WHAT?! I Posted Again!

You know you live in Bell Buckle, TN when the BIGGEST NEWS OF THE WEEK is that you made Christmas cookies and got a new shed.

Though, to be fair, when the aforementioned cookies are part of a hallowed longstanding family tradition that happen to take three dang days out of your life and the new shed allows you to finally get rid of the POD that has been sitting in the driveway of not one, but two houses– well, that’s kind of a big deal.

Also? The shed is adorable. Seriously, you are going to have such an extreme case of shed envy when you see it that you are immediately going to start frantically looking around your yard to see where-oh-where you could put one just like it– yes, it’s just THAT cute. *holds hand up for the high fives that are sure to follow*

Here’s what the @#%* POD looked like inside when it was finally emptied out and ready to be hauled away– picture cartoon hearts shooting out of my eyes:

1emptyPOD

 

And no, we are most decidedly not going to add up how much rental $$ I have paid for the privilege of having that sucker in my driveway, because that way lies madness, sir. But we had to move some furniture out of our Brentwood house in order to show it and then this lovely old 1905 house has very little usable storage space, so hey, we did what we had to do, and anyway I can’t put them biscuits back in the can, so JUST LET IT ALONE, OK?? (You have just been privy to the mental conversation that has been going on inside my head for the last year. Scary, isn’t it? To quote Anne Lamott, “My mind is like a bad neighborhood, I try not to go in there alone.”)

So anyway, here’s the shed-among-sheds (from these great Amish people in Kentucky):

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I KNOW, right?! And yes, those are window boxes, thanks for asking. And a cupola, too? Of course! *shyly digs toe in the dirt, tries to look humble* (I’m on the hunt for a peacock weathervane for it, so do me a solid and let me know if you stumble across one that won’t require me to sell a kidney to afford– m’kay, thanks.)

1shed5

 

I’m having to be physically restrained from dragging a mattress up that ladder and sleeping in there. When I was a kid growing up on Midland Street in Little Rock, my friends Duddy and Doug and Bill and Phil and I had a secret club in my basement, but this is WAY cooler than our Kit Kat Klub headquarters. Not to mention…

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IT HAS A LITTLE WINDOW OVER THE DOOR! Ok, just one more:

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AND SEE HOW WELL IT MATCHES THE HOUSE??

OK, moving on.

In related news,  this week I also spent one whole day doing this:

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So that Madi Rose and I could spend two days doing this:

1cookie11

1cookie31cookie4

1cookie81cookie71cookie61cookie10

 

And in case you are silently wondering if I am posting all these photos just so you can ooh and ahh and leave all kinds of gushing comments like, “Oh my gosh, you are so creative and wonderful!!!”– you would be right. I need motivation, people, or this lovely tradition is gonna die on the vine. I have exactly twelve months to forget what a pain in my still-relatively-perky backside these ridiculous cookies are to make, so yeah, I’m not above manipulating you with pictures. (Hook and line– meet sinker.) (I might need a shot of me holding a sign that says,”Will Work For Compliments.”) Aw, who am I kidding, I really do enjoy making these… At least the first couple of hundred batches… Then I kinda start swearing under my breath.

Let’s see, what else.

Russ did a hometown concert in Hot Springs this week, at this lovely little theater on Central Ave., and in spite of a man-cold that make his voice just a wee bit husky, reportedly a good time was had by all. The girls and I couldn’t attend because COOKIES, and also we were finishing up our shopping/POD clean-out/Christmas craziness– but our sweet friend Carolyn provided some photographic evidence for us:

1HS4(That’s the back of Daddy Bud and Kimmie Masino’s heads. They look even better from the front.)

There will be more photos of this night to come– there are some really good ones– but I didn’t have time to edit them all now because I was too busy editing pictures of The Cookies. It’s called ‘priorities,’ people.

I’ll leave you with a couple of random things that made me smile. I’m trying to get back to making Time-Suck Tuesday posts again, but my carefully hoarded stash of funny photos got completely lost during the Great Laptop Crash of May, 2014. (Note to self: BACK UP YOUR FILES MORE OFTEN.) So, enjoy these, and I’ll start hoarding again soon.

(And tell me all about your holiday plans… We’re heading home to AR tomorrow!)

I’ll start with a couple of cat-related ones, because why wouldn’t I:1catracing This is TOTALLY Catsy Cline’s philosophy of life:

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This one is for my sister Liz:

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And finally, in anticipation of those holiday meals– we’ve all been there, right?

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17 Responses

  1. auburn60

    I look at that shed and totally see “guesthouse”. I’ll bring my own pillow.

