Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Lisa from Buttercup Bliss

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Happy Saturday.  This week in Spotlight I would like to introduce  you to Lisa from Buttercup Bliss.  Lisa is a true down home southern girl.  You will see what I mean after you read and get to know her better.  Make sure you hop over to check out Lisa's blog and say Hi.

Hi!  My name is Lisa and my blog is Buttercup Bliss.  I was so tickled when Kris asked me to participate in the Blogger Spotlight series.  I wasn’t sure what I would tell about myself, but as my son likes to say, “I can talk to a brick wall” so I just started writing.  First, why Buttercup Bliss?  It took quite a while to come up with a name for my blog.  I finally settled on Buttercup Bliss after my silver pattern – you know, we southern girls love our silver!  I have been blogging for several years about all things house and home – a bit of decorating, a bit of cooking, a lot about life in general.  

 HI!  I'm Lisa, author of Buttercup Bliss.

My husband Jon I live with our twelve year old son in a small town outside of Jackson, MS.  We have two precious Cavalier King Charles Spaniels name Ollie and Clarabel. I have lived my entire life in either Mississippi or Mobile, AL.   I am a graduate of Ole Miss – home of one of the most gorgeous college campuses around!  Hotty Toddy!  I retired last summer after 29 years in education.  I was an elementary teacher and principal before serving as the Director of Curriculum for a large school district on the Mississippi Gulf Coast for the last ten years. We moved “home” last July and bought the house across the street from my father.  We have spent the last 10 months updating our new home and hope to stay here for quite some time!!

 This is my family -  my husband, Jon, and our son Seth. We were having fun cheering on our Ole Miss Rebels!

Some fun facts about me to help you get to know me better:

I am the younger of two girls.  My big sister is only 13 months older than me.  We are super close!!  She lives around the corner from me now!  

I was an “old-maid” school teacher.  I didn’t get married until I was 37 years old.  I truly believe everything happens in God’s perfect timing!  (Although I have to tell you, I whined quite a bit during the wait when it seemed everyone was getting married but me!)  

The summer of 2005 was awful for our family.  My precious mother passed away with colon cancer and a month later our home in Ocean Springs, MS was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.   God used that time to bring me closer to Him.  I learned that all those possessions that I loved so much were just “things”. 

My sweet niece, Paige, was diagnosed with aplastic anemia when she was ten months old.  The only hope of a cure was a bone-marrow transplant.  She did not have a sibling at the time and a nationwide search was conducted for a suitable donor.  But…. I was an almost perfect match.  I served as her bone marrow donor.  My sister and I say that she is half my child.  We will celebrate the 24^th anniversary of her bone marrow transplant this June.  She is our family miracle!!! 

I have a Ph.D. in Educational Administration.  My thought was something like this….”If my last name is never going to change, then I better add something to the end of my name!” 

My decorating style is “traditional” with a twist… I like antiques and funky new pieces too! 

 This is our newly updated kitchen.  Before and after pics and full details are on the blog

I love to create tablescapes for holidays and special family dinners.  

I love anything to do with school!  I get giddy when the school supplies come out in late summer! My mom used to say she couldn’t pass a display of lunch boxes without thinking she needed to buy one! 

I am deathly afraid of any animal that doesn’t have fur or feathers. 

These are our fur babies. Clarabel is tri-color and Ollie is a blenheim Cavalier. They are the sweetest babies ever!

Coffee is my favorite beverage!  Cinnamon is my favorite flavor/spice. 

In the south, we call all carbonated beverages “Coke”.  My favorite Coke is Dr. Pepper! 

 My all time favorite dessert is White Chocolate Bread Pudding.  You can find the recipe, along with other family favorites on the blog.

I love people who make me laugh!  Corny jokes are my favorite!!

I am the opposite of a pack-rat.  I do not like excess things lying around.  My sister says if you sit still at my house, I may pop you in the garbage! 

I do, however, collect pretty things such as McCarty Pottery (pottery made in the Mississippi Delta where my mother was raised), vintage Pyrex, vintage Ironstone, Etta B pottery (another Mississippi pottery), vintage American Fostoria, and estate silver pieces.  

 McCarty bunnies are one of my favorite things to collect.

My mom said I was the pickiest person alive!  She used to laugh and say the “list of qualities” I was looking for in a husband was too specific.  But…. My husband, who I met on a blind date, is a good Christian man, is very smart, ambitious, a fabulous dad, looks terrific in preppy clothes as well as a baseball cap, and can sing like you wouldn’t believe!!  He is my best friend, too! 

