More tidbits from the basement

This is my new desk! We finally made a decision for some more of the basement furniture! We also bought another matching one to go with it, pictured below. We are working on getting all the lighting done in the ceiling and I am so ready for that project to be done! I bet it takes us awhile to get a contractor to come and do the windows....so don't hold your breath that it will be done anytime soon. Soon is not in our vocabulary lately..... I know in the photographs it looks like they are 2 diffrent colors, but they are not, the bottom picture is the color that they both are.

Christmas Shopping Fun!

My cousin Robin, and her mom Nan, were in town with us for the week from Kentucky, we had a blast Friday, just shopping for Christmas, and running into and visiting with everyone we knew.

We went out to our local longstanding hamburger joint for a hot hamburger at Murphy's. When

you live in Kentucky you want some of that soul food you grew up with from back home in

Oklahoma.

Then we went out to my friends store out on Highway 60 east of Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

They have the cutest stuff if you love Cowboy decor anywhere I have been. My girlfriend Rhonda andher husband Rick Yocham started this business about the mid 1970's right out of high school as a young married couple.

Rick started making saddles at about 12 years old, under the internship of local Saddle maker Ono Hill who recognized he was so gifted.

The business has morphed a couple of times, they used to be more of a saddle shop selling custom make tack, along with boots, clothes, hats, then fire struck several years back and burned the place down.

They rebounded with lots of tears and hard work, built a new building, with a new vision, and it became what it is today.

I have a fascination for dishes.....I love cowboy dishes. I don't have any but I want some! I would love to have a cowboy decorated Airstream trailer! I would even settle for a motor home done in Cowboy! :) I just think these are some of the cutest ones out there!




This set of dishes are so adorable! I am almost tempted to want them instead of my old favorites!





Pictured below are my all time favorite dishes! Want want want!!!!!

I have wanted this set for such a long time! They remind me so much of the 1950's stuff I remember as a really little kid!

Here is Rob and her mom looking everything over! The piece in the background is a hand tooled Murphy bed done there in Rick's leather shop. It is so beautiful!

This a a different Murphy bed open.........can you believe the detail work on this piece of furniture! The knobs are spurs cut in half on the large doors. Rick and Rhonda have a limitless supply of ideas, and they are so cute and so full of energy. They truly love the craft and what they do.





We ran into a friend of my Mom's from church when we were there shopping.




Up in the loft is where the beds and bedding are. They have so much to choose from it is mind boggling. This is little Miss Jayme..... (taken earlier this summer)



This is the view of the store from the loft. Can you believe that huge inventory of everything Cowboy!



Robin and Nan are still checking out all the pretty things. Nan is relaxing in a steer horn chair.



Totally wild west!




Well Robin decided she loved this chair and took a break in it. How about that Moose antler lamp and the table top it is on was topped in Crocodile hide. It is very beautiful and had the nail head trim all around it.



How about that bob cat reaching for the pheasant behind her. . . . . .




But if you truly want a very beautiful piece of western art you need to be looking at the magnificent work that Rick Yocham and his other craftsmen do in the saddle shop. Who would not love a custom hand tooled rope can with the beautiful detail work on it?

Rick Yocham working on a custom saddle.



But then this is also another one of the shop masterpieces.



A custom roping saddle with a colored Stingray leather seat to look like Tiger!








Bartlesville, Oklahoma
http://www.customcowboydecor.com/

Boys and their toys

My brother and his little blue 1953 Chevrolet taken in November.

He flew clear up to Washington State to buy that car.....

Thought it would make the drive all the way back to Texas. . . . . . .

He and his buddy got to California and guess what.....yep, that is when the truck and trailer had to be rented to get it home.

I will never understand why a grown person would think a 50+ year old car that he had never saw before would be a driver able go through the mountains, desert, etc.....but he did. I guess it makes for a larger repertoire of those adventure stories later on down the road! :)

He loves that little car and he always has had a project vehicle all the years I can remember. I noticed that he does not have the hub caps on it that we got him on EBay last Christmas! :0

The first one was a shell of a Model A that took years to fix.

That one was cute I tell you!

I remember the time he and my dad took it out for a little spin after it was done and an under age kid rear ended them in it Daddy's Caddy.....The seats collapsed and they fell backwards when that happened..... Uh oh.....

See what did I tell you, it makes for good stories later on!

Then there have been a few old pickup trucks after that.

Boys and their toys. . . . . . . .

Oh my gosh it is beautiful!

AND IT IS MINE!

I have been looking for a long time for a cabinet I liked and was big enough for my Art supply storage and I finally found it! It is not what I had envisioned in my minds eye, but when I saw it I knew that was it! It is a Ralph Lauren piece and I am just ecstatic! Now I am really wanting that basement project finished so I can load it up with all my stuff! I loved the way the glass looks like the old hand blown glass from way back. It is from a line that is Tuscan inspired and it looks like it is really old, with pegs instead of nails, but it is new. I can't wait to see it in my room! Yippee!!!! I will use the top shelves for display of my collectibles. I have been wanting a place for my Teddy Bear collection and maybe they will live in it too!

I want these ottomans also, but they were priced higher than I am willing to pay.......

I am going to have to shop around more for some like those. I don't believe the price they wanted was what I want to spend....they were over a thousand dollars each for just plain ottomans with faux leopard upholstery.... maybe I am just naive in thinking they were too expensive, but I hope not!

See that wicker end table over there at the end of the Chesterfield? Guess how much that is?

Well it was reduced..........now only one thousand and seventy dollars....

no thank you Mr. Lauren I will have to pass on that piece.

Seems a little high for a wicker basket to me... Did I tell you I am frugal?

Tis' The Season!

Merry Christmas! I hope all of you have your shopping done....I don't and I am about to panic! Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love the shopping, the Christmas cards, the beautiful christmas trees and all the lights. I still have to get all of that done! I am going to be a busy gal! Best Wishes and lots of Love this beautiful season and remember Christ.