Enough dreariness already!

When will this cold, dreary, yukky Houston weather go away? It's even worse because in between bouts of rain and 20 degree weather, we'll have a "tease" day, where there's not a cloud in the gorgeous blue sky, the wind chimes are tinkling merrily (instead of angrily crashing about in cruel north winds), and the pansies are lifting their sweet little faces, being kissed by the sun. And even those days are tainted, somewhat, knowing that another mean squall is on the way. Oh, well. Before you know it, it'll be summer, and I'll be griping because of the heat.

Something fun I did recently just for myself - there's a wonderful little shop in Katy (a little town west of Houston which as the years have passed, just blends right into our far west suburbs) called The Shop on Third. I had about a 1/2 hour before I needed to be at M's school to pick her up and I was feeling pretty low; it was the 4 year anniv. of my mom's death and that, combined with watching my sweet daddy struggling with physical therapy that morning, had taken it's toll on me. I thought what would Mama do if she was depressed? I know ~ go shopping!

What's so cool about The Shop on Third is that it is one of the oldest houses in Katy and when the resourceful owners bought it, they kept it just as it was; they didn't knock any walls down or anything, so you really feel like you're in this late 1800 farmhouse. The kitchen is my favorite - lots of antiques mixed with new stuff and it's all kitchen themed. The bedrooms have great bedroomish type stuff - great antique furniture, mirrors, old hatboxes, you name it. And the porch - omigosh! It wraps around on both sides and they've got all kinds of old farm equipment repurposed, old screen doors with adorable stuff hanging on them, watercans, etc.

I'm hoping they'll let me snap some pix next time I go and I'll do a photo blog of it. Words just don't do it justice. And what lovely things did I come away with? A new decorative oval bowl type thing on a pedastal (I bought some lovely spheres on sale yesterday at Pier 1 for it), an old children's telescope case, and wierdest of all - an old prescription bottle of ear drops dated 1953 from a Katy drugstore and a little bottle, about 1 1/2" tall labeled "Tips" - "for smokers, alcoholic", it's contains chlorophyll (!) and mint and it's from the "Tipsco" company in Hewlett, NY. I know. I'm wierd. I have no idea what I'll ever do with the things but they were $3.00 each and, you know what? It made me happy and that is what I had hoped for when I walked through the doors of The Shop on Third! I'd love to hear from anyone out there has ever bought something "wierd" that they're kind of embarrassed about (no, no, no, not that kind of stuff!). You know what they say - there's comfort in numbers!