- http://www.jeremy.miniard.fineartamerica.com

Both of these photos are courtesy of Jeremy Miniard and are his sole property not to be used without permission – thank you Jeremy!

 

We’re workin’ on it…

cropped-2016-02-21-19-27-181.jpg   Whew! Who knew there was so much work to do building a blog!

 Adding buttons and widgets isn’t sewing. Formatting, drafting, tagging and downloading  isn’t manual labor. Cutting and pasting is not crafting! Cropping and dropping sure isn’t working on a cotton farm with a chicken coop!What about that dashboard? We thought a dashboard was in a car. If you lost something the answer to ‘have you seen my…’ was always… ‘look on the dash‘! When we’ve lost something working on this blog- there’s no use looking on the dashboard, it’s somewhere in cyberspace.

 We’ve worked with a group of ‘monkeys‘ from Mail Chimp, their information says they are a ‘rocket science‘ group. We found out quick that Mail Chimps  aren’t the space monkeys who worked for NASA in Huntsville Alabama…  and you ain’t gonna believe this~  those cyberspace Mail Chimps had the nerve to ask if we were robots before they let us sign up! Now they want me to sign up for Mail Chimp Training Camp…really? Talk about code? I almost had a heart attack over that! WordPress started beep beep boop-ing!

If anyone ever tells you it’s not rocket science to set up a blog, don’t believe it, darlin’. We are so thankful to the folks at WordPress and the Mail Chimp Rocket Scientists who know all this stuff and for helping us set up something called a ‘pop-up‘ so folks can sign up for our newsletter.

We’d hate to think all this work was for nothin’ ~so please sign up! We won’t ask for your height, weight, shoe size, how long you’ve been dyein’ your hair or where you got those redbug bites  ~  just put your email address in the pop up and the newsletter will come straight to your inbox then lead you right back to Camellia’s Cottage!

Sounds good~ sort of like – ‘we’re going home‘ ~ ‘we might pop in sometime‘ or ‘we saw the sign up’ and ‘thought we’d drop by’ …Leave a comment, let us know how we’re doin’ but  for heaven’s sakes if you have any suggestions, please tell us how to do it – we don’t want to get those crazy chimps involved unless we have to!

Stop by anytime. We’ll leave the light on…. Love y’all! Camellia

related links-  http://www.wordpress.com  http://www.mailchimp.com