Easter Decorating ,Thrift Finds & Book Review of "An Amish Garden"

Weekends are wonderful! I may be a stay at home Mom but Fridays are just as exciting for me! I still get that feeling of  TGIF! It has been a busy week and filled with highs and lows~~two of our cats are ill ( our cat Dixie will be going to heaven shortly as her health has declined in her old age and I fear the end is very near. Breaks my heart. Red Cat has an eye problem that may have taken his sight from his left eye and that's been horrible. We've all been battling colds, I've had a respiratory infection....oh boy...Spring can't come soon enough. I've been busy with appointments for my Mom and my son too. We are getting him used to his medication and that hasn't been easy. But as a sign in my house says "No Rain, No Rainbows", you have to take the good with the bad and happily there is an abundance more good than bad in my life!
My spirits were lifted  today and I had a fun day out with a great friend of mine! I was so in need of that. She has been decorating for Easter and so have I. She's a big decorator too and super crafty so it was fun sharing our ideas. Here's some of what I've done:

I took out some other items for the kitchen area:

 We went to lunch, did a little shopping and before we returned home I brought her to my favorite little thrift store for the first time. My wonderful neighbor told me about a vintage Easter tablecloth she saw there when she visited and I have had it on my mind ever since! I'm so happy it was there and I got it for $1!

Isn't it sweet? And it fits my table perfectly! I also picked up some egg cups and little tea bag holders:

And check out this great cow basket for rolls or muffins!

Then I saw this interesting wall plaque. When I was cleaning it I actually discovered the top of it swivels out and it hides money! And here I thought it was a cute plaque for the wall!

Always so much fun treasure hunting! My friend picked up some great items too! She has a real good eye for the vintage! What a fun day.

Here's a little craft I did! I did these last year as well. I had an abundance of these supplies so I made a couple more. The wheels are actually black buttons.

They are saying we may have a snowstorm on St. Patrick's Day.  I remember we had a blizzard on St. Paddy's Day in 1993! Sorry but I've put my shovel away, Old Man Winter so please send your snowstorm off to sea and leave little ole Long Island alone :)   Enjoy your weekend everyone! Hugs!

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I received "An Amish Garden" for free in exchange for an honest review. This was a wonderful, four story novella with the common theme of an Amish Garden from four best-selling Amish fiction authors. I thoroughly enjoyed all four stories. In "Rooted in Love", Rosemary, reluctantly at first, rekindles a romance with a former beau from her teens when he tends her overgrown garden. "Flowers for Rachael" is a lovely story of how mysterious notes sent with a flower brings a shy Amish couple together. The care and tending of special heirloom tomato seeds brings two people together in "Seeds of Love" and lastly, "Where Healing Blooms", the story of how you are never too old to find romantic love and that tending a garden could almost act as a form of therapy. As a fan of Amish fiction, I was pleased that these stories all moved along at a good pace and there were not too many characters to understand. I loved all four novellas and highly recommend this dear book. There were also recipes and an Amish glossary within its pages.