WE HAVE A WINNER...

                     Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  ( Our grandson's favorite phrase ) We have a winner for our Gwen And Alma's 2017 New Year's Give -Away! And the winner is......Diane from the blog, Lavender Dreamer! Congratulations, Diane!

We used the online Random Number Generator which picked the number selected for Diane.

  

                                   So the three gifts above will be coming your way, Diane!
Thanks to those of you who entered! I wish everyone could have won!

Tomorrow we head to an Estate Auction! Lots of fun stuff! More on that later!

A NEW YEAR'S GIVE-AWAY AND A PENNY CHALLENGE!

                "Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."  Epicurus

So I decided to kick off the New Year with a ... NEW YEAR'S GIVE AWAY! Details will be coming next week! Watch for it!

This year our small group Bible Study that meets at our home decided to surprise someone with a little "extra" for Christmas. So we spent a few weeks collecting our pennies and ended up with $115! Actually, pennies were hard to come by. But we just wanted to make a point to ourselves that just saving pennies can make a difference. We were inspired by a video we saw of someone who started a Penny Drive asking everyone to donate their pennies only and they saved over a million dollars. So he started giving away money to organizations that needed it. The penny collecting continues and they continue to give away millions!

Many people actually throw pennies away thinking they are insignificant. You can find pennies on the street! My husband saves his change, but pennies he throws around the house as if they don't matter.

 
 Now all our group members already support organizations, missionaries, and Church on our own. And because $115 is not a large amount for an organization, we wanted to give it to some unsuspecting person that might think it was a great Christmas Gift. So we decided to order Pizza at one of our gatherings at Christmas time and give the money as a tip to the pizza delivery guy. 

 When the pizza guy came my husband brought him into the living room and began to give him his tip. He handed him a five dollar bill. The guy said "thanks". Then he handed him another five and he said "OH Thanks!" and then another five. The guy looked surprised but took the five, smiled and said "thanks" again. Then my husband said, "Oh wait, there's another bill here", and then handed him a one hundred dollar bill. The guy didn't know what to say. Wish I had thought to take a photo. He said, once again, "thank you!, this time a bit more emphatically. He seemed surprised and speechless at the time, but I'm sure  he probably was "woot, wooten!" when he got back to his car.

Next time, when we do it again, I'm going to ask the person his/her name, ask him/her a bit about themselves, and take a photo. You know, make a big deal out of it!

So here's a challenge for you: This year in 2017, start saving YOUR pennies. Find a jug and start throwing them in. You'll never miss them but they will add up. Keep an eye out for them on the street! Invite some friends to join you. Then at Christmas time, have a Pizza Party and surprise some lucky Pizza Delivery Guy or Gal! It's a fun and painless way to give but the recipient will love it!

At the end of the year, let's post photos of the lucky Pizza Person on a blog post. I'll remind you when it gets closer to Christmas. Wouldn't it be fun to have several blog posts and photos of Happy Pizza Delivery People getting a little Christmas Gift?
 

AND THE WINNER IS....

SASHA NORDRUM is the LUCKY WINNER of our Hob Nobber Memorial Day Sale Give-Away!

She has won...

1) A $30 gift certificate to our Memorial Day Sale!     

Sasha, go to the head of the line!

2) First in line to get in!

3) And three more surprises when she arrives!


Upon arriving at our sale Sasha will be escorted to the front of the line. She will be given a $30 gift certificate to spend. Also three surprise gifts await her.

Congratulations,  Sasha !!!        

                                   



My 12 year old granddaughter, Brianna, slept over last night. We went to dinner at Pannekoeken and had their Dutch pancakes ( Pannekoukens )! If you are not familiar with this restaurant, here's the scoop: The pancakes come out of the oven big and puffed up. Since they deflate quickly the waiters RUN the pancake out  from the kitchen yelling, "Pannekoooooouken!  Paaaaanekouken!" My husband likes to ask them to make an extra couple of laps around the restaurant... just for fun!  There was a party of ladies there who apparently had not seen this before and they seemed to really get a kick out of it! Every time a waiter came out running and yelling, they laughed, cheered, and clapped! When our grandkids were little they all liked to "play restaurant and would come running from the kitchen yelling Pannekoeken!" But it's not just the hoopla that makes it great. They are delicious! Especially the fresh fruit in season ones, like Strawberry topped with brown sugar and sour cream! YUM! My favorite!

