I’ve seen some of the neatest signs on Pinterest lately and as an avid sign lover myself, I thought I’d do a post sharing some of the signs I have around my house with you (You can follow me on Pinterest by clicking here if you’d like).

Most of my signs are located in our Diner or the kitchen. We don’t have an actual open-to-the-public diner or anything, but since we converted our sunroom to a fifties style diner, that is what we call it. I’ve had a lot of fun hanging memorabilia up on the walls in there!

The Story Of Our Diner

This is a photo of our Diner. I needed more room in the kitchen but adding onto the house wasn’t an option for us. We had this beautiful sunroom right off the kitchen that we weren’t using but it just doesn’t look right as a dining room to me so I came up with the diner option and got to looking online for diner booths and furniture. There are all sorts of options for second hand but none of them were able to be shipped so I finally settled on buying having my furniture made just for us – and it ended up costing much less for everything than I would have paid for a dining room suite at a furniture store.

We have a booth with a table for four, another table for four with five chairs, and a table for two with two chairs that I keep in the kitchen as a little breakfast table.

WE LOVE OUR DINER! 

I have hopes of decorating it more and would like to add little cafe curtains and such. The kids really want a neon open sign ~grins~. But all of that is just going to have to wait. We’ll get there eventually and in the meantime the journey is half the fun!

I call it the “Do Dine In”, which I think is terribly clever – and the kids just roll their eyes at me every time I try to explain how clever it is.

This is our booth where the four of us eat supper every night. We always loved sitting in booths in restaurants so getting our own was pretty cool for the kids.

We do have a terrible time keeping the cats from scratching it though. I’ve tried putting the little covers on their claws and spraying repellent on the backs of the furniture and nothing has helped. If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

This is Katy Rose in her waitress costume. She loves to put this on when we have company

This is part of one wall hanging in our diner.

I’m only showing close ups of some of these so if you have any questions about particulars let me know. That 45 record is a Leslie Gore song. The skillet is the one I got at the Taste of Charleston Iron Chef Competition a few months back (It was a gift).

This post only has some of the signs hanging around my house because…well I really have too many to put into one post ~grins~

Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of life. 

I like to pick signs that have words I want my kids to remember, lessons that I feel are important. This one is crucial. I know so many people who have spent entire lives just waiting for x,y, and z to fall into place before they will be happy. I also know people who haven’t got a penny to their name and they’re living lives more full than the richest among us could ever hope for.

This sign is pretty huge, about a yard tall and over a foot wide.

I got it at Cracker Barrel a while back. Since then I’ve seen a lot of them crop up in antique malls and such for outrageous prices (well over $50.00 – I paid $20.00).

This baby came off Ebay. It is a cast iron plaque that says “On this site in 1897 nothing happened.”

~grins~ I have it hanging on the wall in the diner.

This is a cute little sign, about 5×7 in size. It was a gift from my friend, Beth.

I have no idea where she got it but it sure is cute!

This sign is over 40 inches wide and customized with our name.

The center Coca Cola medallion is a three dimensional metal disk. I got it off of Ebay for a little over $30.00

“Laugh a lot, and when you’re older, all of your wrinkles will be in the right place.”

Jyl got me this one. She and I are big advocates of wrinkles – They are one of the best ways to tell if someone has spent their life smiling or scowling.

Family Rules: Share. May Every word be full of grace. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Give Thanks. Hug Often. Obey your parents. Rejoice in this day that the Lord has made. Love one another. No whining – ever.

I got this one at Cracker Barrel this past summer.

Everything is Beautiful in it’s time. Ecclesiastes 3:11.

This is from the Dayspring line. Their merchandise can be purchased from their website and many Christian book stores.

These little fellas are tin concession stand signs.

I got them off Ebay for about ten bucks.

To enjoy the flavor of life, take BIG bites.

I think I got this one at Old Time Pottery for about $10.

It’s Never Too Late to live Happily Ever After

This applies to so many situations. I think every married couple needs this in their home.

I got this one at the Nashville Flea Market. There used to be this man who set up and made the neatest signs! I was there this past weekend and he wasn’t there anymore but he may start coming again once the weather warms up (winter months are slow for them).

MANY PEOPLE HAVE EATEN IN THIS KITCHEN AND GONE ON TO LEAD NORMAL, HEALTHY LIVES.

I picked this one up at a little gift shop in the Earlyworks Museum complex in Huntsville. It was just too cute not to come home with me!

This is a Buy Fresh Buy Local poster from Alabama that they sent me when I let them use some of my recipes on their website.

Isn’t it pretty? I just framed it in an inexpensive frame and put it up.

