Uncle Ronnie

Well, this morning I received some sobering news. My cousin called and told me that our Uncle had passed away. Ever since I received the news, I have been feeling quite melancholy. (forgive me for not being my usual bubbly self). I know this blog is suppose to be about decorating, but I thought today, in memory of my uncle this post would be more of a walk down memory lane...
(a little background first)I have no recollection of my mother, because she also passed away before I was two. Anyways, I was raised by my grandparents, and as a result of being the offspring of Becky Duncan Marlow, who everyone adored, I quickly became our families "Golden Child"...you know every family has one. In addition to being the golden child, I was also the most spoiled, brattiest child in the family as well. In my defense though, all things considered I didn't turn out half bad!
I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood, and as far back as I can remember I was always surrounded by Aunts and Uncles. My Uncle Richard, he was the funny one who was always cracking jokes, and loading us down with candy every time he came for a visit.Then there was my Uncle Paul who would usually just reach for his wallet, and give us money. He had a heart of gold, and would give you the shirt off of his back.Then there was my Uncle Ronnie, who was my cool uncle. He would load us all up in the back of his truck, go by the store, and let us pick out all the snacks we could fit in the cart, and max out his block buster card with scary movies we weren't aloud to watch at home. We could be as loud as we wanted, and stay up all night long!!!
There were also the trips to Six Flags...Uncle Richard, if you are reading this,I know you took us all to Six Flags too, but Ronnie would let us act crazy and wild, and hang our arms out the windows. We felt truly free when we rode with him!
There's one thing that really stands out in my mind about him though, and that was this little jig he did called " The "Hambone"...he would sing a little tune that went something like this "Hambone, hambone where ya been? Around the world and back again" He would sing this while slapping his knees, and making a percussion sound with his mouth and hand. I guess it was kind of bizarre, but we loved it!!!
Another thing about him that always impressed me was his handwriting. It was fancy, and I loved it. As a matter of fact, when my husband and I got married, he wrote all over my car in shaving cream. It was so pretty, that I would not wash it off for weeks. Lol!!
He did everything in super-hyper speed. He talked, walked, drove and even ate at the speed of light.One of these days I would like to sit down with his beautiful daughter Callie, and tell her all these neat stories about her daddy.
We will miss you Uncle Ronnie!!! Rest in Peace Ronald Gene Marlow(September 14, 1960-May 8, 2012)

Ronnie is on the far right in the gray pullover. He was a young buck in this photo.

This is a more current photo of he and his precious daughter Callie!!!

If all else fails, paint it white!!!!

Hello out there in blogger land!How was your weekend?...err should I say week? Yeah, I know I haven't been keeping up with my blog, but in my defense I had a crazy weekend involving a slumber party with eight 13 yr old girls sliding across my wood floors in their socks squealing to the top of their lungs!!!...Okay, I admit that I loved every minute off it, until I woke up the next day realizing, I'm not as young as I once was! Yep, it's sad when it takes three or four days to recuperate from one all nighter!
Okay, so I'm the queen of procrastination right? Seriously, I have at least 10 or 11 half finished projects floating around my house right now, but I am proud to say that I have recently finished one of them! Yay meeeee!!!
As long as I can remember, I have wanted a white mantle, and when we moved here I got my wish. In my "Girl room" I have a beautiful white mantle. I started out decorating it for Christmas using ribbon, walnuts from our tree outback, pine cones found in the attic,and glass ornaments. Combined with our handmade stockings made by my uber talented cousin,(Rachel Mote)and our lovely Christmas tree. I was very pleased with it in December and even a few weeks in January. After that I decided I would take down the tree and remove the Christmas ornaments. I decided I would leave the rest, because it was still cold outside, and nothing's says winter like walnuts and pine cones, right? Wrong!!! I was just being my usual procrastinating self!
Well, it was not until my friend Crystal came to visit me, took one glance at my mantle and said(and I quote)"Mandy, honey...that mantle needs some help!" that's when I really started contemplating a solution. I already had decided I must do something about my rather boring, pine coney, not so pretty leftover Christmas/wintery display.Okay, as I mentioned previously, I am a collector of old bottles(well, technically my girls are)...Anyhow, I cleaned up a few suitable bottles that I keep under my sink, and added some yellow faux carnation looking flowers, but it was still missing a certain element. I went to my craft room. Okay technically it's a large laundry room with a big bookshelf, but it makes me feel important when I refer to it as my craft room, so leave it alone. Alright, so I'm scanning the bookshelf looking for that perfect item, and that's when I run across an out of date birdcage, I rescued from my husbands great aunts house. Okay, minus the 1980s paint job( you know when everyone had the uncontrollable urge to paint or stencil cutesy little flowers and leaves on everything they owned)I think this is just what my mantle needs.
I grab the birdcage with spray paint in hand, because my motto in life is "If all else fails, paint it white!"
I take it all outside to my little patch of white painted grass( my husband likes to fuss about my patch of painted grass until I gently remind him, that if he would prefer I could lay his golf towel down to protect the grass. Yeah, that works every time!! Hehe
...Okay, so a few minutes later I have a newly painted, shiny, white birdcage! My nature loving daughter then reminds me of the special treasure she had found earlier in the week.
Ahhhhh, yes...the abandoned birds nest would be the perfect accent!Unfortunately I was so wrapped up in the moment( okay the truth is that I was still in my pjs, and my hair style was mimicking the birdsnest)that I didn't get any pics
Of any of this process. The best I can do is a picture of the mantle at Christmas, and a picture of my now very springy
display. Well, I hope this works for ya... That's a wrap!!!!

This is what it looked like after Christmas...kinda blah.

And here's what it looks like now...drumroll

Here's a close up on the birdhouse

Bye bye now!!!!