Sunday, August 28, 2011

Just another Sunday in Paradise.....

and I've been up since 6:00 with the Nanna Baby. And that is OK. We've cuddled, taken care of our puppies, Ranger, Joe, and Lula. Lula is the most "hobnoxious" one.....she is good "friends" with our rolled-up newspaper.

I can't believe how it seems so fall-like now, just within a week or so! At one moment, it was hot, hot Tennessee summer time, and the next, I see leaves falling and you can almost just feel it...fall is in the air! I'm loving my pumpkin ribbon on my copper sampler.....the colors, again, to me are fall!

You've heard a bit about the new doggers on facebook, if you are a friend of mine there, so you should see this awesome-cute picture of "Little Eddie". Isn't he the cutest? We brought him and a pair of Bostons home with us last weekend when we went to SELL dogs! I guess we got it backwards!I have a secret....I'm working on my dream. Something my sisters and I have talked about for a long time....as long as I can remember. And Mom, too. I'm actually doing it. Living my dream. (Thank you, PiePie Perry!!!!!) You will be hearing me talk about that, and you will be getting hints both on here and on facebook, so if you are not on facebook, you need to be and look up Perry's Paradise and click the "like" button. You also need to friend me personally by typing in "Abby Mark Perry" and there will only be one that comes up....us!

Pay attention; there's a lot of great stuff happening here at PP!!!!!













Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Just Catchin' Up.....






















Anna loves Kindergarten....we'll see how long that lasts.




















Fall seems to be in the air....even though it is still hot and humid around here.

















Anna definitely has the coolest backpack of all. (And the coolest mom, as far as I am concerned.)















Baby Aaden will be swaddled in this blanket if he ever decides to make an entrance into this world.....
















These seem to be a very popular gift.....but they are hard to find.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Loving This



I remember how my Gramps would sing, "...with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, she will make music wherever she goes!"


See my rings? I love them all. I'm dealing with a lot of health issues right now, and they cause a lot of swelling. Bah humbug. The PiePie had a heat stroke a month or so ago, and lost a ton of weight. That is his wedding ring on my thumb. I love to see it there; I love what it stands for. I would love it better if it were on his finger, not on my thumb...but it is what it is. If you look close, you can see my emerald and diamond band. He "proposed" to me with that band, if you could call it that....since I "proposed" first. That band was my Martha's band, and she gave it to me. It is one of my prized possessions, and it snugs on my ring finger just right. Yesterday, I found "Bully" and had to bring him home. He fits with my Martha ring and even though he is a Bulldog, I like to pretend he is a floppy-eared Boxer. One can have a perfect world in one's head, correct? Correct.


What kind of rings do you have? Do you have any that are keepsakes; that are special? Tell me why. Please.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Funny....

I saw her photo today....I made this card for her....














and I was talking about her yesterday. I miss her. I know I'm not the only one. I hope I can always keep her attitude, which would be that of the sentiment of the quote I used.


If you have the opportunity to help do anything that helps fund cancer, please do so. This might be the donation of your time, not just the donation of your money. It might be to encourage a friend or family member that you have who is running for the cause, participating in something like this: www.sherrysrun.org. It might be to buy a shirt where the proceeds go back to the cause. It might be to donate an item for a silent auction, or to decorate a hard hat that will be donated and auctioned (wonder who will be doing that?!?! lol), or it might be to sell the tickets or take up the money or serve a meal. Who knows? As long as we are all working together, all those little things add up to a great big thing, and that is helping to find a cure for a disease that wreaks havoc on so many individuals, and ultimately, on whole families. Not only does it help find a cure, but there are also so many other parts of being affected by cancer that need the time and money of others. Please seize the opportunity to help make a difference!


Sarah...I will continue to try to make a difference, all for you, Babe!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Ceiling Fans = Fun.

So, I have painted a few ceiling fans in the last two years. I've loved every one of them equally as much, yet differently than each other, sort of like children.

This is the second-newest one that I've done, and the newest one belongs to the brother of the lucky recipient of the zebra blades shown here:
















These blades took me at least 6 hours each to complete, as they were very tedious....yet looking at them together, all different yet the same, reallllly makes me happy.

I'll try to remember to take photos of the newest one...it's black and white houndstooth for a room decorated in an Alabama theme....

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Wowza.




















I know I promised to continue on with my post about diabetes...but, to be perfectly honest, I think it will have to be a series that I write when I am able...meaning, sometimes, I can, and sometimes, I can't. Weird, yes. Me?....yes. Especially when I already wrote it once.

So, tonight, I am going to share with you that I have been creating a ton of new things for the Perry's Paradise Party that will be held in Lebanon at The Bull and Whistle this coming up Monday....I've put a huge amount of effort into it, and I hope that it turns out even better than it is in my mind....which is pretty dang good! :)


Right now, my living room resembles a tornadic path that was created by a whirl of wind on steroids....not even your normal tornado....but the Oz kind. For real. Let's see....these are a few of the random things I see, and this is *after* I've taken out a lot of things to my building: a window pane, a wooden cow, a smiley face helium balloon, a lamp base that will at some point contain a flower, a red cup like Pizza Hut used to have, a few canvases in various states of done and un-done, a roll of wrapping paper with the UT Vols theme, a stock pock...the 5 gallon kind...1, w, 3, 4....I think I can see 4 pairs of shoes. I see one dog, but there are two in here somewhere. I see a roll of tickets like you get at the carnival only these are pink and say "wish" on them. And this, folks, is just a random assortment of items that I can see. Yep, it's true.

