Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween, Y'All!!

Hugs,

Victoria Lynn

Trick or Treat!?

It's time for tricks or treats!

Let's see what tricks Jasmine has been up to...you see, she's a black cat, and it's her favorite time of year! My BFF, Donna Lynn, was tricky the other day. She mailed me a surprise "care" package! Jasmine was very pleased with her choice of presents!Let's follow Jasmine to see what she's up to... (she's sporting her seasonal bow)
Nope, not there... Here? Nope, not here either...
AHA!! So this is what my people were fussing over all evening...strange, I'm not sure why? What ARE these all about?! They smell funny. Oh my! This one looks like ME! (Courtesy of Rachel's carving skills) Did someone say treats?! Where are they? Oh, oh! Sorry Jasmine, I think by the size of Frederica's belly, that she already ate all the treats!

A Happy and safe Halloween to all!

Hugs,

Victoria Lynn

Hopeful Friday - This Land That I Love...

On this Hopeful Friday I want to thank God that I live in this country. I know we are all going through this troubling time right now. But I am so thankful I live in a country where we can chose. Where we have a right to vote and make our opinions count. So I urge each of you to use that personal freedom on November 4th...please get out and vote!!

I just wanted to share that one of my new found freedoms is being able to show my support of my candidate...my ex would have never allowed me to do this...so woo-hooo!! I'm exercising newfound personal freedom! (PS: I know that not everyone who reads this will agree with my choice of candidates, but the point is I AM FREE NOW!!)

This one's in my front yard...

And this one's on my car...

May God bless each one of you and may you find freedom in each day!

Hugs,

Victoria Lynn

Thanks to Cielo at The House In The Roses for hosting Hopeful Friday!

A Southern Tour Of Franklin Porches In The Fall

This is my first Autumn in the South. I just love the old houses here. Rachel and I went driving around downtown historical Franklin recently and thought we would share our delightful tour of Fall decorated porches! First up, a beautiful covered porch with ferns, wicker furniture and beautiful urns with mums...

This beautiful old home has great wrought iron detail on the porch and the fence is wonderful...cornstalks and mums!

This charmer has a turret over the covered porch...I love how they used the design of the porch to inspire the shape of their display...

A closer look...hey, it's the characters from the Wizard of Oz!

Another shot of the turret, wrought iron fence and their roses are still blooming!

A gorgeous brick home...I wonder how many pumpkins they bought?

I thought these pumpkins atop the picket fence were cute...and I love the Indian corn!

I thought the pumpkins in the urns were pretty!

This porch is creepy...

Scarecrows in the yard...

Beautiful, lush gardens in the front yard...

This house gets my vote for most original...those spiders are great, crawling all over the side of the house!

Next we drove by our local family-owned produce stand. I love it because they are a vanishing small town treasure! Pumpkins, corn stalks, straw bales...

Squash and mums...

And the final resting place for many souls...a historic cemetery...

Whoa, these people were born in the 1700's!

But wait! Rest Haven Cemetery wasn't here until 1855, which means these people above were moved here after they were already buried somewhere else....creepy!

Tonight we went on the "Ghosts and Gore" walking tour of "historic downtown Franklin"! It was a cold, clear night and our tour guide was delightful in her Civil War period costume. She led us with her candlelight lantern through the darkened streets of downtown, sharing history with stories of crime and ghosts! It was really interesting and a ton of fun! It got us in the mood for Halloween!

I hope you enjoyed this tour as much as Rachel and I! Brrr...I'm cold, I think I need a cup of hot-spiced cider!

Hugs,

Victoria Lynn

For more inspiring tours of Fall homes visit The Inspired Room where Melissa is hosting a list of tours! Thank you, Melissa!

A Prayer Request

Please pray for Donna Lynn (Blushing Rose Antiques)and her family. Her father-in-law passed away friday night. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will comfort them in their time of need.
Thank you.
Blessings,
Victoria Lynn

Hopeful Friday

Where is Your Hope?

People put their hope in a lot of different places...the stock market...their home...their bank...a political candidate...their spouse...

There are so many places to put our hope, but they ALWAYS disappoint!