I adore monograms and the color pink!  I never got to decorate a prissy girl nursery, so our guest room is always on the girly side! 

The kitchen is my favorite room in any house.  Some people want to travel the world, I would like a Viking range!! 

Being a baseball mom is just about the greatest thing ever!!!  

My nickname from my husband is "Gracie" because I am a bit of a klutz!! 

So there, you have it - a little bit about my blog and me. I truly hope you will come and visit me at Buttercup Bliss!  I would love it if you would follow along too.  Since I am retired, I am hoping to blog more!!   

Lisa 

Thank you Lisa for being in the Spotlight and letting us get to know you better. 

Have a great week end.

Kris :)

Summer Home Series Tour 2015

Happy Friday.  Hope your week was great and you have an even better week end.

I just wanted to let you know that I am kicking off Michele from Shelstring blog's Summer Home Series Tour.

Shelstring Summer Home Tour 2015

So if you have a few minutes please hop over to Michele's beautiful blog and check out my Summer Home Feature.

Thank you Michele it was fun to show how I summer up my home inside and out.  Thank you it is such an honor that you asked me to be part of this wonderful series.

Shelstring Blog Summer Home Tours Series

My Junk could be Lucky Junk!!!

I have been cleaning out storage closets and the outdoor shed and have enough stuff I think to open my own shop!!!!  

Since I am not planning on opening my own shop and have friends that have shops,  I decided to invite my friend Janet from Lucky Junk over to see if any of this stuff might become "lucky junk" in her shop.  She is coming by to take a look at all the stuff.  Hope she takes it all lol!

I pretty much filled up my backyard.

I have birdcages, vintage ladders, chairs, chandeliers, chippy pieces of furniture.  Tons of bottles, candle stick, iron stone and lamps signs.  You name it I probably have it in the pile.

Whatever Janet does not take for her shop will go to Goodwill.  Depending on where Terry lands a job I may have to sell more of the inside things  if we have to move and sell our home.  So time will tell with all the treasures inside my house too.  Just can't go there yet.

It feels good to think Janet might be able to use some of these treasures for her shop.

Have a great rest of the week.
Kris
:)

Winner! Winner!

Good Wednesday to all of you.  I just got home from having my vacation down in Florida.  It was so nice to visit with my mom and take my granddaughter to Disney.  The weather was heavenly 90's and sunny every day.  We had a great week.  

Now that I am back I put all the names for the giveaway into a bowl and picked out the lucky name to get Diana's personalized copy of her wonderful summer read.

The winner is Susie from She Junks.

Susie a personal autographed copy of Diana's book will be mailed out to you soon.

Enjoy this great summer read.

Hope all of you are having a great week.  

Please come back on Friday for a special post and also I will have a wonderful blogger in Spotlight this Saturday for you to meet.

Have a great rest of the week.

Kris

:)

The Mystery of Lucy and the Dark Woods

Happy Sunday.   I am so excited for this post today.

My good blogging buddy and wonderful friend Diana that so many of you know from her blog Nana Diana Takes a Break has written her first book.

Yep!!!! I was able to get an early copy of her book and read it before it was available for purchase.  I have to tell you I loved it.  In fact I loved it so much I am going to do a post for her and also a give away of her wonderful book.

This is the actual cover of this wonderful summer read and guess what that is Diana on the cover.

This is a beautifully told story and you will fall in love with Lucy the main character in her book.  Diana will capture you with her beautiful writing style as she tells Lucy's story.
With Diana's beautiful descriptions of the characters you will feel like you know them all personally.

The book is about Lucy's journey to learn about life, what love really is and heart ache and loss.  You will learn about her precious gift of knowing things before they happen and how that fairs throughout her life.
It will keep you wanting to know what is going to happen next in Lucy's life.

I am excited to give this review and post in honor of Diana's first book.  If you would like a chance to win a copy of this personally signed copy please just leave a comment below.
I will pick a winner this week and let Diana know the winner so she can personally sign a copy of this fabulous book just for you.

If you would like to buy your own copy please go to Amazon or Diana's Etsy Site.
You will not be disappointed.  This is a great read.
Enjoy and Good Luck.
Kris
:)

Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger

Benita from Chasing Quaintness

 Saturday Spotlight: Life Behind the Blogger is a feature done each Saturday that introduces you to a blogger you may already know or a new blogger for you to get to know. This feature gives you a peak into the personal life of the blogger.  Getting to know the special person behind the beautiful blog.

There is so much talent and inspiration in blogland so enjoy getting to know these talented bloggers each Saturday.