    Did you know you can get peacock duct tape? I know that has little to do with a weathervane. Unless you’re REALLY creative. Peacock weathervane,huh? Maybe you could special-order one from one of those talented Gatlinburg artists. But since you’ve gone the “peacock decorating route” I notice peacocks everywhere. I’ll keep my eyes peeled.

  2. bettyrwoodward

    Love the shed. Glad you got one that went so well with the house.
    We hope you and the family have an amazing time celebrating Christ’s birth. Stuart has e mailed our family news letter to Russ.
    Happy Christmas to all the babybloomrs as well.

  3. delightedabroad

    Those are beautiful pictures – as usual. I can almost see you bouncing with joy, Tori. :-) Guess what, when I first saw the ladder in your amazing shed I counted the steps. And it’s the same number as on my bed’s ladder. So I agree with auburn60…

  4. delightedabroad

    Just one more thing to say: Merry Christmas to all of you!

  5. rachelbaker

    I’m in agreement – that’s a guesthouse not a shed but it is gorgeous.

    Two blogs so close together is a wonderful Christmas present, thanks Tori!

    The cookies are amazing . I wonder how much international shipping would be?!

    We’re off down south tomorrow to spend Christmad with Mum and Dad … can’t wait. I just have to figure out how to get all the presents in the car …

  6. Barbara M. Lloyd

    Your cookies continue to be works of art….the kind you “almost” hate to eat because of the reluctance to no longer have the joy they bring just looking at them. Sounds like an additional cookie blessing is the Taff girls tradition that seems to be blooming.

    Love that doll house/storage house. Had a brief thought that it might make either a perfect man-cave or woman-cave…which seems to be a popular addition to many homes these days.

    Wishing my little Taff family…and all of the BabyBloomer family here a continued Christmas celebration that lasts throughout the coming year.

  7. rachelbaker

    Happy Birthday dear Momma Lloyd. With much love xx

  8. Barbara M. Lloyd

    Thank you sweet Rachell for your birthday wishes. I have a confession: On my used-to-be drivers license, I put the right number for my age…but I fibbed (big time) about my weight. I did put an asterisk alongside the phony number and then at the bottom of the paper note that it was not true. They let me get away with it. Maybe it was the sorrowful look I mustered up for inspection.

    Happy New Year everybody.

  9. carsmith665

    Shed doesn’t seem like the correct name for your new addition. More like Studio or Guest house. Everyone in Bell Buckle will be wanting one.
    So glad you told me to log in with new account, don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself.
    Loved spending New Years with the Taffs. I’ll send pictures.

  10. Barbara M. Lloyd

    I love that song, “Here Comes Jesus,” as sung by my favorite solo artist. I sure wish I could write one titled, “Here Comes Tori”!

  11. bettyrwoodward

    Oh Momma Lloyd I just love that last comment!

  12. Barbara M. Lloyd

    To the tune of “You Are My Sunshine)

    Here comes our Tori
    Our precious Tori
    She makes us happy…just showing up
    We know she’s busy…so very busy
    But please don’t take our Tori away

    We know she writes lots
    And is on the radio
    Besides being wife and mother of two
    We don’t wanna stress her…with any demands
    But maybe you could throw a crumb our way

    You are our Tori…our very own Tori
    You make us happy..when you write to us
    You’ll never know, sweetie…how much we love you
    We’re so pitiful, just wait-ing for you.

  13. Barbara M. Lloyd

    Okay now, sweet Betty….sing LOUD!

  14. bettyrwoodward

    I did!!!

  15. Barbara M. Lloyd

    I heard you, Betty….you’ve got some pretty good harmony there. We might both be able to fill in on the GVB when one of the fellas is not feeling well…but you have to be the fill in for David!

  16. Barbara M. Lloyd

    Everybody send your pennies to Tori….she’s run out of gas somewhere (maybe you’d better send her a map, too.

    In the meantime, let me tell you the latest on my little great-grand. Jocelyn is 3 years old and she goes to kindergarden-3 at our Christian School. Her mother has been trying to teach her to cough and/or sneeze into the inside of her elbow. She was walking down the hall the other day and she had to sneeze, so she quickly ran over to her teacher and sneezed into the teacher’s arm. I guess she figured anybody’s elbow would do.

    Anybody else got a grand or great-grand story? Gracious, Linda (Lebb), we just have to hear from you, sweetheart.

  17. rachelbaker

    Hi Momma Lloyd, it’s so quiet around here!

    I don’t have grandchildren yet, but my 6 year old did volunteer to say prayers before dinner last week. He proceeded to pray; ‘Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for our lovely dinner even though it isn’t very healthy, Amen’

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