There is one who NEVER disappoints, one who ALWAYS, ALWAYS gives us hope! I encourage each of you, in this time that is historically a low point in these United States to put your trust in the one place that will give you HOPE, PEACE and JOY!

Ask God to give you hope and He will not disappoint.

But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19)
Peace I leave with you; peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (NIV John 14:27)

God bless and keep you this wonderful friday!

Love and hugs,
Victoria Lynn

PS: If you are feeling hopeless and need prayer, please email me so I can join with you in prayer!

Special thanks to Cielo at The House In The Roses for hosting Hopeful Friday!

Hopeful Friday

A Healing Heart...

That is what I am hoping for! I am one of the victims Cielo spoke of...long suffering, 28 years, with a person who was not so nice, controlled me with our finances and through fear, and made me feel like I was stupid. And never good enough. I thank God every day that I was finally able to get the courage and strength to leave the relationship far, far behind. Even today, he tried to inflict emotional abuse on me through email. Thank God I am strong enough now to say NO to that abuse. And thank God I live 3000 miles away from the abuser.

If you even THINK you might be in an abusive situation, then chances are pretty good that you ARE! Get help...talk to someone you trust. And you will be in my prayers! God can give you the strength and courage.

To all my beloved blog sisters - I love you!

Hugs,
Victoria Lynn

PS: Please drop by and visit www.houseinroses.blogspot.com where Cielo is hosting Hopeful Friday! Thanks Cielo!

MORE Autumn decorations!

I love the Fall season so much, especially all the rich earth-tone colors. I just can't help making every part of my home a warm welcome to Autumn!

Here is my dining room chandelier...I added a bittersweet garland and then strung some glittery black cats and autumn maple leaves. The tablecloth is one I made from fabric at JoAnn's, and I added some chunky potpourri to my apothecary jar.

A closer look at the glittery cats and leaves...and a giant glittered star in the center!

Here is my table chandelier with a small acorn candle-ring and a glass bird. The final creepy touch is wonderful flickering lights I got at WalMart for 75cents each!

This wonderful vintage reproduction sap bucket with the black cat is from Seasons Of Cannon Falls. I stuffed it with bittersweet and maple leaves.

On my kitchen table...a red cake stand with a glittered pumpkin surrounded by wonderful potpourri with mini pinecones, allspice, cinnamon and cloves...yum!

The "Mother of all Apothecary Jars" stuffed with squash, leaves and pumpkins. A ceramic "Autumn" sign that I just love!

A wired tiered stand that I got at Target and painted black, and a pumpkin spice soy candle!

And my precious "Bunnies By The Bay" animals...they got moved to a new home!

I hope y'all are having a fabulous Fall weekend! It's 85 degrees here today. I baked peanut butter cookies and the house smells wonderful. Hmm...I think I'll go eat one with some sweet tea! :)

Autumn blessings,

Victoria Lynn

Autumn, Beautiful Autumn

It's officially Autumn here in Middle Tennessee, but you wouldn't know it by the weather. We have been blessed with temperatures in the 80's every day with beautiful sunshine. This pretty cardinal was outside Rachel's room the other morning, isn't he gorgeous? I've been enjoying the sun and have been cleaning and unpacking more boxes in the garage. Mostly my Autumn decorations, so I thought I would share some more pictures of my Fall decorating...this is my fireplace with the fun autumn banner that I made while visiting recently with Donna Lynn. We had so much fun...laughing and making these...this is the only kind of "scrapbooking" I've done.

A closer look at the banner...too bad the glitter on the letters doesn't show up!

A Fall arrangement in my antique flower basket that I sprayed black (I stole that idea from Donna Lynn!)

Another Fall arrangement I made for the dresser, I got all the flowers half off at JoAnn Fabrics! On this dresser is my collection of black cats. I don't celebrate Halloween, but I love black cats (especially you, Jasmine!). These are a few in my collection.

A closer look...

I added a garland with orange lights around my front door, and made the wreath bigger.

The lights don't show up very well in the picture, but you get the idea!

I still have a bit more decorating to do, so maybe I'll share some more later. I feel like baking some yummy Fall pumpkin cake, or maybe some peanut butter cookies...or gingerbread, hmmm....Hope y'all are enjoying this beautiful season of Autumn.

Hugs,

Victoria Lynn