Good Saturday to all of you.  This week in Spotlight I have a fairly new person to blogging.  She just started up her blog this year.  I love that she reached out to me as a new blogger and said yes to doing Spotlight.  I told her Spotlight is a good way to have bloggers find her and get to know her.  So enjoy reading and getting to know Benita from Chasing Quaintness.

I cannot tell you all how thrilled I am to be on Kris’s Spotlight Saturday!  I wasn’t quite sure how to write about me, so I decided to use facts and filler.

My first blog post was January 31, 2015.  I was terrified.  I’m still terrified!

I’m Alabama born and raised.  I do not like the colors orange and blue. ;-)

I moved from Birmingham to Dallas in 2011 and from Dallas to Nashville in November 2014.  The hubby is giving me a tour of the country – in no particular order.

I’m currently in menopause.  It started when I was 2 years old.  I don’t remember reading about the curse of menopause in the Bible.  I think it was skipped --  on purpose.

I’ve been married to the current hubster for 7 years.  We met at a “haunted barn”.   We wanted to get married on Halloween and have everyone attend in costume.  The bestie nixed that so we got married on the 4^th of July. We like that the entire United States celebrates our wedding anniversary!  Here is a photo from our wedding…sheesh, look how skinny.  Menopause took care of that! 

Menopause started 6 months after we were married…send my hubby gifts and lots of “poor guy” messages.  He doesn’t know the “real me” only the menopausal maniac I’ve become.  He is 10 years younger and doesn’t deserve a menopausal wife, but… here we are.  Sorry about our faces...my little Samsung camera automatically airbrushes your face.  I don't understand why it thinks everyone's face has wrinkles!

I’m a pinner not a tweeter.  I can’t say anything in 140 characters or less.

I’m a girly girl.  I don’t like to get dirty.  Maybe that’s why my craft projects fail.

I wear gloves for everything…washing dishes, dusting, vacuuming, painting, potting plants, watering plants, mopping the floors, washing my car, emptying the trash…you get the picture.  The gloves are pink.

I will not play sports.  The fear of a breaking a nail is just too great.  I do ride a bike.

I’ve never had a broken bone, but when I was little my dad ran over me with the car.  My aunt opened the car door while we were going somewhere and I fell out.  To this day I remember being embarrassed in the ER because the doctors and nurses saw my panties when they cut my pants off.  I was about 5 or 6…all that drama over a little (a lot of) blood.

I chewed gum during my entire wedding.  I was nervous.

Some strange men joined my bachelorette party – I was chewing gum.

One kept trying to kiss me.

I finally let him kiss my cheek after those men  gave me money…..as a wedding gift. The new hubby-to-be was not happy when he saw all the photos.

I like getting people to pose for unusual family photos - like this...

 And this.  The young girl in this photo, who looks like she’s about 17 was 12…yep, 12.

I didn’t look like that at 12…this is what I looked like…UGH…that nose…that hair…those freckles, those eyebrows.  I saw someone from school many years after graduation.  She asked if I had a nose job...nope.  She said "you must have grown into it then."  Yep!  I still laugh.

I have 2 boys and 2 step-children – 1 boy, 1 girl.

And one granddaughter.

The first time around I was married for 25 years. The first hubby died during the divorce ordeal…at my feet.  I was confused as to whether I was a widow or divorcee.  I still don’t know, but that was 11 years ago.  I’ve moved on.

I’ve been to New York City and Las Vegas twice. 

I’ve been out of the country once.

I’m a Marilyn Monroe, not Marilyn Manson fan (go ahead, Google him).  I miss Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, William Powell, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Dean Martin (this list could take a few days).

My youngest son has Loeys-Dietz Syndrome (similar to Marfan’s). We've spent many years in hospitals and doctor's offices.  He almost died once.

I love my lifelong friends (we all went to church and school together).  I HATE having my picture taken but do not miss an opportunity to pose when it’s a good hair day – those silly girls totally messed up this picture, but I rocked it (good hair day and not too big in the mouth area).

I’ve been a photographer for about 20+ years.

The hubby and I love plays.  Our first play to see together was The Full Monty.  I. HAD. NO. IDEA what it was about (honestly) because I had never seen the movie.  We sat at a table next to the stage - I didn’t see the ending…my eyes were covered.  The hubby did and described it in great detail…all the way home!

Now you know more than you EVER wanted to know about me!

Kris, thank you so very much for the Spotlight Saturday post!  You are a sweetheart!
Benita (http://chasingquaintness.blogspot.com)

Thank you Benita for sharing about yourself and life with all of us.  Hop over to Benita's blog and say Hi.  Have a wonderful week end.

Kris