The fun part is that I have taken a lot of photos to share with you, and that will happen asap....and in the mean time, I'll leave you with...well, something I can find already in existence on my hard drive. :) And, the winner is Ms. Kindergarten herself.....

Friday, August 5, 2011

Dear Diabetes,

Oh, Diabetes, how I could talk about you for hours on end! I've had so much experience dealing with you, and while I don't mind being someone that my Jesus thought was stubborn enough to deal with you, I do mine that you wreak havoc on so many lives, including many of those that I know and love. For 25 years now, I've watched you as you have made people sice, and I have fought you tooth and nail to keep those I love healthy. I have learned about you, and if I had my heart's desire, I would be counseling with those who are affected by you, but after all my other student loans I cannot pay for, I am not able to continue having an education to work with those people. Drat. Let me rephrase that....with people in a job where I would be paid. I sure do work with people now....and have since my early teens, who are family members of mine. I do not like you. Just sayin'.

Not so fondly yours,

Abby

I want to share with you, in a rather long post, how diabetes has affected my life, and the lives of those around me. However, after working on it for three days, Blogger ate everything except that which is above. I'm more than a little upset. I'll post this for now, then do another episode tomorrow, when I'm not disgusted.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Kindergarten....

So, I'm hopeful that Mrs. Shelia will be Anna's teacher this year....she taught Kate, Kevin, and Makayla, as well as Monna, and a few others in between. :) We'll find out on Tuesday if that happens or not, and that will be Anna's first day of Kindergarten, for real. But at any rate...here is her "1st day of school" photo....isn't she just too adorable? Wow. I have a college Freshman, a Senior, and one in Kindergarten. Not to mention the Makster, who is now an eighth grader....

































Tomorrow's topic will be "Abby on Diabetes" or some such title dealing with Diabetes, and then the next title will be about "Abby's Dreams" or some such title dealing with dreams. :)


Nighty night.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

"Hello, Beautiful!"

Somehow, I managed to get onto the subject of furniture and painting with my friend who is also my hair magician. She told me about this terribly ugly piece of furniture that she had and how she wanted something done to it, but it was SO UGLY....Here it is, but this is after the 1980's bad peach flowered mirror-a-ma-jig that was in the frame. Hideous.


























Here she is painted. Looking better...






















Stand on your head, and check this one out...even better yet.....but not quite there.....







































And finally.....here she is in all her flowering glory.....








































with a close-up of her new framed piece.....
































Isn't she grand?????




It would have been hard to let her go, except she went to such good hands where she will be appreciated, and I know this, because she gets told, "Hello, Beautiful," every morning....what more could a girl ask for?




Do you have an ugly piece of furniture? Let me know and I'll be glad to help you out with it...email me at complexandcolorful@gmail.com or perrysparadise@gmail.com. Friend me on facebook by searching "Abby Mark Perry" or "Perry's Paradise".




Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Today....

Today, we went to the fair to watch the grandbabies in their beauty pagents. I could ramble on this subject for quite some time, but I won't bore you with my thoughts on the subject. Suffice it to say I was happy to be there because that is what they were doing, but I could have thought of another way to spend the evening whether I was them or me. OK, I said I wouldn't rant on that. So.....I will say that it was an enjoyable time....we got to watch them, see some other people that we haven't seen in a while, sweat some, sweat some more, and watch Anna "catch" a fish on her first ping pong ball throw. (This was a very exciting moment in the life of Sally Sue Perry, to be sure.) Then, we walked around and she ended up choosing to ride the ferris wheel as her one ride....and she enjoyed it a whole very much. It was fun to watch her tell her Bubble all about it on the phone, complete with the circular hand motions whilst bubbling over about her ride, and how she wasn't even scared. What a trooper!

I'm tired today, so Anna's experience at the fair and the photo below will have to be the bloggy blog for today.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Mostly Flowers

So, here is a glimpse of some of the fun that I had today:

I've been meaning to make this Mingo chair for quite some time now, and today, it happened. When I saw the 'mingos on this fabric, I knew it was going to be a seat cover for this chair....it's wayyyyy better in person.
















And the canvas is an 8x10, has a wooden flower (or maybe resin) and a glass knob (functional...love this) as well as a vintage glass leaf that was found this weekend while we were out perusing.....I'm really liking this one.



































This is the center of a flower....and I will show you the rest tomorrow, but this is a surprise for a friend, and I don't want to give it away before she sees it.















Last but certainly not least is this glass rose knob that goes on the table that I think I showed you last night....the red and blue one...















isn't she perty? :)

Black and White? White and Black?

Either way....here are a couple of fun b/w things I'm loving these days!

This is my *new* vintage clutch....it's made out of something that is reminiscent of the old-time telephone cord stuff that is curly, and beads...maybe a hybrid of the two, LOL. Anyways....it's perfect in every way, and I'm pretty positive it was never used until I loaded it down yesterday. This was found at a yardsale this weekend, and it was shove whatever you can into a sack for $5....I got three more vintage handbags and a few other things.....$5 bucks. SCORE!!!!!












Next, this is one of the drawers I am working on for a girl who is re-doing her room. The drawer is baby boy blue, or powder blue, only brighter. The liner is black/white/grey stripes. I realllllly likey. :) And wait til you see the drawer pulls, and wait til you see them in the dresser when it's finished!!!! I'm oh, so very excited!
















Just because I'm nice that way, I'm going to show you where the drawer(s) (there are two) are going...remember, it's not finished yet....but isnt it fabu?