Anyway, I'm going somewhere with my Bri story so hang with me here! We made cupcakes and decorated them with her cake decorating utensils. We pretended like we were on Cupcake Wars and had to do it in a certain time frame so we made those cupcakes in record time, bantering the whole time as they do on the  TV show. It's Bri's favorite show! Then we watched the movie, Gravity. It was so-so from our perspective, even though it received a bunch of awards.

Soooo....and here is why I really started talking about Bri in this post but then got carried away with sharing all the fun we had! This morning Bri helped me find the winner of our Give-Away by using the Random Generator which landed on Sasha's "number". So that's how we do it, folks!

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO ENTERED!!! I wish everybody could have won but... You'll all be winners when you find your treasure to take home from our sale!

 See you at the sale!

A BIG OLE' GIVE-AWAY

Yesterday I sent out my May Hob Nobber Newsletter to people who come to our sales and have signed up at our sales to receive it! And in it I mentioned our upcoming Memorial Day sale as well as....tada....A BIG OLE GIVE-AWAY! Some of you that read this may come to our sales but have not signed up for our newsletters. Or you may be one of those whose e-mails I couldn't read and thus it came back to me even though you had signed up. Sorry about that!

So because of that I thought I better tell you about the Give-Away on my blog as well. Even though many of you out there reading this are from such far away places as China! Yes, I have readers in China! OK, that's my daughter but nevertheless, I have readers from far away! How cool is that? The give-away is for those who will be attending our upcoming sale as the special give-away will be

 a $30 gift certificate to shop our sale
 and a couple of more surprises when you get here!

Sooooo, here are the four ways to enter:

1) Write a comment about what you love about our sales. If you have not been to one, just say that. You can still enter, but you have to be here to get the prize. Leave your comment on the post, "TREASURES FOUND", which is the post just before this one.

2) For a second entry, "like" us on Facebook and leave another comment telling us you have done that.

3) For a third entry, send me an e-mail ( lesacookman@charter.net ) telling me you want to be added to our mailing list. If you are already on the list, leave another comment and let me know.

4) For a fourth entry, add the Memorial Day Sale logo on your sidebar. If you don't have a blog, be willing to share this with family and friends. Leave another comment telling me you have done this.

Give-Away ends this Friday at midnight! So hurry! Saturday I will announce the winner here! 
Sorry but you have to be coming to our sale to win! How else will you spend the gift certificate?

OK There you have it! I hope you can make it to the sale! We have lots of great stuff!!

I just picked up a vintage primitive hay rake, a vintage stoneware rolling pin, a vintage industrial canvas rolling cart, a milk bottle carrier, a Royal Copenhagen piece, and MORE! I'd show you pictures but my daughter-in-law has my camera right now.

SISTERS

I'm sharing this photo for Flashback Friday over at Seaside Simplicity. It's an old photo ( torn corner and all ) of my sister, Vicki, and I about 45 years ago. YIKES! We're OLD now! I'm on the right. I'm not sure where we were going with our coats on but it was taken in our living room. Apparently hats and muffs were IN.

Vicki is younger but I was shorter. Even though we don't look much different in height, I was very small back in the day. My hair started out blonde but got darker as the years went by. Vicki's hair stayed blonde for a much longer time. We were rather different back in those days.   But now we're looking more and more alike. Sorry, I'm not going to share an updated photo. But now I've got the blonder hair! Hah! How did THAT happen?

We stay in touch through cell phone and e-mail. She texts a LOT!  Vicki lives in Florida with her husband, Larry. They have a beautiful home there with an indoor pool and a tennis court.  Nice place to visit!   : )

We continue to try and make family memories together and have taken  all of our children and grandchildren on vacations together. We also have a family blog that we can ALL post on and share photos. That way we don't have to share them with the whole world on Facebook although we do that also. What did we do before the internet and cell phones?

I'm joining FLASHBACK FRIDAY  . Go check it out!

I wanted to share a an AMAZING GIVE-AWAY I found on the blog, AKA DESIGN.