I love you like biscuits and gravy

This is a letterpress sign made by Yeehaw Industries that I received when I spoke at a food blog conference last year.

Those who wish to sing always find a song.

This is so so so so so true.

Also, those who wish to wish to complain, always find something to complain about. I want to be in the first category

I got this from the little sign man who used to be at the Nashville Flea Market.

This is a special sign because it was a gift from Su James. Su has been reading Southern plate just about since I started. She and her mother live in Australia. When they came over to visit the south for the first time two summers ago, I drove to Atlanta to spend the day with them (and make some banana pudding for Su to try!) and she and her mother bought me this sign in a gift shop at Stone Mountain. I think of them every time I look at it!

The most important things in life aren’t things.

If only more people realized this.

Another gift from Jyl. It’s like she knows I like signs or something…

You are my sunshine.

I hope my kids remember this sign when they grow up….

Old Time Pottery again. Their signs are really cheap there.

A rich person is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the least.

I think I got this one from a dollar store or something. I have no idea. I’ve had it quite some time though.

The letters on the wall read “The Kitchen Is The Heart Of The Home” and the sign under it says “Because Nice Matters”

This is in my kitchen.

God’s Top Ten: Put God First. Worship Him only. No bad words. Work 6, Rest 1. Obey your parents. Harm no one. Don’t cheat. Don’t take what is not yours. Tell the truth. Be happy with what you have.

Yup, these are the actual commandments paraphrased.

I got this sign at Cracker Barrel this past summer but a few days ago saw one exactly like it at a Lifeway Christian Bookstore. I’ve had a lot of people ask about this one.

This is over the doorway leading from the kitchen into the den. I’ve had this sign for at least twenty years so I have no idea where I got it.

That hook you can see on the top inner bit of the doorframe is where I hang mistletoe at Christmas

This isn’t really a sign but it’s hanging on my wall and I like it.

A set of miniature copper molds in their original display package. I hang a set of copper measuring spoons on individual nails beneath it and I use those all the time.

I’m not a decorator and I know this arrangement is a bit crowded but I’ll live.

The phone on the left is our kitchen phone – I think we still have a house phone number but I turned the ringer off when I first got it and have used it maybe twice so it’s mostly for decoration. The mug rack on the right is one that my grandfather made and finished and Grandmama cross stitched the Morton Salt center of it.

I love this saying and this particular sign was designed by a nice lady on Etsy. I bought a jpeg file of it from her and had it printed on a 16×20 canvas at Wal Mart.

To get it to go on the canvas, I had my husband add an inch and a half border all around to the original file so it wouldn’t have white space when stretched across the canvas frame. I posted a photo on Facebook and so many people asked about it that I emailed the lady who made it and asked her if she would consider setting up an easy auction for the image with the needed boarder around it but I’m afraid I never heard back from her. You can search and find the image on Etsy if you’d like, it is only $8.95 for the jpeg and you have rights to print it on whatever you like (would make great gifts) but if you decide to do it on a canvas like I did some modification will be needed.

Having a place to go is Home.

Having someone to love is Family.

Having both is a Blessing.

I think this came from Kirkland’s a few years ago.

This is a reproduction Coca Cola menu board that I picked up a few years ago at the gift shop in Lake Winnepesaukah

This is a paper potato sack that I got at a flea market two years ago for $2.00.

Now let’s head back into the Diner…

Here are a few signs over the window in the diner. Let’s get a little closer…

A beautiful metal sign from the Loveless Cafe gift shop in Nashville, TN.

Quit Your Meanness

I love this one! How many times have we wanted to tell folks this?

This is actually a bumper sticker that I mounted on cardboard and then just stuck up on the wall.

Visualize Minnie Pearl

Another bumper sticker that I mounted on cardboard and then stuck up on the wall in the diner. This one came from the Loveless Cafe Gift shop.

Flea Market Find.

This is a reproduction sign. It was original $24.00 but we got him down to $20. It’s hanging in the diner.

I got this from Ebay. I can’t speak with certainty here, but I’m pretty sure this was meant to be read by the writers at the New York Times and all those other folks who have come out of the woodwork to get five minutes of fame in exchange for saying nasty things about Paula Deen. As my mother would say “Their time is coming.”

NOTICE

Having a sense of humor is vital to survival. If you are blessed with a sense of humor, exercise it often. If you are not blessed with a sense of humor, give serious thought to acquiring one Having said that I love this! ~Giggle~

This sign came from Amazon.com. Click here to buy one if you’d like.

To see more of my kitchen itself (beyond the signs) and the rest of my house (on a day it was clean!) click here to see a tour.  

Do you have any signs around your house that have a special quote or message on them?

“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing.

The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”

– Mark Twain

Submitted by Jenny. Click here to submit your quote.

I just LOVE having company for Sunday dinner and am thrilled to have not one but two guests coming today! I got up a little after five to get everything cooking so I could just come home and heat and serve.

Here is my menu for today. I just kinda went with whatever I was in the mood to make!

• Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice
• Sweet and Sour Green Beans (Cookbook page 41)
• Corn Casserole (Cookbook page 23)
• Mama’s Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (Cookbook page 200)
• Frozen Cranberry Banana Salads (Cookbook page 189)
• Grandma Lucy’s Chocolate Pie (Cookbook only, page 147)
• Fruit Cocktail Cake (Cookbook page 39)

Click on each name to visit the recipe tutorial.

HAVE A WONDERFUL SUNDAY!

If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness.

It will change your life mightily.

~Gerald Good

Thank you for sharing this photo with me, Karen! This is what its all about!

It’s that time of year again (in the south, at least!). If you planted tomatoes back at the start of the summer, they are likely coming in by the bucketful right about now. Around this time of year, I feel like I have tomatoes coming out my ears! (Ever see that I Love Lucy Episode where she worked in the chocolate factory?). Still, I LOVE to grow tomatoes and I know full well this bounty will come in very handy once growing season is over. As Weezy said in Steel Magnolia’s “I am an old Southern woman. It is my obligation to wear funny hats and grow tomatoes”.

I actually know very few Southerners who don’t grow tomatoes. They are so easy to grow and produce such remarkably versatile fruit that can be made into any number of dishes and even preserved with ease. So, on the chance that you are also experiencing a bounty of tomatoes, I thought I’d hurry up and get this post to you so that delicious produce doesn’t go to waste. Preserving tomatoes is so easy though, that you don’t have to just save it for a bucketful! If you even have one tomato that is quickly ripening with no immediate need for it, use this same method and freeze it to use in a dish on another day. Waste not, want not – and nothing beats a garden grown tomato!

Today, I’ll be putting up five heirloom tomatoes from my gardens at Bountiful. They don’t know how lucky they are that I let them turn red! I’ve been a frying up green tomatoes left and right here lately but these five managed to grow up despite my fried green tomato love. I’ve had a busy week and there are plenty more tomatoes about to be ripe as well so I wanted to put these up to keep them from going to waste. Like I said, this is so easy that you can put up one or one hundred tomatoes.

You’ll need: Pot of boiling water, freezer bags.

Get a pot of water to boiling and drop in your tomatoes.

Of course, you can always can your tomatoes as well but freezing is just about the easiest (and inexpensive) way to preserve fresh garden produce so that is the one I’m bringing you today. This method is also more convenient for smaller batches.

Like so……….

After a minute or two, the skin will split like this. Remove them as the skin splits and place them in a dish. I use a 9×13 inch dish to put them in. You don’t want to use a plate because when you remove the peels and chop them up there will be a lot of yummy juice involved.

If you have very ripe tomatoes, they will take longer to split open but hang in there, I promise it will happen.

See? Nice and split. Now for the cool part.

Oh, speaking of cool, you’re gonna want to let these cool down a bit.

If you try to peel them now you’ll find they are about as hot as little fireballs! I wait half an hour or so.

Then, just take hold of the skin and it pulls right off!

You’ll need to get a knife involved at the top, where the stem was attached. Cut that part off.

I discard all of my skins and tops but they’d be great in a compost bin if you have one.

I’ll be getting into that a little later.

My green endeavors are coming bit by bit.

My five tomatoes after the skins have been removed. You can tell a few of them gave up the ghost rather quickly.

I like it when things obey me, even if it is just a vegetable. We gotta take our little triumphs where we can get them!

Now I chop each one up but you can leave them whole if you prefer.

They are slippery so be careful.

Here they are, all ready to be bagged!

I like to write on my bag the date and where they came from. If your grandmother sent the tomatoes to you, it’s always nice to be able to call and say “We had the most delicious stew made with your tomatoes today!”.

Admittedly, a red pen is not the best choice for writing on bags of tomatoes but Katy kept getting into my permanent pen collection so I had to hide them. Now I can’t find them. Isn’t that always how it works? I need more sharpies…

Fill your bag up, get out as much air as you can, and freeze! They are now ready to be used in sauces, stews, and anything else you can dream up. There is NOTHING like your own fresh tomatoes in the middle of winter (or any other time of year for that matter!).

~~~~~~~~~~~

Attitude is a little thing

that makes a big difference.

Submitted by Southern Plate Reader, Sonya M. To submit your positive or motivational quote, please click here!