Who couldn't use $225 worth of FUN from amazon.com?  Go there and enter now! Good Luck!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR... AND GIVE-AWAY WINNER

 

Since it's February, the month of LOVE, I'm sharing this wedding photo of my Mom and Dad for FLASHBACK FRIDAY.  The year was 1948. Bowties  must have been the rage then.Notice also the hats on the women sitting in the pews. My Mom was married in a wedding dress that was passed down from a relative. Don't think that's a tuxedo on my Dad. After the wedding my Mom was "kidnapped" by friends of my Dad's who drove her around in a car until bringing her back to the church for the reception. Much to the ANNOYANCE of my Dad.  

They honeymooned in Colorado.

There was no meal or wedding dance after the wedding. Only cake and coffee in the church basement. Sounds pretty simple compared to the HUGE  EXPENSIVE EXTRAVAGANZAS of today's weddings. Weddings today are a multi-million dollar business. I wonder if simplicity should make a comeback? 

My husband and I were married in the same church. We were the last ones married in that church as the building was torn down and the property purchased by the Mayo Clinic, which now owns most of the downtown. We were given a brick from the old building but have since lost it! Apparently when we were young, a leftover brick didn't seem like a priority to keep hauling around. Oh well, we still have lots of photos and memories. But a brick would have been nice, I guess.

Go here to see more sharing of FLASHBACK FRIDAY PHOTOS.

WE HAVE A WINNER FOR THE BLOG GIVE-AWAY....

Congratulations to...

 LAURIE OF THE BLOG, INDULGE YOUR SHELF! 

Laurie will be receiving... VINTAGE STYLE MAGAZINE 

                                                       THE LITTLE NOTEBOOK PICTURED

                                                 AND SOME VINTAGE SURPRISES!

Thanks to all of you who commented on my blog and entered. I used the free Random Generator which is a pretty fun little gadget!

If you're here from the GROW YOUR BLOG party you don't have to go back to my GYB post to comment since the Give-Away is over. I'm still getting around to visiting all the blogs myself!

GYB GIVE-AWAY

I finally got around to posting this photo of what I'm GIVING AWAY during the GROW YOUR BLOG party.

You will receive a VINTAGE STYLE magazine
                        a  notepad with the saying LET THE BEAUTY YOU LOVE BE WHAT YOU DO
                        and a few more VINTAGE SURPRISES...

Go to my post here to enter.

GROW YOUR BLOG AND A GIVE-AWAY

Well, I'm late to the party again! The party "Grow Your Blog" began yesterday and I forgot to post about it! Better late than never!

Vicki at 2 Bags Full is hosting a blog party for bloggers to get to know one another and grow their blog. Go here to find interesting blogs to read! There are about 400 blogs signed up and most are offering Give-Aways! My Give-Away prize will be posted later this week! So check back! In the meantime... sign up to WIN! I promise the GIVE-AWAY PRIZE will be worth your while! HINT:  It will be vintage related! You must sign up on THIS POST to be entered. Give-Away ends on Feb 1st.

So here's MY story: I began this blog to keep our valued friends updated on vintage occasional sales that  I have twice a year with two friends. The name of our hobby/business is Hob Nobbers...hob nobbing all over the countryside searching for treasures for YOU!

Beyond keeping everyone posted about our next sale and vintage finds I also post about my adventures living in a 49 room mansion ( we're Resident Directors and live in the West wing ), and Mondays are "workshop days" where I share posts about "living this life". Right now I'm in the middle of a workshop called, "Live Your Dream Life NOW". For information about that go to my Nov. 26th post. The first workshop was on Jan 7th.

Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE :  GO HERE TO SEE WHAT I'M GIVING AWAY

SHARING A GIVEAWAY

Hey, blogger friends! A Cottage Muse is having a sweet giveaway and I wanted to share the fun with you. Go here to enter.

And while you're there scroll through her blog posts for beautiful vignettes of vintage treasures!

BIG LAUNCH Getting Closer

This little guy may not look happy about his party outfit but he's coming to our Summer Soiree just the same.  His party hat is on and he's ready! I hope you are getting ready also! Lots of surprises coming on Saturday, May 1st. And since it's getting closer to my 100th post ( a BIG deal here in Bloggerland ) I'm adding some things that you'll hear about later. I'll probably post more than once a day this week to coincide my 100th post with the BIG LAUNCH! Whew! I've got my work cut out for me! Check back daily!

The vintage photo here is a freebie from The Vintage Moth. The button can be found on the right sidebar here. Click the button to grab YOUR free images!